TURNS TECHNIQUE

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Flip Turn Basics

Please Note: Both freestyle and backstroke flip turn use the same mechanics, with only slight obvious variations.

Freestyle Flip Turn

Essentials:

Both hands to sides (palms are up) by the moment you start to flip, tuck chin to chest and pull knees into chest (but leave the legs only slightly bent at knees- setting you up for a good push-off position). Lots of beginner swimmers try to flip with their hands up front, thinking it will help them turn over, but instead they then have to slow down and make an extra move to get hands down.

The hands stay horizontal (or maybe give a little flutter to stabilize yourself with palms) as you somersault your legs (heels first and straight over the head, not tilting to side) over your head and during the turn palms mostly stay facing up to anchor the movement (so the body can flip over).

Get hands into streamline before the push. The fastest (and only) way to do this is to just leave them straight on your sides as you flip, so by the time you finish the flip they are already in front of you.

Push off on your back (your palms are already facing up) and start the underwater butterfly kick almost right after the push-off. Contrary to popular belief, it is beneficial for most swimmers to start kicking right away. Start turning to your stomach after the feet leave the wall. Underwater dolphin kicks are faster on back and sides anyway, so you just have to use your core to turn to your stomach after the push off and while kicking for freestyle. For backstroke you will obviously stay on your back.

Breakouts- Be in streamline on your stomach by the time you break the water. Try to hold on to that speed and don’t pull too early so that your arm gets stuck underneath the water. Do not take a breath on that first stroke if you can, as it elevates your head, sinks your hips and you will lose a lot of speed you just gained from the push.

Common mistake is rolling up into too much of a ball with heels touching the butt, hence having to push off from too close to the wall (or wasting time to search for a good push-off position), hence losing momentum and power. Or just missing the wall altogether.

Upper body should be in as tight ball as possible though with chin tucked in and knees to chest. Sometimes kids/beginners don’t roll up into a ball enough and then can’t get their legs over efficiently and end up looking like a whale.

Other mistakes include not approaching wall with speed, i.e. pausing/gliding before the wall, not looking at the lower part of the “T” on the wall (lifting head too much to look at the wall), taking a breath right before the turn (tends to make you flip sideways), taking a breath on break-out stroke and losing momentum from push-off. Turning to stomach while flipping, not after, flailing arms out and then having to push them through the water into streamline again, and finally, again, lifting the head (instead of just eyes) and looking at the wall before the turn.

Rule of thumb: When you cross the T at the end of lane you have 1-2 strokes to initiate the turn, 2-4 for smaller children. Try to hit the wall with your feet for about a foot underwater, not too high and not too low. You should only look at the lowest part of the marking on the wall to orient yourself.

Backstroke Flip Turn

Exactly the same principles and technique apply as freestyle flip turn, except you have to roll to your stomach with/during the last stroke before the flip and stay on the back after push-off.

According to FINA, you are allowed one full freestyle stroke after you turn to your stomach on approach- take advantage of it. Make sure to get used to counting strokes from flags and NOT tilting your head backwards to spot the wall, as it will act as a huge break and slow you down.

Hint: Count the strokes after your head passes the flags to touch the wall with a hand and then reduce that number by 1 to flip.

Open Turn Basics

Open turns are all based on the same principles and technique, but with slight variations what happens before and after you do the turn in either the same stroke (fly or breast) or are doing fly to back or breast to free in IM. The only transition turn that is different is back to breast in IM and will be discussed in more detail right after open turn section.

By the way, all transition turns are discussed right after general open turns!

Please Note- SPIN TURNS! Open turns have evolved from the old days and are now performed much more horizontally than vertically, while keeping the ear under, or very near the water surface, while tucking in knees to chest as fast as possible. One elbow needs to go right to hips under water and the other one goes to ear from above the water. The new version is called the “spin turn”- and you basically turn/rotate on your stomach more than from going side to side vertically (thus elevating your head up and letting hips sink) and turning/rotating over your hip. What this newer version does, is it keeps your hips higher (as side of your head rotates lower in the water) and allows you to have a smaller radius as you turn, thus keeping you closer to surface with your lower body. You still need to “elbow your brother and call your mother”, except now you do that more on your stomach than on your side! Important! Keep looking towards the wall, as your head moves away from it, yet stays partially in the water and creates a pocket right in front of your face to breathe into/from.

The most basic (and fun) way to explain (especially to young kids) the flow of the open turn (transition or not) is:

General Open Turn Technique

Two Hand Touch! (“You touch something you were not supposed to!”) – Required by the rules. Both hands have to touch the wall simultaneously. Hands should touch just under the surface of the water while you take a quick breath as your head comes slightly out of the water. You don’t need to pull your-self closer to the wall or up to get that breath and the wall isn’t going anywhere, so… No grabbing the wall and stay low!

Knees to Chest (“You turn around and see your brother”) – Pull the knees to chest and get as compact as possible by activating the core. Keep body away from the wall and put your feet on the wall so you are sideways. You really have to drive the knees to your chest very aggressively for the fastest turns!

One Hand Goes Under (“Elbow the Brother”) – At the same time as you pull up your knees, you drop your elbow to the side/by your hip. One hand goes under like you are elbowing your brother, the other arm stays on the wall so you don’t get too close. Don’t turn with both hands at the same time!

Other Hand Goes Over (“Call Your Mother and say it wasn’t you, heheheheee…”) – As the feet are turning towards the wall, the other hand pushes off the wall and goes over the head past your ear and meets the first hand in streamline. The second hand needs to get up front in time for the push-off.

