Lesson Series Winter 2018

[Mat Hudson]

Pool Session #1 – January 10

I first explained the four necessary features of the freestyle stroke we need to make sure are in place for you to experience the ‘magic’ of the stroke:

1. The Torpedo Frame
2. Long, firm Skate Position
3. ‘Send Force Forward’ through the Recovery Arm Swing
4. Optimal Arm-Switch Timing

Our lesson series will have us work through each of these. Though your practice of TI so far has already established much of these skills in your stroke, you will likely discover some missing pieces or new insights which solve some of the problems you’ve been encountering.

We first explored how to create the ‘Torpedo Frame’ of the body, the frame which water can support so you don’t have to expend effort pushing down in order to hold the body up. Then we worked on keeping this frame parallel to the surface. Then we worked on shaping the body into its most ideal streamline shape in Skate.

The Skate Position is the base position for the freestyle stroke – the stroke starts and finishes at this stable, streamline position. It is the foundation on which all other parts of the stroke depend. Skate Position delivers force forward. The better your Skate Position, the more easily you slide forward in the water.

Balance and Streamline Drills

• Standing rehearsal of Torpedo
• Torpedo
• Standing rehearsal of Superman
• Superman
• Superman + 4 strokes
• Standing rehearsal for Skate
• Superman to Skate
• Skate + 4 strokes
• Whole stroke, 1 length

You may view images of these standard TI drill positions on the Freestyle Drill Resources page (under Perpetual Motion Freestyle) and you may view videos for some of these drills on the Video Tutorial page.

To help you pay attention, interpret and send commands to particular parts of your body I gave you a selection of focal points in each drill.

Focal Points

• Weightless Head
• Long Spine Line (Shishkabob Spine)
• Tippy Toes
• Arms On Wide Tracks
• Hands at Target
• Keep arms soft (like a tree branch)
• Rotate just off your stomach (low rotation angle)

 

Practice On Your Own

I have some general recommendations for your practice time in the links below. Since you are already swimming laps and would like to keep that going, you may spend more of your time doing that. Just take a moment to tune up your sensitivity and control over some particular of the stroke in a drill, then move into whole stroke swimming holding just one or two focal points. Within whatever normal swim set you are doing, choose a distance or duration in which you will hold your attention on that chosen focal point – this too will be like lifting weights, and you will notice attention fatigue. So, choose 2 or 3 focal points and rotate though them at regular intervals, while continuing to swim whole stroke. This is called ‘focal point swimming’. If at any time while swimming along  you lose the feel, lose sensitivity, lose control, then you can stop for a moment to move into drill mode to regain that control, and then resume the  set.

 

Some Additional Reading

You may review our introduction to the Balance Streamline Propulsion Pyramid. You’ll use this BSP organization to help you set priorities in your skill learning process.

A central feature of our Total Immersion method is our use of Focal Points to create a super-learning situation for your brain. You may review our introduction to Focal Points.

Ass you do your personal practice between our live sessions, you may appreciate some guidance on how to organize your efforts. You may read How To Practice.

 

Practice Plans

As part of your live training experience you have a membership to our online training site and enrollment in a training plan. I’ve given you two different plans:

If you want even more structure and guidance for how to practices these new skills in an orderly way, you may start studying the Freestyle Fundamentals online course that has been designed specifically for those who are taking or have finished our live Freestyle lesson series. You are enrolled in this online course automatically as part of your live lesson experience.

And, I have also given you a membership to the Virtual Swim Club, where each month a new practice plan is provided, with 3 levels to choose from. You may disregard the focal points assigned in the VSC plan for this month and just insert the skill projects and focal points you have chosen from your live lesson series.

You may leave reports, comments and questions about these course here, in your personal discussion zone.

[Alex Granzin]

Thanks again for a wonderful lesson Matt and in addition for the access to all the wonderful resources.  I swam this morning prior to receiving your email and spent the entire time reviewing the exercises we worked on yesterday with a majority of the time being spent on the skate drills both with and without fins.  I’m already feeling much more support from the water as well as  greater ease of movement through the water.  I’m planning to structure my swims with a basic 70/30 plan-70% drills, 30% laps with focal points.  As the drills improve this may shift.  The four stroke drill with no breaths and the two beat kick felt really good today and I’m already looking forward to getting back in the pool tomorrow.

Take Care-See you next Wednesday

 

[Alex Granzin]

Another good workout at the pool today.  Started at the beginning with 2×25 superman glide which feels great but I think I need lots of practice releasing the head so this seems a good entry point.  I then moved on numerous laps of skate drill alternating right and left.  When I started to loose focus I switched to four strokes which felt really good, definitely more supported by the water and much less struggle to simply move through the water.  Things get shakey when I add breathing so I didn’t do much of that but continued to go back and forth between skate and four strokes with different focal points and before I knew I had been in the pool 45 minutes.  I did do a few laps with the snorkel to get a better feel for maintaining a focal point while swimming coninuously (at least for a single lap).  I usually swim for an hour or so but shorter sessions make for better focus and since I’m planning to swim most days that amount of time should be  adequate.  Haven’t really started keeping records but this seems like a good place to jot down some notes after a workout

[Alex Granzin]

Practices continue to go well.  I’ve been emphasizing superman glide and skate along with four strokes, trying to  include all the focal points, but I’m sure I’ve missed some.  Balance doing left lead skate is a bit shakier in that there’s more tension in my legs trying to a gentle flutter.  It’s getting better, just different on that side. The two beat kick as you demonstrated feels quite good as I can sense the energy it imparts to rotation and balance post kick.    I did a bit of “swimming” the last time I was in the pool and felt much more relaxed when I was breathing every two strokes.  Switching to three strokes and alternate breathing made it more difficult to stay relaxed for much more than a length of the pool.

 

[Mat Hudson]

Pool Session #2 – January 17

First, we spent some time reviewing your focal points from the first lesson and you did well with those.

