This post was previously published by Terry Laughlin on Aug. 7, 2015.

At the Beijing Olympics in 2008, Stany Kempompo Ngangola gained a measure of fame for swimming the 100-meter freestyle.

Not for his speed, but simply for surviving.

Stany was among a small group of athletes—mostly from small underdeveloped nations–who are invited to the Olympics in hopes that the exposure will encourage sports development in their homeland. These athletes are exempted from Olympic qualifying times.

Stany was selected for this honor a year in advance and given assistance with preparation by coaches from advanced swimming nations. Unfortunately the training he was given focused mostly on conditioning with little attention to technique.

Swimming in the first heat, Stany relied on youth and strength to get through his first 50-meter length, but hadn’t gone far on the second length before the commentators began to express concern—shared by everyone watching–about whether he could make it safely to the far wall.

Here’s a picture of Stany—looking very athletic—in the air.

And here is Stany in the water, struggling to complete 100 meters.

What’s remarkable about Stany is how utterly unremarkable he is. I estimate that 95 percent of the millions who watched his struggles on TV would fare no better if put in that position themselves. You see, swimming, as an aquatic skill, is an ‘alien’ activity for land-adapted humans. Do you recognize the swimmer below? 

John Lennon… Human Swimmer!

Energy Wasting Machines

That’s why we say that it’s critical to recognize that—as inheritors of millions of years of adapting to life on terra firma—it is simply human nature to be an ‘energy-wasting machine’ in the water.

This was confirmed by a study done by DARPA in 2005 while designing a swim foil for the Navy Seals. They found that dolphins convert 80 percent of energy into forward motion. The humans they studied (lap and fitness swimmers—people who thought they swam ‘okay’) were only 3 percent energy efficient.

This bring us to Swimming Principle #1: Always focus on saving energy before increasing fitness. 

To apply this principle, do the following:

• When developing technique, master Vessel-Shaping skills (Balance, Core Stability, Alignment, and Streamlining, before propulsion skills (pulling and kicking.) Vessel-Shaping skills take little energy to perform and provide significant payback in energy savings. Propulsion skills require much more energy and power to perform.

• Propulsion A: When you focus on your pull and kick, pay attention first to how you use the arms and legs to minimize drag, before focusing on how you apply pressure to the water.

 • Job One for your arms is to lengthen your bodyline, since that reduces wave drag.

 • Job One for your legs is to draft behind your upper body—not to churn the water into a froth.

• Propulsion B: Strive to replace forces generated by your muscles with ‘available’ forces from nature—gravity and buoyancy.

• Swim farther by learning to swim a shorter distance almost effortlessly—rather than pushing to add another length.

• Swim faster by learning to swim at your current speed as easily as possible. Faster times will then come as a matter of course.

• Indeed, for any swimming set, task, or challenge, always start out with the intention to find the easiest possible way to complete it—rather than testing your ability to push through fatigue or discomfort.

Learn energy-saving techniques with our downloadable Ultra-Efficient Freestyle Self-Coaching Toolkit. The drills and skills are illustrated in 15 short videos. Guidance on how to learn and practice each drill effectively is provided in the companion Workbook.

The post Swimming Principle #1: Always Save Energy Before You Spend It appeared first on Total Immersion.

The following guest post by TI Master Coach Gary Fahey was originally published on Mar. 16, 2014. 

A blog post discussing kick strategies landed in my inbox a couple of weeks ago, much of it advocating a six-beat kick (6BK) for all but the most skilled of swimmers.

While I disagree with this premise and the example presented through the .gif in that blog post, I agree with the writer that long distance and open water swimmers should use their legs primarily for stability rather than propulsion. The energy cost of propulsive kicking is simply unsustainable.

Total Immersion advocates for increasing speed through smarter choices rather than greater effort. Among the most fundamental of those choices is to improve core stabilization—which is a critical foundation for a mastering 2-Beat Kick (2BK) skill.

One adjustment, I suggest to my swimmers is to experiment with the depth of the extended arm.  When they do, they learn that a very shallow extension causes the legs to sink.  But so does reaching too deep.

Reaching too deep breaks the body line where arm and torso connect. Picture a see-saw plank with a collapsible hinge: applying pressure at one end would not exert any influence at the other end.  But when you open that hinge to establish a single, structurally sound plank, then adjustments at one end affect what happens at the other.

