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
Originally posted by Jazz Hands
...
As for the real world cases of top swimmers improving by focusing on stroke rate, I don't understand how a coach comes to the decision that a swimmer's stroke rate is too low. Could that be said of such low tempo superstars as Ian Thorpe and Larsen Jensen? If a swimmer doesn't have a visible hitch in their stroke, how can a coach know that they are using the wrong stroke rate?
I don't have the book handy now.
From my recollection Bottom counted the number of strokes taken by Kozulj in a 50 meter.
He found X.
He thought Y, greater than X, is better.
Y came to him from the stats of the eight finalists in a major meet that he names.
To get to Y, he made Kozulj and Gary Hall Jr. to swim and pull against the cord that was going to a weights machine.
He asked them to pull weights, quicker and quicker over many months.
This, he says, is cardiovascular and muscular training.
That T.I. despises.
Bottom describes how Gary Hall Jr. ended pulling down the entire machine, and how Kozulj got to Y strokes per 50, and gold in the 200 back.
Thorpe worked hardest to change his slow stroke to a higher Stroke Rate for his 48.5x and a bronze medal in the 100 meter free at the 2004 Athens Olympics.
Originally posted by Jazz Hands
...
As for the real world cases of top swimmers improving by focusing on stroke rate, I don't understand how a coach comes to the decision that a swimmer's stroke rate is too low. Could that be said of such low tempo superstars as Ian Thorpe and Larsen Jensen? If a swimmer doesn't have a visible hitch in their stroke, how can a coach know that they are using the wrong stroke rate?
I don't have the book handy now.
From my recollection Bottom counted the number of strokes taken by Kozulj in a 50 meter.
He found X.
He thought Y, greater than X, is better.
Y came to him from the stats of the eight finalists in a major meet that he names.
To get to Y, he made Kozulj and Gary Hall Jr. to swim and pull against the cord that was going to a weights machine.
He asked them to pull weights, quicker and quicker over many months.
This, he says, is cardiovascular and muscular training.
That T.I. despises.
Bottom describes how Gary Hall Jr. ended pulling down the entire machine, and how Kozulj got to Y strokes per 50, and gold in the 200 back.
Thorpe worked hardest to change his slow stroke to a higher Stroke Rate for his 48.5x and a bronze medal in the 100 meter free at the 2004 Athens Olympics.
