When I was a kid, it was drilled into me to never breathe in and out of my turns - coaches were known to hand out sit-up penalties for any breathing spotted between the flags and the wall. Now that I don't have a coach, I've noticed that I tend to breathe going into the turn, though I take one arm stroke off the turn before I breathe. I was feeling sort of guilty about this, but I just watched the women's 800 free from London and I noticed that all the women (whose turns I could see) were breathing in and out of the turns.
Is not breathing in and out of turns something like bilateral breathing (i.e. preached by youth coaches but not actually done by most elite swimmers)?
I'm pretty sure youth coaches stress not breathing in and out of turns because it slows most people down. Lifting the head to breathe before the turn, taking a little pause, and then breaking streamline by taking that breath after the turn. "Elite" swimmers can do these things so well that it doesn't slow them down the way it does us mortals.
I'm pretty sure youth coaches stress not breathing in and out of turns because it slows most people down. Lifting the head to breathe before the turn, taking a little pause, and then breaking streamline by taking that breath after the turn. "Elite" swimmers can do these things so well that it doesn't slow them down the way it does us mortals.
