The way to obtain these benefits is to practice bilateral breathing as much as possible. Often in my evening group I will have swimmers breathe every 3 or 5 strokes as part of a drill or warmdown. But by no means should this practice be limited to drill sets or long warmdowns! It will feel awkward at first, sure. But awkwardness is easier to deal with than you may think. Regular practice of rolling to both sides to breathe will remedy this before you know it.

Some tips on how to practice bilateral breathing while keeping it interesting:

1.Breathe to your right side on one length and to your left on next. That way you get oxygen you need but still develop a symmetrical stroke. 2.Breathe to your weaker side on warm-ups, warmdowns, and slow swimming sets. 3.Experiment with 3 left, 3 right or 4 left, 4 right until you find a comfortable pattern

Keep goal in mind each week of breathing about same amount to one side as other over course of any week of swimming. Most of all, enjoy your swim and don’t get too hung up on being exact!

3. Avoid use of pull buoys and paddles. Although it is tempting, buoys merely give you a false sense of floatation and put unnecessary tension on your joints, especially your shoulders. Although there are paddles designed not to cause shoulder problems, most of paddles out there are not needed in training, and will cause shoulder problems if you give it enough time.

4. Swimming only freestyle at all of your workouts may seem like a good idea if you are training for a triathlon, but I would not recommend it. First of all, you will gain more from cross training with other strokes. And most importantly, excess in any one stroke leads to a higher probability of an “overuse” injury.

5. If you breath to only one side, you will develop muscles more on one side than other, and this could cause a breakdown and a shoulder problem. Incorporate bilateral breathing into your workouts to avoid this. If it’s extremely awkward at first, start with just breathing bilaterally in warm-up and warm-down, and slowly add it into rest of your workouts as it becomes more comfortable.

Post-Rehab

If you are just getting over a shoulder injury and are jumping back in pool, put on a pair of fins. Zoomers or Hydro Finz work best. That way you are accomplishing 3 things: 1) taking some pressure off your shoulders, 2) getting a great cardiovascular workout, and 3) building strength in your legs for swimming. One “good” thing about shoulder injuries is that they force us to slow down, and give us a chance to work on drills and stroke technique while we get back to health. And from what I’ve seen as a coach, many triathletes can use a little slowing down when it comes to improving their swimming!