I have been working on bilateral breathing for several months. Now I have found that my stroke has shortened and I am rotating much less. My hands tend to enter the water closer to my head than I would like. Anyone else have a similar experience?
After 34 years of being barked at to bilateral breathe, my current coach has finally figured out I'm just not gonna do it and has given up. He does force it on hypoxic sets by doing odd breathing numbers and I do it on pull sets. Old dogs, new tricks, as they say.
I have been working on bilateral breathing for several months. Now I have found that my stroke has shortened and I am rotating much less. My hands tend to enter the water closer to my head than I would like. Anyone else have a similar experience?
No. Bilateral breathing should improve your rotation. Some side-kicking drills should help:
Right arm extended, left arm at side, do 10 kicks.
Then pull with right arm and extend left arm, and do 10 kicks.
Then pull with left arm and extend right arm, and do 8 kicks.
Repeat and continually reduce number of kicks on each side until you are swimming at normal tempo, but still focusing on "rotation".
It's a classic! :woot:
How about your strokes per length are they up or down. Are you swimming with bilateral breathing all the time? I personally would only bilateral breath occasionaly.
I think bilateral breathing is overrated.
Just because a particular method is taught at swimming pools across the nation does not mean it's right for you. It seems to me that many elite athletes compete sans bilateral breathing. Phelps is known for breathing every stroke in his fly...how many coaches teach that method?
My stroke count is unchanged, at least when I'm not fatigued.
Until recently I had been breathing bilaterally all of the time, except at the end of a difficult set. Our coach saw that I was swimming relatively flat, with my hands entering from the side (if that makes sense) then extending some distance underwater at a downward angle to reach the catch.
Didn't you switch to bilateral breathing to help a shoulder issue? And/or to prevent a dropped left elbow?
Actually my shoulder had healed before that (months of rehab). I began bilateral breathing to make my stroke more symmetric and (I hoped) more efficient. I thought that might produce faster times.
Bilateral breathing was thought to be the end all and be all for all swimmers. Swim all distances and bilateral breathe.
Not so I do get a person to take a breath on the side that is not natural by a little bilateral breathing. It helps you learn to take a breath on your wrong side.
For the contrarian view: I forced myself to learn bilateral breathing as a teenager, to even out shoulder wear. At first it was very awkward but once I mastered it I came to prefer it and now I always use it. I find that it does even out my rotation and keep me going in a straight line (very useful in open water).
