WERNER GOLDBAUM

A surprising situation

Some of you, perhaps many of you, will know the opportunity that sometimes arises: You didn’t plan, you finished your three or four days training in the week, you’re satisfied or not so satisfied and suddenly there pops up the possibility to swim once more this week. A small lake on the way, an unknown pool and half an hour or an hour to jump in will fit into your schedule. And I think you’ll know the (good) thoughts similar to: Oh, I should swim my best day’s program a second time… Or: Oh, I should swim again the day’s plan that didn’t turn out as wished… Or: Great, some more minutes in the water! I’ll jump in without any plan, just for enjoyment. (I tout it as swimming for myself)… If this is your reaction to the opportunity for another swim, then you may not need the following advice, although perhaps it will catch your interest anyway.

On the other hand, if your thoughts in the above situation tilt to the other direction as: Oh, half an hour is not worth the effort to change… Or: Oh, this week satisfied my swimming so much, I won’t disturb it… Or: Oh, all days went not as hoped, don’t like another swim like that… (Think most of the readers are Total Immersion swimmers, so my first suggestion to these thoughts is: Think again, what can you learn from such a bad week.) If you try to find any reasons not to swim, then you definitely should read on, take a piece of paper and a pencil, write down some keywords and place them at the console of your car or into the side pocket of your swim bag.

Water’s invitation for a game

See the above possibility as water is inviting you for a kind game. If you’re swimming for some time (at least in the Total Immersion-way) you might have found out, that the water is always playing with you. Water is always ready for, it’s always kind and you’ll never find anywhere a partner who is playing as fair as the water. The water will never cheat. In any way you can trust it without doubting, but every moment it has an overwhelming awareness, you don’t have any chance to cheat it, so don’t even try. If you do so, you’ll lose the game. If you take it as exciting experience this pooltime will become a felt satisfying enjoyment. As playing with kids sometimes, no stated rules no pointed sense, doing this, doing that together and you and your kids will turn or stay in good mood.

Let me point out some ideas. You’ll find the direction and will be much more creative than I’ve been. The following are not the typical and proven useful Total Immersion-FocalPoints, remember these are more a game with the water than pin points for anything else. Most of them are not measurable in their own in any way, they are not controllable or even visible by coaches. Here you’re your own coach (in the best Total Immersion-way) and have to trust your awareness, your feelings and, most important, your enjoyment of the game.

An easy part of the game

Go on, swim for yourself! Ok, you always do, or should at least; but in this situation don’t strive for a special thing. Forget the Tempo-Trainer, forget or don’t mind your next competition or challenge, forget your StrokesPerLength. This may be too difficult for a Total Immersion-swimmer, if addicted to counting strokes unconsciously; but take them just as numbers. You’re playing a game of maximizing your enjoyment in the water. Try to look at your stroke, posture, glide, feelings… from outside. Do not judge anything. Listen to your feelings and let them suggest the next FocalPoint directing to more enjoyment for the next length or, in Open Water, for the next 20-50 strokes. Then decide by feeling the next FocalPoint… Don’t forget your limited time.

Nano-Focal Points

The following FocalPoints are oriented toward the Total Immersion-Balance-

Streamline-Propulison-Pyramid, but they are not meant as the typical Total Immersion-FocalPoints to work on for several lengths or hours and hours. They are meant as ways to play. If one seems to become boring or too sophisticated (you can call too brain damaged) try the next one…

And keep in mind, you are playing a game of joy together with the water not a gradually Total Immersion-program for immediate stroke-improvement.

Little things in Balance

For all your tries with the following nano-FocalPoints do, what Total Immersion is sometimes accused of. Swim as slowly as possible. Every stroke should be on the edge of disturbed balance. Remember you’re not Total Immersion-swimming you’re going to play in a Total Immersion-oriented way.

Cuddle deeper into the Pillow

Swim extremely slowly and point your focus to your (hopefully) still relaxed neck and head. Weightless head is what you should feel when beginning with this game…Then start slowly lifting your head and looking up from bottom more and more forward. Aside from realizing the tension starting in your neck, have an even closer look what happens with your spine. Where is the point when it starts to bend (more) to hollow-back? When looking slowly(!) down again, at which point do you feel a really straight spine? Do you feel the easing tension? From which point? What happens with your hips when you start to look forward and down again? What with your legs? Give yourself an answer to probably the most common question from Total Immersion-coaches: How did it feel?

For the next strokes cuddle deeper into the pillow the water offers. From relaxed starting position start with looking more straight down to more and more back into a real nodding tension and then relax (both slowly!) to your relaxed starting position. This will seem more unusual to you, because most of us tend to look a bit more forward than straight down, but ask the same questions: What shape is the spine? Where, upper, lower or all over does it start to bend? Did you start with straight spine in your usual swim-starting-position? What did your hips and legs do meanwhile?

Deeper Breath

You know the belief of the benefits of belly-breathing? Do you agree? Is belly-breathing your favorite breathing-technique? Well, your answer may be similar to mine: Yes, hmmmm, most often…sometimes, not always FocalPoint… But now, you’re going to play with the water. So let’s play a bit around with air-chest-belly. Start with Total Immersion’s Torpedo-drill and try to find out: How does your push off and float work when inhaled deep in your normal way? What changes, when inhaled totally into your chest? What when inhaled totally into your belly? What when you took the deepest possible inhale, started deep in your belly and continued up to a totally inflated chest? (Think you know what I mean, physiologically you can let air into your lungs only, not into belly or chest.) What happens, if you relax from that tensed inhalation? What if you go on further and press out some more air?

Do the same with full strokes, but so slowly that you’ll feel the differences.

Same questions.

Did you find a special kind or a special point of your in- or exhalation where the flow feels best or easiest? Is it worth to change some tiny things like more air up or down or more or less tension that might pay off as better balance, glide or streamline?

By the way: When going to sleep and focusing in some very deep breathing up from belly to chest as described above, you’ll fall asleep faster than usual. Try it!

Balance like SHINJI?

In his 9-Strokes-video TOTAL IMMERSION-Mastercoach SHINJI TAKEUCHI demonstrates (as usual for him) a balance as if he could to stop the recovery movement in nearly every moment. Though I think, most of us will not be able to show perfection as SHINJI does, that doesn’t mean, we should not work on it.

