Cyclic gas sorption/desorption experiments were made on two medium-rank coals from Lower and Upper Silesia Basins, Poland, bituminous A and bituminous C. Measurements were made during two sets of experiments, in three successive cycles of sorption/desorption of gas on cylindrical coal specimens (diameter 22mm, height 44mm), cut with the long axis perpendicular to the bedding plane. Methane was used in the first group of tests, in the second, the coal specimen was in contact with CH 4 in the first and third cycles while during the middle one, the coal was subjected to sorption/desorption of CO 2 . Experiments were conducted at 298K, for a gas pressure of 4.0MPa and changes in strain were monitored throughout. Sorption of CO 2 and CH 4 affected the two coals differently and there could be a connection between changes in the coal structure due to sorption of the gases and the character of the induced strain. The study of swelling induced in coal by sorption of CO 2 /CH 4 was aimed at improving the understanding of coal behavior, for practical reasons, as a part of an ECBM project.