There’s a lot of “dogma” in any sport and swimming has its fair share. The more experienced I became as a coach the more willing I was to ask questions. Even as an athlete, I questioned whether bilateral breathing was important. Breathing to my right never felt natural.
I used some of the swim sensors to get some data on bilateral breathing. In my experience as a coach, there’s always one side that is more comfortable for athletes to breathe to and when athletes breathe bilateral it usually causes issues in the stroke elsewhere that are more difficult to solve. While bilateral breathing may “balance” out the stroke on the surface the data shows something completely different. In response, to you need to bilateral breathe for open water in case it’s rough - most triathletes will never experience rough conditions. All an athlete needs to do is become aware of the timing/rhythm of the chop and breathe during the lulls. You’d want to do this regardless of side you are breathing to.
My kiddo is a competitive swimmer. She is pretty good and does very symmetrical bilateral breathing for freestyle. That said her coach is going to work with her to breathe on one side to get more air and go faster longer for long distance events.
I know for me (and I’m a terrible swimmer), I need the O2 and rhythm more than I need to learn bilateral breathing. I know when I breathe to my offside my hips and legs sink and my stroke gets worse (and it’s not good to start with).
For you, it sounds like there is a lack of a bit of connection on the off side. Doing some work with a snorkel and focusing on pulling harder on your off side could help. But, without seeing your stroke, it would be tough to say.
Good luck to your kiddo. I hope she has a great season.
Yes we have all bought into the50+ year old adage of bilateral helps even out your stroke. And no doubt in some cases it does, but good that we are at the precipice of technology to actually measure these things. But even if you accepted the even out theory, the new paradigm of air is king trumps that old pattern of breathing every 3rd stroke. When I watch top swimmers these days you can count on one hand the athletes that bilaterally breath, or even go every 4, and most all are women…
I posted up after the games that I truly believe that Titmus lost that 800 free because she uses a breath every 4 pattern. She absolutely has more speed than Ledecky, in the 200 and gobbs more in the 400, so the 800 should also be in her wheelhouse. But she holds her breath and Ledecky is getting like 6+ more breaths per lap, and I think this is why she cannot use her superior speed in the final 200 to just swim past her…
Anyway since Gary Hall Jr came out with his bilateral double breath pattern, we can actually do both things and get more air at the same time. Its been funny to me that so few have still yet to figure this out since many great swimmers back in 2008 had already adopted it and had huge success. I do see more and more going this way, especially in SCY/SCM meets, and into and out of turns in almost every event. Another dinosaur of the old coaching days, dont breath out of the turns, turns out to be a death blow to your lap in-between…
I would be super interested in what the hand sensors have to say on that pattern, double breath bilateral…
My guess would be that it would show a decrease in power and stability since you always have that one side that is more “natural” than the other.
Supposedly, USA Swimming measured it with Dara Torres before the 2008 games and found there was one side she was more efficient on than the other. She had been bilateral breathing for 30+ years at that point.
I am a firm believer in not having a dominant side. I usually breathe half a length on one side then switch to the other. I don’t think at this time I have a dominant side, at least not a preferred side. If the coach says breath on the north side of the pool or the south side of the pool, I’m good.
Although, a number (20 or 30) years ago I did a tri swim in Lake Michigan, and the waves were bigger than the turn bouys (3 ft +?). Whenever I tried to breathe to my left I got a lot of water in my face, so I breathed almost all the time to my right. My guess is that I had more rotation to my right.
I’ve tried doing 100s breathing on alternate sides on alternate 100, but I don’t recall any conclusive differences. Probably should try that again.
We got to see those ladies swim in Paris. The difference in styles is striking.
As for kiddo she is doing great. She aging up soon and will have new challenges. Her coaches are amazing and her friends in swim are equally impressive. She has her eyes set on a AA time invite only meet for next year. We’ll see how it goes. It’ll be tough for an odd age year. I think 11 and 13 are the toughest years for kids since their bodies are changing so much.
She is doing her first triathlon Sunday with kids on her swim team too.
I will work on drills this winter. This year has been about getting back in the pool. Now that I can actually swim with minimal endurance again, I will spend the winter on drills, technique and swimming faster to gain speed.
So, I’m just getting back into the Tri game and starting swimming again. I prefer to breath to the right, but have been consistently focusing on being able to breath on either side comfortably. I generally start with One Side (usually right) with 4 strokes, then do some 2 stroke same side (Left 1 length, right 1 length), then do some bi-lateral (usually with swim bouy).
So the question I have, is are we saying that single side 2 stroke is probably the way to go/faster? I can’t imagine going more than 4, but can stay relaxed with 4 stroke.
In open water, if I’m swimming next to someone’s feet or hemmed in between people I can comfortably switch to the other side for a few hundred meters without issue. Being able to comfortably breathe to either side, even the front, is super helpful for sighting and navigating. If you get smacked with a mouthful of water from one side, its no problem, just breath from the other side and your stroke doesn’t suffer.
In the pool on hard sets sometimes off a long turn I’ll take a breath from one side then another from the other side then get back to breathing from one side.
Swimming is a collection of skills. The more tools you have in your tool box, the more confidence you will have and the better swimmer you’ll be, IMHO.
SnappingT- thanks as always for your insights. In 35+ years and hundreds of open water/triathlon races, I can only recall 2 times where the waves caused an issue breathing to 1 side. At the time, I just breathed to the rythym of the waves and got through it just fine. And for those where sun was on my breathing side, I would just briefly close my eyes and had tinted goggles anyway so no problem.
A few years ago when everyone was talking about bilateral breathing, I tried a test after breathing to left-side my entire life. 100m swim breathing to right felt surprisingly comfortable and came in consistently 0-1 seconds slower. Breathing bilaterally at same effort was 4-5 seconds slower.
Since then I have stuck to breathing 90 percent to left but 10 percent of the time I will train breathing to right. Now in races, I can easily switch over if I feel it is warranted and feel assured pace isn’t going to drop.
To me that just seems like your stroke mechanics are way off you have some muscle imbalances in your pull or something. That’s a pretty stark difference in speed I don’t think would be attributable to oxygen alone. If you breathed every stroke but on your off side, what would your time be for 100m?
To me, it seems like if breathing on one side is causing issues it’s best to just address those issues than to avoid them. It’s probably affecting your balance, hips etc and any time you can refine your balance and stroke, that’s an opportunity worth taking. Most people just lift their head too much, under rotate or cross their reaching arm over the center line on their bad side etc. Easily correctable, low hanging fruit with a bit of effort.
Re: If you breathed every stroke but on your off side, what would your time be for 100m?
At the time when I tested this, around 1:25 for one-sided breathing and 1:29 for bilateral. This was at max effort but no, not extensive or scientific testing so numbers may be off.