Side-breathing for fly

Originally posted by craiglll@yahoo.com His comments are on p 167-168. 1) The range of motion of the neck is very limitted. therefore, the side-breathers must lift their heads further out of the water than forward breathers. The next paragraph he says that might be okay. 2) Side-breathers rotate their body to the side they are breathing on. When I watch side-breathers, I notice that they tend to break the flow of their stroke for an extremely limited time. It is enough to cause drag though. They all tend to recover their arms & hands unevenly. It seems to me that they are beeaking some of the forward motion they have created. That rotation seems to be very dependent on their side breathing skills. Some people do have a tendency to tweak their whole body, others have learned not to. This side-tweaking I've seen mainly with beginners who are yet to get little more skilled in the finer points of keeping your body balancd and coordinated while swimming. Another thing that I noticed that for people who tend to have slightly forward rounded shoulders, they have to lift their head out of the water less to side breathe. Seems like it's mainky because their rounded posture makes it for a longer way out of the water to forward breathe. It's not just the matter of lifting your head out of the water, but you have to straighten your back and shoulders during the stroke phase where it's more natural for them to be moving down and forward. For someone with more rounded shoulders, this (lifting up) is not onky the longer path of travel, but it takes mroe efforts, not just moving your head bit extra work for your arms and shoulders. If your shoulders aren't naturally rounded forward, then it may be shorter and easier to just tilt your head up a bit to get air, since it's most likely already closer to the surface when compared to someone with rounded shouders. Those are just things I've observed happening in the clinics we teach, where I have been noticing that people with more forward rounded shoulders gave easier time breathing on the side. I think like a lot of little things in swimming, it boils down to one's body style.

Originally posted by Conniekat8 That rotation seems to be very dependent on their side breathing skills. Some people do have a tendency to tweak their whole body, others have learned not to. This side-tweaking I've seen mainly with beginners who are yet to get little more skilled in the finer points of keeping your body balancd and coordinated while swimming. Another thing that I noticed that for people who tend to have slightly forward rounded shoulders, they have to lift their head out of the water less to side breathe. Seems like it's mainky because their rounded posture makes it for a longer way out of the water to forward breathe. It's not just the matter of lifting your head out of the water, but you have to straighten your back and shoulders during the stroke phase where it's more natural for them to be moving down and forward. For someone with more rounded shoulders, this (lifting up) is not onky the longer path of travel, but it takes mroe efforts, not just moving your head bit extra work for your arms and shoulders. If your shoulders aren't naturally rounded forward, then it may be shorter and easier to just tilt your head up a bit to get air, since it's most likely already closer to the surface when compared to someone with rounded shouders. Those are just things I've observed happening in the clinics we teach, where I have been noticing that people with more forward rounded shoulders gave easier time breathing on the side. I think like a lot of little things in swimming, it boils down to one's body style. People who have forward rounded shoulders should do everything they can to develop the muscles that are causing them to be rounded. Always if a swimmer has rounded shoulders it is besause hteire pecs are pulling their shoulders forward because they all over-developed or becasue their back muclesare over-developed and pushing the shoulders forward. this is not a natural outcome. It should be avoided. Side breathing is silly and really a waste of energy and time! Peole who promote it are doing a disservice to those they are telling to do it.

Originally posted by craiglll@yahoo.com People who have forward rounded shoulders should do everything they can to develop the muscles that are causing them to be rounded. Always if a swimmer has rounded shoulders it is besause hteire pecs are pulling their shoulders forward because they all over-developed or becasue their back muclesare over-developed and pushing the shoulders forward. this is not a natural outcome. It should be avoided. Side breathing is silly and really a waste of energy and time! Peole who promote it are doing a disservice to those they are telling to do it. I've noticed since stepping up my swimming workouts and going to the weight room my shoulders are starting to look rounded. are there specific exercises I can do to get them straightened out?

