HILDEKQ'S Magnificently Motivational Mentor Group - CLOSED (Page 20)

Hi guys, I have a long break at work, so I'll see if I can summarize my Total Immersion Workshop for you. First of all, let me just say, if you're struggling with your swimming and on the fence about whether to take a workshop, I say DO IT! Every last one of us (even the 6 year alumna that returned for a brush up) learned things that will forever change our swimming for the better.
A few of my lightbulb moments:
- swimming should be almost effortless. If you're fighting the water, you're doing something wrong.
- balance, balance, balance! They start with drills that focus only on balance in the water, then gradually build on that, adding proper arm tracking, timing, alignment, breathing, etc., one step at a time. Really good for those of us that can't walk and chew gum!
- a lot of the advice (and drills) I've been given have done more harm than good. Almost everything I was doing wrong was something I had been told to do at one point by a well-intentioned coach.
- you can make a lot of progress on your own, but there's really no substitute for having a trained coach observe you (in the water with you) and give you feedback.
- under- and over-water video of yourself can be quite illuminating, too! Often what you think you're doing and what you're actually doing are two very different things!
- a lot of balance/coordination issues originate in your core and what it is or is not doing.
- propulsion does not come from pulling with your arms (Wha??!)! It comes from the weight shift as you rotate and thrust your lead arm ahead of you. Shocking.

The instructors (Kevin and Sara) were amazing- they could always pinpoint what we were doing wrong and give us one or two simple fixes. I have struggled with my kicking for YEARS, and Sara fixed it in about 30 seconds! Still have a lot of unlearning to do there, but at least I know what to do now!

Bottom line, this workshop took a group of folks who had almost no natural talent for the water and turned us into swimmers- that's saying a lot! What you get in 2 days is really just a jump-start; it will take a lot of drill practice before I internalize this stuff and unlearn all my bad habits. But, they made sure we could all tell when we were doing something right so we'd be good to practice on our own, and they gave lots of tips for integrating drills with swim practice. It's really amazing, though, how much progress we made in 2 days (I think around 8 hours of pool time). We all looked so graceful at the end- no struggling, churning, or splashing- just gliding through the water!

I can't wait to get home today and head to the pool!

Tammy