How to improve lung capacity and reduce the feeling of fatigue when swimming? Do you want to swim longer, faster, last longer, but with less effort?
You can improve your swimming technique, have an excellent training plan, follow good eating and resting habits, but if your breathing is not efficient, neither will your oxygenation, and this limits the improvement of your swimming performance and , most importantly, on your health.
To achieve optimal functioning of our body's organs and muscles to ensure good health and better sports performance, we need to improve our oxygenation. To do this, it is necessary to know what oxygenation is and some fundamental scientific premises about breathing in general and in sport:
Oxygenation is not the amount of oxygen I carry into my lungs or the amount of oxygen that reaches my blood when I inhale. Oxygenation is the amount of oxygen that is released from the blood and reaches cells (tissues, muscles, etc.) for nutrition and proper functioning.
Correct or functional breathing that favors ideal oxygenation must be 100% nasal, diaphragmatic, slow and subtle. Mouth breathing negatively affects oxygenation.
Inhaling more air does not improve oxygenation. The greater the volume of air inspired, the more energy my body will spend to eliminate the excess through exhalation. I have to learn to inhale subtly and not exaggeratedly, especially when swimming, where I can't inhale through my nose.
21% of the air I inhale is oxygen. 16% of the air I exhale is oxygen. My body only gets 5% of the oxygen it inhales. It doesn't need more, and no matter how much more I want to inhale, my body will struggle to exhale the excess at the cost of energy expenditure that affects my performance.
Exhaling through the mouth contributes to dehydration and narrowing of the airways, which creates a feeling of fatigue and makes me breathe quickly, which is not conducive to oxygenation. In the case of swimming, as we have to inhale through the mouth, we must exhale exclusively through the nose to balance respiratory efficiency, which favors oxygenation and alleviates the feeling of fatigue.
If breathing is incorrect and non-functional during the day and night, it will also be incorrect during sport, which will mean greater effort to achieve sporting goals and a potential negative impact on my health. Breathing correctly and functionally during the time I don't practice sports will improve my athletic performance.
Improving oxygenation to enjoy sport with less fatigue, with more energy and less effort is the result of training breathing correctly to first achieve functional breathing in everyday life and then incorporate it into our favorite sport.
Carlos Campos.
Oxygen Advantage® Advanced Functional Breathing Trainer
+351 913 498 440
factor.o2.thebreathwork / calo.al .agua
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