Approach to teaching competitive swimming?

First things first - I am a certified TI instructor. I also have been sitting on the sidelines while others who have found success in adopting and teaching the TI methods are banging their heads against the wall. Ion, your arguments against TI are undermined by your not having a thorough understanding of many of the core concepts which guide it. By dissecting each page without understanding the reasons behind each drill and the importance of the core concepts, you're missing the forest for the trees. Here's a shocker for ya - the TI books do not delve too deeply into the highly technical analysis of stroke technique that you want to comment on. They are instruction manuals meant to help the majority of swimmers find greater efficiency with much less effort. The "marketing behavior in it, as in superficial sales pitches" (as you put it) is for reinforcement of the core concepts you should be focusing on. As others have stated, Olympic-calibre athletes are already employing many of these concepts, whether they realize it or not. TI is just making it more understandable and teachable. Stop nitpicking over the fine points of the TI concepts - based on your own description of your meet performance and stroke count, you are not there yet. Don't expect overnight fix - it took years to develop your current technique (I know, I know, as a "late starter in the sport"); to expect a month of TI-training (especially without having a TI knowledgable coach to guide you) to provide immediate improvements on your fastest times is not realistic. Way back in June, you said "Tackling whole programs like Total Immersion would be overkill for me". Yet you attempted to do just that and expected to have mastered the technique by LC Nats in August. You have to first understand how the best swimmers swim efficiently, then you have to work to achieve the most efficient form that works FOR YOU. Your body type and range of motion will ultimately decide what that will be. I began with TI this past January. In the first three months of training with TI drills, my own stroke count dropped significantly (14 SPL to 9, most days) along with my kick (a strong six beat kick became a gentle two-beat kick) with no overall loss of speed. Nine months later, I am still fine-tuning my stroke. TI drills and coaching feedback have helped me pinpoint which aspects of my stroke need improvement. Gone are kickboards, pull-buoys and, to the relief of my poor shoulders, paddles. I had to initially work through two solid months of drilling just to overcome my old muscle memory, doing TI drills and VERY LITTLE swimming with my masters team. I drilled and swam with the most efficient technique I could maintain as I worked out my stroke. When my stroke count got higher or I just couldn't get things right, I went back to some easy, basic TI drills and left the pool on a high note (and headed straight fo the Jacuzzi!). One of the biggest issues I ran into was fighting my old habits. Muscle memory was my biggest opponent. TI relates that new muscle memory is "burned in" after approximately 20,000 CORRECT repetitions of a movement. The TI drills have aided me in determining whether or not things were working right. Every once ina while, I'll have someone videotape me in the water and I'll analyze my own stroke. THis is very revealing. Have you done this? Here's another thing which I have a feeling you'll find shocking - I don't care about my times in the pool this year. I'm working on RADICAL changes to my technique. Expecting overnight improvements from such a drastic change is unrealistic. I have been honing my technique and now I'll work on the fitness which best takes advantage of that. When, after two months, I rejoined my masters team for a set of way too many 25 yd sprints, I found that my old kick was now a detriment. My hips were now riding so high that a vigorous six-beat kick had my feet actually leaving the water and splashing a lot of water around. By toning it down (quiet swimming) and keeping my kick withing the core cylander of my body, I was able to better control my timing and really focus on my streamlining. I still have my speed and now I can do more sprints with less effort. Some other thoughts: Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa PAUSE. Sort of. We use the perceived 'pause' in the stroke to get free speed. The point of the pause, for me, is my best streamlines body position, from the tips of my fingers to the ends of my toes (I am blessed with one anatomical advantage in swimming: Great ankle flexibility). At this point, I do nothing but stretch (making my self longer in the water maintains my speed) and glide. I maintain the momentum by minimizing the drag. TI is not so much about how much power you are generating by each stroke as it is about how much you are NOT SLOWING DOWN by holding onto your most streamlined position for as long as possible, [until the moment JUST BEFORE you begin to slow down. By that point you are initiating the switch into the next stroke. Ion, try out FistGloves to find out just how streamlined you can be. You'll realize that a pause at your most streamlined position can keep you moving forward with little effort. Try it for some sprints, varying your stroke rate. It's a Zen thing: To swim faster, you must slow down your strokes. TI is about balance: finding your body's balance in the water and finding the SL and SR that work best for you. FOR YOU, not for anyone else. Am I faster for having embraced TI? Maybe, But I'm certainly not slower. I'm a pretty decent open water swimmer - last year I was in top shape and put in a vigorous swim at Ironman USA. I now realize that I worked a lot harder than I had to. This year, due to a hectic work and travel schedule and klutzy injuries, my training time in the pool (and on land) was probably at the lowest level since 1995. Yet this year I have consistently been a top finisher in my swims with results as good as last year, but with much less effort. That pretty much put the last nail in the coffin of the technique vs. fitness argument for me. And I enjoy it so much more now. Finally, the TI kickboard argument is simple. Using a kickboard brings your head and chest up and your hips down. That is swimming "uphill". kicking with no board in a TI drill builds lower-leg fitness without reinforcing bad body position. Technique is more important than fitness, but fitness is still very important. Wow, that was way longer than i expected. Sorry folks. I suppose some bits of my little post here will be pulled out and commented on by the king of posters, but it doesn't matter. I know what works for ME, and I feel lucky that TI has allowed me to share that with others and help them as well. - No Brain, No Gain.

