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.
I've tried to breathe bilaterally but I get a terrible stitch-in-the-side cramp when I swim that way. When I say "terrible" I mean by endurance athlete standards. I have a high pain threshold, I can ignore a lot, but this is BAD. I've tried swimming through it and observed in amazement as the pain grows, and grows, and grows... When I go back to breathing to my left, I have no problems, other than an occasionally sore left shoulder. Does this confirm defect(s) in my stroke technique? Sure, but... aahhh I don't care.
That Guy,
I had that problem when I was first coerced into bilateral breathing. However, I don't think mine was as bad as yours seems to be. ANYWAY, I fought through it and ended up forcing myself to swim entire practices breathing to my weak side (left). It helped a lot, to the point where I think I now have a better technique when breathing to my left than I do when breathing to the right. I train with a lot of 3/2 breathing now, and while the right is still my strong side, I would say most of my races, even sprints, are 50/50 R/L breathing.
I've tried to breathe bilaterally but I get a terrible stitch-in-the-side cramp when I swim that way. When I say "terrible" I mean by endurance athlete standards. I have a high pain threshold, I can ignore a lot, but this is BAD. I've tried swimming through it and observed in amazement as the pain grows, and grows, and grows... When I go back to breathing to my left, I have no problems, other than an occasionally sore left shoulder. Does this confirm defect(s) in my stroke technique? Sure, but... aahhh I don't care.
That Guy,
I had that problem when I was first coerced into bilateral breathing. However, I don't think mine was as bad as yours seems to be. ANYWAY, I fought through it and ended up forcing myself to swim entire practices breathing to my weak side (left). It helped a lot, to the point where I think I now have a better technique when breathing to my left than I do when breathing to the right. I train with a lot of 3/2 breathing now, and while the right is still my strong side, I would say most of my races, even sprints, are 50/50 R/L breathing.
