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If you have a strong preference to breathe to one side when you swim, try one of our favourite drill sequences below. It's a simple but powerful way to help you open up the 'bad' side of your stroke and develop the timing of breathing to that side. We often use this sequence in the Swim Smooth squads during a session warm-up.
Side Kick And Swim - With A Single Paddle
Wearing fins, grab a single paddle and place it on one hand - a conventional strapped paddle is fine but we like the Finis Freestyler for this purpose as it is arrow shape and the keel gives you feedback on your alignment.
Push off and kick on your side with the paddle on the lower hand outstretched in front of you. This is like our conventional side kicking exercise (see here) except you are wearing the paddle on the lead arm. Make sure you are at 90° on your side with your rear hand placed gently on your thigh.
As you kick on your side think about keeping the lead arm aligned by drawing your shoulder blades together and back, the arm should point arrow-straight down the pool. Be particularly aware of this if you have a crossover of the centre line in your stroke as it's likely to re-occur whilst performing this drill:
Also become aware of the angle of your hand, make sure the palm is facing the bottom with a very slight downwards angle at the wrist. As always in your stroke, elbow higher than wrist and wrist higher than fingertips:
Once you get the feel of this drill on both sides (swap the paddle to keep it on the lead hand), perform it for 25m and immediately go into your full freestyle stroke, breathing away from the paddle on every stroke. So if you kicked on your right side with the paddle on your right hand go into full freestyle but breathe only to your left side on every stroke.
Integrating Into A Set
Try swimming the drill in this 200m set, perfect for adding in to a warm-up:
Paddle on right hand: 25m kick on right side + 25m freestyle breathe left
Paddle on left hand: 25m kick on left side + 25m freestyle breathe right
Repeat twice through
How does it feel breathing to your bad side? The drill should help you rotate much better to that side and the paddle give you a greater awareness of your catch whilst breathing.
(this is a variation of our classic drill sequence with a focus on breathing to your bad side)
Swim Smooth!