Which Instruction to Follow?

I've enrolled on the "Ultra Efficient Freestyle" e-course, and so far I'm very pleased with my progress, currently I'm working through the fourth chapter "Vessel Shaping".

I had the good fortune to spot "Triathlon Swimming Made Easy" paperback for sale and bought it expecting to find other insights into the world of Total Immersion. What I did find was a pretty different way to end up at the same place, effortless swimming.

The e-course is more about Torpedo, superman, elbow swing, rag doll and skate with strokes so far, which is great and I feel I am improving with each pool visit. However the triathlon book is based on gaining balance on your back, rolling down to skate, switch and then rolling up the sweet spot. Is this a different method of teaching used to ingrain a breathing technique so that breathing will only take place when the body rolls and not at the turn of the head?

Which instruction would be best to follow, or maybe a fusion of both?

For background, I'm not a strong swimmer and have been attending swimming lessons to improve technique for 8 months. I still struggle to do 50m freestyle with only marginal improvement since the beginning. I have now stopped the lessons after churning away with no improvement and only breathlessness to show for my efforts!

[WFEGb]

Hello Ste68,

although I don't know the Triathlon-ebook, I think both are the same. What you are describing seems to be what you'll find in the UEF-Workbook as "simply roll to air". It's a good exercise to improve your balance and get the possibility to breathe in a relaxed way as much as you need, even when in OW, as long as "normal FS-breathing" is not imprinted... And at least 80% of the movements are exactly what you'll need in "normal FS-breathing"...

Would suggest to go step by step through Terry's UEF-course. Take the time you need and stay as patient as you seems to be.

Enjoy your progress and the way to.

Best regards,
Werner

[tomoy]

Just a thought in addition to Werner's, if you're churning and breathless it's a very good chance that you're kicking too much. Re-examine each practice focusing on kicking less with less amplitude, less power and slower. Quiet the kick, relax, go zen - effortless freestyle is a mental challenge, not a confrontation of will.

[CoachBobM]

Originally Posted by Ste68

I've enrolled on the "Ultra Efficient Freestyle" e-course, and so far I'm very pleased with my progress, currently I'm working through the fourth chapter "Vessel Shaping".

I had the good fortune to spot "Triathlon Swimming Made Easy" paperback for sale and bought it expecting to find other insights into the world of Total Immersion. What I did find was a pretty different way to end up at the same place, effortless swimming.

The e-course is more about Torpedo, superman, elbow swing, rag doll and skate with strokes so far, which is great and I feel I am improving with each pool visit. However the triathlon book is based on gaining balance on your back, rolling down to skate, switch and then rolling up the sweet spot. Is this a different method of teaching used to ingrain a breathing technique so that breathing will only take place when the body rolls and not at the turn of the head?

Which instruction would be best to follow, or maybe a fusion of both?

For background, I'm not a strong swimmer and have been attending swimming lessons to improve technique for 8 months. I still struggle to do 50m freestyle with only marginal improvement since the beginning. I have now stopped the lessons after churning away with no improvement and only breathlessness to show for my efforts!

At one time, the Total Immersion program began with Back Balance, proceeded to Sweet Spot (now called Interrupted Breathing), then to Fish, and then to Skate. But while this sequence worked well for many swimmers, some (particularly lean athletes whose buoyancy was low) really struggled with the early drills and didn't begin to feel comfortable until they got off their backs. So we finally abandoned Back Balance (which has more to do with backstroke than with freestyle), began starting with Torpedo and Superman Glide, and postponed Sweet Spot/Interrupted Breathing until later in the sequence.

There's no problem with using the drill sequence in Triathlon Swimming Made Easy if it works for you. But we've found that fewer people encounter problems when using the Ultra-Efficient Freestyle drill sequence.


Bob

Thanks Bob. I suppose part of the back drills will come in useful for when I'm doing the backstroke.

[CoachBobM]

Freestyle and backstroke have a lot in common, since both are driven by a rotation about the axis of your spine. The sweet spot position that is used for interrupted breathing in freestyle also serves as the anchor point for TI backstroke. (In TI backstroke, you basically stroke from your hand-lead sweet spot on one side to your hand-lead sweet spot on your other side, and back again.)


Bob

Wow ! Enjoy your progress and the way to.