Hi, I'm having trouble with the freestyle tumble turn.
My freestyle is okay - not too slow but not amazing. However, I am absolutely horrible at the turns. I can't seem to get enough momentum for the turns. I can't turn fast enough, and thus the turn is very sloppy, always ending up with me somehow staring at my feet when my body's underwater after the turn and my upper body too low in the water. I've watched some really good turners turn with absolute ease - mind you, I can swim faster than some of them, and some of them just seem to glide into their turns with no speed at all, but they build up huge momentum during the turn, finishing the turn with their legs almost straight and very far away from the wall, but still be able to get a good pushoff that's not deep at all.
So, how do I get my tumble turn to work? How can I turn fast enough and with my legs relatively straight? When I turn by umping off the floor of the shallow end I turn like the good turners, but when I swim into the wall I can't turn anymore, which leads me to believe that I'm not getting enough momentum.
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Former Member
I am by no means the fastest swimmer around and many of the members here have forgotten more about swimming than I will probably ever know. However, I have found that the quickest way through a turn is to make it one continual motion...no hesitation before pushing off of the wall. I heard somewhere to imagine that the wall is scorching hot and you don't want your feet spending a lengthy period of time there, sounds like good advice.
I make a small dolphin kick as I enter the turn and tuck in preparation for the flip. As I flip over with my legs tucked in I am already anticipating when my feet will be in the right position to launch me from the wall. I often feel that my turn is the fastest part of my lap or race. What is so great about turns is that doing them right does not take any more energy that doing them poorly (in fact a poor turn saps more stamina from you than a good turn). Because of this I practice doing my turns correctly with every lap I swim during practice. I also find that a fast turn is easier to perform than a slow turn. Even when I am swimming at a slow pace I will still tend to make my turn in an agressive manner.
Something that helped me get my turns nailed down was to watch the wall as my feet dropped into the water. by doing this you will know when the time is right to plant your feet and blast off from the wall. When I first started it was quite common for me to either push myself towards the pool bottom or directly up to the surface.
Good luck.
I am by no means the fastest swimmer around and many of the members here have forgotten more about swimming than I will probably ever know. However, I have found that the quickest way through a turn is to make it one continual motion...no hesitation before pushing off of the wall. I heard somewhere to imagine that the wall is scorching hot and you don't want your feet spending a lengthy period of time there, sounds like good advice.
I make a small dolphin kick as I enter the turn and tuck in preparation for the flip. As I flip over with my legs tucked in I am already anticipating when my feet will be in the right position to launch me from the wall. I often feel that my turn is the fastest part of my lap or race. What is so great about turns is that doing them right does not take any more energy that doing them poorly (in fact a poor turn saps more stamina from you than a good turn). Because of this I practice doing my turns correctly with every lap I swim during practice. I also find that a fast turn is easier to perform than a slow turn. Even when I am swimming at a slow pace I will still tend to make my turn in an agressive manner.
Something that helped me get my turns nailed down was to watch the wall as my feet dropped into the water. by doing this you will know when the time is right to plant your feet and blast off from the wall. When I first started it was quite common for me to either push myself towards the pool bottom or directly up to the surface.
Good luck.