Sinking legs can be counter balanced by finding the optimal angle or depth at which to ‘spear’ your arm forward. Spearing 12 to 15 inches below the surface tends to shape the body into a balanced, stable and sleek line. Adding a moderate forward stretch (eliminating laxity) will bring tone to the core, strengthening the connection between front and rear.

In the blog post, the coach suggested the swimmer had improperly matched a 2-beat kick to his overall mechanics, which explains the dropped legs. His suggested fix was a 6BK.

This misdiagnoses the problem and offers an energy-wasting solution.

My view: By extending too deep, the swimmer breaks the connection from extended hand in front through legs at the rear. Like the plank with a broken-hinge, balancing forces in front cannot act upon the rear.

If he ‘speared’ a few inches shallower (which would also direct more energy forward) he would increase structural integrity in his aquatic posture and bring his legs into balance.

Once he corrects his balance problem, the 2BK would not only be an appropriate match for his swimming style, he could likely scale back on his current degree of knee bend and further reduce drag. More stability = lower energy cost.

Compare the red lines in the still frame image at top (taken from the other writer’s post) to the  image from TI Coach Shinji Takeuchi’s top-ranked YouTube video.  Shinji extends to a shallower end point, which draws his body into a sleek line. His legs draft cleanly behind him and the energy cost of his 2BK approaches zero.

This illustrates a simple solution to sinking legs—one which results in kicking less, not more.

Besides this misdiagnosis, this blog post also drew a distinction between two styles of 2BK.  TI advocates the Shinji 2-beat kick  which connects the kick downbeat to the spearing arm.

The other writer advocates a style used by very high tempo swimmers like Brooke Bennett in this clip  in which the downbeat of the kick connects to the catch phase of the stroke.

The high tempo 2BK style is an extremely challenging configuration that can be done successfully by high-mileage, experienced swimmers, but is too exhausting and difficult for the vast majority.

The blog writer rejects the efficacy of the TI 2BK, which he calls a “kick-start” that compensates for what he calls “over-gliding.” I think the “kick-start” 2-beat kick is just fine for most purposes, certainly at tempos of 1 stroke per second and up.

There are legitimate pros and cons to selecting any kicking pattern, and not room here to discuss them all.  My primary goal is to show improvement-minded swimmers that they can opt for efficiency rather than effort.

If you want a more effective kick, you can achieve it through balance and stability—a choice that conserves energy rather than wastes it. Most swimmers already do far too much of the latter.

Editorial Note– For a step-by-step breakdown of the mechanics of the 2-beat kick, see this related post:

DEMO: Master the 2-Beat Kick– Connect Your Legs to the Power of Core Rotation for Maximal Speed and Efficiency

Gary Fahey has been a Total Immersion Certified Coach since 1998.  He teaches swimming full time through his Fort Lauderdale-based company, Stroke Doctor Swimming. In 25 years coaching competitive swimmers, he has qualified athletes up to the US Olympic Trials level. Contact Gary at gary@strokedocswim.com

The post Which Kick Is Best for YOU… 2-Beat or 6-Beat? appeared first on Total Immersion.

“Before Terry Laughlin, it was just a matter of getting in the water and getting it done. When I was in BUD/S training, my instructors taught us the way they learned it from their instructors. Now, that’s all changed; technique is everything. If they can master these techniques in the water, we can dramatically get their swim times down. The staff here at BUD/S can be a very skeptical bunch. We tend to resist anything from the outside. But when our personal swim times came down using Laughlin’s methods, well, we knew this was good information. We try to do as much teaching as possible here in Indoc—help them improve their technique. For some of them, this training will make the difference between making it to graduation or washing out. We’ve been able to cut swim drops by twenty-five percent– this stuff really works.” — Navy SEAL Instructor Tim King in Dick Couch’s “The Warrior Elite: The Forging of SEAL Class 228″

