Having not been reading Not Very Misty Anymore for very long, I'm not sure what the flip-turn is about (I'm thinking swimming). I've heard doggin' it before. Of course, I grew up around professional football coaches, so maybe that puts me at an unfair advantage.
Anyhow, I'm gonna pimp my blog. For no other reason than watching the stat counter tick up is fun when I get bored at work. It's the result of a bet for beer and respect. I've to post something every week for six weeks in order to win beer.
I'm guessing that the flip-turn is when you approach the wall and turn in the water and keep going in the opposite direction continuously, instead of coming up to the wall, touching it, and pushing off again.
I gave up swimming for a long time, before I started training for triathlons last summer. Doing flip turns was the hardest thing to reteach. Not because they are inherently difficult, because when you swim a long time, kick turns make you very tired and out of breath a lot faster. Or at least that's what I found.
Yeah, I did one last fall, followed by a half-marathon during Thanksgiving. Sprained my foot at mile 7, finished, and haven't found my training rhythm since. This was last Thanksgiving (2003). Had to finish my Thesis spring of 2004, then look for work/play golf in the summer, so I ended up being a waste of space until now.
I've started erging again, cause it's too fucking cold to run here in the Northeast. Plus, I'm an A student at doggin' it. But I'm getting a bit chunky, and I'd like to lose weight, and I know my girlfriend would like me to too, even if she won't say it (she's nice to me like that). When it thaws out for good, I'll start everything again, and probably join somewhere where I can swim.
Bike erg or rowing erg? I have a co-worker who's trying to convince me to do a triathlon, but I hate running and I hate losing, and if I ever do one, it's a good bet it will involve lots of both.
Rowing erg. Bike ergs are the devil. So are hills. But so are rowing ergs. It just so happens that my roommate has one in the basement, so I can watch the O.C. (haha) while I erg.
Flip turns mean basically swimming at a wall headfirst (as opposed to...) on your stomach, and then just when you are about to hit the wall with your hand or head, kicking your legs over your head, tucking your head down, and changing direction in the same spot. You then push off the wall, and start swimming again.
The problem is that you don't get to breath during the turn, and it's a lot of body movement. Body movement=oxygen consumption. This lack of oxygen is further increased vis a vis the no breathing rule. Ergo, and concordantly, flip turns make you incredibly tired, and all you did was turn around.
The alternative is to grab the wall, breath, and then push off.
You know, flip turns, physically, aren't so hard: it's just a three quarter somersault, turn, and push off. (Look here.) I can do a fast, tight somersault in the water with no problem. But the wall really complicates things, partly because it introduces issues of timing and distance, partly because you really really don't want to hit your heels on the edge as you go over. And to do a good flip turn, you don't start turning until your head is about two feet from the wall, so it's scary (to me, anyway).
If you feel like downloading videos, here's one (underwater) and here's another (from above).
you really really don't want to hit your heels on the edge as you go over
Back before I quit swimming, my experience was that, while it could be painful to hit the wall too close, it was more embarrassing to flip too early and then kick your legs back only to find nothing but water. A real momentum killer.
Incidentally, it was a great day when they changed the rules on backstroke to allow flip turns. No more reaching blindly for the wall.
Ok, so before michael phelps gets really mad at me. That was me. I can't prove he was drunk, but I know he does a mad job swimming. But I'm too lazy to find a video to retract, and lazier still to retract.
Following this: "Ever participate in organized sports/watch hours of Sportscenter in a row, Michael?"
I note that a probable contributing factor to my answer to your question is that while I participated briefly, and somewhat ludicrously, in a few months of some sort of child-sized football league, I tended to be a nerd with bad vision who was often the smallest and youngest in his class (not counting people with some sort of actual dwarfism), and pretty crappy at all sports, save that I actually wasn't entirely bad at hitting a softball/baseball, was good at tumbling and gymnastics in an entirely mild way, and a good, though entirely unserious, swimmer.
But my interest in organized sports has generally been next to nil all my life, with the extremely mild exception of a faint interest in baseball when I was a youth. I've never watched more then ten seconds of ESPN or any sports channel, and the last time I watched even an entire baseball game I was probably twelve or so.
Classic nerd here; instead, I spent all my time when young, and since, reading.
Of course, watching a few minutes of curling every year is always called for, and America needsbushkazi!
I think that's the thing - you needed to be in/around sports at an age when coaches felt it was appropriate to really yell at you. (Youth league soccer moms are unlikely to appreciate a man loudly questioning their son's gender; by high school, the stands are far enough away that parents can't hear what the coach is saying).
Youth league soccer moms are unlikely to appreciate a man loudly questioning their son's gender;
Now there's a flashback I could do without. Even back then I wondered what the heck my balls or lack thereof had to do with me puking my guts out during wind sprints. It was all cardiovascular and no reproduction, thank you very much.
Nope.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 01-13-05 2:58 PM
Yup. I'd think most people heard it from coaches, not anywhere else.
