

Total Immersion: How I Learned to Swim Effortlessly in 10 Days and You Can Too  - paraschopra
http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2008/08/13/total-immersion-how-i-learned-to-swim-effortlessly-in-10-days-and-you-can-too/

======
giardini
Blog Spam

Summary: after practicing swimming with various techniques for months, he
bought a book titled "Total Immersion" and was saved. Not exactly what the
title states.

Despite claiming that he's tried to learn to swim for years this is the sole
blog post on swimming. But the blog _does_ have ads for "endless pool"
swimming machines.

The hand-written notes, difficult to read for a non-swimmer, are a perfect
lead-in to get a browser to buy the book. He could have typed in those notes,
but that they're hand-written may give them more credence. In browsing the
notes questions arise: what is a "Russian", how do I do "sensory drills" and
how do they differ from "skill drills"? Guess I'll have to buy a book, a DVD
or pay for a special course to find out.

This is good blog spam for Total Immersion, which has been around for years.
Maybe it will sell some books for them. I wonder how much they paid for it.

As Astro Zombie stated on Metafilter: "I learned that simply avoiding Tim
Ferriss saves you a lot of time."

[http://www.metafilter.com/78084/More-than-4-hours-spent-
hati...](http://www.metafilter.com/78084/More-than-4-hours-spent-hating-Tim-
Ferriss)

~~~
kiba
I like to think of Tim Ferris as a person with some brilliant insights who
come off as a narcissistic individual and smell like a motivational snake oil
saleman.

------
yason
I've always loved water and I've always been swimming and diving for fun but
I've never been taught to swim for real. Never went to swimming school or had
anyone teach me swimming.

So I'm a self-learner, as in programming.

I knew could get better by hiring an instructor or taking a class but I've
decided I like to hack myself. Especially, I wanted to experiment with self-
analysis and trying to engage into self-correcting style of swimming,
optimizing problems out of my way as I become aware of them. For the setting,
I wanted to learn about the art of breast stroke. I wanted to learn to swim
breast stroke well.

I first measured my progress by swimming until I felt exhausted (with
occasional small breaks at the ends). When I started, I could do a mere 500m
doing breast stroke and all my muscles were dead at that point. Then, my
muscles got much better and I could swim slightly more but not much.
Eventually, through careful thinking, trial-and-error, and finding a way I
could move in a relaxed manner, I apparently learned something and within
months I could swim 2000 meters of breast stroke in about one hour. There were
still faster swimmers in the pool but I had overdone myself by a few times,
and that was good enough.

In the second phase, I began to measure my progress by counting how many
strokes I would do per 25 (or 50) meters, i.e. one stretch of a pool. I
started at about 15 and again, by experimenting, finding the easiest movement,
and dozens of hours of trial-and-error I got that down to about 8-9, given I
was really really warm and not exhausted enough physically. So, I knew that
again, I could do something more right, even if at the slight expense of
excess muscle wear.

Now I'm in my third phase which is measuring my effortlessness. I try to swim
without feeling the exertion of force at all. If I notice a slip (like a kick
that doesn't propel me forward enough) or if I notice that I have to
continuously [over]use certain muscles (which then start running out of
juice), I try to self-correct myself into not doing that, into not having to
use muscle power per se. I can surely walk 12 hours a day if I have to, why
couldn't I theoretically swim 12 hours a day? The results so far are that I
can occasionally "fly on the water"; that is, engage into some kind of a
suitable circular moment that allows me to flow forward as if riding on a sine
wave perfectly aligned to my movements, giving me a practically endless slope
downwards. I can't describe it but it feels great!

The next phase is to try to get more speed while maintaining the
effortlessness that I will hopefully achieve. I will need more muscle power
but only slightly: my idea is that by using the slight advance in muscle power
and by developing the right timing and alignment, I could apply them both
together and gain more than I put in.

I don't know about the fifth phase, or that if one exists. Will see about
that.

~~~
SkyMarshal
_"The results so far are that I can occasionally "fly on the water"; that is,
engage into some kind of a suitable circular moment that allows me to flow
forward as if riding on a sine wave perfectly aligned to my movements, giving
me a practically endless slope downwards. I can't describe it but it feels
great!"_

That's the 'point of enlightenment' I mentioned below. Very cool that you
figured it out on your own. Gratz!

