I will never race in a pool. If I race at all, it will be in open water.
I can do flip turns, but I don't think they are very good. When I do them, my head is directly under the backstroke flags when I take my first breath. With open turns, my head is about a length beyond the flags.
When I do flip turns, I notice a lot more cardio stress. I don't really recover until about half a length.
Is there a training benefit to doing flip turns in practice that will help me in open water? Does that second or two of holding my breath help me at all in terms of conditioning?
I agree with Kirk on this....I learned to swim as a kid, but never learned flip turns (guess I didn't get that far in lessons). I never swam competitively in a group until a masters-type program when I was in grad school. I thought my free was fine as it was, I had no intention of ever doing a meet, etc. But we had a determined coach, and just a handful of swimmers (sometimes just 3 or 4), so she gave us plenty of attention. I started out with excuses why I didn't do flip turns, I don't flip when I'm pulling, or whatever. She had none of it, and little by little I did more and more flip turns. Within 3-6 months, I was doing flip turns without even thinking. I rarely do meets anymore, but I could not imagine swimming with the group I do and not doing flip turns. Occasionally we get a triathlete or H2O polo guy in the lane who doesn't, and it is extremely disruptive, to the point that someone will talk to the coach.
I agree with Kirk on this....I learned to swim as a kid, but never learned flip turns (guess I didn't get that far in lessons). I never swam competitively in a group until a masters-type program when I was in grad school. I thought my free was fine as it was, I had no intention of ever doing a meet, etc. But we had a determined coach, and just a handful of swimmers (sometimes just 3 or 4), so she gave us plenty of attention. I started out with excuses why I didn't do flip turns, I don't flip when I'm pulling, or whatever. She had none of it, and little by little I did more and more flip turns. Within 3-6 months, I was doing flip turns without even thinking. I rarely do meets anymore, but I could not imagine swimming with the group I do and not doing flip turns. Occasionally we get a triathlete or H2O polo guy in the lane who doesn't, and it is extremely disruptive, to the point that someone will talk to the coach.
