Seeing Double and Leila

We visit a pool in the North of England several times a year and we have noticed a stylish Total Immersion chap practising in the slow lane to our right.  We swim in  the fast lane in the middle of the pool and the open area is to our left.

Somehow or other he gets across the pool into the open area and swims on our left.  Then we see him on our right etc.. This has perplexed us for years.

On Thursday, it dawned on me that maybe Rightie has a brother, Leftie, so I asked Rightie if he did.  Yes! it was his twin!  Oddly enough we get involved with some twin sisters when we visit this area and that is what made us think.

I'll call Rightie, Barracuda because after complimenting him on his T.I he said he followed that forum and would be delighted to read our forum.  This he did and reported next morning how informative he found it.

He recommended watching some drills by Leila Vaziri, an American Iranian, 2007 world champion female swimmer.

Here she is with her Barracuda Drill:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxsU-Rft9Ls

Note the wide arm balance under water, as advised by Karlyn Pipes-N. This needs good shoulder flexibility as you rotate onto your side.

What a chortle about the twins!
I played Leila's clip twice - pity that the music almost made her voice-over inaudible (or is it just me getting deaf!).


Her "Barracuda drill" clip reminded me very much of what I call my "loping drill", in which I leave my left elbow sticking out of the water for a few seconds, as my right arm is outstretched and the legs flutter kick - while gliding stream-lined on my right side  ("skating" TI style!) until the need for an inhalation makes it necessary to do a quick stroke with the right arm (my favourite breathing side), and then the left, to get back ready for the next stroke cycle/glide.  It's quite "delightful" doing the glide bit - reminding me of an early TI suggestion that claimed swimming on the side was faster than when in prone attitude - quoting the example of a fast narrow hulled old tea-clipper! I think that supposition has now been disproved, nevertheless it is nice to see the floor tiles pass relatively quickly under ones's head during the glide - thanks to the impetus from the earlier strong arm action! It's funny that I've never been able to do it the other way around - but Leila has managed to do it on each side with the greatest of ease.

Think I posted on the old SS forum some time ago, the example of Misty Hyman doing UW body dolphin before a breakout. She and her coach found it was more effective time-wise , to do it partly on the side instead of prone! But perhaps it was just dependant on her physique, and relative strength of different sides of the body - like most lopers "fall into" that style because one side is stronger than the other.  My right arm is stronger than the left so perhaps that's why I "skate", in  my "loping drill, on my right side but find it difficult to do it the other way round.