Open Turns: The Complete Guide

Open Turns Can Be Used in All Strokes 

Although open turns are often associated with breaststroke and butterfly because those strokes require a two-hand touch, you can also do an open turn while doing freestyle and backstroke rather than a flip turn.  

If you’re injured or you’ve never learned how or you just don’t like flip turns, open turns still get the job done. Although they aren’t as fast as flip turns, done properly, open turns can be fast and efficient.  

Open turns for freestyle are like open turns for butterfly and breaststroke in terms of how to do them. The only difference is that you only use one hand to touch the wall instead of two. 

Backstroke open turns are a little trickier in that you touch the wall on your back and from that position, quickly bring your knees to your chest and rotate your body laterally so that your feet end up on the wall. From there, you drop down, push off on your back, and transition into the next length. 

Tucking tightly is key for effectively doing all open turns. 

The Approach for an Open Turn 

The approach is one of the most important aspects of a great open turn. You should maintain as much speed as possible going into the wall, time your stroke correctly, and rise into the turn to facilitate a fast and effective rotation. When you do these skills effectively, doing a fast open turn is much easier. 

Don’t use your turns as an opportunity to rest; instead, use them as an opportunity to gain an advantage. Maintain your stroke rate and speed heading into the wall. Maintaining your speed allows you to transfer all your forward speed into rotational speed and helps you get through the turn faster. The slower you hit the wall, the harder getting through the turn will be. 

One of the most critical aspects of a great open turn is timing your stroke; you need to hit the wall on a full stroke. If your last stroke is too far away from the wall, you’ll have to glide into the wall and you’ll lose a lot of speed. If your last stroke is too close to the wall, you’re going to waste time with that stroke and be out of position to do a great turn. Start adjusting your stroke three or four cycles from the wall to ensure you hit the wall on a full stroke. 

The last aspect of a great approach is to dive down slightly with your last stroke. In freestyle and backstroke, you want to be coming up out of that dive as you touch the wall with one hand. In butterfly and breaststroke, you must touch with both hands simultaneously. The upward momentum as you touch the wall makes quickly rotating backward and getting your feet up on the wall—ready to do a powerful push from the wall—much easier. 

The “Flip” During an Open Turn 

Although open turns don’t have the front flip of flip turns, thinking of the open turn as a half-backflip can be useful. You start with your hands in front and your legs behind you; then you tuck your legs to your chest, putting your body into a ball, and lean backward. This action flips the position of your head and hands, which will now point toward the other end of the pool, and your feet will be on the wall. Just as with a flip turn, the tighter you can be, the sooner you can move through the turn. 

The most important movement in an open turn is aggressively bringing your knees to your chest and then rolling backward. This allows you to quickly reverse the position of your feet and head. This action requires the strong muscles of your core and legs. 

Although your arms can help get you through your turn, most of the motion should be driven through your legs and your body rotation. When you can quickly get into a ball by punching your knees forward and up and using the momentum to roll back, you’ll be able to turn much faster. 

If you use your arms to pull yourself through the turn, instead of your abs and legs, you won’t get into a ball, and you’ll have to drag your legs to the wall. You’ll need more time and expend more energy to get into the correct position, which means slower turns and more fatigue. Tucking tight and rolling back will help you turn as quickly as possible.  

The Push-Off During an Open Turn 

Once you get through the turn and your feet are on the wall, do your push-off. The goal is to create as much speed and distance as possible. Push hard and aggressively but don’t rush the push-off. Make sure you’ve set your streamline and you’re in position for a strong push-off before you push.  

Because freestyle, breaststroke, and butterfly are done on your front and your feet typically end up on the wall pointed up to some extent, you’ll need to rotate during your push-off. As you push off, twist off the wall, just as if you were going to jump and twist on land while jumping up. This helps you create the rotation you need to get on your front. Don’t try to start your rotation after you push off the wall—initiate it during your push from the wall. 

Because you typically do underwater kicks or, in the case of breaststroke, a pullout, pushing slightly down during your push-off is fine. This gives you more time to do these skills without worrying about prematurely surfacing.  

