Six Week Beginner Freestyle Stroke Efficiency Program (E-book)

Introduction Six Week Beginner Freestyle Stroke Efficiency Program

A Different Kind of Swimming Practice Swimming is a struggle. Perhaps you’re in reasonable shape, and can run or bike for miles, but swimming, even just 50 yards, leaves you winded and uncomfortable. Why is that? Swimming 50 yards shouldn't be  that difficult, even if you’re in terrible shape! I can tell without ever seeing you swim, that you don't need to swim harder, you need to swim better. You could buy a training plan that tells you to kick, pull, and swim, and you might eventually become a better swimmer. But you don‘t really need someone to simply tell you to kick, pull, and swim. You need to understand how to swim and then put that to practice. With Total Immersion™, you will understand  swimming better than the vast majority of swimmers. This plan starts with the simplest drill, helping you gain comfort and control in the water, and immediately lets you see how it transforms your swimming. Each week you will refine skills and learn new skills. As the plan progresses, you will add more and more wholestroke swimming to your practice, eventually swimming over 1000  yards in a single practice. Granted, some people learn faster than others. You may find that it‘s helpful to repeat some of the practices. Or perhaps you can‘t fit 3 pool sessions into one week. Never fear. This plan is about neuro-muscular development, not aerobic development. Aerobic development happens while you develop your technique. You can get 2

Six Week Beginner Freestyle Stroke Efficiency Program

this plan done in 9 weeks if you only have two days available in the pool, or if you repeat one workout per week. And if you feel you need to repeat some of the practices, rest assured that you won‘t “miss out” on some important physical adaptation because you‘re not working hard enough. The practices are generally pretty easy. For the triathlete, this allows you to expend more calories training for bike and the run. And for most of us, the race starts on the bike. If you‘ve trained to swim hard, and then do so in the race, it will likely hurt your performance on the bike and run. It has been said that you can‘t win the race on the swim, but you can lose it there! This plan will help you refine your TI drills, but it‘s not designed to teach them to you. At a minimum, you should be familiar with the drills, either from previous instruction, or from watching the TI DVD “Easy Freestyle”. The plan bridges the gap between knowing the drills and implementing them by providing a coherent, well structured plan.

Introduction: A Different Kind of Swimming Practice

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Practice

1 Six Week Beginner Freestyle Stroke Efficiency Program

Ease, Comfort, Balance

This practice will help you establish, or further enhance, your comfort  and balance in the water. There are a lot of words in this practice  description. Become familiar with these concepts, because I‘ll use  “shorthand” in the subsequent practices. I suggest that you print each practice out and bring it to the pool. I put mine in a plastic sheet protector, and mount that on a wet kickboard. Prop that up with a pull buoy on the pool‘s edge. This will be  the only purpose you‘ll have for a kickboard or pull buoy! Periodically (especially in the first few workouts), you will be  asked to “swim a few strokes”. The goal is to feel the same relaxation and comfort that you found in the preceding drill. It is not to see how  far or fast you can swim, or to raise your heart rate. Breathing – Typically, breathing is one of the first things swimmers learn. Unfortunately, without a good foundation of technique, breathing becomes a desperate struggle for air. It becomes a priority  that makes it difficult to establish good stroke habits. For this reason, there will be two options when you need air: 1) Simply stand up! 2) Breathe in SweetSpot by rotating mostly on to your back, keeping your lead arm extended, but near the surface with the palm up. With either option, catch your breath before resuming the drill. You will learn more if you can comfortably spend more time in the drill, and letting your breathing return to normal will allow that. 4

Six Week Beginner Freestyle Stroke Efficiency Program

If you don‘t move forward easily with just a kick, try some fins. Take them off periodically to see if your kick has improved. Don‘t view  this as a workout! Kicking harder will impede your relaxation, which is one of the biggest goals of this practice!  Always be comfortable. Don‘t do anything that puts you in an uncomfortable place. If asked to swim 50 yards and you‘re only comfortable swimming 25, swim 25. Don‘t judge yourself on any of these skills – just know that with deliberate, mindful practice, you will get better! The practice starts with an easy, continuous 50 yards or  meters. Don‘t try to swim fast or hard. Just swim easy and see what  the time is. When asked to swim (versus drilling), swim! Swimming is fluid  and rhythmic, with no pauses. Don‘t drill when asked to swim.