 

Counter-Balanced Foot Position

You called attention to your legs so we spent some time tuning up your CBF.

The first goal is to keep the legs hidden behind the torso, within that ‘fuselage’ profile. This means resisting the habit to scissor the legs on each switch.

The second goal is to train just one foot to move while the other ‘drifts’ to its opposite CBF position.

The third goal is to make it one smooth action, where the feet immediatley come to their CBF position on each switch and lock into place, just as the lead arm is locked into place on Skate.

I showed you a couple drills for working on this:

• standing rehearsal – Windshield Wipers
• laying in Superman, hands on the wall,
• Single Foot Sweep

You can see that drill and others for CBF/2Bk on the Video Tutorials page.

 

Arm Switch Timing

In anticipation of working on Rhythmic Breathing we first spent some time tuning up the arm switch timing in front. The breathing action is going to find its best position within the stroke cycle when the arms are timed just right.

I had you swim a series with the focal points ‘Trip Wire’.

This timing absolutely must be in place in order for the breathing to feel the best. So, this may be an essential tune up for you, when working on rhythmic breathing.

The common problem is that the brain is using one (new and improved!) stroke pattern for the non-breathing strokes, and then when the swimmer turns attention or anticipates the breath, the brain switches to a different (old) pattern for that breathing stroke, and the arm switch timing is off. Then it might take a non-breathing stroke or two after that to restore the arm switch timing.

 

Rhythmic Breathing

What seems to happen is that the brain has wired the head-torso-arm-shoulders into one movement, so when the head turns and returns, the torso-arms-shoulders want to turn with it. But we need to train the head to turn independent of the torso, yet cooperatively with it.

The goal is that your non-breathing stroke and your breathing stroke should use the exact same arm switch pattern – no deviation, no variation. That pattern is perpetual and not affected by the turn of the head at all. Then the head will turn quickly within the first part of the window of opportunity created by the turning torso. The head will move independent of the stroke action, but cooperatively with it.

For this re-wiring I introduced a ‘old-wire-snipping’ drill where we break the breathing action into 3 distinct parts, with pauses:

• Slide into Skate
• Turn and Return the head to face-down position
• Resume recovery swing and Tripe Wire

Although this has pauses and exaggerates the distinction of the three parts, it is meant to slow things down so you have the opportunity to consciously override the old pattern. As this become more familiar to your nervous system, more routine, then you may gradually reduce the pauses between each action until they flow seamlessly, yet with distinct independence between the head and the arm movements.

And, I would recommend alternating between repeats of non-breathing strokes for Trip Wire tune up and repeats where you do the 3-part breathing drill, so that the arm switch timing is continually reinforced.

 

 

[Mat Hudson]

You wrote these notes about your practice plans:

Swim Workout Jan 18 Follow-up to Lesson 2 with Matt Hudson

This weeks theme will be sniping the wires-trying to make way for new motor sequences by breaking some old patterns and starting to establish new ones.

Three big ideas- kick in line with the torso (and time it right)

Hold the skate position until the non-skate arm breaks the trip line (elbow of skate arm)

Stay in skate until head returns to the water when taking a breath (kick sip-don’t try to expel every last bit of breath but be ready to breathe as soon as head comes up

With the respect to the kick the focus will be on alternating the pigeon toe position, keeping the legs in line with the torso and maintaining that torpedo shape. No need for a real kick just a gentle change of position to keep the legs up and in line with the torso. Timing is currently off but this is a secondary goal at this point. I’m initiating the kick a bit too soon and not getting out of it what I might. Matt suggested I try to delay the onset of the kick just a bit and I will give this a try but it’s also related to other things that are going on with the stroke timing.

Stroke timing-practice holding the skate position until the recovering arm breaks the trip line (a line perpendicular to the body through the elbow of the skate arm).

Get into skate and take a quick breath before the non-skate arm leaves the water

Most breathing will be practiced to the right (strong side) for the time being, but except for the quick breath all of the above can be practiced with repeated strokes with no breathing going from four to six to eight strokes.

This probably isn’t everything but it is as much as I can remember.

Actual workout

Superman glide 2×25 (relaxed neck, head, long torso, relax at the extremities while keeping the core firm. (50)

Skate 4×25 alternating right , left-relaxed flutter, relaxed neck, head, long torso (100)

4-6-8 strokes alternating focal points each 25 yards 6×25 (50 yards/stroke #)
(300)

4-6-8 strokes pigeon toe “kick” 6×25 (300)

Maintain skate while breaking trip line 4-6-8 (50 yards each count) (300)
Quick sip of air before recovering arm leaves water (probably hold this to 4 strokes, but move on to 6 or 8 if this is going well). 8 x25 (200)

I believe I should be starting to look for a quick sip as I move into the skate position-forgot to ask about this-seems a little tricky because you are never actually in superman glide when swimming but you’re moving into skate from superman glide when you practice this exercise so any tips here would be appreciated.

I’ll probably beak up the routine with a few hundred yards of snorkel swimming with head, neck, kick focal points just to stay warm and take a little pressure off.

This would give me enough yardage for a good workout and hit the points that I remember from the lesson. Please let me know if I’ve missed something or anything here looks way off.

[Mat Hudson]

Your Practice Plans

Your plans with drills, focal points and sequence look thoughtful, appropriate.

Regarding breathing… there is the timing part, yes – you want to aim at beginning the turn of the head toward air right with the beginning of the catch. And the turn of the head is a bit more aggressive than the turn of the torso.

In the Superman To Skate drill for breathing, you can practice this timing also as you begin the pull back with the catch hand, that start of the pull is the trigger for the head to turn. When in Whole Stroke, likewise, the very start of the catch, the very start of the torso turning is the trigger for the head to turn and turn more quickly than that hand or torso are moving. Not extremely so, but faster, because you want to touch the air, sip and begin returning the head before your eyes see your own recovery arm coming forward.

