Believe it another swimming question

I am one of those guys that Bi-lateral breaths in practice, although 80% of the time I go back to normal breathing in a race.

It definitely keeps me more symmetrical.

I got scared into this when I had an old-timer coach that was so lopsided, she even talked out the side of her mouth like a stroke victim.

I stopped competitive swimming between H.S. and college because I had kept swapping which shoulder had the worse tendonitis.

I am certainly no expert so take this with a grain of salt but I focus more on my hips when initiating my roll. I try to keep my body as linear as possible and rotate on the axis right down the middle of my back kind of like a skewered pig (a fast pig).

I started having shoulder pain in my non-breathing side and researched it a little and found that it is pretty common.  The suggestion was to breath out of both sides i fpossible, so that is what I do in practice, but only breath on my right side during a race.

The rotation for freestyle should be generated from your core.  I'm guessing (without being able to see you swim), if you are looking "jerky" in the water its because your arms/shoulders and your legs are not rotating as "one".  If you generate or push the rotation from your shoulders and your hips and legs follow you will feel like you are jerking or fighting the water.  If your hips look like they are "wiggling" it could be because of 1) you are crossing over with your arm(s) during the catch or 2) you scissor kick at some point in time.  If you can, have your brother video tape you so you can see what is going on with your own stroke.  Its hard to determine from the water sometimes and helps to watch yourself swim.  Think about having your hips "lead" the stroke.  Push the rotation from the hips and keep your shoulders, hips and legs in line.

There isn't (IMO) any "perfect" angle of rotation, everyone is different.  The reason that your non-breathing shoulder may be hurting is because you are putting more "pressure" on it every time you breathe.  I would either try to bi-lateral breathe or if you aren't comfortable with that, slow down your rotation when your breathing.  There aren't any time limitations to how long you can have your head turned to the side, take as long as you need.  Or what I have found that works best for me is I breathe twice in a row so I can make sure I get a full "breath".  My breathing pattern is two breaths on the right, 3 strokes, 2 breaths on the left.

Spend some time swimming slow and watch the entry position of your arms, the catch, the pull and the exit of your stroke.  Sometimes slowing things down, drilling and taking an objective look at your stroke can really really help.  Then the next time in the water you know what to focus on while you are training.

Keep us posted on the progress!

TY TY TY ya from what i've read too bilateral breathing should correct most of this. Being a lefty every1 usually has a hard time critiquing my stroke.