Learn the open turn: touch, tuck, tip over and push off on your side. With rules for breaststroke and butterfly and a progression without a somersault.
The open turn, also called the surface turn, is the turn without a somersault: you touch the wall, tuck your legs, tip over in the opposite direction and push off on your side. The honest answer to "Do I need this if I want to learn the flip turn later?": yes – the open turn is the calmest entry point, and in breaststroke and butterfly it is even mandatory: there you must touch the wall with both hands simultaneously [2].
The turn is more than a pause: among 100 m and 200 m finalists at a major championship, the key determinants at the turn were the surface variables [3]. And because a study of elite freestyle and butterfly turns found no single parameter that clearly predicted turn time, its authors recommend improving many details together [4]. For you that means: there is no one trick, but there is a clear sequence that you learn in stages.
Be realistic: the basic movement often sits within one to two sessions; it becomes smooth over weeks (rule of thumb, not a study value). Plan ten turns per session, not fifty: good repetitions beat many bad ones.
In shallow water you switch from side-support on one side to the other: you push off with one hand and tuck your legs at the same time. This teaches the principle without a wall [1]. Milestone: you change direction twice in a row smoothly.
Swim slowly to the wall, touch with one hand (freestyle) and tuck your legs at exactly that moment [1]. Your head stays down, your hand rests on the wall or the gutter. Milestone: you touch without braking or overshooting.
Your body briefly straightens up on your side – you breathe in – and tips in the opposite direction at the same time [1]. Milestone: you tip, breathe in and are ready for the push-off.
Now dip down on your side, your feet reach the wall roughly at hip height, your arms point forward. Push off hard [1]. Milestone: after the push-off you glide at least two body lengths.
Only when the glide slows down do you start the kick, and before surfacing you begin with an arm stroke [1]. Milestone: you return to swimming without a drop in pace.
Touch the wall with both hands simultaneously, then pull one hand back immediately and finish the turn with a push-off on your side [1]. Practise turning to the left and right. In butterfly, the underwater dolphin kick comes into play after the push-off; in sprint butterfly races, underwater speed was closely related to turn time [5]. Details in the butterfly guide "The open turn: two-hand touch instead of a flip turn".
The open turn is your breathing break. As you straighten up on your side, you breathe in [1]; use that deliberately to set your rhythm after the turn. And wait with the kick until the glide slows down: that is the simplest speed indicator you have [1].
In the open turn (surface turn) you touch, tuck and tip over. In the flip turn you do a somersault in the water. The open turn is an entry point; the flip turn is faster.
Yes. On the World Aquatics infraction card, the only turn item for freestyle is wall contact (rule 5.2) [2] – no particular type of turn is required.
With both hands simultaneously [2]. Then you pull one hand back and push off on your side [1].
Until the glide slows down; then kick, and the first arm stroke before surfacing [1]. In breaststroke and butterfly, additional rules apply to the underwater phase [2].
Sighting in Open Water: Hold Your Course Without Losing Speed