Do you do flip turns ?

Flip turns?

Which is exactly why you should keep doing them.

Only on the bike.

Popcorn please......Settle in

[to the OP, you may find you've dropped a bit of a bomb that will tick for a while, and then go off.  For some reason people get very emotional on the flip turn issue, it has spawned some truly great threads.   All I will say is watch swimmers that are good, and do what they do]

My standard response:  Yes, I do flip turns.  No, you don't need to do them.  Yes, they will make you a better swimmer and triathlete.

It's the same as bike handling skills like riding in a pace line.  They're not necessary to race fairly well in non-drafting triathlons, but they will make you a better cyclist and triathlete.

I do them.  Are they neccessary?  no.  Should you do them?  if you already know how, why not?

Doing them with a kick board can be tricky - unless you are wearing fins, in which case, they are fun!

Yes, they're called open turns.  It does sound like you're never learned to do a good open turn.  Done well, they're only a few tenths of a second slower than a flip turn.  Stay low in the water, touch the wall, drop your shoulder away from the wall as you flip your feet towards the wall, then push off hard in a tight streamline as you do in a flip turn.  There's no hanging on the wall or taking multiple breaths.  There isn't time for that.

Here's a good video of open turns with Rebecca Soni doing breast stroke, but it's similar if you're doing front crawl:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dD6-HmQtMkw

If we are going for degree of difficulty points - using a kick board for pull buoy when there's not enough at practice.   They occasionally fly out on turn.  Then all hell can break loose when you try to get it back and not jam up your lane.  

Mostly for fun:  Kick board flip turns!

I can do them, and sometimes I do, but invariably I get water up my nose which leads to sinus irritation which leads to sinusitis which leads to respiratory infection which leads to missed training, so I do "underwater open turns" instead. I've got sensitive sinuses apparently. I've worked on my breathing techniques, I've tried nose plugs, but in the end the underwater open turn is my best answer. I'll sacrifice flip turns rather than risk illness.

I like to do flip turns, but it depends who I'm sharing a lane with.  The guy a shared a lane with this morning does his own thing on send off intervals and has issues staying on his side of the lane..   Sometimes I needed to pause and take a quick peek to check where he was.

Mark

My teenage kids being the fish that they are (10+ years on swim teams) have evolved to be able to use their upper lip to block their nostrils.  We all had a good laugh at dinner one night a long time ago when they thought everyone can do that and my wife & I had to prove them wrong!

The force is strong with this one Obe-Wan but I will resist posting!