Published May 5, 2026 06:00AM
5 ways to check for mobility issues and then solve them
Watch any swim meet, and you’ll see swimmers shaking out their arms, doing shoulder circles, and rotating their heads to get loose and rubbery. While most triathletes can appreciate that a certain degree of shoulder flexibility is needed for swim stroke mechanics, the role of mobility throughout the upper body and spine in relation to breathing can get overlooked.
Hours spent working at a desk, doomscrolling on a phone, or hunched over the handlebars of a bike can create limitations in the thoracic spine, neck, trunk, and chest muscles that impact breathing on the swim. But it’s quite easy to tell if you’re affected by this – and even easier to fix the mobility issues that affect your ability to breathe when swimming.
How mobility issues affect swim breathing
First off, let’s take a deeper look at breathing mechanics. At rest, inhalation occurs primarily via the contraction of two muscles: the diaphragm, which sits at the base of the thoracic cavity, and the external intercostals, which sit between the ribs. The diaphragm contracts and flattens from below, while the intercostals lift the ribs and breast bone from above, expanding the chest and lungs. Exhalation occurs when these muscles then relax.
When oxygen (and thus breathing) needs increase during exercise, the accessory muscles of breathing are recruited to expand the chest cavity and increase breathing rate. These muscles include the scalenes, sternocleidomastoid (SCM), pecs, serratus anterior, and latissimus dorsi, all of which attach to the ribs and/or sternum.
These muscles have plenty of other roles, too. For instance, they also attach to various locations throughout the spine, neck, shoulder blades, and shoulder/upper arm, with the lats, pecs, and serratus anterior serving as some of the chief propulsive muscles in the swim stroke. The scalenes and SCM also turn and sidebend the neck.
The accessory muscles can all be prone to tightness, leading to restrictions in their ability to expand the chest and assist with breathing. Rib cage expansion also requires adequate mobility in the thoracic spine.
Swim breathing is particularly challenging in that the hydrostatic pressure of water shifts the diaphragm upward, and breathing has to be coordinated with body roll, propulsion, and maintaining body position, requiring mobility, stability, and timing throughout the entire trunk.
It’s common to experience a sensation of breathlessness during a Monday morning swim after a weekend of training on the bike. To understand if physical limitations are affecting your breathing in the pool, it can be helpful to identify typical areas where mobility is often restricted.
The following sections outline key areas for self-assessment and provide practical methods to improve mobility and ease breathing while swimming.
5 mobility self-checks and fixes to clear the air
Decreased thoracic rotation
Limited thoracic rotation impacts the ability of the ribcage to expand to breathe, and it also impacts stroke mechanics by impacting body rotation, scapular mechanics, and shoulder motion (particularly during stroke recovery).
How to test it
Kneel on all fours, then sit back onto your heels. Place your elbows and forearms down on the floor. Put one hand behind your head and rotate that shoulder and upper body toward the ceiling as far as you’re able.
The goal is at least 45-50 degrees of rotation, measured as the angle between your shoulders and the ground (if unsure, have someone snap a picture head-on to assess). If you can’t achieve this, you’re limited in thoracic rotation.
How to fix it
Research has demonstrated that thoracic mobility drills performed from both standing and quadruped positions are quite successful at mitigating these restrictions. In other words, the diagnostic self-test doubles as the fix.
On all fours, hand behind head, rotate that top elbow toward the ceiling, hold 3-5 seconds, and repeat 10 reps total. For some extra overpressure, a pull-up band (mounted from above) can be used to assist the top elbow.
Limited thoracic extension
This can be related to sitting in a forward crunched posture (i.e., at a computer) for prolonged periods and may become a longer-term structural issue. Limited thoracic extension impacts swim breathing by decreasing the ability of the ribcage to expand.
This also increases the overall work (and oxygen demands) of swimming by decreasing scapular and shoulder mobility, causing poor body position (and sinking legs) and neck strain, and making it more difficult to lift the head to sight in open water.
