Water’s Invitation

WERNER GOLDBAUM

A surprising situation

Some of you, perhaps many of you, will know the opportunity that sometimes arises: You didn’t plan, you finished your three or four days training in the week, you’re satisfied or not so satisfied and suddenly there pops up the possibility to swim once more this week. A small lake on the way, an unknown pool and half an hour or an hour to jump in will fit into your schedule. And I think you’ll know the (good) thoughts similar to: Oh, I should swim my best day’s program a second time… Or: Oh, I should swim again the day’s plan that didn’t turn out as wished… Or: Great, some more minutes in the water! I’ll jump in without any plan, just for enjoyment. (I tout it as swimming for myself)… If this is your reaction to the opportunity for another swim, then you may not need the following advice, although perhaps it will catch your interest anyway.

On the other hand, if your thoughts in the above situation tilt to the other direction as: Oh, half an hour is not worth the effort to change… Or: Oh, this week satisfied my swimming so much, I won’t disturb it… Or: Oh, all days went not as hoped, don’t like another swim like that… (Think most of the readers are Total Immersion swimmers, so my first suggestion to these thoughts is: Think again, what can you learn from such a bad week.) If you try to find any reasons not to swim, then you definitely should read on, take a piece of paper and a pencil, write down some keywords and place them at the console of your car or into the side pocket of your swim bag.

Water’s invitation for a game

See the above possibility as water is inviting you for a kind game. If you’re swimming for some time (at least in the Total Immersion-way) you might have found out, that the water is always playing with you. Water is always ready for, it’s always kind and you’ll never find anywhere a partner who is playing as fair as the water. The water will never cheat. In any way you can trust it without doubting, but every moment it has an overwhelming awareness, you don’t have any chance to cheat it, so don’t even try. If you do so, you’ll lose the game. If you take it as exciting experience this pooltime will become a felt satisfying enjoyment. As playing with kids sometimes, no stated rules no pointed sense, doing this, doing that together and you and your kids will turn or stay in good mood.

Let me point out some ideas. You’ll find the direction and will be much more creative than I’ve been. The following are not the typical and proven useful Total Immersion-FocalPoints, remember these are more a game with the water than pin points for anything else. Most of them are not measurable in their own in any way, they are not controllable or even visible by coaches. Here you’re your own coach (in the best Total Immersion-way) and have to trust your awareness, your feelings and, most important, your enjoyment of the game.

An easy part of the game

Go on, swim for yourself! Ok, you always do, or should at least; but in this situation don’t strive for a special thing. Forget the Tempo-Trainer, forget or don’t mind your next competition or challenge, forget your StrokesPerLength. This may be too difficult for a Total Immersion-swimmer, if addicted to counting strokes unconsciously; but take them just as numbers. You’re playing a game of maximizing your enjoyment in the water. Try to look at your stroke, posture, glide, feelings… from outside. Do not judge anything. Listen to your feelings and let them suggest the next FocalPoint directing to more enjoyment for the next length or, in Open Water, for the next 20-50 strokes. Then decide by feeling the next FocalPoint… Don’t forget your limited time.

Nano-Focal Points

The following FocalPoints are oriented toward the Total Immersion-Balance-

Streamline-Propulison-Pyramid, but they are not meant as the typical Total Immersion-FocalPoints to work on for several lengths or hours and hours. They are meant as ways to play. If one seems to become boring or too sophisticated (you can call too brain damaged) try the next one…

And keep in mind, you are playing a game of joy together with the water not a gradually Total Immersion-program for immediate stroke-improvement.

Little things in Balance

For all your tries with the following nano-FocalPoints do, what Total Immersion is sometimes accused of. Swim as slowly as possible. Every stroke should be on the edge of disturbed balance. Remember you’re not Total Immersion-swimming you’re going to play in a Total Immersion-oriented way.

Cuddle deeper into the Pillow

Swim extremely slowly and point your focus to your (hopefully) still relaxed neck and head. Weightless head is what you should feel when beginning with this game…Then start slowly lifting your head and looking up from bottom more and more forward. Aside from realizing the tension starting in your neck, have an even closer look what happens with your spine. Where is the point when it starts to bend (more) to hollow-back? When looking slowly(!) down again, at which point do you feel a really straight spine? Do you feel the easing tension? From which point? What happens with your hips when you start to look forward and down again? What with your legs? Give yourself an answer to probably the most common question from Total Immersion-coaches: How did it feel?

