Total Immersion Swimming

[Lynchmeister]

Anyone familiar with Total Immersion Swimming?

Much like Tim's enthusiasm for riding, I've found I share a similar passion for the pool...the difference being that I'm like a drowned rat extremely clumsy in the pool as I've never had any instruction on technique.

Why googling "improve your swimming technique" today, I came across something called Total Immersion, which immediately intrigued me.

From Wikipedia:

Total Immersion (TI) is a method of swimming instruction, developed by Terry Laughlin, an American swimming coach. Its primary focus is to teach swimmers to move in a more efficient, natural way in the water.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_immersion

Having armed myself with a few YouTube videos and a bit of reading, I swung by the gym and decided to take the first step. It was awkward and unnatural (compared to all the bad habits I've developed) and I loved the door of possibility that it opened. My laps were noticeably faster, my heart rate slower, and my energy abundant.

I'm excited about this.

 

[RichGem]

Huh. Sounds interesting. Just be good at holding your breath!

(Oh, and DO NOT post the George-in-a-speedo pics for the love of Pete!)

 

[TimmyBoston]

Cory, I've seen one of their DVDs. It's solid. I've been going over them for a triathlon. I have no swimming background at all. I learned how to swim when I was a kid, but that's it. I think they do a good job.

 

[luvmysuper]

I'm afraid of the pool, so I've been trying Total Aspersion Swimming
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[airplanedoc]

One of the biggest benefits I have found, to increase my swimming efficiency, is not to breathe every stroke. I generally change up my breathing from every 3rd to 5th stroke. I warm up breathing every stroke, then depending what feels good that day switch to 3rd ,4th,or 5th stroke for my mile, then back to every stroke for a cool down.

 

[Greybeard]

I'm afraid of the pool, so I've been trying Total Aspersion Swimming
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.
.
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If you had an aversion to aspersion, then that would have explained the Veg.




- Peter

 

[Lynchmeister]

Cory, I've seen one of their DVDs. It's solid. I've been going over them for a triathlon. I have no swimming background at all. I learned how to swim when I was a kid, but that's it. I think they do a good job.

Excellent! Thanks for the endorsement, too. I'm going to peek at Netflix (and now that I'm thinking about it, the library as well) in the off-chance that they might have some of the DVDs, otherwise I'm more than likely going to purchase one.

 

[Lynchmeister]

Netflix has several of the DVDs!!

Edit: They have the Back stroke, breast stroke, and butterfly stroke discs....but not the freestyle one. What's up with that?!?!

 

[arghblech]

Just from looking at the wikipedia link I think he's hit the nail on the head with a couple of his points.

# Relax your legs until the kick blends easily with your stroke.
# Swim more quietly - minimize waves and splash.
# Count strokes.

Swimming is about rhythm, IMO. When you are swimming you should try to "listen" to a song you like in your head. Try to remember/play all the way through the song in memory. Let that song's rhythm set the pattern for your swimming. Try to let your body repeat the motions of swimming in time with the music. It becomes very natural and very easy to control your pace after a while.

Hope this helps you somehow!

 

[shmeegs]

I wish my gym had a pool. I love swimming as cardio and it beats the hell out of running.

 

[Stubblefield]

By all means, get the videos from netflix or the library. But if at all possible, get some coaching. Poor swimming technique can be difficult to diagnose and self correct. Working with a coach will, in the long run, save you time and frustration if you are going to be spending any amount of time in the water.

My 0.02.

 

[dklaiman]

If the DVDs don't work for you, you should find a local triathlon. In MN one of the sponser is usually a swim or cross training facility. I'm good in the water but I still benefitted significantly from a couple of private lessons.

-Dave

 

[Lynchmeister]

Netflix has several of the DVDs!!

Edit: They have the Back stroke, breast stroke, and butterfly stroke discs....but not the freestyle one. What's up with that?!?!

Netflix now also has the "Easy Freestyle" DVD available, which I quickly put to the top of my queue and received a few days ago. I also picked up the book at the library last week, so I'm looking forward to spending some time in the coming days on this.

While I've been able to glean quite a bit off of Shinji Takeuchi's video, now that I have the materials at my disposal, I feel it will be most beneficial to start fresh at square one, i.e., master balance in the water, streamlining, etc., and then start incorporating strokes and kicking.

Here is the video I referenced above:

[youtube]rJpFVvho0o4[/youtube]

 

[TimmyBoston]

Cory, I'm very curious what you think of these videos. Let me know after you've had a chance to go over the material.