Charles
If I were to substitute a different phrase for practice in the 'total TI way' would you agree it would be desirable to practice in this way every single time -- no exceptions?

Here's the phrase:
Always observe principles of Deliberate Practice.

It's been observed by Anders Ericsson PhD, Daniel Coyle, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi PhD, George Leonard, Malcolm Gladwell, Joshua Foer and many more that people in a wide range of fields who are committed to this kind of practice improve more and experience a higher degree of fulfillment.

Knowing this, why would any thinking person not commit fully to Deliberate Practice?

Speaking for myself -- yet borrowing a phrase from Hadar Aviram (who will swim Tampa Bay Marathon on Saturday) -- I 'never swim a stroke in vain.'

David
Total Immersion Workout is an oxymoron.
I urge you to banish the word 'workout' from your swimming lexicon.
Deliberate Practice . . . TI Practice

That I'm in 'total' agreement :)

And in fact I'd like to thank Coach Chen as I might (real certainly will) do the same sort of translation recommendations. It's more the drill equivalence that interests me. Of course it would be to allow the participants to my training day to more easily be able to continue with the stuff they discovered during the day.

It has been a pain thus far, as very often when I see participants a few weeks after, they often complain having difficulty to integrate this in club sessions... bah ok club deliberate practices lol

It's brilliant.

I do respect though those who just don't like to swim deliberately. And there are a few. They're not my favorites, that's obvious, but the cool thing is that you can throw boring stuff at them at it makes no diff. They're like bots lol

Question (off topic, but since some among the greatest coaches are following this thread lol):

Which 3 drills are you the most proud of, which 3 drills would you say are the most important, and why?

As TI methods have evolved, it's become increasingly difficult to find 'drill equivalencies' because
1) Conventional drills aim for different impacts. TI drills are broken down far more finely, targeting mini- and micro-skills. E.G. There's a sequence of 4 activities to improve recovery and entry.
2) We no longer advocate very much of the former style of practicing drills in repeat sets of, say, 25 or 50 y/m. We now think drills achieve greater impact more quickly when done quite briefly in a concentrated manner to heighten awareness of a particular sensation then transfer it to whole stroke. These just don't conform to traditional set structure.

E.G.
4 x Superman Glide (probably 6m each rep)
4 x SG + 4-6 strokes (probably 12m each rep)
4 x 25 Whole Stroke
Do this sequence with focus on Hanging Head.
Repeat the sequence 1-2 more times with related Focal Points, using it as a Tuneup for an equally structured Mindful Swimming series.

As for drills I consider highest impact, top 2 are easy
Superman Glide - affects your psyche as much as your movements
SG to Skate - changes your concept of the swimming body from Upper/Lower body to 'streamlinable' Right/Left side.

After that, I'd have many possible candidates, depending on the stroke. I think the Catch the Wave variants for Butterfly and Breaststroke are real game-changers -- far more than any drills I did when my work focused on coaching competitively from 72 to 88.

Thanks Terry.

Could Superman Glide be integrated in some full stroke laps?

For instance, in this context the drill would go as:

Swim 4 strokes breathing on one side, 4 strokes breathing on the other, then Glide (Superman) for a short while before resuming the full stroke.

Or should SG always begin with a push from the floor or the wall?

You're right - will change once I get back to my computer!

I hadn't had a chance to come back to this thread to answer CharlesCouturier more fully, but I agree here in that if your swim technique is not at a high or refined level, it is too easy to re-burn in bad habits unless you focus on improvement EVERY time you get in the water.

I've had clients who train with me, then thank me for pointing out stroke deficiencies and for the menu of corrective actions and improvements. Then I see them a few months or a year later and they are back to swimming the way I first saw them! Some have told me that they were delighted to have increased speed, ease, etc. in the beginning, and when they come back they complain of loss of speed, ease, etc.

So the danger of "just swimming" when you're learning is that it is too easy to regress or lose all that neuromuscular swim training. Until these great swim habits become real habits, one must keep a laser focus on burning in good habits and removing the current habits or else the currently resident habits will just overpower the new ones you're trying to burn in.

My hope is that once I pick up a TI student, that I not only turn them into great swimmers, but also turn them into great learners and make them realize that with focus and dedication, attention to details, and building an awareness of self of when you are "on" and when you are "off" that they can not only become great swimmers but actually can learn something new and do anything in their lives, no matter how young or old they are.

I understand entirely what you mean, and I confess sometimes having similar concerns.

It's just unclear for me at this time as to how to handle this.

CoachDavidShen, how is your 10K training going?

http://www.totalimmersion.net/forum/...ead.php?t=2927

ha! miserably - i have 2 new kids in the house now and long distance endurance sports are out of the picture for many years most likely!