I cannot Flip Turn (Page 2)

Speaking of weird,  I often miss my flip turns (flip too early) on purpose. I'm not on the clock when I do this. I swim 200 yards missing all the turns. It gives me an open water feel. When coming out of the missed turn, I'll kick just a little harder and practice my sighting. Also I use this time to practice clearing my goggles. All without ever touching the wall or bottom. I even have a move that allows me to stretch my arms a bit, again without touching bottom.

Then the OWS will be easier!

I don't push off or flip (can't flip anyway).  I figure it gets me better prepared for the OWS.  Plus you do some stopping and starting with the traffic, looking for turns and quick "catch your breath" stops during the swim.

Yes, I am a beginner.

I really wouldn't get too hung up on trying to somehow simulate OWS in the pool. Pushing off from the wall doing an open turn or from a flip turn provides you a great opportunity to practice and really feel good, streamlined body position on the glide. I would suggest that has more benefit than avoiding it to somehow make it more OWS..which it really doesn't.

Several months into swimming (I started late last year) I found myself unable to resist grabbing a micro-second of break and a bigger breath at the wall during my open turns.  That's when and why I resolved to learn flip[ turns.  It took a couple of months before I was reasonably efficient at them.  I do find that my swims feel more 'continuous' with them, but as I said, I'm terrible at open turns.

I can't do flip turns. Actually I can't do them because I have a hole just under my nose in my bone that when I do flip turns it gets a lot of pressure(feels like water). I had a non-cancerous tumor taken out of the spot a couple months back.. Anyway, I do pretty quick open turns and don't even take a breath a lot of the time, if I do it's a half breath. Nothing wrong with open turns, just don't hang for a second, you just want to touch and go. I don't let me self grab the side to turn. I just touch the wall under the water line and go. If you grab you're probably pulling up a bit and pausing for a second.

As far as OWS feel... I'd say flip turns would give a better feel for it than open turns.

I even use flip turns in the lake. When swimming at the beech I go from one corner buoy to the other then flip turn and come back. about 200 yards each way.

LOL! Ok, that just silly..
Now THAT would be a great chance to practice rounding a bouy....

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What the h@ll?

That's just stupid.

x2, I could do a flip turn in a puddle!

Given that my two planned OWS swims got jettisoned this year due to a stress fracture and scheduling issue, my final race of the summer wound up being a sprint with a 300 yard snake swim.   While they are of limited value in an OWS, flipping under the lane lines was a distinct advantage - maybe sort of like the particular tint on your interchangable sunglasses that are appropriate for weather conditions about one day per year.  After missing out on my OWS races, I need to take what little pleasures I can.

Video your self when you try it out!

I would like to see a flip turn in a puddle

I don't flip turn because it aggravates my sinuses and I get ear infections. I also avoid bilateral breathing because of this. When I breath on my right, I have no issues with my inner ear, but breathing on the left/flip turning drives my left ear crazy. It's a wonderful excuse

I'm also guessing the no lifeguard thing has something to do with it too

For you? Anything!

I enjoy doing flip turns, it's as part a swimming for me as anything else having been doing them since I was 5..

I should probably learn how in the offseason now that I think about it some more...

pushing off the wall allows you to get a better stream lined position which will help your swim technique.  My swim coach (who is also a triathlete and AG champion if not just plain elite) always says this biggest mistake triathletes make with regards to swimming is not training like swimmers.

I was being a little dramatic.  Of course I push off the wall, I just don't flip turn.  I do a quick open turn and go...definitely doesn't look as cool as a flip turn though...

So.....for those that do them and do them well.  Do you have to expel all (or almost all) of your breath to prevent water from going up your nose?  Any way to keep just enough pressure at your nose to prevent water from entering?

Due to competitive swimming as a kid, flip turns are second nature for me.

But living at high altitude I've found that the lack of air during the flip turn/push off makes me not be able to push my stroke as hard as I should on the length. So unless I'm swimming a time trial in a pool, I'd really rather take a good long breath at the wall and swim the length harder. I've found that it almost balances out for me. While the open turn is slower the extra O2 /rest lets me swim the next length faster so the net is that I'm just slightly slower doing open turns.

IMO, flip turns are totally unnecessary unless you are trying to maximize your performance in a pool.

Absolutely not. All I do is put enough pressure out of my nose to equalize the water pressure. That makes it impossible for water to come into my nose. I err on the exhale side so if you were to watch me I probably have a little stream of bubbles coming out of my nose. It's so natural for me that I don't even have to think about it. I cannot remember a case where I got water in my nose from swimming or turns.

Ditto.  Just enough pressure to allow a small stream of bubbles out.

I totally agree with this. Whether I do a flip turn or an open turn, EVERY TIME I push off the wall I do it hard and I evaluate how streamlined my position is, from my head to my toes. I compare it to how it feels when I lay flat, arms extended on a concrete floor.

I also evaluate how effective my first kick and first arm stroke are while underwater. This is how I get the "feel for the water" as people will say.

Last night I was watching a kid probably 12 years old on vacation up here swimming his workout in our pool doing 100y repeats on 1:10 effortlessly. (Vacationers will usually swim 5-10 seconds per 100y slower here due to the lack of O2 so back in SoCal he could probably do the same thing on 1:05 or less.) His streamlined position coming off the wall was just amazing. I also copied part of his stroke that I remembered I used to do but had totally forgotten about. My stroke instantly felt better.

Edited by breckview 2009-08-04 10:30 AM