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 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.
