Total Immersion Swimming.

[Mukluk]

I would be interested to hear from people who have taken the clinics, or read the books, watched the videos. Did learning this technique improve your swimming? How long did you spend doing the drills before you were able to translate the techniques into your swimming? Thanks

[BigCatDaddy]

Here's response from a newbee. 2 years of sprint tri's for fun. I might be competitive by end of this year.

I'm a slow learner, couldn't swim a lick 2 years ago. Got the book, read it. Drills were "easy", but it was "hard" to translate the drill into what I was searching for while swimming (what should the proper form feel like?). I quit early on the drills and continued to struggle with bad form and poor endurance for the remainder of the year. Then I decided to hire a few "swim coaches" as they would pass through where I work (folks in town for a couple of months, used to be college swimmers....now working on further education.....you gotta ask around alot to find 'em though ....I live quite rural). They all were familiar with TI and they all took me back to the basics of TI.....My drill form was poor and needed correction....or, I was moving on to drill 2 or 3 and had not yet mastered drill 1. So to surmise it up....it's all about feedback from someone knowledgable....absolutly invaluable.

Time commitment?....well last year I went back to the basics of TI for a couple of months....and I can honestly say that it is only in the last 2 months that I'm feeling faster, feeling feedback from the water, feeling good vs. bad form, and most importantly, did I say feeling alot faster? So "total time" since jumping in the water "green" to being able to hang in a short sprint swim...2 years! (but hey, I'm a slow learner). Very likely, you'll be a quicker study.

TI-DVD. Got it too, as I often swam alone without instruction....found it more helpful than the book...I'm more visual, and I find authors writting style difficult to follow. About a 1/4 of book is hype, as to why he's invented the greatest swimming instructional technique known to man....the DVD bypasses alot of that garbage.

Most helpful to me was to take my kid to the pool, pay her some $$, run the video camera, come home watch it....then compare it to DVD swim technique. I got the coach to let me have access to underwater window in deep end, and had my kid shoot video as I swam cross lanes directly towards window and back, then some video as I swam lengthwise past window and back. My opinion, it's all underwater man....thats where you can really see many technique mistakes....crossing arms over midline, poor roll, poor head, chest, belly position, flailing kick, weak arms, not finishing arm stroke....etc. You get the picture.

Even better, I now can take a quarterly video, burn to disc and mail to my swim instructor 100 mi away....include a $20 for her, and she emails back critique.

If it came down to coaching feedback vs. TI, I'd go with a good coach anyday, but TI is better than nothing and does indeed have very good value. There are no "Master's programs" near where I live, but I think it would be a good source of instruction, even if you don't join them.

Enough ramblings from a newbee....get the book and get in the pool man!

[efrobert]

I thought the book was a waste of money. I like the DVD, I find it helpfull. I started doing the drills a few weeks ago. All the book does it talk about how great TI is. The end of the book has the drills, but you really need the DVD to understand how the drill are done.
I like the program, but they should just sell both DVD and book as a package.

[broomsquire]

It worked well for me. I think i may have spent to much time on the drill at first. I agree that the DVD was more help the the book. I have been swiming with a masters group and that has help the most. Having a coach and a workout all set up for you every workout.

[Riles]

We have guy in our club, never really swam before taking up Tri's, said he started on TI about 3-4 years ago and he is now the fastest swimmer in the club, he looks effortless compared to even some of the long time swimmers since kids.. I think if you swam competitive fm young, you always have the engine and natural ability, it's hard to gain that being older - think this is why TI helps..

I am into it and gaining speed for less effort - have to patient with it though - it takes time

[ktuominen]

I enjoyed my TI experience. It makes swimming much more enjoyable. If you can afford it, getting live feedback from a coach on your technique is the way to go. If you're a bad swimmer, TI will make you better and more efficient thus making you faster with more to give on the rest of the Tri course. If you're already fast, it is unlikely to make you faster but will make swimming easier. If you're into endurance swimming, it's definitely the way to go. I did a 5mile race with my TI method and felt great at the end. Good luck!

[craigery]

I really liked the book. When I started trying to swim, I had the help of a kid from class who was a swimmer in high school. He helped me with some basics. I was still having problems that I didnt know how to fix. I read the book and started with the drills and I saw a difference once I put all the drills together in my stroke. I know that I am not doing it completely the TI way but I have come a long way and now I can swim a 400m in 6:30 flat. I am quite proud of this. When I started swimming, I couldnt do 100m. haha! Good luck man. Stick to it and you'll do better. Try to get some input from experienced swimmers so they can give you tips on what they see that you might not realize is going on. Like I said, stick to it and keep practicing.