For the next strokes cuddle deeper into the pillow the water offers. From relaxed starting position start with looking more straight down to more and more back into a real nodding tension and then relax (both slowly!) to your relaxed starting position. This will seem more unusual to you, because most of us tend to look a bit more forward than straight down, but ask the same questions: What shape is the spine? Where, upper, lower or all over does it start to bend? Did you start with straight spine in your usual swim-starting-position? What did your hips and legs do meanwhile?

Deeper Breath

You know the belief of the benefits of belly-breathing? Do you agree? Is belly-breathing your favorite breathing-technique? Well, your answer may be similar to mine: Yes, hmmmm, most often…sometimes, not always FocalPoint… But now, you’re going to play with the water. So let’s play a bit around with air-chest-belly. Start with Total Immersion’s Torpedo-drill and try to find out: How does your push off and float work when inhaled deep in your normal way? What changes, when inhaled totally into your chest? What when inhaled totally into your belly? What when you took the deepest possible inhale, started deep in your belly and continued up to a totally inflated chest? (Think you know what I mean, physiologically you can let air into your lungs only, not into belly or chest.) What happens, if you relax from that tensed inhalation? What if you go on further and press out some more air?

Do the same with full strokes, but so slowly that you’ll feel the differences.

Same questions.

Did you find a special kind or a special point of your in- or exhalation where the flow feels best or easiest? Is it worth to change some tiny things like more air up or down or more or less tension that might pay off as better balance, glide or streamline?

By the way: When going to sleep and focusing in some very deep breathing up from belly to chest as described above, you’ll fall asleep faster than usual. Try it!

Balance like SHINJI?

In his 9-Strokes-video TOTAL IMMERSION-Mastercoach SHINJI TAKEUCHI demonstrates (as usual for him) a balance as if he could to stop the recovery movement in nearly every moment. Though I think, most of us will not be able to show perfection as SHINJI does, that doesn’t mean, we should not work on it.

So we are playing around with the water and should give it a few tries… with some questions to ourself: How slow can I stroke without losing balance control? At which point can I stop my recovery motion without losing balance control? How long can I hold it? At what point of movement is it impossible to stop at least for a millisecond? What do I have to do to find the balanced millisecond-stop? What happens with my body, while I’m stopping the recovery movement (all movements)? Am I able to stop every tiny movement at any/some/one special recovery moment? How long will that stop last? What breaks down? At what point is an issue of left-right-balance? Does it change at any point to an issue of back-forward-balance?

The MORSE-FocalPoint

Every Total Immersion-swimmer knows the FocalPoint of dragging the fingertips behind the elbow with gracing the surface. Well, we’re playing around so try to refine it to what I call the MORSE-FocalPoint. Don’t grace the surface, just grace the tips of the waves with your fingertips. It should feel like Morse-code for transmitting telegrams in former times: da-di-di or – ·· for TI. Just for fun. Won’t turn out as TOTAL IMMERSION every time. But some MORSE-Funkers are fairly fast, so try it with some fast strokes. Not necessary to translate into words what the water lets you know, just feel and enjoy.

The dangling arm

Our recovery, led by the elbow with relaxed lower arm and hands/fingertips behind does reach a point (individually different) where the relaxed arm/hand has to go in front of the elbow, still relaxed. Did you ever play around with that point? A little bit backwards and the arm has to dangle further to front. A bit further to front, but can you hold the lower arm still relaxed? Is your draping arm completing your relaxed natural recovery, or do you have to make some effort to the fingers to the right slit?

Try that slowly to get your awareness to the critical points. Then accelerate your stroke a bit and be aware at what rate the elbow gives up the leadership role and your recovery become too much like Dino’s claw (greetings to Mastercoach STUART). Is there a special StrokeRate and elbow’s pendulum point where it feels best or most relaxed?

