Seems similar. In their discussion threads, their guru seems to talk in more detail about conditioning sets, and maintaining good technique during those conditioning sets. This is just a first glance impression, though. Overall, looks a little more nuanced to me.
He also seems to have taken a page out of Terry's marketing book. One difference I've noticed is that Swim Smooth is trying to get the Olympians and other elite athletes out front, photos right on the home page of the web site. I wonder if everyone on their homepage would be down with Swim Smooth's use of their image.
Matt
Originally posted by Matt S
Seems similar. In their discussion threads, their guru seems to talk in more detail about conditioning sets, and maintaining good technique during those conditioning sets. This is just a first glance impression, though. Overall, looks a little more nuanced to me.
He also seems to have taken a page out of Terry's marketing book. One difference I've noticed is that Swim Smooth is trying to get the Olympians and other elite athletes out front, photos right on the home page of the web site. I wonder if everyone on their homepage would be down with Swim Smooth's use of their image.
Matt
Hi Matt and Geochuck,
Thanks for the posting and querying our "stand-point" with respect to swim technique and conditioning.
I cannot personally comment on whether we are similar to TI as I have no real knowledge of their teaching practices. I would certainly suggest that those swimmers who have come to me for a one2one swim sessions or attended one of our Clinics AFTER having done a TI course have certainly made good progress with their general efficiency etc and have usually established a strong foundation in how to apply this efficiency to maximise their swimming ability. So, for me as a coach taking one of these swimmers for a subsequent stroke development session, I have found that I have a good base to work with. For that I highly commend TI in their approach and teaching. I think for many aspects and many people, that what little I know of what they do is very beneficial for many swimmers.
However, it is also no secret that I have also had some disagreements with their Head Coach in the UK on more than a few areas of the freestyle stroke as highlighted publicly on the British www.tritalk.co.uk Forum. This appears to be more of a personality clash than anything else and I fully respect their opinions just as I would any other fellow teaching or coaching professional. I am not going to go into all this here, however having read the thread that Geochuck recently referred us to about TI, I would say that I agree with a number of points that some of you brought up on this. If you care to read them, below is a sample of some artciles by myself which demonstrate our "stand point":
www.tritalk.co.uk/.../viewtopic.php - Front Quadrant discussion - what other timing methods are there?
www.tritalk.co.uk/.../viewtopic.php - answer in response to the
question "the bits TI missed out?"
www.swimsmooth.com/.../STROKE RATE.pdf - Stroke Rate versus Stroke Length
www.tritalk.co.uk/.../viewtopic.php - Where should I hold my head?
www.tritalk.co.uk/.../viewtopic.php - Should I be kicking?
www.tritalk.co.uk/.../viewtopic.php and www.tritalk.co.uk/.../viewtopic.php - Thoughts on Body Roll
www.tritalk.co.uk/.../viewtopic.php - a look at Bill Kirby and Ian Thorpe's strokes
As Matt S brought up, conditioning is just as important to me as a coach as is pure technique work. In my opinion the two are not seperate entities and should not be thought of as such. My own personal background is that of both a national level age-group swimmer from the UK who went onto representing GB in international triathlon competitions whilst sitting a Batchelor of Science degree in Sports Science. Since 2001 I have been located in Perth, Western Australia where I had the fortune to work with Bill Kirby (Ian Thorpe's team-mate from the men's 4x200m freestyle relay team which won gold at the 2000 Sydney Olympics). I am now residing in Burlington, Ontario of all places! With my background being as it is I would say that physiology and "hard training" (as most of you put it on this Forum) is of just as much concern to me as a coach as making you simply "swim prettier" (as one person commented). Take a look at these two threads about training adaptation which feature some interesting discussions about the balance required between technique and good old-fashioned hard work as well as looking at how lactate testing can help you with your swimming as well: www.tritalk.co.uk/.../viewtopic.php and www.tritalk.co.uk/.../viewtopic.php
My biggest point which I would like to get across though is that whilst I am a coach and do have my own coaching business and DVD, my philosophy is that there ARE "plenty of ways to skin a cat" and I do not protest to hold all the answers to swimming efficiency. Matt, I thought your term "guru" was a little lavish considering I am only 27 years old after all and I'm sure you guys could teach me a thing or two about freestyle (bit thanks anyway!) Thats the beauty about my job and what I do and who I do it with. I work with swimmers like yourselves and am constantly seeking better ways to do what I do. We have just flown back from the UK where we conducted 11 Swim Smooth Clinics over there which went really well....not because it was me droaning on and on about what you should and shouldn't do, but because at each Clinic we had hired and integrated several local coaches at each Clinic to come in and give their "spin" on what it means to swim efficiently. There is no one way to swim efficiently and just as most of you point out on a daily basis on this Forum, it is a case of the old saying of "horses for courses". Yes we need a 'plan' for how to improve someone's stroke, but we also need to have a degree of flexibility with what we teach when looking at each individual swimmer on an individual basis.
Anyway, thankyou for this opportunity to let me explain a little bit about what we do and how we do it. Sorry if I have bored you to tears in the process! I would gratefully welcome your feedback and would be honoured if you would allow me to contribute to your Forum as it seems to be a real hive of intuitive thinking where I can learn as much from you all as I hope that I can offer back.
Kind regards
Paul
P.S Matt, I am flattered that you would consider us to have a marketing image similar to TI, however, I would like to point out that yes the image of Bill Kirby who features in our DVD has been approved...as I mentioned earlier, Bill is both a close friend, training partner and also work colleague.
The download was awesome. Visualization works and watching great swimmers as often as possible, trying to emmulate them is a great thing. The "catch" on that Olympian is spectacular. I think Smooth Swimming will catch on.
Huh! Never heard of SwimSmooth before!
It's sort of like Evolution Running vs ChiRunning or "quiet running". I don't know about these running schools.
Swim Smooth isn't a revolution. While Total Immersion wants to... (let me be careful in my choice of words here...) ... wants to put forward a *new* ideology qualified by its foundator (Terry Laughlin) as being *revolutionary*, Swim Smooth just wanted to package the best possible free style advices. Mid/long distance swimmers as well as triathletes are mainly targeted by Swim Smooth material (dvd, articles, seminar).
I personnaly don't think TI has invented or discovered anything that weren't known before (that's just my opinion. didn't do any research on the topic). But I have a huge respect for the way they bring and insist on some very important aspects of freestyle and swimming in general. For a newbie, TI's drill set is a must. If you don't work on them in the context of a TI seminar or book or video, I truly hope you'll be fortunate enough to know someone that can teach you these drills.
And for having met and worked with Paul Newsome, founder and head coach of Swim Smooth, I can tell that he's one of the best swim coaches I've ever met (and I met a few). His methodology, seminars, dvd and articles are a huge success. Working with this guy can only make you faster.
I have adopted the Total Immersion training methods with very satisfying results. In my opinion all of these skilled and enthusiastic teachers are making fantastic contributions to our sport of swimming. We need more high quality instruction to touch more swimmers from age group kids through masters swimmers like myself.
I have adopted the Total Immersion training methods with very satisfying results. In my opinion all of these skilled and enthusiastic teachers are making fantastic contributions to our sport of swimming. We need more high quality instruction to touch more swimmers from age group kids through masters swimmers like myself. I agree with you 100%
Glad you should enjoy your time with TI. Either that or Swim Smooth are worth the money and efforts.
