Total Immersion: The Revolutionary Way To Swim Better, Faster, and Easier

This is a wonderful book that teaches you the most efficient swim stroke possible. I had heard of some of the Total Immersion techniques but this book lays all of them out with step by step drills and techniques. You can teach yourself the techniques easily without the expensive weekend class. The stroke is based on hydrodynamics. A boat's hull speed is determined by the hull length at the water line. The longer the waterline the faster the hull. This technique teaches you to get longer and leaner by stretching one arm out front until the other one comes to replace it. It teaches you to balance on your bouy (chest) which levels your body, brings the hips up and almost eliminates the need to kick. It also teaches you to swim and glide on your side, not flat, so water resistance is minimized. The stroke gets it power from the powerful torso/hip rotation when switching from side to side thus saving your arm and shoulder muscles. This stroke has it all and the very finest swimmers use it. It has opened up a totally new world for me and my swimming. Easier, more efficient, more powerful and more relaxing. You have got to try this out!

I’m just starting my swimming adventure, and Total Immersion has already changed how I think about being in the water. The detailed focus on streamlining and efficiency really clicked for me, it makes so much sense, especially since water is a thousand times denser than air! Instead of just muscling through, I now see how small changes in body position and technique can make swimming feel easier and more enjoyable. I’m excited to keep practicing with this smarter approach.

"Total Immersion: The Revolutionary Way to Swim Better, Faster, and Easier" is an excellent guide to freestyle swimming. Terry Laughlin is obviously a very experienced swimmer and coach, and is generally good at explaining things. I was a total nonswimmer until last year, and now would say I am a beginning swimmer. I have had excellent instruction that uses similar techniques to those found here, though some of the TI-like methodology is used for somewhat more advanced students at my school. The point is that I found this book helpful even as a neophyte in the water, though I think the people who will profit most from it will be people who can already swim adequately but want to improve, although Laughlin stresses that anyone from beginners through competitive athletes can benefit. I like that the book clearly explains the objectives, e.g. reducing drag, "swimming tall," and the importance of balancing in the water and swimming on your side (among many others.) As a novice the thing that has helped me most is the concept of keeping one hand in the front quadrant at all times; that along with the mantra of "enter, extend, pause, pull" really opened my eyes to drastically more efficient arm movement. As for dissatisfaction with the text, I would say that the introduction to the Total Immersion (TI) program is far longer than it needs to be, and many chapters have far more verbose explanations than are necessary or desirable (I particularly found much of chapter five trying and somewhat off-putting.) Every time I found something vaguely annoying, though, Laughlin redeemed himself with an insight that seemed tailor made for me. We're all different, but I was especially grateful for the discussion of inflexible ankles in adult-onset swimmers (p. 117) and "Special Help for 'Sinkers'" (p. 113,) my two biggest challenges in the pool. In short, while the text is sometimes excessively lengthy, if you can concentrate on the truly important passages the book can be exceptionally helpful. What kept this book from being a true five star effort is the lack of photographs. Swimming is a very challenging thing to write about instructionally. Merely describing body positions and movements three dimensionally is taxing at best and impossible at worst, and while he tries, describing sensations is extremely subjective and idiosyncratic. This is why photographs taken in series emphasizing key points are vital, and this book has none. It has a very few rudimentary line drawings of a person in the water, but no sequential analysis of any significance (though there are a couple of illustrations featuring different parts of a stroke.) This is wholly insufficient in a book on any anatomically complex athletic endeavor. I, fortunately, purchased the TI DVD "Freestyle Made Easy," and watched it prior to reading this book. I think that as a beginning swimmer if I had read the book without first watching the DVD I would have gotten very little out of it, and would have probably given the book a lower rating. As it is I see the book as an indispensable companion for the DVD, and really think they should be sold as a set, the alternative being to profusely illustrate a new edition of the book with numerous photographs. The DVD is relatively expensive, and if you have some swimming experience the book will have more value on its own than it does for beginners like me, but in all cases the book and DVD are mutually reinforcing, and are of much greater help when used together. If you have to choose between the book and the DVD for budgetary reasons, there's no doubt in my mind that the DVD is the way to go. Despite my critiques, I do like "Total Immersion: The Revolutionary Way to Swim Better, Faster, and Easier," and found it quite helpful in my progress as a swimmer. While I suspect it's best for intermediate swimmers, it answers many questions about swimming and reveals numerous beneficial techniques for swimmers of all levels. If you want to be a better freestyle swimmer, this book can help you.

