Alright this is going to apply to the High School
and summer league level athletes. You may be taught
how to breathe but you may not have been taught when to breathe
This is going to help you out
Alright, here is an area that a lot of summer league
and high school coaches, that's who this is really applying to
They really don't touch on. This is for the summer league and
high school level athletes
They really don't touch on. They'll tell you how to breathe but they really
don't tell you when to breathe within a race
There is a method to the madness as far as being truly successful
Now there are different approaches, there are different variations that people
will use
this is the one that I like. We'll take Dude right here. OK, Dude is about
to swim
Now the way I've set this board up-- this is the first 25
this is the second 25 within a 50. This is for the 100
this is the 25, 50, 75, 100 So that's the way we'll approach it
and I'll try to mark down exactly where I like for my athletes to breathe within
these distances
Within these different kinds of races. We're going to deal mainly just with
freestyle right now but you can adjust and see what works best for you
as far as the other strokes and the other distances
Alright here's Dude, Dude is about to dive in
A lot of people on the first 25, they may not
they may not breathe at all
during the first 25. I'm not going to say 'Don't breathe during the first 25'
but you probably really really don't want to breathe in the first half
of the 25. Okay, you don't want to come up from the start and take an immediate breath
If you are going to breathe IF you're going to breathe
You would breathe in this section of the first 25
OK this section will be OK to breathe Now you do not want to breathe
across-the-board
You don't want to breathe at the walls. Okay, so these
areas are bad, these are bad areas to breathe. This is a standard, if you
want something to
lock in your mind as a bad area for you to breathe
put the area at the end of the lane lines, which should be about five yards
depending on the pool, sometimes you'll find differences
but usually it should be about five yards. That's at the end, let's say the middle
section in the lane lines is like blue and white
and then at the end it's all orange or all yellow or something at the very end
Those sections you want to block off in your mind as 'No Breathe Zones'
So, across-the-board that's the way they are
Now on the 50 you dive in, If you have to take a breath
Take a breath in this area. Now when you're coming back
you can breathe in this area again. It's a little bit longer
as far as the green area that you can breathe on the way back if you need to
Now this area is very critical within the 50. You don't want to
take a breath, because breathing will slow you down
especially in a race as short as the 50 because it's really just like a
controlled muscle spasm
You can't make mistakes
and you can't give up time to breathing in the 50. So this last section
as you are heading home, right here
You do not want to take a breath in this
last 10 yards of the pool. You want to keep that head down
and finish strong into the wall. Alright the 100, Dude is doing double-time right now
He's just got done with the 50, hops out
He has got a 100 freestyle
that he's about to swim. So Dude dives in
and the same thing applies. You really in this area right through here
you don't want to take a breath, this is kind of a dead zone
You really don't need a breath because you just started the race, you've got all
your speed and momentum
so you don't really need a breath and if you're going to
take a breath, take a breath in this section right here
but make sure you don't on the way in and on the way out from the wall
Now it gets a little bit easier in this section because
again you don't want to breathe at the walls but you've got more of a range
within the race
that it's acceptable to take a breath
You've got the first 25, in the 50 you've got this BIG breathing zone
on the 75 you've got a BIG breathing zone that's here in the middle
making sure you're not breathing off the walls
but on the last 25, it gets a little bit tighter because this is where
you separate yourself from the kids who are exhausted and they're going
to take a breath, they're going to slow themselves down
IF you can have a shorter breathing zone
use this area as a 'No Breathe Zone'
You can take a breath if you need to here at the very beginning after you
exit this zone-- if you need to take a breath, take a breath in here
but if you can lengthen out that 'No Breathe Zone'
to a little bit longer than normal, keep that head down and finish strong
into the wall
You'll really see a big difference as far as separating yourself at the end of
the race
Alright, good luck with your breathing. Don't forget to comment
like and Subscribe