Here are the full notes I usually post with the full Rhythmic Breathing lesson. You were doing well with several of the points already, so I just focused on a few with you and didn’t go through the whole training sequence. Yet you may find the notes helpful:

 

Rhythmic Breathing

We spent the last part of the session going through a few of the main breathing focal points. I will insert in all the notes from breathing that could be covered, and you will recognize the ones we focused upon in your lesson.

In this session we began working with drills to set up what we call Rhythmic Breathing, where the breath is integrated into the stroke rather than pausing the stroke, as you did in Interrupted Breathing.

I explained how breathing is an advanced dependent skill – it is dependent on the foundation skills of the Torpedo Frame, the Skate Position, and the ideal Arm Switch Timing. When these are in place learning to breath rhythmically is much easier. When these are weak or absent breathing will challenging to learn.

Skills For Rhythmic Breathing

1. Head and Lead Arm Position
2. Timing
3. Air Management (exhale/inhale)

Head position is absolutely critical – the more you trust and lay that head down flat, the easier it is to get the mouth to air. The lead arm position is critical – you must maintain your Skate position and lead arm during the turn and return, so that you do not break stability and streamline and ‘sink your boat’ on every breath.

Drills

• Standing rehearsal with arms moving from Superman To Skate
• Superman To Skate
• 3 Strokes then turn to breath at Skate
• Multiple strokes – breathing every 4 strokes (breathe to one side on each length)
• Multiple strokes – breathing every 3 strokes (alternate breathing sides)

In each drill we used three stages for developing the head position…

First, Nod to the side, both goggles underwater, looking directly at the wall, then quickly turning back to face-down position.

Next, Split The Face, and keep the shishkabob underwater pointing straight ahead. One goggle underwater and one goggle above water. The mouth is half in, half out of the water.

Next, reach the cheek and the lips up to the air. Kiss the air with the lips. You may not attempt to breathe during the first tries of this just to make sure you can touch the air. Then, when you feel more confident that air is there, you may attempt a quick sip of air.

Focal Points

• Keep shishkabob underwater
• Turn head on shishkabob spine
• Turn with torso rotation
• Turn toward Catch Hand (at very start of the catch)
• Turn away from Extending Lead Arm (at very start of the entry)
• Cheek up, forehead down (you don’t breathe with your goggles)
• Tilt head down further than you think (your sense of ‘flat’ is not truly flat)
• Quick sip of air
• Steady bubbles from the nose
• Burst of air as mouth touches air, to clear the airway of water
• Emphasize the exhale – body needs to rid of CO2, not need more O2
• Partial, frequent air exchange (rather than massive, complete empty/fill)

 

As I noted, your stroke skills are the foundation for easy breathing, so the stronger those become the easier it will be to take a breath and the less anxious or disruptive that action will be.

[Alex Granzin]

Thanks Mat, this is very helpful, particularly the elaboration of  drills related to breathing skills.  I’ll be adding some of these to my next workouts.  All of the drills felt pretty good this morning and it was helpful to start the turn for a quick sip as I began to pull into skate position.  I did just a of trip wire practice with a snorkel just to get the feel of doing it a bit more continuously and it didn’t seem difficult to maintain focus for the length of the pool.  Looking forward to lots more practice and my next lesson.  See you next Wednesday.

 

 

[Alex Granzin]

Continuing to work on the skills from the first lesson while adding in the new ones.  Left skate is feeling better after several more practice sessions. I’ve been doing a good deal of 2-4-6 stroke alternating my focal points in order to keep focused.  The quick sip is starting to feel better, as in less rushed and disruptive, but I think I need to go back a few steps and work on head position and split the face.  I’m so accustomed to being off balance when I breathe that it’s bee difficult to get a quick sip without rushing the breath, introducing a bunch of unnecessary movement and probably not leaving my head as flat as it should be (this is hard to tell without feedback).  The pigeon toe and trip wire drills are feeling pretty good either with 4-6-8 or a snorkel.

 

[Mat Hudson]

Pool Session #3 – January 24

In our session today we reviewed the integration of your skills so far.

The sections of interest were:

1. Check arm switch timing
2. Breathing still not feeling quite as comfortable as hoped
3. Is the 2BK better

 

Arm Switch Timing

After observations during your warm up, we used focal point ‘Trip Wire’ to refresh your arm switch timing on non-breathing strokes, and I have you exaggerate the overlap in order to help you become even more comfortable keeping that lead arm extending until the last possible moment. We need to remove all sense of urgency for that lead arm to pull early – to make it reluctant to pull because maintaining streamline has become priority.

To reinforce the preference for the arm switch timing in your nervous system I introduced the focal point ‘Steel Cable’ to you so that you feel the relationship between the two arms at the switch moment.

 

Breathing

We tuned up the arm switch timing first because that is the necessary foundation for easier rhythmic breathing.

There is a strong tendency in swimmers for the breathing stroke to revert back to old (early pull) patterns. On breathing strokes that lead arm must wait for the recovery arm just as it does on non-breathing strokes. The turn/return of the head, if connected to the recovery arm, is what seems to trigger the premature pull of the lead arm.

So I had you go back to the 3 part breathing drill – skate, turn/return head, Trip Wire recovery – with the slightest pause between each in order to tune up the independence of each of those actions. You did well in turning the head a bit earlier, and in reducing the pause.

It seemed that keeping the lead arm extending during the entire breathing action was the key to restoring your improved sense of ease on each breath.

 

2 Beat Kick

Then we turned attention to the kick. You were doing a good job of keeping the legs compact and streaming behind the torso.

I had you adjust the leg movement, to remove the emphasis of the bend at the knee, and instead emphasize the kick as a turn of the ankle so that it ties in more directly to the turn of the hips.

