Recently I've forced myself to do flip turns in practice, hoping I'll get better/faster at them. My question is about hand position. Many years ago I'd use my hands to scull and help flip me over. Now, however, after some experimentation, I'm just using my torso and a dolphin kick to turn myself over. My hands stay in front of me the whole time as far as I can tell. This seems to put them in a streamlined position faster so I'm ready to push off faster. Back to the question part: Is/does this sound right? It feels faster, but I don't know if I'm missing something. Any help/suggestions is/are appreciated. Thanks.:wiggle:
Parents
Former Member
I read somewhere (or was it Ande who gave me this advice - forgive me Ande if I am wrong:blush:) that you should be pulling that final stroke right into the turn as opposed to gliding in. I complete the stroke all the way - right to brushing the hand on the hip. This ensures momentum into the wall and will prevent you from turning 'short' and missing the wall entirely - something I am prone to do. Since I have taken this advice I have seen a significant improvement in the speed of my turn. I have never dolphin kicked into the wall. That would ruin my rhythm completely. Also I don't turn onto my stomach until I have completed the roll i.e. my head is facing the surface of the pool. This allows me to push off from a deeper position and ensures that I don't surface too quickly and, hence, am able to do more SDK's off the wall. However, I am not the quickest flip turner and still have a lot to learn. In fact, in the past, so poor was my flip turn that my time for 50m crawl SCM was slower than my time for 50 LCM!!
Syd
I read somewhere (or was it Ande who gave me this advice - forgive me Ande if I am wrong:blush:) that you should be pulling that final stroke right into the turn as opposed to gliding in. I complete the stroke all the way - right to brushing the hand on the hip. This ensures momentum into the wall and will prevent you from turning 'short' and missing the wall entirely - something I am prone to do. Since I have taken this advice I have seen a significant improvement in the speed of my turn. I have never dolphin kicked into the wall. That would ruin my rhythm completely. Also I don't turn onto my stomach until I have completed the roll i.e. my head is facing the surface of the pool. This allows me to push off from a deeper position and ensures that I don't surface too quickly and, hence, am able to do more SDK's off the wall. However, I am not the quickest flip turner and still have a lot to learn. In fact, in the past, so poor was my flip turn that my time for 50m crawl SCM was slower than my time for 50 LCM!!
Syd
