Bi-lateral breathing
Rickster
Posts: 33
in General Chat
Hi All
Being a novice at triathlon (completed my 1st sprint in sept) i'm seeking advice on whether or not bi-lateral breathing is that important.
I'm currently breathing every two strokes to the left, i'm comfortably covering 2-3 kms using this technique.(3kms just over an hour)
However when swimming with bi-lateral breathing its a real struggle to get any real distance.
When watching the highlights of the 70.3 and ironman on tv i noticed plenty breathing only to one side, and as i'm planning olympic and upward distances myself, is it worth persevering with bi-lateral??
I realise this question may have been asked many times, but would really appreciate any advice.
Many thanks
Rick
Being a novice at triathlon (completed my 1st sprint in sept) i'm seeking advice on whether or not bi-lateral breathing is that important.
I'm currently breathing every two strokes to the left, i'm comfortably covering 2-3 kms using this technique.(3kms just over an hour)
However when swimming with bi-lateral breathing its a real struggle to get any real distance.
When watching the highlights of the 70.3 and ironman on tv i noticed plenty breathing only to one side, and as i'm planning olympic and upward distances myself, is it worth persevering with bi-lateral??
I realise this question may have been asked many times, but would really appreciate any advice.
Many thanks
Rick
0
Comments
Also, being able to breath to both sides should help to balance out your stroke.
I'm having a swim lesson tomorrow,so i'll ask him to work on the breathing
http://forum.220magazine.com/fb.asp?m=12738&key=lateral%2Cbreathing
check out these two threads, more info on the subject.
SEARCH FUNCTION ALWAYS WORKS ON BELGIAN TRI_COMPUTERS BOPOMOFO!!!!
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Anyway, seeing as benny is plugging his opinions, so will I: http://forum.220magazine.com/fwd.asp?messageID=13767
Most people suggest that you try to train bi-laterally, as it really helps keep your stroke symmetrical, but there is no shame in swimming single sided if conditions, other swimmers, or oxygen needs in a race dictate it. I taught myself by swimming one length right, one length left... get the hang of that and suddenly you will feel much better about waves hitting you, the bloke next to you making a splash, the wind making it hard to breathe one way, you can even just breathe 'on-demand' on those long steady base-building swims.
It really is an essential skill.
Don't know about anybody else but when I settle down into a long 80% effort session I am about 1s per 25m faster breathing bi-laterally.
I was expecting people to say get the bi-lateral sorted, so i'll persevere[:D]
Hope this swim coach i'm seeing tomorrow has a sense of humour!!
Okay that's not very clear... instead of stroke-stroke-right-stroke-stroke-left, I'd go stroke-stroke-right-stroke-stroke-forward.
Makes sense?
As the frog says, you swim straighter if you breathe bi-laterally, so you should need to sight a bit less. I throw a sighting breath in every four breaths (so every 12 strokes) or so when I'm training in OW.
When racing, it is all on-demand.
Another discussion point: when sighting, do you lift your head to the front to sight and breathe? I do it by turning for the breath as normal, then lifting forwards as my arm comes through to enter the water.
How does everybody else sight? My way seems to work for me, but maybe because that single head-up stroke is quite similar to the head-up 'Tarzan' swimming that we drill quite a lot at my swim class. I'm pretty fast at that.
I'm with bopo on the breathing subject, all same technique for me.
I find I feel less dizzy after swimming if I have been breathing bi-laterally as well. Anybody else feel this as a benefit?
After reading this thread I thought id try it out at the pool. Im happy to report that it worked a treat for me and after a few lengths I was tearing up the pool.
It was one of those sessions when everything came together.
Big thanks to everyone who shared their advise.
G
More practice required I guess.
Swim single sided, but alternate the side for each length. One length right, one left. Eventually your wrong side will feel natural, and you'll be able to breathe wherever and whenever you like!
Keep at it, it doesn't take too long doing it like this, maybe only half a dozen sessions!