Press Articles
Swimming Times article by Helen Gorman, March 2006
Some fish can swim at 68mph but we humans max out at just 5mph. We’re slowed by drag and have to battle water resistance that makes us slow and inefficient. Even world champion Mark Foster would flail at the back behind your average fish. Total Immersion (TI) Swimming claims to teach ‘fish-like’ swimming and has even trademarked the phrase. The company, founded by Terry Laughlin in the US in the early 1990s, offers what it calls a foolproof approach to teaching. The TI method encourages students to master a fluent, beautiful and economical style and boasts positive results faster than conventional teaching methods. 
Three elements of learning ‘fish-like freestyle’ are swimming ‘downhill’, swimming ‘taller’ and ‘skating’ on your side. The idea is that anyone can learn these skills, regardless of their experience, age or fitness. Terry Laughlin has had a lot of success with his teaching and coaching methods. He was voted coach of the year in his first year at a college team and put his success down to focusing swimmers on correct technique rather than fitness. ‘Good swimmers simply look better and I had the intuition that teaching less gifted swimmers to look that way might succeed where sheer hard work had failed me in my own swimming career.’...see full article.
News Report from 220 Triathlon, February 2006
Let’s face it, most of us triathletes could benefit from improving our swimming skills, and there's no better way to do this than in an Endless Pool. Total Immersion's Master Coach lan Smith now has a set-up complete with video recording equipment to monitor your progress. There are both under- and above-water cameras so you'll be able to see yourself from all angles. This is transmitted to a large screen so the coach can watch as you swim and you 
are able to look back on your performance during the session. The whole session is recorded to DVD which you can take away, allowing you to monitor what areas you need to improve and practice the drills you have been taught during the session.
It all sounded good to us, and with the head coach and founder of Total Immersion, Terry Laughlin, over from New York, it would have been rude not to have taken up the November invite and be taught by the master himself.
The session started with an assessment of our present stroke and rates were recorded to see if we might show improvement by the end. Terry told us firstly to slow down so we could improve our stroke and use less energy. To do this he demonstrated how to achieve good balance and how to be more aerodynamic in the water. He added a few drills to gain a better catch before showing us some skating techniques. By the end Laughlin had improved our stroke rate considerably and gave us plenty of food for thought along with the very useful DVD .
The Swim Shack is located in Loughborough and sessions are easily booked for whatever time length you require. We'd recommend going over several sessions with couple of week-long gaps to dial in what you've been taught in the last lesson.
Feedback from SwimShack Customers
I attended a TI Freestyle workshop in 2002 - and I thought the time was right to see how I could get to the next level. The endless pool itself is a lot bigger than I imagined - and I found it surprisingly easy to get use to the current. Ian has a projection screen suspended from the ceiling so I could see very quickly what my issues were as an underwater and surface camera capture it all. I put my hands in and then instead of driving down on the "rail" I drive up, I lift my head up before turning to the side and my kick looks like I am cycling on a bike at times.
Ian showed me various drills to help correct these and would correct my technique at any time it went wrong.
I got immense value from being able to SEE my mistakes (I honestly thought I was not doing any of the things that showed up on the camera) and the drills to help burn in the new and better habits. I plan to return to the SwimShack at some point next year to see where things are then and maybe to have my breaststroke looked at as well.
If you are thinking of going to the SwimShack my advice is to go - you will not be disappointed - Charles Mead
Just thought I'd join in with a lot of what's gone before in saying that in terms of wanting to improve your swimming quickly you can't really beat the SwimShack service Ian offers. I have had coaching in the past and whilst I reached a reasonable standard I know that was solely down to the sheer amount of hours I put in. Ian quickly identified the underlying faults of my stroke using among other things an underwater video-camera which revealed how bad I really swam - it wasn't how I imagined and it wasn't pretty! I whole heartedly recommend a lesson with Ian whatever your standard since technique is everything and instead of spending perhaps years floundering up and down the pool you can learn how to reach levels you simply wouldn't reach otherwise. Thanks again Ian and keep up the good work!
p.s. now that I think about it I'm slightly annoyed about the time I've spent swimming like an idiot all these years - oh well! - Graham J
Thank you for the work you did with Emily last week. She enjoyed herself and learned a lot. Her fly looks much better and more relaxed. Her 200 fly dropped 4 secs at the weekend to 2.31.08 everyone said she looked very comfortable........ Emily has dropped her 100 fly to 1.07.99 long course, so she is in pole position in the rankings at the moment - Peter Heyburn [explanatory note - Emily comes under Swim Ireland, but these times would rank her first in both events in the ASA rankings by a significant margin]
Mike and I came to work out with you in December. We both felt huge benefits from the day's coaching. We're so "on our rails" now not only have our times improved but others swimmers in our groups have noticed a difference. Thank You - Paula McCann
Great Ian. So very helpful, I can honestly say that was the best £120 I have spent in ages - still loads to unravel, has given me new goals and understanding Thank you very much - Kari Furre
The report and dvd are great. I can see what's going wrong and now I just have to fix it! Thanks very much - Nick Wilson
I found the session very useful to see exactly what I'm doing wrong & your comments were clear & easy to understand. I was very impressed with the facility & found the pool much easier to swim in than I thought it would be. The whole session was good fun & interesting & I would be happy to recommend it to anyone - Tam Sharpe
Thank you for a fabulous day. We left your place all fired up on both TI and Endless Pools! What a superb facility you have built yourself - it's INSPIRATIONAL -Alix & Mike
I can honestly recommend it either as the perfect follow up to a TI weekend or indeed to anyone who wants to take their swimming to the next level. I may be getting carried away but having just come back from my usual Saturday evening swim I can report that another breakthrough has occurred - namely that I can understand how all the pieces fit together so to speak. Ian's session, because it is one-to-one, because of the equipment and not to mention because he's an excellent coach, means that I left him at the end of the day literally at least 20% faster than I was when I turned up. I have to put the practice in since I realise that for too long my swimming has been not the long graceful strokes I imagined it to be (the underwater cameras at Ian's are my witnesses!) But suddenly 21 min for an open water 1500 (my personal goal) does not seem so far away. Thanks - Graham Jeffrey
Being in a small area means Ian can stand literally next to you and tell you to "move your hand", or "chin down" etc while standing right next to you without you struggling to do a length to be told its wrong and how to correct it next time. It’s a real eye-opener when you see yourself up close swimming along, and you realise how low your backside is in the water, how your arms cross the center line, how you look too far forward rather than straight down. I'd suggest you don't get this level of immediate feedback in a large pool. Nice one Ian - I'll be back for sure for more tuition as I'll need it I suspect! - Graham O
I raced a sprint tri (750m swim) this morning and knocked 25s off my PB, clocking
a time of about 12:40 - and I think I held my bike/run pace. I was holding
20spl when I was counting which is noticeably down from 24-25 in races last year.
Interesting as I have barely swum more than about 200m in a single go having
concentrated on drilling for weeks now since my session with you in early April -
definite progress! - Howard Glynn
Want to improve your swimming technique?
Call Total Immersion Master Coach Ian Smith on 01509 827011