TI Question...heard this and doesn't sound right...
Former Member
I am teaching a stroke clinic class at the YMCA. My background is USS competitive swimming (ages 8-18) and some age-group coaching. One of my students, a triathlon trainer, has been to Total Immersion. Because of his TI training, he is doubtful of any stroke correction I am giving him. Basically he has the typical problems of a short stroke...entering too close to the head and not pulling thru.
The TI triathlete is telling me that the TI "Fish" style swimming technique says the hand should enter the water just in front of the head, then reach forward. In my opinion, he needs to lengthen his stroke, rotating and reaching as far forward as possible, entering out front (not by the head). I am thinking he is mixing up some TI drill with proper freestyle SWIMMING technique. He at least agreed with me when we talked distance per stroke (and started believing I know something about swimming)...but I don't see how you can maximize DPS with hand entry by the head.
Can someone shed light on this for me? What is this "Fish" swimming in a couple sentences? And where does TI say the hand entry should be?
Thank you!!
P.S. I'm new here and enjoying reading...I swim masters and hope to compete in butterfly someday...I'm waiting it out until I get a bit older so can face the competition. My butterfly has held out better than my other strokes (used to be a long distance freestyler too).
P.P.S. I did a search on TI and read some of the posts but they didn't quite get to my specific question above.
Parents
Former Member
Terry,
Very interesting feedback. As Ion suggested, sooner or later someone would post a reply who knows plenty about TI, but who would've thought that the master himself would join in! Thank you for the input.
I like the way you suggested that the feel of the stroke is very personal and more important than having someone mirror a particular technique. My own experimentation with TI has lead me to feel more comfortable with less of a front quadrant stroke and more of a rotary style. (I still like to argue that sprinters swim with hands in opposition rather than in overlap.) My own preference anyway. But I am a huge believer in distance per stroke, and manage anywhere between eleven or twelve on a 25 yd. length.
I hesitated to reply any further being that this topic is the proverbial Pandora's box in the discussion forums. But thank you for the info. And perhaps Shari will have quite an interesting talk with her swimmer in training. :cool:
Terry,
Very interesting feedback. As Ion suggested, sooner or later someone would post a reply who knows plenty about TI, but who would've thought that the master himself would join in! Thank you for the input.
I like the way you suggested that the feel of the stroke is very personal and more important than having someone mirror a particular technique. My own experimentation with TI has lead me to feel more comfortable with less of a front quadrant stroke and more of a rotary style. (I still like to argue that sprinters swim with hands in opposition rather than in overlap.) My own preference anyway. But I am a huge believer in distance per stroke, and manage anywhere between eleven or twelve on a 25 yd. length.
I hesitated to reply any further being that this topic is the proverbial Pandora's box in the discussion forums. But thank you for the info. And perhaps Shari will have quite an interesting talk with her swimmer in training. :cool:
