The 4-Hour Body_ An Uncommon Guide to Ra - Timothy Ferriss [178]
“I have the answer to your prayers. It revolutionized how I swim.”
That was the turning point.
The Method
Chris introduced me to Total Immersion (TI), a method usually associated with American swim coach Terry Laughlin. I immediately ordered the book and freestyle DVD.
In the first workout, without a coach, I cut my drag and water resistance at least 50%, swimming more laps than ever before in my life. By the fourth workout, I had gone from 25+ strokes per 20-yard length to an average of 11 strokes per 20-yard length.
In other words, I was covering more than twice the distance with the same number of strokes (thus expending half the effort), and there was no panic or stress. In fact, I felt better after leaving the pool than before getting in. I couldn’t, and still can’t, believe it.
I recommend reading the Total Immersion book after watching the DVD, as the drills are nearly impossible to understand otherwise. I was unable to do the exercises from pages 110 to 150 (I cannot float horizontally and have a weak kick) and became frustrated until the DVD enabled me to test technique with propulsion.
My Eight Tips for Novices
Here are the principles that made the biggest difference for me, and pictures follow:
1. To propel yourself forward with the least effort, focus on shoulder roll and keeping your body horizontal (least resistance), not pulling with your arms or kicking with your legs. This is counterintuitive but important, as kicking harder is the most universal suggestion for fixing swimming issues.
2. Keep yourself horizontal by keeping your head in line with your spine—you should be looking straight down. Use the same head position that you maintain while walking, and drive your arm underwater vs. attempting to swim on the surface. See Shinji Takeuchi’s underwater shots at 0:49 seconds (www.fourhourbody.com/shinji-demo) and Natalie Coughlin’s explanation at 0:26 seconds (www.fourhourbody.com/coughlin). Notice how little Shinji uses his legs. The small flick serves only to help him turn his hips and drive his next arm forward. This is the technique that allows me to conserve so much energy.
3. In line with the aforementioned video of Shinji, think of swimming freestyle as swimming on alternating sides, not on your stomach. From Wikipedia’s TI page:1
“Actively streamline” the body throughout the stroke cycle through a focus on rhythmically alternating “streamlined right side” and “streamlined left side” positions and consciously keeping the bodyline longer and sleeker than is typical for human swimmers.
For those who have rock-climbed or bouldered, it’s just like moving your hip closer to a wall to get more extension. To test this: stand with your chest to a wall and reach as high as you can with your right arm. Then turn your right hip so it’s touching the wall and reach again with your right arm. Making this small rotation, you’ll gain three to six inches. Lengthen your vessel and you travel farther on each stroke. It adds up fast.
Below is what a full stroke should look like, demonstrated by TI founder Terry Loughlin. Notice the minimal flick of the legs used to rotate the hips and body. This sequence of photos should be your bible for efficient swimming:
4. Penetrate the water with your fingers angled down and fully extend your arm well beneath your head. Extend it lower and farther than you think you should. This downward water pressure on the arms will bring your legs up and decrease drag. It will almost feel like you’re swimming downhill.
The first photo below illustrates the typical inefficient “reach,” and the second illustrates the proper point of entrance, much closer to the head.
Once the arm enters the water, it extends down at an angle.
Don’t impinge the shoulder by lifting it too high. If you rotate your shoulders properly, it’s not necessary.
5. Focus on increasing stroke length (SL) instead of stroke rate (SR). Attempt to glide farther on each downstroke and decrease the number of strokes per lap.
6. Stretch your extended underwater arm and turn your