For years, I have been breathing to my left or my right in equal amounts indoors. Thought that this was the best way to achieve balance and try to keep some body symmetry and coordination.
What’s developed and continues is that I am more efficient breathing to my left. Both arms seem to be doing an equal amount of work and my times are about 2 seconds faster per 100.
Breathing right is not the same stroke. My right arm dominates (I’m right handed) and the workload seems more 33/67 or 40/60 at best. When tired, the left arm even seems to have trouble getting back to the beginning of the stroke.
Noticing a growing asymmetry and thinking of breathing predominantly or exclusively to the left where workload feels balanced.
What have you done? Thank you for your experience with this one.
I’m sure not everyone will agree with me here, but I summarized my thoughts on the subject in the first episode of a new video series I started.
Whats the Deal with: bilateral breathing?
It’s only 2 minutes long so give it a watch if you desire but basically: more breathing=more air and I like air, so I breathe every other. Simple as that.
Breathing on the left should be the default taught as the right side lung is a larger capacity due to not having to have a heart space and this allows better boyancy and higher body position when breathing to the left.
Breathing on the left should be the default taught as the right side lung is a larger capacity due to not having to have a heart space and this allows better boyancy and higher body position when breathing to the left.
Interesting theory, but that’s not how buoyancy works
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When swimming in the pool I breath every stroke (stroke being one cycle of both arms). However, I alternate sides every length of the pool. In other words, every time I go one direction (one length), I breath on one side. Every time I return, I breath on the *other *side. This way I make sure I get equal practice with both sides.
During open water, I also breath primarily every stroke. If conditions dictate one side is better, I stick to that side (e.g. sun, waves, etc…). If conditions are equal to either side, I try to alternate every 10-20 strokes or so just to help make sure I’m swimming straight (I tend to drift a little bit to the side I breath if I don’t alternate)
Breathing to one side is more efficient and powerful. Do it.
I would argue that swimming freestyle is inherently asymmetrical. It’s really about balancing oxygen intake vs streamlining, as usually the head down position is more streamlinied than breathing. That’s up to each individual to figure out where they land.
Personally I usually breathe to my right, sometimes to my left. When pulling I usually breathe to my left.
I think it’s fantastic that you noticed! All swimmers are asymetrical to some degree. It follows logically as our bodies are asymetrical. Keep chipping away on your slow side primarily to get overall more efficiency.
Keep trying to find out why they are different. With me I swim faster on my non-natural breathing side as I don’t have the bad habit of tending to lift my head out to get a breath that I do on my natural side. A bad habit I picked up as a kid.
As you lap in the pool do one lap left , one right or do what I do alternate every 2nd or third breath. The only reason I suggest keep working on it is in open water swims it’s good to have the ability to breathe both ways to stop you getting a mouthful of water if the wind direction is wrong. It’s also good for sighting, to see where buoys, landmarks and other swimmers are.
The lung size thing is anatomically correct but plays no part in buoyancy or transfer of oxygen while swimming. It was an interesting observation though. I wonder if it should’ve been pink?
Also left side only, every stroke. With the caveat that if I need to see what’s going on to the right in a race I want to be happy from training that I can breathe to that side too. Situational awareness is really important.
For example, at my race 2 weeks ago we were swimming alongside the edge of the water with the shore to our right. I’d read that the current was stronger towards the centre of the fjord and it was clear from the start line that we had the current in our favour, so I was positioning myself a little to the left of the pack. It was a good idea to take a peek to the right every now and again to see where I was and where other swimmers were.
Similarly if the chop is coming in from my left I might want to take breaths the other way. Or maybe if I’m swimming on somebody’s left hip.
All being good I’ll just breathe to my left and every stroke because air is good, but you want to be happy you can adapt if needed IMO.
Breathing on the left should be the default taught as the right side lung is a larger capacity due to not having to have a heart space and this allows better boyancy and higher body position when breathing to the left.
I don’t know about that. Anyway, I personally developed a right-side preference early in my age group swimming career as a defense mechanism against inhaling the wake of my circle-swimming lanemates. Better to breath towards the lane line the the center of the lane.
When swimming in the pool I breath every stroke (stroke being one cycle of both arms). However, I alternate sides every length of the pool. In other words, every time I go one direction (one length), I breath on one side. Every time I return, I breath on the *other *side. This way I make sure I get equal practice with both sides.
When I came back to swimming as a “Master,” where I was fortunate enough to frequently have an entire lane to myself, this is how I got more comfortable being able to breath to either side. Breathing every 3 didn’t allow me to get the oxygen uptake to support the intensity I was after.
The way I read OP is breathing right on length one then switching to left on length two (essentially always looking to the same end of the pool) which is something I do as well and thus, am very interested in the fishies thoughts on the matter because I tell myself it’s a good thing and I am always wrong with giving myself swim advice
If OP was talking about bilateral (every 3) then yes, fully agreed on more air is better
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Whilst somewhere near the worst person in the triathlon world to give any tips on swimming, I do 3 stroke breathing as a default in pool / open water. Have no issues when we do 5 stroke or 4 stroke drills, and am almost equally inept on both right and left.
