Total Immersion Training.

If you like doing many swim progressions and drills you will appreciate the program. In my opinion the best thing to do would be to put all swim workouts on hold and just do the drills and progressions till your stroke is acceptable. Once you have an adequate freestyle you could use the drills as part of your daily pre workout warm-up to ensure your muscle memory lasts and you don't lapse back to your previous bad habits.

I know those who have done it and I have also used much of their approach when I started swimming later in life. It is excellent and will get you going in the right direction.

I'm curious about strengths and weakness of TI. I started as a TI student 5 years ago in my mid-40's after not having taken a freestyle stroke since grade school. Overall, my experience has been positive, with many bumps and wrong turns along the way. TI circa 2005 was much different than it is today. Many of the "black pearls" in the 2005 TI program that I learned (and have subsequently unlearned) have been replaced with better drills and methods. 2010 TI training is likely to improve an adult swimmer's technique, with less chance of learning bad techniques. The drills are generally useful and well-conceived. The emphasis on "focal points" (now renamed "stroke thoughts) is valuable for learning how to analyze details of your technique and continuously improve. You are lucky to be learning from a well-regarded instructor -- less chance of going in the wrong direction than learning on your own. TI is best for improving streamline, balance, and energy savings. TI does not focus much on improving propulsion. For that, I have turned to Karlyn Pipes-Neilsen's clinics and Glenn Mills' website and videos. But, be cautious if someone tells you to "spear your entering arm steep and deep" -- that advice may still be given. If offered, try it, but don't keep it unless it really helps. And remember, TI is not a religion or a pathway to spiritual enlightenment, it's a proprietary swimming method. With that in mind, have fun! RadSwim

Mick, The fundamentals of TI are sound and useful for all types of swimmers. I worked with a TI coach starting in 2008 to get faster. So, I disagree with the comment about not helping with propulsion. Of course, your results will be dependent upon the quality of your coach and the mindfulness and effort you put into changing your stroke. Overcoming bad habits, particularly muscle memory, is hard and takes a lot of time and effort. I'm not sure I'd recommend going completely without swimming full stroke, but, unless you're training for some important race soon, I'd put as much of your workout into drills as possible. I also can't overstate the value of having yourself videotaped above and below the water. That was an eye-opener for me. YMMV

... I imagine these sessions will do me good, regardless either way of the virtues of TI. I'm curious about strengths and weakness of TI. TI has come up a few times; the responses in this thread are exemplary of the range of responses, I think. I took a TI freestyle class and it saved me. Terry Laughlin (who also posts in these forums) has his own web site, www.totalimmersion.net. There are forums with questions and technique discussions, as well as Terry's blog. I got his latest backstroke DVD and found it helpful. Also, it features Dave Barra, Triple Crown swimmer, as one of the demonstrators. That was a nice touch. :)

Thanks guys, this is reassuring. Bobinator - I asked the coach about my regular swim workouts, she said "For you? OK. Some people I ask to not swim while they are relearning." Me: "How about 3 mile swims?" Coach:"You might want to hold off on those. Do the drills as part of your workout." The idea of doing the drills as warmup long after the lessons ar over is good. Radswim. Sooner or later, I might want to deal with propulsion. This is good for now, though. As far as religion, I'm usually a skeptic. OTOH, my swiming tends to be long slow laps and I get into a meditative state. The TI glide exercises I've done so far seem to be consistent with that. So, ideological follower? No. Yoga swimmer? Yes. Thanks again.

Drills - a good coach will do a lot in 30 minutes without the use of drills. TI a good start.

Lots of thoughts about TI on this forum. Do a search of Total Immersion you will get at least 10 pages of threads mentioning the good and the bad.

Lots of thoughts about TI on this forum. Do a search of Total Immersion you will get at least 10 pages of threads mentioning the good and the bad. I did try that. You get many, MANY pages, but most references to it are just a mention in an otherwise unrelated thread.

For what it's worth, I looked into TI about 4 yrs ago when I started swimming again. I took some of the drills that I thought were helping my stroke and used those, as well as the basic concepts. I think it's helped me become more mindful of my stroke, and oddly enough I'm still improving, albeit incrementally, even 4 yrs down the road. I feel I've benefited from the information. I also believe that one should seek multiple sources of information and feedback to compare different approaches, systems, attitudes, etc. Ultimately one should rely on an outside objective measure to discern if what you're trying is working or not. :banana: