Total Immersion Swimming Techniqhes

Whether you are a triathlete or swimmer casually for fitness, total immersion swimming can help you reach your goals faster. Total immersion swimming focuses on decreasing your number of strokes, finding your balance in the water and making your stroke more efficient to save you energy and increase your speed.
Immersion Swimming History
Swim coach Terry Laughlin developed the total immersion swimming technique. With an emphasis on efficiency, Laughlin created a system that allows you to get the most return on the energy you expend in the water. In the late 1980s, Laughlin began realizing that his swimmers were at their fastest speeds when their position was most streamlined. This idea of effortless swimming sparked the concept that fast swimming was not about strokes and kicking fast but more about relaxing and swimming efficiently, which, the Total Immersion Swimming website explains, could be taught by turning swimming into a "flow activity" and not just mechanics.
The Method
The technique for immersion swimming emphasizes relaxation and allowing your body to swim with grace. Immersion swimming does not focus on endless laps or the pulling and kicking of traditional swimming drills. The immersion technique focuses on swimming like a fish and becoming one with the water. This training begins with teaching patience and precision when moving through the water. Simple swimming drills are introduced, focusing on detail and a mindful connection to the body. Slow, steady progress is a goal in immersion swimming.
Balance
Immersion focuses on being balanced in the water and using the power of your core to propel your body forward. Balance technique drills are used to focus on letting your body float in the water, allowing you to be comfortable and fight the water less. Balance drills focus on your head position in the water, helping your breathing to become easier and more efficient.
Transform
Immersion swimming can transform your mind and body. The Total Immersion Swimming website explains that many students experience more than just physical benefits from training in the system. You can sharpen your mind-body connection and heighten your self-awareness by staying relaxed and calm in the pool, which are the key components of immersion swimming. This type of training can also help relieve anxiety and stress and even promote healthy weight loss.

Stretching Workouts for Abdomen's Structure

Before Michael Phelps swims in a competition he stretches. Before Serena Williams plays a tennis match she stretches. Before Lance Armstrong's big races he too, you guessed it, stretches. Although each sport is different in nature, the common denominator of stretching before, during and after exercise can increase your efficiency, power output and recovery time while also helping to prevent injury. Quite often, however, exercise enthusiasts and even amateur athletes neglect to stretch a region of the body that is often regarded as the most tedious area to maintain and painstakingly hard to train, the abdomen.
The Abdomen's Structure and Exercise
The abdomen is comprised of multiple muscle groups, each varying in function. The deeper each abdominal muscle is in proximity to the spine, the more effect it exerts over back and body posture.
The rectus abdominis, often refered to as the 8-pack (both "upper" and "lower" abs), is the most prominent component of the abdominals. It runs the length of the abdominal region, from the pubic bone to the lower chest. Contraction of this muscle flexes your torso.
Exercise/stretch: The rectus abdominis is the primary muscle involved in normal crunches.
The external obliques run diagonally down from your lower eight ribs and attach to the top half of your hip and your rectus abdominis. The internal obliques run diagonally as well, but in the opposite direction from the external obliques. These muscles cooperate in opposition to rotate the body trunk. The oblique muscles also work together to compress the abdomen. The obliques primarily serve as rotators that twist your body at the waist and help you to straighten from a bent-over stance.
Exercise/stretch: The external/internal obliques are the primary muscles involved when performing side planks, bicycle crunches and any rotational movement (as in golf or baseball).
The transverse abdominis, located internally within the abdomen and aligned from side to side, lies underneath the obliques and serves as structural support for the internal organs and as a respiratory aid, pulling the abdominal wall inward as opposed to working as a rotational component.
Abdominal Functions
As a whole, working together, these muscle groups provide structural-trunk support, aiding our movement and assisting our breathing process. In congruence with our back muscles they also provide postural support, important for maintaining proper stature.
These same muscles also act as a guard, protecting our inner organs. Aside from its musculature, the abdominal region is where most of the absorption and digestion of food occurs. It houses the stomach, intestines, liver, kidneys, pancreas and other important internal organs involved in maintaining healthy digestion and healthy body function.
The Importance of Abdominal Exercise and Stretching
While it is important to engage your abdominals during any physical activity, to maintain stature and reduce exercise-related injuries, specific training and stretching techniques will help the development of the body's core integrity and strength.
When properly exercised, the abdominal muscles contribute to improved posture, balance and flexibility. Because of the multifunctional nature of the abdomen, performing exercises and stretches properly can also help to reduce the severity of back pain.
Abdominal Stretching
According to Tina Bernstein, M.S., biomedical engineer from the University of Southern California, "Any movement that hyperextends the back also stretches the abdomen. So roman chair work for the lumbar region and side bends for the obliques will stretch the rectus abdominus."
An excellent oblique stretch can be done by lying on a mat with your back on the floor, knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Once in this position, extend your arms towards your feet with your hands clasped together to one side of your body. If you are stretching the right side of your obliques, your right arm is reaching straight out near the ground and your left arm is coming across your body to join your right arm.
To stretch your rectus abdominis using a stability ball, begin with the stability ball centered beneath your back lumbar region, with your feet flat on the floor. While relaxing your muscles, allow your upper body to gently roll backwards over the ball.

