In a race, no. In practice, I breathe every 3rd 4th or even 5th quite often, especially during pull sets.

In races it's always every 2, occasionally breathing 1 or 3 if I want to switch sides.

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

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2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

For any race longer than 100m, I breathe every two. Depending on the circumstances, I may breath every two to the left, or to the right, but always every two. For the typical triathlete, breathing every four means your restricting your respiration rate to 15/min or less. That’s not the ticket to optimal aerobic performance.

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"They're made of latex, not nitroglycerin"

In racing it's really, really difficult to get too much oxygen. In fact I'm not sure anyone has ever gotten too much oxygen when racingin any endurance sport....EVER

If you look at some of the research on restricted breathing done years well decades ago (probably last century now that I think about it), as the # of breaths per length decreases ie breath every 5 or 7 strokes, velocity aka swim speed decreases.

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Brian Stover USAT LII
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Yeah, but OP is probably battling some major technical issues that when he breathes he slows down quite a bit. That's something that he'll need to work on in practice, but in the meantime, if he's faster in a race breathing 4, then have at it.

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

You can do something in between. I like to breathe in a 4-2-4-2-4... pattern.

I do something like that with a few fewer 4's.

More like 2,2,4,2,2,4 or maybe another 2 added in.

I've seen swimmers in the world champs and olympics do it as well.

Listen to Jason. Do whatever you've gotta do in racing now, but there is something going wrong when you breathe and it's a big opportunity to get faster because a) you have to breathe sometimes and it's hurting you when you do, and b) breathing more is going to help a lot.

Yeah, but OP is probably battling some major technical issues that when he breathes he slows down quite a bit.///

THIS^^

You know what would really be faster, breathing every 10th or 20th stroke. You have a problem with your stroke when you turn your head, figure out that and then breath every stroke, or even learn the 2/3/2(old Gary hall pattern) pattern for best results. Perhaps alternate breathing will be your best fix, but dont do it every 3rd stroke in racing, use the methods that get you the most air.


You will have to go slow at first to go fast later on, it is a process..

Thanks everyone, Lot's of good stuff here. I agree with most that I have major flaw in my stoke when I breath. At times I feel like I'm moving well and then hit a point where I feel like I have stalled. I have done my long swims breathing every second and that sounds like the thing to work on. I think I'll do drills breathing every second and alternating sides.
Thanks again

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It's a Good life if you don't Weaken!
My Mom 1922-2004

That would be my breathing pattern for the 100 free ;). I do better with more oxygen at any distance beyond that.

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"They're made of latex, not nitroglycerin"

If you don't have access to a coach to help with your technique, check out the Tower26 "Be Race Ready" podcasts. I thought there was a lot of great information on swimming technique and it's geared towards Triathletes specifically. You would likely benefit the most from the podcast that deal with their Phase 1 which is more technique focused and about common issues and what to focus on to correct them. The other Phases are important, but nailing down technique is of the utmost importance.

Are you talking about every second stroke or every second stroke cycle??? Every second stroke will obv get you most air. While there are a very few examples of top swimmers breathing every 4 strokes (or 2 stroke cycles), generally this pattern only occurs in swimmers with very high turnover rates, as in 100 strokes/min and above, which very, very few if any triathletes can replicate. More generally, most top swimmers breath every 2 strokes (every cycle) in any event over 50 m. To take one of the most famous swims in history as an example, when Jason Lezak ran down the French swimmer in the anchor leg of the '08 Oly 4 x 100 m free relay, he breathed every 2 strokes (every cycle) up until the very last 5 meters. Lezak recorded what is still the fastest 100 lcm free ever, 46.06. So, if the fastest 100 m swimmer of all time* breathed every 2 strokes (every cycle), then I believe it should be common practice among almost all other swimmers in races over 50 m. If you want to practice breathing on both sides, breath every 2 strokes (every cycle) on one side going down the pool and every 2 strokes (every cycle) on the other side coming back. This will give you plenty of practice breathing on both sides. Not breathing every 2 strokes is the surest way i know of to not get enough air and thus to swim slower than you are actually capable of.

*For those who will say that Lezak is not the fastest 100 lcm free swimmer ever b/c he is not the current 100 lcm WR holder, he gained about 0.71 sec from the relay start and 46.06 + 0.71 = 46.77, which is under the current 100 lcm WR of 46.91. (Looking it up in the FINA archives, Lezak had a reaction time of only 0.04 sec, vs Phelps on the lead-off leg had an RT of 0.75 sec; 0.75 - 0.04 = 0.71.)

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"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."

If you've got technique issues, breathing more will make your breathing better, which will make you a faster swimmer. It's like practicing piano scales: you've got to keep doing it to get better and faster.

My advice: breathe every right- or left-arm cycle. Throw in some breathing on the other side for balance. Don't restrict your breathing.

I went from every third stroke in training and races to every second stroke. I made the change because in a race I, all of a sudden, was struggling to breath every third-I needed more air and did most of the race breathing every second and felt (and really was) VERY slow. I messed around with it in practice and my interval times got slower. I worked on breathing technique and alignment and eventually got faster breathing every second. It took time though...whatever change you make, give it time.

In a race every 2, training varies but I like 4, 2, 4 ,2 or 4, 2, 2, 4