After swimming around 4 years, primarily breathing to my right side I thought I'd attempt to mix in some bi-lateral breathing to my practices to help develop a more symmetrical stroke.
I'm struggling hard-core. Each time I try to breathe to my left I lose a lot of momentum and rhythm to my stroke. I breathe too late, I lift my head too much, which drops my legs, I scissor kick to maintain balance and generally become a mess. I have improved slightly but still struggle bad.
Right now I'm attempting my entire workouts with a 3 breath pattern but I'm thinking of switching it to 3 breaths on warm-ups/pull-sets/cool-downs and than breathing comfortably on main-sets/sprint sets.
Has anyone tried bi-lateral breathing after being a one sided breather for a while and if so what are some good tips to becoming more efficient at it?
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Former Member
According to this article from swimsmooth you need to stick at it for at least two weeks before it starts getting easier. I suspect it might take longer, though.
They also say that one of the biggest reasons that people struggle with bilateral breathing is because they don't exhale continuously under water. Presumably this messes up your rhythm when you try to exhale and breathe on turning your head. You certainly don't want to be lifting your head, though. Breathe in the bow wave just as you would when you breathe to the right.
I think it is also a flexibility issue, though and through years of breathing to the one side only your have become asymmetrically flexible.
It is something I have decided I would like to try as well for the same reasons as you.
According to this article from swimsmooth you need to stick at it for at least two weeks before it starts getting easier. I suspect it might take longer, though.
They also say that one of the biggest reasons that people struggle with bilateral breathing is because they don't exhale continuously under water. Presumably this messes up your rhythm when you try to exhale and breathe on turning your head. You certainly don't want to be lifting your head, though. Breathe in the bow wave just as you would when you breathe to the right.
I think it is also a flexibility issue, though and through years of breathing to the one side only your have become asymmetrically flexible.
It is something I have decided I would like to try as well for the same reasons as you.
