BREATHE EASY

You can breathe to one side only but having the option to breathe bilaterally will significantly improve your front-crawl…

WHAT IS BILATERAL BREATHING?

Bilateral breathing’s simply breathing to both sides while swimming front-crawl. Many triathletes will take a breath every three strokes; in other words, breathing to your left, keeping your head down for two strokes, before taking a breath to your right. You can also breathe every five strokes or even every seven, but the pattern’s less important than learning to breathe bilaterally.

WHY BREATHE BILATERALLY?

The benefits of bilateral breathing are many and include…

Improves body position. Breathing to both sides is more symmetrical than breathing solely to one side and so evens out your body roll. Your frontal profile is then lowered – as is your drag – and so you swim faster and more efficiently.

Lowers chances of injury. If an Ironman athlete is swimming 3,800m in 3,800 strokes and breathing every two strokes, that’s 1,900 times that athlete is straining their neck to the left or right. Bilateral means breathing on the same side every six strokes, significantly reducing stress on the neck.

Drafting advantage. Bilateral breathing means you can more proficiently keep an eye on the competition to your left and right.

Avoid a mouthful. Most swims are a rectangular out-and-back. If you can only breathe to one side, you’re liable to be consuming water for a good stretch of that swim. Bilateral cuts these chances for a more comfortable opening discipline.

HOW TO BILATERAL BREATHE

Bilateral breathing takes time. But practise these skills and drills during your warm-up and cool-down will pay dividends. They can be practised in both the open water and pool…

One-arm freestyle. One proven way to learn bilateral breathing is to one-arm swim with your right arm at your side. Whenever you need to breathe, roll your head to your stroking side. And vice versa. You can use a kickboard instead of placing your arm to the side.

Shallow-end breathing. Stand on the pool or outdoor-water floor and practise bilateral breathing. Removing the swim aspect means you can focus on the breathing.

Alternate breathing. Swim one length just breathing to your left side; swim the next breathing to your right. In this drill, focus on breathing and don’t worry at all about speed.