Improve Your Lap Swimming With Flip Turns
It's universally acknowledged that swimming laps is the perfect low impact exercise for people of nearly any age. Even among swimmers, there's one thing that seems to separate the good people the great people: Good people will touch the wall with their hands at the end of the lap and turn around to push off. Great swimmers will head straight for the wall as if they don't see it, and will twist over water for a flip turn at the very last second in order to push off the wall with great momentum. In addition to looking cool, flip turns have benefits as well. They save time if you are looking for speed. They also provide a more continuous cardiovascular experience like you might get in swimming through open water instead of having a short involuntary break every 25 or 50 meters.
They are not that difficult to learn either. The first thing to do is practice a forward summersault in open water. Next, practice doing it near the wall so that when extend your feet, you are naturally in place to push off the wall. It will take some practice to get the distance correct. If you are too close, you won't be able to extend and push off the wall efficiently. If you are too far away, you will push back and the wall won't be there, and then you'll be dead in the water motionless! Finally, practice it will swimming towards the wall. Resist the impulse to slow down since the momentum is actually helpful to push through the turn and have energy coming off the wall. It will take some practice to coordinate with your strokes and breathing with turning at the right time. Don't hesitate to ask other more experienced swimmers for tips too.
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