Top Tips for a Faster Freestyle Flip Turn
All great flip turns have the following critical elements
The flip turn is a useful way to reverse direction in a pool. When you come into the wall, a flip turn can save you time and energy compared to an open turn, and nearly all competitive swimmers use flip turns during races.
But flip turns can seem inscrutable when you first learn them, and it may not be clear exactly what’s going on underwater. To help clarify this, break the turn into the three critical elements contribute to a great flip turn:
- An awesome approach
- A quick flip
- A solid push-off
Below are some top tips to improve each of these important elements so you can execute faster flip turns.
Approach
No flip turn is great without a strong approach into the wall. As you near the wall, you should be aiming to carry as much of the momentum you’ve built up down the length of the pool to help propel you off the wall again after the flip.
Knowing your stroke count for each length can help you know exactly where you are in relation to the wall and when to tuck your head to begin the flip. Be sure to keep count of your strokes so you know exactly which stroke will be your last before the flip without ever having to look for the wall.
Flip
A flip turn is essentially just a somersault that’s done close to the wall with the addition of planting the feet to push off in the opposite direction.
If you can’t do a somersault in the pool itself without the wall, there’s no reason to try doing so at the wall—you’ll likely only hit your head or your feet and potentially end up with some scrapes and bruises.
Therefore, if you’re new to somersaulting in the pool, practice this movement away from the wall until you get the hang of it. If you can do a somersault, but it’s maybe not a really comfortable movement for you, practice somersaulting well away from the wall until you get more comfortable spinning head over heels in the water.
When practicing your somersaults, make sure to tuck into a small, tight ball each time. This means keeping your arms and hands close to your sides—don’t let them flap out in space. The less surface area you offer up to the water, the less resistance you’ll meet, which means sleeker and faster turns; the smallest ball possible gives you the fastest turn.
Tightening up your somersaulting skills will only help you in executing strong flip turns.
Push-off
Once you’ve flipped and planted your feet, it’s time to explode off the wall to your push- start the next lap. When you push off, that’s the second highest peak speed you'll ever reach in any swimming race. (The first is when you initially burst off the block at the start of the race.)
When pushing off the wall from a completed flip turn, your arms should be set in a tight streamline. Point your streamlined and locked hands in the direction you want to go as you begin pushing off the wall so you can burst off the wall and make good headway down the lane as soon as possible.