So we are playing around with the water and should give it a few tries… with some questions to ourself: How slow can I stroke without losing balance control? At which point can I stop my recovery motion without losing balance control? How long can I hold it? At what point of movement is it impossible to stop at least for a millisecond? What do I have to do to find the balanced millisecond-stop? What happens with my body, while I’m stopping the recovery movement (all movements)? Am I able to stop every tiny movement at any/some/one special recovery moment? How long will that stop last? What breaks down? At what point is an issue of left-right-balance? Does it change at any point to an issue of back-forward-balance?

The MORSE-FocalPoint

Every Total Immersion-swimmer knows the FocalPoint of dragging the fingertips behind the elbow with gracing the surface. Well, we’re playing around so try to refine it to what I call the MORSE-FocalPoint. Don’t grace the surface, just grace the tips of the waves with your fingertips. It should feel like Morse-code for transmitting telegrams in former times: da-di-di or – ·· for TI. Just for fun. Won’t turn out as TOTAL IMMERSION every time. But some MORSE-Funkers are fairly fast, so try it with some fast strokes. Not necessary to translate into words what the water lets you know, just feel and enjoy.

The dangling arm

Our recovery, led by the elbow with relaxed lower arm and hands/fingertips behind does reach a point (individually different) where the relaxed arm/hand has to go in front of the elbow, still relaxed. Did you ever play around with that point? A little bit backwards and the arm has to dangle further to front. A bit further to front, but can you hold the lower arm still relaxed? Is your draping arm completing your relaxed natural recovery, or do you have to make some effort to the fingers to the right slit?

Try that slowly to get your awareness to the critical points. Then accelerate your stroke a bit and be aware at what rate the elbow gives up the leadership role and your recovery become too much like Dino’s claw (greetings to Mastercoach STUART). Is there a special StrokeRate and elbow’s pendulum point where it feels best or most relaxed?

Little things in Streamline

Once upon a time in the TOTAL IMMERSION-Forum the busy writing, kind and creative (non-TOTAL IMMERSION)-swimcoach CHARLES COUTURIER wrote (analogous): Everyone of us can nearly feel how the world-elite feels while swimming… in the few seconds of our push-off from the wall. Thought long about it and am now sure, he’s totally wrong. We can’t. Confirmed by watching a young lady in the pool some weeks ago. She was wearing a swim cap with GER (team Germany). Must be an elite swimmer in the effortless way she overtook everyone else and the fast way she left the pool without any chance to talk with her. What I admired much more than her (in many parts TOTAL IMMERSION-like) swimming was her nearly powerless, slow but faaaaar (nearly 10m) push off, seemed without any deceleration but overtaking everyone aside. And no, I could not notice any kind of dolphin move. Streamlining at its very best, nearly unbelievable form. Not sure if the mortals of us may reach such perfection, but we can go some steps in that direction. With the TOTAL IMMERSION-streamline-drills and with our game today…

Fingertips-Pressure

Did you ever put your attention to the pressure on your fingertips? Starting while cutting the slit into the water spear-start? Yes, nevertheless if you swim slow or fast, the very front fingertips should feel the maximum pressure. It’s impossible to avoid that pressure, your spear is the fastest movement forward and then your fingertips are the very front of your hull, simply they must separate the water molecules, felt as pressure. It will be a good task to feel that and find a trace to feel it the whole way from slit to extended front. Nobody will be able to tell you exactly how the trace of your fingertips has to look like, it’s your own game (together with water) to find out and decide to take it or vary a bit more. The next FocalPoint may help.

Silk is too rough

Did your coach ever tell you, your spear should feel like slipping into a silk sleeve? He was right, but now we’re playing around and should go a step further, it should feel like slipping into an air sleeve, even better into nothing. When you feel the pressure of your spearing fingertips (see above) behind them a cone of more pressure (outside) and less pressure inside arises. If you find a spear-movement from fingertips to upper arm where all parts of the arm are inside this cone you don’t feel anything. First step is feeling same pressure all around the lower arm, the upper arm, the whole arm; then you got the silk sleeve. The difficult ideal will be feeling only your fingertips and your slipping into a sleeve of nothing. Start with attention to your hand, your wrist and lower arm, your upper arm and shoulder. Not all will come together at once.

Play around with point of the slit forward-behind, left-right; the entranceangle of your fingers, hand, arm; how to support your spear with body rotation connected to your upper arm and more or less screw-like dive in.

Pressure on the top of your head

The pressure cone generated by your fingertips (see above) will mostly be too pointed to get your whole body in. The top of your head and your shoulder will have to expand it a little bit. Here the head has to separate the molecules and take the resulting, mostly unavoidable pressure. But have in mind only the top of your head. Observe if you feel any soft streaming of water on the back of your head or your face, it’s a kind hint from the water, you’re looking too much forward or too much backward or your turn to air is not best aligned. Try to reduce this seductive feeling or even avoid it. You’ll feel more relaxed and calmer.

Hidden Kick

Yes we all know, our legs should stay inside our hull-formed tube; I do like the pressure-cone-picture much. But how do we feel our legs? If we don’t feel any kind of streaming on our legs we can be nearly sure they’re inside our tube/cone. But aren’t they too passive to support our stroke? Try to find out the boundaries with the following questions: How much can I relax my knees for the following kick, but without feeling flows around? How much (better how less) can I swing my kick starting from the hips without flow on my thighs? Am I able to do some flip-like kick with feet mainly, with just the toes will feel the water? How can my kick support rotation while feeling only tiny pressure distributed equal over whole legs front? What tiny modifications do I have to make (am I able to make) to go a directed step to that feelings?

Some more Points of Awareness

When swimming, do you feel that kind of silk-soft flow around your body? Can you find some tiny changes to reduce even that more to nothing? Single body parts are feeling more intense streaming – possible to take them into the cone? Like tucking the belly in a bit, looking more down to help straightening the spine and reduce the flow on your chest. Different felt flow on your chest and your belly or hips might show, we unlocked our hips related to shoulder or vice versa. More felt flow on one side often shows an unnecessary left-right bent spine, often breaking the alignment to go for air. Tiny adjustments possible? If not, where is the hurdle?

Little things in Propulsion

It’s hard to separate the three Balance-Streamline-Propulsion-steps in this, too many interdependencies. But let’s take some tiny things I’ll put to the propulsion-step.