Little things in Streamline

Once upon a time in the TOTAL IMMERSION-Forum the busy writing, kind and creative (non-TOTAL IMMERSION)-swimcoach CHARLES COUTURIER wrote (analogous): Everyone of us can nearly feel how the world-elite feels while swimming… in the few seconds of our push-off from the wall. Thought long about it and am now sure, he’s totally wrong. We can’t. Confirmed by watching a young lady in the pool some weeks ago. She was wearing a swim cap with GER (team Germany). Must be an elite swimmer in the effortless way she overtook everyone else and the fast way she left the pool without any chance to talk with her. What I admired much more than her (in many parts TOTAL IMMERSION-like) swimming was her nearly powerless, slow but faaaaar (nearly 10m) push off, seemed without any deceleration but overtaking everyone aside. And no, I could not notice any kind of dolphin move. Streamlining at its very best, nearly unbelievable form. Not sure if the mortals of us may reach such perfection, but we can go some steps in that direction. With the TOTAL IMMERSION-streamline-drills and with our game today…

Fingertips-Pressure

Did you ever put your attention to the pressure on your fingertips? Starting while cutting the slit into the water spear-start? Yes, nevertheless if you swim slow or fast, the very front fingertips should feel the maximum pressure. It’s impossible to avoid that pressure, your spear is the fastest movement forward and then your fingertips are the very front of your hull, simply they must separate the water molecules, felt as pressure. It will be a good task to feel that and find a trace to feel it the whole way from slit to extended front. Nobody will be able to tell you exactly how the trace of your fingertips has to look like, it’s your own game (together with water) to find out and decide to take it or vary a bit more. The next FocalPoint may help.

Silk is too rough

Did your coach ever tell you, your spear should feel like slipping into a silk sleeve? He was right, but now we’re playing around and should go a step further, it should feel like slipping into an air sleeve, even better into nothing. When you feel the pressure of your spearing fingertips (see above) behind them a cone of more pressure (outside) and less pressure inside arises. If you find a spear-movement from fingertips to upper arm where all parts of the arm are inside this cone you don’t feel anything. First step is feeling same pressure all around the lower arm, the upper arm, the whole arm; then you got the silk sleeve. The difficult ideal will be feeling only your fingertips and your slipping into a sleeve of nothing. Start with attention to your hand, your wrist and lower arm, your upper arm and shoulder. Not all will come together at once.

Play around with point of the slit forward-behind, left-right; the entranceangle of your fingers, hand, arm; how to support your spear with body rotation connected to your upper arm and more or less screw-like dive in.

Pressure on the top of your head

The pressure cone generated by your fingertips (see above) will mostly be too pointed to get your whole body in. The top of your head and your shoulder will have to expand it a little bit. Here the head has to separate the molecules and take the resulting, mostly unavoidable pressure. But have in mind only the top of your head. Observe if you feel any soft streaming of water on the back of your head or your face, it’s a kind hint from the water, you’re looking too much forward or too much backward or your turn to air is not best aligned. Try to reduce this seductive feeling or even avoid it. You’ll feel more relaxed and calmer.

Hidden Kick

Yes we all know, our legs should stay inside our hull-formed tube; I do like the pressure-cone-picture much. But how do we feel our legs? If we don’t feel any kind of streaming on our legs we can be nearly sure they’re inside our tube/cone. But aren’t they too passive to support our stroke? Try to find out the boundaries with the following questions: How much can I relax my knees for the following kick, but without feeling flows around? How much (better how less) can I swing my kick starting from the hips without flow on my thighs? Am I able to do some flip-like kick with feet mainly, with just the toes will feel the water? How can my kick support rotation while feeling only tiny pressure distributed equal over whole legs front? What tiny modifications do I have to make (am I able to make) to go a directed step to that feelings?

Some more Points of Awareness

When swimming, do you feel that kind of silk-soft flow around your body? Can you find some tiny changes to reduce even that more to nothing? Single body parts are feeling more intense streaming – possible to take them into the cone? Like tucking the belly in a bit, looking more down to help straightening the spine and reduce the flow on your chest. Different felt flow on your chest and your belly or hips might show, we unlocked our hips related to shoulder or vice versa. More felt flow on one side often shows an unnecessary left-right bent spine, often breaking the alignment to go for air. Tiny adjustments possible? If not, where is the hurdle?

Little things in Propulsion

It’s hard to separate the three Balance-Streamline-Propulsion-steps in this, too many interdependencies. But let’s take some tiny things I’ll put to the propulsion-step.

