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Metro"TI" Swim Instruction
You don't need gills to "swim like a fish"
Swim better than you ever dreamed possible!
Metro"TI" Swim Instruction
If you've taken swimming lessons and had little progress to show for it, or have swum for years without improving, it doesn't mean that you "lack what it takes" to swim well. Traditional swimming instruction - even traditional thinking about swimming - is the cause of your frustrations.
Total Immersion (TI) techniques have revolutionized swimming improvement by teaching humans to swim like a fish. No, not with fins, but with smooth movements, a strealined body and effortless power from the core.
Who Needs TI?
Triathletes, Masters, Age Group and Recreational Swimmers, Fitness swimmers, Beginner Swimmers.
Until recently, triathletes trained for swimming the same way they trained for cycling and running; high yardage would get them through the first leg of the race. Without good technique, these athletes tend to work harder than they have to. If you can improve your technique, you will use less energy on the swim and start the bike feeling refreshed.
While no-one has ever won the race in the swim, many have lost because of it.
Masters Swimmers come to realize that the high-output efforts that served them well in their youth no longer deliver the speed they used to.
Many Age Group swimmers that learn good technique at an early age will know swimming for the rest of their lives and will have fewer injuries. Poor technique destroys many young swimmers' shoulders.
Recreational & Fitness swimmers tend to get in the pool and do the same workout every time. Improvements are minimal and staleness can easily set in.
Beginner swimmers have the biggest advantage: they don't come to the table with bad habits. With TI, beginner swimmers have the biggest advantage in that they have less.
Why Struggle?
Total Immersion instruction helps you realize how big an advantage improved technique can bring. Fitness obtained through endless laps of bad technique reinforces using too much energy for too little return. If you work on technique first and foremost and then build fitness (your base) on the efficient technique you have developed, you will be able to swim with a minimum effort in the water and actually enjoy the experience.
A common misconception is that you must sacrifice fitness to work on technique.
With Total Immersion, you are actually developing fitness even when you work on technique.
So how does your swimming measure up?
Do you have to start from scratch every season, rebuiding your fitness? Ever notice how some
athletes make it look easy, even when they are
not in the best shape?
Not sure what you are doing in the water?
Click for information on an
Underwater Video Analysis Session
Total Immersion Workshops
Total Immersion workshops
are offered in the area and currently run $445.00. This is group instruction over two days with four in-water sessions with up to 30 athletes (with no more than 5 athletes per coach).
In addition to the in-water instruction, the TI workshop includes an underwater video stroke analysis at the beginning and end of the workshop and detailed discussions of how to achieve swimming
success.
In the workshop, you go through the techniques as a series of twelve drills that teach you balance (how to be aware of and control your body's position in the water) and propulsion (using your "core" instead of you arms and legs to generate your movements). After the workshop, you have an understanding of what you have to do and how to go about doing it. Many of my students have taken a workshop and seek out an experienced coach to work on some aspect of their technique.
Improving your swimming is a lifelong pursuit, and with TI comes the means to understand what does and does not improive you movement in the water, as well as the tools to continuously improve your swimming.
Workshop vs. Private Lessons
Individual instruction is best, as you can proceed at your own pace and really spend quality time on every detail. In the workshop setting, we get you there, but you do not get the level of personal attention that comes with private instruction. Another advantage is that you can have a week to work on something that you may not have mastered before moving on to more advanced drills.
Meet your Coach:
Rich Barkan
As a Total Immersion swimmer, coach and workshop director, I have trained swimmers at all levels, from beginner to Ironman, and offer individual and group (up to three people) instruction. In the Summer, this includes open water instruction and race preparation.
In the lessons, as in the TI weekend workshops I run, I am training my students to be their own technique coaches for the rest of their lives. They will understand why they are doing the drills (NEVER do a drill if you don't know how to do it or how it is supposed to help your stroke) and how to know if it is being done correctly.
Practice? I have to Practice?
Students in private instruction are expected to practice (hopefully at least twice a week) between lessons. Lessons can be weekly or every other week, but not more than the latter to be effective.
I offer individual lessons (with a video in the first one and then in later sessions as needed). The lessons run an hour in the water with a little time before and after the first one to discuss technique and strategy as well as to review the video.
What is the cost?
The cost of the lesson depends on location. While I am sent all over the country for TI weekend workshops, the private instruction is limited at this time primarily to Nassau and Suffolk Counties on Long Island, although some sessions are possible in Queens, Manhattan and other locations.
Contact me for more information information, scheduling and lesson fees.
My hour lessons usually go longer than an hour unless there is a time limit (another lesson coming in or the pool closing, etc.). The rate is reduced for two or three (but no more than three) in a lesson.
The first lesson includes an underwater videotaping and review so you can see what you are doing and better develop your initial focus.
Call 516-316-6819 or e-mail for more info or to schedule a session.
Rich Barkan is a Total Immersion Workshop Director and Coach and currently the only authorized TI instructor on Long Island.
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