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?
Parents
Former Member
Breathing is problematic in fly because it creates a horrible body angle in the water, increasing drag significantly. Don't breathe and you remain flatter and faster moving through water. Were it not for lactic acid and brain death, none of us would breathe on fly (or free).
Phelps minimizes the increase in drag by lifting mostly with the neck, not the shoulders and having two extremely powerful kicks that keeps him higher in the water. Side breathing can also help minimize the bad body angle, if done correctly; that means breathe back and to the side, not front and to the side. Otherwise, the side breath doesn't help much over traditional front breath.
In two Olympics, decades ago, I was a front breather and never breathed every stroke. Today, at 58 years of age, i breathe every stroke and to the side (rear), except for start and turn (lesson from Phelps). I love getting the extra oxygen. On a 50, breathe as little as possible.
The key in fly is finding the best balance between reduced drag and oxygen. If you front breathe with neck motion and/or side breathe, you can breathe every stroke and do much better. Since 1984, every male butterflyer who won the Olympic 100 m (except Pablo Morales) has breathed every stroke. That should tell us something.
Gary Hall Sr.
The Race Club
Breathing is problematic in fly because it creates a horrible body angle in the water, increasing drag significantly. Don't breathe and you remain flatter and faster moving through water. Were it not for lactic acid and brain death, none of us would breathe on fly (or free).
Phelps minimizes the increase in drag by lifting mostly with the neck, not the shoulders and having two extremely powerful kicks that keeps him higher in the water. Side breathing can also help minimize the bad body angle, if done correctly; that means breathe back and to the side, not front and to the side. Otherwise, the side breath doesn't help much over traditional front breath.
In two Olympics, decades ago, I was a front breather and never breathed every stroke. Today, at 58 years of age, i breathe every stroke and to the side (rear), except for start and turn (lesson from Phelps). I love getting the extra oxygen. On a 50, breathe as little as possible.
The key in fly is finding the best balance between reduced drag and oxygen. If you front breathe with neck motion and/or side breathe, you can breathe every stroke and do much better. Since 1984, every male butterflyer who won the Olympic 100 m (except Pablo Morales) has breathed every stroke. That should tell us something.
Gary Hall Sr.
The Race Club
