At Salty Fit we teach our swimmers to breathe every two strokes, which is called unilateral breathing. If you have ever done any stroke correction or swimming lessons as a child you may have been taught to breathe every 3 strokes, known as bilateral breathing.
Why do we teach unilateral breathing?
Breathing unilaterally has many benefits for improving your swimming. Firstly, it encourages muscle coordination and memory each time these muscles are recruited to move in a certain pattern. When you breathe in a bilateral system it means you alternate sides to breathe every 3 strokes, thus in effect if you intend on fixing an error on your left side breathing pattern, you would only get to correct and practice it every 7th stroke.
Instead of your brain having to alternate the task (ie breathing different sides within the stroke), breathing every 2 strokes trains your brain to do the same task more frequently (ie breathing to the 1 side) so it develops the stroke and muscle memory through frequent repetition as well as better coordination.
Brain science tells us your brain actually cannot multitask!! Your brain learns and develops the memory function by continual focus and repetition of the same task without interruptions. Try thinking about how bodybuilders do reps to build up their biceps with bicep curls or even conducting lunges in order to build stability and strength through each leg – they repeat on one leg then repeat on the opposite side 😉
We train our swimmers to be able to breathe on both sides of course! One lap breathing on one side, then the next lap breathing to the opposite. This helps them become better, stronger, more effective AND coordinated swimmers!
In addition, breathing every 2 strokes provides a frequency of oxygen to the swimmer rather than breathing every 3 strokes. If you have ambitions of triathlons or ocean swims, the only way you are going to get enough oxygen into your bloodstream and avoid fatigue is to breathe every two! Come down to icebergs and give it a try in your next session.