I passed an instructor at our pool today who was saying to some kids learning freestyle that if they are right handed, they will most likely breathe on the right side, and left handed people breathe on the left side. I don't know if I agree, so I want to get your poll results:
I'm right handed and I breathe most naturally on my right side.
I'm left handed and I breathe most naturally on my left side.
My handedness and my most natural breathing side are opposite
I am truly ambidextrous and breathe with equal comfort on both sides
I am one side dominant, but have trained my self to be a comfortable bilateral breather
This was an elite swimmer in a high level program (she made the finals in the '04 Olympic Trials in the 200 and 400 IM). The fact that her coach wanted to mess with her turn (which I agree had to feel really, really weird) as opposed to her first stroke to me means that the first dig must be very important, and either more difficult to change or with change having a greater potential negative effect than the change in the turn.
Small stuff, to be sure. But at that level, it's the small stuff that makes or breaks your swim.
This was an elite swimmer in a high level program (she made the finals in the '04 Olympic Trials in the 200 and 400 IM). The fact that her coach wanted to mess with her turn (which I agree had to feel really, really weird) as opposed to her first stroke to me means that the first dig must be very important, and either more difficult to change or with change having a greater potential negative effect than the change in the turn.
Small stuff, to be sure. But at that level, it's the small stuff that makes or breaks your swim.
