Breathing through nose???

[cm67]

Hello everyone,

Just a quick question from the 'Perpetual Mption DVD'.

Terry repeatedly says on the topic of breathing that you should breath through the nose

Is this beneficial compared to breathing through the mouth in TI, I naturally breath easier through the mouth so should I change this?

Chris...

[Richardsk]

Hi Chris

Generally speaking, I think it's best to breathe in through the mouth and out through the nose ( or nose and mouth together) while swimming. On land in through the nose and out through the mouth is recommended, but it soon becomes impossible if you run fairly fast.

I don't think it's possible to breathe in through the nose efficiently while swimming. You can't get enough air in the time available, except possibly in backstroke.

When resting at the wall, breathing in through the nose is a good idea, as recommended for Yoga.

[terry]

Chris
Richard has explained it well. No need for me to add much. In which lesson(s) or exercises did I give that advice? That would be critical information. I expect it was somewhere in the first three lessons?

[RobM77]

This is an interesting question. My coach (and I'm sure Terry agrees) maintains that it's best to breath in through the mouth and out through the nose. The problem I have is that, whilst I do this and I find the mechanics of it work well (i.e. I don't choke), I am much more comfortable in terms of endurance and swimming ability breathing through my mouth as well. I find that if I use just my nose to exhale I start to feel fairly uncomfortable about half to two thirds of the way down a length and have to open my mouth to dump the pressure that's building up. I think possibly it's because I don't ever use my nose on land for breathing, and my lungs and muscles etc are not used to the different technique (greater pressure). Breathing every stroke cycle, as I've been taught, I find it particularly hard to exhale the required amount of air through my nose in the right amount of time between strokes, which I think is why stale air builds up.

Using my nose to exhale isn't why I'm breath limited to 50 metres (see my other thread on "getting out of breath"), but it doesn't help, I'm sure. If I had to use my nose whilst running then I'd collapse within a couple of minutes I'm sure - I breath very heavily indeed whilst running and cycling and need a wide open mouth to do it.

Incidentally, I found something written by Terry the other day about different speeds of freestyle and the effort required. Stage two mentioned "conversational running". Well, despite being a reasonably good runner (half marathon in 90min), that's an alien concept to me. I've never been able to talk whilst running, even if I back right off to a 6/7mph jog, because I need to breath constantly. It's possible that I just need to breath in and out a lot of air quickly to exercise, which is why I find swimming so hard (see my "out of breath" thread) and also why I find it hard to use my nose - my nose has trouble carrying that much air in and out that quickly!

[cm67]

Originally Posted by terry

Chris
Richard has explained it well. No need for me to add much. In which lesson(s) or exercises did I give that advice? That would be critical information. I expect it was somewhere in the first three lessons?

Terry,

I should have pointed out that what I am picking up on is that you recommend breathing OUT from the nose.
On the breathing section of the DVD for instance you say to 'rotate to air breathing steadily from the nose'.
As a relatively inexperienced swimmer i was wondering if it was more beneficial to breath out of the nose

thanks
Chris....

[solothesailor]

Hi, I'm improving in leaps and bounds over 10 weeks since learning the TI methods as well as taking lessons albeit from a non-TI coach. I would like to offer answers more from life experience rather than from swim expertise...

People have different capacities to breath in or out through the nose. A few close friends struggle to breath even on land through the nose, in or out. In water we also have different abilities to withstand the water pressure into the nose (as well as, I was told, some like myself having lost since childhood the automatic valve-shutting that prevents accidentally breathing in water). Therefore breathing out partially or totally through the nose helps in two ways: 1) ensure water doesn't enter the nose especially when rolling up for air, when doing tumble/flip turns, and when in open choppy seawater; 2) ensure properly expelling all CO2 and drips of water before breathing in.
I think that, of the 3 breathing out methods: nose alone, nose and mouth, mouth alone, it might depend on both the person's physique (or habit which can be changed) and the situation of the swim.
Solo Thesailor

[RobM77]

Originally Posted by solothesailor

Hi, I'm improving in leaps and bounds over 10 weeks since learning the TI methods as well as taking lessons albeit from a non-TI coach. I would like to offer answers more from life experience rather than from swim expertise...

People have different capacities to breath in or out through the nose. A few close friends struggle to breath even on land through the nose, in or out. In water we also have different abilities to withstand the water pressure into the nose (as well as, I was told, some like myself having lost since childhood the automatic valve-shutting that prevents accidentally breathing in water). Therefore breathing out partially or totally through the nose helps in two ways: 1) ensure water doesn't enter the nose especially when rolling up for air, when doing tumble/flip turns, and when in open choppy seawater; 2) ensure properly expelling all CO2 and drips of water before breathing in.
I think that, of the 3 breathing out methods: nose alone, nose and mouth, mouth alone, it might depend on both the person's physique (or habit which can be changed) and the situation of the swim.
Solo Thesailor

You may be interested to hear my "shutting the nose off" story. I've expatiated on it elsewhere, but in summary: All my life I had this problem where if my head was under the water, water would flood up my nose. If I held my breath and gradually lowered my head under, water would flood up it. This led to a fear of water. I became a keen snorkellor in my early 20s, partly because I loved being in and under the water, and it was the only way I could do it without choking, because the mask covers the nose. When I was 25 I discovered nose clips, and learnt my first head down stroke, the front crawl. Last year, aged 33, I started TI lessons, and the coach said she could cure this problem. Four sessions and about two months later, she'd cured it, and I'm now ok. I still get water flying up my nose if I fall or jump into water, but I can swim underwater now without a nose clip. Miraculous!

Nose problems persist though, as discussed above. I never use my nose for breathing on land, and doing so in water feels somehow wrong to me.

Generally speaking, I think it's best to breathe in through the mouth and out through the nose ( or nose and mouth together) while swimming. On land in through the nose and out through the mouth is recommended, but it soon becomes impossible if you run fairly fast.

[sclim]

Originally Posted by waleeedijaz

Generally speaking, I think it's best to breathe in through the mouth and out through the nose ( or nose and mouth together) while swimming. On land in through the nose and out through the mouth is recommended, but it soon becomes impossible if you run fairly fast.

Interesting that I never paid attention to this phenomenon despite being an experienced runner until last year when I got interested in learning about and adhering to specific exertion level zones, and actually spent a lot of time (in fact close to all my running time nowadays) navigating them. For me, I find the guideline that it becomes difficult to sustain adequate respiratory exchange breathing only through the nose when you get above Zone 1 (the lowest, most relaxed level) absolutely true. Hard to explain exactly what happens, but when I drift even slightly into Zone 2 while running, although I can easily force myself to breathe exclusively through the nose, it soon becomes difficult, and I am compelled to open my mouth and take a gasp.