Throughout my swimming career, I had always breathed to my right side only until a year ago. Why? Because breathing on my left side felt awkward and uncomfortable! This is reason why most swimmers will breathe only on one side. Last year I had an experience that made me change my ways. I was getting a massage and my therapist noted that my left lat muscles (back) were much more developed than my right. Putting two and two together, I realized that years of right side only breathing in pool had caused me to use these muscles on my left side far more than my right as I was balancing with my left arm while sucking air into my lungs!

The answer to question is yes, you should use bilateral breathing, if you’re not already. The main reason is that it will balance out your stroke (as well as create symmetry in your back musculature!). The problem with breathing to one side only is that it can make your stroke lopsided. In a one-hour workout, you may roll to your breathing side 1,000 times. A lopsided stroke can become permanent in a hurry after practicing this for a while!

I was a competitive swimmer for 14 years, sometimes doing double workouts and 15,000 meters per day. I swam mostly freestyle and backstroke. I never had a shoulder problem until my college years. I had been training with pull buoy and paddles throughout my freshman year of college. I started getting a little pain in my left shoulder, but being 19 and feeling invincible, I swam through pain and was sure that a little rest after season would fix me right up. Well I did take rest and ended up in a lot more pain when I resumed swimming a few months later! The doctors said it was rotator cuff tendonitis. I rehabbed and within a few more months I was back to swimming every day, but my shoulder has never been same since.

There are a variety of ways to give yourself a shoulder injury in swimming. “Overuse” is often what doctors will say. This is a pretty general term and doesn’t help many athletes when they’re trying to accomplish their goals and avoid getting hurt! Some of other ways include:

•Improper Technique- reaching too far and over-rotating, crossing over in freestyle when pulling •Sudden increase in training distance or intensity •The use of pull buoys and hand paddles •Swimming only freestyle at every workout •Unbalanced strength development

Preventative Measures

1. One of most important things in stroke technique when it comes to freestyle and avoiding shoulder injuries is to bend your elbows underwater during pull. This is proper form and will keep you from putting your shoulder in an awkward position that leads to a rotator cuff problem.