No worries, glad to help.

Also, please do not take any of my suggestions without checking them. Don't believe what any coaches (including me) tell you, always check for yourself. There are 1000s of great videos on the web of extraordinarily fast swimmers that you can closely study and observe. If most of them are not doing what a coach suggests, then in all likelihood the coach is mistaken. However, when you do your research, there is a big and important caveat, don't study 6'7'' (2 meter) tall swimmers who are racing the 50m free. Instead, study swimmers similar in height to you that are doing distance freestyle racing, so the 800m, 1000m, 1500m, etc. And you can also study videos of ITU triathletes swimming 1500m in open water, those are excellent as well.


Yes, it is good to have the skill to breath on both sides. But "bilateral breathing" (breathing every 1.5 stroke cycles) will not give you sufficent oxygen for extended distance swimming at high speed. Nearly all fast swimmers breath every left arm cycle (or every right arm cycle) both in open water and in the pool when racing distance events. Although many of them can (and do) switch sides occasionally (or often) while swimming. (You can confirm this info for yourself if you research online, but consider the caveats that I mention in the top paragraph above.)


Maybe your coaches told you this because you had your hands fully open? If not, your coaches are mistaken. You should NOT clamp your fingers together. You should have your hand mostly closed, but you should have a few mm between all of your fingers. In your case, probably around 5mm (plus/minus). (You can confirm this info for yourself if you research online, but consider the caveats that I mention in the top paragraph above.)


The video you posted from above is very helpful. Then main thing I see there is that your arm entry is way way too close to your body centerline. You need your arms to enter the water, not along your body's centerline, but instead along the centerline of that shoulder (for the left arm, use the left shoulder as a "centerline" / for the right arm, use the right shoulder as a "centerline"). This means that each arm should enter the water at least 1 foot (30 cm) further toward the outside than you are currently doing now. (You can confirm this info for yourself if you research online, but consider the caveats that I mention in the top paragraph above.)

Keep on swimming,
Greg

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