Backstroke Turns?

I have officially given up trying to do a flip turn on my 50 Back. I was DQ'd this past weekend as I tried to turn over, flip and push off. I DQ'd because my feet couldn't find the wall and I just kinda floated there for a second, did a double arm pull, and went on my merry way. This has occurred at every meet so far, and I'm over it. I noticed a lot of folks were doing open turns for their backstroke. I tried to find some videos online to show this, but I couldn't. Can someone explain to me how to properly perform an open turn for backstroke? I can do the back-to-*** turn just fine, so I'm guessing that back-to-back is kinda the same, except instead of pushing off on your belly, you push off on your back. I have a lot of problems judging distance (always have, even as a kid...I used to run into a lot of walls when I figure skated), and this seems to have been the problem with swimming as well. Thanks ahead for any advice. I don't know if there is much you can do about depth perception, but you can get your stroke count from the flags in. That distance to the wall is always the same. That's the good news. The bad news, of course, is that your distance per stroke is probably not the same in a race as it is in practice -- you're tired, or fresh, or wearing a different suit or ... So to get a race speed turn down, practice the turn at race speed so you get a feel for it. I'd suggest at least one practice per week for a while before the meet (at least six weeks to two months) that you devote time to recreating the conditions under which you've got to turn. Warm up like you'd do at the meet, then do a set of 25 backstrokes at full speed. Play with the stroke count (3, 3.5, 4, etc.) and then when you've found the right count, practice that turn at full speed. When you get tired, you can try fins to generate some additional speed. The idea is that you want to get used to the distance and timing of a full out turn. I've done (and had my swimmers do) Ethan Hawke's sprint set. It is not a lot of yards, but if done properly it is *hard*. It goes like this: 4 x 50 1. 20 all out from block/ 30 easy on 1:30 (work start) 2. 30 all out from push/ 20 easy on 1:30 (work turn) 3. 50 easy on 2:00 to 2:30 (pulse back down under 100) 4. 50 from blocks all out for time. and we do a couple of cycles through that, holding the same stroke through each round of the set. With SDK's this set is really exhausting for backstroke. The Auburn guys do this set and produce 19's in practice on the last one for freestyle -- truly amazing swimming and extremely impressive. I think there is a video on the Auburn web site of the practice. Best of luck...

I have officially given up trying to do a flip turn on my 50 Back. I was DQ'd this past weekend as I tried to turn over, flip and push off. I DQ'd because my feet couldn't find the wall and I just kinda floated there for a second, did a double arm pull, and went on my merry way. This has occurred at every meet so far, and I'm over it. I noticed a lot of folks were doing open turns for their backstroke. I tried to find some videos online to show this, but I couldn't. Can someone explain to me how to properly perform an open turn for backstroke? I can do the back-to-*** turn just fine, so I'm guessing that back-to-back is kinda the same, except instead of pushing off on your belly, you push off on your back. I have a lot of problems judging distance (always have, even as a kid...I used to run into a lot of walls when I figure skated), and this seems to have been the problem with swimming as well. Thanks ahead for any advice. I don't know if there is much you can do about depth perception, but you can get your stroke count from the flags in. That distance to the wall is always the same. That's the good news. The bad news, of course, is that your distance per stroke is probably not the same in a race as it is in practice -- you're tired, or fresh, or wearing a different suit or ... So to get a race speed turn down, practice the turn at race speed so you get a feel for it. I'd suggest at least one practice per week for a while before the meet (at least six weeks to two months) that you devote time to recreating the conditions under which you've got to turn. Warm up like you'd do at the meet, then do a set of 25 backstrokes at full speed. Play with the stroke count (3, 3.5, 4, etc.) and then when you've found the right count, practice that turn at full speed. When you get tired, you can try fins to generate some additional speed. The idea is that you want to get used to the distance and timing of a full out turn. I've done (and had my swimmers do) Ethan Hawke's sprint set. It is not a lot of yards, but if done properly it is *hard*. It goes like this: 4 x 50 1. 20 all out from block/ 30 easy on 1:30 (work start) 2. 30 all out from push/ 20 easy on 1:30 (work turn) 3. 50 easy on 2:00 to 2:30 (pulse back down under 100) 4. 50 from blocks all out for time. and we do a couple of cycles through that, holding the same stroke through each round of the set. With SDK's this set is really exhausting for backstroke. The Auburn guys do this set and produce 19's in practice on the last one for freestyle -- truly amazing swimming and extremely impressive. I think there is a video on the Auburn web site of the practice. Best of luck...