Two reasons to do flip turns

I swam this morning for the first time in about 90 days. And in that 90 days, I didn't do much in the way of exercise after the 70.3 on September 8th. I ran about 15-20 mile per week, but didn't do any swim or bike or anything else for that matter. What I did do was eat and drink whatever I felt like. Needless to say, I'm a relative physical mess right now as I start back into a winter training season. In short, I got a bit fat and out of shape.

So I swam 500 yards this morning. The goal of the session was really to just get to the pool and jump in and see what happens.

Well, the first thing I noticed is that I'm physically weak.

And that was especially clear when I did the flip turns. It took an additional bit of effort to make the flip, and I realize now just how much of an abdominal workout it is to do flip turns. And that leads to the title of this post.

Here are my two main reasons to do flip turns:
1. The underwater glide creates a hypoxic element to your workout. As you glide after the push, your body has to work with the oxygen it is given and you can't simply get another breath. I don't pretend to know the physiology behind it, but I know it results (for me, anyway) in an increased efficiency in my body and its breathing requirements, most of which is most notable when I get to running. This is a major reason why I think increased swim volume can lead to much faster run times (in addition to weight loss and general aerobic improvements).

2. The flip turns are an additional ab workout. Physical fitness depends signficantly on core strength. Any opportunity to increase core strength and endurance should be exploited and maximized. Thus, you should be doing flip turns whenever possible. Incidently, this is the only positive thing I can think of when wondering what could be good about a 25 yard pool.

My point is....do your flip turns. If you don't know how, learn. It will help you swim, and you'll be quite surprised what happens with your run.