Flip turns

I really struggle with my flipturns. What I took for granted in my youth is now quite a challenge. I find that I'm much more worn out after a swim if I've done flipturns, and I don't think I swim any faster or more efficiently when I do flipturns. It's difficult to pace myself consistently, so my approach to the wall is the first problem I encounter. I try to have about a foot or two between my outstretched arm and the wall before I begin the turn. Even if I manage to do this successfully, I find myself sinking quite a bit during the turn, so much so that I can't flip in the shallow end of the pool without scraping knees and elbows on the bottom! I'm a distance swimmer, so I'm not sure speeding up will do me much good in the long run. Suggestions for a better flipturn are appreciated. As an age-group swimmer I was told to always always always do a flip turn - it's always faster even if you sink to the bottom, hit your head, suck water into your lungs and lose your goggles. Our coach was perhaps exaggerating because he wanted us to work on our flip turns. But now that I'm older and slower and less in shape I definitely find flip turns to be more difficult and more tiring - especially because doing them the way I was taught requires me to hold my breath for a long time (approach, turn, push off, gasp for breath). I think the answer is that it depends. It depends on what your goals are and where your weaknesses are and how to get the greatest benefit in your (probably) limited practice time. You say you are a distance swimmer - thus the benefit of improving your turns is much less than if you focused on sprints (50s) or middle distances (100s, 200s). It might be easier (and more beneficial) to focus on improving other aspects of your stroke technique. In a 500, 1000, or 1650 a smooth and efficient stroke and breathing technique will help you vastly more than fast flip turns. If you want to train for summer long course (50m pools) or open water swims, then turns again become much less of an issue. If/when you do practice your turns, make it an isolated part of the overall practice session until it's more comfortable. One drill we used to do is 10 X "Split" 50s for example. A "split" 50 is where you start and end in the middle of the pool. You do 50 yards but 2 turns for each 50 instead of 1. Give yourself plenty of rest between each and focus on executing the best flip turn you can. As you get better you could gradually add in flip turns to your regular sets - 200s with every other turn a flip turn, 500s with every third turn a flip turn, etc. It doesn't have to be all or nothing. You could even do sets with "deep end flip turns" to practice them without the hassle of scraping knees and elbows.

I really struggle with my flipturns. What I took for granted in my youth is now quite a challenge. I find that I'm much more worn out after a swim if I've done flipturns, and I don't think I swim any faster or more efficiently when I do flipturns. It's difficult to pace myself consistently, so my approach to the wall is the first problem I encounter. I try to have about a foot or two between my outstretched arm and the wall before I begin the turn. Even if I manage to do this successfully, I find myself sinking quite a bit during the turn, so much so that I can't flip in the shallow end of the pool without scraping knees and elbows on the bottom! I'm a distance swimmer, so I'm not sure speeding up will do me much good in the long run. Suggestions for a better flipturn are appreciated. As an age-group swimmer I was told to always always always do a flip turn - it's always faster even if you sink to the bottom, hit your head, suck water into your lungs and lose your goggles. Our coach was perhaps exaggerating because he wanted us to work on our flip turns. But now that I'm older and slower and less in shape I definitely find flip turns to be more difficult and more tiring - especially because doing them the way I was taught requires me to hold my breath for a long time (approach, turn, push off, gasp for breath). I think the answer is that it depends. It depends on what your goals are and where your weaknesses are and how to get the greatest benefit in your (probably) limited practice time. You say you are a distance swimmer - thus the benefit of improving your turns is much less than if you focused on sprints (50s) or middle distances (100s, 200s). It might be easier (and more beneficial) to focus on improving other aspects of your stroke technique. In a 500, 1000, or 1650 a smooth and efficient stroke and breathing technique will help you vastly more than fast flip turns. If you want to train for summer long course (50m pools) or open water swims, then turns again become much less of an issue. If/when you do practice your turns, make it an isolated part of the overall practice session until it's more comfortable. One drill we used to do is 10 X "Split" 50s for example. A "split" 50 is where you start and end in the middle of the pool. You do 50 yards but 2 turns for each 50 instead of 1. Give yourself plenty of rest between each and focus on executing the best flip turn you can. As you get better you could gradually add in flip turns to your regular sets - 200s with every other turn a flip turn, 500s with every third turn a flip turn, etc. It doesn't have to be all or nothing. You could even do sets with "deep end flip turns" to practice them without the hassle of scraping knees and elbows.