You appeared to have an excessive amount of ‘stacking’ of the feet (which I rarely see) which seemed to pull the lower (passive) foot too far inward. So I had you work with a different focus – to arc the toes from inward, pigeon toe position to toes-outward position and let the other foot drift into position in response to this action of the kicking foot. That seemed to bring the feet more into the ideal position we are looking for: more ‘staggered’ than ‘stacked’.

I also had you emphasize the turn of the heel outward, to stretch the heel upward and outward (which corresponds to pigeon toe) to just below the surface. This emphasis on the turn of the heel creates a stretch from the hip, down the side of the leg to the ankle. This stretches the whole body line further, so that you can feel the body lengthen along the whole Skate side, from wrist to ankle. From above I can see a very straight body line down the Skate side of the body. Hold this stretched position while holding Skate position and it keeps the body more firm, straight, and sliding forward with least resistance.

 

Synchronization

You asked about the connection of the catch to the foot, so I felt this was the perfect segway to introduce another piece of synchronization. When I had you focus on Steel Cable with the two arms in front, that was another synchronization combination.

You may want to read Synchronized Propulsion Combinations.

And then specifically, you may read about AB Sync and DB Sync since these are what you’ve been introduced to already.

I explained that we want the torso to empower the catch. We want the kick to assist the torso rotation. And by this, the kick assists the catch.

I arranged your drill into these steps:

• Swim a few repeats to examine the connection of Catch and Hip – the BC Sync combination.
• Then examine the Kick and Hip connection – the DC Sync combination.
• Then zoom out to feel all three – the DCB combination along that whole side of the body.
• Then I had you examine just DB Sync, with the hip/torso rotation (C) being implicit between them.

As mentioned, synchronization is what fills most of my practice time because there is fine tuning to be done at each tempo, for each kind of swimming situation. There are endless opportunities to make it better, smoother, more effective.

[Mat Hudson]

Suggestion For Personal Practice

You may arrange a practice time like this:

Warm Up

6x 50 Silent Swim

3 Rounds of:

• 2x 25 fist swim
• 2x 25 full hand
• 2x 25 brisk tempo
• Choose 3 focal points, then swim 1 round for each focal point

 

Main Sets

Choose 2 or 3 skill projects. Choose 2 focal points for each project. Then work on each skill project using the main set pattern.

Main Set Pattern

For each skill project, swim 3 cycles of:

• Drill for 2 minutes
• 4x 8 strokes, no breathing
• 4x 25, with breathing
• 100 whole stroke
• Use a drill at any time to reset the skill if you lose it along the way

On first cycle use focal point A. On second cycle use focal point B. On third cycle blend focal points AB.

 

Cool Down

Alternate 50 of freestyle and 50 of another stroke style.

Kick 4x 50 in Skate Position, with fins. Generate kick mostly from turn of ankles and hip, with slightest flex of knee.

Swim 4x 50 pure pleasure.

 

Periodic Test Swim

I also encouraged you to periodically swim a longer fixed distance as a test of your current skills. This could be a distance of 400 or 800 for example, or a half mile – whatever has you swim long enough to get into a rhythm and bring you into a nice amount of tiredness. This test swim could be once a week or every two weeks.

Swim simply to observe how deeply the skills you have been working on are wired into your system. You are letting your stroke do what it is currently trained to do. You observe what is going well, and what seems inconsistent or weak. You might count strokes, but not force yourself to reach any particular stroke count.

[Mat Hudson]

Pool Session #4 – January 31

Today, in anticipation of working on the breathing, we stepped back to see how we might improve the Skate Position, the platform upon which breathing takes place.

As you swam during the warm up I noticed that the legs, particularly the leg on the Skate side, did not seem as extended and straight behind the torso as it could be. I had you extend that leg as in Tippy Toes. The intent is that, just for a moment, you fully lengthen on this side of the body, legs aligned behind.

Then I had you focus on emphasizing more extension of the shoulder/armpit, to ‘open’ the armpit toward the bottom of the pool. This lengthening of the shoulder, combined with the lengthening of the leg, creates a longer, straighter, lean body line that slides farther and rides closer to the surface in that Skate moment.

To further enhance that long, firm body line, I had you emphasize Pigeon Toe on the Skate side to feel that stretch all the way down to the ankle. That distinct foot position absorbs the last of the rotational force of the torso, and lines up that side of the body like a skate blade.

You did very well with these, on non-breathing strokes.

We moved into breathing on your strong side to see the effect of your improvements on Skate. You noted this seemed to make it much easier to touch the air on the breath action. I had you do short repeats with just a few strokes and then a single breathing stroke.

I also noted that you may insert the focal point ‘turn toward air as early as possible’ to improve ease even more.

Here is a series of activities you could do to form a set working on all of these focal points, bringing them together gradually:

• 4x 4 strokes, non-breathing
• 6 strokes with one breathing stroke on strong side
• 4x 4 strokes, non-breathing
• 6 strokes with one breathing stroke on weaker side
• 4x 4 strokes, non-breathing
• Full length, breathing on strong side
• 4x 4 strokes, non-breathing
• Full length, breathing on weaker side

Use one Skate focal point and one breathing focal point together in a cycle through this. Then consider a 100-300y pleasure swim at the end to blend a few pleasing focal points together.

[Alex Granzin]

Thanks for another wonderful lesson.  I did a workout very much like the one you provided above and things went well.  It’s already feeling more comfortable breathing on the left (weak) side.  I’ll continue to go over the notes from all four lessons as I plan workouts. I know I have a long way to go but I’m very pleased with the progress I’ve made, thanks largely to your instruction. I’m planning to use a two hundred swim every week or so to gauge progress and will also keep an eye on strokes per pool length

 

Good luck with your travel and camp, I hope that one day I’ll be there for one.

 

Alex

[Alex Granzin]

Hey Mat-Just checking in to see if I can get a look at that last video before you head off to Turkey.  If it doesn’t wok out it’s no big deal.  Workouts are going well and I’m working my way through the wealth of material that I have access to now on the site.

