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I found that sentence odd... Swimmers do not really hold their breaths often. Some training involves breath holding, and sprinters will hold their breath, but t
by Fezzik 8y ago
I found that sentence odd... Swimmers do not really hold their breaths often. Some training involves breath holding, and sprinters will hold their breath, but the majority of training and all distance swimming involves relatively normal breathing - the body exhausts itself quickly when there is no oxygen coming in to the system. I do masters swimming after starting to swim recreationally in college, and the first thing you learn to conserve energy is to breath normally and not hold your breath.
- kayhi 8y agoSwimmers hold their breath constantly from turns to different patterns depending on the stroke. Also in freestyle it's common to breath in through your mouth and exhale through your nose which isn't like running which is all mouth breathing.
- koboll 8y agoBreath control drills (i.e. "breathe once this lap" or "breathe every fourth stroke") are also standard for competitive swimmers. This study looked at top competitive athletes, who might be pursuing a different strategy than masters swimmers.
- hawaiianbrah 8y agoErm, I think it really depends on the intensity of the run. I typically breathe in through my nose and out my mouth when running at a lower intensity.
- tomazio 8y agoDistance swimmers don't really hold their breath, but sprinters certainly do. I was a state champion sprinter, and when I would swim the 50 freestyle I only breathed once, usually a few strokes after the turn. For the 100 freestyle it was one breath per lap, and this is crucial because in a sprint anytime you breathe you are slowing yourself down.
- taneq 8y agoWhat kind of swimmers? Lap swimmers don't hold their breath much, freedivers do it all the time.
- eismcc 8y agoFreestyle should have continuous outflow while head is in the water so that at breath time, you can get a lung full. This becomes more important the longer the event (eg miles) due to accumulated stress and lactic acidosis due to not breathing properly. That is, you should breath as close to running as possible.
- maaaats 8y agoYes, I agree, that's why I also asked in the context of a person actively training in holding their breath. Could it help with cardio?