This can be paired with Doug's thread. I'm the one that didn't 'get it'. I come from a swimming background of being self taught and 1:50 ish/ 100 over a mile or so.
Doug runs a clinic for beginning swimmers or those looking to fix or improve their stroke. Six 1 1/2 hour sessions. Here's my impressions, good and bad mixed together:
Am I faster? Top end (a 25 yd sprint), yes. A ten minute distance trial? NO. Actually, I'm slower. And am exerting more to achieve the same speeds. And that's what I went there to change.
I'm fighting my body, not my mind. I buy into Doug's way. I think in the end I will be more relaxed, but I'm left in this limbo where I got parts of it, but because of what I perceive as inadequate attention, I have huge problems still.
All of this sounds a bit negative, but if you read through, it stems from a core disconnect - I needed to be told more often what I was doing wrong and how exactly to fix it. So....
Doug's Level I Class - RECOMMENDED
Doug runs a clinic for beginning swimmers or those looking to fix or improve their stroke. Six 1 1/2 hour sessions. Here's my impressions, good and bad mixed together:
Am I faster? Top end (a 25 yd sprint), yes. A ten minute distance trial? NO. Actually, I'm slower. And am exerting more to achieve the same speeds. And that's what I went there to change.
- The class has people from quite a spread of experience, which probably makes it very challenging to teach. People learning as adults to people that swim a mile a day. I'm somewhere in the middle of that.
- Doug is a 'squeaky wheel gets the grease' coach. This is a big problem if your crappy stoke is good enough to make you one of the fastest two in the class. When 3/4 of the class is struggling to make it down the lane before clutching the other side of the pool, that's where attention gets focused. This leads to...
- I discovered in the final swim video, taken in the last 10 min of 540 min of class, that I start pulling way too early - I hurry my stroke. Had this error ever been addressed, I could have/would have worked on it. Maybe that's the key that'll set it all in motion - no way to know.
- I (like most here) am a type A information junkie. Why? How? and Show me. I can't learn if I don't see it, hear it, and do it.
- There is not as much swimming as I would have liked/expected. I imagine a lot of this has to do with the disparate ability levels, but I can't drill good form if I'm sitting around in the shallow end listening. And I can't be seen and told about what I'm doing wrong unless I swim enough for my turn to come and Doug to get his eyes on me.
- Doug has his talking points. Hand-hip, high elbow, release-don't flick, kick up. These are very helpful one-offs to work on and he does a good job of explaining just what he means by these so you can work on that item. He has a couple ways of describing the motions, but as a non-skiier, I guess I didn't get the analogies.
- Over in the other thread, I think Kevin in MD had it right - I have a lack of kinesthetic awareness and need a lot more feedback. See comment 2.
- Doug is very "Up with People". That's great for some; I am surprised to see it work well in NYC. I, on the other hand, think I need someone who is more pro-active and 'harder'. I like to be told "Stop. No. Why aren't you opening your hip? It goes hand-hip, NOT hand, la de dah hip" If you respond better to a diciplinarion, Doug may not be your guy. Turns out temperament of the coach is important.
- In a strange way, Doug is a little hard about being anti-Councilman and Swimming Fastest. I don't know if it's a bit of salesmanship on 'Doug's way' or a deep held belief bubbling up (a lot), but it gets a little tedious. We're here, we've paid $350, we're buying what you're selling, now give us the goods.
- Doug really helped me improve some parts of the stroke. I used to do a sort of S-curve (not by design, more by accident), but I've rid my stroke of most of it. Still comes back sometimes, but he certainly put me pretty far down the road.
- Overall - I think his class was great, for a certain group. I think private or small (similar level) group lessons might be better for me.
I'm fighting my body, not my mind. I buy into Doug's way. I think in the end I will be more relaxed, but I'm left in this limbo where I got parts of it, but because of what I perceive as inadequate attention, I have huge problems still.
All of this sounds a bit negative, but if you read through, it stems from a core disconnect - I needed to be told more often what I was doing wrong and how exactly to fix it. So....
Doug's Level I Class - RECOMMENDED