Swimming Tips for Babies

Water play and swimming entertains kids of all ages. Swimming lessons are a key part of water safety for kids. While infants can't learn to do specific swimming strokes, baby swimming classes are available. The classes take place with a parent or caregiver in the pool to hold and protect the young child. While the class is called baby swim, the class often accommodates children up to 5 years old who aren't ready for regular swimming lessons.
Basics
Baby swimming classes give young children the chance to get comfortable in and around the water. The babies play games and interact in the pool to create a positive water experience. The adult who accompanies the baby carries her and holds as they move through different group and individual activities. The instructor should offer safety tips for the parents, such as how to get into and out of a pool while holding a baby. Baby swim class does not prepare your young child for being in the water alone, either in a deep pool or a baby pool. Young children should always be within an arm's reach of an adult while in water.
Activities
Bubble blowing is a basic activity used in infant swim classes. This helps the babies gain confidence in placing their faces in the water and learn to blow out to avoid inhaling the pool water. The classes often include group activities such as songs that encourage the babies to splash or move through the water in a particular way. As the class progresses, the young swimmers might practice kicking, front floating and back floating with the parent holding the child in position. Older children in the class may be encouraged to place their entire face in the water or try to front float without being held for a very short distance.
What to Look For
Small class size creates a safe environment and allows you more personalized instruction time. Check out the pool facilities before signing up for the class. Choose a pool that is clean and well maintained with safety equipment, such as a phone and life rings on hand. Warm pool water makes the class more comfortable for young kids. Parenting magazine recommends temperatures between 86 and 92 degrees. Pools used for competitive swimming are often kept colder and may cause your child to shiver. Meet the instructor if possible to get a sense of how she interacts with kids. Ask about the class curriculum and expectations. A laid-back approach with an emphasis on safety is a solid choice.
Tips
Hold onto your child the entire time you are in the pool. While some baby swim classes allow flotation devices, others discourage them. Even with a flotation device you should stay with your baby at all times. If you don't feel comfortable doing a particular activity, simply tell the instructor and opt out. For example, some infant swim instructors encourage parents to dip their babies under the water for a few seconds. You typically blow in your baby's face so he holds his breath, place him under water and bring him up immediately. If you aren't comfortable with this activity, you don't need to do it with your child.

How to teach your kids Swimming?

