Swimming Effortlessly in 10 days?

[MartinP]

Hi,

I recently read this article from the Tim Ferriss website about swimming effortlessly in 10 days:

Total Immersion: How I Learned to Swim Effortlessly in 10 Days and You Can Too

Has anyone tried this?
Let me know your experiences with this.

I am heading to the pool today to try it out!

[runningbird]

It doesn't seem too hard. Honestly I think swimming is pretty much on the order of riding a bike. It's just one arm in front of the other fast enough to stay afloat. More time for self correction too in sinking versus tipping over on a bike.

From, what I can tell, Tim Ferris has nothing of value to say. His TED talk was him telling the audience that he learned to tango, learned a language, and learned to swim. Wow.

Ok, I won't bash him any more. Maybe it is much easier if you learn when young, but honestly, I think if you just relax into your stroke it should come fairly easily.

[Brutha]

From, what I can tell, Tim Ferris has nothing of value to say. His TED talk was him telling the audience that he learned to tango, learned a language, and learned to swim. Wow.

It's not about the fact that he learned it but that he took less time to learn it than the majority of people need through deconstructing the skill.

The amount of people who just can pick up any dicipline and become world class in it isn't that great.

[Acting Like Godot]

I want to say a couple of things.

Tim didn't say that he learned swimming in ten days. He ALREADY knew how to swim. What he learned was to swim more or less effortlessly.

He used a system called Total Immersion. I know the Total Immersion techniques too.

Basically, the whole idea is, well, effortless swimming. There is a lot of focus on being streamlined and reducing drag, maximising your glide and so on, etc.
To give you an idea of how it works, well, in the past I would swim a 30-metre lap with, say, around 13 strokes with each arm. Once I started swimming the TI style, the 13 strokes became 12, then 11, then 10, then 9 or 8.

Now obviously it's more effort to do 13 strokes than 9 or 8. So what's happened here is that just by holding your body in the most efficient, streamlined positions, you have reduced the effort required to swim one lap.

[MartinP]

Ive tried doing what he says, and find the breathing is the hardest thing.

There doesnt seem enough time to get enough breath, and when I turn my head and open my mouth to breath in, water runs into my mouth.

Not sure what Im meant to do...

[WhiteCrow]

Relax about the breathing. Just try to do the strokes as good as you can, and just breathe when and as you like. If you are proficient at the strokes, worry about breathing.

[MartinP]

Ok so I had a swim for the first time in a week or so. It was better than previously, but honestly, it's hard to do the strokes when you are spluttering and coughing up water!

By the way, every time I read a Tim Ferriss article I get really excited, and then I feel depressed when I realise he's superhuman and I'm just an ordinary chump!
e.g. he can "swim effortlessly in 10 days" and in 10 days I can barely stop drowning...

[ndoherty13]

I'm a big fan of Tim Ferriss and I tried Total Immersion swimming after his recommendation. I've had similar experiences to you, MartinP. Breathing is still the hardest part for me, but I find it gets easier with practice and just the familiarity of being in the water.

The main problem I've identified with my breathing is that I don't breathe out properly with my head in the water (I either do it too fast or not in one continuous exhale), and then I'm gasping when I turn to take a breath. I've taken to practicing at the side of the pool, just dipping my head in the water and trying to do one calm, continuous exhale, then turning my head to the side and taking a quick breath before going under again. I've gotten more used to the technique but I still have a ways to go. I believe the main trick though is just learning to relax completely in the water.

I'd recommend you register at the Total Immersion site (Welcome to Total Immersion) to get some free PDF guides. I found those helpful.

And don't get discouraged if you can't see results as fast as Tim. Not many people can ;-)

[RobD]

I wish I came to this forum a while ago. I don't mean to brag but I am a 6X Ironman finisher and have used Total Immersion. Total Immersion is a favorite for triathletes. When I first decided to do a triahtlon my only swimming was a self taught dog paddle I learned in the 6th grade. Total immersion (The book) helped me get on track to better swimm form. Total Immersion prides itself on not kicking so much when swimming but I still use my kick when using the technique.

Good swimming is 90% form the Total Immersion will explain this.

I may not be the fasted swimmer but I can do normally a 1hr 20 mins to 1hr 15min. 2.4 mile swim in an Ironman. And I have to say swimming once you work on your form is very much like riding a bike.You will never forget it you'll just be a little slower with time off. I just did an Ironman last weekend with only 12 days of swimming within 6 months. I would not recommend it.

There is another book I wish I had the name? A woman who held the record swimming the English channel wrote it about open water swimming. It has many useful infor especailly if you ever want to train outdoors. Sorry got carried away.

[MartinP]

@ndoherty

Thanks! Thats really good advice, and its great to see that someone else has the same problems as me!

Good idea to practice by the side of the pool as you said, just to get comfortable with the breathing.

Ok, had a look at that website. It does have loads of free stuff.

Might get the book too, Rob.