Streamline (“Run Away AFAP”) – Get into streamline on your side (just remember to stay “on the breast”, meaning your chest should be vertical or facing down at shoulders) and push off “towards freedom” while holding a perfect streamline, so you don’t lose any momentum that you gained from the push. The faster you get into the wall and out of the wall, the faster you are. When you push off, you need to be tilted vertically towards the next strokes body position i.e. towards your back for back and towards your stomach for breast, free and fly, but you do not need to be perfectly flat.

Specific Same Stroke Open Turn Technique

Breaststroke Turn- Do everything above and push off with turning onto your stomach and doing an optional dolphin kick and the long pull-out stroke.

BREASTSTROKE PULL-OUT- In breaststroke to breaststroke turn, after the push-off you get a freebie… yay! Do a pull-out: FINA says one butterfly kick, one pullout stroke with hands going all the way back to your legs (and coming back up to front as close to your body as possible) and your head needs to break the water before hands start sweeping inside after the widest part of the second pull. Here are the official RULES. The long pull and the butterfly kick can be done at the same time, or just pull shortly after the butterfly kick, which most people do to maximize the momentum. Stay tight and horizontal. Shrug your shoulders up while bringing hands up from the long pull-out pull. Staying in streamline as much as possible is important because it helps you to keep the speed you got from pushing off the wall.

Butterfly Turn- Basically the same as breaststroke turn (keep your hands touching the wall together)… once you touch the wall with two hands, but after push-off you rotate to your belly while starting the dolphin kick.

Transition Turn Basics

Rules for IM turns are a bit different than for straight out strokes, because the end of each leg/stroke is considered “the end” of that stroke… so are the techniques- read all about both below:

USA SWIMMING RULES for transition turns.

Butterfly To Backstroke Turn (Transition and Open Turn) – The same as the butterfly to butterfly turn, but you push off on your back/side (“towards the back”) without having to rotate to your stomach later on. Hands come up by your head after you touch the wall and you go to streamline on your back.

Breaststroke To Freestyle Turn (Transition and Open Turn) – The same as breaststroke to breaststroke turn. After you touch the wall with two hands, but you go into underwater dolphin kick on your stomach and continue like you would after freestyle flip turn.

Backstroke to Breaststroke IM Turn: It is arguably the trickiest of all of them and can make or break a race. It can be done in 4 basic ways. Here’s a good article explaining this. The rules for IM say you have to touch on your back (unlike in backstroke flips where you can flip to your stomach at every turn) and then you have to push off with your shoulders past vertical line towards your chest i.e. don’t push off on your back.

Keep in mind the golden rule- Finish “towards your back”, turn any way you want, push off “towards your stomach”, at least that’s what the powers to be say. Anyway, here’s how you can do it in 4 ways:

Open Turn– Slow. Bring the legs to wall underneath you (as close to your chest as you can) once you touch the wall on your back. Stay tight. Most young kids will go with the open turn.

Bucket Turn– Faster and safer for slightly more advanced kids as you won’t be at so much risk for rotating too much to your belly before the turn. Once lead hand touches the wall on your back, you use your hand as anchor and bring your knees up over the side of your head on the side of the arm touching the wall, and push off on your stomach. Stay tight during the turn, in a ball, with your knees to your chest/head, almost like you are making a bucket between your knees and head and turning on your back. And then push off on your belly/sideways with shoulders past vertical line “on the breast”.

Back Flip Turn– You can do those really fast. Palm touches the wall and you do a back flip and push off on your stomach. But you have to time it right and have good lungs as the breaststroke pull-out requires you to hold your breath after the whole back-wards flip turn as well as the pull-out. Requires lots of core strength and lung capacity. They are also called “suicide turns” for a reason, as you really have to know where you are in space and hold your breath during the flip and pull-out under the water.

Crossover– More Advanced. Fastest, but tricky. (And confusing to explain, so here are a few VIDEOS OF THE CROSSOVER TURN if you learn better visually). Called a crossover turn because you cross your arm over the center line/your head as you glide towards the wall, to touch the wall and to anchor the sideways (towards your back) flip to land on 45 degree angle with your feet for push-off. On the other hand, you can see the wall really well as you tilt your head back with that leading/crossing arm still behind your ear. It’s like a back flip and bucket turn at the same time, except you turn the the same way of the leading arm with your feet to the side, as you are flipping them over at an angle. Remember to keep the leading arms’ shoulder up/bicep behind the ear as you approach the wall as you want be on your side to keep the momentum going, but don’t over-rotate to get DQ’d!

Specific steps for crossover back-to-breast turn (since it’s the fastest):

Approach- Touch the wall with your arm across your center line and bicep behind the ear and shoulder being up
Touch the wall- Really push (don’t grab) from the wall with that crossed arm
Flip- Bring knees to head and flip them to the side of that leading arm (towards your back, on an angle while using the arm to push at the wall to propel the motion.
Push- You should be at for about 45 degree angle for push-off in streamline. Turn to your stomach as soon as you push off and do a breaststroke pull-out.
Off you go with breaststroke as normal!

Ps! Here’s the VIDEO AND EXPLANATION and some drills for this dreaded cross-over turn.

General tips for ALL backstroke-to-breaststroke turn types:

Leverage wall with top arm
Bring knees to chest/head and be really tight and fast since you do have to touch the wall anyway (unlike in a regular flip turn)
Approach wall fast to have more rotational momentum
Practice on both sides with different arms

IMPORTANT! No matter what, you can’t turn more than 90 degrees sideways in BACK-TO-BREAST turns, before your arm touches the wall!

ALSO IMPORTANT! In freestyle same stroke turn in IM you have to be on your stomach before you kick or pull- if you push off on your back after the flip turn, make sure you are on your belly before you kick or pull.