Freestyle Made Easy book.pdf

freestyle: made easy

™

by Terry Laughlin

A Total Immersion Instructional Manual

means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, printing, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without per-

mission in writing from Total Immersion, Inc. For information, contact Total Immersion, Inc., 246 Main Street, Suite 15A, New Paltz, NY 12561.

Revised: December 16, 2003 Total Immersion, Inc.

INTRODUCTION

Congratulations on purchasing Freestyle Made Easy . We are more excited about FME

than any DVD we’ve produced previously because it addresses every question or chal-

lenge raised by our students over the years. While the DVD is self-explanatory, this

user’s guide includes detailed tips for mastering each drill and should prove invaluable

as a continued guide on the path to mastery of the TI process. For the most complete

guide to swimming freestyle for any distance and in any body of water, we strongly

recommend our book Triathlon Swimming Made Easy, available from www.totalimmer-

sion.net or 800-609-7946.

THREE STEPS TO SUCCESS

The most exciting insight of our experiences in teaching thousands of improvement-

minded swimmers has been that virtually anyone can learn to swim beautifully through

intelligent and patient practice. The key to foolproof learning is in mastering three

non-negotiable skills:

Step 1 Increase your comfort and stop wasting energy on fighting the water by learn-

ing balance. When you master balance, you’ll also learn every other swimming skill

much faster.

Step 2 Learn to pierce the water. By slipping through the smallest possible “hole” in

the water, you’ll need far less power, and expend far less effort at any speed.

Step 3 Learn to stroke smoothly. The “Human Swimmer’s” arm-and-leg churning habit

wastes huge amounts of energy on creating turbulence. Learning to propel with flu-

ent, whole-body stroking movements provides effortless power and maximizes econo-

my of movement.

STEP BY STEP MASTERY

Whether teaching our students face to face or via video, we follow a process inspired

by the mindful practice of yoga and tai chi. We begin by teaching a series of balance

positions that are exceedingly simple, yet establish a profound connection with the

water. By patiently mastering the basics, you’ll be prepared to advance through a

whole range of more challenging skills with ease and speed. Next we teach a thought-

fully choreographed sequence (Switch drills) that leads to graceful, fluent swimming.

Success at each step leads seamlessly to the next step. The synergy produced by

mastering these simple moves in a logical progression is so powerful that even after

the first few drills, you should feel yourself flowing through the water with more ease

and less struggle than you ever thought possible.

ABOUT OUR SWIMMING MODELS

After teaching thousands of improvement-minded swimmers, we know that TI works

for anyone, regardless of age, experience, skill or fitness. Beginners find our drills

the fastest way to establish harmony and balance in the water, and to imprint the

slippery positions that will let them move through the water with ease. Advanced

swimmers find them the best way to polish their technique and increase efficiency.

For this video we have chosen swimmers from a range of ages and abilities to show

you how universally our drills can be learned and applied. In fact, five of our nine

demonstrators only began swimming as adults. We hope you gain some insight and

inspiration from each of the swimmers on our tape by observing the individual ways

they express fluency and realize that your own expression of TI Swimming doesn’t

have to meet a rigid ideal.

Tobey DeMott and Jennifer Armstrong are novices who were introduced to Total

Immersion only three months before this video was made. Kathryn Loyer, Mark

Wilson and Ian Murray are all triathletes who began swimming as adults. Kathryn and

Ian are now TI Teaching Professionals. Suzie Baggs is a former collegiate swimmer

who had been introduced to TI drills in her Masters program only a few months

before this video was made. Joe Novak swam for Terry Laughlin at the U. S. Military

Academy, becoming one of the best sprinters in the U.S. He is an officer in the U.S.

Army and a trained TI Coach. Fiona Laughlin was a college swimmer and is now a TI

Teaching Professional. Terry Laughlin has been swimming since 1966 and is still

improving his efficiency and fluency 37 years later.

EFFECTIVE PRACTICE: HOW TO MAKE A FISHLIKE STROKE

PERMANENT

While the old saying tells us that “practice makes perfect,” in truth, practice makes

permanent. Every length you swim contributes to a habit of either fluency or strug-

gle and muscle memory makes your old stroke resistant to change. The fastest way

to become a more efficient swimmer and make that efficiency permanent is by

learning a new way of swimming from the bottom up, through stroke drills, rather

than piecemeal stroke corrections.

WHY DRILLS TEACH BETTER THAN ANYTHING ELSE

Some swimmers, fearing a loss of fitness, are reluctant to spend precious pool time

on stroke drills. But because your endurance and speed are determined far more by

efficiency than fitness, an hour of concentrated skill practice can often produce

more improvement than a month of hard training. Here are the ways in which TI

drills perfect your stroke better than anything else you can do in the pool:

Your muscles need a dose of amnesia. If you’ve been swimming for any length of

time, your inefficiencies have become a deeply ingrained habit. Every lap simply rein-

forces your energy-wasting old style. Because your nervous system doesn’t inter-

pret them as “swimming,” drills give you a “blank slate” on which to engrave change.

This allows for dramatic improvement that is nearly immediate…and will become

permanent through practice.

