Breathing problem

Hot Dog

Hello all,

I have been swimming since i was a young fella, never very good however. I can manage to get down the pool doing front stroke with reasonable technique. however, i find myself constantly gasping for breath. A sensation so bad i have to stop and put my head up to breath, and feel short of breath for minutes after. I am breathing plenty as i swim, every third stroke. It seems to be more of an issue that my body is not used to working without a constant supply of air, and my muscles are unhappy about that, or perhaps a buildup of CO2 or something.

Any ideas about what this is and how to fix it?

fade2che

I have been in a similar situation recently, still am really. I have been doing a drill where as each hand enters the water I rotate the hip on the same side towards the bottom of the pool, pause while I kick three times (and my head is out of the water) and then take the stroke.

This means my head is almost always out of the water. Head rotates through the water with each stroke.
Over all you breath way more and slow down concentrating on stroke and building confidence with breathing.

I think its a common drill and maybe there is a video or tutorial of it somewhere.