Your 2nd phase measurement of how many strokes you do per 25m is a good one.
Once you've learned how to glide and keep your momentum between strokes, you
can really stretch the distance you move per stroke.

~~~
yason
Hey, thanks for pointing out the enlightenment. I read your post now and I
could totally relate to it. I'm very glad I got the confirmation that I'm onto
something now, so thanks for that ;)

Figuring it out on my own was deliberate as I like to decipher how things
work, including myself. I don't intend to become a successful competitive
swimmer so I could easily afford the time I spent on that. And all that time
has been fun as hell!

Of course, like I said, I'm only in the middle of the more recent phase, thus
I only get into the "flying mode" occasionally; it will take more practice to
be able to stay in it. I'm certain that it will come in time.

One thing I've noticed is that glancing sideways at the passing track markers
keeps me better in the rhythm (in breast stroke): I can see exactly when my
momentum stalls or would stall so I can adjust my timing accordingly. It's
becomes much harder if I keep my head straight ahead, due to the lack of
immediate visual feedback.

~~~
SkyMarshal
Ah breaststroke. It's actually harder to glide in breaststroke than freestyle
because in freestyle you can at least have one arm fully extended ~95% of the
time, keeping you longer in the water (and less draggy) for a longer portion
of the time.

Breaststroke on the other hand requires constant bunching up and exploding
into a glide, but it's alot easier to lose your momentum between glides when
you have to bunch up again.

Cool trick with watching the side lane markers to time your stroke to your
momentum. Hacking swimming ftw. Once you've got it down, you might be able
write a post with all your hacks and get it posted on Lifehacker.

------
wallflower
I did the TI program and went to one of the bootcamps. My stroke count for a
pool length went from 27 to 14 during the bootcamp. If you're skinny, you may
have trouble with some of the buoyancy drills - you may actually have to lean
downwards (not straight horizontal like more normal body-mass folks). The TI
drills are tough - as always if you want to learn quickly - take a workshop.

Swimming like a fish is like a sort of meditation. And like any meditation it
requires concentrated practice. Timothy Ferris is somewhere between the elite
athletes who come to New Paltz, NY to perfect their technique and average
recreational swimmers.

The difference between an elite, National-level swimmer and normal swimmers is
that they are up to three times more efficient. Instead of 97% of your energy
going into fighting water resistance, elite swimmers can put 9% into
propulsion. The reason why we feel like we've run the 100 yard dash when you
are a beginning swimmer is that you've fought a wall of water 25m long.

Good luck. I highly recommend TI. Swimming is one of the best exercises for
counteracting the strain of bad posture+typing.

------
aik
After I read this article several months ago, I went out and tried it out
myself. Prior to trying it out, I could swim about 20m freestyle before
becoming exhausted (yet run 10 miles without an issue). If he in fact learned
TI well in 10 days, that would be an impressive feat. I swam for about 1 hour
in the morning for about a month and am now able to swim several 100m without
too much difficulty. Still, I have a long ways to go to become what I would
consider effortless in the water (and even further to conform to the TI
techniques). Although my technique is 10x more effective and efficient now, my
main issue, though, has always been poor breathing techniques. Learning how to
properly breathe was the most important thing I learned during the time -
which oddly enough I did not learn from TI even.

Still, although far from an expert (yet), I'd definitely recommend the TI
techniques to learn how to swim efficiently and well.

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jeb
It reads like an affiliate advert for total immersion.

~~~
fgf
It is. He makes money off the amazon links, and possibly other ways.

<http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/ftc-disclosure-blog/>

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edanm
I've just taken up swimming myself, and this is exactly what I was looking
for: a good technique which builds up your stroke. I'll definitely be trying
it out.

For anyone out there who wants to start exercising but hasn't started, give
swimming a try. One tip that changed my mind completely about swimming: wear
goggles. I'd never worn them before, but it really made swimming much funner
for me.

