Exhale during swimming.

I breathe out through the nose. Try and time it right before I get a breath.

bubble through my nose and then while my head is turning to come up/exiting the water blow the rest out of my mouth. I kind of picturing it as blowing the water away from my mouth so I can breathe. I doubt it actually does that, but thats how I imagine it.

EDIT: I just wanted to note that I do it that way because it is natural to me. I think you should do whatever comes easiest to you.
"You can exhale through your mouth or through your nose or through both, it doesn't matter. But when your face is in the water you should be exhaling all the time in one constant stream of bubbles."

Read more: http://www.swimsmooth.com/exhalation.html

Edited by Lupy 2016-04-10 4:10 PM

I'm an AOS swimmer. I am still not fast, but the distances no longer intimidate me.

That being said ............

I breathe out (of my mouth) as soon as it goes back into the water. I breathe out, until I take another breath. I'd be very careful breathing out with your mouth and holding it until the end. I've seen people try to breath out and in with their mouth out of the water. You don't have time for that.

Good luck.

I think the "natural" aspect is important. I blow out my nose in a very methodical continuous motion so that when my third stroke comes, I'm ready to breathe. I've been told that I need to hold my fresh breath and blow it all out strongly right before I take a breath. However, that holding of the breath makes me winded and I get tired much quicker.
So, for me, it's a long steady exhale through my nose that continues even after my face is out of the water to breathe. I've had problems with my sinuses since I've been swimming so continuing to exhale all the way until I take my quick breath clears my nose very well.
Again, it works for me but it works so I'm not changing anything.

I used to think that I only exhaled through my mouth, then I tried wearing nose plugs and learned that I was exhaling through both my mouth and nose. I do exhale gently pretty much the entire time my face is in the water, but I don't know if that is "best" or not.

I feel like I mostly exhale out the nose but know some comes out of my mouth too. Sometimes I kind of hum on the exhale.

Hmmm - honestly I'm trying to think about how I exhale and I have no idea whether it's nose or mouth or both. Funny.

I do try to completely exhale underwater and then quickly inhale when my mouth is out of the water.

So today in the pool I paid attention to this. I breathe out through my nose. Pretty much exclusively. Good to know, I guess.