Book Review: The Triathlete's Guide to Swim Training

The swimming installment of the Multisport Training Series, The Triathlete's Guide to Swim Training by Steve Tarpinian.  The Multisport Training Series is a book series on triathlon training edited by Joe Friel.  Friel has recruited experts to write about swim training, bike training, run training, mental training, and off-season training.  I will be reviewing all five books and posting on my blog.  Steve Tarpinian was recruited to write the book on swim training.

Steve Tarpinian is the president of Total Training, Inc., a fitness consulting company that specializes in triathlon workshops.  He is a certified USA Triathlon Level II coach and is a member of the USA Triathlon National Coaching Committee.  Tarpinian has written other books about swimming and contributed to several magazines such as Men's Health, Fitness Swimmer, Swim, Triathlete, and Inside Triathlon.

I was surprised to find this book to be only 171 pages long.  Seems a little short for a book on swim training, which is the most technically challenging of all three disciplines (in my opinion).  I expected the book to be a little longer and more in-depth.  Although it was shorter than expected, I was pleased with the easy read and was able to finish it in a single sitting.  Tarpinian covers a wide range of topics to include pool training, open-water swimming, freestyle technique, dry-land training, as well as mentioning the other competitive strokes (backstroke, butterfly, and breaststroke), which are not often used in triathlon, but good to train in every once in a while.

In short, this book was written for beginners.  When I say beginners, I mean as fresh as they come.  Most of the information covered in the book can be learned within two months of training with a masters swim group.  With some added effort, athletes can gather all the same information by searching the internet or reading some magazines about swimming and triathlon.  If you are not a true beginner in the sport of triathlon, then this book may not benefit you.

The book contained good information and great illustrations.  However, there are some things Tarpinian said that I disagree with (reluctantly).  I do not like disagreeing with well-respected coaches.  I have much respect for Steve Tarpinian.   He is a well-known coach writer in the multisport community.  He has been swimming nearly all his life.  However, I must mention a couple things.  Tarpinian has a list of "crutches", items for swimmers that are damaging rather than helpful.  This list includes nose clips, kickboards, pull buoys, hand paddles, and fist gloves.  I agree with the first, nose clip, for reasons I won't go in to.  I am indifferent about kickboards.  I understand the reasons: unnatural buoyancy, no rotation, body alignment, etc.  I do not believe pull buoys and hand paddles to be crutches.  Using pull buoys and hand paddles (correctly) will enable swimmers to feel a proper catch versus an improper catch.  The paddles will increase resistance to work on muscular endurance, helpful for those long triathlon swims.  Swimmers that learn to train with paddles properly can increase their swimming efficiency.  Finally, I agree with Tarpinian on the fist gloves.  Perform fist drill by making a fist and swimming, not by wrapping your fist in a latex glove.  You want to be able to open and close your fist at anytime to feel the immediate difference in resistance.

I realize my comments sound more negative than positive.  I have read better books on swim training, but this book is great for beginners.  If a novice swimmer does everything in this book, they will be on the perfect track to becoming an efficient triathlete.  The crutches mentioned may have been focused toward beginners who may use equipment incorrectly, which can be detrimental to your training.  So I say again, novice and beginners read this book; moderately to highly experienced athletes, you already know all the information presented in this book.