I was watching the duel in the pool USA v Australia and I have a question, Michael Phelps and many others seem to breath on only one side, I have heard many coaches advocate breathing on both sides for a more balanced stroke, Is it now just a preference or what? Just wondering.
Breathing to one side only (and poor stroke mechanics) led to my having a shoulder injury almost 2 years ago. Because of the pain, and my unwillingness to stop training, I forced myself to learn to breathe to the other side and now can go comfortably to either side. I make an effort to not use my arm as a "lever" to help turn to breathe but let the body rotation do most of the work. I now breathe to both sides during my workouts though I don't do alternate breathing. I'll switch every few strokes or every length and so forth. When racing I find that I breathe mainly to one side.
Breathing to one side only (and poor stroke mechanics) led to my having a shoulder injury almost 2 years ago. Because of the pain, and my unwillingness to stop training, I forced myself to learn to breathe to the other side and now can go comfortably to either side. I make an effort to not use my arm as a "lever" to help turn to breathe but let the body rotation do most of the work. I now breathe to both sides during my workouts though I don't do alternate breathing. I'll switch every few strokes or every length and so forth. When racing I find that I breathe mainly to one side.
