This refers to the long axis strokes. I know many (including myself) have better strokes on one side than the other (the latter is often the breathing side), but I wonder how predominant this case is among master swimmers. Also interesting would be whether some have been able to correct this problem through either drills or sheer hard effort.
I was taught to breathe bilaterally in the 70s. Now I find I can't do it any other way. After a 25 year swimming hiatus, I am in the pool every morning breathing bilaterally-- but I see on all those youtube videos that most of the big boys breathe every stroke even in the 100 and 200....
What gives?
I really don't think I could go back to breathing every stroke. When I tried it last spring for a short while I developed shoulder pain on the non breathing side (seemed to be a supraspinatus tendinitis) and after rehabbing that back, I haven't tried it again.
When I swam my first open water swim ever, The Hudson River Swim for Life, last September, I was really happy to be able to breathe on both sides and avoid (a little) the waves which I hadn't expected.
I was taught to breathe bilaterally in the 70s. Now I find I can't do it any other way. After a 25 year swimming hiatus, I am in the pool every morning breathing bilaterally-- but I see on all those youtube videos that most of the big boys breathe every stroke even in the 100 and 200....
What gives?
I really don't think I could go back to breathing every stroke. When I tried it last spring for a short while I developed shoulder pain on the non breathing side (seemed to be a supraspinatus tendinitis) and after rehabbing that back, I haven't tried it again.
When I swam my first open water swim ever, The Hudson River Swim for Life, last September, I was really happy to be able to breathe on both sides and avoid (a little) the waves which I hadn't expected.