First things first - I am a certified TI instructor. I also have been sitting on the sidelines while others who have found success in adopting and teaching the TI methods are banging their heads against the wall. Ion, your arguments against TI are undermined by your not having a thorough understanding of many of the core concepts which guide it. By dissecting each page without understanding the reasons behind each drill and the importance of the core concepts, you're missing the forest for the trees. Here's a shocker for ya - the TI books do not delve too deeply into the highly technical analysis of stroke technique that you want to comment on. They are instruction manuals meant to help the majority of swimmers find greater efficiency with much less effort. The "marketing behavior in it, as in superficial sales pitches" (as you put it) is for reinforcement of the core concepts you should be focusing on. As others have stated, Olympic-calibre athletes are already employing many of these concepts, whether they realize it or not. TI is just making it more understandable and teachable. Stop nitpicking over the fine points of the TI concepts - based on your own description of your meet performance and stroke count, you are not there yet. Don't expect overnight fix - it took years to develop your current technique (I know, I know, as a "late starter in the sport"); to expect a month of TI-training (especially without having a TI knowledgable coach to guide you) to provide immediate improvements on your fastest times is not realistic. Way back in June, you said "Tackling whole programs like Total Immersion would be overkill for me". Yet you attempted to do just that and expected to have mastered the technique by LC Nats in August. You have to first understand how the best swimmers swim efficiently, then you have to work to achieve the most efficient form that works FOR YOU. Your body type and range of motion will ultimately decide what that will be. I began with TI this past January. In the first three months of training with TI drills, my own stroke count dropped significantly (14 SPL to 9, most days) along with my kick (a strong six beat kick became a gentle two-beat kick) with no overall loss of speed. Nine months later, I am still fine-tuning my stroke. TI drills and coaching feedback have helped me pinpoint which aspects of my stroke need improvement. Gone are kickboards, pull-buoys and, to the relief of my poor shoulders, paddles. I had to initially work through two solid months of drilling just to overcome my old muscle memory, doing TI drills and VERY LITTLE swimming with my masters team. I drilled and swam with the most efficient technique I could maintain as I worked out my stroke. When my stroke count got higher or I just couldn't get things right, I went back to some easy, basic TI drills and left the pool on a high note (and headed straight fo the Jacuzzi!). One of the biggest issues I ran into was fighting my old habits. Muscle memory was my biggest opponent. TI relates that new muscle memory is "burned in" after approximately 20,000 CORRECT repetitions of a movement. The TI drills have aided me in determining whether or not things were working right. Every once ina while, I'll have someone videotape me in the water and I'll analyze my own stroke. THis is very revealing. Have you done this? Here's another thing which I have a feeling you'll find shocking - I don't care about my times in the pool this year. I'm working on RADICAL changes to my technique. Expecting overnight improvements from such a drastic change is unrealistic. I have been honing my technique and now I'll work on the fitness which best takes advantage of that. When, after two months, I rejoined my masters team for a set of way too many 25 yd sprints, I found that my old kick was now a detriment. My hips were now riding so high that a vigorous six-beat kick had my feet actually leaving the water and splashing a lot of water around. By toning it down (quiet swimming) and keeping my kick withing the core cylander of my body, I was able to better control my timing and really focus on my streamlining. I still have my speed and now I can do more sprints with less effort. Some other thoughts: Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa PAUSE. Sort of. We use the perceived 'pause' in the stroke to get free speed. The point of the pause, for me, is my best streamlines body position, from the tips of my fingers to the ends of my toes (I am blessed with one anatomical advantage in swimming: Great ankle flexibility). At this point, I do nothing but stretch (making my self longer in the water maintains my speed) and glide. I maintain the momentum by minimizing the drag. TI is not so much about how much power you are generating by each stroke as it is about how much you are NOT SLOWING DOWN by holding onto your most streamlined position for as long as possible, [until the moment JUST BEFORE you begin to slow down. By that point you are initiating the switch into the next stroke. Ion, try out FistGloves to find out just how streamlined you can be. You'll realize that a pause at your most streamlined position can keep you moving forward with little effort. Try it for some sprints, varying your stroke rate. It's a Zen thing: To swim faster, you must slow down your strokes. TI is about balance: finding your body's balance in the water and finding the SL and SR that work best for you. FOR YOU, not for anyone else. Am I faster for having embraced TI? Maybe, But I'm certainly not slower. I'm a pretty decent open water swimmer - last year I was in top shape and put in a vigorous swim at Ironman USA. I now realize that I worked a lot harder than I had to. This year, due to a hectic work and travel schedule and klutzy injuries, my training time in the pool (and on land) was probably at the lowest level since 1995. Yet this year I have consistently been a top finisher in my swims with results as good as last year, but with much less effort. That pretty much put the last nail in the coffin of the technique vs. fitness argument for me. And I enjoy it so much more now. Finally, the TI kickboard argument is simple. Using a kickboard brings your head and chest up and your hips down. That is swimming "uphill". kicking with no board in a TI drill builds lower-leg fitness without reinforcing bad body position. Technique is more important than fitness, but fitness is still very important. Wow, that was way longer than i expected. Sorry folks. I suppose some bits of my little post here will be pulled out and commented on by the king of posters, but it doesn't matter. I know what works for ME, and I feel lucky that TI has allowed me to share that with others and help them as well. - No Brain, No Gain.