I've noticed at lot of dicsussion in recent threads about TI principles,
As you can see from my location, I'm on the other side of the atlantic and TI has started to make an impact over here.
I've come across a lot of people in my local University pool who seem to have been mesmerised by the TI message and it is now common for me to see people swimming on their sides with one outstreached arm and a submerged head.
When the time comes to breath these guys have their heads so deep from pressing their bouy that they end up lifting it so high that they loose whatever alignment they had in the first place.
From talking to them, none of them seem to want to develop a proper kick and build up endurance so they can develop
good form.
I have decided to post a list of TI priciples and my own critism of these, feel free to add to the list or post a TI defence!
TI PRINCIPLE 1
Side to Side Rotation
to get into Low Drag Fish-like Position
Criticism
Rotation is good to get extentsion and
a good catch + power into the stroke,
Excessive rotation slows down the stroke.
TI PRINCIPLE 2
Swim DownHill
Press your Bouy
Criticism:
Holding head too deep creates drag
Makes breathing Difficult
TI PRINCIPLE 3
No Kicking
Criticism
Kicking essential to fast swimming
+ to maintain good form particularly
for male swimmers.
TI PRINCIPLE 4
Front Quadrant Swimming/
Distance per stroke,
Criticism
A reasonably high Stroke rate is necessay for
fast swimming,
Unless you have a very strong kick a glide
phase in your stroke will cause decelleration
TI PRINCIPLE 5
Drills will make you a better swimmer
Criticism
Drills are important, but there is no
substitute for good quality fast training.
Parents
Former Member
Excellent and interesting critiques all around, however as a TI coach, I have a couple of thoughts on a Friday nite (plus a note each to gull and geochuck), now that the kids are nearly in bed and I'm settling in to catch up on my Tivo'd shows:
The Bobby Patten "Fish Don’t Swim On Their Side" article itself is a little dated, particularly "World Class swimmers do not leave their arm extended for a long period of Time". If you compare stroke technique from 2000 to 2004, you will see a significant increase in front-quadrant swimming across the board. in effect, they ARE leaving their arms out there longer.
I'm not just blowing smoke here. I attended the ASCA Level II stroke school two years ago (john Leonard taught the class), and everything related to the currently desired stroke mechanics is in agreement with the final product of the TI stroke progression, across all four strokes.
In addition, as a Physics teacher in training, in my eyes Mr. Patten's understanding of the forces involved in swimming is not what it could be. Without getting into details, consider that the behavior of a body in the water and a body in the water in motion are two different scenarios, with a whole different set of forces in play.
As (I think) was mentioned, do not confuse individual drills with the final stroke -
gull: this is one of the things I often encounter when folks try one of the drills. In my coaching (In TI Workshops and private instruction as well as in masters workouts I coach), I am a big advocate of never doing a drill (TI or otherwise) unless you understand how to do it, what you are trying to achieve and an awareness of how to know if you are doing it correctly.
geochuck: who'd ya hear the "swim down hill" rumor from? It's still commonly used, and I'm out there directing workshops.
Finally, consider that the focus we give to beginners, triathletes, age groupers, masters swimmers or anyone else, will vary in many aspects. A triathlete who has to hop on a bike after the swim is not going to want to be burning it up with a vigorous kick, and will not be putting in the amount of yardage necessary to build up that kind of endurance anyway. Conversely, in training for a 50 or 100 sprint, a vigorous kick will come into play, along with the mcuh heavier workload necessary to maintain it.
just a few thoughts, anyway...
Rich
__________
Rich Barkan
MetroTri.com
Excellent and interesting critiques all around, however as a TI coach, I have a couple of thoughts on a Friday nite (plus a note each to gull and geochuck), now that the kids are nearly in bed and I'm settling in to catch up on my Tivo'd shows:
The Bobby Patten "Fish Don’t Swim On Their Side" article itself is a little dated, particularly "World Class swimmers do not leave their arm extended for a long period of Time". If you compare stroke technique from 2000 to 2004, you will see a significant increase in front-quadrant swimming across the board. in effect, they ARE leaving their arms out there longer.
I'm not just blowing smoke here. I attended the ASCA Level II stroke school two years ago (john Leonard taught the class), and everything related to the currently desired stroke mechanics is in agreement with the final product of the TI stroke progression, across all four strokes.
In addition, as a Physics teacher in training, in my eyes Mr. Patten's understanding of the forces involved in swimming is not what it could be. Without getting into details, consider that the behavior of a body in the water and a body in the water in motion are two different scenarios, with a whole different set of forces in play.
As (I think) was mentioned, do not confuse individual drills with the final stroke -
gull: this is one of the things I often encounter when folks try one of the drills. In my coaching (In TI Workshops and private instruction as well as in masters workouts I coach), I am a big advocate of never doing a drill (TI or otherwise) unless you understand how to do it, what you are trying to achieve and an awareness of how to know if you are doing it correctly.
geochuck: who'd ya hear the "swim down hill" rumor from? It's still commonly used, and I'm out there directing workshops.
Finally, consider that the focus we give to beginners, triathletes, age groupers, masters swimmers or anyone else, will vary in many aspects. A triathlete who has to hop on a bike after the swim is not going to want to be burning it up with a vigorous kick, and will not be putting in the amount of yardage necessary to build up that kind of endurance anyway. Conversely, in training for a 50 or 100 sprint, a vigorous kick will come into play, along with the mcuh heavier workload necessary to maintain it.
just a few thoughts, anyway...
Rich
__________
Rich Barkan
MetroTri.com
