Why do I feel so squeezed when I swim?
April 1, 2016 3:44 PM   Subscribe

I've always had this experience when swimming, where my lungs feel SUPER compressed and I get out of breath easily. What I'm wondering is, is this me being out of shape or is it common to feel this way? YANMD. I'm just curious about other people's experiences.

Background - I have mild asthma brought on by cold air and/or exercise. My experience swimming is not anything like my experience when I run with asthma, which is more like coughing, lightning pain in my chest and a serious tightening of my throat, then a feeling like I'm breathing through a straw and I hear a wheezing sound. This is more ... feeling squeezed and losing my breath. I'm also not a great swimmer, and I haven't exercised in a while. So, it's hard for me to tease apart whether it's asthma or if everyone feels "squeezed" when they swim. Maybe my lungs just aren't in good cardiovascular shape. I am on medication for asthma, BTW, and I do have a doctor that I see regularly. Again, YANMD and I'm not looking for medical advice, just experiences of others.
posted by onecircleaday to Health & Fitness (16 answers total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: Is this only when you're fully submerged?
posted by SMPA at 3:48 PM on April 1, 2016


Best answer: Background - I have mild asthma brought on by cold air and/or exercise.

Swimming is a surprisingly tough workout if you're not used to it. You're using muscles to constantly adjust and balance yourself in the medium, but you don't feel it right away because you're essentially in zero gravity. Also, water is roughly 1000 times denser than air, so cold water conducts heat away from you very quickly. Which you also don't feel because air ironically feels colder to you because of evaporation.

So, you're exercising harder than you think, and you may be colder than you think. This may be the asthma, but it's just constricting you in a way that feels different.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 4:05 PM on April 1, 2016 [2 favorites]


Best answer: I was diagnosed with adult onset asthma maybe 5 years ago and only really learned to swim in the past year or so. Your experience sounds very similar to my experience - I think what you're describing is a function of both the asthma and the lack of time in the water. Even people who used to be very good swimmers or are in otherwise good cardiovascular condition need time in the water to 1) feel relaxed enough to both swim and breathe and 2) train their cardiovascular system to perform the demands specific to swimming.

I'd recommend finding a shallow short course pool (so 25 meters, not 50) and just putting in laps. Your distance will increase as you gain stroke efficiency and conditioning. Might want to look into some adult lessons for improved stroke efficiency, as its very hard to self-diagnose given you can't see what you're doing and the lack of feedback due to the weightlessness.

Short version: I don't think there's a trick here, other than maybe relaxing enough to both take a breath and really exhale as much as you can when face in the water so you don't build up CO2.
posted by NoRelationToLea at 4:14 PM on April 1, 2016 [1 favorite]


Best answer: If you find out the answer, do let me know. I'm a terrible swimmer, and my lungs feel just as you describe. My obese friend can swim 25 laps; when I work really really really hard, I can usually make it up to 4. Whenever I try to bring this up with anyone I am just dismissed with "you're lazy and should work out more." My own theory is that I just don't have great muscle mass or lung capacity (I struggle with carrying suitcases and hiking too), but who knows. Good luck; you're not the only one!
posted by Melismata at 4:15 PM on April 1, 2016 [2 favorites]


Best answer: I have a different respiratory condition that is sometimes misdiagnosed as asthma. As a kid, swimming was The Worst. I have not been in a long time, but as a kid, I was aware that it really wore me out in a way that did not happen to other people around me. I routinely napped after spending time at the pool. It was just killer for me. I was clear that it did not hit other people as hard as it did me. There was a difference.

I often felt like I just could not breathe in the water. I learned to raise myself up out of the water and get a breath occasionally, or just periodically get out of the pool.
posted by Michele in California at 4:16 PM on April 1, 2016 [1 favorite]


Best answer: I will also note that swimming can be a very odd combination of over & under stimulation. The sensation of water touching everything dulls and masks one's sensation. The balance against buoyancy instead of gravity shifts one's center up (lungs float) and everyone misplaces their center of 'gravity' The overhead motions coupled with a lack of visual cues results in very nearly everyone "overreaching" - entering across their central meridian.

Aaannd nearly everyone has to learn to breath. I may be a coach but I'm not your coach and I can't see you. Given what you describe though it's a reasonable bet that you're holding your breath. The asthma doesn't help this. Neither does anxiety, nor the reactions most people get when their face is wet.

In the water our bodies will often lie to us in counter intuitive ways. I would try investing a little time in some really basic breath control exercises. Note that breath holgding is only one component in breath control.

Blowing bubbles, holding the 'empty breath', breathing on a tempo (as in bobbing). That and having someone help you take a look at your body position. Nearly everyone swims 'head up', essentially uphill. This makes _many_ aspects in all strokes more difficult than necessary. Chief among them is breathing. Generally speaking the flatter the body position (parallel to the surface, spine as close to the surface as possible) the easier the stroke and the easier the breath.

Lifting any body part out of the water will result either in sinking or having to work furiously to maintain elevation. Don't swim uphill if you can avoid it, downhill is so much easier ;).
posted by mce at 4:40 PM on April 1, 2016 [4 favorites]


Best answer: One other thing - don't just chalk this up to being out of shape. I've seen military dudes in my adult swim lessons who struggle in the water precisely because they're so muscle dense. There is no slow swimming for these guys because their lower bodies sink like a stone if they're not moving quickly enough to keep their body positioning right.
posted by NoRelationToLea at 4:42 PM on April 1, 2016 [3 favorites]


Best answer: I vote for asthma. The chlorine in the pool will and does induce asthma, as well the exercise. Get an inhaler.
posted by My Dad at 4:48 PM on April 1, 2016


Best answer: i would try going to the pool and floating and breathing and seeing what happens. If you're fine, my guess is your breathing while you swim is off - probably you're not exhaling enough. Try swimming on your back and breathing while you build some endurance, and if that goes ok, you can get a coach for a few lessons to breathe with other strokes.

