Customer Reviews

Swimming Made Easy: The Total Immersion Way for Any Swimmer to Achieve Fluency, Ease, and Speed in Any Stroke

5 star:		(20)
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3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I started swimming as a way to stay active while recovering from a serious knee injury, and I picked up this book to help me learn more so I could stay challenged and interested in the water. I had splashed along and really enjoyed swimming for years, but I'd never had any formal training whatsoever.

This book completely changed the way I think about swimming, and my ability has increased tremendously in the time I've been using the Total Immersion concepts. Just today, I counted how many strokes it took me to cross the 25 yard pool. TWELVE. How many did it take when I started six months ago? TWENTY-SIX.

Even better, from my vantage point in the "medium" lane, I took a moment to count the strokes of a big, speedy muscle guy splashing his way across the pool in the "fast" lane next to me. TWENTY-FOUR. And I proceeded to easily out-pace him on every lap, which was kind of a thrill for someone who doesn't really consider herself to be a serious athlete.

This book is a great resource -- I have read various chapters over and over again. Some of the writing is a bit awkward -- but the main points are clear. Your body is a vessel, and your goal is to get through the water in the most streamlined, energy-effective way possible. When you "get" the technique, it's amazing to feel yourself travel through the water -- IN BETWEEN STROKES. I like to think of my hands as the prow of a ship, my hips as a rotor, and my feet working together as a propellor. Just think how impossible ships would have it if they were built as rectangles or squares -- there's no sense trying to push a square across a body of water, is there? Once you learn the Total Immersion technique, "ordinary" swimming seems nonsensical.

One side point I'd like to share is that I trained for the first few months months with a pull buoy, because of my injury. I wasn't able to do the exact training exercises described in the book -- I couldn't kick at all. But by using the pull buoy and focusing on the concepts in the book, I learned balance, arm work, and how to breathe on both sides - which I *never* thought I'd be able to do. This might be a helpful alternative for other novices who find the balance exercises kind of intimidating.

"Swimming Made Easy" gave me what I needed -- a set of concepts which radically changed my swimming style. This is a great book, and will change your swims in an amazing way.

Terry spends many pages hyping his technique, but after about 6 months with the book and videos and doing the drills, I can justify the hype. I have never swum competitively, going to the water only for fitness, but it always irritated me that some pudgy guys could easily cruise through the water as I frenetically splashed to keep up, exhausted after only 15-20 minutes. I read the first book which only covered freestyle, but jumped when this book came out.

When I first got this book, I rushed through all the drills hoping to swim faster in less than a week, but accomplished very little. Not quite the results as the reviewer who dropped his 50 yd time by 7 seconds in his first session. Over the last 5 months, I have spent at least 70% of my pool time practicing the drills, learning balance, breathing on both sides, gliding and streamlining my body. Before the book/videos, I couldn't keep interested for 20 minutes in the water. Now, as I drill my way to each goal & concentrate on form, I still have energy after 45-60 minutes. I swim some laps and feel much faster, smoother and quieter. I swam a 50 freestyle in about 43 secs, but in June 2003 did it in about 34.5 (push start from the wall with flip turn)--and in July 2003 in 30 secs. The drills helped me by improving my form and increasing my level of fitness. By the measure of other swimmers here, I still move like a barge, but personal goals override all such comparisons.

The book definitely helped me and I think I underpaid when I compare the cost of the book/video package to the expense of going to one of Terry Laughlin's weekend clinics. I doubt I would get out of a weekend what it took 6 months to accomplish. If you can't buy the book at Amazon, Terry has his own website.

I've been teaching swimming for nearly 30 years. I thought I had a pretty good handle on what makes for better swimmers. Then I met Terry Laughlin and was introduced to the Total Immersion philosophy. My thinking about movement in the water and how to improve it changed dramatically. His methods have proven time and again to be enlightening and effective for swimmers of ANY ability level. With this book, Laughlin makes the effortless grace of elite swimmers accessible to 'average' swimmers with simple, logical, proven steps that make fluid, powerful swimming a HABIT rather than a chance encounter. Buy it, read it, apply it. You won't regret it.

Having read this book cover to cover I can say, hand on heart, it is the most useful book on swimming I've ever read. If you are a novice or an elite, or if you are a lane coach or the coach of a large squad, there's a lot in this book that's going to be of real use to you. Indeed you will find things here that may well change your approach to swimming forever. The real beauty of this book is in it's simplicity: Laughlin has a saying, "It isn't rocket science", and that philosophy comes across in this book. As for value for money, it's near half the price of the weighty tome that many regard as the swimming bible and I can tell you there's nothing in that book that will improve your swimming as quickly and easily as SME will. Yes for me it's the new bible.

PS. I coach 100% this way and my swimmers believe in it

I am so glad I bought this book. Learning to balance the body in water and reduce drag creates a new experience of swimming. The system really works. I also purchased the videos which demonstrate the drills very well. It is the kind of book which you read again and again.

This is an awesome book if you not only want to improve your performance in the water but make swimming a totally enjoyable experience. I read the book in one sitting and got so excited I dashed off to the pool. I have to say I have never spent a better couple of hours in the water. When i first got to the pool I did an easy 25 meters in 23 strokes and 35 seconds(just cruising along).At the end of that first session I did it in 15 strokes and 28 seconds with much less effort. I felt as though I was just gliding through the water. Every one should experience what this kind of swimming is like!!

This has probably been said earlier but instead of purchasing the book, try out the DVD. Words and static pictures go only so far. I found it hard to visualize what you were supposed to do until I saw the DVD.

Once you get past the feeling that Terry is trying to sell you the book after you've already bought it, you'll realize what a valuable tool this book can be. (I'm sorry, he may be good and know his stuff, but his arrogance is somewhat of a put-off.)

Regardless, this book is for anyone who feels that swimming is either their weak-point or for people who avoid it all together due to frustration experienced when actually trying to swim.

Terry is the foremost expert in swimming efficiency and knows what he's talking about.

If you can't make it to a TOTAL IMMERSION weekend workshop--this book is the "in print" version of the step-by-step process to fluent, easy and faster swimming! I have had the opportunity to participate in several weekend workshops and use this book as a blueprint for my pool sessions. Other swimmers (of all ages and abilities) have picked up my copy, paged through it and ordered a copy for themselves. Part one lays out the process of making swimming effortless: stroke length, balance, making the body tall and slippery in the water AND linking all the above to the kinetic chain. Subsequent chapters tell the improvement minded swimmer exactly HOW to do this in simple, sequential and DO-ABLE steps. Any swimmer who reads this book and practices these steps will experience swimming made easy.

Swimming Made Easy improves on Terry Laughlin's last book with more photo explanations, easier to read descriptions and easier "flow" of the book. I presently coach a small, but growing Masters group and I credit Terry's techniques to the explosion in our membership! Everyone can do them no matter what level, and everyone notices improvement quickly, if not immediately. Even our lifeguards have noticed the "quiet" swimming recently taking over our group! Having the book and videos to loan out to interested swimmers, as well as his photo-packed Pool Primer is very helpful. Getting the Swimming Made Easy book is a must, I can't recommend it enough! Whenever I need a refresher, I just pick up the book and read the pertinent chapter(s).