How do you hold your breath for a long time, moving at a fast pace????

Question

Everyday at swim practice we have to do 20x25 under-waters on 30 sec. I can only make the first one and a few others. I can hold my breath for 45 sec. when i am just floating around but not when I am at a fast pace. PLEASE HELP ME!! We have to do 25 push ups if we don't make one, so guess how many I have to do!! I have practice tomorrow morning at six so I want to have some pointers so I don't have to do as many push ups!!!

Answer 1

What helps me alot is learning to blow bubbles under water at a normal pace. ( our team does something similar to that drill) I learned from very bad experiences, along with yours, that if you blow bubbles at a normal, constant, relaxed pace and not blow bubbles for dear life- it seems like you are holding on to more air! And yeah, you wont die! Sometimes not breathing and pushing yourself turns on that survival mode and you begin to move faster (but dont do anything too radical) :) But- if you really try to focus on something like the tiles at the bottom of the pool- or a snare you see in your goggles, you wont concentrate as much on not breathing. Also, when the water is colder, it feels denser- hence making it harder to hold your breath. You feel trapped. Try to feel the water before practice and if it seems to cold- practice breathing during laps prior to this rigorous drill.

ALSSOOO- sorry if this is boring you- or if your even still reading, i hope its helping- but, if you concentrate on just your stroke and swimming more than the paranoia that its hard breathing at fast paces, than you will probablly be better off than just being worried about not breathing. Mind over matter my friend.

Lots of Luck! Hope I helped.

Answer 2

you just do it.

Answer 3

Practice. Your muscles need to get used to moving quickly with a lack of oxygen flowing through your blood. The only way they'll get to that point is when you've done it enough times it feels natural to your muscles.

Answer 4

You don't need to breath. I promise you won't die. Just getting that out there. :) You won't faint either.

A trick- don't kick! I mean it. Your legs use up oxygen faster than the rest of your body. Since you have to do it underwater, I would do fly kick, with arms like you would do in a breastroke pull down.

For the pushups, you should try weight training at home, it helps increase your push up indurance. But if you have that kind of swimming workout (intense) you should be able to do 25 pushups easily!