Train The Breath On Land. Race It In The Water.
Swimming is the one sport where breathing is rationed by the stroke. Every breath costs time, position or rhythm.
That makes breath control a genuine performance skill. It also makes breath holding in water a genuine risk. Both are true, and an elite program has to respect both.
Control your breath. Control the result. On land.
The Risk First: Shallow Water Blackout
Shallow water blackout, also called hypoxic blackout, is loss of consciousness under water from low oxygen. It happens without warning, often to fit, capable swimmers.
Pearn, Franklin and Peden (2015) describe it as a distinct and preventable cause of drowning. The mechanism they propose is hyperventilating before going under, which lowers carbon dioxide and overrides the body's urge to breathe. Oxygen can fall far enough to cause blackout before that urge arrives.
Franklin, Peden and Pearn (2018) identified 22 drowning deaths in Australia between 2002 and 2015 where hypoxic blackout was implicated. All were male, 17 were aged 18 to 34, and 12 happened in swimming pools. The authors note the true number is probably higher.
Our rule is simple. Vincere Protocol does not prescribe breath holds, hypoxic sets or underwater breath hold challenges in the water. Ever. All breath hold work is done on land.
Rules For Every Swim Squad
Pearn and colleagues report hypoxic blackout deaths in pools and the sea during activities including underwater hockey, synchronised swimming, freediving and breath hold challenges. Their main prevention message is awareness.
Make sure every swimmer and coach in your program knows these rules.
No underwater distance or breath hold challenges, in training or for fun.
No hyperventilating before going under, ever.
No breath hold games between teammates at the end of a session.
Anyone who wants to do breath hold work does it on land, with a coach present.
What The Swimming Research Shows
There is a swimming study, and it is worth knowing about, even though we do not use its in water protocol.
Trincat, Woorons and Millet (2017) had 16 competitive swimmers complete six sessions of repeated 15 metre sprints in the pool, either with voluntary hypoventilation at low lung volume (VHL) or breathing normally. This was done under research supervision.
Sprints completed to exhaustion rose from 7.1 to 9.6 in the VHL group. The normal breathing group did not change significantly, moving from 8.0 to 8.7. Peak blood lactate rose in the VHL group, which the authors linked to greater anaerobic glycolysis.
It is one small study. It shows the stimulus can work in swimmers. It does not make breath holding in a pool safe for a squad session.
Why Land Based Work Is The Smart Option
Closest evidence for land based transfer, team sports. Woorons and colleagues (2020) gave 20 well trained team sport athletes six cycling sessions with VHL or normal breathing. The breathing stress was applied on a bike, yet Yo Yo Intermittent Recovery Level 1 running distance improved only in the VHL group, from 1,111 to 1,468 metres.
That shows a VHL stimulus can carry over from one exercise mode to another. Be clear on the limit: nobody has yet tested whether land based VHL transfers to swimming performance. We treat it as a reasonable, safe application, not a proven one.
A 2025 meta analysis by Précart and colleagues, which included swimming studies, found the benefits of VHL repeated sprint training sit mainly in fatigue resistance and repeated sprint ability. Not top speed. Not VO2max.
What This Will Not Do
The research does not show higher top speed or a higher VO2max. Anyone selling breath holds as a speed or aerobic capacity fix is overselling it.
It is also not a replacement for conditioning. In every study above, the breath hold group and the comparison group did the same sprint work. Only the breathing changed. The sprints still have to be run.
How We Program It For A Swim Squad
Nasal breathing in dryland warm ups. Light, slow nasal breathing through mobility and activation work, building control before anyone gets wet.
Static breath holds on land, after a normal exhale. Seated or lying down, short holds, full recovery, no straining, never before getting in the pool.
VHL on the bike or rower. Short, very hard efforts with the hold at the bottom of the exhale, two sessions a week across a three week block, in the gym, supervised.
No hyperventilation. Athletes are taught never to overbreathe before any hold, in or out of the water.
Coaching Cues That Work
Exhale, do not empty. Breathe out a normal, relaxed breath. Forcing all the air out is not the target and makes the hold harder to control.
Hold, then go. Start the effort straight after the exhale and keep it short. The hold ends when the effort ends, or earlier.
Recover through the nose where possible. Take the first breath calmly, then settle back into light nasal breathing before the next rep.
Quality over volume. If technique falls apart in the gym, the set is over. This is a fatigue resistance drill, not a test of willpower.
Expect discomfort, not distress. Strong air hunger is normal. Dizziness, tingling or confusion are not. Stop immediately.
Pool time stays normal. Swimmers breathe as their coach prescribes. Breath hold training stays in the gym.
Safety: never do breath holds in or near water, never while driving and never alone. Stop if you feel dizzy. Get medical clearance first if you are pregnant or have a heart, lung or blood pressure condition. Shallow water blackout gives no warning.
Simon Kerle is an Advanced Oxygen Advantage instructor who works with elite athletes and professional teams. This is not wellness. This is your competitive edge.
FOR ELITE ATHLETES, THIS CAN HELP YOU
✔ Train a repeated sprint stimulus with breath hold work done safely on land
✔ Apply a hypoxic training stimulus in the gym, not the pool
✔ Understand shallow water blackout and why hyperventilating before a hold is dangerous
✔ Develop breath control through nasal breathing in dryland sessions
Performance takeawayThe swimming evidence shows the stimulus can improve repeated sprint ability. The drowning data shows why it does not belong in the water.
Train the breath on land. Race with it in the pool.
Want this in your program? Enquire about Vincere Protocol for your team.
