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?
Former Member
I have problems with my arms-forearms getting stuck in water during no breath stroke. Interesting little issue here.
I think I know why.
When you breathe, your head is going up. This has a favorable impact on the whole body undulation which in turn facilitates the arm recovery.
Simple solution to your issue is to pretend that you're going to breathe even when you don't. I mean do as if you were going to breathe, but just don't break the surface (with your head) completely. This will have the same impact on your body undulation which will result into easier recovery.
And in the same time, you will truly make both strokes (the one with and the one without breathing) identical (almost), which is what the other members are suggesting.
I figured something out today. Today while messing around with some breathing-every-stroke fly during a warmup 200 IM, I noticed that my hands were close together as they passed my abdomen, I was recovering higher out of the water, and I was diving deeper. (It's entirely possible that I've been doing this for days but hadn't realized it before. I'm dense like that.) So for the last few strokes of the fly leg of that IM, I played around with adding more power at that particular part of the stroke cycle and OH WOW now I finally understand why Phelps does this. It adds amplitude to the wave. (I never understood it before because, well, each pull looks like an S-curve...) So, feeling like I was on the verge of a breakthrough, I swam my main set the same way. For the first time, I found myself swimming fly in a manner where it would be silly not to breathe, since I'm already up there. However it didn't actually add much speed to my workout; I swam a better-than-usual main set but that may have been due to my excitement. I will keep at it and see where it goes.
I am kind of jealous. I am yet to implement one of your discoveries (the other I save it for sprint butterfly).
The two discoveries you made are clearly described as the right way to swim the butterfly, at least by E.Maglischo. Most world class butterflyers, especially those that put emphasis on both kicks, pull by bringing their hands very close to each other under the body, before arm extension. I am still unsure why it is the case though.
As for recovering higher over the surface, well there again Maglischo clearly reinforce this aspect. He advocates breathing fairly high over the water, exactly for the reason you mentioned. Not only does it allow you to dive deeper, but he reports having studied a great phenomenon that also occurs. He mention about the effect of the reverse body wave (I think that is what he calls this). When you dive, a wave hits you from behind, thus increasing the forward thrust.
Many congrats.
I figured something out today. Today while messing around with some breathing-every-stroke fly during a warmup 200 IM, I noticed that my hands were close together as they passed my abdomen, I was recovering higher out of the water, and I was diving deeper. (It's entirely possible that I've been doing this for days but hadn't realized it before. I'm dense like that.) So for the last few strokes of the fly leg of that IM, I played around with adding more power at that particular part of the stroke cycle and OH WOW now I finally understand why Phelps does this. It adds amplitude to the wave. (I never understood it before because, well, each pull looks like an S-curve...) So, feeling like I was on the verge of a breakthrough, I swam my main set the same way. For the first time, I found myself swimming fly in a manner where it would be silly not to breathe, since I'm already up there. However it didn't actually add much speed to my workout; I swam a better-than-usual main set but that may have been due to my excitement. I will keep at it and see where it goes.
Nice. Keep us posted on how it goes. I'm on a pool break (local pool closed) and am really missing it.
I recently switched to breathe every stroke fly after reading about it on the forum a while ago. It is my new normal - feels great - and seems easier. The reasons for this listed above make sense. I haven't been in a meet since I've started this though. I don't know if I'll do it in a race or not...we'll see
I recently switched to breathe every stroke fly after reading about it on the forum a while ago. It is my new normal - feels great - and seems easier. The reasons for this listed above make sense. I haven't been in a meet since I've started this though. I don't know if I'll do it in a race or not...we'll see
Not sure I'd use it for the 50m, hence the need maybe for practicing every two once in a while, or totally hypoxic over 25m for instance.
Anyone feels faster every stroke as opposed to no breathing at all? I'm faster when I don't breathe, or so I feel. Darn, I am thinking, I haven't tested that *yet* this season!
But for a hundred, I'd start every two for 4 strokes, then every stroke for the remaining.
After 2 competitions, the verdict is in. I'm slower when I breathe every stroke. I've made the switch back to breathing every other stroke.
On a 50? On a 100? on a 200?
After 2 competitions, the verdict is in. I'm slower when I breathe every stroke. I've made the switch back to breathing every other stroke.
I don't know if 2 competitions is enough to determine a verdict with a change in routine. When making changes, it usually takes a while to adapt to them.
I ALWAYS swim slower during the first several months after making a change to stroke mechanics