[MartinP]

A BREAKTHROUGH!!

Just went swimming and was practising breathing at the side of the pool.

I realised that I hardly breathe out when Im underwater.
So when I turn my head to breathe, I have to breathe out AND in.

@ndoherty Thanks! You were right!

It's Amazing! I've been swimming all my life and never realised that! And been to lots of swimming classes and it never came up!

Ok, so now I need to practice breathing fully out underwater and using the time when I turn my head to breathe in only. I tried it a couple of times, and it felt weird. Im going to have to persist. I feel a 30 day challenge coming on....

[ndoherty13]

Hey, glad to hear it! Keep us informed of your progress. I'm sure you'll be able to teach me a few things before too long!

[MartinP]

I went swimming this morning, and was practising the breathing.

For the first time, I realised that when Im swimming I breathe as if I feel like Im drowning! Its not a relaxed inhalation, exhalation, but a desperate gasping breath in and out. And when my head is under the water, I am almost panicked.

Funny how I didnt realise that before!

Anyway, doing the breathing drills is making me feel more relaxed when my head is under the water. I think just relaxing more will make it easier to do the breathing.

[RobD]

That's all you need is to learn to relax and breathe properly and the rest will get very easy. Good job

[ragtag]

The book by Terry Laughlin (Total Immersion), is highly worth getting if you want to learn how to swim better. It mostly covers freestyle, and is all about improving your technique.

The best advice when swimming is to relax and "DON'T PANIC!". I see a lot of people gasping for air, like they're going to drown, when they swim. It's very funny. You don't really need to swim to stay afloat, you can do that without moving any part of your body. It's a good idea to just play around a little bit in the water, and get comfortable. Dive down and do dolphin kicks. Let your body float up by itself and so on. Then get the book, and do the exercises in it. It breaks the stroke down quite effectively, so you can focus on different parts of it (such as balance or breathing), without having to worry about all of it at once. Freestyle swimming is a pretty complex movement, as you're using your whole body (arms, legs, stomach/back, head) at the same time, so it helps to break it up.

As for Mr. Ferris, it sounds like he was a lousy swimmer before, and a lousy swimmer can easily improve dramatically in 10 days with the right instructions, especially if he or she is fit to begin with.

Swimming is mostly technique. I've seen guys at the pool that look several times over more fit than I, but lack technique, so I can fly past them without effort. Which is fun.

[chrisrushton]

if you're having trouble breathing you could always try swimming on your back. I never liked backstroke myself but its definitely the easiest to breath. My sister was an excellent swimmer and probably could have been olympian if she'd got the competitive spirit. Her backstroke always looks effortless. Mine's a bit more splashy but I was only an average club swimmer.

If you're doing front crawl, your head should push a bow wave in front of you giving you a little channel to breath in. The key to swimming is an efficient stroke.

[MartinP]

Went to the pool yesterday. Its bizarre, but the panicking under water was worse yesterday. I was just practising breathing at the side of the pool, and i keep spluttering and gasping. It's ridiculous.

I find when I try and keep my head down while swimming (like TI suggests) I panick even more.

Anyway, Im going to keep working on the breathing, and try some TI drills.

[sk8joyful]

Originally Posted by Acting Like Godot

Tim didn't say that he learned swimming in ten days. He ALREADY knew how to swim.
What he learned was to swim more or less effortlessly.

He used a system called Total Immersion. I know the Total Immersion techniques too.

Basically, the whole idea is, well, effortless swimming. There is a lot of focus on being streamlined and reducing drag, maximising your glide and so on, etc.
Now obviously it's more effort to do 13 strokes than 9 or 8. So what's happened here is that just by holding your body in the most efficient, streamlined positions, you have reduced the effort required to swim one lap.

Then again, some of us have yet to learn... to Swim, lol
let alone "Totally-immersed"
Drowning... you get-away from that, really fast.
One of these days I have that fear, to overcome!!
And the YMCA is only a mile from the house; I avoid it like the plaque.

Iceskating... is way more fun!

[Charley Forness]

I've been a wannabe triathlete for a couple years now, mostly because, now that I am in my late thirties, I'm having a tough time finding people to do team sports other than slow pitch softball. So, last year I did my first mini-triathlon. I totally psyched myself out when I showed up for the swim and was the only one wearing a full body wetsuit. They then proceeded to ask the participants if anyone felt they need to wear an orange cap, so that the spotters in the boats would pay more attention to you. I was the only one who raised my hand.

It took me over twenty minutes to finish the 400 meters of this mini-triathlon swim. The only thing that saved me from being the last out of the water was that two other swimmers freaked out thanks to the dense seaweed and had to be pulled out. It was probably the most humbling moments of my life.

Needless to say, I think I will be picking up Total Immersion. I find that my biggest problem is freaking out in the water and losing my breath. Not that I am expecting to become a proficient swimmer in ten days, but I would like to not make a complete arse of myself next time I do a triathlon.

- Charley