I am swimming with a new coach and she is quite adamant that my breathe every stroke rhythm is holding me back and I *might* hyperventilate. I look at breathing as a choice. I don't breathe every time my head comes up, but rather do it for rhythm. As in head down strokes tend to lead to my hips dropping later in a race. So, I find the head up every stroke helps me with that.
Is there any other reason why I *need* to take a head down stroke that she isn't explaining to me? I'm almost getting to the point where I'm tuning her out unfortunately, but if it's simply a 'hyperventilate' mantra it makes zero sense b/c bringing ones head up doesn't necessitate a breath.
Is the only reason to take a head down stroke to avoid hyperventilating? I have asked her this question and received 'yes', but would like to hear from the forum brain trust on this. Thank you! If this is a technique issue by lowering the head that will make me faster I'm all for it, but I want to hear the how and why b/f I potentially disrupt the rhythm of my stroke.
I am swimming with a new coach and she is quite adamant that my breathe every stroke rhythm is holding me back and I *might* hyperventilate.
Hyperventilation is ridiculous, one of those indicators that she hasn't put much though into it.
Here's the deal, the higher your head comes up the more you will slow down, it takes energy to get your head up. So you might say that if you don't breathe that you could use that energy to go forward and not up.
On the other hand, breathing half as often has a cost, that cost is that you get half as much oxygen and get rid of half as much co2. Those two things are definite causes of fatigue in swimming.
So, is it worth it to breathe only two strokes? I think it's personal. For me, on the 50 I breathe every three or so. On the 100 every 2 at first and then every stroke. On the 200 and the 400 IM I definitely am faster breathing every stroke.
So it probably depends on the intended race distance. In general I am a fan of breathing more rather than less.
I agree with the other posters that hyperventilation is not very likely, but what the coach may be talking about is inadequate air exchange when you breath too often. It never happens to me in long axis strokes, but sometimes on short axis strokes (especially *** stroke during an IM) I won't breath out fully on each stroke cycle and get the feeling of not getting enough oxygen. I have to concentrate on fully expressing all my air befor breathing in. It has also happened to me on butterfly when I breath every stroke, but more rarely. Just a thought.
I would talk with the coach again & stress that you will not go hyper. I am one of those that came from distance free & ALWAYS breathe on the side - it keeps my head down & hips up & feels much more natural to me.
I agree with the other posters that hyperventilation is not very likely, but what the coach may be talking about is inadequate air exchange when you breath too often. It never happens to me in long axis strokes, but sometimes on short axis strokes (especially *** stroke during an IM) I won't breath out fully on each stroke cycle and get the feeling of not getting enough oxygen. I have to concentrate on fully expressing all my air befor breathing in. It has also happened to me on butterfly when I breath every stroke, but more rarely. Just a thought.
Ah that's a good point I never thought of it that way. Never had that problem, but I think I can see how it might be an issue. It's really kind of a mute point in my mind b/c all I want to do is swim the 100 IM. It's 25 yards of fly which amounts to a handfull of strokes after a start and streamline. She has grandiose ideas of me swimming the 100/200 fly which I can safely assure you will NEVER happen.
Without knowing what your coach is seeing it is difficult to assess your comments. But from personal observation, I’ve never experienced butterfly hyperventilation. Butterfly hypoxia, yes and often, but hyperventilation, nope.
I’ve always believed the 2 main reasons for head down strokes are to keep the hips up and to smooth out and speed up the stroke. If head down does neither for you then Phelps away!
And if you really don’t want to change then play the Masters card and let her know that while you appreciate her help and advice, you are happy with your stroke as is and don’t want to change a thing.
I would talk with the coach again & stress that you will not go hyper. I am one of those that came from distance free & ALWAYS breathe on the side - it keeps my head down & hips up & feels much more natural to me.
Does the fact that I fight my hips dropping on longer sets when head down breathing indicate anything technique wise? Head up is just so 'normal' for me that whatever hip drop I get I compensate with my kick to offset. When I go head down it's so foreign I just feel as if I lose my connection a bit. On 50's my head up is ~ 2 seconds faster than utilizing a 2 down 1 up or 2 up 1 down.
I'd be thrilled to find a technique issue to fix for more speed, but breathing more head down only slows me down so sayeth the stop watch.
Most swimmers slow a little when they breathe,so not breathing every stroke in a 50 or 100 makes sense in terms of speed for them.If your stroke is such that you are as fast or faster when you breathe every stroke then do so.I am not sure it is possible to hyperventilate if you are reasonable exerting yourself.Hyperventilation is when you are breathing out CO2 faster than your body is producing it,leading to respiratory alkalosis and dizziness.If you are exerting ,you are producing CO2 pretty fast.The real danger of hyperventilation is that,since increasing blood CO2 is what drives the "need to breath" response,if you hyperventilate before a breath holding swim,your body won't insist you breath before you run out of O2 and you could pass out.Since you are breathing every stroke,you are not engaging in excessive breath holding, so that is a non-issue.
I tried that last week with a new assistant coach who's fresh out of college. Told him everyone over 40 grew up doing one hand touches in Fly. He didn't buy it.I said play the Masters card not the Joker.