Drift to Catch

In his new course for advanced TOTAL IMMERSION-Freestyle SHINJI has some hints how we can use the building phase of the catch to get some (tiny) propulsion. Here we’re playing with the water in more or less slow motion that should help us to the draw attention to some feeling-points. The movement from totally stretched spear (TERRY wrote in his Ultraefficient Freestyle, a nanosecond would be far long enough) to the optimal formed catch sometimes doesn’t get enough attention. I recommend to strive for a totally forceless movement. If you let your arm and hand drift and form from very front to the catch form as if hugging a large Pilates ball, the elbow still on its place. You should not spend the tiniest force or effort. Let your hand and lower arm flow down and drift to the catch. The slower you swim the more attentiveness you can put to your hand and arm. Your velocity of glide defines the velocity to build the catch. Which tiny changes can avoid any force up-down (or this time unusually, left-right)? Are you building the catch slowly enough to avoid the start of bobbing? Did your hand hold the path on its (thought) straight rail? Is your speared arm still patient enough, becomes it too patient? Is your catch built ready and still in front, when the other arm is entering the slit? Are you still in stable front-back-balance when your catch has been formed?

Zero Pressure

Yes, slowly OK, but we should get a bit forward! Let the water invite you to test. When you found the today’s optimum for the above forceless catch, go on with your stroke, but don’t put any conscious force to your lower stroking arm, just hold the catch on its place and rotate and spear the other arm. No force means, you should not hold the catch-arms stiff in front. That is force. Hold him on his place and rotate… and experience the miracle that you moved forward without any felt driving force, seems just by rotation. (There are some forces driving you forward. Won’t discuss them here.) More, if you count your strokes this time for a lap, you’ll find only three to five more than normally.

This has been exactly TERRY’s experiences when he swam with broken shoulder. He lets us participate even with healthy shoulders, described in Ultraefficient Freestyle.

Tiny Pressure

If you go on and put a little pressure into your stroke. Your arm should have built its most optimal catch before, when you start with some tiny force backwards… Stay aware and answer the following questions: Do you feel a constant pressure at your whole arm from hand to upper arm? What can you change to get nearer to this constant feeling? Do you feel the pressure on your arm only on the side showing backward? Do you move your arm as stable entity, not elbow first, hand last? How can you vary the pressure just by connecting the way back (body forward) more or less to your body rotation? Might your kick in various ways change your effort to force? All these are tiniest adjustments. Watching and separating them will be easier the slower you swim, but still balanced. And you will have to decide what seems worthy to take with you from this game.

Higher Pressure

TERRY never pressed hard. But what TERRY called hard may be another thing for us. Some suggestions to find out your individual optimal force for pressure. (Look at his description in Lection two of his 2.0 Freestyle Mastery.)

Start with none and tiny pressure as above. Watch your arm when putting in more force to move. The faster your arm moves the more swirls will build around your arm. Feel them growing with more pressure and them sneaking around your arm to the front. On your relaxed fingers the whirls are not so bad, they even build a larger surface like a paddle. This doesn’t work if you spread your fingers with tension as far as possible or press them together. Test it. When starts your hand wobbling around, when you press the fingers together? When do you feel the water flowing between your fingers and the whirls going around? What is the easiest hand with relaxed fingers getting the best grip?

On our arm it’s more difficult. The sneaking whirls from back to front are not unique on every area of the arm. But do you feel where on your arm the whirls first go to front and start to hold that part more back than let you move it in the direction backward? (In my own case it’s always my wrist.) And now it becomes really tricky. You’re the only one who can decide: Put in more force to pressure? Does it really pay off in velocity forward? What pressure is the right decision for this swim just now? Well, for our game with the water I think: Stay relaxed and when the whirls are starting for any part of the hand/arm to sneak more forward than half the wrist we should slow down and take our attention to some tiny variations of just this or other parts. By the way: Time enough for a shower to go back to your planned day?

TERRY’s Question

Well, I’m finishing this post on TERRY’s birthday. Some very thankful and sad thoughts not only on this day. And I try to imagine what he would say: Are we better swimmers when we jump out of pool or lake after such minutes? My answer would be: TERRY, we spent some time in water, played and moved around in joyful way, became aware -or not- of this and that. If conscious or not, we improved our feeling for the water and deepened our friendship with the water. We are better swimmers. And TERRY might answer — in my imagination: Yes, I agree. I Have some ideas how to structure that in some way and several million ideas how we should expand that…

TERRY, thank you so much!!!

Last but not least thank you very much to TI-swimmer DANIEL BAKER, who transformed my poor English language into readable form.

The post Guest Post- TI Coach Werner Goldbaum appeared first on Total Immersion.

Embarking on a journey to enhance your swimming isn’t just about adhering to a schedule or revisiting old habits. While these practices can provide comfort and predictability, they might not lead to significant breakthroughs.

Imagine approaching your swim sessions with an open mind, eager to experiment with new techniques, to deepen your understanding of your routines, and to swim with intentional focus and curiosity. This mindset transforms swimming into a mindful and exploratory activity, full of potential for discovery and improvement.

As we reignite the Total Immersion newsletter, we’re calling on swimmers who embody Terry Laughlin’s spirit and approach to coaching—those open to reassessing their techniques, curious about innovative ways to enhance their flow, speed, or comfort in the water. We value swimmers who critically analyze their performance, seek out areas for improvement, and are excited about the prospect of innovation, regardless of their experience level.

This week, we invite you to take a closer look at your swimming practices:

• Monitor your stroke count at a sustainable pace. What’s your count per length, and how fast are you going?
• Assess your default breathing pattern and effort level, including your kick tempo.

Experiment with changes and observe:

• Alternate your breathing side.
• Adjust your breathing pattern or use a front-mounted snorkel for different perspectives.
• Modify other variables, like gear or effort level, focusing on one main aspect of your stroke.

Our goal is to “Ti-ify” your swimming experience—integrate metrics like time, stroke count, and effort level into your routine. Learn by observing and improving through focused practice and embracing mistakes. This initial step of gathering data about your current swimming practices sets the stage for more sophisticated self-coaching tools we’ll introduce in our next newsletter.

**For seasoned swimmers, we recommend collecting data after warming up to ensure accuracy.

Exploring Total Immersion Services:

We’re excited about our upcoming website redesign, which will help you explore various coaching services tailored to your learning preferences.

• TI Private or Semi-Private Lessons: Tailored sessions ranging from 30-60 minutes in different settings. These lessons focus on aligning the coach’s expertise with your goals, ensuring clear objectives for future practice sessions. Learn more and find a coach here.
• TI Group Practices: These sessions mix technical instruction with informed training, offering a variety of strokes, efforts, and distances, all within a team environment. Discover more about group practices here.
• TI Workshops: Ideal for those looking for an immersive experience. Our workshops include multiple filming sessions, both above and underwater, with detailed feedback from senior Total Immersion coaches. Find workshop details here.
• TI Online Workshop: Our latest initiative offers an online workshop experience, drawing on 45 years of expertise. This program introduces new concepts for novices and serves as a refresher for veteran swimmers. Join the online workshop here.