I had asthma as a teen and swimming helped a lot over time.
posted by warriorqueen at 4:54 PM on April 1, 2016 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: @ SMPA - no, this happens when doing the Onecircleaday version of freestyle or the dog paddle. (I never formally learned to swim). I do not seem to have this issue when I'm swimming on my back.

@ CoolPapaBell - it's a heated pool, but you're definitely on to something because this issue is 10x worse for me when swimming in a cold pool or the ocean.

@ NoRelationToLea - It's a 25 meter pool, so I guess that's on my side! And.... one's face is supposed to be mostly in the water? Yep, I think I need lessons....

@ Michele in California - Yep, that's exactly my experience - hated swimming as a kid, I love it now (it's so lovely being weightless!) but it's still really hard for me. Only doing it now because I can't do high impact stuff while recovering from compartment syndrome surgery.

@mce - I'm definitely swimming "uphill." Thank you for that advice, I never knew that! Also never thought about other folks' reactions to getting their faces wet, only children... how interesting!

@ My Dad - I do have an inhaler, though I did not know that chlorine can be a trigger. Good to know.

Thank you everyone for your great answers... "best answering" everything since you've helped so much. Sounds like swim lessons and a bit a lot of practice are in order....
posted by onecircleaday at 6:07 PM on April 1, 2016


Try swimming with a snorkel. This will give you a sense whether it's your actual ability to breathe vs. some problem of technique breathing in certain strokes/positions.
posted by soylent00FF00 at 6:18 PM on April 1, 2016


It's not just that one's face is supposed to be mostly in the water - most of your head should be in the water. If you're looking downwards, the waterline should be at your hairline or even across the top of your head. For side breathing the top of your head or forehead should still be pointed generally downward so that when you turn to the side your mouth is at least in line with your nose horizontally or even above.

Consider the alternative - if you're looking forward and you turn sideways to take a breath your eyes (which don't breathe) are high out of the water, while your nose/mouth are struggling to rise above the water line.

I still struggle with head positioning (which ultimately affects body positioning), but one thing I check for is whether or not my head is floating in the water or if I'm using tension in my neck to keep it in (a probably wrong) position.

Short version: get a coach or lessons and have them work with you on breathing. Asthma will make this harder but it can be done if you put in the work. A year ago I couldn't do 25 meters. Now I do maybe 300-400 meters 2-3 times a week while I watch my wife swim 1-1.5 kilometers. Also: listen to mce, as that's good advice.
posted by NoRelationToLea at 6:36 PM on April 1, 2016 [1 favorite]


I'm a pretty good swimmer with no breathing problems and this happens to me. I put it down to water pressing in on my torso with more force than air pressure. I have it some when I'm in the water but I really notice how much easier it is to breath when I get out.
posted by irisclara at 7:30 PM on April 1, 2016


Just to reply to this comment (you and then mce's) -

@ NoRelationToLea - It's a 25 meter pool, so I guess that's on my side! And.... one's face is supposed to be mostly in the water? Yep, I think I need lessons.... -

Lifting any body part out of the water will result either in sinking or having to work furiously to maintain elevation.

I wanted to suggest that, when you get lessons, you ask to learn the backstroke. In backstroke, you're basically flat on your back, horizontal, and your face is naturally out of the water. Compared to breaststroke and freestyle in particular, for most swimmers (especially beginners) it has seemed to me to be far easier to breathe normally and also because of the flat posture just far more of a pleasant steady weightless feeling without all of the motion and bobbing around.

Also - and, just as a disclaimer, IANAD and I don't have asthma - I wonder whether it would help if you did non-pool cardio work: I never felt the sort of "squeezed" feeling you were describing, but I also trained in long-distance running and sprinting year round as well (then again, maybe that indicates that it is your asthma that is primarily causing the problem...).

(Source: as I teenager I taught kids' swim team, swam backstroke and freestyle competitively and also was a competitive cross-country runner, and was a lifeguard.)
posted by ClaireBear at 5:53 AM on April 2, 2016


You might try taking up a hobby of hiking in mountains or vacationing in mountains or try living at altitude for a time.

I lived at 3000 feet above sea level for 2.75 years. It increased my rib cage diameter so much that it permanently changed my bra size in terms of the band measure (band is the number part, cup is the letter part -- band is about your rib cage size and cup is about breast size). This permanently improved some of my breathing issues, though it was a crisis at first. When I first moved there, for at least 6-8 weeks, I was waking up in the middle of the night due to not getting enough air.

If you go visit altitude when you already have some health issues, it is wise to take extra precautions and be proactive about staying hydrated, getting enough electrolytes etc. Well before you have anything like altitude sickness, you pee more at altitude to compensate for the fact that you are not efficiently breathing out toxins, so toxins start building up in your blood and then the kidneys start working overtime to clear it that way. This promotes dehydration and also electrolyte deficiency. Being at altitude is one of the few times I will drink Gatorade and not think it is vile.

But, spending time at altitude can increase your lung capacity permanently to some degree. This fact has benefited me noticeably.
posted by Michele in California at 10:24 AM on April 2, 2016 [1 favorite]


Are you fully and consistently exhaling under water? Most people don't. If I was swimming next to you the only sound, I should hear when your head comes out of the water is INHALE. No exhale at all, that all happened underwater.

It might seem odd, but the compressed can't inhale enough is actually about not exhaling consistently and fully.

This article is a good explanation.
posted by 26.2 at 12:01 PM on April 2, 2016


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