 

Alex

[Alex Granzin]

Thanks for sending the video Mat, that’s quite a change.  Lots to work on, but that’s part of what makes swimming so much fun.  That’s about 8 seconds faster than I would typically swim a lap when I started.  I know it’s still pretty slow, but it felt good and I’m excited to keep working on a variety of focal points.  The legs are looking better (much better than when I started)  and so is the extension.  I’m trying to work on tightening up the middle but that is very much a work in progress.  I’ll keep you posted and thanks again for all your help this is a breakthrough for me that has been a long time coming.

 

Alex

[Mat Hudson]

Hey Alex,

When it feels better on the inside and produces better things on the outside we know we’re on the right track! Now that you can feel what you are aiming for and can execute each piece, practice will do its part to make it come easier. Speed will be a byproduct. I am pleased that you are so pleased!

Keep me posted.

[Alex Granzin]

I think you’re absolutely right Mat.  I appreciate the way that you and TI emphasize having the learner focus on  how things feel on the inside while providing meaningful metrics to assess progress.

 

Safe travels

[Alex Granzin]

Hey Mat-Hope things are copecetic in the Dominican Republic and that the camp is going (or went) well.  I’ve been getting in the pool 4/5 times a week and working on a variety of focal points.  I feel like things are continuing to improve, particularly my sense of ease when just swimming (breathing right) .  When I breath to the left there are a number of challenges and I feel like I could definitely use a few more lessons to work things out.  I feel like I have a difficult time maintaining my balance when I breathe to the left, I have to wrk really hard to keep my lead arm from diving and my legs from wanting to kick too soon and without the control I would like to feel.  I’d like to find a time when we’re both available and see about setting up some more lessons.

 

Take Care

Alex

[Mat Hudson]

Hi Alex!

I am pleased to hear you are tapping into new levels of pleasure and satisfaction. That is what training is meant to produce. I can testify that there are more levels to heaven in this. I keep stumbling into new ones every year and a half it seems. Truly.

We’re on the last couple days of camp here in DR. There are many nice features and experiences, but also quite a few bugs to work out for a new location. And, more than half the group has been hit with some illness, none of them seem connected to the others. That has been discouraging. But everyone (but the most ill person in the group, as you can imagine) is expressing appreciation for being here.

But the water is 76 and the air is 78 and nearly hot under the direct sun – about as comfortable as you can get.

Yes, I would be glad to set up some new appts. If it still works for you, I think Wed at the same time (12:45) may work for me, or Mondays, starting Mon Feb 26, of Wed Feb 28 or after that.  I think we can set up an approach to smooth out that breathing on the weak side.

[Alex Granzin]

Sorry to hear about the bugs that are afflicting a lot of the swimmers, that would be real bummer. On the other hand the conditions sound pretty amazing. The Wednesday time still works for me. I’m out of town March 14-21, but other than that I’ll be around.  Let me know what works for you and we can get after that left side breathing.  There are times when I get pool and just swim breathing right that feels pretty amazing, but the left side is still a struggle.  HOpe folks recover enugh to enjoy the last few days.

 

Alex

[Mat Hudson]

In one lesson we may be able to get you going on a better left-side breathing.

We could do Wed March 7 at 12:45 and/or Monday March 12, 12:45, if you think you may need another.

Will you be able to practice where ever you’re gone to  that week?

[Alex Granzin]

March 7th would work Matt and I would have a week to practice before I leave for Colorado.  My wife and I are usually so busy providing childcare for our granddaughters that it’s difficult if not impossible to get away for a swim.  I expect that to change as the kids get a little older and there is a world class natatorium at Mesa State University not far from my daughter’s home.  It’s getting a little better with each workout, but I still feel slightly off balance each time I breathe to the left and I don’t have that issue when breathing to the right.  Let me know if the 7th will work and I’ll put it on the calendar.  Safe travels.

 

Alex

[Alex Granzin]

I forgot to mention that I tried the chlorine protocol-sauna plus hot/cold shower and it works great. I’ve had issues with my skin itching after swims for years and this protocol seemed to fix it very quickly.  I’ve made it a standard part of my workout now, thanks for the tip.

[Mat Hudson]

OK. Wed, Mar 7, 12:45 is on the calendar for us at Courthouse.

And, keep in mind that we can do 60min lessons ($81 with ongoing lesson series discount), or 90min ($108 w/ discount), as you please. If you feel like you need more or less we can adjust the time and agenda.

I am glad you can confirm that chlorine solution is working for you! Does your wife notice too? Often others notice the difference more than we do.

[Alex Granzin]

The 7th it is at 12:45.  If it’s ok can we can leave the 60 or 90 minute choice open.  If not, let’s assume it’ll be a 90 minute lesson.

 

My wife  says she’s never noticed that much of a chlorine smell on me, but she has pestered me about moisturizing.  However, I find it impossible to moisturize my back when I get out of the pool and that’s the only area of my skin that has ever bothered me.  The protocol also feels great, it’s really a nice way to close out a workout.  The cornstarch has also been helping my feet so thanks for that tip as well.  See you on the 7th.

 

Alex

[Alex Granzin]

Did a 1k (yards) continuously in the pool tonight which I absolutely would not have believed possible six weeks ago.  It was probably getting a little ragged toward the end, but I didn’t feel like I needed to quit just like that was probably enough since I haven’t been swimming distances much lately.  The time was really slow about 31 minutes so I know there’s still a ton to work on but it was encouraging to be able to maintain for that length of time.  Looking forward to working on that left side breathing and continuing to work on all aspects of the stroke (from tip to toe).

 

 

Alex

[Mat Hudson]

Alex, that is WONDERFUL.

That is the magic we are looking for!

As Terry used to say, we work on the skills and speed happens. 3 min for 100y is ‘slow’ but it will speed up naturally as the brain etches these new patterns and goes through its process of stripping down the muscle activation to minimal amount through your mindful practice.

