Hey swimmers....

[Wahine]

So the PT point of view on this is that bilateral breathing is better both for form and muscle balance. Unilateral breathing can cause shoulder pain, but it's related to roll. When you breath you roll farther (hopefully) so there is less stress to the shoulder on the breathing side. People tend to roll less to the non-breathing side and then strain their shoulder to get the hand out of the water for the recovery phase of the stroke. If you're a good swimmer and have a good roll to both sides, it's not bad to unilateral breathing. If you have problems with rolling, swimming even short distances unilaterally breathing can be bad.

Personally, I breath every 3 strokes when I race, 4 to 5 strokes when I'm swimming long endurance sets (3 makes me hyperventilate but if I'm swimming 4 I make a point of switching sides periodically), I often do sets to try to stretch my breathing out to every 7 strokes and when I'm swimming above my usual race pace I will often breath 3-2-3-2.

[kelownagirl]

I'm happy to say I seem to feel comfortable breathing (gasping, choking) every 3 strokes. Hopefully it will get easier right? I take in water through my nose sometimes I think....

[skinny_kitty]

Well, I'm new here, but am so incredibly impressed with the information on this thread that I've been talking about it for the past week.

I had a baby (#4) in October, 2006 and started to swim the following January. I hadn't done any serious swimming since I was a teen with a local swim team. In those days, you were told to be like a plank in the water and do a sort of "S" movement with your arms. I only ever breathed on my left side.

Well, doing something when you're a teen and then doing it again in your (late) 30's are two different things: What my body could handle then, it could not handle now -- especially when you add in the shoulder stress associated with nursing a fourth child (all four born in a space of 5 1/2 years).

I had tendonitis in my shoulder and no amount visits to the chiropractor could fix it. It was, of course, my right shoulder -- opposite to my breathing side.

I eventually caved for a shot of cortisone so that I could compete in two sprint tris, but the effects didn't last.

Since joining the masters swimmers, I've learned to roll a lot and breathe every three strokes. I had to scarf down a lot of chlorine (:P) before I could manage to do it well, but it was worth it. Ever since, the shoulder pain is blissfully gone.

So, this is a really long-winded way of saying thanks for discussing this: I'll be sure to breathe every three strokes and roll like a maniac now; especially when sprinting when the temptation to revert back to old ways hits me!