After watching Oldest Mini Team BRAZO perform his flip turns the other night at his swim meet, I decided it was time for me to learn how to do them. Last year while I was learning how to swim, I tried doing flip turns but I would either run out of breath or I would get to much water “in my head”. So, after a little while I just decided it would serve me better to just touch the wall and push off.
So, today during my quick (or slow – however you want to look at it) 10 lap swim I added in flip turns on the deep-end side of the pool. Overall it went pretty good – I’m sure you won’t say that if you were looking on from the side of the pool, but I at least was in position to push off the wall after my flip. My plan now is to just keep adding in the “deep-end” flip for now and then slowly add in the “shallow-end” flip once I start getting them down. My thought is that it’ll just take some practice and sooner than later they’ll get smooth.
The flips did make the swimming feel a bit smoother and I enjoyed the challenge – once I get the flip turns down, then I’ll need to figure out how to flip turn and lap count at the same time—now that will be a challenge…
So, today during my quick (or slow – however you want to look at it) 10 lap swim I added in flip turns on the deep-end side of the pool. Overall it went pretty good – I’m sure you won’t say that if you were looking on from the side of the pool, but I at least was in position to push off the wall after my flip. My plan now is to just keep adding in the “deep-end” flip for now and then slowly add in the “shallow-end” flip once I start getting them down. My thought is that it’ll just take some practice and sooner than later they’ll get smooth.
The flips did make the swimming feel a bit smoother and I enjoyed the challenge – once I get the flip turns down, then I’ll need to figure out how to flip turn and lap count at the same time—now that will be a challenge…
4 comments:
Congrats! There's a huge benefit to flip turns. You'll be able to get a lot more swimming done in the same amount of time. Here's a suggested drill to help master your flip turns:
Swim a couple of 50s (1 lap) and complete a turn after every four strokes. (It doesn't matter whether you're at the wall or not.) That will get you used flipping from a stroke. Be sure to end up on your back after you flip. (Your picture shows the swimmer on the wall with a slight twist.)
Furthermore, there's two tricks to a consistent flip turn: 1) feet placement on the wall, and 2) bodily distance from wall.
The first comes from practicing a tight flip in the drill above. The tighter the flip, the easier it is to put your feet in the correct spot every time.
The second is easy to start, but difficult to master. Start by standing at the pool wall, facing it. Position your body one arms length away from the wall so that you can barely reach it with your fingertips. Put your face in the water and look down. This is spot in the lane where you want to be flipping from. (Remember tight flips!) The idea is to hit the wall with your legs at a 90° angle.
Good luck!
Hey RobbyB,
Excellent -- thanks for the help on the flip turns -- I'll definitely work on those drills.
I like the idea of getting a lot more swimming done in the same amount of time -- just the few that I did today made it feel like that.
Thanks again.
Would love to be able to practice swim turns, though in a 12m long pool makes it difficult.
Just make sure you don't use the turns to reduce the length of swim distance (unless you are practicing to race in a pool) no walls in the open water. Just depends on your goals. Nice job on learning something new.
Ugh... flip turns. I've tried... I get water up the nose, my heart rate goes through the roof and I spend about half of the next length recovering. Other people make it look so effortless. I guess I am just not that coordinated?
I do like the idea of more swimming in less time... maybe I should work on the flip turn. Hmmm.
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