Are flip turns all that fast when you consider how much oxygen they take up??.I have found that I am more able to swim at a regular tempo by doing "open" turns, than trying to do flip turns, which always put me out of my regular breathing pattern.:(
Former Member
Good to hear from you again Mark ! Hope all is well with you. Keep practicing and they will get better.
Cheers, Gareth:)
I just recently started to attempt to do flip turns. I practiced by repetitively swimming at the wall from about 10 meters away, trying it again and again until I got a good feel for the timing. I got pretty good at that. My problem now is that when I swim the full length of the pool, I have trouble getting the timing right when I'm at the wall. I assume it is just a matter of more practice to get it right.
Dave,
I have done that as well. One other thing I do that seems to help is I will swim 25 yards and try to be as efficient with my stroke as I can (typically 12 - 14 strokes) and then I will do a flip turn. After the flip turn I will go back to the wall I just flipped from and start a new 25.
This seems to help in a couple different ways. For one, swimming with an efficient stroke just seems easier for me when doing a full 25 than starting my stroke from 10 or 15 yards out. Another is that I have heard you are supposed to accelerate into the turn and I just find that easier to do when swimming the full 25. And finally, as you mentioned, you get a chance to practice the timing over and over again and you will get a sense of where you need to start your flip turn.
I am still working on getting my flip turns down so I am dealing with a lot of the same stuff you are. This is what seems to be working for me right now.
I'm one of those disgusting people that flip turns come naturally to. I think it's my years (a while back now) when I did 'spacial' (not special! having to do with spacial relationships) things like gymnastics and figure skating.
I hear every pool is different on determining where to start your turn. I generally wait until I have crossed the "T" do one stroke, then flip. I learned to put both arms out in front of me once I flip and that sets me up for whatever arm motions are required of whatever stroke I am doing.
I wear an ear plug in my left ear because when I do the half turn after the flip, my ear is up and water tends to go in and that's never good.
-Marian
