Triathletes and Flip Turns, Are they Important?
November 2nd, 2011 | Published in Coaches Corner
The argument against doing flip turns is a strong one: You don?t do flip turns in a race! While that is a valid point and I can see the logic behind it, I can take the same logic and say, ?While swimming in open water, you don?t get to hold on to the wall every 25 yards.? So, which is correct?
Yes, there are no walls in the open water to help you when you get tired. Surely, when you swim with flip turns, it?s a tougher swim. Why do you think people don?t do them? Because they are harder! When your legs get tired on the bike, you shift to an easier gear and when you get tired of running you either slow down or you walk. So it goes in the pool: when you get tired, you stop flip turning, or if you use open turns, you rest longer on the wall.
Open Turns hurt your swim technique: Every time you stop to reach for the wall your hand comes out of the water. Is that good technique? I would say not. By swimming laps with flip turns, you are most definitely improving the fluidity of the swim. Going from stroke, stroke, flip, stroke, stroke you are keeping your swimming smooth. There has been some talk about how flip turns are like hypoxic breathing where you are holding your breath while exercising. Some people have gone as far as to say that doing flip turns improves your VO2 ? I am not sure if this is true, but it?s certainly harder and it takes me a few strokes to get my breathing back to normal when coming off the wall. On top of that, when I don?t have that challenge of holding my breath every 20 seconds or so in the open water, I think that?s to my advantage.
Another small advantage to doing flip turns is that you’ll be able to get a lot more swimming done in the same amount of time. That’s not the point really. Flip turns keep your stroke smoother and let you make a nice transition into the next lap and they are good for you.
What I suggest to beginners is to flip during warm up and during any sets shorter than 100 yards. So if you are doing a set of 10×50 then flip every one. If you are doing 100 yard repeats, maybe flip turn every other 25 yards. Give it a try and I am sure within a few sessions you?ll have it down. If not, be patient and stick with it. It may take some time, but it?s well worth it.
I have heard every excuse in the world why not to do flip turns, and I am NOT BUYING it. Do the flip turns, they will make you a better swimmer. 
Coach Mike Ricci is a USAT Expert Level III Certified Coach and can be reached for personal coaching at :Mike@d3multisport.com
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