Children's swimming-lesson plans are designed to help you teach children the basics of swimming. While swimming lesson plans give you an outline of activities and exercises you can perform with your kids, you can tailor them to your child's strengths and weaknesses.
Intro Lesson Plan
Pull your kids into the water so they get a feel for it. Depending on the child's height or skill, she may need to wear flotation devices. Alternatively, she could hold onto the pool's edge. From here, review the rules of the pool. Nobody is allowed to run or walk quickly when near the pool. While in the pool, all kids must remove all jewelry, necklaces and rings to avoid being caught in the drain of the pool. No roughhousing or diving into the pool is allowed for kids of such a young age. One parent must supervise one child at all times. Have the kids hold onto the side of the pool and kick for several minutes. Have the kids work on both their front float and back float.
Basic Swim Plan
This lesson is designed for kids with little experience in the pool. Start your child with a combination warm-up of kicking and blowing bubbles into the water to work on proper breathing techniques. From here, have your kid perform a basic stroke while wearing flotation devices -- like water wings -- while you hold his midsection. His face should not be under water. After 10 minutes of this, roll your child over so he gets a feel for how to perform an unassisted rotation. To finish the swim plan, instruct your child to perform an unassisted backstroke.
Object-Retrieval Lesson Plan
This lesson is designed to help your child swim under water to locate and retrieve objects in the pool. Before starting, have your child warm up without flotation devices by holding onto the side of the shallow end of the pool and kicking while blowing bubbles. Once your kid has warmed up, throw a series of multicolored rings into the pool. Once they hit the floor, give your kid a pair of goggles and have him dive in to get as many as he can in one breath. As he improves, throw the rings into the deeper end of the pool.
Test
This final lesson is designed to ensure your child can sufficiently swim on her own. Start by having your child complete a full swimming lap without flotation devices or assistance. Once she completes this, have her perform a back float for five minutes with no assistance. From here, have your child perform a full lap using only her backstroke technique. For the final portion of the lesson, have your kid tread water for 10 minutes.

5 Tips to Increase Your Swimming Time

Swimming is a good form of exercise, using every muscle in your body, enabling you to stay in shape, and is easy on your joints. Swimming one to two lengths of the pool can make you tire easily. To swim longer, structure your workouts to build your endurance and focus on swimming techniques. Commit yourself to each workout, and you will start to notice you can swim for longer distances with ease.
Step 1
Build your endurance by performing intervals. Swim one length of the pool at a faster rate, then swim another length slower. Repeat this pattern four times. Do this workout three times a week.
Step 2
Set a goal. Swim for 15 minutes. When you can do this without getting tired, swim for 20 minutes. Gradually increase each swim session until you have reached your goal. This builds your endurance and helps you swim longer without fatigue.
Step 3
Practice swimming efficiently. Lower your head in the water. This brings your hips and legs closer to the surface, creating less drag and saving energy. Use a long stroke with a powerful arm pull. Have one arm in front of your head at all times. For example, do not pull your front arm until your recovery arm has entered the water.
Step 4
Vary your strokes. Swimming using different strokes allows you to use different muscles so you don't fatigue as fast. Try swimming freestyle, then breast stoke, back stroke and side stroke.
Step 5
Relax your muscles. Tight muscles can make you fatigue faster, making it hard to swim for longer distances.

Syncronized Swimmings Basics

Synchronized swimmers spend much of their events underwater, but more goes into this process than some believe. The swimmers must stay underwater for lengthy periods while performing high-difficulty maneuvers. The next time you watch a synchronized swimming event, remember how much these athlete put into performing at a high level while swimming underwater.
Holding Breath
To participate in synchronized swimming, you must have the ability to hold your breath for at least one minute while performing a variety of moves underwater. While much of the performance takes place above the surface, each sequence can lead to competitors keeping their heads below the water for around 60 seconds. Many swimmers can swim underwater without taking a breath for up to three minutes and can swim a distance of 75 m in that time.
Performing Moves
The thrust technique remains essential to performing moves during competition. To use this technique, you raise your legs above the surface, but have the rest of your body underwater. You gain height in your move by propelling yourself under the water with your arms. To receive the best score possible, keep your body straight up and down in the water. You achieve this position by pressing yourself to the ideal height with your hands and then pushing the palms of your hands back and forth in the water to stabilize the position.
Music
Synchronized swimmers stay synched with one another through the music, as this keeps them at the same part of the routine. Because sound does not travel well underwater, coaches and organizers use a special sound system to allow the swimmers to hear the music. The sound system creates smaller vibrations than a traditional coil speaker, which allows the sound to stay audible under the surface. The Department of Homeland Security uses the same technology to communicate with scuba divers located hundreds of yards away.
Hair
Swimmers use a special paste in their hair while performing, as this prevents the hair from moving. The presentation of the athletes remains important because messy hair could ruin the team's look. The paste combines unflavored gelatin and water and makes the hair incredibly hard. This gelatin includes horse cartilage as one of the ingredients, which stiffens the hair. The paste only comes out of the hair with a hot shower.

