Q&A for How to Swim Underwater Without Holding Your Nose

Try exhaling through your nose in a shallow end of a pool until you are comfortable enough to try it in deeper waters. Also, practice when your friends aren't around until you are confident in your ability to swim without holding your nose.

Practice in shallow water, with your feet on the bottom of the pool. Once you get used to that, it will be easier to keep water out of your nose while swimming.

It depends on how strong your lungs are. Some people can hold their breath for a while, while others have weaker lungs. Don't try to hold your breath for longer than it's comfortable to do so, and if you feel faint, immediately surface and get out of the water.

If you blow the air out of your nose, then water will not be able to get in. Try not to breathe with your nose, even when you come up for breath. Use your mouth to take in air and breathe it out through your nose.

There is no way to breathe underwater with or without goggles unless you use a snorkel or breathing tank of some kind.

When I do a flip turn underwater, I usually keep my mouth shut and blow air out of my nose to prevent water from entering.

Whenever you go upside down, try gently blowing air through your nose if you want to be sure that no water gets in. Don't worry if it gets in your nose, because it won't hurt you.

Start blowing bubbles out of your nose instead of plugging it; this will prevent water from getting up into your nostrils. It does not take very long to get used to it -- only about an hour. Just keep doing it so that it becomes habit for you!

I blow out of my nose lightly when I hit the surface of the water, which seems to do the trick. You can also just pinch your nose with two fingers if your hands are free, or dive in.

Yes, this is very normal. Many people can "close" their nose and never have any problems underwater.

Yes. But in case the current is strong, you should already know how to swim underwater without holding your nose. This way you can use both of your arms to swim better and fight the current.

If you choose to exhale through your mouth and not your nose, you will need to hold your nose, or the water will go inside. There are some goggles available with the nose blockers.

Make sure you don't inhale while you're underwater. Take a deep breath before you go into the water.

Upside down, the water will enter your nose cavity no matter what you do. You can use a nose clip, or exhale through your nose to reduce the water entering, but barring those, the water will enter. That's OK too, it's not that bad of a feeling. Just enjoy swimming.

Yes.

Exhale through your nose during the flip. While air goes out, water cannot go in.

The way our breathing works is that after exhaling, our body begs to breathe in. So if you're under water, exhale and stay under, you've not only let go of some air, but your body is also pushing you to inhale. The key to holding your breath longer is to inhale more. If you do some quick but deep inhale/exhale breaths, you fill up the smallest alveoli with unused oxygen. Then breathe three or four times at a normal speed to slow the heart rate down again, then inhale deeply and go under. Anyone can hold their breath for a minute; with a little practice, two should be achievable. The world record is about 15 minutes.

Just lift your head out of the water while still swimming, take a deep breath and put your head back in and exhale. If you are swimming front crawl, tilt your head left or right when you take a breath in.

Consider investing in a nose plug. It won't help for diving (as it will come off when you hit the water), but if you're just swimming, a good nose plug will hold your nostrils shut so you don't have to.

You won't be able to stay underwater for minutes at a time doing this. If you find you're only able to stay underwater for a few seconds, try breathing out slower.

It's not technically bad, but it slows you down and causes you to need more oxygen. It's better to not hold your nose if you're swimming for long distances so that you can use both arms to balance yourself out.

Try working your way up to swimming around without holding your nose. Start by getting used to putting your nose in shallow water for brief periods. Then, try to increase the duration you spend underwater. Eventually, you'll feel confident swimming around without plugging your nose.