DVD suggestions?

[Talvi]

Hi all

I've always wanted to be a "good" swimmer. I was in the freestyle relay team at school. I was not the slowest on the team but I was in a different league to the two best. I think I was doing everything wrong. I was tense, and trying to use force not technique. Although I breathed (!?!) I still felt my body running out of oxygen almost as fast as if I were holding my breath. Maybe that's why I swam 50m quite fast. It was either that or drown!

Forty years later I'm living in Finland, no pools (I've never been keen on them really), "just" lakes and islands stretching over hundreds of kilometres. It's private and congenial too, as there's a grebe and her chicks that I swim with! It's quite easy to practice feeling relaxed (now the water is a little warmer) because it is so beautiful. Here, my swimming changed when I was introduced to bathing after sauna. It became a wonderfully hedonistic pleasure that converted me into a grinning two year old! That maybe teaches a little of how TI swimming is described. Anyway, I found I could swim b.s. for some way (a few hunded metres maybe) BUT still the old problem remains. Perhaps I am expecting too much for too little, but I am hoping TI may provide a route forward - a way to "go for a stroll" in the water. I want to swim as lazily as possible for as long as possible! :D

I've begun to read some of the great advice on this forum, and think that what I need now is to see what you're all talking about. I've looked at the DVDs here, but without a pool a lot of the gradated exercises are impractical in open water. The open water DVD "Out of the Box", seems to be for those who already know what they're doing (?), so I wonder if the "Total Immersion Self-Coached Workshop" DVD would be the most appropriate.... What I think I'd really like is a looped tape of each stroke to show me what I'm aiming for and that I could study. Easier to see coordination than try and explain it.

So, any suggestions or advice would be really helpful, and thanks for this great resource! :)

Robin

[Talvi]

WOW!! Just found this on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJpFVvho0o4 I am blown away. It is so different (and beautiful), his legs looks almost as if they're doing nothing. His shoulders are incredibly supple, and now, just standing up and mimicking the movement, shows how tight mine are. After slowly circling my arms just half a dozen times I can feel the blood pumping through passageways that have become disused over the decades, sitting at my pc. Small problem: he looks to be breathing underwater!

[andyinnorway]

Self coached workshop is a great DVD to start learning TI, I still like the original too, with the other swimmers of different abilities learning and applying TI, and where Terry starts with introduction standing above a lake. That was just a very motivating film.

[Talvi]

Originally Posted by andyinnorway

Self coached workshop is a great DVD to start learning TI, I still like the original too,

Thanks Andy :) I couldn't see an original vs the current version. Is it under a differet title?

[Talvi]

The 10 Lessons DVD arrived today and I am happy to find how helpful it is. I'd been starting to wonder what it could say that watching Shinji couldn't, but it's great!

My only sadness is that lesson 3.1 isn't longer. For me that feels like the pivot point. Once I can breathe and move it's a done deal and I can practice endlessly even if I'm moving slower than driftwood (p.s I'm in a lake not a pool) I'm worried I'm going to wear that part or my DVD player out by pressing repeat endlessly! Masybe I need to trasfer it to the PC and make an endless loop of it :)

[Carlos8100]

Great sharing...
Thanks for sharing this...