Who does flip turns and why? (Page 4)

FWIW, I had my adnoids removed with my tonsils as a teen, and I don't have this issue. There's a timed exhale that needs to happen at some point during the turn.... maybe try exhaling through the whole thing and see if that does the trick. If it does, maybe then you could try shortening the exhale on each end to figure out where the critical point is... it's just a half second that's necessary.

Sorry....push and swim under water off of.  Anyways....there are no walls in OWS for you to "make your money".

Which is exactly why I do flip turns in pool workouts.  See, the circle is complete.

I do flip turns because I swim with a masters group and participate in swim meets.  Interesting though, I'm FOP in Tri's but MOP/BOP in masters meets but for me it's a really good gauge of my swimming progress.  I'll swim the 200, 500, 1000 FS events, throw in some 50, 100 evets for fun.  But as my 500 and 1000 times come down, I know I'm getting better.  If you do the same Tri two years in a row, you can't bank on the distance to be equal, it can be OFF 50 to 100 yards at times.  Also the chop and other factors can effect times etc.  So IMO race pace progress is better measured in pool swims.  You can do "self" time trials but little adrenaline there.

I eventually would like to be FOP in swim meets and to do that I need to do flip turns.  If I can beat some good "real" swimmers then I know I'll be ready for the next Tri on race day, just will be passed by a fewer cyclists anyhow.

Agree with Bryan on swimming other strokes.

Thanks for the vote of confidence, speed bump.

Let me start by saying I have not read this entire thread. I am simply replying to the title.

I do flip turns. I taught myself to do them this fall because tri season was over and I had a long winter of lap swimming too look forward too. I did not learn them in 5 minutes. It took a couple of weeks (swimming 2x a week) of trial and error and another month for the turns to feel normal and break the habit of grabbing the wall. At times I felt like I was swallowing half the pool, I banged my head on the side wall many other times and embarrassed myself in front of groups of young swim lesson children. I get pissed and determined about things so I continued.

Turns out that now I love them. I don't know if they make me any faster or make me a better swimmer. I know that they are really fun and that is enough for me.

I do flip turns.  Why? Because last year I couldn't.  I wanted to see if i could learn to do them.  I did.  Now I do them.  If you don't want to, don't. 

Oh boy, a flip turn thread!! I see we have the usual suspects weighing in. For those who didn't know, H2O killer actually invented and copyrighted the flip turn so he gets a royalty every time a swimmer does one. Funny thing is, it doesn't cost us a dime. Not sure how he pulled that off, but well done, sir!

So, here's my story; never did flip turns, thought I didn't know how, thought learning would be a waste of my training time, figured it was no big deal because there are no walls in open water. Last winter I decided to just give it a whirl. I had finished my workout, no one was waiting, and I was in no rush to get anywhere. Turns out they were exceedingly easy for me to learn. All those summers as a kid having underwater somersault contests paid off. Now I do them all the time (well, except in open water...) and they have helped improve my swimming. I can stay in rhythm better, breathe better (both controlling my breathing and the cadence of my breathing), and I'm the last person who gets asked to share a lane. Winning!

bryancd - 2011-06-30 12:31 PM

lamj77 - 2011-06-30 10:30 AM So  I want to learn flip turns but the pool at the gym is only 3ft deep...I'm afraid i'll bounce my head on the pool floor trying...what should I do?

I can do a flip turn in a puddle.

I will pay to see that.

I do flip turns cause...that's what swimmers do.  It also saves me from having conversations at the end of the pool, people asking to join my lane and 'stopping' and getting too much air.  Besides all the cool kids do flip turns.  To combat the 'advantage' of flipping, I don't 100% streamline with my elbows by my ears when I come off the wall and sometimes I'll commit the cardinal sin of breathing in between the flags and the wall.

Funny story- I went to my hometown over Easter and swam at my old YMCA.  My old Y swim team coach was there and I had to remember to swim like a swimmer and not like a lazy triathlete.  Even after 15 years if Coach Jim would of caught me breathing off my first stroke from the wall I would of been doing pushups on the pool deck.

bryancd - 2011-06-30 12:31 PM

lamj77 - 2011-06-30 10:30 AM So  I want to learn flip turns but the pool at the gym is only 3ft deep...I'm afraid i'll bounce my head on the pool floor trying...what should I do?

I can do a flip turn in a puddle.

Good for you. You're still landing on your heel however ;-p

After reading this post I am swayed to do flip turns from now on.  Grabbing the wall may work for some but it does seem like a shortcut and it ultimately is faster and more flowing to the workout itself.  I do think if you want to excel as a triathlete you should be a runner / cyclist / swimmer first and triathlete second.  Swimmers dont grab the wall.

Swam a mile straight on the long course tonight doing flip turns the whole way.  This was my third session attempting to incorporate them.  Although they may not have been the "purdiest" turns,  I survived the lack of O2 at the wall that I had come to rely on for the past two years. 

There is light at the end of the tunnel and I think in a few weeks I can get used to them enough to swim with my normal intensity.  It's definitely an adjustment but I really think I'm gonna like them as time passes. 

Well yesterday I sort of tried to practice flips. I also wanted to work on some stuff on my stroke... played around a bit for 2000 yds but gave up on the flips.

Today I went with the soul purpose of doing 2000 yds flip. Well it was ugly. Come to find out I can't do them as well as I thought. In all there were no two the same the whole set. At first I struggled with timing my breath... then for the rest of the time I could not time my lead arm and last stroke. Oh well... there's always tomorrow. I watched some video before I went, but I have more studying.

Also... I will say... for all those that think they do open turns... well I thought open turns were just NOT flip turns. Come to find out I was not doing open turns right either. I was not taking my time and getting a rest, but I was grabbing the wall and using it. If you want to continue doing open turns, you tube some video on them as there is no break or breathing. At least I will start doing open turn right if I don't get flips down.

Okay, I feel like this is the appropriate thread to ask this question...

Does anybody "smell" something, anything, the moment they flip turn?  I swear some pools have a certain scent that reveals itself upon flip turning.