[music] Speaker 1: What on earth is he doing? Why
isn't he doing a flip turn? Gosh, look, there he goes again. Excuse me, mate, do you know
that you were just doing a touch turn there? Speaker 2: Yes, is there an issue with that?
Speaker 1: Is there an issue with that? Do you not know how much quicker a flip turn
is? Speaker 2: Honestly, mate, I'm quite happy
with my touch turns and I'm pretty fast [crosstalk]. Speaker 1: No no no, a flip turn is much quicker,
fact. Speaker 2: You know what, I'm fed up with
people telling me to do flip turns. I don't need to do them in a triathlon, so why should
I learn to do them in the pool? If they're so fast, let's do a head-to-head.
[music] Speaker 1: Well, that one escalated. Perhaps,
I was a little rude about his touch turn. Now he wants a race.
Speaker 2: Come on then, are you ready? Time me from the flags, turn, back to the flags.
Come on then. Two, one. [music]
Speaker 2: Fine, point proven, but like I said, I'm not racing in the swimming pool,
so why bother? Speaker 1: Well, to be honest, you were actually
pretty fast there. I really shouldn't have been quite so hard on you and yet, point taken,
I think I'll possibly explore this a little bit further and I'm sure many of you out there
also do a touch turn like this guy. Let's see if there is really any benefit to the
flip turn. I don't need you anymore, mate. [music]
Speaker 1: Now, this is a bit of a funny video for me. I have done flip turns for as long
as I can remember. It's almost ingrained into me to do. I know it sounds a little bit arrogant,
but as a result of that, I do find them pretty effortless, so the idea of not wanting to
do a flip turn does baffle me. Having spoken to many of you out there, including some of
my friends, I do now understand the argument for the touch turn or also known as the open
turn. The open turn allows you to breathe at the wall whereas the flip turn does not.
Now, if you're just swimming a lap or two, this may not seem like such a big deal, but
as those distances increase, perhaps doing 200 meters or more, that difference really
does start to add up. Then as we've just shown, there isn't a huge difference in time lost
with the open turn. Unless you're a competitive pool swimmer looking to save every millisecond,
it does beg the question, why bother? It's not like we need to do a flip turn in a triathlon.
[music] Speaker 1: I can't really argue with that.
Despite my shaming of the chat before, there isn't really any judging that goes on in the
swimming pool. If you want to do an open turn, do an open turn. There isn't going to be any
snickering from the poolside. Equally, there's many of you out there that do like the idea
of doing a flip turn. After all, there's many big benefits to the flip turn, and that's
why so many competitive pool swimmers pretty much only do the flip turn, at least for freestyle
and backstroke. They just look pretty cool too.
Essentially the flip turn allows you to carry momentum into and out of the wall in a nice
continuous action, whereas with the touch turn or the open turn, you essentially plow
into the wall full steam, stop, have to yank out with your arm, and then push back off
the wall. Despite the flip turn potentially having slight lack of breath in it, it can
in some ways actually require less effort. [music]
Speaker 1: The rotation off the flip turn also just naturally sets you up for a quick
push-off underwater. That means that you're below a majority of that turbulent water that
you've just disrupted on your way into the wall. Another speed bonus for the flip turn.
That in turn can lead to quite high motivation because you might see improvements in your
swim times. Perhaps you can now keep up with or perhaps even beat that annoying friend
of yours that's always pipping you in workouts. Now, obviously one of the biggest issues that
people have with flip turns is the breathing or lack of breathing. Actually this can also
be a big benefit to the flip turns because once you have nailed the flip turn, actually
helps to further improve your breath control for general swimming.
[music] Speaker 1: There we go, both sides to the
flip versus open turn debate there. There is no right or wrong answer but some people
simply like the challenge of learning the flip turn. It is quite satisfying when you
can finally do it. Equally, some people are quite happy with the open turn, and that's
also absolutely fine. Some also just feel that the pool they currently swim in is too
busy or it'd just be dangerous to do the flip turn in. Also absolutely fine. The ball is
in your court on this one. Hopefully, today's video has shed some light
on why some people do the flip turn and some people do the open turn. If you are interested
in learning the flip turn, obviously, that's quite a big topic. We haven't addressed that
in today's video, but we have got a video that currently is out on the channel that
addresses that already. You can find that on the screen right now or in the description
just down below. If you have enjoyed today's video, please do give it a thumbs up, give
it a like. Don't forget you can follow GTN over on social media or give us a little subscribe
on YouTube just down below. [00:05:18] [END OF AUDIO]