I've always tried to breathe every other stroke in fly, but watching the elites at Worlds breathe every stroke made me want to try it out. So recently I experimented with breathing every stroke in fly. Findings after a couple workouts where I averaged about 600 total yards of full-stroke fly:
Breathing every stroke has a negative impact on my body position
I can help that by kicking harder
The additional oxygen that I get from all the extra breathing helps fuel the harder kicking, but it seems like I'm working harder overall (higher perceived pulse rate at the end of each swim, but I didn't actually measure it)
Stroke counts and times are about the same
So I think I've found a useful drill to make me kick harder, but I doubt I'll be trying this in a race anytime soon. Has anyone else (who hasn't always swum fly this way) messed around with breathing every stroke in fly? What were your findings?
I'm going to try Solar Energy's drill. In high school, fly was my fastest stroke, and I enjoyed swimming 100's and 200's routinely. Now my fly is only fast for about 25 y, and I lose energy quickly. The thought of swimming a 100 seems impossible.
I traced my problems back to my breathing. With my body dynamic changed at 40, I now lack the trunk flexibility I had at 17. Even then, I lifted my head too much, but my hips didn't drop as a result because of my trunk flexibility. Now when I lift my head too much, my hips drop. The only thing saving my stroke is that I breathe every other.
I have tried focusing on diving my head forward into the water before my arms enter, but I either end up sucking water on my breath and choking or lifting my head too high again to ensure I actually get air.
Is there anything else I can look at doing?
For example, as people improve freestyle stroke, breathing becomes easier with only a slight turn of the head. Swimming freestyle, I am actually breathing in a trough created by my shoulders and head pushing through the water and as a result, my head only turns a little. Is there a corrollary for fly?
I'm going to try Solar Energy's drill. In high school, fly was my fastest stroke, and I enjoyed swimming 100's and 200's routinely. Now my fly is only fast for about 25 y, and I lose energy quickly. The thought of swimming a 100 seems impossible.
I traced my problems back to my breathing. With my body dynamic changed at 40, I now lack the trunk flexibility I had at 17. Even then, I lifted my head too much, but my hips didn't drop as a result because of my trunk flexibility. Now when I lift my head too much, my hips drop. The only thing saving my stroke is that I breathe every other.
I have tried focusing on diving my head forward into the water before my arms enter, but I either end up sucking water on my breath and choking or lifting my head too high again to ensure I actually get air.
Is there anything else I can look at doing?
For example, as people improve freestyle stroke, breathing becomes easier with only a slight turn of the head. Swimming freestyle, I am actually breathing in a trough created by my shoulders and head pushing through the water and as a result, my head only turns a little. Is there a corrollary for fly?
