Hey all, thanks for being patient! Iâm back home and back at it with the content game. If you follow me on social media you know that recently–I traveled to Dallas, TX to speak at my first ASCA clinicâI had a fabulous time! Overall, I was really stoked for the opportunity and received some great feedback on my two talks as well. Hereâs a little sneak peek into one of them…
Any who, itâs been a minute since I wrote a blog and I was on deck coaching my swimmers the day on how to swim with a snorkel and I realized that more than just my kiddos could find this usefulâso letâs dig in…
First off, most swimmers when they first start using a snorkelâHATE IT! I mean I donât fault you or themâno one wants to get water in their mouth when they are trying to swim. Itâs not fun. But with this, snorkel’s are a great training tool because they teach swimmers a few KEY things:
1.) How to have GREAT Body Alignment!
Snorkels are a great way for swimmers to learn proper head positioningâwhich leads straight into good body alignment.
If for some reason the snorkel is too low in the water, swimmers will get water into it. If for some reason the snorkel is too highâthe same thing can happen. So finding proper body alignment is necessary when using a snorkel, otherwise youâll just be choking as you go down the pool.
2.) They INCREASE your aerobic capacity!
Because snorkels have a smaller orifice than your mouth, you get less air per breath. You can even make that hole smaller (which my coaches did to me when I was swimming with duct tape or a plastic piece) to further minimize the amount of air swimmers get.
On top of that, swimmers have to make that air travel further to get into their bodyâthan if they were not using a snorkel. The tube of the snorkel makes a swimmer breathe DEEPER than they would during both the inhale and exhale, which increases swimmer’s overall aerobic capacityâwhich is why coaches use them!
3.) They take the BREATH out of it!
Snorkels are great because they allow swimmers to swim without worrying about turning their head to one side to breathe. This, in turn, allows a swimmer to focus more on their technique (pulling pattern, kick, rotation, body alignment, etc.) because the eyeballs stay down.
If swimmers keep their head down while swimming freestyle, they can actually watch their hands go through their pulling pattern BETTER, than taking a breath every couple strokes.
This focus makes it easier for any swimmer to get the visual feedback they need on their body, including any auditory feedback from their coach.
So how EXACTLY do you swim with one?
Well, thereâs really a few necessary components. First off, you want to make sure you are relaxed. One thing I always tell my swimmers is that just because you have a snorkel onâdoesnât mean we are restricting your breathing. If anything, we are actually letting you breathe more than you would without one, because you can breathe at any time.
There is definitely a level of fear that goes into using a snorkel and it being outside of a swimmerâs norm that each swimmer must overcome to feel fully relaxed while using a snorkel.
Secondly, swimmers must bite DOWN on the mouthpiece. When we are swimming regularly, we donât normally keep our jaw clinched. With a snorkel, you have to use the muscles of your mouth to actively bite down on the mouthpiece to keep the snorkel from moving around AND avoid watering coming in through the bottom.
Thirdly, you have to find proper body alignment. This will be much easier if you have your coach look at your position with a snorkel on while swimming and from there, he/she can correct you. But a good rule of thumb is only about 4 inches of the snorkelâs tube should be showing above the surface of the water. This means, your head needs to be down!
Fourthly, whenever the snorkel goes UNDER the water (i.e. from a pushoff or flipturn)–you must think of yourself like a whale with a blowhole and BEFORE you breathe in, you MUST exhale out! That is the only way to guarantee you donât gag on any water!
With this, the exhale out cannot be smallâit needs to be forceful and as aggressive as possible. You donât want any water left in that snorkel, so if you just exhale very passively or not entirelyâyou will be choking on water before you even break out.
Be sure to stay tuned for next weekâs post, where we discuss how to FLIP TURN with a snorkel.
Until Next Time,
Abbie Fish
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9 Responses
It is very helpful to use a nose clip when you begin using a snorkel.
Very true!
Thatâs my current issue!
I hope this helped!
Hi Abbie, I like reading your emails and blog posts. I think that you left out one major point. When swimming with a snorkel a common problem is water going up your nose. This was my biggest hurdle.
What works for me is the mantra inhale through my mouth, exhale through my nose. The only time I exhale through the snorkel is when there is water in the snorkel and I need to purge it which happens after a flip turn but can happen while swimming. This technique requires practice and if you still cannot get it as a last resort, you can use a nose plug.
I understand what you are saying, but no one swims competitively and fast with exhaling through their nose. You get more air through your mouth, so it should be fully in and out of the mouth breathing while swimming.
Iâm wondering if you can clarify the exhaling. You said that âno one swims competitively and fast exhaling through their noseâ. Are you saying that swimmers shouldnât start exhaling through their nose before taking a side breath or was this strictly limited to when using a snorkel?
I meant in general, there shouldn’t be any nose breathing while trying to go max speeds. All air exchange should go through a swimmer’s mouth.