Turns can make or break any race, so having REALLY fast turns is extremely important to competitive swimmers. Some swimmers, however, focus so much on spinning around QUICKLY, that they sometimes place their feet too high -- or too low -- on the wall.
Way back in the mid 1970s, the University of Tennessee was one of the powerhouses of NCAA swimming. They were famous all over the world for their ability to start, and turn.
Every swimmer wants to have super-fast freestyle flip turns, and wants to execute them with vigorous authority. Sometimes, however, this desire creates more problems than it solves.
Most of the time when we work on starts, we focus on the take-off. Here's a short focal point that starts with the end... the feet.
One of the most common actions in our sport is the flip turn. Depending on how you accomplish this action, you're either making your life easier... or harder.
Quickness and explosive power are essential to fast swimming, but it’s difficult to develop these skills in the pool because of the resistive quality of water.
Showing respect for the officials is always a good thing, but now it can actually help you have a tighter, straighter, faster butterfly and breaststroke turn. In this series of photos, a few swimmers demonstrate a very smart salute.
Here's a cool way to have some fun while improving your swimming. Rocket Launchers are a form of plyometrics, which is a fancy word for any exercise where a muscle is super-stretched before it's contracted. In Rocket Launchers, you're stretching (or loading) the quads as you crouch under the surface, then you're explosively CONTRACTING the quads as you jump up.
Flip turns. Once you've learned how to get your feet over, you may think you've got them mastered. But think again.
If you have a tendency to push off right at the surface of the water, here's a drill that can help you get down to the proper depth.
Whenever I work with someone, I pick up something new. When you work with someone like Dave Durden of the University of Maryland, you pick up a LOT of stuff.
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