started swimming in a pool. tell me how, please.
thanks,
cyclisto
also check out http://www.triathletemag.com/Page900.aspx
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thanks guys!
That article has a nice logical learning progression.
A couple things for beginners to think about:
- Your head directs where your body is going to go, and how fast it’s going to go. Think about really throwing your head down and tucking your chin in tight when you start the turn.
- Use those core muscles to get nice and tight on the somersault and to help power through the movement.
- Most common beginners mistake I see is trying to use your arms too much on the turn. When you start the turn, push/pull your arms as fast as you can until they’re parellel with the water level and pointing in the direction you want to go when you push off the wall. Then DO NOT MOVE THEM until you’re ready to streamline of the wall. If you’re having to scull to get the somersault completed, you’re just slowing yourself down on the turn. (and not using your core muscles properly) If you want a drill to correct arm overuse, try doing somersaults while holding an 18 inch long dowel or drumstick in both your hands in front of you while you practice somersaults.
- You will hit your heels on the gutter a couple of times while you’re learning, and it is going to hurt. But eventually you WILL get a feel for the proper distances and just know exactly when to turn after you see the black T on the bottom of the pool.
If you are scared of hitting your heels just practice out in the middle of the pool by doing flips nowhere near a wall.
To FlaJILL’s point above, when we were kids we would play ‘somersaults with no arms’ in the shallow end for hours. This is the same as her #3 except without holding something. So stand in the shallow end, put your arms out in front of you, and do a somersault but leave your hands where they are. Dry hands = you win. Then do it starting from a float. This will help you to keep from trying to use your arms in the flip.
A better question might be - do I even NEED to learn how to do flip turns? I just touch the wall, and quickly transition into the next length. Since I never plan on being a competitive pool swimmer, are they really all that necessary to take the time and learn?
…or do I swim fast enough to do them without be labelled a poser?
Wouldn’t that time spent learning flip turns be better spent on swim intervals and/or technique review/improvement?
I, too, am interested in how valuable flip turns are in relating to triatlon swim speed. Certainly, it would make you 100y avr lower … but that doesn’t really mean much in terms of how fast you swim 1500m, 1.2mi, or 2.4 mi without walls.
YES!
swimming is about being comfortable in the water and feeling the water. The better you are at ANY aspect of swimming the better a swimmer you will become.
Will it make you more fit? NO. Will it help you be a better swimmer? YES. No brainer to me. Learn those bad boys. you’ll be happier for it and glad you did.
thats my whole reasoning. In addition if you watch someone do a flipturn they effectively take at least 5 yards off each end of the pool so they are only swimming 15 per length. if i don’t flip turn i swim the whole 25. Makes more sense to me.
Grant
cough. you callin me a poser? only paulo calls me a poser.
they are cool and make you look like a “real” swimmer whatever that is. If you can’t learn a smooth and effective one don’t sweat it. They are mostly for show. Like a lot of triathletes I know. They won’t help you get in swim shape and won’t effect your tri performance.
If you don’t have a smokin hot flip turn, you probably don’t have a smokin hot stroke either. Pick the stroke and work on it first. Nothing like getting beat by a guy who can’t do a flip turn. Now that’s cool.
“are they really all that necessary to take the time and learn?”
I don’t think they take much time to learn if you are reasonably comfortable in the water. I still can’t do them at max effort without killing my breathing, but it wasn’t very hard to learn how to do one when swimming easily. I would suggest at least trying them once in a while, maybe in cooldowns if for no other reason than to increase your comfort in the water.
I’ve yet to hit my heels, but in a pool swim for a triathlon I did whiff (flipped too early and when I went to push off got nothing but water) which probably put a lot of people waiting to start at ease that they wouldn’t be the biggest knucklehead around.
But you’re also getting a wee bit of rest with the open turn, no matter how quickly you claim you’re able to do an open turn. And those little bits of rest add up over the course of a swim practice.
Flip turns force you to maintain more continuous exertion levels.
you’re getting rest on a flip turn. you don’t use your arms under water when you streamline. and we are talking seconds here you can’t tell me that you go at the exactly the perfect exertion level for you whole practice. During practice those seconds you slow down a bit add up also. there no real difference between the two.
Also i’d rather “rest” for the second or so and swim an extra 10 yards a lap then do a flip turn and swim 15 yards.
Grant
I am a frim believer of NOT doing flip turns unless you can do so without a spike in heart rate. (I can’t). Swimming Tri’s is about the best form at the lowest heart rate. Spiking my HR at every turn takes my focus away from my form which is really where the gains are to be made when it comes to swimming. I touch the side, turn, push and off again with no rest but a steady HR.
I taught myself to do flip turns last winter. It takes some time to get it down, but it’s not necessarily time that you could be doing intervals or harder sets. When I started trying them, I would do them during my warm up and cool down, and even then I would only try a flip turn every 4th turn. And as time passed I would flip turn every other turn. And then one day something just clicked and I was able to do them for the whole workout. At that point I still didn’t think I would ever be able to flip turn for hard sets like 100s because using a flip turn really did affect my breathing. But even that has changed and I can do them for sets of all efforts. I can’t imagine not using flip turns. And I’ll admit it, I do feel like more of a swimmer now that i can do them. And on top of that I feel like I get a better work out.
if you watch someone do a flipturn they effectively take at least 5 yards off each end of the pool so they are only swimming 15 per length
Ahhhh…no. I have yet to see anyone, at any level, start their turn at the flags. The push from the wall is the same regardless of whether you do a flip or not. All a flip turn does is effectively cut off a half yard or so from each length of the pool, and reduces the amount of rest you get at each end with an open turn (unless you really work your open turns.).
Learning flip turns will help you get more swimming in.
A better question might be - do I even NEED to learn how to do flip turns? I just touch the wall, and quickly transition into the next length. Since I never plan on being a competitive pool swimmer, are they really all that necessary to take the time and learn?
Once you start using flip turns you might find that you were previously just doing 25 yd repeats with 2 seconds rest. You don’t NEED them, but they help - especially for simulating more race-like breath control.