Speed and endurance in freestyle swimming depends on your fitness and technique. Because the freestyle stroke requires you to keep your head underwater for most of the stroke cycle, getting a good breath of air without slowing down takes practice. Sprinters may cover 50 meters without taking a single breath, whereas moderate-intensity distance swimming allows you to breathe every three or four strokes.
Improve Body Position
Freestyle technique works to maximize speed and minimize the effort of moving through the water. Focus on increasing body roll or rotation during the stroke to naturally position your head for easy breathing. Keep the head aligned with your body and do not permit it to bob up and down. Do not lift the head when taking a breath. When your arm pulls underwater, roll the body at the same time to help your head rotate to take a breath. One side of your face remains in the water when you breathe. During the stroke cycle, the front of the head ideally meets the water between the hairline and the middle of the head, notes Ernest W. Maglischo, competitive swim coach and author of "Swimming Fastest."
Learn Bilateral Breathing
Bilateral breathing or taking breaths on both sides of the body helps swimmers build symmetry and balance in the water. Terry Laughlin, head coach of Total Immersion Swimming, notes on the USA Swimming website that breathing on both sides makes some veteran swimmers rethink faulty technique and allows novice swimmer to build good habits from the start. Timing breathing correctly on both sides helps swimmers stop lifting their heads to avoid water turbulence. Keeping the head low on both sides of the body during the breath cycle minimizes resistance formed against it in the water. You can work bilateral breathing into existing workouts by alternating breathing sides every 100 meters or every other set.
Improve Cardiovascular Fitness
Improving breathing in freestyle means more than just perfecting technique. To swim better, athletes need to improve fitness levels. Perform aerobic swim sets, which are long swims of low to medium intensity. When swimming the laps, breathe rhythmically and exhale fully by breathing every five or seven strokes or delay breathing for however long it takes to fully exhale. Forcefully blowing out air takes lung strength and confidence. Once you empty the lungs of air, getting fresh air in is only a matter of opening your mouth and inhaling gently. The lungs fill with fresh air, and oxygen levels replenish themselves.
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