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.
Originally posted by Ion Beza
It's contrary to T.I., but T.I. hasn't produced one single Olympian.
How do you figure? For example, Richard Quick contributed a fair amount to TI. He was a coach for several Olympics, a strong program at Stanford, and worked with many Olympians. I don't see how you can make a bold-faced statement like that, and expect to back it up. (If they had a single TI-style coach during their teen years, does that count as "TI produced"? It certainly excludes them from the "late blooming" list.)
TI is meant to mimic the techniques that Olympic-level swimmers are doing, that make a difference in swimming speed. So in one sense, you can say that almost every Olympic swimmer is doing TI (except that is putting the tail in front of the donkey).
When you mention the conditioning that current Olympians do, it supports "fitness is important". But I don't think anyone is arguing that. And it does nothing to invalidate TI. You are taking people who have outstanding technique and are already working hard. TI addresses what people who do not have good technique need to do, to swim more like the people with great technique.
Originally posted by Ion Beza
It's contrary to T.I., but T.I. hasn't produced one single Olympian.
How do you figure? For example, Richard Quick contributed a fair amount to TI. He was a coach for several Olympics, a strong program at Stanford, and worked with many Olympians. I don't see how you can make a bold-faced statement like that, and expect to back it up. (If they had a single TI-style coach during their teen years, does that count as "TI produced"? It certainly excludes them from the "late blooming" list.)
TI is meant to mimic the techniques that Olympic-level swimmers are doing, that make a difference in swimming speed. So in one sense, you can say that almost every Olympic swimmer is doing TI (except that is putting the tail in front of the donkey).
When you mention the conditioning that current Olympians do, it supports "fitness is important". But I don't think anyone is arguing that. And it does nothing to invalidate TI. You are taking people who have outstanding technique and are already working hard. TI addresses what people who do not have good technique need to do, to swim more like the people with great technique.
