Breathing

Originally posted by SWinkleblech I was taught in High School to breathe every three strokes so that you are breathing on both sides. One thing that I notice is that no one seems to swim this way, not even at the Olympics. Is there any advantage to breathing every three strokes or should you be breathing to only one side? There is an advantage to be able to breath to either side, e.g. your competitor may be swimming to your right or left. Breathing to both sides should also develop a more symetric stroke, but many of the worlds fastest swimmers swim with an asymetric "lope". BUT, for anything longer than a sprint the amount of energy output you can produce is a direct function of the amount of oxygen you breath and process so you want to breath as much as possible without negatively impacting your stroke efficiency. Breathing every three strokes in races isn't generally a good idea due to the lowered oxygen intake. Breathing every three strokes during slower sets in workouts may be a good drill if you have problems with bilateral breathing. Or so I understand from my reading :)

Originally posted by SWinkleblech I was taught in High School to breathe every three strokes so that you are breathing on both sides. One thing that I notice is that no one seems to swim this way, not even at the Olympics. Is there any advantage to breathing every three strokes or should you be breathing to only one side? There is an advantage to be able to breath to either side, e.g. your competitor may be swimming to your right or left. Breathing to both sides should also develop a more symetric stroke, but many of the worlds fastest swimmers swim with an asymetric "lope". BUT, for anything longer than a sprint the amount of energy output you can produce is a direct function of the amount of oxygen you breath and process so you want to breath as much as possible without negatively impacting your stroke efficiency. Breathing every three strokes in races isn't generally a good idea due to the lowered oxygen intake. Breathing every three strokes during slower sets in workouts may be a good drill if you have problems with bilateral breathing. Or so I understand from my reading :)