BREATHING

As mentioned earlier, breathing presents few problems in the backstroke, since your face is always out of the water. It is best, however, to establish a consistent breathing pattern: inhale and exhale once during each arm cycle. If you breathe haphazardly, you will tend to breathe too shallowly and start panting, especially as you become tired. This will only make matters worse.

I like to inhale as one arm reaches the highest point of its recovery and exhale as the other arm does the same. Other people inhale and exhale as each arm begins its recovery. It doesn’t matter which pattern you adopt, so long as you are consistent.