Product Description This new edition will provide easy-to-follow, progressive workouts for swimmers of varying fitness levels. The workouts and training programmes will be supported by valuable advice on stroke techniques. Concise yet thorough, this book will offer structure and variety to readers' workouts, while the techniques covered lead to faster, more efficient swimming. Respected swimming coach Emmett Hines shows the reader how to achieve maximum results from every workout, whether trying to enhance their overall fitness or training for an upcoming triathlon. The focus of the book is putting an end to monotonous workouts and instead swimming varied, meaningful laps that will quickly get the reader into shape.This completely updated edition includes, all-new progressive workouts, updated chapters on getting equipped, assessing fitness, freestyle technique, stretching, warm-ups and cool-downs. There is also new coverage of freestyle flip turns and more technique instruction and tips throughout. Readers can use this book to put together their own complete training programme and this will improve both swim conditioning and technique.
Your Personal Swim CoachOctober 28, 2008 1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I love this book. It's like having a personal swimming coach in my gear bag. I'm a novice lap swimmer who wants to improve my skills in order to use swimming as my primary means of exercise, so I have found Part II ("Swimming the Right Way") to be extremely helpful. The emphasis on posture and balance in Chapter 4 has been particularly enlightening for me.
I am looking forward to starting the various workouts. The workouts are categorized into 6 levels, ranging from "Basic Skills Workouts" to "High-Intensity Workouts."
There are 60 workouts, 10 for each level: Level 1: Basic Skills Workouts Level 2: Skill Development Workouts Level 3: Full-Stroke Swimming Workouts Level 4: Lactate Threshold Workouts Level 5: Speed Workouts Level 6: High-Intensity Workouts
Part IV of the book is entitled "Training Over the Long Haul." Chapter 14 puts it all together in terms of scheduling your workouts with recommendations for swimming programs (for example: Level 1, workout 1 on Sunday; Level 1, workout 2 on Tuesday; etc.). These sample programs/schedules are presented in an easy-to-read chart form that you can jot down in your training notebook and adjust to fit your week.
Coach Hines writes in a conversational style, and the book contains many helpful illustrations. I have no doubt that incorporating this book into your swimming program will reap huge benefits for a swimmer at any skill level.
Very good bookOctober 4, 2008 1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I am a semi novice swimmer, I found very important information on this book, and for the contents I think it has a lot of interesting info for advance swimmer. I would hightly recommend it.
All you need to coach yourselfSeptember 1, 2008 1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Swimming is such a technique oriented sport and it is almost impossible to hone your technique without a coach. I have been fortunate to have been coached by Emmett for the past seven years and I find something to work on at each practice. This is an excellent book for swimmers who have the discipline to coach themselves. The second part, Swimming the Right Way describes the techniques to streamline your body and maximize your power. By integrating this technical information with the workouts in part three you can ultimately translate theory into body memory. This takes some discipline and the rewards will be worth it. All you need to swim like a fish is in here. Just do it.
Next Best Thing to Studying with Emmett in PersonAugust 25, 2008 3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I grew up swimming competitively. I was introduced to Emmett in my early thirties and began attending his master classes a few years ago. Emmett is a fabulous communicator, and the concepts that he teaches completely revolutionized my swimming. I am now able to swim longer, faster, and with much less energy than ever before. Just recently, I placed second in my age group in a 2.4 mile swim in Austin, TX, and it was Emmett's training that took me the entire way.
I was at first skeptical that a book format of these concepts would be possible or as good as swimming with him personally, but this book completely blew that notion out of the water (so to speak). As I read the text and studied the diagrams, I was completely impressed with his abilities to communicate via the written word. It is an easy read, and the ideas are explained clearly and woven together beautifully. Studying this book, applying the concepts, and following the workouts will take you from complete novice highly skilled and efficient swimmer. I keep a copy of it on my nightstand, and it will probably remain there for many years to come. This book is a must read for anyone who thinks he might be interested in learning to swim or improving their already advanced swimming skills.
Great book for new swimmers and experienced swimmers.August 19, 2008 3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I really enjoyed reading this book and wanted to take the time to reivew it. I am an experienced swimmer, swimming for many years, coaching age group and master's teams over the years. I have also taught swimming at many levels. I tried to look at this book from the eyes of a beginner and found it very helpful. The book covered such topics as how to pick out a suit and goggles all the way to pool etiquette. How glad I am that Emmett covered that! As an experienced swimmer I found the workout information invaluable. The workouts are very good and I found the workout schedule or cycle very apppicable to my level of swimming. The more competitive swim cycle or season information helped me map out a plan for the coming year. So I can confidently recommend this book to the beginning swimmer and the more competitive swimmer.
