breathing both sides.

Amprodude

Im just wondering do many swimmers here breath on both sides while swimming? Basically its nearly all pool swimming I do as I only started learning to swim in August but its an aspect of my swimming id like to improve on. I tried doing it last week but it stopped my momentum while going through the water. Basically my pattern gets messed up when trying to do it and I end up swallowing water. I can swim comfortably using one side but would like to be able to use both sides.

Any advice or drills someone can help me with?

Cheers.

promethius

open water swimmers do it to help swim straight and avoid waves, ow swimmers and pool swimmers do it to increase number of breathing patterns they can choose from, balance fatigue on the muscles. pool swimmers can keep an eye on the competition in a race by being able to breathe on both sides. they might only take a few on one side but still good for tactics and respsonding to the other swimmers.

you've recently learned to swim so should be able to just apply the same techniques but just on the other side. nothing like practicsing it on your bad side, takes time of course but worth it. kicking steadily help keep momentum going during the breath as well.

shotgunmcos

I found repetitive one arm drills on my weak side had me bilateral breathing within a month. Catch up or high elbow finger tip drag. I started doing a few 100s of a set only breathing to weak side and usually every 4.

Aside from the benefits outlined by the previous poster, I find bilateral a soothing rhythm when swimming OW. Odd that an odd beat appeals to me where I am a bit obsessive about even beats in music, slices of toast, brush strokes etc..!

Amprodude

promethius wrote: »

open water swimmers do it to help swim straight and avoid waves, ow swimmers and pool swimmers do it to increase number of breathing patterns they can choose from, balance fatigue on the muscles. pool swimmers can keep an eye on the competition in a race by being able to breathe on both sides. they might only take a few on one side but still good for tactics and respsonding to the other swimmers.

you've recently learned to swim so should be able to just apply the same techniques but just on the other side. nothing like practicsing it on your bad side, takes time of course but worth it. kicking steadily help keep momentum going during the breath as well.

Yeah i guess i must put in the practice like everything. Tried adopting my own techniques last week but it felt very strange and i wasnt mastering it. Well it did take me a few attempts to learn on my right side so left will probably be the same or bit longer. Its something I will work on as I swim.

AngryHippie

Amprodude wrote: »

Yeah i guess i must put in the practice like everything. Tried adopting my own techniques last week but it felt very strange and i wasnt mastering it. Well it did take me a few attempts to learn on my right side so left will probably be the same or bit longer. Its something I will work on as I swim.

One thing I really found to help when I was developing my stroke was to use pool fins and do lots of high elbow drill and catch up drill.
The fins give you that extra momentum to allow you to roll your body without feeling wobbly or off balance, as well as reducing the amount of propulsion you need to generate from your arms allowing you to slow down your arm stroke rate and focus on the task of getting that breath without losing your rhythm.
Remember to keep your head steady between breaths, and exaggerate the shoulder roll a little with the fins on, as when you take them off, you have less balancing power from the legs and the roll will naturally attenuate.