Myth #7: When it comes to getting oxygen in freestyle, breathing every cycle is as good as it gets.
In almost every other sport but swimming (freestyle, fly, breaststroke), we get the luxury of breathing whenever we want. Typically, with maximal exertion, that means we are inhaling at a respiratory rate of between 50 and 65 times per minute. Not so in swimming.
Most swimmers breathe every cycle and to one side only (a cycle is two arm strokes, or hand entry to hand entry). Since many swimmers turn their arms over slowly (say 35 to 55 strokes per minute), that means the respiratory rate while swimming is 18 to 28; hardly what one would do voluntarily, if one had the choice. (try running or biking with that respiratory rate and see how you do!)
But you do have a choice...sort of. First, you can learn to swim with a higher stroke rate and second, you can try a different breathing pattern. Specifically, I am referring to a 2:3 pattern rather than a 1:2 pattern of breathing. What that means in the Left Stroke Breath Right (LBR), Right Stroke Breathe Left (RBL) Left Stroke no breath (L), Right Stroke no breath (R) terminology is the following:
LBR, RBL, L, RBL, LBR, R, LBR, RBL, L etc
So, as is so common in swimming, this too presents compromise. What are the pros and cons?
Pros: You get 27% more oxygen than if you breathe every cycle, and with oxygen you'll produce 15 times more ATP than without it, and hopefully produce less lactate. You get the associated benefit of breathing more...less fatigue. You get to see the scenery on both sides of the lake or pool.
Cons: Most swimmers feel awkward breathing to their weak side. The act of breathing slows the stroke rate. Breathing often results in the arm being pulled too far under the body, creating more drag. In open water swims, if there is a nice swell on one side, breathing to that side may lead to swallowing more water.
So this begs the question, if this 2:3 pattern is so good, why aren’t world-class distance swimmers using it? A few have on occasion, like Kieren Perkins. It may be that it is yet an undiscovered technique...or, more likely, in the world of superbly conditioned, oxygen deprived distance swimmers, it may be that the cons outweigh the pros. But for this almost-60-year-old-not-so-superbly-conditioned swimmer, who enters an ocean swim once or twice a year and dislikes any pool race over 100 meters, I love the 2:3 pattern, especially on those long aerobic sets. And for those swimmers who dare to try it (and it takes some getting used to), you may not actually swim any faster than by breathing every cycle, but, barring swallowing more water, I'll bet you will feel a lot better afterward.
Gary Sr.
Parents
Former Member
I tried this out during workout today. It changed my life. LOL. Seriously I think I'm going to stick with it.
I swam my entire 3800 yards that way today, except for a few 50s during warmup during which I breathed every stroke to try and get used to the timing.
My normal breathing pattern is pretty random. My good side is breathing right, so I mainly do that. I'm comfortable breathing left as well, but I feel like I get less power on that side so I favor the right. Sometimes I make a special effort to train my bad side, swimming entire intervals breathing only left, or going one length right and one length left, etc.
Switching to 2:3 for today was difficult at first. I think I actually swam a lot of it as 3:4 because I kept forgetting when to skip a breath.
Putting aside the awkwardness of breathing left more than normal, which I expected, the difference in how I felt was huge. My main set consisted of 12 200s with 15 seconds rest between each one. I never felt out of breath the whole time. While I was swimming it felt as if I had to unnaturally force myself to breathe more frequently than I was used to. But when I stopped at the end of each interval, I found that I was breathing at a fairly easy rate. I felt less tired, and also had the sense that I could spend as much energy as I wanted to on kicking without going hypoxic. Of course actually timing my kick was a whole other story - it took about a thousand yards to get used to that.
After the 200s I did an easy 100 IM, and then put on the fins for 4 100s sprint on 2:00 - also using the 2:3 pattern. I was going about 80% effort and managed those in 1:06 to 1:08, which is pretty close to what I would normally do at that effort level (1:03 - 1:05)
All in all, the results were good enough that I wouldn't rule out switching completely over to that breathing pattern. I plan to continue working on it to see where it goes. If nothing else, it's a great drill for evening out your stroke. Way better than breathing every 2 on your bad side, or every 4, 1-arm swimming, etc. I highly recommend trying this.
I tried this out during workout today. It changed my life. LOL. Seriously I think I'm going to stick with it.
I swam my entire 3800 yards that way today, except for a few 50s during warmup during which I breathed every stroke to try and get used to the timing.
My normal breathing pattern is pretty random. My good side is breathing right, so I mainly do that. I'm comfortable breathing left as well, but I feel like I get less power on that side so I favor the right. Sometimes I make a special effort to train my bad side, swimming entire intervals breathing only left, or going one length right and one length left, etc.
Switching to 2:3 for today was difficult at first. I think I actually swam a lot of it as 3:4 because I kept forgetting when to skip a breath.
Putting aside the awkwardness of breathing left more than normal, which I expected, the difference in how I felt was huge. My main set consisted of 12 200s with 15 seconds rest between each one. I never felt out of breath the whole time. While I was swimming it felt as if I had to unnaturally force myself to breathe more frequently than I was used to. But when I stopped at the end of each interval, I found that I was breathing at a fairly easy rate. I felt less tired, and also had the sense that I could spend as much energy as I wanted to on kicking without going hypoxic. Of course actually timing my kick was a whole other story - it took about a thousand yards to get used to that.
After the 200s I did an easy 100 IM, and then put on the fins for 4 100s sprint on 2:00 - also using the 2:3 pattern. I was going about 80% effort and managed those in 1:06 to 1:08, which is pretty close to what I would normally do at that effort level (1:03 - 1:05)
All in all, the results were good enough that I wouldn't rule out switching completely over to that breathing pattern. I plan to continue working on it to see where it goes. If nothing else, it's a great drill for evening out your stroke. Way better than breathing every 2 on your bad side, or every 4, 1-arm swimming, etc. I highly recommend trying this.
