I'm always under the touch pad and don't get my splits

Does anyone have this problem? I need to make a super effort to get a foot on the pad. I'm usually under it. If I adjust to touch it, I am not pushing off at the right angle. I just have a deeper turn than most. I guess I need to try and fix this because getting splits is important. Any thoughts? Is this happening in all your events or just with Freestyle?

Only freestyle.

Only freestyle. Sounds like you might not be getting your heels over fast enough and as a result you sink down as you turn. Try to work on throwing your heels over faster. Work on this in the middle of the pool. Think - heels over knees over hips over shoulders

to me it seems like to hit the touchpad you need to be too shallow. Are all pads the same depth?

to me it seems like to hit the touchpad you need to be too shallow. Are all pads the same depth? Touchpads should extend to a depth of 24 inches. I believe that FINA mandates 36 inches but I'm not 100% certain. That should be plenty deep enough to allow you to get your feet on the pad. I had issues with the touchpads at SCY Nats this year where I was hitting the bottom of the pad with half my foot on and half off the pad and it was hurting like heck. I think those might have only been 24 inch depth ones. So I shallowed up my turn a little and that took care of it. Again, it sounds like you have a slow flip and with a slow flip is a tendency to sink lower in the water as you flip. Any chance you could get someone to video your turns? And if you are going so deep, where do you breakout off your turns?

I've always taught swimmers that a flip turn is 2 separate but fluidly connected actions. The first is like a strong, upside-down crunch, so that your stomach ends up against your thighs, you legs still pointing back to where you just came from. You can help initiate this with your last stroke by reaching far in front of you as possible and using the catch to launch your body down into that position. The second action is to "undo" that crunch by throwing you legs to the wall, extending them as they go. If you've done the first part correctly your legs should hit the wall in line with you body in the correct position.

When you flip your body's on the surface, so if done correctly there's no way your feet should hit the pad more than 24" below the surface. I would guess most people's feet hits the pads somewhere around a foot or so underwater. Paul may be correct, your turn technique might be causing your body to sink as you flip. Are your legs totally out of the water when they do the somersault, or are they partially submerged? They should be out of the water. As someone else said, when you push off, you should aim slightly downward, otherwise you'll be a little shallow. Here's a video of Ian Thorpe's turn. You can see his feet hit pretty much right in the center of the pad: youtube.com/watch

you're wasting a lot of effort you're crashing your feet way into the water before hitting the wall it's WAY SLOWER TO DO IT THAT WAY learn to turn shallower concentrate on hitting the wall correctly on every turn Does anyone have this problem? I need to make a super effort to get a foot on the pad. I'm usually under it. If I adjust to touch it, I am not pushing off at the right angle. I just have a deeper turn than most. I guess I need to try and fix this because getting splits is important. Any thoughts?

I guess I am not tucking enough. I will work on it. It is a real problem for me. I am ignoring it in practice and then at meets I screw it all up. I guess I don't mind a deeper turn in practice because I can push off and get under the incoming wave. Maybe this is costing me some time. My LCM 50 is 30.26 and my SCM 50 is 29.78. Does this reaveal a crummy turn?

if you watch the pros, there is no wasting time after the feet have come all the way around in the tumble - feet go on the first part of wall they can find, which is usually pretty close to the surface. They push off downwards, SDK, and come up.