Breathing is the part of the stroke where many swimmers' technique breaks down. Practice makes permanent, so use the following swim drills to ingrain better technique into your freestyle breathing. While learning a new drill, wear training fins until you are comfortable enough with the drills that can concentrate on your technique without them.
Sidekick Drill
This exercise teaches you to breathe to the side. Lie on your left side with your left (bottom) arm extended above your head and your right (top) arm resting at your side. Turn your head so that you're looking past your left armpit at the bottom of the pool. Keep your belly button facing the wall, not the ceiling or the bottom of the pool. Begin kicking, pressing your left armpit toward the bottom of the pool to keep your hips from dropping (your right shoulder stays just above the surface). Exhale while your face is underwater. When you need a breath, gently turn your head to look over your right shoulder. Inhale, then turn your face back toward the bottom. When you reach the end of the pool, repeat the drill on your right side.
One-Arm Drill
By breathing away from your stroking arm, this drill teaches you to maintain your balance while breathing. Imagine that someone has tied your right arm to your waist, and swim freestyle stroking with only your left arm. To practice breathing, pretend that your chin is stuck to your right (non-stroking) shoulder. While your left arm is recovering above water, look at at the bottom of the pool over your right shoulder. As your left arm enters the water, use the resistance to roll onto your left side. Keep looking over your right shoulder, and your face will naturally rotate out of the water as you roll onto your left side. When your swimming arm is back at your hip, roll your right side (and face) back under water and exhale as your arm recovers. It may help to imagine that there is a rod from the crown of your head to your tailbone around which you rotate. When you get to the wall, return, stroking with your right arm.
Bilateral Breathing
Bilateral breathing is when you breathe on an odd number of strokes so that you end up breathing to both sides. For example, three-stroke breathing would be left, right, left and breathe; right, left, right and breathe... and so on. Bilateral breathing may be enough to reset any bad habits you've developed. If you can't breathe to both sides, first practice breathing to the "wrong" side during warm-up and warm-down. Once you have that down, practice three-stroke breathing on your easy sets in every workout. As always, remember to exhale while your face is underwater.