The Practice: 1. Swim an easy 50 (yards or meters, generally two lengths of the pool). Record the following: Number of strokes (Strokes per length or SPL), time in seconds, and Perceived Rate of Exertion (PRE) on a scale from 1 – 10. 2. Superman Glides (SG): 4 lengths of the pool (if your pool has a deep end, stop in the shallow part and return). Relax, hang your head, hang your hands, streamline your legs. See how many pushoffs it takes to complete each length. Notice if you gain stability and go straighter on the last length. Feel the support as you slide forward through the water, doing nothing. 3. Superman Glides with Flutter (SGF): 2 lengths of the pool, maintaining the same ease and relaxation you had in #2 above, while adding a gentle flutter kick. Sense that your upper body is still while you kick gently.

Practice 1: Ease, Comfort, Balance

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4. Swim a few strokes: Push off in SGF, feel the support and relaxation, and then take a few slow and easy strokes, standing up when  you need a breath. Notice if this feels easier than your “usual” swimming. If it doesn‘t, do one more length of SG, one of SGF, focusing on relaxation. Then repeat this step. 5. Skate rehearsal: While standing up, extend one arm over your head, relaxing the hand. Extend the other hand down the inside  of  the thigh, and feel that elbow against the ribs. Memorize this hand and elbow position (the “pocket position”). 6. SGF to Skate: Push off in SGF, extend one hand forward and pull the other hand into the pocket. Extend the lead hand forward by moving the shoulder blade forward and down, so that the opposite shoulder comes up just enough to peek out of the water. This is the skate position. Practice 2 lengths (one with each arm forward) for each of  the following focal points. After each of the 2 lengths, do the “contrast drill” to compare (skate for a short distance with the opposite of the focal point, and then return to the proper position): a. Relax the hand and tip the fingers down. Contrast: tense the fingers and point them up. b. Relax the neck, direct your gaze downward, and let the water support your head. Keep your “laser beam” pointed forward. (The laser beam is an imaginary laser that points out of the top of your head.) Contrast: look forward. Do  your hips go down when you look forward? c. Find and imprint the depth of your target for the lead hand. It should be at least below the shoulder. As you skate, lower  your hand 3 – 6 inches at a time and see if your hips feel lighter and higher. Then start bringing it back up until you feel your hips sinking. Just before they sink is your target. Memorize this spot! (By the way, are you keeping your opposite hand in the pocket position?) d. Keep your lead hand on a wide track. It should be in front 6

Six Week Beginner Freestyle Stroke Efficiency Program

of your shoulder, not in front of your head. This might feel really wide. Contrast: Move your lead hand so that it‘s in front of the opposite shoulder. What does this do to your stability and head position? e. Rotate just enough to bring your shoulder (the one opposite  your lead hand) to the air. Contrast: move to a “stacked shoulders” position. Do your hips sink? Is your stability compromised? f. Having memorized the width and depth of your target in c and d, visualize those targets as a bull’s eye on a track. Extend your wrist through that bull’s eye. 7. Swim a few strokes: Push off in SGF, and transition to skate, feeling supported and relaxed, pushing your wrist through the target as in f. Take a second to imprint that position, and then take a few easy strokes, standing up when you need a breath. Your goal here is to replicate your skate position with each stroke, feeling relaxed and balanced. 8. Swim 4 lengths, one at a time. Rest enough after each length to ensure that your focus will be as good on the next length as it was on the last one. Breathe in sweetspot, or by standing up. Catch your breath enough to allow for several uninterrupted strokes. On odd lengths (1 and 3) focus only on hitting your targets with your left hand. On even lengths, focus on the right hand. 9. After sufficient rest, repeat step one above, recording  your SPL, time, and PRE.

Practice 1: Ease, Comfort, Balance

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