I’ve written this series of articles as a reference I can point prospective students to, in order to consider the training options available to you. It may serve as a bit of a self-filtering process to help you decide what is the best fit for your needs and budget right now.

~ ~ ~

Your TI Training Options – Part 1

As a swimmer with ups and downs in his athletic health and history, I know how important it is to have good instruction based on solid theory. As a studies and experienced teacher/coach I know what tends to be more effective at making new skills stick and what process to go through to get there. As an independent business owner I have to find a way to provide this service in a way that makes sense financially so I can keep doing this as a profession.

When I explain what TI has done for me and countless others, what it can do for prospective students, they often ask me about how to start or ask for a private lesson right away. I certainly want to see them get started, and to start on a path that has a lower initial investment of their time and mine. To be honest, I also point people along this path as a test to see who will be a serious student, who is ready to invest, because I am going to give my best once I get started. I will explain more below.

I suggest this progression of study to get acquainted and then to get more deeply involved in the training process and training community.

Step 1: Free Stuff On Youtube

The most simple and free exposure to some aspects of Total Immersion is to find videos posted by various people on Youtube – some of those are from Total Immersion (officially), some are from independent certified TI Coaches, some are from non-certified coaches claiming to teach TI, and some are from swimmers who want to share what they’ve learned or what they have accomplished with TI. That is where so many people find their initial inspiration to try the ideas, and of course, that is some find misunderstanding about it too. It’s an open and free internet (viva free internet!) and though TI tries to tactfully address misrepresentations, no one can control what’s being shown on this public venue. Sorry about that, but one has to think critically about anything presented on the web – that’s the nature of this information overload world we live in.

So, when you get something ‘free’ in this case, you get what you pay for – the quality of the information is uncertain. Yet, I have met many swimmers who have started training themselves with what they’ve found on the net this way and have done a pretty good job with it. If they keep an open mind there’s nothing we can’t clean up later at a certified live training event.

I am not going to post the links to the videos I know of – there is too much to sort through – but a search for “Total Immersion” on Youtube is going to turn up the most popular items. Start there.

Step 2: TI Coach Blogs

On my extensive Smooth Strokes Blog – over 400 articles – (one of which you are reading right now) I have provided an enormous amount of information for free – enough to fill several books (I am finally composing one right now). Swimmers have noted that it is nicely categorized for finding the topic you are interested in.

I have been kindly criticized by some for allowing all that to be free. I have also been kindly criticized for having such ‘long and detailed’ articles by those who don’t quite have time for the longer read. I take that criticism to heart and have worked at summarizing more succinctly. Yet I have reasons for presenting these topics in some length and detail. There is an overload of ‘5 Things Every [insert athlete here] Must Do’ type articles on the web, so I would like to contribute to the weaker department on that focuses on Depth and those who have time for it. For now the detailed style will remain and it will attract those who like it. It appeals to a certain tribe, however small (thanks, Seth Godin) and I am cool with that.

You can get so much on TI Head Coach Terry’s blog too. He has his own things he likes to emphasize, and covers a wide variety of topics. You may resonate with his style.

And there are several other TI Coaches who are blogging on topics we care about. You can catch some of them as they re-post on the Total Immersion blog page.

Here are a few coach colleagues that I interact with behind the scenes and appreciate their blogs:

• The blog of TI Master Coach Suzanne Atkinson
• The blog of TI Coach David Shen
• The blog of TI Master Coach Dinah Damian

There are many awesome coaches in our network, but just too few of them like to write and make time for it.

There are four parts in this series on Your TI Training Options…

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4

© 2016, Mediterra International, LLC. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Mediterra International, LLC and Mediterraswim.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.