Purchased this book many months ago to fulfill a decades old desire to really learn how to swim. Though I could somehow once in a while barely manage to get to the end of a swim lane, it was always an exhausting experience compounded by a horrible breathing technique. After getting this book, I initially took some basic swim lessons to overcome internal fears of being in the water. I then worked thru the lessons in the middle of the book and kept going back to the pool to improve my skills after rereading the focus points of a lesson. I can now swim with much greater ease, fluency, and in sync with my breathing without losing control in the water. I did use flippers so I didn't have to initially expend effort on also trying to figure out the leg movements. The book is somewhat wordy (beginning and end), but repeatedly focus on the meat of the material (lessons in the center of the book), progressing to the next lesson only when you have reasonably absorbed the information and successfully practiced it in the pool, and you should be able to succeed in your quest to become a proficient swimmer. Also, make use of instructional videos on internet if you don't understand a lesson. I am thrilled that the instructions in this book allow me to finally enjoy being in a swimming pool. Thanks Terry Laughlin!

A nice thing our school does is include an activity fee with our tuition. I'm not speaking in a facetious manner, I actually mean it. For $55 per semester, we get a membership at a gym located a couple blocks from the school. Normal membership costs more than $55 per month so it's a bargain. It is also one of the nicest fitness center I've seen. Last semester, Kevan (my carpool buddy) and I began going in early to use the gym. They have a wading pool with six lanes and a full length swim pool with eight lanes. After spending a few mornings running on one of the dozens of machines, my knees reminded me how much they detest it so I began spending more time in the pool. I can swim but it's anything but graceful. In fact, it's much like my skiing. I'm wild enough to jump off any double black diamond slope, <!--more-->and I'll ski it but I do not look pretty in the process. In fact, some people derive a fair bit of entertainment from it. My swimming is similar. I can thrash my way across the pool very quickly, but because my stroke is so inefficient, I cannot sustain it for long. One morning last October I'm thrashing across the pool, pausing at each end to catch my breath and this little lady in her mid-fifties slips into the lane next to me and begins swimming laps. For an entire hour she swam up and down her lane in graceful fluid motion before sliding out of the pool. That morning Mr. Obvious smacked me along side the head. I really did not know how to swim and it was time to learn. When I got home I did some research on swimming to find the best swimming manual available. What I found was Total Immersion. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=mattsimerson-20%26link_code=xm2%26camp=2025%26creative=165953%26path=http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html%253fASIN=0743253434%2526tag=mattsimerson-20%2526lcode=xm2%2526cID=2025%2526ccmID=165953%2526location=/o/ASIN/0743253434%25253FSubscriptionId=0EMV44A9A5YT1RVDGZ82" title="View product details at Amazon"></a> On October 11, 2005 I purchased the book. It arrived a week later and I read the first dozen chapters and then started the drills. From that moment since, I had swum nothing but TI drills. One hour, twice a week since October. The Total Immersion drills have been teaching me balance and form. The TI instruction breaks down the process into three basic swim positions in which you must achieve balance; face down, right side, and left side. You do drills swimming in each position until you have achieved balance in all three positions. You also do drills that help you maintain your balance as you shift from one position to the next. I have done these drills so many times now that they are almost second nature. In addition to balance, other drills teach how to coordinate the appropriate muscle groups together to get the maximum amount of distance from each stroke. I practiced each drill until I could achieve it consistently and then moved on to the next. After five months, I've just made it to the tenth drill. The tenth drill is where all the previous drills start coming together and I feel like I am actually swimming. When I first began learning to swim the Total Immersion way, I counted the number of strokes it took me to swim the length of the pool as a reference point. The following example is four strokes: left, right, left, right. Basically every time an arm strokes from the extended position it is counted. My thrashing down the lane technique required 26 strokes to get from one end of the pool to the other. On Thursday of last week, I was practicing Drill #10 and found myself at the other end of the pool in what seemed like only a few strokes. So I counted to see just how many strokes it was requiring. The first lap required only 12 strokes. I couldn't believe it so I did another lap that also required 12 strokes. And then another. I had reduced the number of strokes required to swim the pool from 26 to just 12. Because my technique is so much more efficient now, I have achieved another milestone that I have not been able to do since I was in grade school. I can swim the length of the pool without taking a breath. I have two more goals to achieve. I used to swim the length of the pool and back. I want that ability back and I need to get my speed back up to my old thrashing speed. Both are coming, and it won't be long. There is a bunch of folks training for a triathlon in the pool with me each morning. I watch the drills they are being taught with. Yuck. They do give the athletes a good workout but they sure don't teach a person how to become a better swimmer. If you know how to swim, Total Immersion will make you a better swimmer. If you don't know how, it will teach you. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

I am a 44 year old teacher who used to work as a beach lifeguard in the summer months. Ironically swimming was my biggest challenge. The running and rowing were never really a problem for me. After a 7 year hiatus from summer employment, my wife and I decided the extra income may be beneficial at this time. I didn't want to return to the beach without a decent showing in my swimming requalification time so I browsed the internet for a good book on swimming. Before I bought Total Immersion I bought another book-it didn't give me any of the answers I was looking for. Total Immersion was the book I was looking for, because it deals with the technique behind swimming better. I always knew that technique was the key in swimming but I did not know what technique. This book answered my questions. I advise anyone getting this book to also buy the DVD "Freestyle Made Easy". This DVD shows you the drills discussed in the book; otherwise good luck trying to figure out exactly what to do just by reading about it.

