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Tim Ferriss has won national titles in several sports, but has always fought to stay afloat. Then, in the span of less than 10 days, he went from a 2-length maximum to swimming more than 40 lengths per workout in sets of 2 and 4.
Ferriss used Total Immersion (TI), a method usually associated with coach Terry Laughlin. In the first workout, he cut his drag and water resistance at least 50 percent. By the fourth workout, he had gone from over 25 strokes per 20-yard length to an average of 11 strokes per 20-yard length.
Here are the principles that made the biggest difference for him:
1. To propel yourself forward with the least effort, focus on shoulder roll and keeping your body horizontal (least resistance), not pulling with your arms or kicking with your legs.
2. Keep yourself horizontal by keeping your head in line with your spine -- you should be looking straight down.
3. Think of swimming freestyle as swimming on alternating sides, not on your stomach.
4. Penetrate the water with your fingers angled down and fully extend your arm well beneath your head. Extend it lower and further than you think you should.
5. Focus on increasing stroke length (SL) instead of stroke rate (SR).
6. Stretch your extended arm and turn your body (not just head) to breathe.
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