[Alex Granzin]

Thanks Matt, I’m pretty excited about this and very grateful for the instruction I’ve received from you.  It also really reinforces the work that I have put in (and will continue to put in) on the drills. I should have noted that I have also been able to swim 25s at about 20 sec which I also could not possibly have done less than 2 months ago. Really looking forward to making some progress on the left breathing and continuing to refine the stroke.

 

Alex

[Alex Granzin]

Hi Mat-Quick question.  I’m struggling so much with the left side breathing I’m wondering if it might be best just to drop it until my next lesson.  I’m following a series of drill steps that you recommended and sometimes when I do three strokes and take one breath it feels like it’s getting better but if I try to move on within several breaths I’m taking in more water than air.  The right side breathing is feeling great and I’m continuing to work on synchronization as well as lots of other things, but the left side is being very stubborn and I can’t figure out where it’s going wrong.  I can swim one or two lengths breathing every three strokes but then I start to feel anoxic-ok, I’ll stop this really wasn’t a quick question.

 

Alex

[Alex Granzin]

I think I may have gotten an answer from the podcast you posted in January about concerns regarding practicing the wrong thing.  Listening to that was very helpful and provided some much needed perspective.  I’ll just keep working on it and tracking what happens.  See you on Wednesday.

[Mat Hudson]

If you are running into a road block with that left side breathing and can’t find a way around it (or don’t accidentally get around it on occasion) then it might be OK to postpone work on it until we can do our check up and troubleshoot together, since you have an appointment coming soon.

But, if you occasionally seem to get some good breaths on that side, by intention or accident, then it may be worth 10 minutes of practice time to keep chipping away at it. But do it with deep observation. Stay organized in what you pay attention to, focal point by focal point, like a checklist, (frequently referencing the successful right side pattern) to find what feature of that side is missing. Kinda like a mechanic would test an machine, component by component, to find the problem by process of elimination.

We do hope to find simple or easy fixes for breathing troubles, but it is possible that it can be a little puzzle of a few converging faults, or some deeper psychosomatic things when one is working on a side that generates some anxiety subconsciously. Even one’s air management style can shift without realizing it.  We’ll work through these, and will likely uncover the main culprits for you. No worries!

[Alex Granzin]

Thanks Matt, I’ll keep chipping away as I do get some good breaths now and then, often the first breath feels pretty good but if I continue breathing left I seem to lose propulsion and then the stroke gets frenetic. I’ve even had a few good laps but accomplished them by applying lots of force and at the end of the lap I’m pretty gassed. I also feel like there’s lots more wiggling going on when I breathe left but I’m not sure why that’s happening or the best way to stop it. It’s good to have a challenge so it’s not discouraging just a chance for some deep engagement with my mind and body. Looking forward to my lesson. I’d like to consider taking a set of four and then hopefully moving into more online coaching. The 7pm practice time would be pretty tough for me facing night time drive back to Eugene after a workout.

 

I also wanted to mention that I’m finding many of the blog posts to be quite useful and one day soon I’l learn to respond here rather than sending a typical email response.

 

[Alex Granzin]

I forgot to mention that I’ll need you to remind how to go about paying for the lessons.

[Mat Hudson]

You can reg and pay for more lessons at this link.

[Alex Granzin]

I registered and paid for four 0ne hour lessons at the $81 rate.  I chose an hour because it makes the drive back a little easier for me coming from Eugene.  We can work out dates for future lessons today when we meet or when I return from Colorado.  See you at the pool.

 

Alex

[Mat Hudson]

Hi Alex,

Fun working with you again today!

I set up a new topic for this new series of lessons

https://dojo.mediterraswim.com/forums/topic/lesson-series-spring-2018-alex-gr/

[Alex Granzin]

Thanks Matt, I really enjoyed that lesson and I’m excited to work on the focal points both in the repeats and in some relatively stress free sets.   Let me know when you need notice about a lesson on March 21st, but I can commit now to a lesson on the 28th at the usual time if you’re available.

I was happy to find that the vast majority of time breathing to the left while breathing every three strokes didn’t feel awkward or off balance, a very nice change.  One thing I forgot to ask about is whether I should still spend a bit of time just doing four stroke drills in which I just take one good breath on the left and then skate.

 

 

[Alex Granzin]

Nice workout today, tired the 8×50 with three focal points and that went pretty well.  ALso spent a good deal of time just working on extension with a tight frame and delaying the kick both of which felt quite good.  I’m also planning on throwing in a longer swim (from me that’s anything more than 750 to work on maintaining form while under the stress of swimming for more extended periods of time). You mentioned that perhpas I’d benefit from the 1k class and we can talk about that at the next lesson.

 

Alex

[Mat Hudson]

I have you down for Wed March 28, and I’ve penciled you in for Wed, March 21 just in case that works for you. I will let you know if there is competition for that time, but as of now, it is open.

The breathing drills are just tools to serve your need. You do want to gradually increase the challenge under which you are practicing bi-lateral breathing, but at any time that it breaks down in some way, you can always step back to a simpler activity (lower the neuromuscular complexity) to tune up for a while. Then resume your more challenging swimming.

You may also swim long distances and set a condition for yourself – for example, one each 100 that you will breathe on right side one length, bi-lateral on two lengths, and on weak side for one length. Of breathe as you please for 3 lengths and bi-lateral for one. You don’t need to necessarily force yourself to use weak side 50% of the time, but you can set a goal to use it 20 or 30% of the time. Over time you will just get more and more comfortable with it.

Back when I first discovered TI, I was a ‘retired’ triathlete and would do 1500 time trial every couple of weeks just to make sure I didn’t lose touch with swimming ‘long distance’. That worked at removing intimidation about that distance. I now swim 1500 as a warm up for every single practice so I’ve conditioned myself to view it as ‘easy’ and normal.

