The bottom line of short course swimming…”starts and turns win races”.  You will hear that mantra in almost every swimming organization out there, but the proof is in the pudding (per se); just look at the “Phelpsian” starts and turns with the enormous underwater work.

Now, after 12 years of coaching I have heard and seen almost every version of the flip turn.  From the cross-legged turn to rotating in the middle of the flip to rotating during the push, etc etc etc.  Through all of this, I have developed a great turn progression and methodology for swimmers (and coaches) who need a quick reference or refresher as to what has been the most efficient flip turn that I have coached:

Step 1 (Drill The Flip)

It’s important to know that the flip turn is one of the most explosive and (typically) underrated aspects of swimming.  Swimmers tend to forget about this portion of their race as they form bad habits in practice.  However, coaches (and swimmers) need to drill the speed of the flip.  For these three drills, there is no need to complete the push-off so you can do them anywhere in the pool.  Here is what we need to accomplish:

• No Arm Flip — Have your swimmer float on the top of the water in a torpedo position (arms tight to the body and legs tight together).  Focus on the core strength and flip as fast as possible (full somersault) using your hip as a pivot point.
• One Arm Flip — Similar to the no arm flip except one arm will be up in a “superman position”.  The swimmer will pull (accelerating all the way through).  Utilize the accelerating to help you engage your core and flip faster.  Remember, you want the swimmer to pivot over the hip and use the core more than the arm pull.
• Hand-Up Flip — This is more a modification of what the focus is on for the One Arm Flip.  After the pull, the concentration is now shifted from flipping over the hip using the core (because that should be ingrained at this point) to placing the hands in a streamline position.  So, initiate the pull which will activate the core to begin the flip.  However, after the pull your hands will remain in position and get into streamline position without wasted movement, etc.

Step 2 (Drill The Push From The Wall)

Swimmers and coaches alike know that the fastest part of a swim (aside from the start) is immediately after the push from the wall.  The best way to perfect the push is to drill the explosion that will come from the burst off the wall.  Here are two drills that will help swimmer acclimate to that amount of power and truly make their work off the wall efficient:

• Natural Push — While holding onto the wall, place the feet in the exact position of where the feet would hit the wall for a normal turn.  With that said, I prefer that my swimmers slightly stagger their feet (dropping the foot that is on the side that they turn – i.e. if they turn to the left then the will drop the left foot slightly).  Drop down under water and place the hands in streamline, head and upper body parallel to the surface of the water.  Explode from the wall and naturally allow the body to turn over staying underwater until the swimmer finishes the rotation (underwater is not skimming the surface).
• Single Kick Turn — Go through the same steps as the Natural Turn, but instead of floating the entire way after the push, the swimmer is going to fly-kick as soon as they start to turn (naturally, of course).  This will create a habit of when the first fly kick will occur.

As a side note, the natural turn occurs because of a combination of drag and muscular force from the push, and we want to counteract that drag by adding thrust from the kick in order to maintain maximum speed and efficiency underwater

Step 3 (Drilling The Kick Progression)

In what has become one of TSC’s more popular posts, the Kick Progression is one of the most important aspects of the flip turn.  So, take a read through the drill, and then come back here to figure out how to use that information.  Here is one drill that swimmers and coaches can implement:

• Over Kick Turn — This drill ties directly into the Single Kick Turn mentioned above.  Swimmers will initiate the first fly kick and over-kick the fly kick into the freestyle breakout kick.  Coaches can determine how many fly kicks (either by seconds or by number of kicks) as well as how many freestyle kicks (again by time or by number of kicks).  Typically, I will gradually decrease this number until we can run a “race simulation” push where the swimmers will do exactly what they would in a race (ideally, 15 meters of underwater work).

Final Step (Drill The Entire Turn)

It’s time to throw everything together.  There are a couple of drills that I like to do in order to get the most out of our yardage.  However, before we get into the drills, make sure you:

1. Accelerate the pull
2. Engage the core and rotate over the hip
3. Efficiently get the hands and upper body into streamline
4. Explode from the wall with the feet staggered slightly
5. When the body naturally starts the turn, engage the fly kicks and transition into the freestyle kicks efficiently through the breakout

Now for the two drills:

• Mid-Pool 50 — This is the traditional drill that coaches use in order to hit more walls.  However, make sure that the focus is on the turn and not the speed of the swim.  Everything in each of the turns needs to be perfect (with no exceptions and no excuses).  Remember, this is meant to form a good habit and/or break a bad habit.
• Flip 50 — This is the swimmer’s version of a shuttle run for a sprinter.  From mid-pool, the swimmer will start out by traveling toward the wall with no blocks.  Instead of flipping at the wall the swimmer will flip at the flag.  The swimmer will then flip at the opposite flag, and then flip at the next wall, and finish the swim at mid-pool.  So, there are two turns with no wall, and one turn with a wall.  During the turn with no walls, everything should be the same (pretending that there is a wall there).

That wraps up the turn progression for TSC, but we are always looking for comments and ways to improve out there.  So, if you have any ideas or other ways that you teach flip turns feel free to leave your comments below!

And, remember, the key to perfecting anything is perfect practice!