Flip turns are an essential skill in competitive swimming, particularly for freestyle and backstroke events. They allow swimmers to quickly change direction at the wall without losing momentum, which is crucial for maintaining speed and efficiency during a race.

Here are the key steps to performing a flip turn:

1. Approach the Wall: As you near the wall, take your last stroke above or slightly after the "T" on the bottom of the pool at the end of your lane. For backstroke, it's usually three or four strokes from the flags before you turn over and pull yourself forward.
2. Initiate the Flip: As you take your last stroke, one hand is already at your hip, and the other is pulling you toward the wall. Tuck your chin to your chest and reach down for your toes with both hands, like you're doing a toe touch1 .
3. Flip Your Feet: Before touching your toes, flip your feet over the water toward the wall using your core muscles. Some swimmers use a small dolphin kick just before the flip to speed up the process. Keep your knees slightly bent to absorb the momentum once your feet hit the wall.
4. Push Off the Wall: After the flip, you'll be on your back, staring at the surface of the water. Push off the wall strongly while making yourself as narrow as possible with a tight streamline. Rotate onto your stomach while kicking underwater—the movement of your feet will aid in the rotation.

By mastering these steps, swimmers can perform efficient and fast flip turns, minimizing wasted energy and time. This technique is crucial for maintaining momentum and optimizing lap times in competitive swimming

More information and videos: MySwimPro

Open turns are used in butterfly and breaststroke events, as well as in the individual medley when switching from butterfly to backstroke. Here's a step-by-step explanation of the open turn technique:

1. Approach the Wall: Swim towards the wall and touch it with both hands simultaneously. Keep one hand on the wall while the other moves back underwater.
2. Body Rotation: Rotate your body 45 degrees with the arm and feet movement, taking a quick breath with the second arm.
3. Streamline Position: Bring the second arm out of the water and join the first arm in a tight streamline. Bring your feet sideways to the wall as quickly as possible, hiding one foot behind the other.
4. Push Off: Push off the wall sideways and rotate the remaining 45 degrees into the streamline position. For butterfly to backstroke turns, push off facing up instead of sideways.

By mastering these techniques, swimmers can perform efficient and fast starts and turns, minimizing wasted energy and time, which is crucial for maintaining momentum and optimizing lap times in competitive swimming.

More information and videos: MySwimPro

The breaststroke pullout is a crucial technique in competitive swimming, performed after the start and each turn. It consists of three main phases: the glide phase, the pull-down phase, and the recovery/kick phase.

1. Glide Phase: After pushing off the wall or diving in, the swimmer maintains a streamlined position with arms extended forward and legs together. This phase maximizes the distance covered underwater with minimal resistance.
2. Pull-Down Phase: The swimmer performs a powerful arm pull, bringing the hands down past the hips. During this phase, a single dolphin kick is allowed, which helps maintain momentum.
3. Recovery/Kick Phase: The swimmer recovers the arms back to the streamlined position while performing a breaststroke kick. This phase transitions the swimmer from the underwater pullout to the regular breaststroke swimming.

By mastering these phases, swimmers can maximize their efficiency and speed during the underwater portion of the breaststroke, giving them a competitive edge.

More information and videos: MySwimPro