Bilateral breathing question

I breathe every two (to the same side)...never felt the need to go every three or four. For me swimming (long distances) is all about sliding into the comfort zone...do what works best for you.

a few reasons. Breathing every 5 is just too long, so every three is the magic number. I used to breathe every 2, which always seemed to much, so I upped it to every 4, which started to get too long. I like 3. If you are having difficulties breathing every 3 or even every 2, then you probably should slow down and build some base. Think efficient, not powerfull.

but why bilateral at all?

Bilateral breathing does a few things in tri racing. First off it forces you to have a balanced rotation in your stroke. One sided breathing tends to teach you to rotate more to one side then the other and also tends to work the muscles on one side of the body more. So unless your stroke is flawless, you end up being stronger on your breathing side. Looks goofy and makes it where you swimming with as much power as you could be and not as efficiently.

The other thing is that it's much easier to sight if you can bilateral. If you can eye the shore line while breathing, in a lot of instances, you can reduce how many times you need to pop your head up to see where you're going. If you breathing one sided, and the shore is on your non-breathing side, then you're SOL. Again, the longer you stay in the "aero" position while swimming, the faster you go and the less tired you wind up being at the end.

And plus, being able to do it makes you look like you know what you're doing and intimidation is 9/10 of racing.

Edited by vortmax 2006-01-14 8:53 AM

the ability to breathe either side also helps at starts. if you've got a big time splasher on your left or someone riding right up on you, you can breahe right (and vice versa)

Thanks to someone on this board, I finally found my balance for bi-lateral breathing after having some issues with it,  I breathe every 3, then 2, then 3, then 2, then 3, then 2 etc etc.  It allows for a regular rythm, but you can switch it up if necessary.  I wasn't getting enough air every 3, so this works well for me. 

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I think the original poster has a good question that everyone is missing. If you need to face away from a splashing swimmer, sunshine, or waves, you don't want to have to breath towards that direction every other breath which is what 3 stroke breathing would do. Being able to breath on every second stroke, but to either side as the situation required, seems like the better solution. The only reason to practice 3 stroke breathing then would be to become comfortable switching from one side to the other. Is there a good reason to regularly breath on 3strokes if you can breath comfortably on 2strokes to either side? If you practice both sides regularly, the original poster suggested every other length, wouldn't you still be learning a balanced stroke?

One post above suggests that breathing every 2 strokes is too much. I'm not that efficient yet. I suppose comfortable 3stroke breathing would be a good efficiency standard to shoot for, but that still doesn't make it better for racing. So, is there any reason why regular 3 stroke breathing is better than 2 stroke to either side as required?

Edited by Micawber 2006-01-14 11:21 AM

I breath when I need too....I don't count strokes, I got other things to think about. The longer you swim the more natural you'll feel and just breath as a habit without even thinking about it.

Great, thanks everyone!

Micawber has it right, I can do either side on alternate lengths, or every 3, but what should I do?

Swim coach said to the group yesterday, "Who wants more air? Who wants less?". Therefore he wants every two (press ups if you screw it up too many times). Inclined to go with him having seen the results he's had with others. But I am always interested in the breadth and exprerience of views on here (sometimes I wonder about the "B" in "BT"!)

Edited by AusVirgin 2006-01-14 2:38 PM

Yes, breathing only on one side tends to make you rotate less on the non-breath side and more on the breating side. Breathing alternatly on both sides forces you to fully rotate to both sides. My form improved 200% after learning to bilateral

If you need to breathe every cycle, do so. It is good to practice breathing on either side, as mentioned for splash, sun, chop, etc. When I taught swimming, we taught to breathe every cycle. Breathing every cycle allows you to take a smaller breath.

If you always breathe to the right (due to needing oxygen, sun, chop), you will find you swim in a big arc during open water swims (where you don't have that black line to follow). Breathing every third stroke will help even this out (you'll swim in a bigger circle since you won't really be equal on both sides).

I'm able to breathe every other cycle (4 strokes) and still get enough oxygen. I feel like I hyperventalate if I breathe every cycle. I may have my head turned longer than ideal, but it does work for me. It is good to occasionally skip a breathe, because there will be times when you turn for a breathe and get a mouth full of water. You want to be comfortable enough that you can go an additional cycle (or half cycle) to get a breath.

I think we need to clarify something. 

Bilateral breathing:
1)  Breathing every 3rd stroke
OR
2)  The ability to breath equally well on each side.

In my mind I define it as number 2.  I breath towards the same side of the pool althernating laps (always towards the windows) unless for some reason I need too sneak an extra breath in.  I usually breath every 4th stroke, during my warmup sometimes every 6 or 8 even because i"m not working very hard.  Following the principle of focusing on only one skill at a time, I think it is easier to get good at breathing by doing just one side at a time.  Each stroke you can rebalance, retry, refocus.  If you are still learning a good bilateral stroke there is just too much to concentrate on by breating every 3rd stroke IMHO.

Lately I've been doing more moderate and fast swimming in my workouts,  and therefore forced into learnign a new pattern to breathing.  I know that if I'm supposed to be doing a moderate to fast interval and I'm NOT breathing at least every 3rd if not every 2nd stroke, I'm not working hard enough.

How often you need to breath all depends on how much oxygen you are using and how much carbon dioxide you are producing.  THe more relaxed, efficient, slower your stroke the less often you'll need air.

I don't think there is any magic in breathing every 3rd stroke except that it feels kind of nice to rock back and forth.  A good swim stroke should have you rotating well on each side even if you are only breathing on one side. 

In no ohter discipline do coaches try to regulate how often you breath and it happens without thinking...you should strive to achieve the same feeeling when swimming and not get too stressed about which side you are breathing on, as long as you practice breathing to both sides in one way or another. 

Interesting question from AdventureBear, for me bilateral breathing would be defined as regularly breathing on both sides during a swim. That could be every 3rd/5th stroke or alternating from side to side for example 25 yds breathing right followed by 25 yds left.

Just my opinion, coming from someone who is a lousy swimmer and still working through T1. The logic of balance and making it easier to swim in a straight line makes sense to me.

My family find it hilarious watching me zig-zag from buoy to buoy during the OW swim. It must add at least 25% to my swim distance and for an already slow swimmer that's definitely not good.

This years goals are to improve technique, swim faster and swim STRAIGHT.

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There are a lot of great swimmers out there that do not bilateral breathe, so it is not a necessity to become a good/great swimmer. I bilateral breathe just b/c it allows me to learn to breathe on both sides. If I am beside some one who is thrashing around I just start breathing every other stroke on the other side until the chaos stops and then go back to bilateral breathing. Basically if you learn to bilateral breathe then you can breathe either side continously if needed with no problem.

The way I see it, the more tools you have in your bag the better. If you can breath on both sides, you can use that to your advantage. I have found that I've used left, right and bilateral breathing benificial in the same race. I started out breathing every chance I could, then tried to increase to every 4th stroke, settled on every 3. Then as I got faster, I found that every 3 didn't give me enough oxygen. So now, at race pace, I go 3 strokes then 2 strokes, 3 strokes then 2 strokes. It allows me to see the same side for two breaths and gives me enough oxygen. It works for me. But in the pool, I stick to every 3.