geochuck, would you please explain more about grabbing onto the imaginary wall? Imagery really helps me... Like Tri hard, I am trying to determine what the right amount of pull/push is right for me...Thanks!

You HAVE to push on the water as you execute the catch and then the pull phase of the stroke. The thing with TI is that it creates the most improvement in swimmers who have no idea of how to move through the water. It IS true that you need to learn balance and pressing your buoy, but once you master that, then you are ready to work on the true STROKE.

The best way to feel that you are pushing on the water is to do the fist drill (and NO you don't have to use those stupid gloves just close your hand into a fist). Swim 25 yds. with fists closed. If you don't feel the pressure of the water on your forearm, then you probably aren't advanced enough to begin stroke work. If you DO, then swim another 25 yds. normally, or do 1/2 length fist, 1/2 length regular. You should definitely feel yourself pushing on the water.

Stroke work takes time and patience. Most of the TI drills are body position-focused, which is fine for the beginning swimmer. Once you go beyond that, you need to work on stroke, and IMHO, TI is not the best guidance for that. At that point you best work with a regular swim coach.

If your wrists hurt, maybe you are bending too much at the wrist. When you are pulling, your wrist really shouldn't be bent too much; rather your hand and fingers are all lined up with your forearm. There's a drill I do called "fingertips down" where I over-emphasize the bend at the wrist just to get the fingers pointed down (which is what you do when you begin the catch), but really your wrist shouldn't be bent for the entire pull.

If you are really interested in understanding the aspects of body position and breaking down the stroke into its components, get the book Swimming Fastest by Maglischo.

IMHO, TI was "invented" by separating the body position concepts and drills from the stroke concepts and drills, and someone realized that beginning adult swimmers will benefit MOST from working on body position FIRST. TI is NOT the way you would teach a young swimmer to swim--first you get them to JUST SWIM and then you show them how they should be doing it, and voila, they've built up both a tremendous aerobic capacity to swim, feel for the water, comfort in the water, and then the technique work comes easier to them.

The major effort has to start from the catch to the finish. The wrist must be straight, the fingers not forced together causing tension in the arms, don't press the thumb hard against the index finger. Fingers can be slightly open. Press the water until the bubbles start going through the fingers, then back off on the pressure until the bubbles stop and you will find it is just about the right pressure. I am not much into fist drills but i prefer them done by holding a tennis ball in my hand.

I agree with Kona_expat....
I used TI to really learn how to swim - but never saw any speed develop.
Quite a few weeks back I started following drills from Rich Strauss. I got his Swim Clinic eBook. I did a long set last night to check on progress, and wow, nice improvement. Went 6 seconds faster per lap over a continuous 3000 yard set. I still have a way to go, but this was a pretty drastic improvement. :D
He focuses on drills for position and propulsion. The goal is to get to a 1:10:00 - 1:15:00 for an IM swim. I'm halfway there from where I started. Back to the pool - I go!

Scout

I like to see everyone breathe on both sides, but i do not like to see anyone doing a lot of bilateral breathing. A little drill I like is to take the left hand as it exits at the finish, reach over and touch the right hip which requires a little extra roll before the arm recovers to the front. Also the same when the right hand finishes touch the left hip. It seems awkward but makes the finish happen correctly. Maybe 50m in the warmup. Eventually we don' t have to think of these things very often with distance it starts to come naturally. I think of hand into the water then get it to the catch, pull down the center, and finish as far down the thigh that I can reach without twisting the body.

Most people usually breathe on one side. More breathe only on the left side, but many breathe on the right side. I would suggest breathing on one side only, I breathe on the left but also practice breathing on the right side, as sometimes especially when we are swimming in competition it is neccesary to be able to breathe on either side. Bilateral breathing is a balancer and we breathe every third stroke, but I need more air when racing and if I kept only breathing that kind of cycle in a long swim I get tired. I don't know how anyone thinks bilateral breathing is that important but it is the TI thing and not the way the great swimmers swim. Bilateral breathing started in the 50s and was developed to help balance the stroke, but once the stroke becomes efficient it is not needed. But I will get all kinds of arguments about that. If we want to become faster we do have to forget a lot of stuff TI recommends eg. I believe we must breathe with the air passage open and if your head is tucked in and the chin touches your shoulder the air does not pass easily into the lungs, so I recommend breathing with the head tilted slightly forward.

