Hola a todos! The weather’s been getting hotter, so I decided to learn how to swim. I’m based in Barcelona, and the pool at my local gym is quite busy. I thought it would be easy since I played in the water as a kid, but the breathing part really humbled me. I seriously drank my fill of pool water…
After a few days of getting nowhere on my own, I turned to YouTube and watched a bunch of Spanish tutorial videos. And you know what? I found a few creators who explained it so clearly that it finally clicked! Today, I want to share the core techniques I learned, hoping to help others who are also struggling with learning to breathe while swimming.
Key Mistake: Lifting Your Head vs. Turning Your Head to Breathe
The main reason I kept choking at first was that I was trying to lift my entire head out of the water to breathe, like a frog. This is the biggest mistake when learning to swim on your own! In freestyle, breathing comes from rotating your body and naturally turning your head to the side, allowing your mouth to clear the water to inhale, not from effortfully lifting your head. Lifting your head breaks your streamlined position, causing your lower body to sink, which makes swimming tiring and slow.
Land Drills and Water Practice
Watching without practicing won’t get you anywhere. The experts all emphasize starting with drills on land to get the feel for it. You can stand, lean forward, and pretend you’re swimming, practicing turning your head to the side as you stroke with your arms, making an inhaling motion with your mouth. The key is to feel the rotation of your neck, not the lifting of your head.
Once you’re in the water, don’t rush to start swimming. Hold onto the side of the pool, put your face in the water, and slowly exhale through your nose and mouth—you should see a steady stream of bubbles. Then, practice just turning your head to breathe. Keep your body still, rotate your head to one side until your mouth is out of the water, take a quick breath, and then turn your face back in to continue exhaling. It’s crucial to do this slowly and feel the rhythm of your breathing.
Below is a table summarizing the breathing practice steps from the Spanish swimming tutorials I watched. You can follow them step-by-step:
| Practice Stage | Key Action | Goal |
|---|
| 1. Land Drill | Stand, lean forward, practice turning head (not lifting) while stroking | Build correct muscle memory |
| 2. Bubbles at the Wall | Hold the wall, face in water, exhale continuously through nose/mouth | Overcome fear of water, get used to exhaling underwater |
| 3. Head Turns at the Wall | Hold the wall, after exhaling, turn head to one side to inhale | Master the core concept of “turning,” not “lifting” |
| 4. Push-off Glide with Breath | Push off the wall and glide, try to coordinate one stroke and one breath | Integrate breathing into dynamic swimming |
Once you’re comfortable with these steps, you can try swimming continuously. I personally find it smoother to breathe on my right side, and I’ve heard many people have a dominant side. To start, you can stick to one side, for instance, breathing every three strokes. By the way, if you like listening to things while you practice, you could even check out some swimming headphones. I hope these tips are helpful! And I welcome any advice or corrections from experienced swimmers!
