Total Immersion Swimming Workshop

Gun_Slinger

Anyone here do something like this? Or had lessons in Total Immersion?

I have completely plateaued with my swimming and want to learn to swim further while using less energy and this sounds like something that would be of use.

endacl

Total immersion? Like, ducking your head under too?

marizpan

Christ! That’s expensive at €230 for the day.

Why not join a masters group or have a series of private lessons?

Gun_Slinger

Yea, price is stopping me from booking! I dont live anywhere near a masters group and may still go the route of individual lessons but like the look of the TI method.

Turtle001

There's a book about total immersion swimming - have you tried reading that :-)

Might be a bit cheaper than the course too!

Joking aside, I had a coach who was well versed in TI for a few years. A lot of it comes back to paying attention to your shape and drag along with counting strokes per length. In addition, there's a general point as with all swimming technique that you need to remember the elements over time and keep focusing on them. It sounds basic but I for one have forgotten good technique in the past and needed to re-learn.

I can't comment on the course as I haven't attended.

machomac

Hi OP.

Just gave a quick search on boards to see if anyone was talking about this and found this thread.

I am currently doing a TI course in Sydney. Four week course 2 hrs per week. Self practice during the week.

My Background: 37 year old male. Was never thought to swim properly. Was brought on the weekly primary school lessons and basically thrown into the pool and told to somehow make it to the other side. No proper instruction and to be fair there must have been over 30 kids there in every session so I have no idea how anyone was supposed to learn anything. Never really swam with any intent after that. Moved to Australia 10 years ago. Made a few decent attempts but got frustrated and would stop. I could swim 25 metres and then just die. So basically I was starting the TI course with almost zero ability.
Started the TI course three weeks ago so 3 sessions done out of 4. Heard about the technique years ago but only just bit the bullet and signed up. There are 6 of us in the course. All others are long term swimmers. Long distance ocean swimmers, a triathlete, ex squad swimmers etc. Aussies in general are big swimmers from a young age. So I guess I’m the exception in the class. Its interesting however that the others who have been swimming for years are there to improve there efficiency and are kinda relearning and changing lifelong habits whereas I am pretty much a blank canvas. In terms of the classes itself we are all on a level playing field and I by no means feel like I’m at the back of the class.
My goal for the class is to finally be able to swim efficiently and hopefully build up to long ocean swimming. Speed is not important to me. Long and slow is my preferred choice of activity. I run ultra marathons and this kinda fits the sports I like to compete in.
The course has been a revelation so far. My technique has improved 10 fold (which wouldn’t be difficult considering my base). Each tiny element of swimming is broken down and practiced in very focused drills. Some of the drills seem strange at the time but as the course develops you can see how they all come together. I am now much calmer, focused, leaner and fluid in the water. I think that TI is a very particular method and its teaching method is very well set out and methodical. I think through the years the delivery of the course has been refined perfectly. I did one swimming class years ago where there was no real structure and was useless. I think been trained as a qualified instructor does an awful lot for it. I have one more class next week where we focus a lot on the breathing technique which is the final piece of the puzzle for me. I still have a lot of practice to do until it all comes together. So I guess that my story is unique in that I couldn’t really swim anyway and that any sort of decent training would have seen an improvement. The others in the course who can already swim seem to be loving it though. Each week we discuss our training with each other and we also have a WhatsApp group where the student and instructor can share things during the week which is really helpful and motivates you to practice. The reaction of the other students has been very positive. One of them commented this week that its like swimming downhill.
Other things about the course I like:
WhatsApp group with students and instructor. Instructor will often share videos etc mid week
Weekly videos of you been taken during the lesson and then a personal coached breakdown sent to you during the week. Super helpful.
So to summarise…..I love it. Its helped me greatly and it seems to be helping the others doing it as well. Happy to answer any questions.

Gun_Slinger

Thanks a million for the post machomac.

I am exactly like you, I grew up by the sea and was never taught how to swim "properly" and when I started doing lengths in the pool my technique just grew (badly) by itself. I knew something had to be done as I was doing loads of lengths and could not get any faster no matter how many I did.

I went to the workshop anyway and it was a very good day but got complete information overload. We covered every aspect of the technique and it was impossible to make any practical differences to my technique on the day. I have been in the pool a few times since and even though I could be practicing (and doing ok in my head) the TI technique, I would soon fall into the old habits when I get tired breathing etc.

I have ordered a front snorkel so I can practice without losing everything when turning for a breath but I know it will be a long slog before any concrete results are achieved. I am sticking with it though cause when I was watching the instructors swim I was completely mesmerised with how effortless they made it all look.

Best of luck with the rest of the course...