Editorial Review
Swim better -- and enjoy every lap -- with Total Immersion!Terry Laughlin, the world's #1 authority on swimming success, has made his unique approach even easier for anyone to master. Whether you're an accomplished swimmer or have always found swimming to be a struggle, Total Immersion will show you that it's mindful fluid movement -- not athletic ability -- that will turn you into an efficient swimmer. This new edition of the bestselling Total Immersion features:
A thoughtfully choreographed series of skill drills -- practiced in the mindful spirit of yoga -- that can help anyone swim more enjoyablyA holistic approach to becoming one with the water and to developing a swimming style that's always comfortable
Simple but thorough guidance on how to improve fitness and form
A complementary land-and-water program for achieving a strong and supple body at any age
Based on more than thirty years of teaching, coaching, and research, Total Immersion has dramatically improved the physical and mental experience of swimming for thousands of people of all ages and abilities.
Cached date: AWS Called=true
Customer Reviews
total immersion 
2008-07-28
great book to read.. not sure how much it's helping my swim times as I can't get past exercise 1 without getting frustrated. i'm going to keep at it and see how it goes.
Too wordy, real stuff sparse 
2008-07-21
Having seen excited reviews and high rating, I decided to buy the book as well. I found that this book does NOT make an exception from ALL those pretty much useless books which offer QUICK RESULTS with LESS EFFORT.
Too many tirades about "wrong" way of traditional swimming, "revolutionary" methods presented in this book, etc. But in fact, the impression is created that you don't need to work hard but just do a few exercises in this book and you can outswim people with long experience. Exercises seemed quite useless and not that "revolutionary" as they promised to be.
Overall, valuable information is too limited. I would suggest other materials, including DVDs of USA Swimming - Swim Fast series.
Better Swimmer 
2008-07-07
This book will make you a better swimmer almost instantly after reading the first 100 pages. The content is easy to read and for almost all levels of swimmers.
it's about balance 2008-06-28
The proof is in the water. Balance and proper physics are the replacement for going anaerobic by flailing your arms and legs. Learning how much bouyancy you own and how to "lengthen your boat," will relax you. And you will reduce you stroke count early on. The text and diagrams are clear and motivating to novice through elite swimmers.
Total Immersion Swimming 2008-05-28
This book and the video, Freestyle Made Easy, improved my swimming greatly. The key concept is to shift your effort from overpowering the water to streamlining your profile in the water. I don't have any quantitative measures for the improvement it made in my swimming, but I would guess it increased my speed 100%, plus it made swimming much more enjoyable. I took up swimming as a substitute for jogging, and was getting a sore right shoulder from my crawl (rotator cuff?). The Total Immersion technique alleviated that. And I still haven't finished the book. I am just an ordinary swimmer, taking the regular red cross swimming lessons as a little kid. I never swam competitively or trained seriously, unless you count doing the lessons in this book. I am also closing in on 60 years of age, and am very glad to have discovered this book.
An amazing teaching/learning tool 2008-05-08
Swim better -- and enjoy every lap -- with Total Immersion!Terry Laughlin, the world's #1 authority on swimming success, has made his unique approach even easier for anyone to master. Whether you're an accomplished swimmer or have always found swimming to be a struggle, Total Immersion will show you that it's mindful fluid movement -- not athletic ability -- that will turn you into an efficient swimmer. This new edition of the bestselling Total Immersion features:
A thoughtfully choreographed series of skill drills -- practiced in the mindful spirit of yoga -- that can help anyone swim more enjoyablyA holistic approach to becoming one with the water and to developing a swimming style that's always comfortable
Simple but thorough guidance on how to improve fitness and form
A complementary land-and-water program for achieving a strong and supple body at any age
Based on more than thirty years of teaching, coaching, and research, Total Immersion has dramatically improved the physical and mental experience of swimming for thousands of people of all ages and abilities.
Much faster because of this book... 2008-05-08
I'm still not through reading this book, mostly because I got impatient, wanting to try some of the techniques out.
I was a swimmer in high school 20 or so years ago, and figured I didn't need the help. Over 400m I was overaging a little under 8 minutes, but somehow there were always guys that were faster.
In trying some of the techniques in the book, my time is now just a little over 6 minutes. That over 20% improvement!! My swimming is more efficient, smoother and I'm not as tired when I get done.
I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK.
A must own. 2008-04-22
I'm 6'9", 210 lbs, and sink like a rock in the water. I learned to swim when I was a kid, but now, I'm 30, and took eight weeks of adult lessons at the local pool.
My legs sink like stones, and most of my stroke was simply keeping me up in the water. My instructor continually said "kick harder". I can run a 5k without much problem, but it got to the point where I was kicking so hard I was absolutely exhausted after 50m in the pool.
Twenty minutes of skimming this book, and twenty minutes of practice later, I'm doing laps with maybe a tenth of the effort. Balance, streamlining, and efficiency all make sense, and have paid enormous dividends.
My only complaint is that the author is awful wordy, and it takes a *long* time to get to the meat of the book. The first 100 pages could pretty easily fit into 20, if it weren't for stories that don't much matter to me. I don't care what works for this Olympian, or this champion swimmer, or anyone else; I'm already reading your book, you do not need to spend most of your time convincing me that you're an authority.
I'd also recommend the author's video on the breaststroke, 5-stars on that one; no fluff time spent establishing authority, just 100% content.
Great starter book! 2008-03-18
Before learning proper balance in the pool I struggled to feel comfortable. After "slowing down" (not that I needed much slowing) and learning to balance through the drills in the book, I feel confident and comfortable in the pool. Now I can work on getting some speed--I don't feel like I'm sinking any more! For me as a self-taught swimmer, this book was a "must have."
Total Immersion 
2008-02-27
This is a pretty useful "how to" guide for a regular swimmer, like me, who wants to swim better and more efficiently. I gained a number of practical suggestions about technique, and about the structure of sets and drills for training. One draw-back, though. I did find some of the explanations of the drills and strokes quite hard to follow - concentration is sure needed. I am now in the process of viewing the related DVD, which may be an easier way to see what is being said in the book that, in turn, will enable me to more easily put the theory into practice.
