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Category: Swimming
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Total Immersion: Learning the Early Vertical Forearm
A few weeks ago, I had another coaching session with the elusive Coach Shinji, who is flying all around the world promoting Total Immersion but I managed to catch him back in the Bay area! This time I asked about Early Vertical Forearm, or EVF. I had thought I was trying to do EVF and…
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Total Immersion: Tempo/SPL Matrix for Goal Setting
I once started focusing on getting my Strokes Per Length (SPL) down as far as possible. I once did 7 strokes many times for 25y. But it was a very, very slow 25y. As I tried to up my speed and stroke rate, I lost the 7 strokes almost immediately. I asked Coach Shinji about…
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Total Immersion: Single and Multiple Focal Points
Total Immersion uses focal points and incessant drilling of focal points to imprint the correct movement habits for better swimming. In the last few months, I focused on these focal points: 1. Upon recovery, my elbow lead needs to come more forward. In my videos I see that sometimes my recovery is messy and my…
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FINIS Swimsense Review (and Comparison with the Swimovate) [UPDATED]
A week ago, I was excited to receive my new FINIS Swimsense watch in the mail. Originally, I was excited about the Swimovate watch, which would record my swim workouts and give me some ability to remember the intervals that I swam and how they performed. However, in using the Swimovate, I was disappointed in…
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Total Immersion: Advancing Beyond Beginner
This all started after my last session with Coach Shinji. I had been working with him since July of 2009 and been spending all my time with a combination of drilling, swimming, and tempo trainer work. But something still bugged me. I would watch videos like this one of Ryan Cochrane at the Commonwealth Games:…
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Total Immersion: The Alcatraz Swim with the Centurions Race Report
This morning I raced the Alcatraz: Swim with the Centurions Race which was an Alcatraz crossing that ends at Aquatic Park in San Francisco. I made it to the beach in 44:30. it was a mediocre time for me, about the same as the other times I’ve done it. If there is one thing I’ve…
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Total Immersion: Swimming Analysis with the GoPro Video Camera
Two weeks ago I received my GoPro Video camera in the mail and was very excited to see if it could help me videotape my swimming at the pool. I bought both the standard lens and wide angle lens as forums on the TI website had noted that both lenses may be useful depending on…
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Total Immersion: Retraining the Nervous System with Drills and Tempo Trainer
These last few weeks I’ve been really focused on retraining my nervous system. Why? Because I was working with Coach Shinji and feeling good about my swimming…until I started doing some detail comparisons of my swimming videos with those of Shinji and on the Easy Freestyle DVD. UGH! I had a major problem with what…
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Grant Hackett and Ian Thrope Swimming Analysis
TI coach Dave Cameron posted this amazing series of photos analyzing the freestyle stroke of Grant Hackett and Ian Thrope. Two things I wanted to point out which were very interesting to me: First, in pictures 5 and 6, it’s unbelievable to see how high their elbows are on the catch. I tried this and…
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Total Immersion: Swim Breakthrough Friday!
Friday I had a breakthrough of tremendous proportions in my swimming. Since my last post, I’ve been focusing on my stroke, specifically my arm recovery, as it has been something that hasn’t felt right. So my typical workout, once I embarked on this focus to fix the problems in my stroke, looks like: 200-300y W/U…
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Total Immersion: Working on Arm Recovery and Stroke
In my last session with Shinji, I worked on my arm recovery. Then, a reader of my blog emailed me for some questions on arm recovery, which prompted me to post on the TI forums, and then prompted this post. In working on my arm recovery, I have been given many visuals through verbalizations to…
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Form Training with the 4 S’s
In the last few months, I’ve been really into Total Immersion and their teaching method. Swimming is one of those activities which require mastery of so many little details that trying to learn swimming all at once is very very difficult. So they do a great job of breaking down technique with drills, and enforcing…
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How I’ve Been Using the Tempo Trainer
Surfing through the Total Immersion forums, I responded to someone wondering how to use the tempo trainer. I thought it would be worthwhile to re-post that here: I have found that the tempo trainer is one of the best ways to introduce measurability and repeatability into swimming. It’s much more detailed than just remembering how…
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Measurability and Repeatability in Training
In recent months, I’ve come to realize how much I love the tempo trainer for swimming. It also sparked the realization that I have finally found a method for to ensure measurability and repeatability for swimming. What’s so important about measurability and repeatability? Repeatability is the ability to come back day after day and train…
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Total Immersion: 7 Strokes for 25 yards!!!
This morning I got up early before my usual swim time and read some blogs while eating a bit before leaving for the pool. I came across this post on the Total Immersion forums, shinji asked how i cut strokes to 7, which caught my eye for two reasons: one, my coach was referenced, and…
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