How to Do a Swimming Flip Turn

Are you a beginner to intermediate level swimmer who is able to perform the four strokes but just can't get the hang of a swimming flip turn? Performing a flip turn will not only increase your speed in the swimming pool, but also enhance your swimming workout allowing you to burn more calories. Read on for an easy-to-follow swimming lesson on the art of the flip turn.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Access to a standard-length swimming pool
• Swim suit
• Swimming goggles
• Swim cap

1. Push off the wall to begin your first length of the swimming pool (25 yards). Perform steady strokes of freestyle (sometimes referred to as “crawl” informally) or backstroke. These are the two strokes that when performed competitively are much enhanced by the use of a swimming flip turn.

2. Take a final side breath (if swimming freestyle) before you approach the last 5 yards of the opposite end of the swimming pool. Complete your last few strokes without taking a breath. Use strong arm movements and kicking motion to gain good momentum as you come into the wall.

3. Let your final right or left arm stroke naturally bring you about a foot from the wall depending on the amount of space your tucked legs will need. If you’re too close, you might crash into the wall rather than appropriately utilizing it as a stationary springboard. The strength and speed of this final stroke combined with the power of your previous kicks will give you enough force to continue your body’s inertia in the opposite direction.

4. Pull in your abs, tighten your muscles and tuck in your legs to perform a kick turn. Your head and shoulders should break the surface of the water first. Let your behind and lower extremities follow the upper body around in a semi-circle.

5. Continue around until your body returns to its position (chest parallel with the bottom surface of the swimming pool). If your body is tilted too far towards the top or bottom, your kick will send you askew. As soon as this parallel position is achieved, quickly un-tuck your legs, stretch out your arms (hands stacked on top of one another) and forcefully push both feet against the wall.

6. Rotate your body around to face the bottom of the swimming pool and only re-start your kick once the resistance of the water begins to get the better of your streamline. As your back re-surfaces, re-start your arm strokes. Continue swimming and repeat the process when you approach the last 5 yards of the other end of pool.

Tips & Warnings

• Perform the same swimming flip turn steps for backstroke, however, you will need to flip your body over somewhere between the overhead flags (which denote the 5 yard mark) and the wall. One stroke of the arm is all you are allowed while face down. Try to time your last strokes before the race in order to perfectly measure how far away from the wall you need to be once you flip over during the race.
• Don’t take a breath after the turn until you have fully returned to normal strokes. This will increase your speed and get the most out of the streamline you achieved by pushing off the wall with great force.
• Swim into the wall with an all-or-nothing mindset. A half-effort turn will slow you down, render your swimming workout sloppy and leave you floundering. At the same time, use good spatial judgment when approaching this hard, slippery barrier.