Now that I've gone through the hassle of signing up as a member of this dicussion group, this gets more and more fun. Maybe I'll get fired from my job :)
Anyway... I'm sure that ALL Masters level swimmers have heard of Total Immersion (from now on referred to as TI) swimming, correct? What are everyone's opinions about TI swimming? I am most curious because as a coach of age group swimmers, I was looking for training videos for our kids. I happened upon TI and liked what I saw... at first.
Here's some background for my experience with TI... very well put together, most of what they teach has been in existence for some time anyway, and they certainly are good for teaching novice/beginner swimmers the basic technique for swimming.
However, when looking to swim fast, and I mean fast, not lap swim quality, but truly competitively, I thing TI has missed to boat completely. Yes, smooth and efficient swimming is nice, but did anyone see the NCAA's? There are 20 year old men swimming 9 strokes per length in breaststroke! We have a number of age group coaches in my area teaching their kids how to swim breaststroke at 6 or 7 strokes a length!!! What gives? Extended glide is one thing, but when you slow down your stroke to such an extent just to achieve long and fluid strokes you sacrifice speed tremendously.
Hey, if you can swim 9 strokes a length at 1 second per stroke that is WAY better than 6 strokes a length at 2 seconds per stroke. Simple math.
Anthony Ervin of Cal swam the 100 free in the follwing SPL... 12 (start)/15/16/16. I could be off but that's what I was able to get from the (ahem- PALTRY) ESPN coverage. Now TI has goal SPL's of 12/13! Hello, if the BEST sprinter in history takes 8 cycles, shouldn't that tell us something? Turnover is very important. Same with streamlining, yes streamlines are nice and quite important but A.E. pops up after 5 yards MAX out of each turn. You only serve yourself well if your streamline is faster than you can swim, most age group swimmers would be well-served to explode out of the turn and swim within 3-4 yards.
Alas, it's been a slow day finishing my work for the week. Just looking to start a nice discussion. It's been my experience that a lot of Masters level swimmers are also engaged in coaching age group swimming at some level, and therefore I feel we can get some good dialogue going on this issue.
Now I've just used TI as an example because that's what I've had my experience with, but more general is what keys do you all stress when trying to mold competitive swimmers?
Au revoir,
-Rain Man
Parents
Former Member
Hey guys, remember that there is a big difference between the statements "swimmers with larger DPS swim faster" and "swimmers swim faster when they swim with larger DPS" The first is verifiably true, with exceptions, and the latter is less verified, and more important to prove in a learn to swim program.
If you are not sure what I mean, here is an example: a 6'6" swimmer will probably have a larger DPS than a 5'6" swimmer, and will probably be a faster swimmer, TI or no TI. But will the second swimmer become faster than before if he/she increases the DPS? Not so clear, *but*, I can say that for most of the swimmers on my team it is definitely true - they have clear stroke flaws that if improved will make them faster swimmers and incidently increase their DPS.
That makes it pretty clear that DPS is a *consequence* of better swimming style, not a goal in itself. Instead, DPS is an indicator of how well someone is swimming, and for most people the better the DPS the better the swimming.
But don't be proud of your 8 strokes a length, if that only happens when you are swimming easy - the trick is to train your muscles to maintain that stroke per length while you are sprinting, and that requires fast swims in practice, not long slow distance. No way is a better swimming style an excuse for not having to work as hard, and I have heard no one claim so, except to attribute similar statement to others.
The choice in not between stroke form and hard work. Attention to swimming form is *additional* work. People who think the trick is cranking out the yards on tough intervals are being lazy.
Mr. Obvious
Hey guys, remember that there is a big difference between the statements "swimmers with larger DPS swim faster" and "swimmers swim faster when they swim with larger DPS" The first is verifiably true, with exceptions, and the latter is less verified, and more important to prove in a learn to swim program.
If you are not sure what I mean, here is an example: a 6'6" swimmer will probably have a larger DPS than a 5'6" swimmer, and will probably be a faster swimmer, TI or no TI. But will the second swimmer become faster than before if he/she increases the DPS? Not so clear, *but*, I can say that for most of the swimmers on my team it is definitely true - they have clear stroke flaws that if improved will make them faster swimmers and incidently increase their DPS.
That makes it pretty clear that DPS is a *consequence* of better swimming style, not a goal in itself. Instead, DPS is an indicator of how well someone is swimming, and for most people the better the DPS the better the swimming.
But don't be proud of your 8 strokes a length, if that only happens when you are swimming easy - the trick is to train your muscles to maintain that stroke per length while you are sprinting, and that requires fast swims in practice, not long slow distance. No way is a better swimming style an excuse for not having to work as hard, and I have heard no one claim so, except to attribute similar statement to others.
The choice in not between stroke form and hard work. Attention to swimming form is *additional* work. People who think the trick is cranking out the yards on tough intervals are being lazy.
Mr. Obvious
