Grizdog,

Is that a typo? When you say you're trying to "swift" back and forth, do you mean "swim" or "shift" or "switch" back and forth? Please clarify.

If you're having trouble with the physical effort of the drills, or having trouble breathing, you need to go back to the very first drills and do them over and over, one lap at a time until they become comfortable. Early on the drills are just trying to get you to relax in the water and get a sense of you own balance.

Rolling onto your side, or almost all the way over onto your back, and finding your "sweet-spot" so that you can breath at will should solve your breathing problems. All of the drills have you breathing whenever you need to, and for as long as you like, by rolling to your "sweet-spot". Only in the final stage do you incorporate true swimming-breathing into your stroke.

Also, only swim one lap at a time, then stop and think through the muscle movements you need to perform before launching into the next lap. That should also give you enough time to catch your breath.

My best advice is to follow the DVD exactly as it instructs. Take it as slow as you need to in order to get it right. Do no "full-stroke" swimming at all, just the drills, as you will only reinforce the poor form you wanted to use TI to improve. As you progress through the drills you are creating new "muscle memory" resulting in a new more efficient, more economical, more effortless and more "fish-like" stroke.

I know TI works because it worked for me, and I already had a better stroke technique than most of those in my Masters swim group. Now it's even better and everybody has noticed that I'm much faster.

If you or anyone else is having trouble applying the Total Immersion methods, post your questions here and I will be happy to try and help you get it right.

Doug

When you say "swifting" back and forth, do you mean, "switching" back and forth?

When I ordered the Total Immersion DVD (I got the book too by the way), it arrived just hours before my Masters swimming practice. I had a chance to watch it all the way through before I left and I immediately saw one major improvement I wanted to add on to my stroke that night. It was the arm stroke timing where the arm gliding out in front of you starts pulling back only once the trailing hand enters the water on its way to stretching out in front of you. (As opposed to a more wind-mill type stroke where each arm is opposite of the other in the stroke cycle.) This is one of the main techniques of the TI method of swimming. I had immediate improvement in my speed that night, and noticed a slight improvement in energy conservation. I was so excited with those immediate payoffs that I decided to assume Terry Laughlin must be on to something so I must follow his program exactly has he teaches it. So that means no full stroke swimming at all until the drills revamp your entire stroke form.

For about 4 weeks I did nothing but the progression of drills from Drill #1: Balance on your back, right on through Drill #13: Overswitches. I was in the pool usually 3 and sometimes 4 days per week for about 60 to 70 minutes, doing one lap at a time. On one hand I was getting very concerned that I was loosing my base of swimming endurance by not grinding out 60 to 70 minutes of continuous lap swimming. On the other hand I had made a commitment to get my stroke technique straightened out over the holidays and I was going to stick to it even if it meant loosing some degree of fitness. Although I started "testing" my new form after a couple weeks by finishing up my drills with about 800 yards of full stroke swimming, I really only started adding the full-stroke swimming to the drills in weeks 5 and 6, and then only about 20 to 30 minutes of my 70 minutes maximum available time. When my Masters swim program started up again in January, I was swimming faster and easier than when the previous session had ended in mid-November. I had lost some conditioning, but it was well compensated for by an overall improvement in my stroke efficiency and its reduced water resistance.

The point here is that it is very tempting to try to add a few tricks to your stoke and be happy that you have gotten a little better, but you must resist that short cut and go for the full treatment and realize the full benefit.

So no more swimming for you Grizdog, watch the DVD every day before you swim and practice the drills one lap at a time, mastering each before moving onto the next. Each day you swim, start with drill #1 and work through the progression of drills until you run out of time. Then next time you swim start from drill #1 again and work up. Before long you will only be doing one or two laps of the early drills and most of your time will be spent on the later drills.

It works, but only if you immerse yourself totally in the program.

Good luck,
Doug

The book, "Total Immersion: The Revolutionary Way to Swim Better, Faster, and Easier", is far more detailed than the instruction you get on the DVD and the downloaded 20 page booklet that explains the drills. It spends the first seven chapters (about 100 pages) educating you on what constitutes good swimming and how you can swim better by just changing the shape of your "vessel". Then in Chapter 8 it gets into the drills demonstrated by the DVD. There are 16 chapters in some 300 pages. The book and DVD are designed to go together, but if all you get is the DVD, it in itself will make a positive difference in your stroke.

I have not taken the class, but my ability to understand and perform the drills is such that I doubt I would get much more out of the class. If you're still having trouble doing the drills in a few weeks, you may want to consider the class and have a certified instructor assist you in getting it right.

Anyway, I'm sold on the Total Immersion method of swimming and highly recommend the book and the DVD. I'm happy to answer any questions anyone has about how to do things and/or how to figure out what's going wrong if you're having trouble.

Doug

Grizdog,

I also bought and used the TI Freestyle Made Easy DVD along with a couple of the books. Breathing is the last part to getting this method down. Like duggar1 said, no shortcuts. I drilled using the DVD and books for 4 months progressing when I thought I was ready to the next until I finally started to swim correctly. Breathing came last, though (and it is in the DVD and books). I think I've got it down now and usually go 3 strokes and alternate, though I sometimes go more or use the same side. I couldn't do that before and was out of breath after 8 lengths. Now, I don't feel that way. If you're running out of breath, it sounds like you're still practicing struggle. Once you get to the breathing part, there are a few drills in the DVD and books to use. There's also a little bit of discussion on this on the TI website. Good luck!