Breathing Exercises for Swimming

Breathing Exercises for Swimming

Breathing exercises on dry land are one of the most under-used tools in competitive swimming. Evidence shows they boost speed, VO2 max, stroke coordination, and lung capacity. This article explains which exercises work, what the research shows, and why you should never practice breath holds in the water.

As a competitive swimmer, you want to know how to swim faster. Whether your goal is technique or strength training, the end point is the same. In competitive swimming, better IS faster.

But many swimmers have yet to tap into the power of breathing exercises, despite strong evidence that they boost swimming speed and endurance.

How Breathing Affects Swimming Speed and Performance

The basic principles of fast swimming focus on technique:

  • Optimising your body position in the water
  • Refining your kick
  • Focusing on your arm movement and stroke technique
  • Improving swimming coordination
  • Reducing drag

But think quality, not quantity. Swimming workouts to build speed should not include "garbage yardage." Overtraining does nothing to boost your VO2 max. You are more likely to develop a shoulder injury or chronic fatigue and hit a speed plateau.

To avoid this trap, your swimming workout plan must include a dry land breathing protocol.

Dryland Breathing Training for Swimmers: What the Evidence Shows

Dryland training for swimmers involves stretching and strengthening the arms, legs and core. It improves form in the water and protects against injury. It enhances balance, posture, alignment and movement, leading to better all-round swim technique.

But the missing link in most programs is a dry land protocol of breathing exercises.

Breathing Exercises for Swimmers on Dry Land

Breathwork training on dry land is not yet commonplace among swimmers. Which is odd, because it is supported by plenty of evidence.

It involves breathing exercises to strengthen the breathing muscles. It delays respiratory muscle fatigue. It supports airway health and oxygenation. It does not need much extra training time. And even if you only use it as part of your warmup, it can improve elite swimming performance.

Breath holding on dry land to simulate training at high altitude benefits speed and endurance. It provides a competitive edge in sports including competitive swimming. Breath holding can be used to achieve hypercapnia and hypoxia.

Why You Should Never Hold Your Breath While Swimming

There are many advanced ways to control your breathing in the water. But breath holding while swimming is never a good idea.

Strong, confident young swimmers have died practicing competitive breath holds. The Journal of Military Medicine reports many such incidents. Two young men died in 2011 after practicing intentional hyperventilation and underwater breath holding.

At least 20 swimmers were in the pool, and lifeguards were in attendance. Both men were found underwater. Another 17-year-old boy died after practicing hyperventilation and breath holding on his own.

In some breathwork methods, hyperventilation is performed before breath holding to reduce CO2 levels in the blood. This prolongs the breath hold. But it is dangerous. During a breath hold, the cells continue to extract oxygen from the blood.

You may not feel the need to surface until your oxygen levels are dangerously low. The result is shallow water or surface blackout.

What Is Shallow Water Blackout and Why Is It Dangerous?

  • Hyperventilation involves exhaling at an increased rate. This reduces levels of CO2 in the blood.
  • During the breath hold, blood oxygen levels drop (hypoxia).
  • Normally, CO2 would increase in the blood, prompting the desire to breathe. The brain would signal to your respiratory muscles and you would surface.
  • If you hyperventilate before breath holding, CO2 is too low to signal the need to breathe.
  • Combined with low oxygen, this can cause unconsciousness.
  • Once you have blacked out, your body reacts by initiating a breath. If you are underwater, your lungs fill with water and you drown unless immediately assisted.
  • Even if you are rescued, secondary drowning can occur. This is when water is inhaled causing inflammation in the lungs. The air sacs swell, preventing oxygen from getting to the blood. This can happen days afterwards.
  • The best advice, no matter your skill level, is never to practice breath holds in the water.
  • The Oxygen Advantage method does not use hyperventilation. Even so, keep your breath holds out of the pool.

Breath holding on dry land is a valuable and safe way to improve swimming speed.

How Dry Land Breath Holding Improves Swimming Performance

There is a positive way to link swimming performance and hypoxia. Your swimming training program should include a dry land breathing protocol. Exercises fall into two pillars: functional everyday breathing and intermittent hypoxic/hypercapnic training (IHHT).

Functional Breathing Exercises for Swimmers

  • Breathe through your nose during dryland training. Nose breathing prevents symptoms of exercise-induced asthma and supports airway health. Asthma is highly prevalent in competitive swimmers.
  • Nasal breathing adds resistance to airflow. This increases oxygenation, slows the breath and strengthens the diaphragm.
  • Better diaphragm function improves lung capacity for swimming.
  • A strong diaphragm is vital for core strength, balance and coordination in the water.
  • Better oxygenation means faster recovery between training sessions and races.

You can measure your current breathing efficiency with the BOLT score test. A higher BOLT score reflects better CO2 tolerance and greater capacity to benefit from breath training.

