On my right side, which is how I learnt as a kid, I tend to find that I don't balance in the water as well as when I breathe on the left (the side I forced to learn bilaterally in recent months).
Feels like my lead arm (left) goes down (I think that's a reflex in trying to push my head up), and I've worked on holding the stretch.
That didn't fix it. Still feels like I begind to sag in the water.
I have now been tinkering with pulling back further on with the right arm (because I started to cross compare) to getting a better roll and glide; this seems to be working a bit.
Does that make sense? Is cutting the pull short (in slower paced swims) likely to cause a sagging feeling?
Undoubtedly I have a bad habit well ingrained...and without a coach to look at my stroke it's a bit of "cat and mouse" for me to analyse.
I have books with drills etc but I want to try and ID the issue if I can.
Sprints are not such an issue...but there are less breaths and faster turnovers.
Any thoughts?
Thanks
Rich
Bilateral breathing is overrated.
I've been working a lot on my roll and arm extension lately. I think the main advantage of bilateral breathing is balance. If you can extend your arm and roll well enough, I'm beginning to doubt that taking a breath to your "weak" side is all that useful. If breathing on that side helps you roll and extend better though, then it's a benefit.
Skip Montanaro
Have you considered that your neck muscles might be more flexible on one side compared to the other? When turning to breathe on the less flexible side, you have to roll more and the stroke goes out of whack.
Yes, but it seemed to fix when I stroked back further...I was trying to guage whether the symptom and the remedy I discovered made sense to others. I have noone to look at my stroke and pin point it. Incidentally my range of motion is more restricted on the better side
Stud! Stud! Stud!
Breathing, is an easy fix, easy entry, balanced pull from the catch and finish. Make no splash when you recover and enter. The only stick needed is to stick at it. Have you seen my new video on my home page a very relaxed swim no splash.
Stud! Stud! Stud!
Breathing, is an easy fix, easy entry, balanced pull from the catch and finish. Make no splash when you recover and enter. The only stick needed is to stick at it. Have you seen my new video on my home page a very relaxed swim no splash.
It's just the dofference between right and left is confusing. I think I was cutting the pull short with my right so I wasn't rotating over. I'll check the video. My leftside breath feels great although I cannot judge what it looks like.
Over rated but very necessary for balance. Not to be done other than a few times for balance.
Also if my right side is my default and I am not doing it efficiently I want to fix it...
..ok then, I'm a pefectionist that wants the ability to do everything as symetrically as possible...
Hey, knock yourself out. It certainly won't do you any harm.
