cymsteve's Full Review: Terry Laughlin and John Delves - Total Immersion: ...
BACKGROUND: In the summer of '99 I could barely swim 50 meters non-stop, but I made a commitment with my fiancee Allyson that we would train for and complete our first triathlon in the summer of 2000.
I was already a long-time runner and my biking skills were sufficient to get me through the 20km I had to race, but the thought of swimming 1000 meters in open water scared me silly.
Over the winter I made my way to the pool a few times a week, signed up for lessons to improve my 'stroke', but all to no avail - I could still barely swim 50m without getting severely out of breath.
Early in January I came across a website called Total Immersion which had articles called "Any runner can swim" & "You can improve". I thought this sounded perfect, it had stories of people in similar situations to me who had overcome their struggle with the water and offered a discussion group which offered great support and advice.
Anyway, I rushed out to Barnes & Noble, bought the book and here's what I found......
PART ONE: This section teaches you to swim in a whole new way. It is split into chapters that deal with swimming laps and going nowhere, swimming better without getting stronger, being a slippery swimmer and swimming by feel. In simple terms Total Immersion is telling you that you don't need to be strong to swim fast, you have to swim by touch. The techniques described are different to most methods of swim coaching, but once you've mastered the skills it feels great. By the end of part one, all the necessary 'skill drills' have been taught and it's all about putting them into practice.
PART TWO: The author, Terry Laughlin, starts this section by saying "Fitness is something that happens while you're practicing good technique." He stresses that strength only accounts for about 30% of your speed, the rest is attained through efficient swimming. Most of the chapters in this section deal with being a smarter swimmer, but it also covers 7 workouts that you can practice against the clock using the techniques you've learned. Terry also details some of the good, not-bad and useless training aids found in many of the pools across the country - some of these are quite surprising and go against what you're brought up to believe.
PART THREE: This section touts swimming as the best all-around exercise, low impact but a good calorie burner. It also shows how to supplement your training in the weight room and how to keep your workouts injury free.
APPENDICES: There is a directory to resources for Better Total Immersion Swimming - magazines, publications, places to swim and information about masters programs, but most importantly there is a complete listing of all the Total Immersion Practices.
The book left me feeling more confident about improving my technique, and I was eager to start "swimming more slippery" as Terry calls it. After practicing the drills over the next few weeks I slowly felt more comfortable in the water, but still lacked the ability to swim any kind of distance.
My main problem seemed to be in carrying out what the book was explaining and the lack of feedback from anyone on dry land was often disheartening. With time ticking away to triathlon day I decided to sign up for a 2 day Total Immersion swim camp in DC. It wasn't cheap, but I would have to say it's the best money I've spent for a long, long time.
Within an hour of the camp starting I felt comfortable, I was able to adjust my position in the water as per what the coaches were telling me (Terry included) and although it was hard, hard work I finished the weekend with a whole lot of confidence.
To finish the story, I completed my first triathlon in June with my fiancee Allyson. The water was very choppy, bodies were everywhere, arms and legs were flailing and my swim time was slow, very slow in fact.......but, I MADE IT!! Now I just need to find a book to help me improve my swimming in open water......watch this space for an epinion! (http://www.epinions.com/book-review-759E-1C04CBE9-39E1C859-prod3 added epinion on Open Water Swimming by Penny lee Dean on 10/9/00)
SUMMARY: Whilst I would strongly advocate this book to any non-swimmer or to any swimmer who wants to improve, I did find it somewhat difficult to implement the skills on my own. In the book they all make perfect sense and seem very straightforward, but it wasn't until I had a coach at poolside that I was able to really make progress.
Thanks to Terry for showing me "any runner can swim" after all.
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