Is Hypoxic Training Good for Swimmers?

In the same way it benefits runners and cyclists, intermittent hypoxic/hypercapnic training (IHHT) is a powerhouse for elite swimmers. It strengthens your diaphragm with a strong, load-added workout. It reduces your sensitivity to CO2, so you can breathe light and slow. It improves your blood oxygen-carrying capacity for better swimming stamina.

IHHT makes breathing easy. Which means better performance. And when it comes to swimming, better always means faster.

To understand how breath holding naturally increases EPO and red blood cell production, read our full guide.

Research: Breathing Exercises and Swimming Performance

Study 1: Breath Hold Training Improves Swimming Coordination and VO2

French researcher Lemaitre found that breath holds could improve swimming coordination. After breath hold training, swimmers showed increases in VO2 peak as well as an increase in the distance travelled with each swimming stroke.

The researchers concluded that breath hold training improves effectiveness at both peak exercise and submaximal exercise and can also improve swimming technique by promoting greater propulsive continuity.

Lemaître F, Seifert L, Polin D, Juge J, Tourny-Chollet C, Chollet D. Apnea training effects on swimming coordination. J Strength Cond Res. 2009 Sep;23(6):1909-14.

Study 2: Breath Holds Reduce Breathlessness and Improve CO2 Tolerance

Lemaitre and colleagues investigated the effects of short repeated breath holds on breathing pattern in trained underwater hockey players and untrained subjects. Twenty male subjects performed five breath holds while treading water with their faces immersed, spaced five minutes apart.

The underwater hockey players showed reduced breathlessness and higher CO2 concentration in exhaled breath after the test. This confirms that regular breath hold practice raises the threshold at which breathlessness is experienced.

Lemaître F, Polin D, Joulia F, et al. Physiological responses to repeated apneas in underwater hockey players and controls. Undersea Hyperb Med. 2007 Nov-Dec;34(6):407-14.

Study 3: Swimmers Can Train in Hypoxia at Sea Level

This study used pulse oximetry to investigate whether swimmers can train under hypoxic conditions through voluntary hypoventilation (VH). Ten trained subjects performed a front crawl swimming series with normal breathing and with VH at high and low pulmonary volume.

In the low pulmonary volume group, oxygen saturation fell to 87% at the end of the series. This demonstrated that swimmers can train under hypoxic conditions at sea level and can increase the glycolytic stimulus of their training through breath holding after an exhalation.

Woorons X, Gamelin FX, Lamberto C, Pichon A, Richalet JP. Swimmers can train in hypoxia at sea level through voluntary hypoventilation. Respir Physiol Neurobiol. 2014 Jan 1;190:33-9.

Study 4: Hypoventilation Training Improves 100m, 200m and 400m Times

Over a 5-week period, sixteen triathletes were asked to include twice a week into their usual swimming session one supramaximal set performed either with hypoventilation at low lung volume or with normal breathing.

Time performance was significantly improved in the breath holding group across all distances: 100m improved by 4.4%, 200m by 3.6%, and 400m by 3.5%. No improvement was seen in the control group. The researchers concluded that hypoventilation training at supramaximal intensity is an effective method for improving swimming performance.

Woorons X, Mucci P, Richalet JP, Pichon A. Hypoventilation Training at Supramaximal Intensity Improves Swimming Performance. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2016 Jun;48(6):1119-28.

Study 5: Hypercapnic-Hypoxic Training Increases VO2 Max by 10.79%

A study into the effects of a hypercapnic-hypoxic training program on elite swimmers showed a significant increase in hemoglobin in the group that practiced breath holding after an exhalation. Furthermore, there was a 10.79% increase in VO2 max.

Zoretic D, Grcic-Zubcevic N, Zubcic K. The Effects of Hypercapnic-Hypoxic Training Program on Hemoglobin Concentration and Maximum Oxygen Uptake of Elite Swimmers. Faculty of Kinesiology, University of Zagreb, Croatia.

Study 6: Apnea Training Improves Stroke Coordination and Lung Function

Triathletes and elite breath-hold divers showed an adaptive response to hypoxia induced by repeated breath holds. After apnea training, forced expiratory volume in 1 second increased, alongside improvements in VO2 peak, minimal arterial oxygen saturation, and respiratory compensation point values.

Apnea training enabled swimmers to better support breath holding during the 50m sprint. Stroke organisation was less disturbed, fatigue appeared later, and the disrupting effect of breathing on arm coordination disappeared. Swimmers showed greater propulsive continuity between the two arms after training.

If you are interested in trying the OA method for yourself, why not try our online course, become a certfied breathwork instructor, or find an Oxygen Advantage® instructor near you.

Lemaître F, Seifert L, Polin D, Juge J, Tourny-Chollet C, Chollet D. Apnea training effects on swimming coordination. University of Rouen, Faculty of Sports Sciences, France.