A common question, posed on the Discussion Forum.

I have been practicing rotating — rather than moving my head — to breathe. I’ve seen video of my stroke and it looked as though I was almost at 90 degree rotation. I could sense myself losing balance and feel my stroke become "rushed" at that moment to compensate. Is this more rotation than desirable? If so, how can I control my rotation and avoid having my stroke become rushed.

My own swimming experience and watching thousands of TI students in workshops over the years has convinced me that rhythmic breathing in freestyle is the most exacting and challenging of all swimming skills. I’ve been working on my own breathing skills, particularly being able to keep the lead hand in the most effective Catch position as I breathe, for years and feel as if I’m still improving. It’s definitely a "project." For me, learning to swimming 200 Butterfly has been a piece of cake in comparison.

The most common errors that hurt efficiency, waste energy — and often cause discomfort as well – are (1) loss of balance; (2) lifting the head – or moving it independently; (3) collapsing, or bracing with, the lead arm; and (4) interruption of stroke rhythm.

To breathe – and stroke – efficiently, your skill goals should be to

Keep the head down and rotate just enough.This pic, a screen shot from Lesson Six on the DVD, show the desired head position and amount of rotation. Notice particularly how my right goggle is still a bit underwater and the lower corner of my mouth is also just below the surface.

 

Keep the bodyline long; and maintain an effective "catch" position so it propels you a good distance on the stroke you take between breaths. This pic shows a breathing drill called Swim and Nod, illustrated in Lesson Six, in which you stop rotating, just short of the surface. This makes it easier to break the over-rotation habit and  imprint the effective-catch position as you rotate toward the surface.Doing this and the skill below both take patient practice.

 

Practicing Swim and Nod makes it easier to progress to "normal" breathing, while maintaining the same long-bodyline/effective-catch position, as shown below. 

 

These pix are all screen shots from Lesson Six of the Easy Freestyle DVD which focuses on improving your breathing skills and illustrates the steps to improving these skills. Also  segments of Lessons Two, Three and Four on the same DVD focus on other aspects, giving you a step-by-step way to develop that skill. Also the O2 in H2O DVD is a complete course in developing breathing skills. Some of the exercises involve practicing breathing movements while standing.