Learning the Swimming Immersion Technique

Whether you are a triathlete or swim casually for fitness, total immersion swimming can help you reach your goals faster. Total immersion swimming focuses on decreasing your number of strokes, finding your balance in the water and making your stroke more efficient to save you energy and increase your speed.
Immersion Swimming History
Swim coach Terry Laughlin developed the total immersion swimming technique. With an emphasis on efficiency, Laughlin created a system that allows you to get the most return on the energy you expend in the water. In the late 1980s, Laughlin began realizing that his swimmers were at their fastest speeds when their position was most streamlined. This idea of effortless swimming sparked the concept that fast swimming was not about strokes and kicking fast but more about relaxing and swimming efficiently, which, the Total Immersion Swimming website explains, could be taught by turning swimming into a "flow activity" and not just mechanics.
The Method
The technique for immersion swimming emphasizes relaxation and allowing your body to swim with grace. Immersion swimming does not focus on endless laps or the pulling and kicking of traditional swimming drills. The immersion technique focuses on swimming like a fish and becoming one with the water. This training begins with teaching patience and precision when moving through the water. Simple swimming drills are introduced, focusing on detail and a mindful connection to the body. Slow, steady progress is a goal in immersion swimming.
Balance
Immersion focuses on being balanced in the water and using the power of your core to propel your body forward. Balance technique drills are used to focus on letting your body float in the water, allowing you to be comfortable and fight the water less. Balance drills focus on your head position in the water, helping your breathing to become easier and more efficient.
Transform
Immersion swimming can transform your mind and body. The Total Immersion Swimming website explains that many students experience more than just physical benefits from training in the system. You can sharpen your mind-body connection and heighten your self-awareness by staying relaxed and calm in the pool, which are the key components of immersion swimming. This type of training can also help relieve anxiety and stress and even promote healthy weight loss.

5 Step Freestyle Swimming Technique

The freestyle stroke in swimming is sometimes called by different names --- such as the American crawl or the front crawl --- but regardless of what you call it, the freestyle is one of the most fundamental strokes in swimming. It is an Olympic swim stroke and is powerful due to the mechanics of the stroke, which feature little wasted motion and the incorporation of the legs and arms to help propel your body. Children can be taught the fundamentals of the freestyle stroke, but even Olympic swimmers still work to fine-tune their mechanics and eliminate all wasted motion.
Step 1
Perform the flutter kick to propel yourself with your legs. The kicking motion will remain constant throughout your swim. Keep your knees slightly bent and flexed, and move the legs back and forth opposite of one another, keeping your feet outstretched to use as flippers. Avoid bringing the feet out of the water as you kick.
Step 2
Place both of your arms straight out ahead of you, parallel with the water. Keep your head down to reduce drag resistance.
Step 3
Bring your left hand down through the water, flattening your palm and facing it in the direction the arm is moving --- this will maximize how well you pull your body through the water.
Step 4
Bring your left arm out of the water, keeping your head down. As the arm exits the water, bring your right arm down through the water in a motion identical to that of the left arm. Your right arm should arrive all the way back, parallel with your legs, as your left arm moves to the front and enters the water straight out ahead of you once again.
Step 5
Repeat this motion continuously so that the arms are always opposite one another --- at any point you should have one arm in the water and one arm out of the water. Keep your head in the water and slowly exhale. When you need to take a breath, turn your head to the side of the arm that is raised out of the water and breathe in quickly -- do not crane your neck to get air, as this will break your streamline in the water. Breathe only as often as is necessary.

