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 always considered myself a "flyer" and was moderately successful at the National level (occasional Top-10). I've always been taught to breathe as little as possible in order to maximize my horizontal body position.
After watching Michael Phelps in the water and listening to him and his coach on a butterfly training DVD, I changed my approach and made huge strides in my results.
Michael's coach said that, depending on your particular physiology and how precise your "body awareness" is through dedicated training, you can swim butterfly not only faster, but farther by breathing every stroke.
He said, by breathing every stroke, Michael has learned to sacrifice very little horizontal stability in exchange for increased LEVERAGE. Leverage and increased oxygen uptake made the difference for him--and me.
I always considered myself a "flyer" and was moderately successful at the National level (occasional Top-10). I've always been taught to breathe as little as possible in order to maximize my horizontal body position.
After watching Michael Phelps in the water and listening to him and his coach on a butterfly training DVD, I changed my approach and made huge strides in my results.
Michael's coach said that, depending on your particular physiology and how precise your "body awareness" is through dedicated training, you can swim butterfly not only faster, but farther by breathing every stroke.
He said, by breathing every stroke, Michael has learned to sacrifice very little horizontal stability in exchange for increased LEVERAGE. Leverage and increased oxygen uptake made the difference for him--and me.
