Swimming and tumble turns

Even though I do a lot of running these days I don't consider myself to be primarily a runner because I only really picked it up this century; in contrast I've been cycling for 25 years and swimming regularly for over 20 years. So for sure running has a lot of catching up to do and personally I don't think that it'll ever make the grade - but don't tell my running shoes that!

Anyway my point is that I've been swimming for an awful long time and yet I've never managed to pin down the art of tumble-turning. I've tried on and off over the years but I've never been able to achieve any consistency or even a sense that I could keep it going length after length. However the other day I stumbled across a video of Chris MacCormack swimming on Tasmin Lewis's Facebook page. Now the funny thing is that he's not a great swimmer, in the Michael Phelps league that is, but for no good reason something clicked in my brain when I saw him tumble-turning:

What I noticed was that coming into the turn he quite casually placed both hands on this thighs, bent down from  the waist and did a little flick with his feet. Then, as if by magic, he just flipped over and set off in the opposite direction. Seems simple doesn't it but in the past I've always tried to use my hands and arms to lever my turn while at the same time bending and twisting round - and yet it seems that your hands really aren't part of the equation here!

So at lunchtime today I decided that I'd use my regular swim in the Oasis swimming pool as a bit of a practice session - just to see what happened. The funny thing is that when I went at it the first time, and placed my hands in the right position, then I nailed it just like that! Astonishing! After that there was no stopping me and I kept going back for more; okay some of my later turns were a bit ropey and I missed a few out but nevertheless what a revelation! If I can keep this up then I'll be a very content swimmer. Thanks Chris!