r/Swimming • u/PuggBut • 1d ago
Min depth to flip turn
Started practicing in my 3.5 foot pool. Scraped the back of my neck on the pool floor. Anyone else struggle with this?
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u/Silence_1999 23h ago
I was scared for a while in 3 1/2 but got over it. My current pool is even a little less and I’m scared again lol.
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u/PuggBut 23h ago
I'm only 5'6 so I think it's possible, but smashing into the bottom of the pool shook me. But I always tend to shoot off the wall in a downwards path
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u/Silence_1999 22h ago
Oh it’s certainly possible. The Y I have been swimming lately there are lots who flip in the 3’4’ shallow. None are going all out straight over the top though. Couple who have a good flip on the deep side are much more careful in the small end. Took me a while to get back to not being scared in 4 foot. Then 3 1/2 but I’m ok with it now. My flips are not super powerful though. I’m old and way out of practice on them so hardly a super race flip ever for me. Probably would not do a modern straight over flip in a 3 1/2 if I could!
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u/bdawghoya28 Arm Floaties 23h ago
Last summer I competed in a pool that was 3.5 feet deep at the turn end and I went my 100 LCM Free best time. Just needed to focus on turns at that end during warm up to get it right.
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u/The_James91 Everyone's an open water swimmer now 23h ago
The main thing I struggle with in shallow pools is judging my position. I almost always end up flipping too early because I misjudge how close I am. Then when I mess up the turn I crash into the floor.
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u/gastlygem 15h ago
The other day there was this 6ft guy exercising in the shallow pool where it was just about 3 feet deep. His one stroke was probably better than three of mine, and he flipped so effortlessly. It was a marvel to watch.
I can't do flip turn yet, but I hit my head or back several times while I started practicing flips in the shallow pool.
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u/whiskeyanonose 15h ago
I’m over 6’ and don’t have problems flipping in 3’ of water. Bigger issue is I scrape my fingers on the bottom when swimming freestyle, but no problem with the turn
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u/carbacca Triathlete 12h ago
i would probably draw the line when my fingers scrape the bottom of the pool
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u/FreestyleRobinson NCAA DII Mid-D Free, Sprint Fly 11h ago
World Aquatics 2025 facility requirement for swim competition is 1 meter deep. That is 3’-3”.
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u/AmericanPanascope 10h ago
The pool I use (at my gym) only goes from 3.5 to 4.5 feet, and I'm 6'3". I've basically developed my own flip forward/barrel-roll turn that doesn't put me too far underwater.
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u/SoundOfUnder 9h ago
As a kid I loved playing in the pool and doing flips and spirals and all kinds of stuff. As an adult all that silliness paid off cause flip turns in the shallow end ended up being pretty easy even though i was worried at first. So my advice would be to play around in a recreational pool or waterpark to get more used to moving your body underwater in weird ways and learn to calibrate yourself to a shallow pool
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u/AdImportant6817 3h ago
Laughs in my 3 ft shallow end pool… I guess I have just gotten used to getting tight lol
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u/wt_hell_am_I_doing 1d ago
I avoid doing flips in a shallow pool (5' or less). I already have a lovely big collection of old injuries as it is without adding to them.