Dive into a journey of self-discovery and improvement with Total Immersion. Let’s redefine what swimming means to you.

Sincerely,

Alice A. Laughlin
CEO
Total Immersion Swimming, Inc.

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Naji Ali is a Level 1 Total Immersion Coach, and aspiring marathon swimmer based in San Francisco, CA, where he lives with his wife, Chrissy, and their cat, Mrs. Chippy. He works as an essential worker feeding the homeless and marginalized poor.

As I write this we are in day 60 of the “stay in place” order that was issued since the pandemic began here in California. For a week prior to this order, I was in Kona, Hawaii, swimming with pods of dolphins, meeting amazing people, and teaching TI technique at an open water swim camp.

What a different world we’re living in now.

Every day brings new challenges, hardships, and fears. People are dying, others lost their jobs, health care workers are doing a job without proper personal protective equipment (PPE). Businesses are shuttered, schools are closed, and, of course, pools and beaches are off limits.

But in the midst of all this doom and gloom, I have seen truly selfless acts of compassion and generosity. I’ve seen friends post videos making PPE’s for healthcare workers; others buying groceries for elderly neighborhoods whom they never spoke to and having them delivered to their home; incredible musicians serenading the entire world via Zoom.

But, despite how in many ways this pandemic has brought out the best in us, I have a confession to make; I miss swimming really bad. I really miss open water swimming. It was always my release when I was having a difficult time, but now, that’s not possible.

I get it. I do. Social distancing is essential to “flattening the curve” of this virus. I get that wearing a mask and only going out to get food helps stop this contagion from moving further, but goodness I miss the salty water.

I miss the exhilarating feeling of stepping into 55F wetness with only my swimsuit, goggles, and earplugs, and swimming amongst the seals and jellies; swimming against, and with the current; Enjoying the swell and chop; Being mindful of my lead arm staying put till the fingertips of my recovery arm re-enter the water.

I really miss swimming.

But even though I can’t get to the water at the moment, I have a huge community of TI folk that I can connect with on our FB page, and a weekly coach’s zoom meeting. I get too meet coaches from all over the world that I had only heard about, or saw swim in YouTube videos. I still have the opportunity to offer up advice on someone’s practice when they post video on the TI FB page, and celebrate with them when they experience that “aha” moment in cyber space.

Is it the same as being in the pool, or open water and physically assisting them? No, of course not! But just being able to connect is so vital.

One of the reasons why I wanted to be a TI coach was seeing how the ones who taught me TI, invested so much time into making me the best swimmer I could possibly be. Back before we had a FB page, we had the forum on the TI website, I would constantly go on the forum and ask questions about technique. It never took long to get a response. Often coaches would send me a personal note to email them directly, and send along a video, if I had it, so they could offer up suggestions for improvement.

That for me is where I see the correlation between the generosity of folks helping their neighbors and complete strangers during this pandemic, and TI. You see TI is not just about technique. It’s about community and the willingness to offer up something valuable to others simply because they want to help them get better.

That, too me, is one of the many reasons that I love TI, and I love being a TI coach, but I still miss swimming in the open water.

The post [Guest Post] Naji Ali, Marathon Swimmer and TI Coach appeared first on Total Immersion.

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The following post was previously published by Terry Laughlin on May 10, 2010. 

There’s a saying (perhaps from statisticians?): “What gets measured gets improved.” Because I aim to improve my swimming in every practice, I plan them with metrics that tell me – empirically – how I did. In most sets I use the first repeat or two to establish a “baseline,” which I try to improve upon as I go.  My metrics include:

• Distance of repeats and/or the set
• Strokes Per Length [SPL]
• Time for the repeats, and/or
• Stroke Tempo (in strokes per second) from the Tempo Trainer.

In addition to the objective numbers above, I also include a subjective rating, for effort level or “mojo.” I’ll describe how I use subjective ratings in another post. Here, I’ll focus on how and why I use hard data, with examples from 3 different practices.

Last week I traveled to Pittsburgh, Thurs through Sat, to conduct a clinic for the Allegheny Mountain LMSC. While traveling, I try to swim as regularly as possible, though sometimes I can only squeeze in 30 minutes or less, as was true two of the three days I’ll recount here. As you’ll see, even 20 minutes can constitute a great practice when you aim for measurable improvement.

Thursday May 6 1000 yards at Bucknell University

While driving from New Paltz to State College, PA, I stopped in Lewisburg for a swim and lunch with Jeannie Zappe, a TI Coach. We had only 20 minutes to swim. I suggested 20 x 50 on a minute, trying to gradually increase pace, while maintaining a constant SPL.
On the first 50, swimming with consummate ease, I took 25 strokes (12 down, 13 back) and 46 seconds. My goal would be to continue taking 25 strokes per 50 for as long as possible while gradually swimming faster. This is a common set for me; I always try to let the seconds “melt away” (swim faster without trying) initially. When I succeed, it’s because my nervous system gets progressively more “tuned” to the task.
Over the first 10 x 50, I improved gradually from :46 to :42 with no perceptible increase in effort.  My primary focus was to feel a longer, more slippery bodyline. When the effortless improvements no longer came, I increased effort in highly specific ways:

• More sense of hold with my hand and forearm.
• More snap in my 2-beat kick “toe flick” – yet keeping it streamlined within the “shadow” of my upper legs.

Over 6 x 50, I improved to 39 seconds. During my final 4 x 50 I allowed myself 1 more stroke on each length, for 27 total, and improved to 38 seconds, trying to feel a bit more ease at that higher count and faster speed. I felt great at the end.

What happened? To maintain the same SPL for an extended series of repeats, I have to travel a constant distance on each stroke. To improve pace, I have to propel myself over that distance faster. That means the frequency of my strokes also increases – though I never consciously tried to stroke faster. So Stroke Length was constant. Stroke Rate increased . . . because Velocity increased. This is different – and easier – than trying to stroke faster . . . which is the most common way to try to swim faster.

Friday May 7 4200 yards at JCC in Pittsburgh

Suzanne Atkinson brought me to the JCC where she’s a member. We swam for about 90 minutes. For warmup, I swam 400 easy, alternating 25s of FR, BK and BR. I held 13 SPL for FR, 16 for BK and 8 for BR. I can take fewer strokes on back and breast if I focus in an exacting way, but preferred to stay relaxed.

