Backstroke for Every Body
Better Fly for Every Body
Breaststroke for Every Body
Extraordinary Swimming for Every Body
Outside the Box:
Triathlon Swimming: Made EasyCouldn’t help but notice this google ad which appeared next to my gmail messages. What a curious notion that all it takes is some new ‘triathlon race gear’ to be Ridiculously Fast in swimming. Well, they got the ridiculous part right.
>>Get Faster Swim Splits New Triathlon Race Gear Brand… Sign up to be the first to know! The new triathlon brand for the relentless. Born in the waters of Hawaii. Designed to be ridiculously fast.www.crushtheswim.com>>
I’m also amused by the aggro language in the url about what they plan to do to the swim: Crush It!
Eek, not an inspiring thought. But an accurate representation of the kind of language that prevails outside TI World.
In competitive swimming, they aspire to:
- Bang Out the Yards (when they’re not Getting Them In.)
- Get the Heart Rate Up.
- Push through Pain Barriers.
And at the health club where I do yoga and strength work, there is a poster saying “Fitness is a battleground. This is the front line.”
In the ‘Western Industrialized’ model of Fitness, health clubs hold ranks of people on machines, many reading magazines or watching TV as they robotically ‘burn’ things
- Burn Calories
- Burn Fat
- Burn Heartbeats
- Burn Hours.
How much more satisfying to swim as a form of self-expression, like dance or other movement arts, while pursing Mastery and Purpose. The heartbeats still happen. So do faster times.
Terry,
You could be more right! I used to struggle to swim 300 yds until I took lessons from a TI coach.
Prior to TI after my swimming workout i would get out of the pool feeling like i just finished lifting weights for an hour.
Now i feel completely rejuvenated!
TI has enabled me to things i didn’t know i could.
John Torhan
Pittsburgh
Terry you’re so funny!
Just wait till you drop into a friendly CrossFit box!
Happy New Year to you and the TI troops.
Ahelee Sue
I did take a few x-fit classes with a local coach. I was quite impressed with the coach and the program he conducted. However I saw a few elements in their program that felt off-putting. I think there was one popular standard workout they called “Knife Fight” and what that implied made me shudder. However, in my 50s and 60s I’ve also suffered a few injuries – most recently torn cartilage in my right knee just a month ago – even while doing weight training prudently, moderately and with impeccable form. So I’m starting to think more critically about the right way to exercise at my age.
At my health club, they have Les Mills group exercise classes. The group exercise room, where I take yoga classes, has all these posters of people doing LM classes. They’re all shown in postures that make them look ready for battle and they all have ‘game faces’ on. One poster has these words. “Fitness is a Battlefield. This is the front lines.”
I see that and think of how different my attitude has become about all forms of physical activity.
In mid-2009, I was interviewed by a woman who writes for a magazine called (I think) American Fitness. Her questions and my answers were failing to connect. After about 10 minutes I finally figured out why. As I said to her, “Your questions all start with the concept that swimming is exercise, but as we’ve been talking it caused me to realize I no longer think of swimming as exercise. I think of it as a movement art – like martial arts, which started as a form of combat but is now practiced as a movement art. When I teach or practice it, I do it from that perspective. I GET exercise, but that’s incidental.”
I hadn’t been conscious of that switch until that moment. Now I find I’m keenly attuned to all the manifestations of, again, what I’ve come to think of as the Western Industrialized approach to exercise and fitness.
Terry,
I actually meant to say you could not be more right…is there such a thong as grammar check? Lol…
I completely agree with your perspective and your attitude towards training. I see people all the time splashing through the water with one goal…yardage. So sad that they do not get it.
JT
Terry, just came across this coach…
http://www.crushmultisport.com/
@John, I’m laughing at your second comment as well…read the first line carefully. Oh well..your intentions were good. 🙂