Product Description

Even though swimming is the closest thing to a perfect exercise you can name, too few people experience its full benefits. That's because most find themselves fighting to stay afloat, struggling for air, and feeling exhausted after just a lap or two, all of which makes this perfect exercise frustrating, laborious, and complicated. For the past fifteen years, veteran swim coach Terry Laughlin has been teaching adults how to swim better - and enjoy it more - by using his simple and original techniques. Laughlin turns traditional swimming beliefs inside out as he explains that it's technique - not athletic ability - that makes a strong swimmer. Laughlin teaches 'Fishlike Swimming,' focusing on slipping through the water rather than using muscle to overpower it. The key is working with the water, not against it - learning to swim ever faster and farther without losing a sense of flow, grace, economy, and balance.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8318 in Books
• Published on: 2004-06-21
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

Synopsis
Even though swimming is the closest thing to a perfect exercise you can name, too few people experience its full benefits. That's because most find themselves fighting to stay afloat, struggling for air, and feeling exhausted after just a lap or two, all of which makes this perfect exercise frustrating, laborious, and complicated. For the past fifteen years, veteran swim coach Terry Laughlin has been teaching adults how to swim better - and enjoy it more - by using his simple and original techniques. Laughlin turns traditional swimming beliefs inside out as he explains that it's technique - not athletic ability - that makes a strong swimmer. Laughlin teaches 'Fishlike Swimming,' focusing on slipping through the water rather than using muscle to overpower it. The key is working with the water, not against it - learning to swim ever faster and farther without losing a sense of flow, grace, economy, and balance.

From the Author
Master swimming as an art before training for it as a sport.
I've been swimming (in training and competition) for 32 years, since the age of 15, and coaching for 26 years. In particular, I've spent the last 10 years intensively teaching improvement-minded adult swimmers in weekend workshops. I've distilled all those experiences into the guidance included in this book. If I had one goal in mind in writing this it was to make Total Immersion the most immediately useful how-to book available for swimmers. My promise to my readers is that I'll provide real, practical, detailed, complete and -- most of all -- clear and simple how-to information. I've been delighted to hear from so many readers that this book has been their favorite road map to achieving greater satisfaction with their swimming than they had thought possible. Happy laps, Terry Laughlin

Customer Reviews

Better Technique = Better Swimming
I'm not a big swimmer, but I heard so much about this book that I had to check it out- and I'm glad I did. This book will save a lot of people who are trying to learn to swim better a lot of time. Here's why:

-the book concentrates on swimming technique, correct position, and how you're suppose to feel in the water
-the book gives you drills to reinforce the most efficient way to swim
-the book is very scientific and the info is based on hydrodynamics

The book covers a lot of ground, but the authors writing style makes is go by quickly (at least it did for me). The pictures were good and I thought the explanations of the techniques and the "why" behind them was very understandable. Not sure about the rotator cuff routine in Chapter 16 though- it's kinda long and I'm not sure if some of the exercises like the reverse biceps curl is really necessary (rec. Treat Your Own Rotator Cuff for swimmers who have shoulder issues).

In conclusion, I found the book very enlightening and recommend it to anyone (young OR old) who wants to learn how to swim more efficiently by learning the correct swimming techniques. The author obviously loves swimming and has brought all his years of experience and research into one handy resource.

YOU MUST FINISH THE BOOK..PLEASE!
While i completely agree with the prognosis that the first 100 pages are mostly a self promotion exercise, this book will totaly change your swimming ability, both in open water and the pool. I bought it off the back of "Triathlon 101"[another awesome book]and like one of the other reviewers, was not capable of more than a couple of lengths without being very out of breath, now however it seems the skys the limit. I now swim good distances at sea with no problem, just really enjoying the exercise.
So stick with it, dont give up, its one of the few "revolutionary method" books out there that does what it promises..good luck

Strung out and waffly - hoping it has potential
I'm sure this book has potential, as the reviews suggest, but it is very waffly and there is a lot of hype in the book. The first few chapters kept talking about how revolutionary the idea is and how it really works. After a few chapters of this, I got bored and impatient and put the book down. I hope that once I've overcome these frustrations, I'll try to reference the necessary information, which I'm sure is very useful.