Swimming : A De-Stressing Exercise

Stress can develop as a result of our hectic schedules, job responsibilities and family obligations. If you don't do anything to calm the stress, the stress can potentially cause health concerns. One of the best ways to calm down is to participate in physical activity, such as swimming. Swimming not only calms you down to relieve stress, it also improves your overall fitness level.
Basics
In order for swimming to calm you down, you must be comfortable in the water. If the thought of swimming increases your stress level, it won't be possible for swimming to calm you down. Focus on learning proper swimming technique and improving your overall comfort level in and around the water. In time, it will become easier to control your breathing and heart rate so swimming can calm you down.
Breathing
Breathing is a common method for calming you down, and it is also essential for swimming. Don't hold your breath while swimming as this can potentially increase your stress level, preventing you from calming down. This also causes your heart rate and breathing rate to increase. Focus on rhythmic breathing patterns where you exhale with your face in the water and inhale quickly when you turn your head to the side.
Endorphins
Swimming helps to release endorphins -- neurotransmitter chemicals that promote relaxation. As you are swimming, your body is releasing the endorphins that produce a euphoric feeling that is commonly described as a "runner's high." The endorphins also reduce blood pressure while relieving pain and improving your overall sleep patterns.
Focus
After a long, stressful day at work, swimming can channel your focus to calm you down. The focus in the pool helps to clear the mind by concentrating on the task at hand. As a result, you release the stress and strains from the day, which calms your mind. After calming down with a swim, your concentration and focus are improved for the rest of the day.

Affect of Swimming on Body Muscles

Professional swimmers might just have the most athletic bodies in the world of sports because they are long, lean and muscular. Swimmers have the type of physique they do for a reason. Swimming offers you an excellent way to sculpt and strengthen your muscles because it impacts them in so many ways. You can build strong arms, legs and abs just from swimming alone.
Muscles Worked
Swimming offers a total body workout. It works all of your large muscle groups -- including the arms, legs, chest and back -- as well as the small muscles and tendons in your body. Swimmers even use their abs. Different strokes will have more impact on particular muscle groups. For example, the butterfly stroke will primarily work your deltoids, while the freestyle will primarily work your arms and legs.
Low-Impact Exercise
Swimming provides low-impact exercise. The water creates resistance, but it also makes you lighter, so you cannot compare it to other high-impact exercises such as running or weight lifting. However, that does not mean you can't build muscle from swimming. Even though swimming remains a low-impact exercise, you still challenge your muscles while you do it. You also have a lesser chance of injuring yourself while swimming than you do with high-impact exercises. Low-impact exercise will not strengthen your bones, a downside, so swimmers should also still do some form of high-impact exercise as part of their normal routine.
Anaerobic Endurance
Anaerobic endurance measures your muscles' resistance to fatigue. Swimming provides a great way to increase your anaerobic endurance. If you swim a little longer every time in the water, your resistance to fatigue will gradually increase. The anaerobic endurance you develop from swimming will translate well to other low-impact activities, such as bicycling and skiing.
Overtraining
You can still overtrain and injure yourself despite swimming's low-impact qualities. This can happen if you start off too fast without stretching or warming up or if you simply overdo it. Many swimmers train for three to five hours a day, up to six days a week. For the average person, this overexercise would actually lead to muscle deterioration. To avoid overtraining, keep your swimming workouts short and intense, and get plenty of sleep every night so your body can recover.

Do your cough while Swimming?

