This is the title of an email I received the other morning, 7 Sep 2012, from our swimming friends down under.  It was tilted above and it started with,  “Effortless is a word that is often used by swimmers and coaches alike. But what does it mean to you when you swim or see others swimming?”  I thought this is true, and I use that all the time as a TI coach and competitive/recreational swimmer.  It is individual interpretation as all individuals feel and interpret their exercise level differently.  For me personally it is the feeling of slipping through the water without a ripple or disturbance with the greatest of efficiency and ease with as little effort to accomplish this as possible ending my distance breathing as easily as when I started.  In essence, this is the basic tenet of TI Swimming.  I re-play a video in my head of the time I watched a shark (type unknown, a shark is a shark in the water to me) once when I was deep sea fishing off the coast of California in the late 70’s and found myself mesmerized while I watched the shark gliding about 12 feet under the surface in a slow methodical fashion moving gracefully and ‘effortlessly’.   It gave me a feeling of wanting to jump in and swim with the shark–I didn’t.

 

Then they went on to say, “There’s a big difference between an elite swimmer *looking* effortless and them being truly effortless in the water.   As a case in point, our real-life Mr. Smooth Jono van Hazel, who competed at the Athens Olympics in 2004 in the 50m freestyle, looks effortless when swimming at 1:10 per 100m pace. And yet this is actually his 1500m race pace – not something he can sustain all day. If it was truly effortless, by trying a little harder he’d be able to challenge Sun Yang’s 1500m world record, which of course he can’t.”

 

What they fail to consider or don’t really understand/embrace is that at one point in his training Sun Yang probably could only sustain a 1:10 pace and make it feel effortless.  I remember watching both of Sun’s world record breaking races and thinking the exact same thing he makes it look so effortless.  On the other hand watching other Olympians, the shorter distances of 800 and less I didn’t get the same feeling.  While the swimming looked nice and some made it appear easy, it was apparent that they were not at the effortless level as evidenced by their faces at the finish and the gasping for air interviews they gave immediately following their respective races.

 

The next paragraph was just as revealing, “The word effortless has been used in a well meaning manner by coaches for many years. The idea being not to fight against the water but work with it, as elite swimmers like Jono do. However, many swimmers have latched onto the notion that swimming should be truly effortless and as such they should never work hard in training or feel anything but very easy when they swim.”

 

I don’t recall ever teaching or coaching this way although there are a large number of coaches who feel this way and coach this way.  They assume that everyone who jumps or wants to jump in the pool is looking to be the next Sun Yang or Jono.  They fail to recognize that learning to swim effortlessly and subsequently more efficiently first, can, and will lead to, faster swimming.  Faster swimming is totally dependent upon many more factors than just swimming harder and longer, many of which are physical make up and more intangible characteristics such as desire.

 

And finally, the coup de grace, “When you are swimming it should not be without effort. Just like when riding or running, you can feel strong, smooth and rhythmical. You are working efficiently with the water but it’s never truly effortless. Swimming wasn’t meant to be that way.”  Who says it wasn’t supposed to be this way?  This mindset keeps us in the status quo of swim teaching and training and not in the Kaizen approach of retooling your stroke to be more efficient first and then add the training you are personally looking to achieve.  I have been to many national level swimming conferences and listened to talks by the best coaches (based on their athletes achievements) describe how they do their training for super athlete A, B, C, etc.  I always found myself leaving these talks saying to myself that was interesting, but I don’t have any swimmers that could do the same training.

 

As in running and biking the rotation of practices are generally speed, tempo/pace and technique/recovery—I know this is an oversimplification but is the basic approach to scheduling practices.  But, when it comes to swimming it is always about swimming hard and fast each and every time they get in the pool, like mindless drones.  Why do people adopt one approach for these other disciplines and not with swimming?  Just look at any on-line swim workout guides or go to any master’s practice and you’ll see the ubiquitous workout pattern where we try to cram all three into each and every “workout.”  Warm-up by kicking, pulling, drilling followed by a main-set of X repeats, X distance, on X time at 80-90 percent of effort or descending times on each repeat and then finished by a cool down of a short distance (because you been ridden hard and don’t want to be put away wet).

 

So to answer the initial question of “When is it going to feel effortless?”  I’d say almost immediately when you apply the TI Swimming Technique.   I have countless examples of clients who have achieved effortless swimming after only a couple of hours.  After a series of sessions I always discuss the goals and direction the client wants to head in their swimming.  Some are happy to just stay effortless and others want to get faster while maintaining that effortless feeling and isn’t that what it is all about? 

 

“The journey is more important than the destination, and the process is always more important than the goal” – Alan Wong

 

Keep swimming and remember we turn struggles into life skills.