Total Immersion: How I Learned to Swim Effortlessly in 10 Days and You Can Too
fourhourworkweek.com
fourhourworkweek.com
Summary: after practicing swimming with various techniques for months, he bought a book titled "Total Immersion" and was saved. Not exactly what the title states.
Despite claiming that he's tried to learn to swim for years this is the sole blog post on swimming. But the blog _does_ have ads for "endless pool" swimming machines.
The hand-written notes, difficult to read for a non-swimmer, are a perfect lead-in to get a browser to buy the book. He could have typed in those notes, but that they're hand-written may give them more credence. In browsing the notes questions arise: what is a "Russian", how do I do "sensory drills" and how do they differ from "skill drills"? Guess I'll have to buy a book, a DVD or pay for a special course to find out.
This is good blog spam for Total Immersion, which has been around for years. Maybe it will sell some books for them. I wonder how much they paid for it.
As Astro Zombie stated on Metafilter: "I learned that simply avoiding Tim Ferriss saves you a lot of time."
http://www.metafilter.com/78084/More-than-4-hours-spent-hati...
So I'm a self-learner, as in programming.
I knew could get better by hiring an instructor or taking a class but I've decided I like to hack myself. Especially, I wanted to experiment with self-analysis and trying to engage into self-correcting style of swimming, optimizing problems out of my way as I become aware of them. For the setting, I wanted to learn about the art of breast stroke. I wanted to learn to swim breast stroke well.
I first measured my progress by swimming until I felt exhausted (with occasional small breaks at the ends). When I started, I could do a mere 500m doing breast stroke and all my muscles were dead at that point. Then, my muscles got much better and I could swim slightly more but not much. Eventually, through careful thinking, trial-and-error, and finding a way I could move in a relaxed manner, I apparently learned something and within months I could swim 2000 meters of breast stroke in about one hour. There were still faster swimmers in the pool but I had overdone myself by a few times, and that was good enough.
In the second phase, I began to measure my progress by counting how many strokes I would do per 25 (or 50) meters, i.e. one stretch of a pool. I started at about 15 and again, by experimenting, finding the easiest movement, and dozens of hours of trial-and-error I got that down to about 8-9, given I was really really warm and not exhausted enough physically. So, I knew that again, I could do something more right, even if at the slight expense of excess muscle wear.
Now I'm in my third phase which is measuring my effortlessness. I try to swim without feeling the exertion of force at all. If I notice a slip (like a kick that doesn't propel me forward enough) or if I notice that I have to continuously [over]use certain muscles (which then start running out of juice), I try to self-correct myself into not doing that, into not having to use muscle power per se. I can surely walk 12 hours a day if I have to, why couldn't I theoretically swim 12 hours a day? The results so far are that I can occasionally "fly on the water"; that is, engage into some kind of a suitable circular moment that allows me to flow forward as if riding on a sine wave perfectly aligned to my movements, giving me a practically endless slope downwards. I can't describe it but it feels great!
The next phase is to try to get more speed while maintaining the effortlessness that I will hopefully achieve. I will need more muscle power but only slightly: my idea is that by using the slight advance in muscle power and by developing the right timing and alignment, I could apply them both together and gain more than I put in.
I don't know about the fifth phase, or that if one exists. Will see about that.
That's the 'point of enlightenment' I mentioned below. Very cool that you figured it out on your own. Gratz!
Your 2nd phase measurement of how many strokes you do per 25m is a good one. Once you've learned how to glide and keep your momentum between strokes, you can really stretch the distance you move per stroke.
Figuring it out on my own was deliberate as I like to decipher how things work, including myself. I don't intend to become a successful competitive swimmer so I could easily afford the time I spent on that. And all that time has been fun as hell!
Of course, like I said, I'm only in the middle of the more recent phase, thus I only get into the "flying mode" occasionally; it will take more practice to be able to stay in it. I'm certain that it will come in time.
One thing I've noticed is that glancing sideways at the passing track markers keeps me better in the rhythm (in breast stroke): I can see exactly when my momentum stalls or would stall so I can adjust my timing accordingly. It's becomes much harder if I keep my head straight ahead, due to the lack of immediate visual feedback.
Breaststroke on the other hand requires constant bunching up and exploding into a glide, but it's alot easier to lose your momentum between glides when you have to bunch up again.
Cool trick with watching the side lane markers to time your stroke to your momentum. Hacking swimming ftw. Once you've got it down, you might be able write a post with all your hacks and get it posted on Lifehacker.
Swimming like a fish is like a sort of meditation. And like any meditation it requires concentrated practice. Timothy Ferris is somewhere between the elite athletes who come to New Paltz, NY to perfect their technique and average recreational swimmers.