My high school swim coach forced all of us to breathe bilateral, so I don’t remember learning, just doing it whether I liked it or not. It got so much easier to do it smoothly once I learned TI. But that discipline from my coach was also an important element. So, now that you’ve got the focal points, I do encourage you (not command you) to just do it regularly some % of your practice and over time you’ll improve in both skillful ease and in your emotional response to it.

 

[Alex Granzin]

Thanks Matt, I’ll let you know as soon as possible if it looks like the 21st will work (it’ll depend on how exhausted I am after taking care of my granddaughters for a week).  Breathing left will definitely continue to be a part of my workouts and I’m going to start keeping a log as I search for that sweet spot where there’s some challenge but not so much that it becomes aversive.  I like the idea of  mixing it up a good bit so I’m not always doing the same routine.  It is getting better, but it’s going to involve more work than kicking the fins did.  See you soon.

 

Alex

[Alex Granzin]

I’m still not sure where I should leave a message for you so I’m leaving one here as well as the other more current training thread. I’m getting over a little cold somI’ll wait until the 28th for my next class.  I’m interested in the 1k class if you think that would be appropriate for me.   See you on the 28th. @12:45

[Alex Granzin]

Well after my bumbling efforts to navigate your website I just wanted to let you know that the 1k class looks like just what I’m looking for.  I’m spending a day or two getting set to get started while the last of my little cold passes but all the information and the structure seems great.

[Alex Granzin]

I’ve been exploring some of the 101 focal points during my last two workouts and appreciate the range of options provided.  I have felt that head-spine alignment is still an issue for me and wanted to survey all the focal points in that area to find the one or two that worked best for me.

I wanted to note an issue that I have identified when breathing left. On the good side when I turn to breathe right the air seems to be right there (well usually) on the other hand it seems to take longer and more effort to get to air when I breathe left-this makes leaving my head in alignment is more of a struggle and often moves a wiggle on down the chain that makes me feel out of balance.

Other than that workouts are going well and I should do my 1k test very soon.

[Mat Hudson]

Thanks for the reports!

I am glad you like the 101 Focal Points. There are other fine details and then there are just other ways of describing the same thing. Each person may find different ones timely or useful.

I am anticipating that your persistence on the left side breathing is provoking improvement. It is obvious your sensitivity to fine details (both positive and negative) is increasing. It is then just a matter of time for you to connect improved awareness to correction and improved control. That you feel the consequences of the mysterious causations on the left side is the condition you need to make single adjustments and immediately sense by this feedback whether it has a positive effect or not.

Looking forward to your 1k test swim!

[Alex Granzin]

Thanks. Matt,  Things are improving on the left side even if slowly. I swam several 25s breathing left only  that went much better.  Improved head position really seems to help as does getting a quick sip rather than hanging out with my face in the air.  It’s still effortful but I think I can actually apply some focal points now while breathing left.

I did find several of the focal points that seem to be most helpful for keeping my head and spine aligned and have been using them when breathing left and right.

1k test coming soon, but. I wanted to be fully over my bug.  See you Wednesday

[Alex Granzin]

I took my 1k test swim today and was pleasantly surprised.  Last time, a little over a month ago I swam that distance in just under 31 minutes.  Today I swam it in 25:45.  That’s still really slow for swimmers, but I was very pleased with the amount of improvement, particularly since I didn’t do any real training for that distance I just kept working on my focal points and bilateral breathing (which I didn’t use on this test).  I was pretty consistent at 21 strokes per length throughout the swim and I may be able to extract splits from my watch.  I was feeling a bit ragged the last 300 or so yards, but I wasn’t really tired, it would have been fine to keep going.  I’m not expecting this level of improvement to continue, but it was exciting to see how much difference good instruction and technique work can make in a short period of time, particularly since I found swimming more than 1 lap without fins to be a challenge at the start of the year.

[Alex Granzin]

Tonight 3/29 I was able to rotate through the four main focal points we worked on in the lesson as I swam my 500 warm up.  I then went through the progression from skate with a breath, 4,6 strokes with a breath working on breathing left (lost track of yards), then a number of 25s breathing left. .  I did 400 with the snorkel working on the focal points and really trying to feel the water where it should be on my head.  When I went back to swimming I noted that the head tilt you mentioned really helped create a breathing space on the right side and  made it easier to get a breath on the left as well.  I did a 25, 50, 75, 100 progression twice breathing every three strokes and things are improving.  Nice workout.

[Alex Granzin]

Hi Matt-Just wanted to ask if I could put my next lesson on April 11th instead of the 4th.  That will give me a little more time to practice, which I think would be good at this stage of the game.

 

Alex

[Mat Hudson]

OK. I’ve got it moved to April 11. No problem!

[Mat Hudson]

BTW – you are a great student. I am pleased how you are patiently working with both the snorkel on the non-breathing strokes, and then shifting back to work on that breathing stroke, both sides. The alternation of snorkel to breathing strokes seems like it is working effectively for you, letting easier distance happen rather than forcing it.

[Alex Granzin]

Thanks Mat appreciate the support and thanks for moving the lesson date.  I enjoy working at my stroke from both sides (breathing and snorkel) and the left is slowly improving.  I’ve been doing lots of repeat 25s breathing every three strokes and I plan to keep doing that.  Looking forward to my next lesson.

