i think what they mean by side swimming is that you swim with a roll, with your shoulders pointing straight up and down. each stroke the opposite shoulder should point up before repeating with the other side. I'm sure some of the swim experts here can explain it better.

I thought the alternating shoulders stuff dkidd mentions was the roll, but that "side swimming" and "side stroke" are when you swim completely on one side. My mom does that -- kinda like a weird kick and using mostly one arm... reminds me some of doggy paddle.

Side stroke a swimming stroke where one arm reaches out front as the other arm pushes from the shoulder down to the thigh, then the arm that goes to the thigh recovers to the shoulder while the arm which went forward pulls to the shoulder. One scissor kick is used. My father swam this stroke 70 years ago.

Side kicking is where you kick a flutter kick on the left side for one length then on the right side for one length. T Immersion insruction.

Did they used to call this the Austrailian crawl??

I learned something like that at the YMCA when I took lessons when I was about 10

Australian crawl is very close to what we swim today. Breast stroke was used in Britan wich changed to Trudgen it was an over the water recovery but used a breaststroke kick, then came Australian crawl open this site go to History and you will see how it came about. [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Front_crawl[/url]

I read a few articles preaching the benefits of side swimming...(swim like a fish, reduce drag, pull more from the lats, etc....)

I figured I would give it a try. Without having a T Immersion instructor by my side it was hard to ascertain if the side swim was relating to the side-to-side roll you body naturally makes as you reach out in front at the beginning of each stroke, or if I was supposed to exagerrate this motion and really try to hit a side position with every stroke.

I kept reading the same info over and over again, trying to interpolate the intent, and finally decided that T Immersion was teaching the later.

It mentioned that my splits would be slower for some time, and not to worry, as I was re-mapping my muscle memory. Soon, I would be out swimming by competitors. I swam like this for almost 2 months and my times never got faster. In fact, they were an average of :10 slower per 50M.

I attended an open-water clinic recently with DAM (Dallas Acquatics Masters) and I mentioned this to their coaches to see what they had to say about it. The head guy there, Bobby Patten, picked up on our conversation and joined in. Apparently he was very familiar with this school and technique and wasn't a big fan.

I said, "it says that I'll be slower at first, but I'll get faster later on."

"You will be slow forever," he said, and continued to explain why.

I half-way expected to hear this and was somewhat relieved, because I wasn't seeing the results. It felt slower, but I wanted to be open-minded and try something new.

Needless to say, after our conversation, I hung up the towel. I'm back to my old technique and I've got to tell you, it just feels faster.

I found this very helpful...maybe you will too. It is a stroke-by-stroke look at Ian Thorpe's stroke where you can easily dissect the different body positions.

[url]http://www.cruciblefitness.com/etips/ianthorpe.htm#[/url]

ENJOY!

When i teach on line Thorpe is the guy I like to refer people to watch him. His style has changed considerably since those pictures were take and I don't like what his new coach is doing but to me this guy (Thorpe) is the cream of the crop.

George, are there more recent pics or videos?

Jeremy

I have a bunch on my web site which I am rebuiding reducing from twenty pages to 5 look at videos, all strokes and they are short but well worth watching. For free style you open and select your swimmer.

Thanks. Great videos.

So what's your take on this T Immersion side swimming thing?

T I great for begginers. It gets you to realise that we have get into the water and let the water push you to the top, you learn how to streamline, and not waste energy. Helps you to front load your freestyle. A good coach is better than a book or a video.

I prefer to spend 10 min to look at a stroke, 20 min in stroke correction and then work out the faults one at a time, 2 or 3 sessions and if you are in shape your times drop as much as 10 minutes in 1500m. I think bluebirdbiker can tell what a half hour can do.

The 3 main faults are 1. not pulling down the center, 2. dropping the elbow, 3. not finishing your stroke.

Would you please further explain the 3 common faults that you listed? I am particularly interested in pulling down the center concept and I'm not clear on dropping the elbow?
Thanks!!!

[QUOTE=Scout]Would you please further explain the 3 common faults that you listed? I am particularly interested in pulling down the center concept and I'm not clear on dropping the elbow?
Thanks!!![/QUOTE]
Dropping the elbow while under water the elbow preceeds the hand, the elbow sinks and the hand actually pushes water in the wrong direction. A very common mistake. In the last five video analysis' that I have done all did elbow dropping.

Pulling down the centre, do not cross over or pull too wide. When I teach the centre line pull it starts at the catch if you look at the bottom of the pool you can see the line on the bottom and the hand follows this to the finish.

[url]http://www.swimmingcyclingrunning.com/Videos/HackettBrilliant.mpeg[/url] Hackett perfect example of center swimming. Most recent video of Thorpe [url]http://www.swimmingcyclingrunning.com/Videos/thorpeBelow.mpeg[/url]

Huge help...I'll check in with you as I work at it!