Total immersion

[DanPartelly]

Gents,


what do you think about "Total immersion" as a program to improve your swimming ?

[TobinGeorge]

Quote: (Originally Posted by DanPartelly)

Gents,


what do you think about "Total immersion" as a program to improve your swimming ?

Forgive my ignorance, but lacking certain "devine" properties how does one go swimming without being totally immersed? Or very close to it?

Tobin

[DanPartelly]

Quote: (Originally Posted by TobinGeorge)

Forgive my ignorance, but lacking certain "devine" properties how does one go swimming without being totally immersed? Or very close to it?

Tobin

This was a good one, Tobin.

Check this out.

Total Immersion Swimming

Total immersion is a highly mediatized approach to swimming in US, even us in Europe heard of it.

[TobinGeorge]

Quote: (Originally Posted by DanPartelly)

This was a good one, Tobin.

Check this out.

Total Immersion Swimming

Total immersion is a highly mediatized approach to swimming in US, even us in Europe heard of it.

Thanks for the Link Dan, looks interesting.

Tobin

[PFM]

Nice link, From my initial looks it appears to be flogging technique (no bad thing) - (after thought - LOL, look at the golfing industry!).

As I'm sure your aware the (former) Soviets and Australians spent huge amount of time and cash teaching technique not power in their olympic programmes and moved the whole discipline into another level closer to the Zen/The Matrix ideology (there is no spoon!)

Looks good though... but then I havent yet seen the price...

[Dawn]

Quote: (Originally Posted by DanPartelly)

Gents,


what do you think about "Total immersion" as a program to improve your swimming ?

Well, not a gent but hope you don't mind me jumping in with a response here <g>

I wrote this as part of an earlier post in the "Improve your breathing..." thread:

"Terry Laughlin/Total Immersion is great training, most effectively with adults who are "learning" to swim correctly later in their years. I have found his techniques work very well when training adults who are learning to swim primarily for openwater racing (ie. triathlon training) since he emphasizes "downhill" swimming. While some of the techniques do not necessarily hold up in sprinting (like head position, rate of turn over, etc.), emphasis on proper body position in the water, lengthening the s-troke, emphasizing the body position, timing and technique during the catch and pull phases...all of the drills he provides to work on these are the basis for a strong distance swim."

We use the same basic drills and ideas taught in TI when coaching age group swimmers - both distance and sprinters (especially since at an early age, we are focused on coaching basic technique and not specializing our swimmers in any particular s-troke/distance until a later age - s-troke turnover rate is easier to teach down the road than body position, etc.!). Body and head position, core rotation and a focus on staying "long" are basic tenets for any swimmer these days.
More efficient is better. Most of our top male swimmers would swim 50 meters in 35 s-trokes or under (I think Thorpe averages around 30 (ranging 27-32)).

Best,
Dawn

[jerry.mobbs]

Dan,

I reckon TI is great. But I think a lot depends on what your background is before you try it.

I was never really 'taught' how to swim, I just spent a lot of time in or near pools as a kid. So when I found TI at the age of 40 it was if soemone had turned the lights on.

I made tremendous improvements in my ****** rate and went from 22 to 18 in a 25m pool for freestyle. Would I have made similar imrovement if I had been in a masters swim program or joined a swim club as a kid? Probably not, but then that probably aplies to all sports except darts!

The material is well laid out and easy to follow. The DVDs are great and if you can get some underwater foortage of you actually swimming, you can critique yourself. Its not as good as having a coach, but its the best you can do.

I'm sure if you could put some footage on youtube, then one of the swimming experts would offer soem good advice.

My advice woudl be, if your Edenfeldt, then you probably wont get much out of it. But if your a recreational swimmer without the time/inclination to join a club, then its great.

If I was a recreational swimmer with a choice between doing TI alone, or swimming with a club, then I'd go with the club as hands on coaching is better asssuming your coach knows his stuff.

Jerry

[DanPartelly]

@Dawn

You know that your input is most appreciated . Please forgive me for the lack of courteousy and saying "gents" alone.

@Jerry.Mobbs

Jerry, I was never teach how to swim. There are no coaches / trainers in my area, except for the local polo team, but they dont have the time for anything else.


Thanks all.

[fraser]

A long while ago I went to a TI class as a triathlete looking to put less effort into the swim and therefore conserve more for the bike/run. It works. I went from I think 19/20 str0kes per 25m lap to 12.

As Jerry mentioned, if you have no formal swim training then TI will seem like a revelation. It flies in the face of the swim club ethic though, swim clubs reinforce swimming practice whereas after a TI class you won't practice "swimming" as such, you'll be looking at the individual parts of your chosen str0ke.

Hope this helps.

Fraser.

[Clare Gledhill]

Quote: (Originally Posted by fraser)

looking to put less effort into the swim...

Sounds about right