*breath every stroke, same side
*breath every three strokes, different side
*breath every five strokes, different sides
*other?
How often do you breath?
Do you change sides?
What are the disadvantages, or advantages of breathing the same sides, every time?
Jerrycat :D
When I do the no breathers, I will do 25's on 1:30. That will give me about 1:05 rest. I can get the first couple in - as many as 4 on a good day. Then the last four become "one breathers".:)
It is amazing thought how much faster the first couple of 25's are than if I am swimming with my normal breathing rhythm. The first couple are faster by maybe 2 seconds. Breathing seems to slow down the pace. Of course, the trick is to find the balance - enough breathing so that you don't crash, but not more than you need so that you don't slow down.
Or better yet, develop your breathing to the point where it doesn't slow you down at all. Has anyone out there reached that point?
We did no breathers today! Or, I should say we were told not to breathe. We did 10x25's on the minute. I still got plenty of rest (20-25 sec) but only made the first one without a breathe. I'm just not good at hypoxic.
I breathe every complete arm cycle (i.e., always on the same side). Once in a while I'll breathe bilaterally in practice just to try to balance my stroke.
I think there are two reasons to breathe bilaterally:
1) more symmetrical stroke
2) can see competitors on both sides more easily
It's nice to strive for a balanced stroke, but there are plenty of elite swimmers who have a decidedly unbalanced stroke, and it seems to work for them.
The advantage of breathing on the same side, every stroke, is you're getting the maximum amount of oxygen. Your muscles need oxygen so why not give them as much as possible?
Why do no-breathers: no breathers will increase your excellerate body's ability to utilize oxygen efficiently. By excellerate, I mean a short set of no breathers *could* have the same impact as a long set of 100s.
It is also believed that breath control sets will increase your oxygen uptake.
And finally, a symetric stroke is more efficient than a nonsymetric stroke, so breathing less will improve your speed unless, as Knelson points out, your oxygen deprivation is too great and costs too much energy.
I was taught to breathe every three strokes and I am still in that habit. A fellow swim team member always comments on how I do that even in my 500's. I don't know the reason behind doing every three strokes but I was taught that is the best way to breathe. I may go five or even seven on my first 25 but once I go farther I settle into that every three strokes.
Hey lcolette I'm a trumpet player myself. I always knew that those percussion players marched to a different beat.
Like I said in the other thread about breathing, for me depends on the event.
50/100 - every 4 or 5, shortened stroke from distance
200 - 2/3/2/3 pattern
500+ - every two
If I try breathing every 3 in a distance race it always comes back to bite me in the butt. After about a 400-500, I find I am much more tired and getting into O2 debt. I also have sports induced asthma, so that never help either.
I suspect that this poll was originally freestyle specific. I am a butterflyer and I will choose to respond as a butterflyer. I did not cast a vote because of above.
In a 50m race, I will take as few breaths as possible. My best times (scm) have been with only the single breath at the turn.
In a 100m race, I will breath every 2-3 strokeswith most of the 2 stroke breathing in the second 50.
In a 200, I will breath every 1-3 strokes.
I will breath from directly to my left to directly in front and all spots in between. I don't consciously try to control exactly where I breath it just happens and it feels natural.
