What breathing pattern should I use in the swim?

Most triathletes want to know which breathing pattern they should use, as using the appropriate breathing pattern can be a difference maker. But when it comes to which breathing pattern is best, unfortunately, the answer depends on the context. 

Rather than leaving you with an accurate but useless answer, let’s take a look at when you might want to use specific breathing patterns for specific reasons.

Racing

When it comes to racing, the bottom line is that you want to use whichever breathing pattern is going to help you swim the fastest for the least amount of effort. There are three considerations here.

A good breath should allow you to swim with rhythm, it should allow you to get a lot of oxygen, and it should allow you maintain positional awareness.

When it comes to rhythm, many swimmers find that they are best able to maintain rhythm when breathing to one side. If that’s you, sticking to breathing every 2nd or 4th stroke makes sense. 

There are some swimmers that find that they have a great rhythm when they breathe every 3rd stroke, aka bilateral breathing. You may already know which pattern allows you to feel smoothest, and it makes sense to trust your awareness.
 
When it comes to getting oxygen during endurance racing, more is better, so you’ll want to stick with breathing patterns that allow you to get a lot of air. This where breathing every 2nd or 3rd stroke is more effective. 

I would stay away from breathing every 4th or 5th stroke because you’re probably not getting enough oxygen, unless you’re using a very high stroke rate.
 
Finally, positional awareness matters as well. This is where breathing to both sides can be very effective. It allows you to see what’s happening to your left and to your right. There are two ways to handle this:

You can breathe every 3rd stroke, or you can breathe every 2nd stroke. When breathing every 2nd stroke, all you have to do is switch sides every so often to get a sense of where you’re at. Of course, if you can maintain great awareness breathing to one side, stick with it.

As you can see, there are multiple considerations and trade-offs with different advantages and disadvantages to each style. Choose the strategy that allows you to best balance these trade-offs based on your preferences.

Training

When it comes to training, the rules change. There is value to breathing to both sides, even if you race breathing exclusively to one side. Doing so can bring more balance to your stroke and balance to your body. 

I would suggest you do some swimming while breathing to the non-preferred side, perhaps for just 10-15% of your training distance. If you breathe every 3rd stroke, you’ve got this covered. However, you’ll likely find value breathing exclusively to the left and the right, again for just 10-15% of your training volume. 

• Best exercises to improve your swim breathing