I am trying to condition myself to breath every 3 strokes instead of 2. Will this help make me a faster and more efficient swimmer? Are their any other benefits that I will receive from breathing every 3 strokes?
Breathing every 3 strokes may help you swim straighter, but it might not help fix the root cause for your drift. Swimming straight has more to do with hand placement and your pull, than it does with breathing. However I do see a lot of one-side breathers drift towards their breathing side because they cross-over with the opposite hand. If you bilateral breathe and overreach, you are still crossing over and making your stroke inefficient, you will just wiggle instead of drift.
I try to get swimmers to learn to swim straight breathing to the left, right and bilaterally; so they are prepared to adjust to race conditions (sun, chop, course design, etc.).
Bilateral breathing should help with body symmetry, but you should be working on this regardless of your breathing pattern.
Breathing every 3 strokes may help you swim straighter, but it might not help fix the root cause for your drift. Swimming straight has more to do with hand placement and your pull, than it does with breathing. However I do see a lot of one-side breathers drift towards their breathing side because they cross-over with the opposite hand. If you bilateral breathe and overreach, you are still crossing over and making your stroke inefficient, you will just wiggle instead of drift.
I try to get swimmers to learn to swim straight breathing to the left, right and bilaterally; so they are prepared to adjust to race conditions (sun, chop, course design, etc.).
Bilateral breathing should help with body symmetry, but you should be working on this regardless of your breathing pattern.
