Do I need to be fit to swim well?
At one time or another, almost every open water swimmer is going to come up against a low moment where they feel tired and doubt their swimming ability, often the question that comes up is around fitness “Do I have to be fit to swim well?” “Do I need to be focused on improving my fitness?”
Every outdoor swimmer wants to swim well in the open water but is that enough, what does being a good open water swimmer mean? Is there a secret or just ability in breathing and setting your mind to the task?
Now when asked this question our answer is always the same: Don’t let the thought of fitness hold you back from starting, it’s more about getting out there, nailing the breathing and getting on with it. Fitness gained through swimming is an added bonus. Fitness gained through open water will not only be an added bonus to your fitness but to your mental health too.
Open water swimming is a sport that anyone can do. There’s no hidden criteria or a secret to participation, but with that being said there are other factors to consider such as weather challenges, equipment and recovery issues that can make an open water swim challenging for even the most experienced open water swimmers. Our answer to feeling fit and strong in the water? Breathing.
Learning how to breathe efficiently for swimming will make a huge difference in your swim workouts and your race performance. Breathing for swimming can seem challenging because your brain will be playing tricks on you and saying things like “I might not get another breath so I must take in as much as possible!!” but if you can breathe more like your land based breathing that WILL improve ….. The first step is to breathing is to figure out how you breathe on land when you go for a light jog or do some light exercise. Think about the timing of the breath in and the breath out and then try to replicate the timing in the water.
Breathing is one of our Straight Line Swimming fundamental pillars. It’s also the most overlooked.
The swimming stroke can seem rather complex when you consider the amount of different muscles being used. But despite this, breathing for swimmers is one of the underrated fundamentals of swimming. Learning how to breathe properly in the open water will be the key to unlocking your potential for swimming. It’s really easy once you can nail the breathing but the hard part is so often people being too afraid to try. This article shows you four exercises that will help your breathing… and hopefully swim further or faster in the process.
Swimming and breathing, you can do that! Calm your breathing with rhythmic and easy breaths in through your mouth out through the nose. Learning how to breathe properly is the difference between burning out early and having a great swimming experience. It also yields better results for less effort, which means you’ll be more efficient and it will ultimately help to increase your fitness.
Not sure where to start? Join our open water membership community for tips, as well as expert talks every month to keep you inspired in the water.
Just remember, while you are swimming there are some things that should be on your mind to keep you feeling fit and strong in the water: Breathing, Body Position and Motion.