It’s a little-known fact about Total Immersion–  it’s not even listed in founder Terry Laughlin’s bio — that our methodology was adopted as part of official Navy SEAL swim curriculum after Terry trained their instructors in the late 90’s and re-designed the way the combat stroke was taught, in order to be more efficient. And it’s also true that even 30 years after T.I.’s founding, there are still many detractors in the competitive swim world who remain skeptical of our methods and prefer to stick with “traditional” training methods (i.e. just kick harder, pull harder), claiming that “T.I. doesn’t work for fast swimming.” Or T.I. is “only for beginners.” Or “better suited for triathletes.” Certainly, no one can argue that the U.S. military isn’t also deeply bound by tradition and the most rigorous training in the world– even more so than the world of competitive swimming– and yet, the Navy has recognized the value of changing their swim training with a method that is effective and proven. To reiterate Instructor King’s point: This stuff really works. The SEALs wouldn’t use it if it didn’t. The U.S. Navy completely changed the way they taught combat sidestroke based on our sound principles of efficient technique– and T.I. ‘s influence is embedded in the updated stroke training that the SEALs have taught for the last 20 years. Navy SEALs need to swim fast and efficiently under grueling conditions not to win a race, but because it’s their job. Speed matters to them– not to make a PR, or win a medal, or even break a world record. Speed is a matter of life and death. 

During the same era that Terry was training SEAL instructors to teach swimming differently, he was also coaching sprinters at West Point, who achieved extraordinary success at the Patriot Leagues. Terry’s group of sprinters included Joe Novak (Army West Point 1995-99) , the only three-time winner of the Patriot League Swimmer of the Meet award, who captured the honor in consecutive seasons from 1997-99. Novak also helped Army West Point capture the Patriot League title in his first three seasons from 1996-98, and was named to the first-team All-League squad three times. Novak earned a spot on the Patriot League All-Decade Team. He won the 50 free, 100 free and 100 fly in each of his seasons as Swimmer of the Meet. Joe has attributed much of his success in swimming to training with Terry using T.I. methods.

                                                            Terry coaching in 2016

So there’s ample evidence that:

1) T.I. technique is effective for long distances, when efficiency and speed matter tremendously.

2) T.I. technique also produces fast times for highly competitive and accomplished swimmers– yes, even sprinters.

Another interesting fact: if you click on Wikipedia’s entry for combat sidestroke, you’ll clearly see the foundational technique principles of T.I. highlighted– Balance, Length, Rotation. 

At this point, some of you may be wondering… “Well, I’m not a SEAL, nor am I aspiring to that– why the heck should I care about the combat sidestroke??” And it’s a reasonable question, given that most T.I. swimmers are primarily interested in improving their freestyle. But here’s why it matters:

1) The combat sidestroke is a hybrid of sidestroke, freestyle, and breaststroke and demonstrates that the principles of biomechanical and hydrodynamic speed and efficiency are universal to swimming any stroke well. Technique matters, whether it’s freestyle or the combat stroke. 

2) The combat sidestroke offers an excellent adaptive stroke option for swimmers who are limited in mobility or range of movement, either from age, injury, or disability. Freestyle is notoriously the most technically challenging stroke to master, particularly because of bilateral breathing and complex, asynchronous timing of the arms (and the 2-beat kick, for non-sprinters). Some might argue this point– however, fly and breast have a front-facing breath and stable head position, as well as a stroke where both arms move synchronously with the same timing. (Breaststroke is the first stroke many beginners learn, simply because it’s easier to breathe.) The combat sidestroke incorporates an easier style of breathing and stroking, making it an ideal option for swimmers who are looking for an adaptive swim stroke. [See DEMO of the stroke at the bottom of this post.]

Wikipedia’s entry for “combat sidestroke” reads:

Combat sidestroke or CSS is a variation of the side stroke that was developed by and taught to the United States Navy SEALs.

The combat sidestroke is a relaxing and very efficient swim stroke that is an updated version of the traditional sidestroke. The CSS is a mix of sidestroke, front crawl, and breaststroke. The combat side stroke allows the swimmer to swim more efficiently and reduce the body’s profile in the water in order to be less likely to be seen during combat operations if surface swimming is required. The concept of CSS has been that it can be used with or without wearing swim fins (flippers), the only difference being that when wearing swim fins the swimmer’s legs will always be kicking in the regular flutter kick motion without the scissor kick. This stroke is one of the strokes that can be used for prospective SEAL candidates in the SEAL physical screening test (PST), which includes a 500-yard swim in 12 minutes 30 seconds to determine if the candidate is suitable to go to the Basic Underwater Demolitions/SEAL school.

