Swimming the freestyle stroke quicker and more efficiently is the universal goal shared by all swimmers. However, swimmers who aim toward that objective frequently overlook the significance of freestyle flip turn swimming.
You can boost your performance in all of your freestyle races and gain an advantage over all of your rivals by mastering flip turns. Here we will discuss the four components of freestyle flip turn and easy ways to enhance your flip turn swimming:
The freestyle flip turn consists of four distinct components, namely:
- Approach:- A significant portion of your flip turn swimming is the approach, which involves swimming the last 5 meters before you begin your flip.
- Turn:- Your body flips due to the turn, which is started by your chin and finished by your core. Your turn will either be quick and powerful or somewhat slow and weaker, depending on how you approach it.
- Underwater phase:- As soon as you push off from the wall following your turn, the underwater phase starts. Your underwater phase has the greatest potential to speed up this portion of your flip turn swimming and prepare you for a quick freestyle stroke.
- Breakout:- Although swimmers and coaches frequently overlook it, the underwater portion of the freestyle turn is equally as crucial as the approach and turn. When you emerge from an underwater period, your speed and rhythm are established for full rest.
You can maintain the momentum you built up during the underwater part of the flip turn swimming by timing your breakout correctly.
Step 1: Accelerate into the wall to perfect your freestyle flip turn
A common error swimmers make is to think of the flip turn as a time to take a quick break between laps. When they get close to the wall, they slow down. But actually, you need to do the opposite. You should accelerate the final 5 meters rather than braking.
You will turn and take off from the wall more quickly the more speed you carry over into your turn phase from the approach. You can forcefully push off from the wall and have more energy for your underwater phase by turning more quickly. As you can see, speeding up against the wall affects not just how each lap ends but also how it turns and starts your following lap.
As you approach the wall for your flip turn swimming, keep your head down and take your final breath at the flags, if not before. Never look up to get your bearings. Instead, learn to determine your position by paying attention to the marks on your pool’s bottom. Your pace toward the wall will be higher if you keep your head down and chin tucked, enabling you to turn more quickly.
Apply the rapid method to every flip turn you perform in your training sessions rather than just trying it out during competitions. You will immediately see great improvements in your flip turns if you internalize a quick strategy during your training sessions.
Step 2: Don’t breathe in or out of your flip turn:
Don’t breathe into the wall or out of the wall are probably phrases you have heard hundreds of times. Your coach is telling you this for a purpose, after all. The speed and momentum you develop before, during, and after a flip turn are greatly influenced by whether you breathe into or out of a wall.
Holding your breath before and after the flip turn helps you turn, break out, and swim faster, but it also improves your chin placement, strengthens your lungs, and improves your breathing patterns while you are doing flip turn swimming.
The best method to apply is the no-breathing rule before and after turns is to just do it. Unfortunately, there is no shortcut to doing this. We advise you to just do it rather than ease into it. Consider this significance before each turn you make throughout your training sessions, and try to avoid taking your last breath just before turning. Instead, wait until the third or fourth stroke before taking your first breath following the turn.
Step 3: Do three dolphin kicks off each wall:
You can start work on improving your underwater phase when you are comfortable with the first two steps. The fastest speed you will experience during your entire lap will be during the underwater portion, as was previously described.
You must learn to extend the underwater phase and make the most of it rather than popping up immediately after push-off. As soon as you notice losing momentum after your push-off, you can extend your rapid underwater phase by performing 3-5 quick, strong dolphin kicks. Additionally, you are giving your arms more rest by doing this.
You will need to practice flip turn swimming a lot to improve. Perform the drills as mentioned above to work on each component of the freestyle flip turn because even small improvements on these components will add up.
However, it’s more crucial to approach each transition in practice like you’re in a race. The biggest obstacle to performing effective flip turns is laziness on the wall.if you want to learn more about swimming techniques and effective ways to enhance your performance, you can join our swimming classes.