Drift to Catch

In his new course for advanced TOTAL IMMERSION-Freestyle SHINJI has some hints how we can use the building phase of the catch to get some (tiny) propulsion. Here we’re playing with the water in more or less slow motion that should help us to the draw attention to some feeling-points. The movement from totally stretched spear (TERRY wrote in his Ultraefficient Freestyle, a nanosecond would be far long enough) to the optimal formed catch sometimes doesn’t get enough attention. I recommend to strive for a totally forceless movement. If you let your arm and hand drift and form from very front to the catch form as if hugging a large Pilates ball, the elbow still on its place. You should not spend the tiniest force or effort. Let your hand and lower arm flow down and drift to the catch. The slower you swim the more attentiveness you can put to your hand and arm. Your velocity of glide defines the velocity to build the catch. Which tiny changes can avoid any force up-down (or this time unusually, left-right)? Are you building the catch slowly enough to avoid the start of bobbing? Did your hand hold the path on its (thought) straight rail? Is your speared arm still patient enough, becomes it too patient? Is your catch built ready and still in front, when the other arm is entering the slit? Are you still in stable front-back-balance when your catch has been formed?

Zero Pressure

Yes, slowly OK, but we should get a bit forward! Let the water invite you to test. When you found the today’s optimum for the above forceless catch, go on with your stroke, but don’t put any conscious force to your lower stroking arm, just hold the catch on its place and rotate and spear the other arm. No force means, you should not hold the catch-arms stiff in front. That is force. Hold him on his place and rotate… and experience the miracle that you moved forward without any felt driving force, seems just by rotation. (There are some forces driving you forward. Won’t discuss them here.) More, if you count your strokes this time for a lap, you’ll find only three to five more than normally.

This has been exactly TERRY’s experiences when he swam with broken shoulder. He lets us participate even with healthy shoulders, described in Ultraefficient Freestyle.

Tiny Pressure

If you go on and put a little pressure into your stroke. Your arm should have built its most optimal catch before, when you start with some tiny force backwards… Stay aware and answer the following questions: Do you feel a constant pressure at your whole arm from hand to upper arm? What can you change to get nearer to this constant feeling? Do you feel the pressure on your arm only on the side showing backward? Do you move your arm as stable entity, not elbow first, hand last? How can you vary the pressure just by connecting the way back (body forward) more or less to your body rotation? Might your kick in various ways change your effort to force? All these are tiniest adjustments. Watching and separating them will be easier the slower you swim, but still balanced. And you will have to decide what seems worthy to take with you from this game.

Higher Pressure

TERRY never pressed hard. But what TERRY called hard may be another thing for us. Some suggestions to find out your individual optimal force for pressure. (Look at his description in Lection two of his 2.0 Freestyle Mastery.)

Start with none and tiny pressure as above. Watch your arm when putting in more force to move. The faster your arm moves the more swirls will build around your arm. Feel them growing with more pressure and them sneaking around your arm to the front. On your relaxed fingers the whirls are not so bad, they even build a larger surface like a paddle. This doesn’t work if you spread your fingers with tension as far as possible or press them together. Test it. When starts your hand wobbling around, when you press the fingers together? When do you feel the water flowing between your fingers and the whirls going around? What is the easiest hand with relaxed fingers getting the best grip?

On our arm it’s more difficult. The sneaking whirls from back to front are not unique on every area of the arm. But do you feel where on your arm the whirls first go to front and start to hold that part more back than let you move it in the direction backward? (In my own case it’s always my wrist.) And now it becomes really tricky. You’re the only one who can decide: Put in more force to pressure? Does it really pay off in velocity forward? What pressure is the right decision for this swim just now? Well, for our game with the water I think: Stay relaxed and when the whirls are starting for any part of the hand/arm to sneak more forward than half the wrist we should slow down and take our attention to some tiny variations of just this or other parts. By the way: Time enough for a shower to go back to your planned day?

TERRY’s Question

Well, I’m finishing this post on TERRY’s birthday. Some very thankful and sad thoughts not only on this day. And I try to imagine what he would say: Are we better swimmers when we jump out of pool or lake after such minutes? My answer would be: TERRY, we spent some time in water, played and moved around in joyful way, became aware -or not- of this and that. If conscious or not, we improved our feeling for the water and deepened our friendship with the water. We are better swimmers. And TERRY might answer — in my imagination: Yes, I agree. I Have some ideas how to structure that in some way and several million ideas how we should expand that…

TERRY, thank you so much!!!

Last but not least thank you very much to TI-swimmer DANIEL BAKER, who transformed my poor English language into readable form.