The entry even mentions a term Terry used in the early years of T.I. (and in his popular first book in ’96) to describe poor balance: “swimming uphill.” While Wikipedia has no citation for the influence of T.I. methodology on the combat stroke, we fortunately have a documented account of Terry’s primary role in revolutionizing SEAL swim training in the book, “The Warrior Elite: The Forging of SEAL Class 228″, by NY Times bestselling author and former Navy SEAL Platoon Commander Dick Couch. It is this book which features commentary from SEAL Instructor Tim King on the effectiveness of T.I. methods. The book’s description reads:

“‘The Warrior Elite’ takes you into the toughest, longest, and most relentless military training in the world. What does it take to become a Navy SEAL? What makes talented, intelligent young men volunteer for physical punishment, cold water, and days without sleep? In ‘The Warrior Elite,’ former Navy SEAL Dick Couch documents the process that transforms young men into warriors. SEAL training is the distillation of the human spirit, a tradition-bound ordeal that seeks to find men with character, courage, and the burning desire to win at all costs, men who would rather die than quit.”

The article below is a brief excerpt from Chapter 1 of “The Warrior Elite,” which details Terry’s influence on SEAL swim training. Enjoy… and Happy Laps!

The teaching begins in the pool. “You have to be good in the water,” Instructor Tim King tells Class 228. Like Reno, King is a short, powerful man. And like many enlisted SEALs, he has a college degree; Tim King’s is in criminal justice. “This is what separates us from all other special operations forces. For them, water is an obstacle; for us, it’s sanctuary.” I noted many changes at BUD/S [Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL Training] since Class 45 graduated, but the most dramatic are in the swimming curriculum. In the past, it was simply a matter of showing the trainees a basic stroke and making them swim laps; kick, stroke, and glide. Now it’s all about technique. The instructors begin with teaching buoyancy control and body position in the water. The basic stroke is a modified sidestroke that the trainees will later adapt to the use of fins. Much of what is taught is taken from the work of Terry Laughlin and his “Total Immersion” training technique. Laughlin is a noted civilian instructor who developed innovative long-distance swimming techniques for competitive and recreational swimmers. A few in Class 228 were competition swimmers before coming to BUD/S, but most are not. All will learn the Laughlin method. According to Laughlin, it’s all about swimming more like a fish and less like a human. The instructors say it’s like swimming downhill. It has to do with making one’s body physically longer in the water and reducing drag.

The post Swim Like a SEAL: How T.I. Revolutionized Navy SEAL Swim Training appeared first on Total Immersion.

(Terry, in Mar. 2013, pausing at the 1.2 mile buoy– the turnaround– on the Kona Ironman course)

This week’s featured video–courtesy of T.I. Master Coach Dave Cameron’s YouTube Channel– shows Terry at the 2013 T.I. Kona Open Water Camp, teaching an advanced group of swimmers (including Ironman competitors) about higher-level propulsion and positioning techniques, particularly for racing. The skills taught in this 16 min. video are subtle, detailing the finer points of propulsion that swimmers begin to practice after they have mastered all the foundational skills that T.I. teaches (Breathing, Balance, Streamlining, Propulsion with weight shifts of the core body). Terry comprehensively describes how to practice and “wire in” the most advantageous arm position, by applying strategic pressure with the hand and forearm, for faster swimming. Many thanks to Coach Dave for taping one of the teaching sessions in Kona, back in 2013! For the many T.I. swimmers who always wished to experience a coaching session with Terry but missed the opportunity, this is a valuable up-close look at how he taught advanced skills. A bit more loose and improvisational than our scripted instructional videos– with dryland rehearsal demos of stroke technique, some interesting observations from Terry about how world-class swimmers create effective propulsion, and the difference in form that he noticed from the first finishers of the Ironman swim in Kona, versus the finishers at back of the pack in the swim. BONUS: we’ve attached a transcript below the video, so you can read along as you watch/listen! If this fires you up to take your own T.I. Swimming to open water, you can click HERE for info on our upcoming 2019 T.I. Open Water Experience in Kailua-Kona on March 14-18 . Enjoy this virtual session with Terry… and Happy Laps! 

[Editorial Note: This was a non-professional recording, spontaneously taped at the beach by Kailua Pier, with some ambient noise of other beachgoers in that informal environment. We highly recommend, at the 10:25-12:40 time signature, that you check out the transcript we’ve provided, due to the distraction of a paddle-boarding dog– yep, it’s Hawaii!– barking very loudly in the background. Real world conditions during this filming! The transcript is an excellent supplement to refer to at that point in the video.]

