Hi everyone! I wanted to pass along some of my experiences/observations of those new swimmers using T.I. I am working with a group of triathletes who had no coaching whatsoever and purchased this swim book to try to improve their swimming.
I know it can be difficult to try to learn from a book as interpretation is different for everyone. Here are two common problems I'm finding that I think should (if at all possible) be addressed by the author/TI swim instructors for further clarification.
1. Mail Slot Entry
All of the swimmers' hand/arm entry is actually an inverted "V". The hand/forearm enter the water as a downward spear right by their ear. There is no catch whatsoever because the stroke is so short. The hand goes directly downward from the ear to the pool bottom; the stroke is of no use this way because there is no catch whatsoever.
2. Low in the water
They are all too low in the water. Their heads and shoulders are completely underwater so they have to roll too much and too far to get a breath of air. This is causing "fishtailing" and a tremendous amount of body movement. I understand "chest pressing" in the water, but they have taken it too far.
I have always firmly believed in each person's stroke being "their own", but there are some components that are necessary to swim well. I'm helping them to make some of these corrections, especially regarding the mail slot entry; they are "spearing" downward which I don't believe was the point. Most all of the triathletes swim a 50 meter free in around 2 minutes. Last Sunday with some changes (they are really working on their swimming), 4 of them were swimming the 50 meter free in around 45 to 50 seconds which is a huge improvement. They said it feels better now, and they are traveling faster with less body movement and with ease.
I know the TI book has helped many to join the world of swimming, but this indicates that without coaching, a book can be misinterpreted. A picture is worth a thousand words. One last point: ALL of them were holding their breath which is the kiss of death. I never bought this book so I cannot attest to what was explained in verse or graphics.
Donna
Former Member
The thing I also noticed is when I watched that cable swim that Dave and Terry did, if they had a mail slot entry, it was very far in front of them.
In the video with the lady swimmer, her mail slot entry is right above her ear and then the arm glides to forward before a catch, and the triathletes I swim with were doing this also and they weren't traveling very far, very fast.
A question for Dave or Terry: With new swimmers, is the hand entry (mail slot) done deliberately closer to the head than when they become more proficient and thus can reach farther before the hand enters the water?
Does the mail slot entry get moved as the swimmer gets better at swimming? I say this because it appeared as if both Dave and Terry's hand entry was much further in front than the lady swimmer in the video.
Very curious stuff.
sorry for the lapse in posts.
i think an entry closer to the head is a good way to experience good rotation (hip and shoulder intergration) i will often have a swimmer drive their hand straight down to demonstrate that the effect of good rotation is huge. the desired result is that they travel 25 yards with the same stroke count that they would if there was forward reach. this is usually a big "aha!" kind of moment.
the position of my hand entry definitely does change with my speed/effort.
i also think that an over reach is much more common problem than a short reach/entry. (and much more difficult to correct.)
Dave just wondering do you use a six beat kick four beat or do you two beat kick? I have been told you use a six beat kick.
It also seemed your head position in that swim was higher than what I expected. Was it higher because you were swimming with speed?
.... i will often have a swimmer drive their hand straight down to demonstrate that the effect of good rotation is huge. the desired result is that they travel 25 yards with the same stroke count that they would if there was forward reach. this is usually a big "aha!" kind of moment.
Interesting! I tried this this morning and although I was only doing 25's and 50's the stroke count was the same as my normal stroke. I normally enter the water about halfway between my head and full extension and reach down to about 1:00 (assuming the water surface is at 12:00). This morning I moved the hand entry closer to my head and reached to the 2:00 position. (Tried 3:00 a few times but not comfortable with that and found my entry to be too splashy.) But I noticed that I needed to reach further out in front as I increased my speed from about :20 sec/25 to around :15 sec/25.
Are you kidding? I have never seen someone advocate swimming with the head entirely below the surface of the water. I've heard low where a bit of water flows over their head. But beneath the water on freestyle?
Dave just wondering do you use a six beat kick four beat or do you two beat kick? I have been told you use a six beat kick.
It also seemed your head position in that swim was higher than what I expected. Was it higher because you were swimming with speed?
i swim with a 6 beat naturally. i have been working on my 2 beat for a few years and when it is in sync.....nothing better, but it does fatigue my hip flexors over long distances. (not that 2 miles is a long distance)
head pos...i don't know, i will have to watch the vid again.
Well, in the above water shot, the head just looks pretty low, but not below the surface of the water entirely. The underwater shot looks lower still, but it's probably just the viewing angle. I don't know how he's moving forward in the absence of a kick. His feet completely stop for a brief period, causing a bit of a jerky motion to continue forward movement. Crossing over with the right hand. Is this video post-TI clinic?
Definitely not for sprinters.
I can't do that 2 beat kick in sync with the opposite arm thing at all. But then I'm a sprinter, so it's of no value to me. But it seems like it works well for some distance folks. I can see where it might strain the hip flexors if the kick is forceful, as Dave mentioned.
George,just so you don't confuse some people,it has been OK for the head to go underwater in breaststroke since 1986.(Greatest rule change ever.:bouncing::bouncing::bouncing:)
Yes thank you I knew that. It may have confused Fort. I know how much she hates breaststroke.
Now I just swam the damn thing in a real live meet. I think it's possible my head went underwater.
Poolrat - my observation of both Terry and Dave is they were not inserting their hands very close to the head. In fact Terry at speed did reach well forward before the entry. There was not enough to see exactly what Dave was doing throughout the race. The biggest surprise to me was their head positions both much higher than I thought re TI, nothing like the Israel TI videos where the head was below the water surface much of the time.
