Hi all,
I've been following the USMS forums for a while now and just registered. I swam USMS in grad school as a 24 year old and now swim masters (age group B!) in South America. I love swimming down here but most coaches are about 10 years behind in technique/innovation, so I basically rely on friends who are coaches in the US and swim sites to stay up to date.
It's pretty obvious that elite mid and long-distance swimmers breathe every cycle now, but have any of you forced yourselves to break a 3-5 habit and start to breathe every 2? I was taught to ALWAYS breathe every 3-5 and after 20-some years of that, I'm wondering if it's worth it in a race (specifically 200, 400/500). FWIW, I have major rotator cuff problems (who doesn't?!) with my right shoulder and seem to extend less with my right side than my left and am concerned breathing every cycle in practice would make that worse.
You have made excellent points on this thread, Julia, and I absolutely agree with you on them. Thank you for your excellent contributions to the Forums! :applaud:
Elaine, thanks so much !
Something I like to point out that I think is often missed is that swimmers have a pretty wide range of stroke lengths. Some elite men are probably taking 11 strokes per 25 yards, and I'm sure there are petite women who crank it up to 20 strokes per length. The man in this example would only get 3-4 breaths per length by breathing every 3, but the woman would take 6-7. That's a huge difference and I think explains why women tend to breath every three more often than men do.
Great points, Kirk.
My two cents:
Learn how to and be comfortable with bilateral breathing
Your certainly will want this capability if you do any OW swimming, especially any ocean racing
Learn how to breathe efficiently with limited disruption to your stroke (e.g, watch Nathan Adrian for his super quick breaths and almost no break in stroke cycle)
For me, this is the hardest part
Breathing more is generally preferred as the race gets longer
Figure out what works best for you
I grew up being taught to breathe every three
I know I'm faster breathing every two to my left
But, I get to feeling too unbalanced if I only breathe to my left
My solution in SCY/SCM then is to take two breaths to my right off the wall, do one 3 stroke cycle and then breathe every 2 on my left to the wall
Something I like to point out that I think is often missed is that swimmers have a pretty wide range of stroke lengths. Some elite men are probably taking 11 strokes per 25 yards, and I'm sure there are petite women who crank it up to 20 strokes per length. The man in this example would only get 3-4 breaths per length by breathing every 3, but the woman would take 6-7. That's a huge difference and I think explains why women tend to breath every three more often than men do.
Something I like to point out that I think is often missed is that swimmers have a pretty wide range of stroke lengths. Some elite men are probably taking 11 strokes per 25 yards, and I'm sure there are petite women who crank it up to 20 strokes per length. The man in this example would only get 3-4 breaths per length by breathing every 3, but the woman would take 6-7. That's a huge difference and I think explains why women tend to breath every three more often than men do.
That's really interesting! I'm a 5'3" woman and am on the higher end of that stroke rate spectrum. As for my two week update, change is HARD. At first I felt ridiculous, like I was breathing way too much. I haven't noticed a change in the quality in my training, but that could be because I'm so concerned with head placement, proper reach, etc. I've been breathing to the same direction so that I breath to opposite sides on the way up and way back and can feel that it's much easier breathing to my right, but because of my history with my right rotator cuff, I want to be sure to keep working on proper technique with that side. I'll stick with my regular breathing for 50s/100s, but am excited to see any changes (read: potential time drop!) once I finally get a chance to race the 200/400/800!