(TRANSCRIPT)

Terry:

With propulsion, you’re really working on higher-level skills—you’re also working on the things that have a higher inherent cost in power and energy, and those are really limited and relatively non-renewable resources. So, how we apply them, when we apply them really, really makes a difference… The reason we don’t do too much of this [motions with hand to show the lead arm catch position] too early is that, first of all, you must have your balance, your stability, really wired in strongly in order to actually do these things effectively. If you don’t have those [fundamentals], it’s really hard to do those things [advanced propulsion skills]. So what are we talking about here? Alright, so we’re talking about, when we apply pressure, that we move ourselves forward—don’t move the water around. Alright? And that pressure may be from the hand and forearm—it may be from the leg. The legs’ pressure does not move us forward, it helps with the power generation, by assisting with the weight shift, and the propulsion is actually produced from how you apply pressure to water with your arm. So, as you do that, one of the things you want to have spent countless hours thinking about—before the race, before you’re under pressure—is the fact that what you’re pressing on is water.  And that water is a bunch of disaggregated molecules. It’s really easy to start those molecules moving so that the molecules get stirred up, but you don’t really move very far… We need stroke length and we need rate. And to some degree, another trading chip we have is how much pressure we choose to apply [Terry motions with position of lead arm].

In a race, I’m constantly trying to find the right marriage—the right blend—of rate and pressure, for that stage in the race, knowing what’s coming forward. And I rely on having done that countless times, in repetitions swimming in the pool, as well as in open water practice, so that literally, I don’t really have to think very much about it. I have these auto-responses that are programmed into my brain, so that when I race, they come out. This is so—the opportunity to use this sort of thinking, this sort of strategic awareness, and finesse in how you apply those resources—is so much greater in open water, than it is in the pool. In the pool, it [competitive racing] really does come down to—a lot—to fitness, athleticism, inherent power you have, and things like that. I’m not very competitive with the best people in the pool—I’m very competitive with the best people in open water, and I can out-swim people that are far faster than me in the pool because… I love swimming in open water because it really appeals to me that, as Margie [a swimmer attending the Kona camp] said, ‘You can punch above your weight in open water’… which is really hard to do in the pool. So, what we’re going to do today, with the caveat that you need to still be working on your balance and stability over time, so that these things we do today work better and better and better… And especially work when you’ve raised your rate, when you’ve started applying more pressure, when there’s a lot of people around you and you’re feeling under pressure, ok? So that’s got—keep working on that [balance and stability], you never, never stop.

So… alright, so the first part of how you create propulsion with your arm starts with, your arm has to be in the right position… The other two groups [at swim camp]—and I haven’t swum with you [the advanced group] yet, so I haven’t had the chance to observe you underwater—but in the other two groups [beginner and intermediate groups], virtually no one has their arm in the optimal position. I haven’t mentioned it to them because they’re dealing with other stuff [balance, stability, streamlining skills]. At some point, it will be appropriate to bring that in, but they’re dealing with other stuff… Having watched you swim surface [during surface videotaping] the other day, looks like, for the most part, you’re ready to do this, cause your form looks… You look stable! You look stable on the surface, you look smooth on the surface. So what I’ll be looking at as we swim is the extent to which you have an arm position that looks like this [demonstrates applying pressure with the lead arm catch]. So just visualize a balance ball and drape your arm over it… [Group rehearses arm position together] Alright, as we start this exercise, we’re going to be focused mostly on creating a sense of shape and volume under the arm… The shape we want is one where it’s really easy to get the hand position to apply pressure so the resultant force is that way [motions forward]. Alright? Any force you apply in any other direction is wasted, and we can’t afford to waste. So, the first thing is to have the hand position so that when you apply any pressure, the resultant force is going to move you forward.

