Backstroke for Every Body
Better Fly for Every Body
Breaststroke for Every Body
Extraordinary Swimming for Every Body
Outside the Box:
Triathlon Swimming: Made EasyThis week, TI Coach Bill Lang sent me a link to a NY Times obituary for Allen Rosenberg,the US national coach for rowing in the 1960s and 1970s, a period of transformation in rowing form and philosophy. Bill shared this with me because he saw such strong parallels between Rosenberg’s principles and those of TI. […]
Allen Rosenberg Transformed Olympic Rowing: What can his methods do for your swimming?
by Terry Laughlin
Posted on December 15th, 2013
by Terry Laughlin
Posted on December 15th, 2013
Swim Faster; Be Healthier (Maybe even live longer!)
by Terry Laughlin
Posted on December 6th, 2013
by Terry Laughlin
Posted on December 6th, 2013
When you train the TI way, efforts you expend to swim faster aren’t for the momentary ego gratification of the time itself, nor for the higher placing it may bring in an event. The more compelling reason is because those efforts can bring proven benefits to physical and mental health. [Also because time provides an […]
Should you ‘Psych Up?’
by Terry Laughlin
Posted on November 27th, 2013
by Terry Laughlin
Posted on November 27th, 2013
Just two weeks ago, in a previous post, I pondered the wisdom of advice in the NY Times “Well’ blog which suggested you keep telling yourself “This workout feels good” . . . even when it doesn’t. That section of the Times continues to offer tips about how to ‘psych yourself’ through an exercise session. […]
SAME Strokes for Different Folks
by Terry Laughlin
Posted on November 20th, 2013
by Terry Laughlin
Posted on November 20th, 2013
Different strokes for different folks is a seldom-questioned axiom among old-school swim coaches. It says that people with different body types and goals should use widely varying styles. Put another way, anything goes when it comes to form. This week’s webinar will feature three swimmers who make a persuasive case for a very different–even revolutionary–credo: Same Strokes for Different […]
Bad Advice: Tell Yourself, “This feels good.”
by Terry Laughlin
Posted on November 12th, 2013
by Terry Laughlin
Posted on November 12th, 2013
Last week (Nov 6 to be precise) the NY Times published an article with the headline Keep Telling Yourself: “This Workout Feels Good.” This is a prime example of what I call the Western Industrial Exercise Complex. The article’s main message was that if you practice exhortatory self-talk you’ll get better at enduring unpleasantness while […]
How Efficient Is Your Freestyle?
by Terry Laughlin
Posted on November 8th, 2013
by Terry Laughlin
Posted on November 8th, 2013
If you regularly read my posts you’re probably aware of the DARPA study which showed that human swimmers are only 3% efficient–as compared to the 80% efficiency of dolphins. (I.E. Dolphins convert 80% of energy expenditures into forward motion; in contrast humans divert 97% of energy into moving around in the water and moving the […]
Crossing Gibraltar Strait: A Journey to Joy
by Terry Laughlin
Posted on October 31st, 2013
by Terry Laughlin
Posted on October 31st, 2013
On October 11, I swam across Gibraltar Strait, with TI colleagues Lennart Larsson of Orebro, Sweden and Tommi Patila of Helsinki, Finland. We swam 18km (11+ miles) in 5 hours 18 minutes. Water temperatures started at 18C (64F) near the Spanish coast, rose to 19 in mid-Strait, then dipped to 16C (60F) as we approached […]
Video: Swimming for ‘Epic Experience’
by Terry Laughlin
Posted on September 29th, 2013
by Terry Laughlin
Posted on September 29th, 2013
Last week during TI OW camp on the Mediterranean, in Ciralu Turkey, Coach Mat Hudson posted this on his Facebook wall: “Johnny Widen [a TI coach from Sweden] asked if I keep my mind completely consumed with stroke counting and focal points like Terry Laughlin does.” While keeping track of ‘metrics that matter’ is a […]
Life Lessons from Diana Nyad?
by Terry Laughlin
Posted on September 12th, 2013
by Terry Laughlin
Posted on September 12th, 2013
The below is a guest post by psychotherapist Jeanne Safer PhD, a thoroughly Kaizen TI student taking weekly lessons at the TI Swim Studio in New Paltz for 10 years. This article was originally published at the Psychology Today web site, where Jeanne has just begun writing regular essays on the psychological revelations possible through […]
Fail better. It’s that simple.
by Terry Laughlin
Posted on September 6th, 2013
by Terry Laughlin
Posted on September 6th, 2013
I’ve written many times that among the characteristics of those who excel in many fields is they do not fear or shrink from failure. In fact, when they practice their discipline, they almost always plan it to include a form of difficulty or challenge that will ensure some kind of failure, or reveal a weak […]