Main Set: 6 rounds of 4 x 50 + 2 x 100 + 1 x 200 with Tempo Trainer. Increase tempo by .02 sec on each round, progressing from 1.10 sec/stroke on 1^st round to 1.00 sec/stroke on 6^th round. I rested 10 beeps between 50s, 15 beeps between 100s, 20 beeps before the 200 and gave myself a minute between rounds to reset the TT.

My SPL on the 4 x 50 @ 1.10 was 14+15. My goal was to progress through all distances and rounds to the final 200 @ 1.00 with as little change in SPL as I could manage. I was able to keep my SPL at 16 or lower for rounds 1 through 4. In round 5 (1.02 sec/stroke) I had perhaps 3 lengths (of 24 total) at 17 SPL. In round 6 (1.00 sec/stroke), I took 17 SPL on about 6 lengths.

Suzanne and I finished with twelve 25s of Butterfly. 

What happened? The goal of this set is to swim constant pace within each round — as repeat distance goes from 50 to 200 – and to improve pace with each successive round. If Tempo and SPL stay constant, so must pace. If Tempo increases and SPL stays the same (or increases very modestly), then pace improves. If SPL increases too much as Tempo increases, then pace will stay the same, or possibly even get slower.

I only checked the pace clock after the 200s. My 200 time improved an average of 2 seconds in each round. That means a tempo increase of .02 sec for one stroke created an improvement of 2 seconds (100 times as much) for 200 yards. This is a decent “trade” of tempo for speed so I ingrained good efficiency habits during this set.

Saturday May 8 2200 yards at Duquesne University

Duquesne Coach Dave Sheets opened the pool so Suzanne and I could swim prior to our clinic. He also joined us for the swim (and was impressively fast; in fact, his backstroke repeats were as fast as or faster than my crawl.)

We had only 30 minutes, so I planned a set similar to Friday’s, but with a varying pace emphasis with each round, in place of Saturday’s constant pace emphasis.

Main Set: (1 x 200 + 8 x 25) – (1 x 200 + 4 x 50) – (1 x 200 + 2 x 100) – (1 x 200 + 4 x 50) – (1 x 200 + 8 x 25) The 200s were to be swum at “Cruise” pace and the 25s, 50s and 100s at “Brisk” pace. I aimed to hold ALL repeats @ 14 SPL.

I didn’t time the 200s, focusing instead on a Stroke Thought of Superslow Recovery without sacrificing balance or stability. I swam the 25s in an average of 17 sec, the 50s in 37 sec and the 100s in 1:14-1:15.

What happened? SPL remained constant, but – as on Thursday’s 50-yd repeats – pace varied. I swam significantly faster on the 25s, 50s and 100s, than on the 200s. In this case, I did put a good deal more effort into them. But SAME SPL combined with FASTER Pace also means higher Stroke Rate. This time I accomplished faster pace by shortening repeat distance and adding a bit of effort.

Summary: 

In all 3 practices I created nervous system adaptation by varying the task, while keeping at least one variable constant.

• On Thurs, repeat distance and SPL stayed constant, SR (and consequently, pace) increased.
• On Fri, I tried to keep SPL constant, and succeeded in minimizing change as repeat distance and tempo increased.
• On Sat, I kept SPL constant while repeat distance varied. Pace and SR changed as repeat distance got shorter.

When I describe my practices, I’m often asked how I can remember so many details to record them in my log later. Part of the reason is years of “data collection and recording” have trained my brain for this kind of memory capacity (which is highly specialized; outside the pool, I’m known for being absent-minded and forgetful). But recall is also made easier by the fact that I have a context or framework for the numbers I track. I use my first repeat or two to set a baseline or benchmark– then I decide, based on experience, what sort of improvement goal I’ll pursue. Since thousands of hours of practice have improved my ability to execute what I intend, I usually need only to take note of where I’ve diverged from the plan.

Transform Your Stroke!

Learn guaranteed skill-builders with our downloadable Total Immersion Effortless Endurance Self Coaching Course! The drills and skills are illustrated in 15 short videos. Guidance on how to learn and practice each drill effectively, illustrated by clear pictures, are contained in the companion Workbook.

The post Metrics That Matter: A Model For How You Can Measure Swimming Improvement appeared first on Total Immersion.

Terry demos the “Skating” drill to hone balance and streamlining

This post was originally published by Terry Laughlin on Nov. 4, 2016.

Stroke drills have been an important part of TI methodology since our first adult swim camp in June 1989. The drills we teach have undergone continuous evolution since then, as have the ways we practice drills. Thus, it will probably surprise you to learn that I rarely do drills myself. Other than demonstrating them when I teach, I’d estimate that drills currently make up no more than 1% of my overall practice volume.

If they are so central to TI methodology, why are they such a small part of my own practice? It comes down to understanding the purpose of drills, when it’s right to do them, and when whole stroke is more valuable.

Why Do Drills

Stroke drills are ideal when your priorities or opportunities include any of the following:

1. To Break Habits When Bill Boomer taught me my first balance drill, I’d been swimming unbalanced for nearly 25 years. Since I’d never experienced balance, heavy legs felt ‘normal’ and I’d developed several habits to compensate for that. It would have been difficult to tweak my deeply ingrained stroke to make a difference. But in about 10 seconds performing a balance drill, my legs felt so thrillingly different, that I could soon maintain that in whole stroke for a short distance. Not perfectly or permanently, but the new sensation was so welcome I knew I wanted to make it permanent. That small taste was all it took to commit me to intensive drill practice for the next 10 years.
2. To Deconstruct and Pinpoint An efficient stroke—especially freestyle—is one of the most complex movements in sport, compounded by the difficulty of executing a high level skill in water. TI makes learning easier by deconstructing the whole stroke into critical mini-skills. Drills pinpoint those deconstructed mini-skills in the way Torpedo highlights head position, allowing you to detect and correct errors far more quickly.
3. To Heighten Perception In the example above, Torpedo drill dramatically enhances your perception of head position. Is it slightly elevated, slightly depressed, or neutral and weightless? You quickly become aware of the difference in Torpedo—and should just as quickly take that heightened perception into whole stroke.