Unless you are Oussama Mellouli [Tunisian Olympic triple medalist] or Grant Hackett [Australian Olympic multiple medalist], or any of these guys– and women– who are world-class, and have an ability to almost dislocate the shoulder blade…that, what they call ‘the early vertical forearm’ and they promise you that paddles will teach you, and so on—that is pure nonsense. Alright? What you require is a shoulder blade that practically is able to dislocate—that’s one of those ‘talents’ that allows a person to be a world-class freestyler and get the arm in and do that [motions with lead arm in vertical position]… Ok? Cause if you watch video of someone like Oussama bin… bin… [Laughter]… Mellouli! From the side, underwater, you see his shoulder blade popping out, alright? And practically bursting through the skin—mine doesn’t do that. It doesn’t matter if every single brain cell I have is thinking about doing that…it’s just never going to happen. Alright…so, I make sure that I’ve got the hand facing back and I do that by relaxing [demos relaxing the lead wrist], not by turning on [muscles]. And then, I have to use muscles– the posterior deltoid primarily—to lift the scapula and open the axilla [underarm]. Those are the two actions, and they’re pretty subtle actions. Alright?… And the limiting factor on how much pressure I can apply is not the power I have here, it’s the ability of these much smaller, and less powerful muscles to hold that position. Because if I maximize the power in the prime movers, these secondary movers are just going to give up, and I end up with something that is sort of sliding the hand back, as opposed to holding that position. And by the way, you do have [points to swimmer in group]—I did see you enough yesterday—to see that you do have an inherent ability to do that, that’s better than most people’s. So that’s good…  [Swimmer replies: It’s Pilates…”] Pardon? [Swimmer says again: “It’s Pilates, I think…”] I think you’re born with it! [Laughter] I’ve done Pilates and I’ve done yoga, and I’ve done all kinds of things, and it doesn’t happen…

So, in any case, you visualize… We’re going to start out, we’re going to go through a series of focal points… We’ll do a couple of rehearsals on a series of focal points, alright? You’re not going to learn this [master it] in the next 90 minutes—what you’re going to learn is the process that you can continue to make this better. So the starting point is to visualize a balance ball, and drape your arm over it [demos lead arm position], and I use that word ‘drape’ very consciously to connote that it’s relaxed… [Swimmer asks: “Where is the bowl?”] Hmm? The ball is between… [Swimmer: “Oh, ball!”…] A balance ball—a Swiss ball. A Swiss ball. [Swimmer: “Ohhh…”] So you visualize… and as you do that, think about… How large is that ball? Is it 55 centimeters? 65 centimeters?… And the space between my [lead] palm and my hip is what I’m conscious of, I’m thinking about the size of the ball that I’ve got there. Ok? And then once [I], having draped and defined the space, defined the volume, as best I can, alright?… Now what I’m going to do is just—in my mind—just hold the ball, so that there’s light activation of the arm muscles, so I feel I’m lightly holding it against my hip. Ok? That’s the feeling that you want to have as you begin applying pressure… As I drop in, as I drop into the water [with the recovery arm] through the ‘mail slot’ [angle of hand entry]… This is why we teach the ‘mail slot’ early—because it sets you up to do that [achieve optimal lead arm position for propulsion]…

I’ll mention one more thing I’ve observed about triathlon: I’ve watched the end of the [Kona] Ironman from up here, on the pier, as people are coming in, after swimming their 2.4 miles… I’ve watched other races from the shore, and seen people moving through the latter stages of the race, and you can really observe things about what predominates in the early part of the pack, in the mid part of the pack, in the rear. And when I look at the first 10-20% of the field, I see a large percentage of people going in [demos hand entry] so that the hand precedes the forearm, precedes the elbow. And then as you go further back in the field, you see more of that on entry [demos collapsed forearm]… the flat entry, elbow hitting. The further back you go [the last swimmers finishing], the more it’s the elbow hitting first…alright? So, that ‘mail slot’ entry is really characteristic of success in triathlon swimming, and other swimming, as well.

So, we’re setting ourselves up for that position with the mail slot, so we keep in mind that’s really critical, at some point in the race, to be checking in whether you’re going through the mail slot [as the hand enters the water], even listening, because that entry is quieter than this thing [flat entry]. So, one of the things you do while racing is be checking in on how much noise you’re making, especially when you’re in a pack, especially when you’re starting to pick it up [pace]. Am I staying quiet? Am I still going through the slot? Or am I—in my excitement and rate—am I starting to do this? [demos windmilling the arms with flat entry] Ok?

