I was watching some of our Y's age group swimmers (average age about 12) yesterday with their coach doing some breaststroke timed 50s and noticed a few of them, when their heads popped up, not actually taking a breath--their mouths were closed. Their heads broke the surface with every pull and they certainly could have breathed, but didn't.
I have never seen this before and am wondering what the purpose of this is. Seems to me that if you have the clear chance to breathe--ya should! Anyone know why they wouldn't take a breath?
Thanks!
Wane McCaully thinks not raising your head to breathe my be faster(not something I have found true.)Once in a 50M BR I realized at about the 35M mark that I was so excited I had neglected to breath until that point.You don't really need to breathe much in a 50,but if you can there is no reason not to.
The wierd thing was that their heads were coming out of the water with every stroke and they could have easily breathed had they opened their mouths and sucked in some air. All I can think of is that perhaps they were doing these sets purposely trying to not breathe???
From the breaststrokers web site....
www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/.../200110-01st_art1.asp
"Only when I started practicing and racing the 50 *** by breathing every other stroke did my 50 times come down. And, boy, did they ever! I dropped two seconds and achieved a Masters All-American ranking. I even won a Masters national championship in the 50 breaststroke!
It seems that more and more Masters breaststrokers are swimming their races by breathing every other stroke. Almost everybody who does reports a drop in his time. I have also experimented with age group girls (ages 10- 13), and they have dropped their times by one second per 25.
Swimmers need to have fast hands and fast feet for the 50, without any slipping. By concentrating on the sculls and not breathing, the sculls become faster with more power output.
If anaerobic glycolysis is the energy system used for the first 40 seconds, there is probably no reason to breathe at all in the 50. Probably the only reason is to exhale carbon dioxide to delay the effects of lactic acid and acidosis. This will help in your next race, but not in the 50 you are swimming or just swam. The 50 does not begin to produce acidic blood pH like it does in the 200 ***.
I foresee 23 flat splits for the 50 yard breaststroke leg of the men's college 200 medley relay if swimmers use two or three strokes between breaths. And in short course meters, I believe a 26 flat for the men's 50 *** is possible."
Not breathing every stroke is very old-school actually, but doesn't make a ton of sense with modern wave action breaststroke. In any event, I wouldn't recommend doing it if swimming more than a 50. No stroke uses up oxygen quite like breaststroke.
Very interesting perspective. I sure could use to slice off a second on my 50...but am usually so in need of air that I'm afraid if I held my breath that my legs would go dead even sooner. Maybe I'll play around with it and see where it gets me.