Bilateral breathing is good for drills but do not like to see it used in a race or throughout a complete training set. The centerline i refer to is the the hands do not cross over, eg in a pool the hand follows the black line on the bottom of the pool.

I disagree with geochuck about bilateral breathing. IMHO, the ONLY way to develop a balanced stroke is to practice breathing on both sides. Why? Whichever side is your preferred breathing side is probably also your stronger side, you will probably rotate more (and better) to that side naturally, you will catch air easier and this makes it easier to finish your pull on that side.

Why do people have so much trouble breathing on their "wrong side"? Typically because they don't rotate as much to that side, making it tougher to "catch air." And then you're so worried about getting air that your stroke on that side is, well, just crap.

I STILL practice bilateral breathing and breathing to my "wrong" side in all my practice swims. I breathe one length bilateral, the next breathing on my right, the next bilateral, and the next breathing on my left. Although I've only been swimming for 6 years, I've worked with several swim coaches who tell my my stroke is incredibly balanced.

Try breathing a length on your WRONG side. Feel spastic? You can't possibly have a balanced stroke. So not only does bilateral breathing help balance your stroke, but practicing breathing totally on your WRONG side.

What I did for a year or so was do the bilateral and wrong-sided breathing only during the warmup of my practice swims. Now, though, I do it for the main set as well because I have a tendency to overpower everything with the right side of my body, and I want to be balanced strength-wise, so I force myself to use both sides equally.

It can be difficult at first to practice breathing bilaterally because you won't get air as frequently. But, use this as an opportunity to smoothe out your stroke and not worry so much about how fast you are going. It took me a few years, but now I'm to the point where, except for 25's, I swim as fast breathing to either side or bilaterally in practice.

Now in a race, I will breathe almost exclusively on my right side, because it will be most comfortable, but I have the ability to breathe on the left, and even go bilateral if I feel like it. Sometimes during a long race (1/2 IM or greater), it can help me relax if I force myself to breathe bilaterally. It will also force me to think about my stroke. Another thing I do in races is count my strokes. Also keeps me focused on my form, and since I know my approximate stroke count for 25 yards, I can tell how far I am into the course.

RV--Rich Strauss is my coach, and his Swim eBook is awesome. I still do a focused drill session once a week early in the season (maybe the first 8 weeks), and every practice swim I do 200 yards of drills right before I start my main set. For those of you looking how to start working on the stroke, that eBook provides drills that help you work just on that--catching, pulling and finishing the stroke. http://cruciblefitness.com.

As far as "grabbing onto imaginary wall," the analogy my coach and others I know use is to think about climbing a rope ladder while thinking about keeping your arms over the top of a barrel. In fact, one of Rich's drills is called "climb the ladder." You almost need to see the video (included in the eBook) to understand what this means. "Over the barrel" is a way to visualize keeping your elbows from dropping when you are pulling. "Climb the ladder" is a way to visualize pulling back and towards your body.

YMMV

Kona
If you finsh each stroke properly we are balanced. And ( hate to start with and) bilateral breathing helps with balance but let's not depend on it in a race. I stll bilateral breathe a little in order to focus on technique but I use it very seldom. I roll a lot and when in a pool look underwater to the opposite side of the pool but don't breathe on that side and when swimming open water also look to the opposite side underwater. If I have a swimmer to my right I watch their stroke and visually correct it, how their hand enters how they get to the catch, are their fingers open, when I visually correct it and when looking to the right underwater it gives the same effect as bilateral breathing.

My teacher showed me this drill, except we slapped the water surface. It did make a decided difference in my rotation awareness. Still if I could only figure out the slightly pigeon toed feet position she described then I would be happy. Did any of you ever hear of this?

Blitz

I, like Kona, STRONGLY recommand the both side breathing.

If you start picking up your swimming, this is the time to do the switch. 100 % bilateral breath is a must. It's a pain at first, but it's very rewarding.
Moreover, less chance to get big unbalanced. Plus breathing every 3 strokes appears to be a good rate in air intake for long swims.

It's just like underwater kicking for backstroke. If you don't do ALL the time during practice - it won't happen during a race !

Finally, thanks Kona for mentionning Ernie Maglischo... Quite an expert in stroke mechanics. I swam under is coaching in College. I recommand his writing, along with GeoChuck web site.

Splash around !
d

Yup, another question: What is ment by letting the elbow drop?