Customer Reviews

New Science of Swimming, The (2nd Edition)

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Doc Counsilman was lightyears ahead of anyone in the sport and is still far ahead of most world class coaches in his understanding of swimming physics and mechanics. His discovery of propulsive forces generated by elite swimmers ranks as one of the greatest discoveries of sports biomechanics in the 20th century. The physiology and psychology parts of this book can be learned from other sources.

As someone who swam for the great Doc Councilman (What's up Doc? Elbows!) I can't sing his phrases enough. He was (and in many ways still is) a man on the cutting edge of coaching. An Olympic coach for the greatest - Mark Spitz, Jim Halliburton and many, many more! He studied the technique that brought out the sheer speed in a swimmer and applied it to the stroke and taught it so people could learn. In one summer I took 8 seconds off my 100 meter butterfly! Buy the book if you want to learn how to make a swimmer into a winner!

Recommended by my daughter's age-group coach, a British National Champ back in the early 70s. According to him, it is the best book about the physics of swimming available. I have found it extremely clear and invaluable in understanding teaching swimming correctly. This excerpt from the first chapter outlines Doc Cousilman's philosophy on teaching correct stroke mechanics and, in my humble opinion, should be required reading for all age-group coaches:

"By understanding the physical laws that govern propulsion and resistance in water, errors in stroke mechanic recommendations can be avoided...Coaches can ignore these forces and counterforces when dealing with extremely talented athletes--mistaken advice about stroke mechanics has little effect on them--but the effect can be disastrous for marginal swimmers. Gifted swimmers make necessary adjustments despite misinformation; the less talented do not. Even so, there have been cases of good swimmers whose careers were permanently derailed by well-meant, but mistaken, advice about stroke."

"On the other hand, there are coaches who believe there is nothing to good-versus-bad stroke mechanics. This attitude reinforces our opinion that uninformed coaching is worse than no coaching at all. Unquestionably, swimmers develop better stroke mechanics if left alone, than if taught incorrectly. It behooves coaches of swimming to learn enough about the laws of physics which govern movement in the water to avoid fundamental mistakes. Informed guidance, early in the swimmers career, is very important. This is the major reason for our conviction that the technical education at the grass-roots coaches is more critical than that of collegiate coaches in terms of the ultimate effect on performance over the swimmer's career." ~ James "Doc" Cousilman, The New Science of Swimming (1994), pp. 3-4.

My father bought me the original edition of this book when I was an age group swimmer back in the 70s. Doc was light years ahead of the pack in his use of physics to analyze and improve on stroke and body position. I highly recommend it.The Waterproof Coach: The Waterproof Workout Book for Fitness Swimmers and Triathletes

The New Science of Swimming book is one of the best books I've read regarding swimming. It covers everything from psychology to technique to physiology.