How do you breathe when you swim?
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Do whatever feels right for you. I know many sub 1 hr ironman swimmers that do not bilateral breathe and many that breathe every 2nd stroke. If every 3rd feels right, do it. There are bigger dragons to slay. Rule 1: Politely ignore random advice from people at the pool, gym, transition area
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What?!? I always get the 'best' advide in T1 and T2!
Happy Monday Everyone! 0 -
I grew up on a swim team, breathing on one side. I taught myself to bilateral breathe as an adult.
It's pretty shocking (in a good way) that most of the responses here are for bilateral breathing. If you go to the pool, most breathe on the right, some on the left, and very few bilateral. Swim coaches do a bilateral drill to practice breath control (breathe every 3-5-7). I always get to skip that one. (and do something else that makes me groan)
I breathe most often every 5th stroke, every 7th or more if I'm taking it slow and working on form. Every 3rd if I've been "all out" for more than a 100. I just breathe when I need air.0 -
bilateral breathing is awesome! not only does it give you the flexibility to look either direction (and some confidence when sighting during triathlons) it also helps to balance out the use of shoulder muscles and keep the stroke more even.
holding every 3 or 5 strokes is good way to begin...for extended distance swimming, most elites find they need more oxygen to keep their legs fresh so they will do a 3/2 pattern...some still breathe every
as a swim coach, we teach our athletes from a young age to bilaterally breath. we also teach our athletes to use their core & legs to balance in the water...equally important for triathletes0