The difference between an elite, National-level swimmer and normal swimmers is that they are up to three times more efficient. Instead of 97% of your energy going into fighting water resistance, elite swimmers can put 9% into propulsion. The reason why we feel like we've run the 100 yard dash when you are a beginning swimmer is that you've fought a wall of water 25m long.
Good luck. I highly recommend TI. Swimming is one of the best exercises for counteracting the strain of bad posture+typing.
Still, although far from an expert (yet), I'd definitely recommend the TI techniques to learn how to swim efficiently and well.
And the comments had some value (The Total Immersion creator and a US Swim Team Coach)
For anyone out there who wants to start exercising but hasn't started, give swimming a try. One tip that changed my mind completely about swimming: wear goggles. I'd never worn them before, but it really made swimming much funner for me.
Prior to that, you struggle to push yourself through the water, fighting with every stroke and kick. After, you're just sliding through the water, letting the water do almost all the work, and you hardly even have to kick anymore (more to stabilize your body and provide torque to your stroke than to propel).
The key is to understand that the longer a vessel in the water is relative to its width, the faster it can go in a straight line with the same propulsive input. This works with people too. So when you swim you want to make yourself as long as possible for as long as possible.
You do this by keeping one arm extended straight in front of you, perfectly inline with the side of your body, until you bring the next arm forward to replace. Pull with the first, keep the second extended until you can bring the first back up to replace it again, repeat.
Also, rotate your body into the water. Submerge the shoulder and side of your body of whichever arm is extended. Rotate back each time you switch arms. This keeps the longest part of your body constantly in the water.
It feels weird and unnatural, until you start feeling yourself gliding (by 'glide', I mean keeping your momentum between strokes), and that's the point of enlightenment.
Of course, you have to do other things as well, like keep your entire body in as straight a line as possible. Many fail at this by keeping their head and shoulders too high, which pushes their waist and abdomen down into the water, creating too much hydrodynamic drag to glide.
Total Immersion fixes this with their 'Pressing the T' idea. Eg, your shoulders form the horizintal bar of the T and your spine forms the vertical bar. Your center of buoyancy is somewhere in the middle of verticle bar, perhaps a little toward the top. If you force yourself to press the horizontal part down into the water, it rotates your lower part upwards (like a fulcrum around your center of buoyancy).
That keeps your upper and lower body more equally submerged, reducing your hydrodynamic drag and better enabling you to glide.
If you have trouble mastering this on your own, then a coach would be good. Other alternatives are to join the local US Masters Swim Team (where I first heard of Total Immersion), or a local, well-organized triathlon team. Alot of Tri teams will have swimming workshops where they video your stroke, have a pro swimmer/coach critique and fix it, then make you practice it.
Swimming is generally the most difficult part of tri's for most people to learn, so the teams that are halfway serious devote alot of attention to improving their members' swimming.
Good luck! It's very rewarding once you get it.
I think learning in a swallow pool with my girlfriend would be the best bet for me.
I'm not sure this was your type of comfort problem, but I hope it helps.
Back to swimming:
one never overcomes the sensations, one merely learn that it will happen, that it's unpleasant, and that, when it occurs, to control one's response.
Here's what you want to learn to do when you get a snootful of H20:
1. stop inhaling immediately: close the throat and back of the nose,
2. exhale sharply through the nose, no matter how little breath your lungs are holding. Use your belly muscles to force the cough,
3. get to the surface and _slowly_ breathe in a full breath,
4. then sharply exhale through mouth and nose to clear the airways.
Repeat as required. You can practice this on dry land.
I guess what makes this really difficult is that one must learn to suppress the feeling that "I'm gonna die!".
Water entering the ear can cause temporary disequilibrium. But once the water in the ear heats to body temperature that disappears. Of course if you have a hole in the eardrum you should see a doctor before considering swimming.
To clean the ears after swimming and to prevent ear infection use a few drops of either
1. a half-and-half mixture of alcohol and vinegar or 2. wine.
Put a few drops into each ear, then turn your head on the side to drain completely. The alcohol reduces the surface tension of the H20 and reduces risk of infection; the vinegar helps prevent fungal infections.
Incidentally, as a kid I was a lifeguard and even taught some swim lessons. I developed a fear of water after nearly drowning saving someone in the ocean and took up triathlons to get over it.
In general I think people try to swim too fast and get out of breath. They don't "feel" the water to sense when they are gliding or impeding the motion. I' especially impressed the author mentioned reaching down further than you expect because that really helps you get your feet up and reduce your "frontal area".
friend got me the total immersion dvd, there's a series of exercises that help you focus on balanced weight distribution in the water, full body rotation for more efficient swimming motion and easier breathing, etc. the exercises slowly work you into a easy freestyle. i went from basically unable to swim 4 laps to .75km swim in open water in about 6 weeks.
not really anything special, its just that a lot of people haven't invested the time into good technique. just like any other skill, follow the pro tips, dedicate some time and you'll get better.