7 Dryland Breathing Exercises for Swimmers
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Having trouble breathing while swimming can be fatal for any swimmer, so in this article, you will learn a variety of dryland breathing exercises. These breathing exercises for swimming will expand your lung capacity.
Benefits of Dryland Breathing Exercises
You donโt need to train underwater to extend your breath holding capability. Dryland swimming breathing drills offer the same results as well as other benefits.
Increased Lung Capacity
Have you ever wondered how David Blaine pulled off a World Record for breath-holding of 17 minutes and 4 seconds?
Although not known to many, you can actually increase your lung capacity through good breathing exercises such as lung-packing, box breathing, and abdominal hollowing. Through consistent drilling you will be able to increase the time you can hold your breath.
Better Focus
Each person has their own stress tolerance limit, and the human body will always try to find a way for it to avoid that stress. This is also the reason why you are fearful of things youโre not used to.
Dryland breathing exercises helps increase the stress threshold of your brain because they force the brain to get used to being uncomfortable. The result is that, under pressure, it will be easier for you to focus compared to before.
More Energy for the Body
Oxygen plays a very important role for the conversion of nutrients into energy in a process known as cellular respiration. Basically, the cells use oxygen to break down sugar and other nutrients into useable energy for the body.
Breathing deeply allows you to maximize oxygen intake, which means more energy for the body. This goes the same for proper breathing during swimming. You will use less energy if you have a larger lung capacity.
Dryland Breathing Exercises
If you are searching for ways on how to increase lung capacity for swimming, then these dryland lung breathing exercises are for you.
1. Puckered Lip Breathing Exercise
This breathing exercise is simple to do, but it is an effective exercise to help increase the efficiency of oxygen distribution in the body.
- โPucker your lips in such a way that it looks like you are going to kiss someone.
- โInhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth.
- โYou are doing the right thing if you can feel the resistance coming from your lips as you exhale.
- โThe time that you exhale is twice as long as the time it takes for you to inhale.
10 Minute Mindfulness Meditation - Forgetting Time
In this 10 minute mindfulness exercise you will explore the importance of forgetting time. It is a great way to start your day or for any time you have 10 minutes to meditate.
2. Lung Capacity Development Exercise
We focus this breathing drill on expanding the lung capacity to increase the effectiveness in the water.
- Stand straight while maintaining a good posture. Keep your feet shoulder-width apart.
- โExhale normally and when you reach that point, pinch your nose and close your mouth to hold your breath.
- โCount to 5 while holding your breath.
- โRelease your nose and open your mouth after 5 seconds and exhale normally for another 5 seconds.
- โIf you still feel you have more air to exhale, hold your breath again for 5 seconds and exhale for 5 seconds. Do this until you have no air to exhale.
3. Wall Sit with Deep Breathing
Swimming breathing drills such as the wall sit not only increase your lung capacity but also engages the leg muscles and is a great quad workout. This exercise helps to prevent shallow-chest breathing. It trains your body to take deep, long breaths.
- โPosition yourself in a wall sit position, that is, in a squat position with your back against the wall. This will force your body to use your diaphragm and abdominal muscles while breathing.
- โRaise your arms in such a way that it is reaching forward.
- โDo slow long breaths by inhaling deeply and exhaling as much air as possible.
4. Abdominal Hollowing
This dryland breathing exercise can help train your breathing patterns, techniques, and improve core stabilizers in the body. Because it strengthens core muscles and improves spine stability, exhaling will be much easier.
- To start, you can either stand straight or lay on your back on a flat surface.
- โTry to contract and pull the abdominal muscles without moving your spine.
- โContract it in such a way that you can visualize your belly being sucked into the spine.
- โHold this position for 5 seconds and slowly inhale.
5. Box Breathing
This breathing technique originated from the Navy SEALs and is commonly used to put the body in a calm state. This is also a common breathing exercise for swimmers just before a competition.
- Inhale deeply for 4 seconds.
- โHold the air in your lungs for 4 seconds.
- โExhale deeply for 4 seconds.
- โEmpty your lungs for 4 seconds.
- โDo this for as many repetitions as you want.
6. Breathing Fartleks
Breathing fartleks is an effective breathing exercise for people who are having a hard time slowly exhaling. It helps establish flexibility so the lungs can perform different paces of breathing.
- Inhale slowly and deeply for 5 seconds.
- โExhale slowly and deeply for 5 seconds.
- โDo steps 1 and 2 a few times.
- โChange the pacing of the breathing by inhaling for 3 seconds then exhaling for 3 seconds.
- โRepeat step 4 a few times.
- โFinish with one forceful inhale and exhale. immediately
7. Lung Packing
Lung-packing is one of the oldest breathing exercises for swimmers used by natives when hunting to increase their lung capacity. It helps increase your resting lung capacity so you can dive deeper and last longer underwater.
Conclusion
Dryland breathing exercises for swimmers are just as crucial as proper breathing in swimming. These are the best breathing techniques and drills that you can start doing to increase your lung capacity. Doing these drills is not only great for competitive swimmers but in preparation for survival situations as well.
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