How to Maximize

Want to get more out of your drill practice? To use the right drill in the most effective way for precisely the skill that needs improving? Want to avoid wasted time and effort? Do the following:

1. Start with the End in Mind Before deciding to practice a drill, consider the kind of stroke you wish to end up with. Any drill you choose should imprint an aspect or quality you hope to see in the whole stroke. If it imprints any position, movement, or quality you don’t wish to see in whole stroke, you’re better off not doing it. For instance, you should neither practice flutter kicking flat on the breast, flat on the back, nor on your side (with shoulders and hips stacked) unless you intend to swim in those inefficient positions.
2. Clear Purpose Similar to the above, be crystal clear on the purpose of any drill you practice—because the main point of the drill is to imprint an efficient quality, position, or movement in the whole stroke. I often observe competitive swimmers (including Masters) and triathletes going through the motions in drill practice, seemingly more concerned with getting it done, than getting it right. Any time spent practicing a drill that fails to imprint a high quality, high efficiency movement is wasted time.
3. Find Right Sequence When you plan to combine several drills, practicing them in the right sequence makes all the difference. If working on propulsion, using a drill designed to improve the Catch-and-Press, or 2-Beat Kick, the propulsion-oriented drill will work better if you precede it with drills to balance the body and stabilize the core—so arms or legs are not occupied with correcting body position errors. This principle and application is covered in detail in the 2.0 Freestyle Mastery Self-Coaching Course.

What to Avoid

1. Unfocused Practice Swim teams often fit in drills as a part of sets like this (often given as part of warmup): 200 Swim 200 Pull 200 Kick 200 Drill. Apart from the fact that I don’t favor sets that isolate the kick or pull, there’s this: How much clear-eyed focus do you suppose the swimmers will bring to the 200s of kick or pull? Not much. They’ll be more focused on getting them done, not getting them right. And when it comes to the 200 Drill, is it likely they’ll suddenly find focus. Not very. If you do even a single length of a drill without complete clarity on what it’s designed to improve, and what sensations will affirm that it’s accomplishing its purpose, you’re wasting your time.
2. Too Much/Too Long Never do a drill by rote. Never do it simply out of habit, or as part of an ‘autopilot’ routine. (See above.) And don’t continue doing a drill which targets a skill you already perform at a high level in whole stroke. You’ll be wasting time if you do. Also never continue a drill to the point where (a) it’s become more of a kicking exercise, or (b) you’re more focused on getting to the other end of the pool than on super-high quality movement. You’ll be imprinting the wrong thing if you do. This is why most TI drills are now designed to be done in repeats of 10 yards or less. Including all those in our Self Coaching Courses.
3. No Closure Never follow a drill with something unrelated. Always follow a drill with some short repeats of whole-stroke–and same focal point–to immediately bring the new position/movement/sensation into the stroke. This ensures closure of the stroke-improvement loop.

How TI Drills Have Evolved

1. Drills we’ve dropped and why

These three drills were formerly an essential part of the TI freestyle sequence (with the approx. date they were replaced in parentheses).

Press the Buoy (1994) I learned this drill from Bill Boomer. In fact, it was the one that rocked my world by showing me I could have light legs. Unfortunately, its leg-lifting effect only worked flat on the breast, and became quite elusive when you rotated—as in whole stroke. Through experimentation we learned that a weightless head (1995) and slicing the hand below the bodyline after entry (1999) were even more successful at lifting the legs, and maintained that effect as you rotated.

Balance on Back (1998) This drill was very good at helping a student experience the support of the water, without interrupting that balance to take a breath. But it taught a body and breathing position that had no application to freestyle. We replaced it first with Sweet Spot, then by separating breathing exercises from those for body position (2008).

‘Zipper’ Drills (2008)  These drills were part of the recovery sequence. We instructed students to draw the thumb up the side, as if pulling up a zipper. They produced a compact, even elegant recovery. But they also tended to cause over-rotation and instability in the core. Consequently, we replaced them with Rag Doll and Paint a Line drills which teach a more relaxed recovery, while preserving a stable core and promoting healthy shoulders.

2. Fewer Drills, More Rehearsals

In every stroke, we strive to teach the foundational skills (Balance, Stability, Streamlining, Integrated Propulsive Movements) in just three to four steps. For two reasons: (1) Fewer drills allow for more clarity on their purpose and essentials, and more quality and consistency in execution. (2) We want to prepare the student to swim a smoothly integrated, comfortable whole stroke—one well suited to further refinement–as quickly as possible. Our 1.0 Effortless Endurance Self-Coaching Course applies this principle as will our soon-to-be released Self Coaching Courses for Butterfly, Backstroke, and Breaststroke.

3. More Whole Stroke

In the 1990s, it was typical at a TI workshop to do some 6 hours of stroke drills before putting it all together in whole stroke for perhaps 10 minutes. Now we do several short reps of whole stroke within 10 to 15 minutes of the start of a workshop or lesson. Why? To immediately apply a new mini-skill (in this case a weightless head) as soon as possible after heightening awareness of that skill (in Torpedo.) And we continue with that approach throughout the workshop. Five to 10 minutes of a drill to heighten a sensation, followed by a similar amount of time testing that sensation in whole stroke. The proportion of drill to whole stroke is pretty close to 50:50.

This brings me to why I barely ever do stroke drills any more. I did intensive drill practice (and sometimes a full hour or more of nothing but drills) for most of the 1990s. During that time, I completely remade my stroke, dramatically increasing my efficiency. This followed a 25-year period in which there was virtually no change in my swimming.

However several things changed in the early 2000’s that led me to gradually reduce the stroke drill portion of my practice:

1. My improvement opportunities changed. Following 10 years focus on the vessel-shaping aspects of technique, there remained relatively little upside. I consequently shifted my focus to skills I’d relatively neglected during the 90s–Catch-and-Press and 2-Beat Kick. While there are several drills with value in learning them, most of the refinement potential comes from whole stroke practice with focal points.
2. I adopted new training aids. During this period I was introduced to Fistgloves and the Tempo Trainer. While the Fistgloves can be useful in some drill practice, both tools yield their greatest value in whole stroke practice. I discovered many new stroke refinement, and awareness-heightening, opportunities in whole stroke practice with one or the other.
3. I began racing more. Training for a certain level of speed can only be done with whole stroke. You acquire a high efficiency stroke at lower speeds, and with a mix of drill and whole stroke. You must then learn to maintain it while swimming at higher tempos, muscle loads, and heart rates. That’s whole stroke.

If you’ve been doing the same stroke drills for more than three years, it may be time to evaluate whether they are still creating improvement or simply ingraining a kind of status quo in your stroke. Is it time to change to drills for more advanced skills? Perhaps you’re ready for Mastery Skills. A visit to a TI Coach, or a video analysis by an expert TI coach can help determine.

Take Your Swimming to the Next Level!

