stroke/breath count

fishgutzy

Here is an interesting piece on the subject of breath count. The author completely ignore most every Olympic swimmer in his broad statements though. Phelps breathes every 4th. Most breathe both sides.
Granted the context here is ocean swimming so open water competitors may be different.
By the main point seems to be that I shouldn't be trying to breathe every 5th if every 3 is working. More of an exercise in improving lung capacity.
https://oceanswim.co.nz/the-myth-of-3-stroke-breathing/

emmab0902

Pretty much all the top olympic swimmers breathe on 2 or 4 which I was surprised at when I watched, given the push to breathe bilaterally. My preference is 3 or 5 but I think 2 is probably faster for racing as it seems to speed up my low stroke rate (even when racing my stroke rate is only about 60 per minute!!)

aliciamariaq

Hmm, I have never been good at bilaterally breathing. In the pool it is definitely overy 2 or 4 but when I swim in open water I usually breathe every 3. It helps me keep my bearings and also balance out my stroke in choppy water.
It's weird how I can do it quite easily in open water, but when I try to bilateral breath in the pool it totally throws off my stroke and i feel like I am drowning....

emmab0902

There's a good article on The Race Club about how too frequent breathing slows your down due to decreasing stroke rate and increasing drag. But in short races the trade off is getting more oxygen.

YosemiteSlamAK

I teach all my swimmers to breath every other stroke = inhale arm, exhale arm.
I was fortunate enough to have Rowdy Gaines visit my pool and take over the swim practice. He used Michael Phelps as an example, Michael swims "crooked" because he inhales on one side and exhales on the other (in the water) side/arm stroke every time.
My slogan is "Michael breaths on the 2 so why not you?"

Janice6543

I think for the beginner and intermediate swimmer, every 3rd stroke is a good plan to work on a balanced stroke. Once you get into advanced territory, your stroke is probably balanced no matter how you breathe. I very often see beginners who grossly over rotate to their breathing side and no rotation to non breathing side.