Bilateral Breathing: Should you Breathe to Both Sides in Freestyle Swimming?
One of the most common wonders of the swimming world is, should
you use alternate-side, or bilateral breathing?
Throughout my swimming career, I had always breathed to my right
side only until a year ago. Why? Because breathing on my left
side felt awkward and uncomfortable! This is the reason why most
swimmers will breathe only on one side. Last year I had an
experience that made me change my ways. I was getting a massage
and my therapist noted that my left lat muscles (back) were much
more developed than my right. Putting two and two together, I
realized that years of right side only breathing in the pool had
caused me to use these muscles on my left side far more than my
right as I was balancing with my left arm while sucking air into
my lungs!
The answer to the question is yes, you should use bilateral
breathing, if you’re not already. The main reason is that it
will balance out your stroke (as well as create symmetry in your
back musculature!). The problem with breathing to one side only
is that it can make your stroke lopsided. In a one-hour workout,
you may roll to your breathing side 1,000 times. A lopsided
stroke can become permanent in a hurry after practicing this for
a while!
The benefits to breathing nearly as often to one side as the
other are that using your “weak” side more frequently will help
your stroke overall, and you’ll lose your “blind” side. If you
are an open water swimmer, the later benefit will help you check
for landmarks, avoid chop, or keep another rough swimmer from
splashing water in your face (or punching you in the nose!) as
you breathe.
The way to obtain these benefits is to practice bilateral
breathing as much as possible. Often in my evening group I will
have swimmers breathe every 3 or 5 strokes as part of a drill or
warmdown. But by no means should this practice be limited to
drill sets or long warmdowns! It will feel awkward at first,
sure. But the awkwardness is easier to deal with than you may
think. Regular practice of rolling to both sides to breathe will
remedy this before you know it.
Some tips on how to practice bilateral breathing while keeping
it interesting:
1.Breathe to your right side on one length and to your left on
the next. That way you get the oxygen you need but still develop
a symmetrical stroke. 2.Breathe to your weaker side on warm-ups,
warmdowns, and slow swimming sets. 3.Experiment with 3 left, 3
right or 4 left, 4 right until you find a comfortable pattern
Keep the goal in mind each week of breathing about the same
amount to one side as the other over the course of any week of
swimming. Most of all, enjoy your swim and don’t get too hung up
on being exact!
