You are reading a single comment by @Greenbank and its replies.
Click here to read the full conversation.
London Fixed Gear and Single-Speed is a community of predominantly fixed gear and single-speed cyclists in and around London, UK.
This site is supported almost exclusively by donations. Please consider donating a small amount regularly.
@Greenbank
Main reason for bilateral breathing is that it helps avoid any imbalance in your stroke.
If you always breathe to one side you can end up pulling harder on one side than the other, and then you end up going down the lane slightly askew/crab-like, which increases drag considerably.
Even if you like breathing every 4 strokes you should alternate which side you breathe on each length so that you don't start to compound/train-in any imbalance.
(Must practice what I preach...Haven't been swimming for about 3 weeks now - mostly due to Covid but prior to that it was apathy)