A question for recreational swimmers: Total Immersion?

[Alinestra Covelia]

So I'm back in the pool again and a friend recommended the Total Immersion swimming program. A link: http://www.totalimmersion.net/

I looked through the website and the wiki page but I still don't know how reputable it is. Has anybody here tried it? Is it fact or fad?

Edit: Dunno if this should go in the Sports subforum. If the mods think it should, please move it there. Thanks!

[SlowwHand]

I'd say bull****.

[onodera]

I have to agree with Sloww.

[Wiglaf]

Your inability to figure out something as basic as swimming on your own is an even bigger indictment of your intelligence than your posts here.

[SlowwHand]

She swims. The question, as I understood it, was if there is a method or way of training to swimming that doesn't exhaust the swimmer.
Is that essentially correct, Ali?

[Alinestra Covelia]

More or less, yep. I'm not much of a swimmer, but I've gotten to the point where I can do maybe 10 or 12 lengths consecutively without having to break to catch my breath. I turn my head to take breaths at every third stroke (so I'm turning between both sides, not just to one side).

I'm trying to perfect the roll-kick at the end of every length. This makes me a lot faster, but the maneuver itself is tiring and it's an extra long phase without a breath. I tried to go as long as I could without a break, roll-kicking at the end of each length. I lasted about 4 or 5 lengths.

My roommate started swimming for exercise at about the same time as I did, and he swims slower but takes far fewer breaks than I do. This is almost the exact opposite of what I would have expected. I'd have expected his male muscle build to allow him to swim considerably faster, and my female endurance (already built up through biking) to keep me going for longer.

I guess one confounding factor could be that I'm doing anaerobic exercise, which is quite different than what I'm used to.

[SlowwHand]

I think conditioning is the only true way. This video even speaks of not having the rest that a turn kick provides. No matter the conditioning, people are people. A person won't exercise without ever tiring, which their video seems to suggest. I don't think one can ignore icy water either, which their video also seems to suggest.

[SlowwHand]

dp