bilateral breathing- exercises.

Why do you want to learn to breath to both sides?

As you are finding out, in the short term it will make swimming much
harder and slower for you.

I don't think all elites can bilaterally breath. Some can, as
evidenced by the video data, and some can't. I've never seen video of
Michael Phelps breathing to his left. So I suspect he trains virtually
all the time breathing to his dominant side. At the end of the epic
800 meter relay in Athens, Keller breathed left the entire last 50 even
though Thorpe was running him down on his right. Keller either can't
bilaterally breath, or thinks it slows him down at least a little. So
he just put the hammer down and let the chips fall - the timer was
going to reveal who won - he didn't have to see Thorpe to hold him off.
So there are plenty of men and women with gold medals who can't
bilaterally breath.

Eric

KOS said:

Hi, I have a question about bilateral breathing. I have been swimming
now for the past 4 years. I do a lot of freestyle. My question is
bilateral breathing. I usually breath to my strong side which is my
left. But I now want to implement bilateral breathing.
I have read that it is good practice to breath one lap down the pool on
your weak side then strong side.. vice versa. However, when I breath on
my weak side, that is the right side, I feel like I am swallowing lots
of water and feel like almost sinking. Can someone offer some advice on
how to get this bilateral breathing done right? this was the first time
I have done this type of breathing- so I guess it will take practice..
Maybe I am not getting good rotation on my weak side?

any help you can offer would be excellent.
Thanks
KOS

Probably you're not rolling enough or you're lifting your head. You
might want to try "pretend breathing" to your weak side. Go through the
motions as if you were going to breathe to that side but don't actually
take a breath. The idea is to get comfortable with the motion without
any risk of actually choking on the water. Switch to the strong side
for actual air intake. Once you feel like you have your head and mouth
in the right place, try breathing on the weak side.

I forced myself to learn years ago to make my stroke more even. I had a hard
time at first but it got easier, and now, though my left will always be my
strong side, bilateral breathing is natural to me. If I was going to race, I
would favor my left side, but for my long lap swimming, I like bilateral
breathing. You might try using a kickboard. Put your face in the water like
you are first learning to swim and practice breathing from both sides while
you have the aide of the board to support you.

Marianne
"KOS" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hi, I have a question about bilateral breathing. I have been swimming
now for the past 4 years. I do a lot of freestyle. My question is
bilateral breathing. I usually breath to my strong side which is my
left. But I now want to implement bilateral breathing.
I have read that it is good practice to breath one lap down the pool on
your weak side then strong side.. vice versa. However, when I breath on
my weak side, that is the right side, I feel like I am swallowing lots
of water and feel like almost sinking. Can someone offer some advice on
how to get this bilateral breathing done right? this was the first time
I have done this type of breathing- so I guess it will take practice..
Maybe I am not getting good rotation on my weak side?

any help you can offer would be excellent.
Thanks
KOS

"KOS" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hi, I have a question about bilateral breathing. I have been swimming
now for the past 4 years. I do a lot of freestyle. My question is
bilateral breathing. I usually breath to my strong side which is my
left. But I now want to implement bilateral breathing.
I have read that it is good practice to breath one lap down the pool on
your weak side then strong side.. vice versa. However, when I breath on
my weak side, that is the right side, I feel like I am swallowing lots
of water and feel like almost sinking. Can someone offer some advice on
how to get this bilateral breathing done right? this was the first time
I have done this type of breathing- so I guess it will take practice..
Maybe I am not getting good rotation on my weak side?

any help you can offer would be excellent.
Thanks
KOS

I would encourage you to work on bilateral breathing a little longer. As
Eric mentioned, it's not a huge advantage to be able to do it, but it does
promote a balanced body. If you go through a period of 4-6 weeks of working
on it a little each session and you still feel its a pain in the a**,
concentrate on other things.

That said, someone above mentioned your body rotation is imbalanced, and
that was my first thought. Trying to work on rotating to your weak side
isn't too difficult. If you have a pair of fins or zoomers it'd be best to
start these drills with those, taking some pressure off of your upper body
to provide the propulsion will allow you to concentrate on the drills.

Initially i'd recommend doing catch-up drill with an arm extended. You
mentioned your left side is your strongest. When your left arm is extended,
and your right arm pulling, work on getting that right shoulder very high,
and having the right hand pass close by your face during the recovery - this
will promote a high elbow position, and force that right shoulder higher out
of the water, while in effect you 'lean' on that left arm out in front.
Always remember that rotation of the body doesn't start and end at the
shoulders, but at the hips - so as your leaning on your left side, make sure
your right hip is up as much as your right shoulder.

Once you have a feel for this type of high elbow-shoulder recovery, you may
want to remove the catch up drill and replace it with single arm - your left
arm still extended in front to provide balance, and still using fins to aid
you, working on the principles mentioned above. The next step after this, I
would say move on to single arm with your left arm by your side, pulling
only with the right arm and breathing to the LEFT (the non-pulling side) -
while doing this drill, you're still working on body rotation getting both
shoulders, right and left out of the water, using your hips and trunk to
drive the rotation.

All the while you're working on a drill progression such as this with fins,
supplement it with plenty of full stroke regular swimming, working on
implementing the principles of the drill into your stroke.

Steve

Quoted message said:

Why do you want to learn to breath to both sides?

As you are finding out, in the short term it will make swimming much
harder and slower for you.

I don't think all elites can bilaterally breath. Some can, as
evidenced by the video data, and some can't. I've never seen video of
Michael Phelps breathing to his left. So I suspect he trains virtually
all the time breathing to his dominant side. At the end of the epic
800 meter relay in Athens, Keller breathed left the entire last 50 even
though Thorpe was running him down on his right. Keller either can't
bilaterally breath, or thinks it slows him down at least a little. So
he just put the hammer down and let the chips fall - the timer was
going to reveal who won - he didn't have to see Thorpe to hold him off.
So there are plenty of men and women with gold medals who can't
bilaterally breath.

Eric

All of the above notwithstanding, bilateral breathing can be a useful
tool to help a beginner develop a more symmetric stroke, especially
since novices are more likely to break form while breathing.

I've self taught - and similar to you (been swimming about 4 years - and
only breath from my strong side (my right)). I found the Total Immersion
drills very helpful to enable my body roll to facilitate breathing from
either side. So while I do not always breath from both sides - I can now
(before I felt like you - just wasn't working).

"diablo" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"KOS" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hi, I have a question about bilateral breathing. I have been swimming
now for the past 4 years. I do a lot of freestyle. My question is
bilateral breathing. I usually breath to my strong side which is my
left. But I now want to implement bilateral breathing.
I have read that it is good practice to breath one lap down the pool on
your weak side then strong side.. vice versa. However, when I breath on
my weak side, that is the right side, I feel like I am swallowing lots
of water and feel like almost sinking. Can someone offer some advice on
how to get this bilateral breathing done right? this was the first time
I have done this type of breathing- so I guess it will take practice..
Maybe I am not getting good rotation on my weak side?

any help you can offer would be excellent.
Thanks
KOS

I would encourage you to work on bilateral breathing a little longer. As
Eric mentioned, it's not a huge advantage to be able to do it, but it does
promote a balanced body. If you go through a period of 4-6 weeks of

working

Quoted message said:

on it a little each session and you still feel its a pain in the a**,
concentrate on other things.

That said, someone above mentioned your body rotation is imbalanced, and
that was my first thought. Trying to work on rotating to your weak side
isn't too difficult. If you have a pair of fins or zoomers it'd be best to
start these drills with those, taking some pressure off of your upper body
to provide the propulsion will allow you to concentrate on the drills.

Initially i'd recommend doing catch-up drill with an arm extended. You
mentioned your left side is your strongest. When your left arm is

extended,

Quoted message said:

and your right arm pulling, work on getting that right shoulder very high,
and having the right hand pass close by your face during the recovery -

this

Quoted message said:

will promote a high elbow position, and force that right shoulder higher

out

Quoted message said:

of the water, while in effect you 'lean' on that left arm out in front.
Always remember that rotation of the body doesn't start and end at the
shoulders, but at the hips - so as your leaning on your left side, make

sure

Quoted message said:

your right hip is up as much as your right shoulder.

Once you have a feel for this type of high elbow-shoulder recovery, you

may

Quoted message said:

want to remove the catch up drill and replace it with single arm - your

left

Quoted message said:

arm still extended in front to provide balance, and still using fins to

aid

Quoted message said:

you, working on the principles mentioned above. The next step after this,

I

Quoted message said:

would say move on to single arm with your left arm by your side, pulling
only with the right arm and breathing to the LEFT (the non-pulling side) -
while doing this drill, you're still working on body rotation getting both
shoulders, right and left out of the water, using your hips and trunk to
drive the rotation.

All the while you're working on a drill progression such as this with

fins,

Quoted message said:

supplement it with plenty of full stroke regular swimming, working on
implementing the principles of the drill into your stroke.

Steve