However, I do breathe to the right as my first breath each lap in the pool and perhaps feel slightly better to that side.
But for OW swims then I’m more than happy to breathe to the side out of the waves (whichever) or for races / swims that are parallel to the shore there’s a good chance I’ll breathe facing the shore to assist with navigation.
If the purpose of the OP was ‘is not breathing both sides going to be an issue’ then all I can say is my ability to do it has not resulted in any fast times. Indeed my swim coach did suggest trying to single side breathe for when we are doing hard / fast 25s/50s. I’ve been trying that over the last 3-4 weeks and have noticed no difference to my max times from alternate breathing on 3 stroke and 2/4 stroke breathing to either left or to right.
Well there are two kinds of breathing, what you do in practice, and what you do in a race. We really only have races to zone in on the elite of the sport, and it is almost universally accepted that breathing every stroke, and to one side, is the most efficient and fastest. There are a few elite women whose coaches either did not get the memo, or they just cannot do their job, but going to to the 100 and up to the 1500, athletes breath every stroke, and on the same side.
Now there are athletes(and me and a lot of old AG’ers) who are bilateral breathing, but not every 3, but the every stroke, the Gary Hall technique. Since we know air is king over hydrodynamics, this is the best of both worlds. You get more air than breathing every stroke, and you get to even out the stroke a bit, even that is really has not been shown to be a determiner of speed. It might make you feel better, but just take a look at Phelps sometime in the 200 free, asymmetry at it’s finest.
So what to do, probably best to practice most of the time what you are going to do on race day, but practice has a lot of extra time and yardages to play around with other patterns, either as drills, or to make things harder. Not that it matters too much as to what I do, but I do follow 99% of the top athletes who I see racing, and mimic precisely the few that are using the new fangled two breaths in and out of each turn.
Now there are athletes(and me and a lot of old AG’ers) who are bilateral breathing, but not every 3, but the every stroke, the Gary Hall technique. Since we know air is king over hydrodynamics, this is the best of both worlds. You get more air than breathing every stroke, and you get to even out the stroke a bit, even that is really has not been shown to be a determiner of speed. It might make you feel better, but just take a look at Phelps sometime in the 200 free, asymmetry at it’s finest.
I’m sorry Monty but I don’t understand this. On the swap from one side to the other don’t you do 2 armstrokes with the head down? Clearly I must have misinterpreted what you’ve written as you would get less air that way don’t you? Gary Hall snr and jnr and Phelps are great, great swimmers but at the shorter distances where they can afford to use that technique and go into oxygen debt. The distance guys and gals don’t AFAIK.
I’m sorry Monty but I don’t understand this. On the swap from one side to the other don’t you do 2 armstrokes with the head down? //
No, you have the wrong visual on this. So when you come off the wall on a turn, you first breath right on the very first arm stroke, then breath left on the next one. So as most people think of a stroke, it is one pull of the left and right as one stroke. So in that one stroke, you get two breaths, then you do a regular two stroke breath, and then back into breathing on each side on the next stroke. So your head is really not down much in this scenario, because you are breathing like you would be running or biking, full inhales and exhales, without having to hold it at any time because now your timing matches your need to breath…
Like I said, a lot of distance guys use this now, 500 to 1650, and I have seen 200 guys now even start to incorporate it. It makes a lot of sense in todays new strokes, a lot more of them are spent underwater off of turns, where of course you have to hold your breath. And now that we know it is faster to kick underwater than actually swim on top, anything you can do to stay down longer, is going to make you a faster swimmer. But of course that comes with a cost, so double breathing helps recoup those losses. It also helps old guys like me swim faster, because 02 is my limiter in a lot of races now, my body remembers how to go fast, my muscles want to join in, but my breathing is the governor on the machine going faster…
There are a few elite women whose coaches either did not get the memo, or they just cannot do their job*
True, like the 2019 world champions in the 400 and 1500 free, Titmus and Quadarella. Titmus was throwing in a lot of 4 stroke breathing as well as 3’s and 2’s. You see this with women’s open water 5/10k as well. I’ve seen Haley Anderson thrown in a bunch of 4 and 6 strokes near the end of a 10k. I don’t know how they do it.
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Sun Yang does this. That where I picked it up from and it helps. I also just turn my head to the side and take a breath into the flip turn without a stroke…I know its a total amateur move.
Gotcha. Thanks for the explanation. Makes sense. I’ll see if I can find a youtube on it.
It also helps old guys like me swim faster, because 02 is my limiter in a lot of races now, my body remembers how to go fast, my muscles want to join in, but my breathing is the governor on the machine going faster…
