If we are supposed to be, in the front crawl, always rolling from side to side, what are the advantages of not breathing every other stroke or breathing less and swimming straight? Or should we roll to the side even though not taking a breath? Or is is the fact that the moving of your head a little more to take the breath making more drag? I can see the not breathing an issue in fly because breathing breaks the natural porpoising of the body. The more I swim the fly without breathing the faster I go, so I have to dwell with that, but in freestyle what is the deal? Newbie questions again. billy fanstone
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I like breathing to one side as opposed to breathing to both sides b/c I feel I can minimize my head movement better that way and keep my body position straighter.....but everyone is different in this regard. I think the head position thing is one of the crucial concerns about breathing b/c your head position is so connected to your entire body postion.....but since you're body is naturally rotating from side to side, I'm not sure why grabbing a quick breath interrupts the body postioning and general flow of the stroke that much in freestyle?? So I'm a little bit like you in this regards I suppose?
I like breathing every stroke also and for the same reason you mention here; minimizing head movement, but there is also a downside to breathing every stroke and it has nothing to do with breathing. It has to do with the fact that every time a swimmer turns the head to breathe, there is great torque on the opposite shoulder. So for us who breathe every stroke, the opposite shoulder is carrying a great burden all of the time. But I love the sensation of my body with one-side breathing only and I am rotating both right and left. And I am noticing more and more record breaking swimmers starting to breathe more often than they did in the past years. I am not sure exactly why bilateral breathing seems to be so important; it can't be balance because a relatively good swimmer already has that with body balance, and it can't be to see other swimmers because I can see them underwater. It has mystified me except for the fact that it distributes the torque to both shoulders instead of just one.
I like breathing to one side as opposed to breathing to both sides b/c I feel I can minimize my head movement better that way and keep my body position straighter.....but everyone is different in this regard. I think the head position thing is one of the crucial concerns about breathing b/c your head position is so connected to your entire body postion.....but since you're body is naturally rotating from side to side, I'm not sure why grabbing a quick breath interrupts the body postioning and general flow of the stroke that much in freestyle?? So I'm a little bit like you in this regards I suppose?
I like breathing every stroke also and for the same reason you mention here; minimizing head movement, but there is also a downside to breathing every stroke and it has nothing to do with breathing. It has to do with the fact that every time a swimmer turns the head to breathe, there is great torque on the opposite shoulder. So for us who breathe every stroke, the opposite shoulder is carrying a great burden all of the time. But I love the sensation of my body with one-side breathing only and I am rotating both right and left. And I am noticing more and more record breaking swimmers starting to breathe more often than they did in the past years. I am not sure exactly why bilateral breathing seems to be so important; it can't be balance because a relatively good swimmer already has that with body balance, and it can't be to see other swimmers because I can see them underwater. It has mystified me except for the fact that it distributes the torque to both shoulders instead of just one.
