How to Breathe While Swimming Freestyle: A Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners

Breathing is the one thing almost every beginner blames on themselves. In nearly every case it's a head-position habit, not a lack of lung capacity.

Almost every adult and teenage beginner ProFit coaches meet across Dubai names breathing as the one thing standing between them and a confident freestyle stroke. It is a fair complaint - unlike floating or kicking, breathing in freestyle asks you to coordinate your lungs, your head rotation, and your stroke timing all at once, usually while still feeling unsure in the water at all.

The good news is that the fix is almost always the same handful of habits, not a personal flaw. This guide walks through exactly how to exhale underwater, when to turn your head, how bilateral breathing works, the mistakes that cause swallowed water, and drills you can run in a home or building pool.

How Do You Exhale Underwater While Swimming Freestyle?

Exhale the moment your face goes back into the water, not right before the next breath. A steady trickle of bubbles through your nose, your mouth, or both works equally well, and Swim England describes a gentle continuous trickle and one bigger, more explosive release right before the head turns as equally valid styles. The mistake to avoid is holding the breath entirely and only starting to exhale once your mouth clears the surface, which leaves no time to inhale properly.

Step-by-Step: The Freestyle Breathing Cycle

Every stroke of freestyle breathing follows the same five-part cycle. Beginners usually only need to slow it down and isolate each part before it clicks as one smooth motion.

What's the Right Breathing Rhythm for a Beginner?

Start by breathing to one side every second stroke cycle - it is the pattern that feels safest while every other part of the stroke is still new. According to Swim England's front-crawl guidance, breathing every three strokes and alternating sides is the standard rhythm swimmers work toward once the basics settle, since it keeps the stroke balanced on both sides of the body.

Should Beginners Learn Bilateral Breathing?

Bilateral breathing means breathing to both sides instead of only one, and it is genuinely useful once one-sided breathing feels automatic. It keeps the stroke symmetrical instead of over-rotating to a favourite side, and it means being stuck against a pool wall or another swimmer on your "good" side is no longer a problem.

The most common issue swimmers hit when they first try bilateral breathing is running out of air on the new side - and it is almost always caused by an incomplete exhale, not an actual lack of oxygen. Adding a few bilateral breaths during an easy warm-up length, before trying it across a whole distance swim, is the gentlest way in.

Common Freestyle Breathing Mistakes and How to Fix Them

Almost every beginner breathing problem traces back to one of four habits. Fixing the head position alone resolves most of them.

If swallowing water keeps happening despite fixing head position, the usual culprit is timing rather than technique - breathing a fraction too late, after the bow wave has already broken over the mouth. A coach watching in person catches this in a way self-correction rarely does, which is part of why private lessons tend to fix breathing faster than solo practice.

Drills You Can Practise at Your Dubai Home Pool

Villa and building pools across Dubai are usually plenty long enough to isolate breathing before adding the rest of the stroke back in. These four drills need no equipment beyond the pool itself.

None of these need a lane or a facility - a shallow end where you can stand comfortably is enough for the wall and bubble drills, and most Dubai Marina tower pools or villa pools like those in Arabian Ranches have the space for it.

How Long Does It Take to Learn Proper Freestyle Breathing?

Breathing rarely arrives in one session - it builds alongside floating, kicking, and arm stroke. The milestones below track roughly with ProFit's published adult beginner timeline for weekly private lessons at a home or building pool.

Twice-weekly lessons compress this noticeably, since breathing is a rhythm skill that fades faster than most between long gaps. Nervous beginners sometimes need extra sessions at the earlier stages - our guide to overcoming fear of water covers that groundwork in detail.

Getting Breathing Fixed at Your Own Pool

Every ProFit coach is STA-certified, so the breathing fundamentals above are taught the same way whichever instructor a family or adult beginner is matched with. Lessons happen at your own villa or building pool - first lesson AED 99, a regular single lesson AED 300, with packages of 4, 8, 10, 20, or 30 sessions bringing the per-lesson rate down. Full pricing sits on our pricing page.

For adults specifically, our adult swimming lessons page covers what a full beginner course looks like beyond breathing alone - floating, kicking, and stroke mechanics included.

FAQs

• How often should you breathe when swimming freestyle?

  Most beginners start by breathing every second stroke cycle, on one side, because it feels safest and keeps oxygen flowing while every other skill is still new. Once side breathing feels automatic, moving to bilateral breathing (roughly every three strokes, alternating sides) balances the stroke and is the pattern most structured swim curricula introduce next.

• Do you breathe in through your mouth or your nose when swimming freestyle?

  Inhale through your mouth in the split second your head is turned to the side - it is faster and lets you take a fuller breath than the nose alone. Exhale underwater through your mouth, your nose, or a mix of both; what matters far more than the exact route is that the air actually leaves your lungs before you need the next breath.

• Why do I keep swallowing water when I try to breathe swimming freestyle?

  Swallowing water almost always means the head is lifting up and forward instead of rotating sideways, which points the mouth straight at an oncoming wave of your own bow wave. Rotating the head so one ear stays on the water's surface, timed to the body roll rather than fought against it, is the fix ProFit coaches drill first.

• Is bilateral breathing better than breathing on only one side?

  For most swimmers, yes, over time - it keeps the stroke symmetrical, avoids overworking one shoulder, and removes the problem of being stuck if your "good" side happens to face a pool wall or another swimmer. It is not a first-lesson skill, though; coaches introduce it once one-sided breathing is relaxed and automatic.

• How long does it take to learn proper freestyle breathing as a beginner?

  For adult beginners taking weekly private lessons, a workable one-sided breathing rhythm during continuous swimming typically lands around sessions 13-20, with comfortable bilateral breathing following by sessions 20-35 - broadly in line with ProFit's published milestone data for adult learners. Twice-weekly lessons compress that timeline noticeably.