Flip turns - who needs them?

I would suggest that you don't like flip turns because you're not good at them. Anyone that can do a good flip turn would definitely opt to do them over open turns, regardless of whether they are training for open water or pool swimming.

Hmm oddly enough, I go out of my way to not use the wall as much as possible, even when flipping, when doing a LD swim for OW practice. My thoughts are it's better to get used to not having the maximum push off so that my muslces work a longer distance. I can't imagine there is any benefit to your OW swimming at all by doing this. All you are doing is stopping and starting every lap so you aren't doing as much continuous swimming as if you were doing flip turns, or open turns, for that matter. If you had a good flip turn you could probably increase your yardage a ton, which would benefit training for your OW events more.

All you are doing is interrupting your swimming with speed up/slow down, guaranteed to ruin both your OW and pool swimming. I suggest you drop this silliness and do consistently paced flip turns so you keep your swimming and a constant pace, which is what you will want to do in OW swimming, unless you are planning on slowing down every 25 y/m in the lake or ocean. Even in a 25 y pool it is very easy to get into a pace.

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.

As aquageek mentioned, doing flip turns will improve your swimming overall- not to mention your lung capacity. Of course I have not seen your flip turn, but maybe if you planted your feet lower on the wall so that you are streamlining deeper you would be able to go further and get that same distance you get when you do open turns. If you do continue with open turns, just keep in mind the swimmer(s) who might be behind you. It can be frustrating for them if they are about to do a flip turn and the person in front of them does an open turn. It often forces them to slow down. Just thought I'd share that, as I am often a flip turner behind an open turner, or worse yet, a walk-to-the-wall-then-turner! Good luck with your swimming!

I would suggest that you don't like flip turns because you're not good at them. Anyone that can do a good flip turn would definitely opt to do them over open turns, regardless of whether they are training for open water or pool swimming. I second that. Flip turns take some time to perfect but if you use them in practice you will get better and better all the time. Eventually it will become second nature and you won't even really think about doing them..it will just happen. I do recall making the transition to flip turns about 2.5 years ago and it really wiped me out. I could not swim as many yards continuously but slowly I adapted and it just became a part of "swimming". Good luck to you.

Hmm oddly enough, I go out of my way to not use the wall as much as possible, even when flipping, when doing a LD swim for OW practice. My thoughts are it's better to get used to not having the maximum push off so that my muslces work a longer distance. As for open turns...sometimes do them on drills, or with boards and fins etc. Then again I swim alone or with just one other...so silmutaneous arrival at the wall can force me to open rather than collide--I flip 90% of the time...

I can't imagine there is any benefit to your OW swimming at all by doing this. All you are doing is stopping and starting every lap so you aren't doing as much continuous swimming as if you were doing flip turns, or open turns, for that matter. If you had a good flip turn you could probably increase your yardage a ton, which would benefit training for your OW events more. I just choose to push off easy and let my stroke take the burden. There is no wall in the Ocean every 50m/25y. It's not quite stop/start. Just not maximum velocity/distance off the wall. It certainly feels continous to me.

I can't imagine there is any benefit to your OW swimming at all by doing this. All you are doing is stopping and starting every lap so you aren't doing as much continuous swimming as if you were doing flip turns, or open turns, for that matter. If you had a good flip turn you could probably increase your yardage a ton, which would benefit training for your OW events more. I just choose to push off easy and let my stroke take the burden. There is no wall in the Ocean every 50m/25y. It's not quite stop/start. Just not maximum velocity/distance off the wall. It certainly feels continous to me.

All you are doing is interrupting your swimming with speed up/slow down What are you talking about? I'm doing the same (albeit slow) LD speed the entire time. I'm just NOT accelerating off of the wall. I'm a turtle over long distances and it's about finishing for me not how long it takes. I think you're misunderstanding me.