Comments on: Opportunity in Adversity

By: leonard kenedy

leonard kenedy — Fri, 15 Jan 2016 13:23:00 +0000

By: Terry Laughlin

Terry Laughlin — Tue, 22 Dec 2015 16:03:41 +0000

Suzanne
Your brief reply contains expansive insight and wisdom. Deserving to be (slightly) expanded into a post of its own.

By: Terry Laughlin

Terry Laughlin — Tue, 22 Dec 2015 16:01:04 +0000

Philip
Thank you for your suggestion. Indeed I’ve tried that and it works. A few lengths of breaststroke when the cramps start coming on seems to stave them off a while longer. I hadn’t thought about blood flow as the reason. It may be some combination of that plus the dorsi flexion of the foot in breast kick.

By: Marjorie

Marjorie — Tue, 22 Dec 2015 13:58:00 +0000

So sorry to hear about the cancer diagnosis. As a cancer survivor myself as well as a member of the 65-69 age group, one of my goals last year was to learn how to swim so that I could do a triathlon. I never could have done it without TI. I often tell others about my experience with TI and encourage them to look up your website, telling them that it’s not too late to learn. I now look forward to swimming, even though I still have a huge amount to learn, knowing it will make me feel better. I tell you this so that as you work through the difficulties you face you’ll know the positive impact you have had on so many of us. Best wishes for a happy and healthy new year.

By: Philip Johnson

Philip Johnson — Tue, 22 Dec 2015 12:14:00 +0000

Well done Terry! I’m 70, and have competed in 7 Age Group Triathlon World Champs, the last race for me being in 2002.. Unfortunately knee damage has stopped me running altogether now, and I have put on a lot of weight. But since re-discovering TI, I am focussing more on technique and am swimmjing better now than I ever did in my race days!
I am so grateful to you for your love of swimming and your altruistic sharing of your discoveries of self and technique.
May I humbly offer something in return? I’ve found that a little experimenting with body issues can get me more progress than only listenting to the medics. With luck and experimentation, I seem to have rehabilitated my knee joints even though after three keyhole procedures the surgeon declared my knees pretty much beyond repair. At first I couldn’t walk for 20 minutes without pain. Now I can walk indefinitely, but need to take off a lot of body weight before I risk the extra strain of running again. I’d be happy to share my knee experiences if anyone asks.
But I’m thinking about your leg cramps! You would be the first to advocate very limited use of the legs in distance freestyle. The consequence is that the body concentrates blood flow in other areas, and the supply is shunted away from the legs. Inevitably, the legs become more subject to cramp. I find it particularly annoying in a pool environment, because my legs are still required (just when they’re dozing off) to make a big impulsive contaction as I push off the wall. And some days, instant cramp results. Likewise in my rather poor butterflly. It can be so annoying to quit the fly half way through a length due to a disabling leg cramp! Anyway, for me, it works if I first do at least 100 yards of breast stroke, to get all the leg muscles oxygenated and back in the game before expecting them to do big kicks. So I would suggest you try switching to breast stroke for 50 yards or so if you feel even the lightest twinge of cramp coming on when on a long freestyle swim. If you are in a distance race, you won’t lose THAT much and you can probably benefit from the opportunity to sort out some navigational issues while you’re at it! In mass swims, I was following the herd like all the other mediocre swimmers, and I often noticed them taking a big curved course to the next sighting point. I could then benefit from clear water and swim the course of the bowstring to their bow! But in your case I expect you are probably up there with the leaders, but it may still be helpful to breast stroke for a while and re-assess.

By: Ed Woodall

Ed Woodall — Tue, 22 Dec 2015 10:16:00 +0000

Brilliant stuff as ever Terry. The stuff about practicing thinking as well as movement is so crucial and of course one of Moshe Feldenkrais’ maxims was that he wanted to develop, not people’s bodies but their minds. His genius (shared with you) was that he could see that by affecting people’s movement he was able to access their minds. As I say to my students of acting, I am not just looking for flexible bodies but flexible minds!
So sorry to hear about the prostate scare and I wish you all the best in moving on.
In relation to adversity, of course, I would not be swimming at all if I didn’t have osteoarthritis in my feet! So, i agree that we can always be looking to what we CAN do an not what we think we SHOULD do. Not to say that we can’t set ambitious goals but practice our way towards them in a way that enlivens us and does not exhaust us!
Happy holidays and much looking forward to reading about the new Masters adventures!

By: Tono Romero

Tono Romero — Tue, 22 Dec 2015 06:16:00 +0000

Terry: Mi agradecimiento desde Costa Rica. Tengo 70 años y tu Post me ha animado a reiniciar mis prácticas de TI, a ser mejor ser humano, a superar mis dudas y temores y a comprender que toda adversidad nos brinda oportunidades. Te deseo Salud Total y más Prosperidad. Muy respetuosamente te sugiero tomar Amalaki. Tengo la convicción que pronto tendremos un Post en donde nos cuentes sobre la superación de tu más reciente “adversidad”

By: Jim Malina

Jim Malina — Tue, 22 Dec 2015 01:41:00 +0000

Excellent post! Good Luck, Health, & Good On Ya!

By: Dan Hope

Dan Hope — Mon, 21 Dec 2015 23:29:00 +0000

Terry, thanks for this post. Your comment about a 2500 yd. practice budget really resonated. At 72 I am slowly learning to accept that I don’t have the endurance I once had. Then rotator cuff surgery last June really slowed me down. Thanks to TI, which I have been following for several years, I am now back up to 2,000 yd. practices and swimming is a real pleasure.

I am sorry you have learned you have prostate cancer, but glad you caught it early. Best wishes & keep inspiring us.

By: Suzanne Atkinson

Suzanne Atkinson — Mon, 21 Dec 2015 22:59:00 +0000

Terry your writing gets more powerful with every blog post you write. I share many of these with my own atheltes and find inspiration in them myself. Having endured some adversity in my own health this past year, I’ve recalled your practice descriptions in the past. This past week, I swam 25 yards repeatedly, of the best butterfly I’ve ever swim in my life, despite practices limited to only 500-800 yards twice a week as I recover. Some fitness is gained outside the pool, and my water time is dedicated to using my whole body to reduce discomfort of neck and shoulders, integrating my strokes and using all “6” strokes inclusive combat side stroke and underwater dolphin. The purpose of fitting in quality strokes with a Budget that I don’t know until I get into the water…but possibly as little as 500 yards…is greater than any purpose I’ve had since I started swimming.