I had to perform some deep soul searching when extremely rotund athletes were blowing by me in the lap lane of my gym's pool. I was a life guard and I was trained in the old methods. So I was puzzled, how are they doing that? When I looked at the way these out of shape individuals left me in their wake I knew something had to change. These swimmers looked so graceful swimming and almost glided. I talked to a friend who was a swimming coach and consulted the amazon web site for advice. This led me to this terrific book! This book revolutionized my technique + balance and streamlined my body position in the water. By simply working on my balance in the water by forcing my head and shoulders into the pool as Terry says to "Press the buoy down." My stroke count in a 25 yard pool was cut down by a 1/3! I actually have changed my attitude from swimming being a chore to it being a joy! To supplement this book, I have ordered the FME DVD from Terry's web site. This book is a must read for those who want to improve and gain confidence in their swimming!!

I was all pumped up after seeing the good reviews of this book but alas it is a disappointment. I dislike the way the author writes as if his technique is revolutionary - it is not, it is just the right technique. He writes as if swim coaches have been teaching wrong in the past whereas they haven't been. The first 7 chapters or so are all mostly just words; there is useful stuff but most of the matter is like - oh this technique is so revolutionary, people who take our classes cut down their stroke count from 25 to 18 in just a week. I find things like this end up being very demoralizing besides being misleading of course. You read such stuff and you think wow I'll be swimming like a pro in no time and when it doesn't happen you keep wondering why. I was surprised when I found the author gave no special mention of things like you should be able to breathe on both sides which from symmetry is important if you want to have proper technique. Also the illusrations of the drills could be much better - to give an example I browsed following books: Championship swimming, a book by Steve Tarpinian. I would say the illustrations of the drills were much better in them. I could go on but I think this is enough. I am not saying the book is bad but this it is not revolutionary and it won't do magic.