~~~
paraschopra
I just started swimming yesterday. Do you recommend getting a coach or can one
learn swimming by himself? How long does it typically to start swimming? I've
just learnt to swim at the moment.

~~~
snewe
If you can spend the money, get a coach that will take a video of your stroke
above and below water. The feedback from watching those videos will be
invaluable.

------
nickpinkston
Some interesting tips, but in my experience (also swimphobic) the technique
wasn't the hurtle - being comfortable underwater was. Maybe his suggestion of
goggles helps, but getting over this hump seems more psychological than
technique. In that case, it's personal will/discipline.

I think learning in a swallow pool with my girlfriend would be the best bet
for me.

~~~
ovi256
You get more comfortable underwater with practice. I did swimming in college,
and the first few times, I could't swim a full length because I always started
coughing, taking water through my nose (very unpleasant), in my ears. Soon
enough, you stop doing that - you just learn reflexively how to avoid it - and
you get used to what you cannot avoid. And you start asking yourself what the
big deal is when the beginners go though the same ordeal.

I'm not sure this was your type of comfort problem, but I hope it helps.

~~~
nickpinkston
You nailed it. I actually had an incident when I was in swim class when I was
very young where I sucked in a lot of water through my nose. It left an deep
impression as I often flashback to this when I smell pool chlorine. I like to
think I'm over it, but I haven't been in a pool since. Soon enough though.

~~~
giardini
You've heard of "water-boarding" perhaps? That's what you experienced, except
with water-boarding you don't get to come to the surface.

Back to swimming:

one never overcomes the sensations, one merely learn that it will happen, that
it's unpleasant, and that, when it occurs, to control one's response.

Here's what you want to learn to do when you get a snootful of H20:

1\. stop inhaling immediately: close the throat and back of the nose,

2\. exhale sharply through the nose, no matter how little breath your lungs
are holding. Use your belly muscles to force the cough,

3\. get to the surface and _slowly_ breathe in a full breath,

4\. then sharply exhale through mouth and nose to clear the airways.

Repeat as required. You can practice this on dry land.

I guess what makes this really difficult is that one must learn to suppress
the feeling that "I'm gonna die!".

------
waivej
His tips are very good. I also like the book "Breakthrough Swimming". It's
really amazing how the techniques change/improve. About 8 years ago I was
taking "triathlon" swim lessons and they were showing things unveiled at the
recent olympics. I went from being a slow swimmer to one of the faster ones.

Incidentally, as a kid I was a lifeguard and even taught some swim lessons. I
developed a fear of water after nearly drowning saving someone in the ocean
and took up triathlons to get over it.

In general I think people try to swim too fast and get out of breath. They
don't "feel" the water to sense when they are gliding or impeding the motion.
I' especially impressed the author mentioned reaching down further than you
expect because that really helps you get your feet up and reduce your "frontal
area".

------
arthurdent
i'll vouch for total immersion. i can't float while laying still in water (my
legs sink). i could barely swim 2 pool lengths.

friend got me the total immersion dvd, there's a series of exercises that help
you focus on balanced weight distribution in the water, full body rotation for
more efficient swimming motion and easier breathing, etc. the exercises slowly
work you into a easy freestyle. i went from basically unable to swim 4 laps to
.75km swim in open water in about 6 weeks.

not really anything special, its just that a lot of people haven't invested
the time into good technique. just like any other skill, follow the pro tips,
dedicate some time and you'll get better.

------
fendale
As someone who regularly swims 100 plus 25 meter lengths in a session, I can
testify that the Total Immersion book and swimming style can make a big
difference. It's all about balance in the water and builds it up over a series
of 'karate kid' drills that break the stroke down into learnable chunks that
all eventually come together.

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c1sc0
One of the things he doesn't mention is that all of these improvements in
technique can be learned more easily by simply swimming long distance in open
water. When there is no turning point and no way to rest you are automatically
forced into longer, more gliding strokes. Also, the colder water forces you to
focus on efficiency. I've been a decent swimmer all my life but when I started
swimming in open water last year I first was intimidated by how much more
challenging it was & then by how quickly your body and technique are forced to
adapt to the new environment.

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mhd
That sounds like a good technique if you're relatively fit already, e.g.
runners who want to branch out into triathlon, as opposed to someone who wants
to take up swimming for health reasons. Am I right?

------
samratjp
Like any piece of code that claims to do xyz, the best way to try it is to run
it. So, I tried the TI hints and such at the pool today. It definitely helped
me feel more comfortable in the water and the less is more helps. Perhaps the
most useful bit was that rotating shoulders.