How to test it
To check for limitations in thoracic spine extension, find ideally a long foam roller; a pool noodle also can work. Lie longitudinally with the foam roller along your spine, supporting your entire spine from your tailbone up to your head, with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Let your arms rest at your sides and brace your abdomen slightly to prevent your lower back from arching off the foam roller. Observe what you’re feeling throughout your upper back. Is the pressure from the foam roller causing pain? Do you feel like you need a pillow under your head because it has to extend uncomfortably to reach the foam roller? If so, that’s a sign that your thoracic spine lacks extension mobility (or has developed a forward curvature, called a kyphosis).
How to fix it
To self-mobilize the thoracic spine into extension, grab that foam roller again or tape two tennis balls together into a peanut shape. Lay on your back with knees bent, hands behind your head, and the foam roller or tennis balls under your thoracic spine perpendicular to your trunk. Extend your upper back over the foam, slowly rocking a bit. Work along the length of the thoracic spine for about 3-5 minutes total, spending a little extra time on any areas that feel particularly restricted.
Tight pecs
Forward hunched shoulders from computer work or riding a bike often cause tight pecs. Tight pecs affect swim breathing by limiting the ability of the ribcage to expand upward and outward, and it also makes the pecs (remember, they’re accessory muscles of breathing) work less efficiently from a shortened state.
How to test it
Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Extend your arms directly out to your sides at a 90-degree angle, palms facing upward, making a T. If you feel tightness in the front of your chest and shoulders, that’s a sign of a lot of tightness in the pec muscles.
Next, pull out that foam roller again, and assume the same position as the thoracic extension test, except this time, again bring your arms out to that T shape. A little pulling is fine, but if your forearms can’t reach the floor without feeling like your chest is experiencing an intense, painful stretch, then that’s a sign of some tightness in the pecs.
How to fix it
A simple way to stretch the pecs is through a doorway stretch. Stand facing a doorway and position your forearms on the doorframe, just below shoulder height. Step through the doorway, stretching your arms behind you until a pull is felt in the front of your chest and shoulders. Hold for 30 seconds, then repeat 2-3 times, slightly adjusting arm height to reach different muscle fibers.
Decreased shoulder flexion/tight lats
Spending a lot of time in the TT position, completing a tough swim block, or simply not getting a ton of overhead movement can restrict mobility in the lats and shoulders. Because lats are so important to propulsion and contribute to breathing in swimming, shortened lats will make both of those processes less efficient, both increasing breathing needs and decreasing the ability to do so.
How to test it
Stand with your back against a wall, feet slightly out, keeping your head, upper back, and tailbone in contact with the wall. Brace your abdomen to hold a neutral position. With your thumbs pointing up, raise your arms straight in front of you, bringing them as far up as you’re able to.
Can you reach the wall behind you (without your back starting to arch in compensation), or do you start to feel pulling in the armpits and side/back of the rib cage? If so, this may indicate some mobility restrictions in your lats, which can be related to
How to fix it
The prayer stretch works well for stretching lats. To perform, begin kneeling in front of a couch or chair. Place your elbows onto the chair, join your hands, and bring them to the back of your head, then press your chest toward the ground until a stretch is felt in the back of your arms and ribcage. Hold 30 seconds, and repeat 2-3 times.
Decreased cervical rotation
Muscular tightness throughout the SCM, scalenes, and traps often comes with desk or phone work, particularly if your setup has you looking more in one direction than the other. Cycling, particularly outdoors, is also a culprit.
Underlying cervical spine degenerative changes or segmental mobility issues can also be at play. Shortened SCM and scalene muscles won’t be able to lift the ribcage to breathe as effectively, and limited cervical rotation also makes the simple mechanics of turning the head to take a breath more challenging.
How to test it
This one is simple: keep your head level and turn it (don’t cheat and rotate through the back!) as far as you can to the left, and then to the right. Normal cervical rotation range of motion is 70-90 degrees (measured as how far the nose travels from straight forward).
If you can’t achieve that without pulling or discomfort in the neck and neck muscles, you’re lacking some cervical rotation range of motion.
How to fix it
One good exercise for cervical rotation is a towel self-mobilization. Wrap a hand towel around the back of your neck and cross your arms so that the left arm is grabbing the right side of the towel (and vice versa). Hold one end of the towel down firmly, then wrap the other end around your cheek and use it to help rotate your head to the affected side until a stretch is felt. Hold for 3-5 seconds, return to the starting position, and repeat for 10 reps total.
