Hi all, this problem has bothered me quite a long time. I have keep swimming for almost one year. I always breath to my right side. Recently I tried to breath to both sides. It is really hard to break the old habit. Finally I can breath to both sides (breath once per three strokes). But still there are problems. I can't do breathing once per two strokes to my left side (to right side it is ok). I will feel tired quickly if I do that. Also when I do the breathing to both sides (breath once per three strokes), there is an obvious diffence between the two sides. Breathing to my right side, there is a powerful thrust (at least I think so) when my right hand enters the water after finishing the breath. While breathing to my left side, there is nothing like that. So now I am confused, should I keep on working to make both sides equal, which I feel is almost impossible, or go back to the old way? If I go back to my old way, will it cause any problem? i.e. distorted spine, which is horrible.
Sorry for my nasty English.
Ideally your stroke should probably be balanced, but in reality it isn't that big of a deal. Some of the greatest swimmers in history have had decidedly assymetric "loping" strokes. I'm thinking of people like Tom Dolan, Janet Evans, Pieter van den Hoogenband, even Michael Phelps.
Increased shoulder injuries? I don't think having a loping stroke alone causes shoulder injuries. Poor biomechanics during the catch phase are the thing to be careful about. Maybe there's more of a risk with an assymetric stroke, I don't really know for sure.
Ideally your stroke should probably be balanced, but in reality it isn't that big of a deal. Some of the greatest swimmers in history have had decidedly assymetric "loping" strokes. I'm thinking of people like Tom Dolan, Janet Evans, Pieter van den Hoogenband, even Michael Phelps.
Increased shoulder injuries? I don't think having a loping stroke alone causes shoulder injuries. Poor biomechanics during the catch phase are the thing to be careful about. Maybe there's more of a risk with an assymetric stroke, I don't really know for sure.