Special thanks to Dima. The clips on the site were great to watch, but they did take a while to download. And thanks to Craig for bringing up those points. I recall trying to breath to the side when Mel Stewart won gold, but it didn't work too well for me. I've also tried it on Breaststroke, but it didn't seem to help much either. With Butterfly, I found that what works best is to kick. The more I work on my butterfly kick, the better my butterfly is. And I hate kicking. But my favorite events are the 100 and 200 fly. I notice that when I get tired I bring my whole body way out of the water trying to breath and I'm just killing myself by acting like a big anchor. Staying close to the water whether you breathe to the side or straight ahead is key. If you want to swim faster, read Ande's stuff: www.swimfasterfaster.com There's no silver bullet... ...and unfortunately there's no substitute for work. Thanks for the thread. :D

Originally posted by poolmonkey And thanks to Craig for bringing up those points. With Butterfly, I found that what works best is to kick. The more I work on my butterfly kick, the better my butterfly is. And I hate kicking. But my favorite events are the 100 and 200 fly. www.swimfasterfaster.com D I really think that people who sit at their desk all day, owe it to themselves to do something to make sure that their shoulders aaren't hunched over infront of their computer screens all day. Kicking hard and firm will also make it so that side breathing is useless. I noticed this mornign that when some one side-breathes, they aren't kicking as they should.

Side breathing is silly and really a waste of energy and time! Peole who promote it are doing a disservice to those they are telling to do it. The only disservice is those who ignore, in the name of conformity, the real benefits that side breathing may have for even a few swimmers I have not yet seen in this thread anyone promote side breathing over any other form. The thread was started by someone who was asking, in essence, how many other people were like him. A reaction like the one above is only counterproductive.

Originally posted by DAP Thanks for the pointers. I'll give the butterfly drill a try. It may take some time to get the undulating body motion of the kick right. Maybe belly dancing lessons would work. ;) I've always thought that fly is more about strength than technique. If you are able to get your upper body completely out of the water with one strong stroke, then I would say the technique is all you need to learn, but if not, then getting stronger will natually make fly easier to perfect. Doing one fly pull and having your arms re-enter the water will naturally put you in an undulating type of motion. As kids, I'll never forget what our coach always told us about doing fly-- to think of it as being a snake crawling over barrels. :D

Originally posted by Conniekat8 Wouldn't it be nice if everyone was in a position to afford not to. Sounds like you're saying that if for some reason, which is often out of their control, they can't set their weorkspace perfectly ergonomically it's somehow their character flaw. I had to fight with a former employer for a year and a half to get my workstation changed around so I wouldn't have to go to a chiropractor 2-3 times a week due to getting all tweaked. I know that the example I gave you is not all that unique. I know, I owed it to myself to quit working.. :rolleyes: lol! Connie, I know exactly what you mean! I've been going to a chiropractor for a neck issue (nothing to do with work), but started asking him during my visits to straighten out my lower back due to my seating at work. The chairs they give us encourage slouching, that is to say, they're more difficult to sit straight in than to just go ahead and slouch. after 8 or so hours of sitting there involved in your work or eh hem.. discussion forums, I'd realize how I was sitting and try and make a conscious effort to change it, but to no avail.... Finally I got another chair, but in order to get an ergonomic chair I have to bring in a note from the doctor about a pre-existing condition etc... and who knows how long it will take after that to get a good chair in here!.... Obviously sitting straight is prefferred, but it's not a conscious thing for some people, and sometimes you're fighting more than just an awareness of yourself. I've never tried side breathing, but a girl at practice does it, and she's got a pretty good fly (from what I can tell), but who am I right?.. lol.. anyway, I have studied her a bit and haven't noticed her shoulders crooked, or her hands entering a different times, it looks pretty solid and smooth.. I am still learning my fly correctly, and when I first started changing my stroke, I noticed I couldn't get my face out of the water enough to breathe without changing my head position and looking up.. (my coach said I looked like a hood ornament! lol). anyway, I thought of using side breathing just until I got the rest of my form corrected so that I wouldn't be inhaling a bunch of water anymore.. I have since got the hang of the new stroke and won't be side breathing, but just thought it might be an idea for a transition if anyone else had trouble breathing at first..

Originally posted by craiglll@yahoo.com I really think that people who sit at their desk all day, owe it to themselves to do something to make sure that their shoulders aaren't hunched over infront of their computer screens all day. Wouldn't it be nice if everyone was in a position to afford not to. Sounds like you're saying that if for some reason, which is often out of their control, they can't set their weorkspace perfectly ergonomically it's somehow their character flaw. I had to fight with a former employer for a year and a half to get my workstation changed around so I wouldn't have to go to a chiropractor 2-3 times a week due to getting all tweaked. Sure, the employer listened, and said they will, and due to renovations dragged their feet with doing anything about it, after getting a letter or two from a chiropractor, they still dragged their feet, because during renovations some adjustments that I asked for were supposedly undue hardship, because if they do this and that for me, they'll be obligated to make the workstation for the other 300 employees ergonomically correct as well. I know that the example I gave you is not all that unique. I know, I owed it to myself to quit working.. :rolleyes: