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.
For any pool race I do (mid-D in freestyle) I am pretty sure the cons would outweigh the pros, but I'd be willing to experiment for longer OW swims. Normally for OW I will do something like breathe every 2 for 2-3 cycles, then breathe every 3 once, then repeat. I guess this would be LB R LB R L RB L R LB LB etc.
Speaking of breathing: a common statement is that breathing into or out of the turn in freestyle (or butterfly) is a terrible thing. Perhaps, but I'd love to see some actual data to support this.
I have an observation, though: freestyle seems more laden with myths than the other strokes... :)
Speaking of breathing: a common statement is that breathing into or out of the turn in freestyle (or butterfly) is a terrible thing. Perhaps, but I'd love to see some actual data to support this.
At 2007 SCY Nats, while waiting for my heat, I watched Dennis Baker swim the 200 fly. From the flags to the wall before each turn, he took 3 short quick strokes and breathed every stroke. That mystified me at the time. It went against everything I'd been taught. But he went 1:51 to my 2:04 that day, so I didn't dismiss it. I think the purpose was to store up oxygen prior to the SDK's. Since then, when I feel the need to take an extra breath prior to the turn, I just do it and don't worry about it. I don't breathe on my breakout though. (I don't think he does either.) It's a momentum killer.
Speaking of breathing: a common statement is that breathing into or out of the turn in freestyle (or butterfly) is a terrible thing. Perhaps, but I'd love to see some actual data to support this.
I don't need any data besides my own as a 41 year old recovering alcoholic I mean swimmer. But the techniques of 1500M specialists seems to support that at some point the oxygen gain obviously outweighs the time loss.
Re: not breathing into or out of a turn,I think some swim coaches feel about oxygen the way some football coaches used to feel about water during a workout,doing without it makes you "tough".Breathing into a turn may break momentum,but not having enough air to properly execute your turn, SDK, and breakout is much worse.Also after doing SDKs it is important to get air ASAP(except in a 50 of course.)
Okay... back to the myth... If the 2:3 is so good as proposed by Gary, what about the 3:3 (breathing both sides each stroke) which gets you breathing each arm? Even more O2, yes?
Seriously?
At some point, there has to be an impact on pull, form and body positioning for so much head turning.
And I contest the idea that backstrokers get to breath whenever they want. While the opportunity presents itself more, there tend to be better, easier positions for the inhale/exhale based on the arm/body rotation and impact on the chest cavity.
But the techniques of 1500M specialists seems to support that at some point the oxygen gain obviously outweighs the time loss.
I am not even certain there IS much of a time loss. Or if there is, how big is it? I guess by "data" I mean measurements comparing the time of a turn by the same swimmer under both situations, rather than an observation of which elite swimmers violate the rule.
At 2007 SCY Nats, while waiting for my heat, I watched Dennis Baker swim the 200 fly. From the flags to the wall before each turn, he took 3 short quick strokes and breathed every stroke. That mystified me at the time. It went against everything I'd been taught. But he went 1:51 to my 2:04 that day, so I didn't dismiss it. I think the purpose was to store up oxygen prior to the SDK's. Since then, when I feel the need to take an extra breath prior to the turn, I just do it and don't worry about it. I don't breathe on my breakout though. (I don't think he does either.) It's a momentum killer.
When I was young we were also told to breathe every other stroke in fly. My coach used to punish people who violated that rule, or the rule about not breathing into/out of turns.
Now I breathe almost every stroke on fly (certainly the 200) and into and out of turns. I don't think it kills my momentum on the breakout any more than it does during the regular stroke. (I also ride pretty high in the water in fly and sometimes an observer has a hard time even telling the difference when I breathe or not.)
Whether you breathe or not, just breaking the surface kills momentum quite a bit. If you have a good kick you can argue that keeping underwater longer outweighs not breathing on the breakout. I take 5-6 kicks underwater off every wall in a 200 fly (and about 9 off the walls in a 100); I need the oxygen by the time I do surface.
I might try an experiment to see if my current (RBL - L - RBL - L) maximum breathing mode is performance depriving. The experiment will include using a snorkel where I perform a timed LCM 500 without it, then with it. Open turns will be used for the exp and control because I can't turn with a snorkel. I might also include 100 splits for added info. Might be a week before I can actually try (still have swelling in my foot from copperhead bites last Monday:toohurt:) but I'm definately interested in seeing the results.
I'd love to see data on a swimmer's oxygenation during these maneuvers. I think we're basing a lot of thought about oxygen by how we feel. Truth is, measuring oxygen saturation accurately during exercise is much harder than anyone likes to admit -- huge movement artifact on the oximeter and arterial samples are not so simple -- and I have yet to find a waterproof oximeter that works while swimming. If you are sampling exhaled air in a swimming flume with a snorkel, then I don't see how you could have the limitation on breathing imposed by these various breathing patterns.
To me, this is the most interesting of the myths yet. My stroke feels most comfortable with bilaterally breathing (which I used to call every 3rd but I guess must be every one and half), and I don't feel it is hard or slows me down over long distances. But I am much slower than most of you guys (I was looking for a snail smiley to put here but couldn't find one).
