Is it normal to accidentally/occasionally swallow water while swimming

Angeles

Right, hoping you lot can help put an argument to rest.
I absolutely love swimming, its my favorite activity to exorcise with and i've spent quite a few years swimming in the past.

With that though i am aware that on occasion while swimming a person will accidentally ingest the water he/she is swimming in, either through a splash, wave, mistimed breath, through your nose..etc

My OH, says she has never swallowed water from the sea or pool in her life and that for someone to do this, they have to be doing something wrong.
Personally i call BS and say there will always be an encounter or error causing you to accidentally take a gulp of water.

So I'm asking, is it just me from experience that's done this and i need to re-evaluate my swimming? or is this something that would be common among swimmers?

mad m

Can at times swallow water, its normal. When in the sea, especially during a race I will swallow water, even gag....:D

Daisy78

hey

i have recently returned to swimming and i am taking lessons to improve my technique. I am now swimming lenghths but my big problem is swallowing water when I turn my head to breath, this usually happens when I have swam one or two lengths. When it happens I panic and start to gag and that stops me in my tracks until I get my breath back and regain my composure.My teacher has told me that my leg kick needs to remain strong to ensure my body isn't dropping down which means my head is clear out of the water when breathing. Trying to improve my breathing and kicking technique to avoid this but it is very frustrating when it happens.... Swallowing water and chlorine burn is enough to put me of swimming sometimes.:(

mad m

Maybe at first you should invest in one of these snorkles, so as time goes on and you become better, then you can try swimming and breathing technique.

http://www.finisinc.com/swimmers-snorkel.html

Ask your instructor though first about it.

Killgore Trout

Yeah I've swallowed plenty of water while swimming.

OP, I call BS on your OH calling BS

okane1

Swallow water from time to time in the pool. It happens to all swimmers, good, bad or in different. defo BS from your OH
Happens more often in OW, bloody random waves!!

swimguru

Usually people swallow water due to the fact that they dont follow a correct breathing pattern - if you "blow bubbles" when the face is in the water after the breath and make sure to take a breath before you have completely exhaled this should stop it. After that, its just practice. Good breathing technique is based around being relaxed in the water, the more relaxed you are, the less likely you are to swallow water.

Angeles

Cheers guys, but apparently this is not enough to prove point.
And don't get me wrong, i'm not talking about swallowing water on every session, just on the odd one i believe it can happen.

But she agrees with you swimguru and believes that anyone who's "ever" swallowed water while swimming, must not be following a correct breathing pattern and that it is impossible for anyone who is trained correctly to actually take a gulp.

Anyone here of professional standard to put this to rest?

CricketDude

I have been a swimmer at international level and am also an instructor in my spare time. While you do get better at not swallowing water over time you will never be able to not swallow it. I can tell you everyone swallows some water when they swim, so dont worry about it.

Its the piss, verucas, sweat, eczema, snot and wet scutter in it that you should be concerned about
Never trust a fart, especially in a swimming pool.

okane1

Angeles wrote: »

Anyone here of professional standard to put this to rest?

Not professional but in my youth I swam and played water polo for Ireland. I also have several top three finishes at nationals (2 golds!!).

I do swallow water. I'm not talking about drinking the pool dry but with a 1hr pool session, I would swallow a small amount of water. Not enough to bother me but certainly enough to be classified as swallowing water.

My OH is equally a good swimmer and she also takes in some water.
It happens. Obviously the worse your stroke, the more you will take in. Even with an excellent stroke, water will be taken on board.

swimguru

I would not dare to say that a swimmer will never swallow water, however, the incidence is reduced with correct breathing technique. Often if there is turbulent water, a swimmer will slightly adjust their technique in the water...naturally. Considering that this is not what the body recognises when swimming ordinarily (i.e within its most common movement pattern), the brain will ask the body to do something that the body is not accustomed to. Essentially a change of movement will cause the body to forget to exhale or to breath at at an incorrect stage of the stroke cycle.

In saying this, the more you practice correct breathing technique in a variety of conditions - i.e busy pool, open water, with or without wavebreakers etc, the more the body accustoms to dealing with a wide variety of changes in movement patterns - the body will adapt.....

15 years swimming competitively, Senior coach with 10 years coaching experience - I also wrote a masters thesis on Biomechanics in swimming at precompetitive level.

Nonmonotonic

I swim regularly in the pool and less so in the sea. I'm not a great swimmer but get by. The odd time I ' take in water' due to tiredness, wave, cough. anything unexpected like that. My wife who is a poor swimmer will NEVER swallow water because as I point out to her, she could smoke a cigarette while swimming with the distance her face is from the water! Maybe thats how your wife avoids swallowing water.

kris71

Yes it is normal, and if you drink a lot of it you can save great money on mineral water as well, but its not so tasty