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
Rainman,
I've stayed out of this discussion because I am a well-know TI shill, er... advocate, and most people could probably predict what I would say. However, you just said that you would like to hear about someone using TI to "coach swimmers to swim FAST." Please go to the totalimmersion.net web site (if you can do so without suffering an allergic reaction :D ). Click on Articles, and click on the newsletters, Issue 6. This is the "College Issue." In it you will find Terry's description of how he worked with the SPRINTERS at West Point; his article starts at page 10, and includes sample workouts for early, mid and late season. On page 16 there is a letter from Joe Novak, one of his West Point swimmers, that discusses how 2 years of training with Terry helped him take his 100 yard free time from 49 to 44.1 (and 43.1 from a relay start). Issue 8 is the high school issue, and you will see articles from a high school girls' coach (who also provides early, mid and late season workouts) who has some of his swimmers doing the 100 in times ranging from 53-low to 54-low.
Now, I will grant you this is not the U.S. Olympic team, nor is it even a top flight Div-I program gearing up for a run at an NCAA Championship. But, how fast does FAST have to be before you admit it is more than marketing? Those times would certainly be FAST by USMS standards. You also might want to check out the web site for Emmett Hines' H2Ouston Swims masters club, which does right well with TI methods, or read his book that talks about his approach to planning work-outs for a season. TI may not work for everyone, but those of us who has made real improvements in our swimming with TI are mildly surprised by people who tell us we are all the victims of a glitzy marketing campaign. ;)
Matt
Rainman,
I've stayed out of this discussion because I am a well-know TI shill, er... advocate, and most people could probably predict what I would say. However, you just said that you would like to hear about someone using TI to "coach swimmers to swim FAST." Please go to the totalimmersion.net web site (if you can do so without suffering an allergic reaction :D ). Click on Articles, and click on the newsletters, Issue 6. This is the "College Issue." In it you will find Terry's description of how he worked with the SPRINTERS at West Point; his article starts at page 10, and includes sample workouts for early, mid and late season. On page 16 there is a letter from Joe Novak, one of his West Point swimmers, that discusses how 2 years of training with Terry helped him take his 100 yard free time from 49 to 44.1 (and 43.1 from a relay start). Issue 8 is the high school issue, and you will see articles from a high school girls' coach (who also provides early, mid and late season workouts) who has some of his swimmers doing the 100 in times ranging from 53-low to 54-low.
Now, I will grant you this is not the U.S. Olympic team, nor is it even a top flight Div-I program gearing up for a run at an NCAA Championship. But, how fast does FAST have to be before you admit it is more than marketing? Those times would certainly be FAST by USMS standards. You also might want to check out the web site for Emmett Hines' H2Ouston Swims masters club, which does right well with TI methods, or read his book that talks about his approach to planning work-outs for a season. TI may not work for everyone, but those of us who has made real improvements in our swimming with TI are mildly surprised by people who tell us we are all the victims of a glitzy marketing campaign. ;)
Matt
