Why is freestyle slow and chaotic? Misunderstanding the concept of Total Immersion Swimming

•6 min read
Why is freestyle slow and chaotic? Misunderstanding the concept of Total Immersion Swimming

In terms of swimming philosophy, the Total Immersion approach represents a meaningful shift. Founder Terry’s vision was to make it easier for adults to learn how to swim and to inspire more adults to enjoy the sport. In this regard, Total Immersion has already achieved remarkable success worldwide. When it comes to swimming technique, the Total Immersion method emphasizes enhancing efficiency by minimizing drag, increasing stroke length, and optimizing body streamlining. This approach has had a significant impact on improving performance in middle- and long-distance swimming. However, because the Total Immersion practice system differs considerably from traditional swimming instruction methods, some swimmers unfamiliar with the concept mistakenly believe that Total Immersion is a *new* swimming technique—or even an entirely *new* style of swimming altogether. As a result, you often hear incorrect terms like "Total Immersion freestyle" or "Total Immersion stroke."

Total Immersion swimming is more of a swimming philosophy that emphasizes continuously refining your "water sense" as the foundation for learning to swim—exploring techniques that allow your body to glide through the water with greater ease. It focuses on developing an intimate awareness of how your body feels in the water, paying close attention to the sensations of movement and the forces at play as you propel yourself forward. In this respect, Total Immersion differs fundamentally from traditional swimming methods. If someone already swims well but also understands *why* they’re swimming effectively, they’re naturally poised to take their skills even further. Conversely, if a swimmer excels but remains unclear about the reasons behind their success, their progress will ultimately depend on constant guidance and feedback from coaches or others around them. One of the key strengths of the Total Immersion approach lies in its emphasis on self-coaching—encouraging swimmers not only to know *what’s happening* in the water, but also to deeply understand *why* it works.


1. Full immersion doesn’t equate to striving for slowness.
Competitive freestyle swimmers often initially perceive "Total Immersion" swimming as simply slowing down the pace—especially the kick rhythm. This perception is particularly common among athletes competing in short-distance sprint events. However, competitive freestyle includes swimmers who specialize in middle- and long-distance events as well, and these athletes tend to find Total Immersion more intuitive and easier to embrace, as evident from responses on QUORA discussions about Total Immersion swimming.
Only by slowing down can you truly focus on feeling the water—this is precisely why deliberate slowness is essential during practice. However, this shouldn’t become a reason to swim slowly in your regular sessions. Many full-body immersion swimmers, after mastering the basics, still get stuck in the leisurely, unhurried rhythm of front-crawl swimming, often sticking to a two-beat kick pattern. Unfortunately, this approach is counterproductive for learning proper technique—it simply lures swimmers into a comfortable, relaxed comfort zone from which they struggle to break free. Improving your stroke frequency, on the other hand, depends crucially on building stronger arm muscles, refining your whip kick technique, and enhancing your breathing skills. In fact, boosting your stroke rate is the very first step toward stepping out of your comfort zone. Of course, increasing stroke frequency should always prioritize maintaining a smooth, streamlined body position through the water—not rushing into short-distance sprints as soon as you think about speeding up.

2. Full immersion must never be dispersed.

Freestyle swimming emphasizes a straight, unified body movement—upper and lower halves working as one. As a long-axis stroke, maintaining a moderate, rigid connection in the torso is key to effortless and efficient forward propulsion. Whether it’s the arm pull or the leg kick, the power generated should never compromise your core stability. For instance, when you vigorously pull through the water with your arms, your core shouldn’t feel like it’s involuntarily tightening—or worse, losing that firm, engaged core tone altogether. Similarly, during the whip kick, your abdominal muscles shouldn’t simply deflate and relax; instead, they should remain engaged to support the fluid, powerful motion of your legs. Think of your body as the hull of a boat: the arm strokes are essentially pulling the boat forward, while the leg kicks push it ahead. To maximize efficiency, focus on directing your palms backward, with your fingertips slightly angled toward your body—not straight back or even outward. Doing so could easily cause your body to drift sideways during the stroke. Likewise, your feet are designed with a subtle downward slope, meaning the true purpose of the leg kick is to press against the water, creating a propulsive force. That’s why, when kicking, your feet should naturally turn inward just a bit—this helps generate more effective, forward-moving thrust. After all, this principle aligns perfectly with the physics concept of force decomposition, which beautifully explains how these movements work together to propel you smoothly through the water.

If you fail to engage your core properly while swimming—specifically by not paying attention to the direction of your hand and foot movements during the stroke—the body may drift sideways, and when kicking, it could even shift at an angle. As a result, your swim will resemble a gecko crawling, twisting back and forth in an awkward manner. And unless you film yourself, swimmers often mistakenly believe they’re swimming efficiently—so this is definitely something to keep in mind!

3. The order of full immersion practice must not be disrupted.

Learning to swim requires a step-by-step approach—it can’t be mastered overnight. If you build a solid foundation in basic floating exercises, you’ll naturally start to experience that "downhill glide" feeling in freestyle swimming. Your legs won’t feel like they’re sinking at all; instead, you’ll notice them effortlessly rising with each kick and stroke, hovering just beneath the water’s surface. Meanwhile, if you’ve practiced proper body-rotation and weight-shift techniques, you’ll find that every side-to-side turn during freestyle is accompanied by a smooth transfer of your center of gravity. As a result, when your body rolls onto its side for propulsion, you’ll actually feel as though you’re being gently lifted—almost as if suspended by wires!
Once you truly master freestyle, you’ll notice your legs naturally rise as you swim. When you turn to the side, you’ll feel a distinct rotation around your body’s central axis. Mastering breathing and kicking will come naturally as you continue refining these skills in future swimming sessions—leading to steady improvement over time. For advanced freestyle learning, mastering the whip kick and silent breathing is essential, but don’t worry about these techniques during your initial practice phases.

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