Set up a downward push by placing your feet slightly higher on the wall than where your body is in the water. This is easier to do when you tightly tuck into a ball. Although a downward push can be helpful, pushing straight and not sideways off the wall is critical. If you’re racing, you don’t want to waste time circle swimming. The best way to avoid that mistake is to do a straight push-off. 

The Importance of Streamlined Position During an Open Turn 

The fastest you’ll go in a race is when your feet leave the block or wall during your start. The second fastest you’ll go in such a race is when your feet leave the wall. And with every push-off, you have the chance to create a lot of speed.  

Don’t focus only on creating speed off the wall. What really matters is maintaining your speed off the wall. Maintaining speed is all about your streamlined position. Creating a great streamline means clasping your hands tightly with your arms squeezed against your head and ensuring that your body is as straight as possible from head to toe. 

One of the challenges with open turns is that your hands are separated, with one remaining underwater and the other traveling over the water. Your hands must quickly join after you touch the wall and before you begin your push-off.  

One of the most common mistakes is starting to push off the wall before you get into a great streamlined position with your arms. Even if you quickly get into a great streamline after you push off, you’ve already lost a lot of speed. A little patience makes a big difference. 

Another important consideration with your streamline is the position of your spine. You want everything to be as straight as possible. If you arch your back coming out of your tucked position, you’re likely to push off in that position. Doing so is like putting on the brakes. By being straight, you’ll maintain your speed and you’ll be more effective in your underwater kicks or pullout as you leave the wall. A straight, tight line coming off the wall is key for maintaining as much speed as you can. 

The Transition From an Open Turn to Swimming 

The key to a great transition from your open turn to swimming is maintaining as much speed as possible. To do so, you want your transition to be as gradual as possible and your breakout to be as level as possible.  

To help you understand the gradual transition to the surface, visualize how an airplane takes off versus how a helicopter does. You should transition like the airplane take-off, with a gradual horizontal rise. An abrupt vertical rise like a helicopter take-off will cause you to lose all your speed. 

Another critical aspect of a great transition to the surface is that you want your breakout to be as level as possible. Coming up with your upper body during your breakout creates more resistance, which slows you down and makes quickly getting into your swimming rhythm a lot harder. Stay as level as possible through your transition to make it as seamless as possible. 

The depth of your push-off has a significant impact on your ability to smoothly transition to the surface. A too-shallow push-off makes doing a great breaststroke pull-out or underwater kicks difficult. You’re likely going to rush these skills and end up at the surface much earlier than you want. A too-deep push-off leaves you stuck underwater, losing speed trying to get back to the surface. You’ll either take a much steeper angle to the surface or stay underwater longer than you want to. That could mean extra dolphin kicks in butterfly at a slower speed than you’d be swimming at the surface or extended and slow gliding following your breaststroke pull-out.  

Common Open Turn Mistakes 

Let’s tackle the common open-turn mistakes in order of how they happen.  

1. The first mistake occurs during the approach if you fail to maintain speed into the wall. This often happens with a mistiming of the final strokes. If you finish your last stroke too far from the wall, you’re going to have to glide in, which reduces your speed. If you’re mid-stroke when you get to the wall, you lose the momentum you’ve created. In both situations, doing the turn is much harder.
2. The next mistake is failure to tuck into a tight ball and “flip” backward to get your feet on the wall. This leads to a slower and more difficult turn. Instead, drive your knees to your chest and roll back to quickly get your feet up on the wall. Doing so allows you to quickly get into position for a great push-off.
3. Another mistake is to rush your push-off. If you try to get off the wall too quickly without generating the necessary speed and power, or you start to push off before you’ve achieved a great streamlined position with your upper body, your turn will be less effective. Be aggressive with your push-off to create as much speed and distance as possible, but first make sure that you’re in the right position.
4. The last major mistake is pushing off the wall in a bad streamlined position. Pushing off before getting your arms into streamline slows you down, and you need to make sure you’re pushing off the wall as straight as possible. The straighter you are from head to toe, the more speed you’ll maintain.