

1) Let's focus on the glide into the turn first:


This drill is called The Submarine.

Dive upper body down into the tumble turn
Start your tumble turn with submerging your upper body

To practice this, swim freestyle to the wall as normal, and 1 meter or so before you are ready to flip, start slowly submerging your upper body at a very low angle.

Your head and back should be slightly under the surface.

Once you get right below the surface with your upper body then initiate your flip.

If this drill is mastered perfectly, you will feel how your legs flip totally on their own at a higher speed than normal.

2) the Second tip would be the positioning of the feet on the wall:


While this is true, it is easily interpreted in the wrong way. It usually causes the legs to be straighter and a huge splash by the wall.

That is a big NO-NO.


In order to have a fast flip, you will have to remember one rule.

Smaller object moves faster than a larger one.

Hence, it is very important that you keep your legs bent (not straight) - as small as possible on the way through the air.

When your feet reach the wall, they are basically almost in the level below your butt.

In other words, your heels create a beautiful hole in the water for the rest of your feet to follow and no splash is created.

Not too close and not too far from your buttocks. Just an optimal distance, so your push-off is as strong as possible.

If they are too close, then you will sit on the wall forever before you are able to push off.

If they are too far, then your push will be very weak.

You can think of it as having close to a 90-degree angle at your knees.

Tumble turn - feet position
See the differences between tumble turns

I don't have a real practice trick for this, except maybe trying the flip on the wall, where there is a dry spot on the deck, and try not to get the pool deck wet :)

The feet should also not be very close together when hitting the wall.

Usually, about one foot apart or so is a good practice.

3) The Last tip would be the breakout:


You still carry the momentum from the wall, so by minimizing drag, you increase the distance traveled at this pace.

The important thing to remember is that if you are too deep or too shallow, you do not go the fastest as there is some turbulence from the bottom or from the surface of the water.

You will need to find the optimal depth for your breakouts (I'd suggest starting at about 80 cm or a couple of feet).

Ok, now the trick comes into play.

Once you start feeling yourself slowing down a little.

The only thing you need to do is to add a couple of little snappy dolphin kicks (or more) right before you surface.

This will give you the final burst of speed and will make your breakout a success.

The breakout itself is for another post, however, keep in mind - head is down, no breath on the first pull, and no jumping out of the water - keep it smooth, right at the surface.

Swim Advice Topics

How To Learn A Freestyle Flip Turn - Part 3 (Advanced) is part of the following categories: Starts and Turns, Turns - Flip turn and is meant for swimmers in: Level 4 - Advanced

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Comments (4)

Tom Broadbent said...
I wonder if I could trouble you and any swimmers out there for advice. I am not a serious swimmer, but am building a pool for the family, and on either side of the steps into the shallow end wanted to build pads you can kick turn off of-- roughly how far below the surface should they be-- almost at the surface, a foot below, 2 feet-- where do a turning swimmer's feet hit? Thanks for any advice you may have!
libor said...
Hi Tom, well, I am not sure if there is one answer to your question. It varies based on the type of a swimmer one is, however, I guess as you have suggested 2-2.5 feet below the surface is probably sufficient. Most beginner swimmers push off the wall higher though and then they try to make up for it, so they push down in order to be deeper in the water. Or on the other hand just push off right at the surface and stay there which causes them to loose all the momentum off the wall due to the extreme wave action. I am not sure what your pool design will be, but if you can, I'd try to have the pads start at the surface and go down to about 3-4 feet. Be careful though, so you don't leave space under the pads, so your kids could swim under and potentially get caught there. Don't want to scare you away here :). Swimming is a great sport for the kids. They say, you excercise every muscle in your body when you swim :). Good luck and let me know if you need any other advice.
Anonymous said...
lol. some swimming pool have slippery walls. flips turns just killed it lol. it tooks me 3 days to get the flip turn right. now i am loving it. i can swim 25 laps on a 25 meter pool. with flip turn, i can only do 3. lol...
swimator said...
Good job. It should be easier to swim with a flip turn. You can gain a lot of momentum pushing off the wall, so to swim 25m should take less time. Keep practicing. If your feet slip off the wall, make sure you are hitting the wall in perpendicular motion, so your feet hit it straight.

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