Flip turns are mainly used during the crawl stroke, which is also sometimes referred to as swimming freestyle. Flip turns can also be used during the backstroke which employs a slightly different flip-turn technique. This wikiHow web page describes how to perform a flip turn during the freestyle stroke as you approach the wall of the swimming pool for your lane. The goal of the flip turn and pushing off from the wall is to transfer the energy and momentum you have built up in one direction so both get refocused in the opposite direction. This allows lap swimming and competitive swimming to be performed as efficiently and quickly as possible with minimal loss of energy and momentum. This is a must-know trick for swimmers. Have fun doing it!
1Make sure your goggles are secure and get in the pool.Ad
2Start swimming freestyle (also known as front crawl).
3When you are about 5m away from the wall, kick your legs harder. This will make tumbling easier.
4Make sure you have enough air to go for a tumble. However, do not take a breath just before a tumble as it will interrupt your stroke and slow you down.
5Swim up to the wall until you think you are close enough. This can be hard to judge as it all depends on the length of your legs.
6Follow the last stroke of your arm over. As your arm enters the water, tuck your head in and keep kicking your legs to propel you over. As you tumble, breath out hard through your nose to prevent any water getting up it.
7You will find yourself on your back underwater. The fastest way to get off the wall is to push off on your back underwater, rather then turning onto your front and then pushing off. Place both feet firmly on the wall and push off hard UNDERWATER and turn onto your front before you surface or do any kicking.
8Swim around five metres underwater using the butterfly kick in streamline position, before surfacing and resuming freestyle.Ad
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- Many swimmers use a spot on the bottom of the pool (such as the end of the lane marker painted on bottom of pool) to gauge when they should begin their flip turn. Some may begin right at the end of the lane marker, some a few inches after, some a few inches before. It all depends on how long your legs are, how fast you are swimming, and how coordinated and fast you are when doing your flip.
- Flip turns also help to get your legs and abdomen more into the swimming effort. Without flip turns, your arms are performing approximately 80% to 85% of the swimming effort and your legs only performing 15% to 20%. With flip turns, however, your legs get more involved due to the strong push-offs from the wall, resulting in your arms now doing approximately 70% of the swimming effort and your legs doing approximately 30%. This helps balance the work between your arms, legs and abdomen and gets your legs and abdomen more involved in the work-out.
- Getting good at flip turns requires practice. Once you learn how to do it, you will have a tremendous advantage in swimming laps or in competitive swimming.
- Goggles should be worn fairly tightly to prevent slippage and water seeping in when pushing off and gliding under water.
- An essential key to having a good flip turn is knowing exactly when to begin the flip, meaning how far away from the wall do we begin the flip. If the distance is off, the rest of the flip turn will suffer.
- A really nice push-off from the wall is key to maximizing the subsequent underwater glide.
- After the initial flip and contact with the wall with your feet, the difficult part is over. Subsequent push-off and gliding are the enjoyable parts where the benefits of efficiency and speed become obvious.
- Because flip turns require your head to be under water for several seconds, you will have less opportunity to breath deeply while swimming. This means you will get more of an anaerobic work-out and, as a result, you will want to maximize the amount of air you are getting when you do breathe.
- For consistently good flip turns, you should wear goggles so you can clearly see your marker point on the bottom of the pool as well as the details of the approaching wall.
- Use your hips or buttocks as the pivot point for the flip. When your legs come over, they should be slightly bent at the knees but the point of rotation should be from the hips and buttocks area.
- Once you become good at flip turns, it becomes like riding a bike. It just happens naturally. Minimal thinking is required. Your body just naturally responds. Thinking is always required, however, when observing exactly when to start the flip-turn so you have the perfect distance between the top of your head and the wall. Being off just a few inches can make the difference between a good flip turn and a bad one.
- When your head breaks the surface of the water, maintain good free-style breathing habits so the side of your face is minimally out of the water...yet...there is ample opportunity to take a large breath of air.
- While gliding through the water, concentrate on keeping your body in as much of a hydrodynamic shape as possible, meaning reduce as much water resistance as possible. Visualize a dolphin gliding through the water at this point.
- You should know how to do a somersault in the water.
- Flipping approximately 3 feet (0.9 m) from the wall also provides benefits of efficiency and speed because you are touching the wall with your feet and not your hands. Your torso does not have to go all the way to the wall...only your feet.
- A well executed flip turn can easily cause a liter of water to get splashed out of the pool each time. Over time, someone will need to add more water to the pool. A sizeable splash of water over the edge of the pool along with a "whoosh" sound...combined with nice fluid motion...is a definite indication that a swimmer is executing an outstanding flip turn.
- Starting out just swim up to the wall and have your fingertips barely touch the wall then flip. do the same going in to the wall fast to get the feel for things.
- Just flow, don't rush.
- If you are prone to getting water up your nose, blow air out of your nose while you are flipping.
- When swimming with your face down, make sure you get enough air to do the flip turn so you won't run out.
- When swimming with your face down, always look for the wall coming up. If you are not on the look-out, you can easily swim into the wall head-first.
- When first learning how to do flip turns, be careful that your feet do not flop over and land on the edge of the pool. Many swimmers experience this when first learning how to do flip turns. It can be quite painful.
- You should not flip too close to the wall, as it will slow you down and force you to do a tight flip.
- Don't flip too far out either!
- Make sure there's nobody swimming right behind you before you flip, or you'll crash into them when you push off the wall
- To clearly see the wall, make sure you have goggles on.
- If you aren't an experienced swimmer, make sure there is a lifeguard on duty.
Things You'll Need
- A pool
- A swimsuit
- A pair of goggles
Categories: Turning (Swimming)
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