Small pieces are easier to swallow . Because your stroke is made up of so many finely

coordinated parts, it’s virtually impossible to focus on the whole at once. Stroke drills

simplify the complex whole stroke into a series of mini-skills, each of which can be

quickly mastered and becomes the key to solving the next. These building blocks

assemble easily and gradually into a new, more efficient stroke.

Instead of trial and error, it’s trial and success. Because mini-skills can be mastered

so quickly and easily, you begin practicing graceful, fishlike movement right away. The

more you practice it, the more it becomes your new habit and crowds out the sloppy

old one. And the less time you spend swimming with your old habits, the faster you

learn to swim better. Your string of successes boosts your motivation and self-confi-

dence and you learn faster.

It’s language the body understands . Conventional stroke instruction tries to get to

your muscles through your mind. First you read or hear a description of a skill, then

try to figure out what the movement will feel like, while wondering if you got it right.

Drills bypass all those vague translations. They simplify and accelerate the learning

process by teaching your body how it should feel when you swim well. And because

drills heighten your kinesthetic awareness, they make it easier to fine-tune your form

after you begin practicing whole-stroke again.

HOW TO MASTER THE LEARNING CURVE

How should you use this video? The more you have to learn, the more you should drill.

For novices this can mean up to four times as much drilling as swimming. Every lap of

drilling is positive reinforcement for your swimming. Every lap of swimming the old way

is likely to pull you backward. Though every swimmer is different, drills work for most

with incredible speed. The TI drills will work fastest if you:

Think before you swim. Drills teach you what you’re hoping to learn only if you do them

correctly, never carelessly or in a hurry. Study our images carefully, using slow motion

and stop action. You might initially watch the entire video straight through to under-

stand the whole progression, then, before each practice, review just the drills you

intend to practice. Do every length with clear understanding and purpose.

Practice with feeling. Spend 30 uninterrupted, thoughtful minutes on each new drill to

firmly imprint the new sense into your muscle memory so that you can eventually be

guided more by feel than thought. Then, each time you go to the pool, experiment with

subtle refinements until the skill begins to feel natural and effortless. The more famil-

iar you become with the drills, the more you should shift your attention from the

mechanics to the qualities of economy, ease, flow, and grace. As these qualities

become habit in your drilling, your swimming will be transformed as well.

Shorter is sweeter. Repeats of 25 to 50 yards – with 3 to 5 “yoga breaths” between

each for rest, reflection, and adjustment – and sets of 10 to 15 minutes duration, will

bring the greatest benefit. Each successive length should feel a bit smoother and

more relaxed, a bit more precise and economical. If not, check the video again (or have

a friend watch as you practice), or go back to the previous drill and polish that one

before returning to the drill that’s giving you trouble.

Swim as well as you drill. After you’ve practiced a drill long enough to make it second

nature (for advanced drills this could take weeks), alternate drill and swim lengths –

at first more drilling than swimming, but shifting gradually toward more swimming.

Try to make each swim length feel a bit more like what felt best about the drill. The

main benefit of the drills is that they give you heightened insight into how to make

your swimming feel more efficient. When you can “swim as well as you drill,” you know

the lessons have been learned.

Use the right tools. We’ve found at TI workshops that Slim Fins and the Fistglove®

stroke trainer can be valuable learning aids. During the momentary pauses in Sweet

Spot, which are integral to each drill, you’ll need a moderately propulsive kick to

maintain momentum and stay smooth. If your kick is non-propulsive (usually from

rigid ankles), you could tire quickly and find your drill practice compromised. Fins can

“buy you time” to pay better attention to fine points. Just keep your kick very

relaxed if you do wear fins. (Also see below on how practice with a partner can

overcome a poor kick.) Fistgloves move you to a much higher level of awareness for

what the drill is supposed to teach, and encourage you to focus more on movement

quality. But take time to master the basics of the drill before putting on the gloves;

they’ll work better in reinforcing the lessons, once you already drill well.

Keep practicing! The best aspect of drills is that they’re self-adjusting. We teach

the same drills to unskilled adults as to highly accomplished swimmers. Each group

gets exactly what it needs: The inexperienced swimmers learn basic skills. The more

advanced swimmers acquire subtle polish. So as you improve, you won’t have to

learn new drills; you’ll simply do the same ones with more refinement.

THE TI BUDDY SYSTEM

Recently, we made an exciting discovery in our workshops. By having our students

partner and teach balance to each other, following guidance from our coaches,

everyone learned faster. The Buddy System had the greatest impact on students

who struggled with their kick or tended to sink. But more accomplished swimmers

benefited as well, probably because they were also teaching as they learned. And

following the workshop, quite a few of our alumni told us of exciting successes in

teaching friends and family members to swim better. In Buddy System learning,

swimmers take turns in two roles: The swimmer, who learns the correct position for

that drill with help from the coach. The coach, who positions and supports the

swimmer’s head, and assists with momentum by towing or launching, then releases

and continues observing the swimmer to assist as needed. Over time, we’ve applied

the Buddy System to virtually every stage in the learning process, in every instance

with exciting results. While many swimmers will be able to successfully master all

the steps in solo practice, we do encourage you strongly to collaborate with a

learning partner as illustrated on the video, if you have the opportunity. Having a

partner who understands the TI method as well as you do will be the next best thing

to having your own TI coach.

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika: