Terry Laughlin's Blog, page 27
November 28, 2013
Awareness Gap
Here is an excerpt from my latest blog post…
If you are practicing and you feel failure in your stroke – guess what? That is actually a very good sign! And it is better yet if you can pinpoint each failure point that composes that overall sense of failure. Your awareness that things are wrong is the first step of progress – that means your nervous system is awake and tuned in. Your recognition of exactly what is causing it is the next critical step – that means your mind understands the causes and effects and the brain can find them. Now you are in a position to do something about it.
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To view hundreds of articles of coaching advice and answers to swimmer’s questions on training and technique please visit Coach Mat’s Smooth Strokes blog.
The post Awareness Gap appeared first on Total Immersion.
November 15, 2013
November 12, 2013
Hip-Leg Alignment
Another problem area for the swimmer is in the hip and leg alignment.
I will first re-state that the head is the anchor for alignment of all these other body parts. Work on the head first, then the lower back, hips and legs will be much, much easier to correct. So if you haven’t seen them already please go back and refer to Core Strength And Control, and Head-Spine Alignment first.
Not merely the angle of the legs need to be adjusted – for it is easy to see in a snapshot if the legs are not in line behind the body – but the angle of the hips, which is not as easily detected. The hips and the head are the keystones in the spine alignment. Set them well, and the rest falls into place so much easier.
If the top of the hips are rotated forward, the lumbar (lower back) curves inward to an extreme, and the swimmers likely reaction is to either drop his thigh angle in order to direct the kick for an upward push, or he curves his body like a banana to try to keep head and feet near the surface.
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Click here to read more of this post…
To view hundreds of articles of coaching advice and answers to swimmer’s questions on training and technique please visit Coach Mat’s Smooth Strokes blog.
The post Hip-Leg Alignment appeared first on Total Immersion.
November 11, 2013
November 8, 2013
Head-Spine Alignment
This is Part 2, following Core Strength And Control…
Let’s divide the body into these sections of focus as we examine alignment and core strength in the swimmer:
Head
Spine
Waist
Hips
Legs
This article will address the head and spine:
The head is the first and most critical piece of the alignment puzzle. Everything follows the positioning of the head. Physics and physiology determine the best head position, not tradition.
Step 1 – put the head in alignment with the spine.
This sets up the body for stability, relaxation, direction and smooth rotational transfer of power.
Step 2 – let the head/spine line rest in equilibrium between gravity pushing down and water pressure pushing up.
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Click here to read more of this post…
To view hundreds of articles of coaching advice and answers to swimmer’s questions on training and technique please visit Coach Mat’s Smooth Strokes blog.
The post Head-Spine Alignment appeared first on Total Immersion.
November 4, 2013
Core Strength And Control
Recently, I’ve gotten a few requests for more input on core body strength and spine alignment so I will share some comments I have been giving students in my lessons…
First of all, we are land mammals. We have all grown up learning to standing vertical under gravity’s pull. We feel that pull upon our skeletal frame, and our spine is the primary pillar on which the rest of our upper body stands.
Our brains know what stand straight means – when we stand up against gravity – and as successfully bipedal land mammals we all have decent proprioception: the ability to know where our body is in space and control it (without looking). That is, we have decent proprioception on land, standing up.
But something strange, even confusing happens to our brain once we lay down horizontal in the weightlessness of water. We lose connection to how the core works in this aquatic condition. It is understandably a foreign situation and it requires we develop some new aquatic skills.
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Click here to read more of this post…
To view hundreds of articles of coaching advice and answers to swimmer’s questions on training and technique please visit Coach Mat’s Smooth Strokes blog.
The post Core Strength And Control appeared first on Total Immersion.
October 24, 2013
Your Fix-It List
Nearly all my private workshop students make a comment something like this after about an hour or two into our first lesson filled with stroke analysis and stroke re-formation…
“I have SO MUCH to work on!”
Now, just as you read that phrase, I wonder with what kind of tone you read it with.
Did you interpret it as, “Oh, I am so frustrated. I have SO MUCH to work on!”
Or, “Oh, I am so excited. I have SO MUCH to work on!”
It’s not that you say it, but how you say it gives me some clue about how far along into the Kaizen mindset you’ve come.
Your comments tell me whether you feel you have been buried in a heap of practice problems or buried in a heap of practice riches.
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Click here to read more of this post…
To view hundreds of articles of coaching advice and answers to swimmer’s questions on training and technique please visit Coach Mat’s Smooth Strokes blog.
The post Your Fix-It List appeared first on Total Immersion.
October 19, 2013
The Effort In Effortless
Recently this questions has come up few times in various forms:
How effortless should effortless swimming be?
And here is one way I’ve answered that question:
The sensation of effortless is relative – when you compare the sensation of swimming once you’ve acquired the fundamental skills of TI to just about any other technique (or lack of one) used previously our students notice a significant decrease in the amount of perceived effort, while traveling at the same speed, or faster.
Not only is each stroke feeling less effortful, the perceived limit on distance is suddenly removed also. It feels as if we could swim endlessly – just add more fuel!
The reason for this is…
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To view hundreds of articles of coaching advice and answers to swimmer’s questions on training and technique please visit Coach Mat’s Smooth Strokes blog.
The post The Effort In Effortless appeared first on Total Immersion.
October 16, 2013
New Technique Dilemma
Recently, one of my new workshop students (an aspiring triathlete) brought up a common question I hear (or sometimes just sense lingering unspoken) about how to respond to this new technique and training pathway that TI has opened up – in the middle of their racing season.
Do I take this new path and potentially lose the speed I’ve got for a while, or stick with the old one, though now I don’t believe it will get me very far?
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Click here to read more of this post…
To view hundreds of articles of coaching advice and answers to swimmer’s questions on training and technique please visit Coach Mat’s Smooth Strokes blog.
The post New Technique Dilemma appeared first on Total Immersion.
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