Loping Freestyle Technique

From checking the videos the loping pattern is 1(pull), 2(pull), 1(glide)... ..1(pull), 2(pull), 1 (glide)... and so forth. The question is "which arm, left or right, goes first in the sequence 1(pull), 2(pull), 1(glide) ?". Phelps lopes: right (pull), left (pull), right (glide). Is he left handed ? Should the stronger arm go first, or second ? What about other known lopers ?

I tried just a few strokes of it the other day during practice. Seemed pretty natural to me, but then I'm not a bilateral breather. It felt sort of like tossing in one rep of a single-arm fly drill at the right time.

I tried loping during my 500 Free in a meet on Saturday and all I have to say is that I will be practicing this and doing in competition from now on. I definitely noticed a difference in my breathing pattern and my ability to remain streamline on each stroke.

How do you try loping? I'm curious but don't really understand what it would take to switch from a symmetrical breathe-every-3 stroke to a lope. Is it kind of like the dolphining stroke that open water swimmers use for sighting?

I did a set of 400s (meters) yesterday; I naturally lope when I do distance sets. Ande pointed out that it takes alot of "core" stregnth to lope properly. He is right on with that. After the 400s I did a set of dolphin kicks on my back and my stomach felt very fatigued.

This post is ****ing up my stroke! I have a symmetrical stroke, I have been always trying to swim like Thorpe, but I also tried sometime the Phelpesian stroke. Now, every time I'm swimming, I'm like, one lap symmetric, and the next one loping, I timed both ways swimming 400s with enough rest, And is very much the same speed. (a little faster with symmetrical cause I’m more used to) symmetrical you don't have that much air, and loping my left arm gets more tired that the right. What I'm saying is, I don't know what to do now. I like both, very similar speed, but I can't keep swimming with this thought of doing this or that. Any thought's? Even though I lope, I still don't quite understand why someone would change their stroke to adopt it. My advice: let your need for oxygen decide your breathing pattern, and go from there. Probably loping is a natural result of breathing every other stroke (ie, always to one side). I can see why that breathing pattern would give the fastest times for certain distances. Try it both ways (eg every other and every third) and see which works best.

This post is ****ing up my stroke! I have a symmetrical stroke, I have been always trying to swim like Thorpe, but I also tried sometime the Phelpesian stroke. Now, every time I'm swimming, I'm like, one lap symmetric, and the next one loping, I timed both ways swimming 400s with enough rest, And is very much the same speed. (a little faster with symmetrical cause I’m more used to) symmetrical you don't have that much air, and loping my left arm gets more tired that the right. What I'm saying is, I don't know what to do now. I like both, very similar speed, but I can't keep swimming with this thought of doing this or that. Any thought's?

i tried looping 200's and it was ok speed. For 50 this was slower than i do with non-looping swim. I don't want to experiment before Nats at all. But could imagine to do this this summer when i'm not compete. My goal is getting better with kick and looping swim.

Just a quick observation bought up in the YMCA Nationals thread about Rowdy Gaines' 100 free record swim. He appears to have a very prominent lope in his stroke. (1 minute seven seconds into the clip) And as was mentioned...it often occurs while breathing predominantly to one side. Alternate breathing swimmers seem to smooth out by comparison. YouTube - Morning Swim Show, News, April 17, 2009

When I first started swimming with the local master's team here, two people commented on my freestyle and said that I had a gallop or lope. Prior to this, I had been out of the pool for probably 15 years, but swam off and on to get in a workout. Long story short, they told me to correct my loping. I was just doing what comes naturally, as in it feels right. Now that I read this, I am wondering if I should continue with my cadence, because it does feel better, rhythmically. I breathe to the right. If I work on loping, will I overdevelop/underdevelop my shoulders or foul up my stroke? It is nothing irreversible I am assuming.