by Dan B » Tue Apr 01, 2003 2:22 pm
Simon Leila will be getting his certification in TI teaching soon and is approaching people at Crystal Palace about getting a weekend to have a workshop. More on that soon ...
As far as TI goes, Aodan's not far off. TI is about balance in the water and reducing drag - but the focus is on mindful swimming, not, as they are wont to say, 'practicing struggle'. If you watch the great swimmers (Thorpe, Popov, Perkins, Price, Cooke) they're all incredibly efficient at using their arms to anchor them in the water and then slipping through as small a space as possible.
The trap many people fall into is the idea that faster swimming requires more effort, so they thrash and splash through the pool. They are getting a good aerobic workout and leave the pool knackered, but they're not getting any faster because they create more drag in the effort.
I've been taking a look at the technique myself, and as a former competitive swimmer, now triathlete, I have to say being efficient makes good sense - especially when you come out of the water with two more events to go!
In just a couple of weeks of mindful technique work my crawl stroke has smoothed out (to the point where I'm using 14-16 strokes per 25 instead of 20-22) and I'm getting compliments on my stroke. People have actually asked me to coach them!
I encourage folks to read about TI ([url]http://www.totalimmersion.net[/url]) as Terry Laughlin goes into quite a lot of detail about the physics involved, while at the same time making it very accessible. That way you can decide about the technique for yourself.
Dan-o