Learn the Habits of Mastery and develop expert-level skills with Total Immersion’s 2.0 Freestyle Mastery Complete Self-Coaching Course. Do you love learning, practicing, and swimming the TI Way? Are you excited about attaining personal mastery in the most efficient and exacting skills available in freestyle? Have you mastered the TI Foundations in prior videos or the Effortless Endurance (formerly Ultra Efficient Freestyle) Self-Coaching Course? If yes, the 2.0 Freestyle Mastery Course is for you.

The post PRACTICE STRATEGY: Why Drill, How To Maximize Practice, and What To Avoid appeared first on Total Immersion.

 Terry and Shinji enjoying a synch swim

The following post was originally published by Terry Laughlin on Aug. 1, 2013. As of today, the video below of Coach Shinji Takeuchi has nearly 1.7 million views on YouTube.

The liveliest thread on the TI Discussion Forum [now archived from 2013] at the moment is titled “a question about continuance” with, as of this morning, 59 posts, which have drawn over 1300 views. What’s curious about this thread is that the initial query was about how to swim faster, yet the bulk of discussion has centered on various forms of “superslow” practice.

Such a discussion could occur nowhere else but the TI Forum!

I should clarify that swimming more slowly isn’t the object. Rather it’s to improve at swimming with consummate ease and to explore your ability to slow particular aspects of the stroke, while maintaining overall flow and body control.

Martial artists have long known the value of moving as slowly as possible to increase awareness, control, fluency and integration. It’s a harder sell in the swimming world.

It’s also a much more exacting skill in the water than on land. Slower movement highlights errors in Balance and Stability, which makes it exceedingly valuable.

This morning, Ken B posted the following: 

I’m enjoying this discussion. I am 74, with the usual age related challenges. Continuing to swim with ease into my 80’s is my main mission. This winter I’ve been pushing gently off the end of the pool feeling the delicious, effortless glide, then trying to maintain that feeling to the other end. If I achieve a clean, well-timed catch and maintain my original long-axis posture, and breathe with absolutely no head lift, I can drift into the far wall with no energy used at all. I know I’m getting somewhere because I looked up this morning to find I had an audience.

Ken captured the spirit of this enterprise exactly. He recognizes that swimming this way is a highly exacting and very rewarding SKILL.

For the goals, priorities, and – yes – values Ken cites for his swimming, he could hardly make a better choice than this.

My goals are similar to Ken’s. I wish to swim well, enjoy it limitlessly, and even continue improving for 25 to 30 more years.

My initial lengths every day– I call it my Tuneup– is guided by exactly the thoughts and actions Ken describes. But with the addition of a  “side game.”

While swimming as easily as I can, I also time myself, often for 100y/m repeats. When doing so, I always swim faster over a series of 6 or more 100s– even while trying to maintain my initial sense of relaxation.

While doing these, I often visualize how my swimming would appear to an audience–as Ken found himself with the other day.  This turns my Tuneup series into a Beauty Contest as well as an Exercise in Ease.

But even with far-off goals of breaking age group records or winning world titles,  the main reason I swim this way is that it feels so amazingly good — in both body and psyche — in the moment I’m doing it.

The video of TI Coach Shinji illustrates something like what I describe and strive for. But I try to make my 2-Beat Kick even gentler than you’ll see in the underwater segment. This is because I’m trying for maximum ease and relaxation, not minimum stroke count, in my Tuneup swims. Happy Laps!

 Want to Swim Like Shinji? Transform Your Entire Stroke!

Learn guaranteed skill-builders with our downloadable Total Immersion Effortless Endurance Self Coaching Course! The drills and skills are illustrated in 15 short videos. Guidance on how to learn and practice each drill effectively, illustrated by clear pictures, are contained in the companion Workbook.

The post VIDEO: Coach Shinji Demos the BEAUTY of Effortless Movement & The SKILL of Slow Practice appeared first on Total Immersion.

The post [VIDEO] TI Swimmer: Athlete or Artist? appeared first on Total Immersion.

This post was originally published by Terry Laughlin on Apr. 6, 2011.

S.G. posed a common concern on the Total Immersion Discussion Forum:

Six months ago, I could barely swim 2 pool lengths. But with the help of TI’s Self Coached Workshop DVD, within 3 weeks I swam my first mile. By November I could swim 3 miles without stopping. If you’d told me when I started that I’d be able to swim 3 miles that quickly, I’d have called you crazy. Once the question of finishing a mile was settled, I began to time myself. I progressed quickly from 40 to 36 minutes. By last week I was down to 33 minutes. Again, I couldn’t believe it.  Now I have a goal of breaking the 30-minute mark. But I’ve discovered there’s a big difference between  swimming 50 yards in 57 seconds and doing it in 51 seconds. In doing short intervals, I can’t swim 51 seconds even once. This leads me to ask: Do we have personal speed limits or are they imagined? There’s no better feeling than breaking what you thought was a personal limit, but how do we know when we’ve reached our ultimate speed?

Terry’s reply:

In most endeavors we improve quickly at first, but improvement slows, then stops. What happens next is a defining moment for all of us. There’s no question each of us does have a physical limit on how fast we can swim. Mainly because drag increases exponentially with speed, while our aerobic fitness and muscular power are not only finite — they decrease as we age.  Because drag increases exponentially with speed (5% faster = 25% harder), getting faster – at any distance from 100 meters to a mile or more — is similar to climbing a mountain. At first, it’s an easy walk with quick progress. As we climb higher, and the terrain steepens, we work steadily harder to go ever slower. The nice thing about working to improve your pace for a mile is that there’s a lot more gentle slope before you hit the steep stuff.

The sub-40 minute range was the bottom of your “mile-high mountain,” but those hefty improvements also represented sizeable increases in pace — and thus, in the resistance you need to overcome. It’s therefore natural that, as you approach a 30-minute pace, progress  will come in smaller bits, not large chunks. It will also require better skills, keener focus, more resourceful — and especially strategic – thinking. Consider the following:

Adjust Expectations. Aim for improvements of 60, 30 or perhaps 15 seconds, rather than 2 or 3 minutes.

Embrace the Challenge. You can’t predict the destination (your personal limit), nor would you want to. Instead focus on the journey (day-by-day — indeed minute-to-minute — learning and experience) as you strive to improve.

By embracing the challenge, you create the possibility for a level of self-knowledge and personal power that trivializes the question of whether your Personal Speed Limit for the mile is 33 minutes . . . or 29.

In his 1992 book Mastery: The Keys to Success and Long Term Fulfillment, Aikido Master George Leonard describes what you’re facing as a defining moment for all of us. In most endeavors we improve quickly in the early stages, but improvement slows, then stops, as the skill requirements increase. (Because drag increases exponentially, this is a far more tangible matter in swimming than in, say chess, music or math.) What happens next reveals something fundamental about character.

Leonard says that when progress slows or stops, most people fall into one of two categories:

The Dabbler makes good initial progress. Upon encountering the plateau he loses enthusiasm, gives up and tries another activity . . . then repeats the pattern.

The Hacker hits the plateau, then defines satisfaction as status quo. Rather than seek instruction or adjust his approach, he contents himself with that level.

But a fortunate few progress to a third category:

The Master displays mental discipline, persistence, and flexibility as her learning curve flattens. She understands that lessons learned more slowly have more meaning and permanence.

The Plateau is where you need to remind yourself why you took up swimming in the first place — health and happiness. When you started, you acknowledge having had no expectations for how fast you might be and that simply completing one mile, let alone three, left you ecstatic.

Does your temporary inability to swim it in 30 minutes diminish your accomplishment? Heck no. Only 1% of the human race can swim a mile at any speed. By that measure you’re already in rarefied company.

This isn’t a Plateau. It’s a Crossroads: You now have the opportunity to choose a Master’s Path, where 33-minute miles (and 32:30, 32:15, etc.) are only waypoints along the path.

Doing so will bring the health and happiness benefits far beyond any you imagined when the thought first occurred, “Maybe I should try a triathlon.”

In Loving the Plateau, the second installment of this series, I’ll describe the attitudes and habits of those who achieve Mastery in Swimming. Or any endeavor.  

[Editorial Note: Check out “Loving the Plateau” in our next blog!]

Take Your Swimming to the Next Level!

Learn the Habits of Mastery and develop expert-level skills with Total Immersion’s 2.0 Freestyle Mastery Complete Self-Coaching Course. Do you love learning, practicing, and swimming the TI Way? Are you excited about attaining personal mastery in the most efficient and exacting skills available in freestyle? Have you mastered the TI Foundations in prior videos or the Effortless Endurance (formerly Ultra Efficient Freestyle) Self-Coaching Course? If yes, the 2.0 Freestyle Mastery Course is for you.

The post Stalled Progress? It’s Not a “Plateau”– It’s a Crossroads appeared first on Total Immersion.

This post was originally published by Terry Laughlin on July 9, 2015.

Would you like to make your stroke markedly, noticeably more efficient in as little as 10 minutes? Doing the right drill, in the right way, can achieve stroke transformation faster than any other means. Here’s a summary of “First Principles” of maximizing the value and efficacy of stroke drills from my recent series of posts on this topic:

1. The only reason for doing a drill should be to improve your swimming . . . in “real time,” during and immediately after the drill. In other words, after a short period of practicing a drill—generally less than 10 minutes–your stroke should feel noticeably better. Or you should at least have heightened awareness of subtler aspects of your stroke–to work on via Focal Points, while swimming whole stroke.
2. Never do a drill by rote or on autopilot. Always be aware of (a) how it is specifically meant to improve your stroke; and (b) what stroke thoughts will create that improvement and what sensations confirm the desired improvement is occurring.
3. Do the drill only long enough (with respect to both the duration of each drill rep and the number of reps) to create a “sense memory” to guide you during whole stroke. Never continue to the point where you lose intensity of focus or the drill becomes a kicking exercise, rather than a skill builder.

Here’s an example of how we design and teach TI drills to observe those principles. For our example, I’ve chosen Torpedo, our simplest drill and the one we teach first.  For what purpose did we design it, and how should you practice it to achieve that purpose?

Torpedo Drill

Torpedo is the first drill in what we call our “Comfort and Body Control” drill series. These drills and skills teach three qualities essential to efficiency –and to creating the conditions for long-term improvement:

1. Immediate energy savings from a weightless and stable body position.
2. The body control necessary to learn all subsequent skills.
3. The focus, sense of calm, and habits of self-perception that will make your swimming more satisfying and effective for decades to come.

Torpedo practice repeats are briefer than any other drill—usually about 6 seconds. And you’ll probably only practice it a few times—for a lifetime cumulative duration of as little as 30 minutes. Nevertheless, it can create invaluable and enduring body awareness that improves Balance and Core Stability—the indispensable foundations of an efficient stroke.

One reason we like Torpedo as a introductory drill is that it has few “moving parts.” This allows pinpoint focus on three key mini-skills—a “weightless” head, head-spine alignment, and an engaged core. Isolating your head in front heightens awareness of when your head is truly “weightless” and aligned with the spine. We also use Torpedo to initiate awareness of how it feels to engage core muscle while you swim. Both skills are essential to maintaining a sleek, stable body position when you begin moving your arms and legs.

Before doing Torpedo in a horizontal gliding position, we have students rehearse good posture in a standing position. Then we proceed to live practice.

How to Practice Torpedo

1. Push gently into a surface glide.
2. Your legs may sink gradually as glide slows. Maintain head-spine alignment as they do.
3. Lightly press legs together to increase glide and slow legs from sinking.
4. When you lose momentum (in a few seconds) stand for a breather and mental reset. Then push into glide again.

[Note: You can  use a  gentle flutter to maintain momentum and body position for just a few seconds longer–allowing sensations to imprint a bit longer. Stop if  your kick feels like work.

Torpedo Focal Point Checklist

Head: Release its weight so you feel the water support (or cushion) it.

Arms: Push hands far down the front of your thighs—arms should mold inside bodyline.

Core: Pull navel toward spine. Feel curve in lower back flatten slightly.

Legs: Press together and lengthen. If legs drift toward bottom, as momentum slows, don’t fight it. DO maintain head-spine alignment.

Bodyline: Maintain the strong posture from your rehearsal.

Improve Your Stroke in 10 Minutes

Repeat Torpedo as described four to eight times. Total elapsed time should be just two to three minutes. Then practice whole stroke—just five to six strokes without breathing. Focus solely on replicating the sensation of a weightless/cushioned and stable head from Torpedo. After each, stand for a breather and mental reset. Repeat 4x. Elapsed time two to three minutes–a total of five minutes on this sequence of drill + whole stroke.

Then repeat the 5-minute sequence above with a focus on good posture with an engaged and stable core.

Total elapsed time for both: About 10 Minutes. Stroke Improvement: Priceless!

This is how drills should work—always!

Transform Your Entire Stroke in Two Months or Less

Learn Torpedo and other guaranteed skill-builders 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–like that provided above–illustrated by clear pictures like those above are contained in the companion Workbook.

The post How To Make Your Stroke More Efficient in Only 10 Minutes appeared first on Total Immersion.