Trying "not to swim"

Quoted message said:

Hello All,

I was going through few articles related to swimming effortlessly/
efficiently with max results.

One of the thoughts expressed was to "try not swim" consciously (A.
Popov).

Does this mindset really help a newbie?

I think it can be very helpful if you use it in a way like this: Watch
a good swimmer. I mean a swimmer with good stroke, body position, and
kick. In other words, watch a swimmer who is swimming effortlessly.
Watch him closely and commit the image to memory. Then, imagine
yourself swimming the same way. See the image of yourself swimming
with the same stroke, the same body position, the same kick. Then get
in the water and just do it. Of course, this doesn't obviate the need
for coaching and practice in a more clinical sense, but seeing
yourself doing it right and then letting your memory take over does
work, I think.

Quoted message said:

Hello All,

I was going through few articles related to swimming effortlessly/
efficiently with max results.

One of the thoughts expressed was to "try not swim" consciously (A.
Popov).

Does this mindset really help a newbie? I mean you focus on the
basics, Get your balance right; Get your arm posture right; Get you
kicking style right;. Get your breathing right.

I mean all these are lot of activities and form part and parcel of
swimming but the mind set is "I'm not gonna focus on movement". The
ultimate result of all these activities is movement forward.

Could you re-word that last paragraph please (Though I'm unlikely to
be responding before another 10 days or so.)

The activities involved for floating (balance / breathing / posture)
do not generate forward movement per say. Water movement /current will
do that more.
What's more, the position which permits maximum 'float' position is
lost as soon as you try to stroke.

That said, I agree with the "try not swim" suggestion.
You might like to try an experiment.
Either try this yourself or ask someone who can swim the back stroke
well to try to do it in reverse, i.e. travelling feet first and arms
rotating to favour that direction.
The first step is getting the 'kick' right. It's not a kick. It's more
like a cycling movement. What you will notice (and, or, he/she more
so) is that for the first several seconds, despite having a certainty
of doing it correctly and exerting a lot of effort... there appears to
be minimal forward movement, and then finally it happens.
I've seen newbie swimmers having precisely the same experience with
the front crawl.
If you ask someone to try that, you can better judge if there really
is any difference in their non-swimming activities between when the
have no forward motion and when they do.
You can get more details of such experimental swimming on

http://homepage.eircom.net/~comicaquatic/

Just skip past the brain stuff and click on thing to try to do.
It's a really old homepage, but that's it.

Quoted message said:

Does this approach help? As a beginner I'm focusing more specifically
on trying to cover distance and defining my 'learning' by how much
distance was I able to cover. Do comment.

Thanks,
Tyro

<[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hello All,

I was going through few articles related to swimming effortlessly/
efficiently with max results.

One of the thoughts expressed was to "try not swim" consciously (A.
Popov).

Does this mindset really help a newbie?

In my opinion, no. You want to be very aware of trying to swim
correctly. This isn't, IMHO, specifically a swimming question - you
could ask the same thing about many activities, including playing the
piano.

-S-

Quoted message said:

I mean you focus on the
basics, Get your balance right; Get your arm posture right; Get you
kicking style right;. Get your breathing right.

I mean all these are lot of activities and form part and parcel of
swimming but the mind set is "I'm not gonna focus on movement". The
ultimate result of all these activities is movement forward.

Does this approach help? As a beginner I'm focusing more specifically
on trying to cover distance and defining my 'learning' by how much
distance was I able to cover. Do comment.

Thanks,
Tyro

Quoted message said:

Hello All,

I was going through few articles related to swimming effortlessly/
efficiently with max results.

One of the thoughts expressed was to "try not swim" consciously (A.
Popov).

Does this mindset really help a newbie? I mean you focus on the
basics, Get your balance right; Get your arm posture right; Get you
kicking style right;. Get your breathing right.

I mean all these are lot of activities and form part and parcel of
swimming but the mind set is "I'm not gonna focus on movement". The
ultimate result of all these activities is movement forward.

Does this approach help? As a beginner I'm focusing more specifically
on trying to cover distance and defining my 'learning' by how much
distance was I able to cover. Do comment.

Thanks,
Tyro

Quoted message said:

Hello All,

I was going through few articles related to swimming effortlessly/
efficiently with max results.

One of the thoughts expressed was to "try not swim" consciously (A.
Popov).

Does this mindset really help a newbie? I mean you focus on the
basics, Get your balance right; Get your arm posture right; Get you
kicking style right;. Get your breathing right.

I mean all these are lot of activities and form part and parcel of
swimming but the mind set is "I'm not gonna focus on movement". The
ultimate result of all these activities is movement forward.

Does this approach help? As a beginner I'm focusing more specifically
on trying to cover distance and defining my 'learning' by how much
distance was I able to cover. Do comment.

Thanks,
Tyro

I think the way to learn to swim is to first focus very intensely on
thinking about how to swim, and when you have done that for a quite a
while (even to the point, at times, of frustration, that is the time to
try not to swim, but merely to swim automatically. You have set the
program, you let it run, and then you go back and check it.

I know you are using the TI method. I think this method works quite well
for people who have a lean shape, but not especially well for those you
are more column-like. If you are shaped more like a tongue depressor
than a pencil it works better, but this is only my experience.
Madelaine