In diesem Buch geht es darum, Ihre Schwimmtechnik zu verbessern, und zwar ausschließlich Ihre Freistil (=Kraul) technik. Bei der Bewertung des Buches schwanke ich zwischen 2 Sternen, wenn ich die literarische Qualität bewerten sollte und 5 Sternen, wenn es um den Nutzen des Buches geht. Fangen wir mit dem Leseerlebnis an (dann bleibt das Beste für den Schluß). Ich kann Ihnen nur sagen, daß Sie sich darauf vorbereiten müssen, gelangweilt zu werden. Dieses Buch ist viel zu lang! Wenn man den Inhalt kondensieren würde auf das Wichtige und Interessante, dann käme vielleicht eine 20-30 Seitige Broschüre zusammen. Die restlichen 290 Seiten sind vollkommen überflüssig. Voller Wiederholungen und sinnlosem Geschwätz, um die Seiten zu füllen und Sie zu motivieren. Substanz findet man im ersten Kapitel (Einleitung), im Dritten (hier stehen alle wesentlichen Ideen erklärt - nach der Lektüre hat mans verstanden) und im Achten (Übungen mit Illustrationen). Den Rest kann man getrost überblättern. Aber der Inhalt! Hier geht es um nicht weniger als darum, Schwimmtechnik und Strömungsphysik zu verheiraten. Mit einem phänomenalen Ergebnis. Wer wie ich seit 30 Jahren schwimmt, hat viel probiert, um die Technik zu optimieren und die Geschwindigkeit zu verbessern. Dieses Buch hilft Ihnen dabei, die entscheidenden Größen zu erkennen, deren Optimierung Sie schneller machen werden: der Wasserwiederstand des Körpers, die Länge des Armzuges und die Ökonomie des Krafteinsatzes. Zunächst erklärt Laughlin, wie Sie ohne Krafteinsatz Ihre Wasserlage optimieren. Dann lernen Sie, was Sie tun müssen, um den Wasserwiederstand beim Schwimmen so gering wie möglich zu halten. Schließlich erfahren Sie, wie Sie statt der kleinen Schultermuskeln die starken Rücken- und Rumpfmuskeln benutzen, um Vortrieb zu erzeugen. Der Autor ist professioneller Schwimmcoach und zwar einer, der seinen Kopf zum Denken benutzt (von meinen Trainern hat das leider keiner gemacht). Laughlin hat seine exponierte Stellung am Rande des Beckens genutzt, um zu verstehen, was die schnellen Schwimmer von den weniger schnellen unterscheidet. Das Ergebnis ist nicht die Anzahl der pro Woche geschwommenen Kilometer, sondern die Technik, insbesondere die Wasserlage. Aus diesen Beobachtungen hat er seine Instruktionen entwickelt. Und ich kann Ihnen sagen: dieses Buch wird Ihnen ganz neue Dimensionen im Schwimmen eröffnen. Nicht mehr Bahnenzählen sondern Optimierung der Technik ist das Ziel. Intelligentes Schwimmen statt stupide Wiederholungen bis es langweilig wird. Ich war immer ein guter Schwimmer und bin es noch. Ich denke, Anfänger sind mit der hier beschriebenen Technik vermutlich ein bißchen überfordert. Aber wenn Sie einigermaßen Kraulschwimmen können und sich fragen, warum der muskelbepackte Typ in der schwarzen Badehose Sie alle 200 Meter scheinbar mühelos überrundet, dann finden Sie hier das, was Sie brauchen, um diese Situation fundamental zu ändern. Ich persönlich bin durch die Anwendung der hier beschriebenen Techniken nach ca. 2 Monaten Training vielleicht etwas schneller geworden. Aber viel Wesenlicher ist: schwimmen macht plötzlich wieder viel mehr Spaß. Ich erlebe nicht mehr nach 200 Metern, daß meine Schultermuskulatur übersäuert und die restlichen 2 Kilometer zur Qual werden. Vielmehr setze ich vorher nie benutzte Muskulatur ein und schwimme 2 Kilometer viel lockerer als je zuvor. Wie das geht, das lernen Sie auf den wenigen interessanten Seiten dieses Buches. Es ist so offensichtlich, daß man sich fragt, weshalb diese Technik nicht schon lange jedem Schwimmtrainer bekannt ist. Zurück zur anfänglichen Frage: 2 Sterne oder 5? Ich würde sagen, was Sie hier lernen ist sogar ein paar Studen Langeweile wert. Also, lesen Sie einfach nur die empfohlenen 3 Kapitel. Für die gebe ich 5 Sterne. Und das Englisch? Ist nicht wirklich schwer, aber vielleicht haben Sie viele der benutzten Vokablen trotzdem noch nie gehört weil das Thema eben doch sehr speziell ist. Mit Schulenglisch werden Sie vielleicht ein bißchen kämpfen müssen. Aber was ist das im Vergleich zu den Kämpfen, die Sie im Schwimmbecken vielleicht schon seit Jahren hinter sich gebracht haben?

Grazie a questo libro ho modificato la mia tecnica per nuotare a lungo senza fatica (o meglio... con poca fatica). L'autore dice che è stato "illuminato" un giorno vedendo l'allenamento della nazionale Russa. Il libro spiega una serie di esercizi, partendo da zero, su come sviluppare uno stile libero leggermente diverso da quello insegnato dalle scuole nuoto tradizionali. Ho fatto diversi corsi di nuoto e non ho mai trovato qualcuno che sapesse spiegarmi efficacemente come migliorare la mia tecnica. Con questo libro ho avuto notevoli miglioramenti (maggiore velocità e meno fatica). Sono arrivato a fare 1500m (60 vasche da 25m) senza fatica in 30 minuti dopo un annetto che seguivo le indicazioni di questo libro (nuotando al massimo 2 ore a settimana). Cosa impensabile per me. E i miglioramenti continuano ancora. Suppongo che ognuno di noi sviluppi la propria tecnica in modo diverso, siccome non siamo tutti identici, ognuno userà i propri accorgimenti. Io ho trovato che la tecnica spiegata qui si adatti perfettamente a me. Bisogna tenere conto delle seguenti cose: 1- è utile il DVD che mostra come effettuare gli esercizi, in modo da avere una chiara visione da subito, senza scervellarsi sulle parole o i pochi disegni del libro; il dvd è venduto separatamente. 2- all'inizio, ci si deve dimenticare di nuotare, e fare solo gli esercizi spiegati, che possono sembrare strani ai più; 3- il libro è totalmente dedicato allo stile libero (crawl); 4- il libro è in inglese.

Still reading. Helpful reference book. Was suggested by an experienced swimmer. Easy to understand. Diagrams helpful.

i gave it a try after reading tim ferriss' praise for learning how to swim. YES, it is THAT GOOD. just follow the instruction and don't think too much. Do as the book say and you'll notice how much better the swimming goes (especially for a beginner like me). I never thought I would be able to breath while swimming without sipping the whole pool, but with the drills, it became a pleasure. It's really enjoyable.

Rapide et propre