SWIMMING
Beginning Total Immersion Swimming
I picked up swimming practice again in the last few weeks after taking a break following my November-December lessons. Last weekend I read chapters 1-3 and the beginning of chapter 8 of “Total Immersion: The Revolutionary Way To Swim Better, Faster, and Easier”[1]. Chapters 1-3 cover more of the theory of total immersion swimming while giving encouraging advice for a novice like me. Chapter 8 is where the drills are explained in detail. I’m currently reading through Lesson 1 which covers drills 1-3. I’m also following along with the accompanying DVD “Freestyle: Made Easy”[2].
This week I struggled with drill 1 and found myself asking myself “If I can’t get the basics of drill 1 how am I going to ever learn how to swim? Is it hopeless for me to learn how to swim? Am I bound to be someone who tries and tries and never learns how to swim properly?” I know these are all not very effective questions to ask when trying to learn how to swim, much less when learning anything else, so I need to get a handle on my mental approach to my practice as much as the physical aspects.
I need to continue to work on my “Beginner’s Mind” so that I don’t get so frustrated when I practice. The “Beginner’s Mind” is something that is mentioned in the TI book and also something I’ve heard of quite a bit. It’s something that I think is useful when approaching almost anything and probably could spend a whole blog post on that topic.
Drill 1 is basically teaching you how to properly float on your back while kicking effectively and “hiding your head”. I think my main struggle with this drill was that every time I would start to float and then try to kick my legs would sink to the bottom. After a few frustrating morning swimming practices I think I’ve realized that my flutter kick is pretty poor when my legs start to sink. I am kicking my legs almost like kicking a soccer ball when my legs need to flutter more, maybe almost like a whip.
Never practice struggle
One of the key things repeated in the TI book is that you shouldn’t force yourself to practice if you’re struggling. You want to practice only what you can do well so that it is imprinted in your “muscle memory”. I was definitely practicing struggle this week and I think this morning I finally was able to do drill 1 with what I consider not struggling. Here’s what I think helped me get to the point of performing drill 1
Practice Some “pre drill 1” Stuff
Drill 1 seems pretty basic but there are pieces of it that I can break apart to practice before trying drill 1 again. Here’s what I think helped me get to the point of feeling comfortable trying drill 1
- Practice my flutter kick. I found a corner in the pool and I held on to the corner while on my side. I stick my legs out and practice my flutter kick. The book and DVD recommend practicing standing and kicking or having a partner “tow” you, but I don’t have access to either, so this is my workaround.
- When attempting drill 1, it seems to help me to hum or verbally make some noises like “ta ta ta taa” and do my flutter kick at the end of that. I’m not sure how to describe that but it seems to help me keep a rythm in my kicking and regulate my breathing so that I breath out a little slower.
Continued Practice
In addition to continuing to practice the above for drill 1, I also want to focus on pressing down on my “bouy” as the TI book calls it. The “bouy” as I understand it is basically your lungs and by pressing down on that, it makes your hips and legs rise. I need to continue to practice my breathing because it seems like pressing on my “bouy” is more effective if I breath better. The TI book is a big proponent of yoga breathing, which gives me an incentive to finally get the hang of the breathing aspect of yoga.
Excited to Practice More
After my success today in being able to practice drill 1, I am excited to continue to practice it and get better at it. I am also going to continue to read up on drills 2 and 3 so that I can begin to practice those as well.