 Triathlon
Swimming
Made Easy:
The
Total Immersion Way for Anyone to Master Open-Water
Swimming.
A clear, practical guide to swimming freestyle
better than you ever thought possible. Not
only
to swim well enough to breeze through a triathlon
swim leg with ease and confidence; but to reach
a Nirvana where the swim is your favorite part.
If you’re not aiming to do a triathlon,
but would simply like to swim with ease, efficiency
and confidence, TSME will turn you into a beautiful
freestyler with the freedom to swim in any
body of water.
Book Details:
Paperback: 234 pages; Dimensions
(in inches):
0.75 x 8.75 x 5.75
ISBN: 1-931009-07-4
New Price: $19.95
Book Description:
Swimming technique expert Terry Laughlin makes
three promises to readers of his latest book,
TRIATHLON SWIMMING MADE EASY (TSME):
-
If you can run or ride a bicycle, you can do
a triathlon
-
If you’re already a triathlete, but a
weak swimmer, you can make swimming the best
part of your race.
-
If you have no triathlon ambitions, but would
simply like to be able to swim with unimagined
ease, confidence and satisfaction, you can.
Why swimming is the "ticket of entry"
to triathlon
Triathlon is no longer the province of hard-core
athletes; it has become the favored challenge
for those raising their sights from recreational
fitness to something more ambitious. This year
over 300,000 people will toe the starting line
for races across the U.S.. For most of its 20-year
history, triathlon has been male-dominated, but
its appeal is growing dramatically among women:
Last year, four of the six best-attended races
in the U.S. were Danskin events, a series intended
mainly for women who are first-timers.
If there’s one barrier to even more people
doing a triathlon, it’s the intimidating
open-water distance swim that opens each race.
Swimming a quarter-mile (even in a "sprint"
triathlons – "Olympic distance"
triathlons start with a mile swim) far from the
security of pool walls and lane lines is a daunting
prospect. And though triathlon vets may be surviving
their "trial by water," the great majority
remain hugely frustrated by it. As one said, "No
matter how long or hard I swim, I never seem to
improve beyond a level I call ‘terminal
mediocrity’."
With the release of his latest book, best-selling
swim writer and teacher, Terry Laughlin promises
to end that frustration and to make triathlon
a reality for anyone who can run or ride a bicycle.
And what he advocates is likely to be eye-opening
news – that triathletes will be far more
successful at swimming if they don’t
train like competitive swimmers, nor should they
train as they do for running and cycling. As he
explains, the secret to swimming well is to practice
it as a skill sport or movement art – not
unlike dance or martial arts.
TSME solves the swimming puzzle
Laughlin’s two previous books became the
world’s most popular "how-to"
books on swimming because they prescribed simple,
clear and immediately useful methods of swimming
much better — techniques that readers discovered
made an immediate and dramatic difference. TSME
offers similar practical guidance and understanding
for what Laughlin describes as a unique form
of
swimming — open-water and triathlon swimming.
Part 1 Why Swimming Frustrates You
outlines triathletes’ nearly universal conundrum:
They instinctively train for swimming, by doing
what works in running and cycling – more
miles – but get nowhere. Because humans
are hard-wired to be inefficient in water,
more laps just make your "struggling skills"
more permanent. A triathlete’s first goal
should be to swim easier, not faster,
because improvement comes far more quickly to
those who focus on movement economy than
on laps and more laps. Laughlin also describes
three mistakes made by every "human swimmer"
and a 5-step process for correcting them. Read
Part 1.
Part 2, The Smart Swimming Solution
explains the smartest way to become a more effective
swimmer, in lessons drawn from helping thousands
of "challenged" swimmers to quickly
transform struggle into flow. Some samples of
these revolutionary insights – each of which
is accompanied by concrete tips for immediately
applying them:
-
Water is a Wall. What limits
how fast or far you can swim? Water resistance,
not your strength or fitness. No amount of training
can compensate for the drag created by poor
body position or an inefficient stroke. Swim
farther and faster by minimizing drag and turbulence.
-
Can slower strokes make you faster?
Instinct tells us to swim faster by churning
our arms faster, but all that does is create
turbulence and make us tired faster. The world’s
best swimmers are faster because their strokes
are MUCH longer (i.e. they travel much farther
during each stroke cycle) than lesser swimmers.
So focus on Stroke Length, not on moving your
arms faster.
- No
more sinking feeling. Survival instincts
make us want to stay on top of the water…something
our bodies are not designed to do. While you
think your pulling and kicking is moving
you forward, in reality, most of your energy
is probably going into "not sinking."
(We see that in underwater video of 98% of swimmers.)
Learning balance frees you to move far more
efficiently.
-
Swim "taller;" swim easier.
Most swimmers use their hands mainly to push
water back. But the most advantageous thing
you can do with your hands is use them to lengthen
your bodyline because a longer bodyline reduces
drag. Everything that matters in your stroke
happens in front of your head.
- Kicking
is over-rated. Virtually everyone thinks
a powerful kick is the key to swimming well
— and do countless laps on kickboards
working toward it. But the most important thing
your legs do is help your body rotate and kickboard
training is utterly useless for that. Teach
your legs to work more effectively by practicing
drills that employ and improve body rotation.
Part 3, The School for Fishlike Swimming,
builds on the knowledge base developed in Part
2, by guiding the reader through four Total Immersion
"swim lessons" specially designed for
self-study, with detailed instructions and dozens
of photos. As the fundamental rule for success
is "Avoid practicing movements you can’t
perform correctly," the learning sequence
begins with simple movements and positions
and
progresses by small steps to the whole stroke.
The skill drills are supplemented by frequent
sidebars on how to learn more effectively.
Part 4, Smart Swimming for the Rest of
Your Life, explains how to transform
mindless, boring "workouts" into smart,
effective — and enjoyable —"practices"
that reinforce the skills developed in Part 3,
even as they build the right kind of fitness.
As Laughlin explains, swimming endurance should
be defined as "the ability to swim efficiently
for a distance and speed of your choosing."
He then explains exactly how to get it. Chapters
are also dedicated to preparing for a long well-paced
swim, or a short, faster swim and to dryland training
that will help prevent injury and allow you to
use your body optimally.
Part V, Getting Ready to Race
prepares readers to put their skills and practice
to the ultimate test. From dress rehearsal (how
to use a wetsuit to advantage), to purposeful
practice when you swim in open water rather than
the pool, to everything you should do on race
day, from the moment you arrive at the race site
to warming up, to swimming the race itself.
A bonus chapter, the Afterword,
explains the mysterious process through which
something that was once difficult becomes easier
and more pleasurable through practice and shows
readers how to apply the lessons of Mastery in
their swimming practice to develop habits and
attitudes that increase potential in many other
areas. Read
the Afterword.
Reader
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READ A SAMPLE:
Table of
Contents
Part
1 Sample
Chapter 9 - A New Role for Your Hands: Standing
Still
Afterword
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