Just wanted to make it clear as far as the rules on turns during IM, i.e how many hands should touch the wall at fly-back turn and ***- free turn.I am assuming both hands but I wanted to make sure.And it's just one hand for back-***, right?
Former Member
WOW! I'm the first to arrive here! Must by the time-difference...
You got it right for all the turns. Most important you touch with both hands at the same time for fly-back and ***-free. They do not have to be level, and in fact if they are a bit uneven this may help you make a faster turn as the higher hand which will pass above water and not below water is already in position. For back-*** just touch with one hand. There are a lot of different theories about what the fastest and most efficient turn is, but the most important thing is not to dq.
Work those im turns! I did, and on Sunday at a meet in northern Italy I bettered my own time by 8 seconds (I'm still glowing!) Excersize: 12 x 50 alternating 25's fly/back, back/***, ***/free. Do them every 3 minutes so you get a rest and do the 50's at almost race speed, and therefore practice the turns going in hard. Especially for the back/*** it's important to know how many armstrokes you're going to need to hit the wall. The more automatic it becomes, the more confidence you'll have, and the faster you'll be able to hit the wall.
Have fun!
A simple way to remember it is to think of IM as four races swum in succession. You have to finish each of the "races" according to the rules for that stroke. So you have to touch with both hands when you're finishing the butterfly and breaststroke legs, and you have to touch while you're still on your back when you're finishing the backstroke leg.
I have one question to add to this. When doing the back to *** "flip" do you touch completely on your back and flip to push off or do you touch the wall like you were doing an old style backstroke flip turn? Hope that makes sense.