 

 

Alex

[Alex Granzin]

Sorry to bug you with all these questions and there’s no need to get back to me in a hurry, but I noticed something during my workout today that I puzzled me.  I was alternating some snorkel work with 25s and 50s breathing every three strokes.  With the snorkel on I was playing with the tempo trainer and was surprised that 1.15 actually felt pretty good even though I was up to 23 strokes per length.  That seems like a much faster turnover than when I’m taking breaths without the snorkel.  I removed the snorkel and started breathing every three strokes and my tempo slowed way down and once again I started to feel anoxic around at around 40 yards.  Trying to pay attntion to any differences between left and right it feels like when I move to breathe left there’s a tension that arises from feeling off balance (you noted the overflexed leg last lesson).  When I go back to a simple drill and just take a left breath it feels ok -then when I start to swim, bam the lack of ease comes back.  I’m just wondering if I should drill the heck out of the left breath taking two strokes and then breathing on the third with quiet legs-or go back to doing more skate with right arm extended and just taking a quick breath.  What really puzzled me is that I seemed to be expending much more energy with the snorkel on and I wasn’t feeling stressed at all, felt like I could keep going for a really long time at 1.15 but then slowing down to breathe left and right I get out of breath after 1 and 1/2 lengths.  If I just need to be more patient and keep working on it, that’s fine, perhaps I’m expecting it to get better to fast.

[Mat Hudson]

A few thoughts….

Your breathing pattern with the snorkel is likely very different than without. I saw a couple different guys using snorkels in the pool the last few days and I noticed the breathing pattern based on the exhale making a distinct sound through the snorkel. They were taking a long slow inhale and a fast burst exhale – about the exact opposite as the pattern we would use while breathing with strokes. So, a switch in pattern from snorkel to none like that is going to feel problematic.

The use of a snorkel is turning off your concern for breathing thus freeing up bandwidth to focus on other parts of the stroke that would otherwise be disrupted. But with any assisting device we need to be conscientious of its liabilities, and be ready to minimize those or prevent any bad habits that might form. There is technique involved just for using such accepted devices so that their benefit is increased and liabilities reduced.

You might find these two articles in the library helpful:

https://dojo.mediterraswim.com/forums/topic/kb-guidelines-swim-training-devices/

https://dojo.mediterraswim.com/forums/topic/kb-guidance-for-using-a-snorkel/

No doubt, face-down swimming with asymmetric breathing cycle puts us in a abnormal situation which is difficult for the land mammal to get used to. We can’t just breathe when we want to, like while running. So, swimming with this asymmetric breathing cycle may be some sort of a limiter on our aerobic capacity in water, but one that can be improved through training, of course.

This is how the process works: you will keep focusing on technical improvements to the breathing action and while you do that, your aerobic fitness will be built up specific to the action of swimming.

So, break down the activities into smaller progressive pieces. When you switch from full lengths with the snorkel, you may not be ready to jump into full lengths without. The breathing action loads the foundation of the stroke (all that stuff we work on before breathing!) and exposes weaknesses. It doubles if not magnifies the complexity of swimming 10x when we insert breathing back into the choreography. So, be gracious to yourself, and be patient and persistent with the technical work.

It is also possible that there are some subconscious obstacles to relaxing in breathing and you may intentionally or accidentally uncover and overcome those just through the process of being engrossed in the technical work.

When coming back to whole stroke with breathing, you can start at any easy level of a breathing drill progress, and work your way up until you feel the hindrance release:

• Superman To Skate – one turn to breathe
• 3 strokes to Skate and turn to breathe
• 6 strokes with a breath turn in the middle
• About 10 strokes, with 1 breath every 4 strokes, on same side
• About 10 strokes, with 1 breath every 3 strokes, alternate sides (start on strong side)
• 1 full length, breathing every 4 strokes, same side
• 1 full length, breathing every 3 strokes, alternate sides

Start with an activity where you can easily execute the breathing skill you are focused on. Do a few repeats to tune up, then step up to the next more complex activity and do more repeats until you feel yourself adapt. Then step up to a more complex activity and so on.

[Alex Granzin]

I may have already posted this, but I just got a bounce back-I know not to respond directly to the emails I get but I must be having difficulty avoiding that reflex.  At any rate I wanted to thank you for your detailed and thoughtful response to my last post.  I think the set sequence you suggested is right on and is actually close to what I have been doing.  The 50s are getting just a but easier and keeping my head down has allowed me to actually get a breath most times-I’m pretty sure that part of my breathlessness comes from completely missing a breath at times on the left side, sometimes I’m too late, sometimes  I get a gulp of of water and sometimes I even get air.  As an experiment I tried using a pull buoy for a few laps and noted that when I breath left with the buoy it feels like I’m going to roll over (continuing the turn to air)-I can correct with intense concentration but it’s tough.  I saw a PT today and he noted my  range of motion both head-neck and trunk rotation are limited on the left side but he thinks it’s quite fixable so that’s good news.  I’m pretty sure that the limited range of motion (not severe) is enough to throw things off on that left side.  I’ve had a devil of a time figuring out why the air just seems to be there when I breathe right but feels harder to get to and more difficult to return from when breathing left.  Really appreciate all the excellent support-no need to get back to me on this, excited to see if the PT proves helpful-much better range of motion in the office at least.  See you next Wednesday-sorry if this is a duplicate.

[Alex Granzin]

Just thought I should let you know-every time I post I get a message about 12 hours letter that my message was undeliverable even when I check and find the message right where it’s supposed to be.  I posted the note above this morning and this evening got a message that it could not be delivered.  Not a problem, just a little confusing.

[Mat Hudson]

That notice is probably from an email server responding to the mistaken email reply you sent. If I send an email to a faulty address I will get these notices once or twice a day for a few days.

 

That is helpful insight the PT gave. Many people have unequal mobility, and that will likely throw off some part of the stroke. I’ve personally seen how my range of motion has increased and evened out through the early years of mindful TI practice. Now that you have some idea what it is you can work on it specifically, and also experiment and come up with some subtle ways to compensate for that limitation while it gradually released over weeks and months.

[Alex Granzin]

Got it-I’ll try to be more careful about always responding to the link and not directly to the email.

I’m pretty excited about getting back in the pool and working mindfully on that left breathing with the new info from the PT.  I also have several more sessions with him next week and he’s given me some exercises to work on opening up the left side.  Sadly for me I got a head cold the same day I had my PT so I haven’t been in the pool since I saw him.  The cold is coming along well and I should be able to get back in the water tomorrow.

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