Masters swimmer and acclaimed coach Terry Laughlin has taught thousands to swim more efficiently in the workshops he has given across the United States. In his book Laughlin details simple, step-by-step drills emphasizing the importance of technique and an innovative workout regimen.
Spotlight customer reviews:
Customer Rating: Summary: it's about balance Comment: The proof is in the water. Balance and proper physics are the replacement for going anaerobic by flailing your arms and legs. Learning how much bouyancy you own and how to "lengthen your boat," will relax you. And you will reduce you stroke count early on. The text and diagrams are clear and motivating to novice through elite swimmers. Customer Rating: Summary: Total Immersion Swimming Comment: This book and the video, Freestyle Made Easy, improved my swimming greatly. The key concept is to shift your effort from overpowering the water to streamlining your profile in the water. I don't have any quantitative measures for the improvement it made in my swimming, but I would guess it increased my speed 100%, plus it made swimming much more enjoyable. I took up swimming as a substitute for jogging, and was getting a sore right shoulder from my crawl (rotator cuff?). The Total Immersion technique alleviated that. And I still haven't finished the book. I am just an ordinary swimmer, taking the regular red cross swimming lessons as a little kid. I never swam competitively or trained seriously, unless you count doing the lessons in this book. I am also closing in on 60 years of age, and am very glad to have discovered this book. Customer Rating: Summary: An amazing teaching/learning tool Comment: I really needed help with my swimming (freestyle/crawl); a guy at the pool who moved thru the water in a truly enviable way recommended it. I got it. I did the drills. I made the effort to understand the theory. I actually enjoy swimming now. I checked out a lot of books on swimming from my local libraries and none compare favorably to this one. The Total Immersion school of thought also surpassed everything I found in my online quest for info on how to improve my swimming. Customer Rating: Summary: Much faster because of this book... Comment: I'm still not through reading this book, mostly because I got impatient, wanting to try some of the techniques out.
I was a swimmer in high school 20 or so years ago, and figured I didn't need the help. Over 400m I was overaging a little under 8 minutes, but somehow there were always guys that were faster.
In trying some of the techniques in the book, my time is now just a little over 6 minutes. That over 20% improvement!! My swimming is more efficient, smoother and I'm not as tired when I get done.
I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK. Customer Rating: Summary: A must own. Comment: I'm 6'9", 210 lbs, and sink like a rock in the water. I learned to swim when I was a kid, but now, I'm 30, and took eight weeks of adult lessons at the local pool.
My legs sink like stones, and most of my stroke was simply keeping me up in the water. My instructor continually said "kick harder". I can run a 5k without much problem, but it got to the point where I was kicking so hard I was absolutely exhausted after 50m in the pool.
Twenty minutes of skimming this book, and twenty minutes of practice later, I'm doing laps with maybe a tenth of the effort. Balance, streamlining, and efficiency all make sense, and have paid enormous dividends.
My only complaint is that the author is awful wordy, and it takes a *long* time to get to the meat of the book. The first 100 pages could pretty easily fit into 20, if it weren't for stories that don't much matter to me. I don't care what works for this Olympian, or this champion swimmer, or anyone else; I'm already reading your book, you do not need to spend most of your time convincing me that you're an authority.
I'd also recommend the author's video on the breaststroke, 5-stars on that one; no fluff time spent establishing authority, just 100% content.
