Turns - Weighted Flips

Every part of your race is important but flip turns carry a little extra weight because, pure and simple, fast turns mean fast times.    At every practice, swimmers have hundreds of chances to work on their turns, but when you do something hundreds of times, there's a natural tendency to relax and lose focus.  This drill... Weighted Flips... can help wake you up to what you should be focusing on during every turn.  

Why Do It:
By adding extra weight to the end of your body, you'll make it tougher to get your legs over the top during your flip.  When you do this again and again, you'll start to discover all the muscles you can engage to help you turn faster.

How to Do It:
1.  Strap on some waterproof ankle weights.  If you don't have any, pick up a pair at SwimOutlet.
2.  Push off the wall and almost immediately perform a double arm flip turn as quickly as you can.
3.  Grab a breath and swim back to the wall to perform as fast a flip turn as you can.
4.  Repeat this process quickly until you've done 10 to 12 flips (or until you get too dizzy to keep going).
5.  Quickly take off the ankle weights and perform 4 to 6 of the same turns as fast as you can.

How to Do It Really Well (the Fine Points):
Make the initial pushoff short so that you're carrying momentum from the wall into your weighted flip.   Don't swim out too far because you want to overload your abs, arms, and legs by doing your weighted flips quickly and with minimal rest in between.

Obviously, if you're not extremely confident in your abilities, stay in the shallow end whenever you strap weights to yourself in the water... and stay away from other swimmers as you practice this drill.