Having a cough while you swim can interfere with your performance and endurance. Exposure to pool chemicals; chronic conditions such as allergies or asthma; or respiratory infections can all cause you to cough as you swim. Fortunately, you can prevent or treat coughing related to swimming by changing your routine and with medications and medical care.
Symptoms
You might notice coughing more often when you are swimming at a fast pace or when you are swimming in an enclosed, chlorinated pool. Your coughing might linger even after you finish swimming. In addition to the coughing, you might notice additional symptoms, including tightness in your chest, difficulty breathing and decreased performance while you swim.
Causes
Breathing in halogen gases such as chlorine and bromine, which are used in the chemical treatment of pool water, can cause you to cough while you swim. Swallowing pool or lake water while swimming might also make you cough, especially if there are chemicals or particulates in the water. Medical conditions such as asthma, exercise-induced asthma and allergies can cause you to cough while you swim, especially if you attempt to swim at a vigorous pace. If you have both allergies and asthma, your risk of developing symptoms such as coughing is greater, explains the Mayo Clinic website. If you have a respiratory illness such as influenza, a cold, bronchitis or pneumonia, or if you smoke, swimming might exacerbate your cough.
Treatments
Taking an over-the-counter or prescription allergy relief medication -- such as an antihistamine or decongestant -- before you swim can treat or even prevent you from coughing as you swim. If you suffer from asthma or exercise-induced asthma, warming up and cooling down for 15 minutes before and after your swim might reduce or even prevent coughing while you swim, advises the American Academy of Family Physicians. In addition, taking your asthma medication before swimming and bringing a fast-acting rescue medicine such as an inhaler can treat coughing during and after a swim. Allow viral infections such as colds and influenza to resolve before returning to swimming, advises the National Library of Medicine, as there is no treatment for such infections.
Prevention
Swim in an outdoor pool or wear a nose clip while you swim to help prevent coughing related to respiratory exposure to pool chemicals. Inspect the facility records at the pool where you swim to check the levels of chemicals, especially if you have asthma or allergies that are worsened by environmental exposure. Breathing through your nose while you swim might also help prevent you from coughing, especially if you have asthma or exercise-induced asthma, advises the National Library of Medicine.

Sore Chest and Swimming

Assuming that a sore chest after swimming is not caused by muscle pain or a viral or bacterial infection, chlorine-induced asthma may be the culprit. A sore chest after swimming laps may be indicative of severe inflammation of the lung tissue due to asthma-like symptoms caused by the inhalation of chlorinated water in swimming pools. Always consult a respiratory specialist for symptoms that do not clear within a reasonable amount of time or if breathing is impaired.
Chlorination of Swimming Pools
Chlorination used in pools can induce breathing problems, including asthma and inflammation of the airways. A study published in the May 2011 issue of the "Journal of Science and Medicine in Sports" investigated the link of chlorine exposure and the incidence of asthma and allergy-related illnesses in more than 1,100 adult recreational swimmers. The researchers found a significant correlation of the time spent in chlorinated pools to the frequency of bronchial inflammation. The study concluded that swimming in chlorinated pools may be a risk factor for developing asthma and other breathing difficulties.
Asthma in Swimmers
Competitive swimmers have an increased risk for the development of asthma, according to a study published in the August 2010 issue of the "Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports." The authors compared the incidences of asthma in competitive swimmers to those of age-matched nonswimmers and found a significant increase in the frequency of the condition. Of the competitive swimmers, 30 percent reported asthma symptoms, compared with only 16 percent of the nonswimming control population.
Symptoms of Chlorine Exposure
Long-term exposure to low levels of chlorine gas in swimming pools can also result in wheezing, coughing, and rales, which is a rattling sound caused by congestion of the lung tissue. A study reported in the July 2010 issue of "Proceedings of the American Thoracic Society" investigated the effects of chlorine exposure on lung tissue. The researchers found an increased rate of acute respiratory distress syndrome and stated that up to 1 percent of these individuals will die from this condition. The authors concluded that treatment of ARDS should include humidified oxygen and beta-blockers to inhibit lung inflammation and to prevent premature death.
Exhaled Nitric Oxide
A study included in the December 2009 issue of "BMC Pulmonary Medicine," explored the relationship of airway inflammation and exhaled nitric oxide in swimmers as a measurement of lung function after exposure to chlorinated water. The researchers evaluated 39 lifeguards and found that more than one-third of them had inflammation of the lung tissue and decreased lung volumes of at least 20 percent. The study concluded that increases of exhaled nitric oxide were indicative of lung inflammation.