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
Right handed, breathe right most naturally. However, I try to bi-lateral breathe most of the time in practice. I breathe in a R,R,3 strokes, L,L, 3 strokes, etc. BUT, when I get tired, or when racing over 100 yds, I default to breathing R,R,R,R,R... :-)
I think people breathe to the opposite side of their 'flexible side'. Just like Jim (Thornton) wrote earlier, most people have a more flexible, more limber side of their body. The down-side when breathing is flexed a bit more than when you don't take a breath. If you breathe R, the down-side is the L. And vice versa.
There's a stretch where you reach one arm up and over your head and reach the other up behind your back and attempt to grab your hands together. I wonder if people try this, they'll find that they breathe to the opposite side of the hand the can reach the furthest up your back. Here's a picture showing what I am poorly trying to explain:
scythe.uits.indiana.edu/.../cowface.htm
So, for example, on me I can actually grasp my hands together when my left arm is the one that's reaching up behind my back. My left side is more flexible and I breathe right. When the right arm is reaching up, I can't get my hands to touch.
Just a thought...
Right handed, breathe right most naturally. However, I try to bi-lateral breathe most of the time in practice. I breathe in a R,R,3 strokes, L,L, 3 strokes, etc. BUT, when I get tired, or when racing over 100 yds, I default to breathing R,R,R,R,R... :-)
I think people breathe to the opposite side of their 'flexible side'. Just like Jim (Thornton) wrote earlier, most people have a more flexible, more limber side of their body. The down-side when breathing is flexed a bit more than when you don't take a breath. If you breathe R, the down-side is the L. And vice versa.
There's a stretch where you reach one arm up and over your head and reach the other up behind your back and attempt to grab your hands together. I wonder if people try this, they'll find that they breathe to the opposite side of the hand the can reach the furthest up your back. Here's a picture showing what I am poorly trying to explain:
scythe.uits.indiana.edu/.../cowface.htm
So, for example, on me I can actually grasp my hands together when my left arm is the one that's reaching up behind my back. My left side is more flexible and I breathe right. When the right arm is reaching up, I can't get my hands to touch.
Just a thought...
