I am new at swimming (started training two years ago) and am still trying to improve my technique
(and thus eventually speed), and have a question concerning the breathing pattern to employ.
At the 8-week once-a-week crawl course I once took we learnt that you could breath on every
second stroke (thus the same side) and that was easier, but it was better to breath on every
third (thus alternating sides), so what I have been practising for these two years is breathing
on every third stroke.
About a year ago I got a swimming book written by Alexander Popescu. It's a pretty old book, from
1978 it looks like. In it he says that swimmers breath on every second, fourth, or sixth stroke
and only beginners breath on every third. Breathing on every third is only done by begiiners. It
can be good for beginners so they learn to breath on both sides he says. Long-distance swimmers
will typically breath on every second stroke while faster/sprint swimmers on every
fourth/sixth/etc (?) stroke.
Is this the current consensus too?
I swim mostly 1000m at a time at a relaxed pace (I've so far ended up swimming to improve my
technique, not for fitness) and the breathing-on-every-third-stroke pattern works ok for me.
Sometimes I have "too much" air so I will breath on the fifth stroke once or twice every few laps,
but mostly it fits me fine.
Yesterday I for the first time tried to split the 1000m in two, swimming the first 500m breathing
on my "bad side" (the side I'm considerably less comfortable with), every fourth stroke. I
completed the 500m but it was less comfortable than the usual 1000m and I was a bit out of breath,
so I rested for a couple of minutes so I would be "fresh" for next 500m, breathing every fourth
stroke on my "good" side. This was also a bit uncomfortable, but much less so than breathing only
on my other side.
I was surprised that my time for both 500m's was almost exactly the same (a five second difference
in favour of the "good" side, which I would not rate as a significant difference), and the total
time for the two 500m's (excluding the two minute pause) was the same as when doing 1000m in one go,
breathing on every third stroke.
So, although I was less comfortable breathing on every fourth stroke as compared to breathing on
every third, I suspect that after a week or two, I won't have much problem breathing on every fourth
and thus I wonder if this is something I should aim for?
Would there be a benefit (endurance training or speed wise) to this? I would then plan to alternate
the breathing side on every length or so.
(There was as said no speed increase for me, but this was perhaps due to me being slightly more out
of breath this first time and thus swimming at an even slower/more relaxed pace than usual.
I'm suspecting that being able to breath on every fourth stroke, other things being equal, will in
turn improve the efficiency of my cardiovascular system a little though, being able to do the same
work with less oxygen (and probably the speed a little too).)
--
_ // \X/ -- Michael Shuldman <[email hidden]