So—now hold the ball. Just visualize holding the ball… Alright, now lift the ball out of the water—lift the ball a few inches. Just visualize that you’re holding the ball—you’re still holding it—lift it a few inches, and then rotate your shoulder while still holding the ball, and drop the ball behind your hip. Rotate your shoulder and drop the ball behind your hip. Now, I’m going to do this several times—I’m going to lift the ball from behind my hip, I’m holding it back here… I’m going to leave my [lead] hand here, fingers at the bumper [as if reaching down the bumper of a VW Beetle’s curved hood], ok? I’m going to lift the ball, carry it forward and put it here [demos lead arm position], against this part of my hip. Lift it—return it, drop it. Ok, this is a visualization we’re going to start with.. We’re going to re-think our recovery from 3 thoughts: elbow circles, paint the line, ear hop, mail slot [TI recovery and entry focal points]—4 thoughts. From 3 or 4 thoughts– we’re going to consolidate into 1 thought, which is: what’s my optimal position to start the stroke? And can I come out of the water already in that position, carry an arm forward without any change in shape, and drop it. Alright?

So we’re simplifying the [stroke] thought into 1—one awareness… If I watch you swimming, and you go that way with 3 thoughts, little bit with one, and the second, and the third…and then you get over there. And then you come back with the 1 [stroke] thought—I should not see anything different. You should experience something that you distinguish as different, once you’ve changed from the 3 thoughts to 1. [DOG BARKING CONTINUOUSLY—refer to transcript] And this process of being a little bit more demanding of your brain in how to conceptualize what you’re doing, is one of the things that wires it [proper technique] in, so that when you’re under pressure, when you increase rate, and so on—it doesn’t break down. Ok? So you have to create a more robust circuit, so these things don’t break down under difficulty, alright? So once we introduce racing, pressure, by that I mean this pressure [motions to pressure on lead arm], as well as that pressure [pressure of competing], and rate… we need this thing [our form] to be unbreakable. And one of the tools you use in practice is more thoughts to wire it in. Ok?

So… so, we’re going to start with some visualization and rehearsal—the rehearsal means standing on one side, with that hand on the bumper, hold the ball against your hip, lift it a bit, carry it backward, drop it in. Lift it, carry it forward, drop it in. Alright? So we’ll do that, a bit with the right arm, and then swim over, just checking whether we feel the same sensation as we go across, alright? Then we’ll do the same thing with the left, and swim back, checking whether we’re doing the same thing. Ok? That will be the first step. The second step will be, having dropped it [the lead arm] in, we will visually verify the position. Alright? We won’t do this first because all our focus is on something that’s happening over here [motions with the recovery arm]. Then after we’ve had a little bit of time to familiarize ourselves with that thought—and the sensations that accompany it—then what you’re going to do is visually verify that the position that you have entered into is the one you want—the water-holding position. I call this ‘the arm full of water position’ cause it’s the optimal position for trapping water behind hand and forearm. Alright?… Step two will be to visually verify and see that it’s still [the lead arm] for at least a nanosecond after you drop it in.

And this idea of it being still is a hyper-critical one. The men’s 4 x 100 relay in Beijing– where Jason Lezak went by Alain Bernard from France, incredibly… They had, for a while, on NBC Olympics(dot)com, they had underwater video of that race. And in studying it, if you have the opportunity, this is what you would see: Lezak, despite swimming—I don’t know what the rate was, but it was exceptionally fast rate swimming, alright… His hand dropped in and there was a nanosecond where it was still, after he dropped in, before he began pulling. And Bernard, in contrast, slammed his hand in, and it just kept going back. Bernard took 46 strokes on the second lap when the wheels came off—Lezak, 34. 12 fewer strokes, and he [Lezak] went by him in the last 25 like he [Bernard] was standing still… because Bernard was moving water. Lezak was moving his body, and it’s that position [with lead arm] and that moment that makes all the difference. Ok? So that will be our second thing—that we’ll visually verify that we’re in that position and that it’s still for a moment. We’ll take some time on that. And then finally, how we begin applying pressure [on the lead arm] after that, is we’re going to visualize this disaggregated ball of molecules, not just water, alright? What it really is, is a ball of molecules, and as you press on it you’re going to do it with sufficient patience and care, that in your mind, you’re keeping those molecules together to move your body forward. Alright? When you do that, you should notice something that may have escaped your attention before—that water has density, that it has thickness. And if you apply that pressure in the right way, you can feel it return that pressure… You want to feel that pressure, so that it converts into forward movement…Ok? I can’t tell you how many dozens, if not hundreds, of hours I’ve spent visualizing like that—and it makes huge, huge difference. I can go 0.95, 0.90 rate [stroke rate with the Tempo Trainer] and not feel any turbulence as I start the stroke. Makes all the difference…

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