Posted by SomeCallMeTim | Link to this comment | 01-13-05 3:00 PM
Yeah, after Ben said no, I wondered if it was a played organized ball/watched a lot of ESPN thing.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 01-13-05 3:02 PM
Having not been reading Not Very Misty Anymore for very long, I'm not sure what the flip-turn is about (I'm thinking swimming). I've heard doggin' it before. Of course, I grew up around professional football coaches, so maybe that puts me at an unfair advantage.
Anyhow, I'm gonna pimp my blog. For no other reason than watching the stat counter tick up is fun when I get bored at work. It's the result of a bet for beer and respect. I've to post something every week for six weeks in order to win beer.
Posted by tweedledopey | Link to this comment | 01-13-05 3:08 PM
I'm guessing that the flip-turn is when you approach the wall and turn in the water and keep going in the opposite direction continuously, instead of coming up to the wall, touching it, and pushing off again.
Even I used to be able to do them!
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 01-13-05 3:13 PM
Yes, that's the flip turn. I've never felt so deflated.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 01-13-05 3:15 PM
I gave up swimming for a long time, before I started training for triathlons last summer. Doing flip turns was the hardest thing to reteach. Not because they are inherently difficult, because when you swim a long time, kick turns make you very tired and out of breath a lot faster. Or at least that's what I found.
Posted by tweedledopey | Link to this comment | 01-13-05 3:17 PM
Hence the "dogging it" comment, tweed. Have you done a triathlon yet?
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 01-13-05 3:19 PM
I'm with Ben.
Hadn't a clue.
waiting....
Posted by Michael | Link to this comment | 01-13-05 3:20 PM
Waiting for what? Ever participate in organized sports/watch hours of Sportscenter in a row, Michael?
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 01-13-05 3:22 PM
for the ensuing, hilarious gay jokes.
I played a lot of organized sports as a little kid! Not much since then. And I procrastinate enough without having television.
Posted by Michael | Link to this comment | 01-13-05 3:25 PM
I used to be on a swim team and play soccer.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 01-13-05 3:30 PM
So much for that theory.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 01-13-05 3:33 PM
I knew. Well, once I read comment 4 and realized you were talking about swimming, I knew. Before then I was in a hazy mist of confusion.
Posted by Matt Weiner | Link to this comment | 01-13-05 3:36 PM
Yeah, I did one last fall, followed by a half-marathon during Thanksgiving. Sprained my foot at mile 7, finished, and haven't found my training rhythm since. This was last Thanksgiving (2003). Had to finish my Thesis spring of 2004, then look for work/play golf in the summer, so I ended up being a waste of space until now.
I've started erging again, cause it's too fucking cold to run here in the Northeast. Plus, I'm an A student at doggin' it. But I'm getting a bit chunky, and I'd like to lose weight, and I know my girlfriend would like me to too, even if she won't say it (she's nice to me like that). When it thaws out for good, I'll start everything again, and probably join somewhere where I can swim.
Posted by tweedledopey | Link to this comment | 01-13-05 3:38 PM
Bike erg or rowing erg? I have a co-worker who's trying to convince me to do a triathlon, but I hate running and I hate losing, and if I ever do one, it's a good bet it will involve lots of both.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 01-13-05 3:41 PM
Yep. I knew it.
Out of curiousity, can you describe how to do a flip turn and what makes it so difficult.
Posted by D | Link to this comment | 01-13-05 3:41 PM
Rowing erg. Bike ergs are the devil. So are hills. But so are rowing ergs. It just so happens that my roommate has one in the basement, so I can watch the O.C. (haha) while I erg.
Flip turns mean basically swimming at a wall headfirst (as opposed to...) on your stomach, and then just when you are about to hit the wall with your hand or head, kicking your legs over your head, tucking your head down, and changing direction in the same spot. You then push off the wall, and start swimming again.
The problem is that you don't get to breath during the turn, and it's a lot of body movement. Body movement=oxygen consumption. This lack of oxygen is further increased vis a vis the no breathing rule. Ergo, and concordantly, flip turns make you incredibly tired, and all you did was turn around.
The alternative is to grab the wall, breath, and then push off.
Posted by tweedledopey | Link to this comment | 01-13-05 3:46 PM
You also have to rotate 180 degrees around your head-toe axis, or else you'll come up on your back.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 01-13-05 3:51 PM
Unless you are doing the backstroke, in which case the rotation comes before the flip.
--
I use my annoyingness to amuse, not abuse.
Posted by tweedledopey | Link to this comment | 01-13-05 3:55 PM
I knew you'd know it D; I think you invented it.
You know, flip turns, physically, aren't so hard: it's just a three quarter somersault, turn, and push off. (Look here.) I can do a fast, tight somersault in the water with no problem. But the wall really complicates things, partly because it introduces issues of timing and distance, partly because you really really don't want to hit your heels on the edge as you go over. And to do a good flip turn, you don't start turning until your head is about two feet from the wall, so it's scary (to me, anyway).
If you feel like downloading videos, here's one (underwater) and here's another (from above).
