Swimming blog - TURNS HOW TO FLIP LIKE A PRO

The flipturn is the most efficient way in freestyle to change direction at the wall. It helps conserve energy and maintain swimming speed. There are basically three things you need to do when performing a good turn: maintain your speed towards the wall, get your timing right and turn with confidence.

How to do it 
- After the last stroke before the turn, both your arms end up at your hips 
- Now place your chin on your chest and dip your head down, bowing at the waist. Your hands remain by your side 
- When you have bowed halfway through, flip your legs over to the wall by curling up into a ball 
- Let your feet find their way onto the wall and place them at shoulder width. Your knees should be bent at a 90 degree angle
- Breathe out through your nose slightly to prevent water entering your nostrils 
- Now lift your chin back from your chest in neutral position and get into a streamline position with your upper body
- Push off strongly from the wall, just below the surface, and stretch even further into a streamline position
- Kick yourself back onto your stomach, either in a flutter kick or butterfly kick

Focus points 
- Speed up towards the wall and use your speed to tumble
- Initiate the turn by putting your chin on your chest, pressing your head down by bowing at the waist
- Flip your legs over by curling up into a ball
- Place your feet at shoulder width on the wall, your knees in a 90 degree angle 
- Streamline first before push off the wall and kick yourself onto you stomach

Coach tip
When looking at professional swimmers, they don’t waste any time on their turns. Fast in, fast out. Try to not rush your turns, still get a good push off, but make them quick and controlled.

Mastering the flipturn needs a step-by-step approach. Practise all the steps in our Flipturn video course and integrate your flip turn into your routine as much as possible. It will be challenging in the beginning, but practise really makes perfect when it comes to doing turns.