What do you think of total immersion?

Ok, before I'm flamed, let me point out that this is strictly IMO. As always, your mileage may vary. I took a TI clinic last year and it improved my stroke quite a bit. The most obvious improvement for me has been distance and straightening out obvious kinks in my technique. Before TI I felt out-of-breath with sets over 100. After TI, I can swim sets of 800+ and be perfectly relaxed. I have almost tripled the distance I swim in an average workout since I completed TI. I have not seen a gain in speed, or not yet, anyway. However, I was not fast before TI, and I'm not naive enough to think one clinic is going to drop seconds off my time. From what I can tell, the drills are not particularly unique to TI. I have all the Go Swim DVDs and several of the USA Swimming DVDs, and many of the TI drills overlap with what I see there and with the drills I was taught in Masters. My personal opinion is that if you're quite serious about competitive swimming, you should find a coach who has a history of turning out successful athletes. The secret of TI's success is that they are willing to invest time in the average swimmer with unglamorous goals, and I see nothing wrong with that. If I can use an analogy here, my husband is a Juilliard-trained classical musician. To make it in that line of work, you need to go somewhere like Juilliard and study with a top teacher, someone with a track record of turning out great musicians. Realistically, though, the majority of people will never be accepted into those programs. For someone who is not in the top of the talent pool (or someone who is not looking for a professional career but just looking to play for enjoyment), you have no choice but to explore other learning opportunities. That's how I see TI... an opportunity for those of us who are not in the top of the talent pool or who are not shooting for top success on the competitive circuit. It's a matter of horses for courses, or however that saying goes. :D

Ok, before I'm flamed, let me point out that this is strictly IMO. As always, your mileage may vary. I took a TI clinic last year and it improved my stroke quite a bit. The most obvious improvement for me has been distance and straightening out obvious kinks in my technique. Before TI I felt out-of-breath with sets over 100. After TI, I can swim sets of 800+ and be perfectly relaxed. I have almost tripled the distance I swim in an average workout since I completed TI. I have not seen a gain in speed, or not yet, anyway. However, I was not fast before TI, and I'm not naive enough to think one clinic is going to drop seconds off my time. From what I can tell, the drills are not particularly unique to TI. I have all the Go Swim DVDs and several of the USA Swimming DVDs, and many of the TI drills overlap with what I see there and with the drills I was taught in Masters. My personal opinion is that if you're quite serious about competitive swimming, you should find a coach who has a history of turning out successful athletes. The secret of TI's success is that they are willing to invest time in the average swimmer with unglamorous goals, and I see nothing wrong with that. If I can use an analogy here, my husband is a Juilliard-trained classical musician. To make it in that line of work, you need to go somewhere like Juilliard and study with a top teacher, someone with a track record of turning out great musicians. Realistically, though, the majority of people will never be accepted into those programs. For someone who is not in the top of the talent pool (or someone who is not looking for a professional career but just looking to play for enjoyment), you have no choice but to explore other learning opportunities. That's how I see TI... an opportunity for those of us who are not in the top of the talent pool or who are not shooting for top success on the competitive circuit. It's a matter of horses for courses, or however that saying goes. :D