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 01-13-05 4:01 PM
[redacted]
Posted by [redacted] | Link to this comment | 01-13-05 4:05 PM
Nice work on the flipturn tip! Hurrah!
Is it just me, or is it starting to smell like updog in here?
Posted by girl27 | Link to this comment | 01-13-05 4:09 PM
Updog.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 01-13-05 4:13 PM
Hahaha what's updog? Not much is up, dawg. You? Nothing, but you have an awful dicfour on your leg.
--
The killer of jokes strikes again.
Posted by tweedledopey | Link to this comment | 01-13-05 4:14 PM
you really really don't want to hit your heels on the edge as you go over
Back before I quit swimming, my experience was that, while it could be painful to hit the wall too close, it was more embarrassing to flip too early and then kick your legs back only to find nothing but water. A real momentum killer.
Incidentally, it was a great day when they changed the rules on backstroke to allow flip turns. No more reaching blindly for the wall.
Posted by aj | Link to this comment | 01-13-05 4:37 PM
By the way, my favorite swimming clip, which is in humbling real time, and features a wicked flip turn, is here.
The swimmer is Larsen Jensen.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 01-13-05 4:53 PM
Had no idea what "dogging it" meant.
But I can do a flip turn.
Posted by bitchphd | Link to this comment | 01-13-05 5:34 PM
Tipping and flipping like a dog? I honestly have no idea what you're talking about.
I feel like Emily Litella.
Posted by mcm | Link to this comment | 01-13-05 5:38 PM
Tipping, as in tipping point, as in, suddenly got it, after trying unsuccesfully for a while. "It" being flip-turns, as in swimming.
"Dogging it," well, you've either heard it or you haven't.
Apparently everyone who reads this damn blog could already do a flip turn. Damn all of you.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 01-13-05 5:42 PM
You can take solace in the fact that I probably couldn't do one anymore.
Why isn't anyone talking about the sparkly shit?
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 01-13-05 6:01 PM
We red staters have been tolerant of you gay people and your sparkles...but this is going to far!
Posted by Michael | Link to this comment | 01-13-05 6:11 PM
I can but it took a long time.
Doggin it is to do something half-assed.
Bird doggin' it has another (non sexual) meaning altogether. . . .
Congrats on nailing the flip turn. Good work. I gotta get back to the pool you are inspiring me.
Posted by Balasubramani | Link to this comment | 01-13-05 7:00 PM
Before I started drinking, I was really good at flip turns. I still am.
Posted by Michael Phelps | Link to this comment | 01-13-05 8:03 PM
Post avi or retract!
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 01-13-05 8:07 PM
Avi of what? Me drunk? Or swimming?
Posted by Michael Phelps | Link to this comment | 01-13-05 8:28 PM
Ok, so before michael phelps gets really mad at me. That was me. I can't prove he was drunk, but I know he does a mad job swimming. But I'm too lazy to find a video to retract, and lazier still to retract.
Posted by tweedledopey | Link to this comment | 01-13-05 8:35 PM
"Everyone already knew this, right?"
Had no idea what you were talking about.
Following this: "Ever participate in organized sports/watch hours of Sportscenter in a row, Michael?"
I note that a probable contributing factor to my answer to your question is that while I participated briefly, and somewhat ludicrously, in a few months of some sort of child-sized football league, I tended to be a nerd with bad vision who was often the smallest and youngest in his class (not counting people with some sort of actual dwarfism), and pretty crappy at all sports, save that I actually wasn't entirely bad at hitting a softball/baseball, was good at tumbling and gymnastics in an entirely mild way, and a good, though entirely unserious, swimmer.
But my interest in organized sports has generally been next to nil all my life, with the extremely mild exception of a faint interest in baseball when I was a youth. I've never watched more then ten seconds of ESPN or any sports channel, and the last time I watched even an entire baseball game I was probably twelve or so.
Classic nerd here; instead, I spent all my time when young, and since, reading.
Of course, watching a few minutes of curling every year is always called for, and America needs bushkazi!
Posted by Gary Farber | Link to this comment | 01-13-05 11:34 PM
Oooh yeah, "doggin' it," bad memories of HS football practice, usually followed by something else like "take another lap."
One of the reasons I lift weights instead of run cross country.
Posted by Tripp | Link to this comment | 01-14-05 8:17 AM
I think that's the thing - you needed to be in/around sports at an age when coaches felt it was appropriate to really yell at you. (Youth league soccer moms are unlikely to appreciate a man loudly questioning their son's gender; by high school, the stands are far enough away that parents can't hear what the coach is saying).
Posted by SomeCallMeTim | Link to this comment | 01-14-05 8:49 AM
Tim,
Youth league soccer moms are unlikely to appreciate a man loudly questioning their son's gender;
Now there's a flashback I could do without. Even back then I wondered what the heck my balls or lack thereof had to do with me puking my guts out during wind sprints. It was all cardiovascular and no reproduction, thank you very much.
Posted by Tripp | Link to this comment | 01-14-05 10:01 AM