Open turn in Swimming

Reviewer Clear, memorable, and technically accurate -- a great way to actually learn this turn.

Moderator This is the open turn, explicitly named and defined as such: five clear steps covering the two-hand touch, knees to the chest, dropping the elbow, and the streamline push-off, with the common mistake of pulling the whole body to the wall called out.

Reviewer Genuinely rigorous — video analysis showing the staggered touch risks a DQ for no real speed gain.

Moderator Entirely and specifically about open turn hand-touch technique — compares the staggered/lower-hand touch against the traditional simultaneous touch.

Reviewer Turns a fiddly skill into a checklist you can actually follow, above and underwater.

Moderator Step-by-step, phase by phase, shown from two camera angles (above and underwater), covering the two-hand touch rule and every part of the turn through to streamline push-off. As complete and focused as it gets for this sub-skill.

Reviewer Builds the turn with real progressive drills, not just a demo — this is how you actually teach it.

Moderator Comprehensive, entirely dedicated to teaching the breaststroke/fly/IM open turn — technique breakdown plus a full drill progression. Nothing off-topic.

Reviewer Sharp, well-reasoned breakdown -- explains why each step matters.

Moderator Explicitly identifies the butterfly turn as the open turn ('same turn you'd do in breaststroke and at points in IM too') and teaches it as such -- full stroke into the wall, two-hand touch, tuck and pivot, streamline push-off. Correct match for the skill even though the title says 'butterfly turns.'

Reviewer Teaches it slow first, then race-speed, and explains why each mistake actually costs you time.

Moderator Full mechanics (grab wall two hands, knees to chest, feet plant, roll to side, streamline push-off), the competition touch rules (2-hand for fly/breast, 1-hand for free/back), and named common mistakes. All squarely open turn.

Reviewer Names the exact two mistakes I see at the pool every week — memorable and dead accurate.

Moderator Full step-by-step open turn tutorial covering both the two-hand (breast/fly) and one-hand (free/back) versions, the competition rule, and named common errors. Never strays off the turn.

Reviewer Goes past the usual arm cues into leg drive and the legality of your foot angle — real depth.

Moderator Entirely a mistakes-and-fixes breakdown of the open turn — wall rotation timing, wall-pull habit, arm sequencing, foot angle/legality, and leg drive. Nothing here isn't about the turn.

Reviewer Clear, memorable, and technically sound - a real lesson on how to do an open turn, not just what it's called.

Moderator This is exactly the open turn: it explicitly defines it against the flip turn, scopes it to breaststroke/butterfly/IM transitions, and walks the two-hand touch technique step by step. Dead center.

Reviewer Best of the freestyle open-turn videos here -- specific and well sequenced.

Moderator Entirely dedicated to the freestyle open turn, shown at normal speed and slow motion, from the glide-in through the push-off.

Reviewer Thorough, well-reasoned, and easy to follow -- a genuinely complete lesson.

Moderator Squarely and thoroughly the open turn, start to finish -- what it is, the two-hand touch, the one-hand-down-one-hand-up rotation, and the classic mistakes: grabbing the gutter, "waving" the arms, looking backward.

Reviewer The tip about which arm to drop based on your resting side is the kind of detail you only get from a real coach.

Moderator A structured 3-step drill progression built specifically to teach the open turn. Entirely on-topic, drill-focused rather than full-turn-focused, but that's still squarely part of 'how to do this.'

Moderator Step-by-step touch turn (open turn): roll to the side, touch with the hand on the side you circle, tuck the knees to the chest and plant both feet in a squat, breathe as the wall hand comes over the top, keep that hand out of the water, push off hard. Explains arrow-not-rainbow to cut drag. Squarely on the sub-skill.

Reviewer Clear and practical: arrow not rainbow, roll to the side, same-hand touch, hand out of the water.

Reviewer The 'hot hand' analogy is a great way to make an invisible timing detail stick.

Moderator Squarely about the open turn hand-touch technique, teaching essentially the same core skill as the American Open Turn video but built around the 'hot hand' framing.

Reviewer Clear numbered steps, and it tells you to test it yourself rather than just trust the video.

Moderator Squarely about the open turn hand technique — explains why you'd use the wall edge, then breaks the touch down into numbered steps.

Reviewer Compact, correct, and gives you a cue you'll actually remember — hot potato.

Moderator Covers the open turn for every stroke pairing — freestyle/backstroke and breaststroke/fly — in one tight video. Doesn't drift into anything else.

Moderator This is exactly the open turn, named as such, walked through step by step for breaststroke -- two-hand touch, tuck, streamline push-off, with the pullout mentioned as a later refinement.

Reviewer Clean, correct rundown of the touch-and-turn, including the detail that'll actually save you from a DQ.

Moderator This is the breaststroke open turn and nothing else — the whole clip is a wall-by-wall breakdown of the touch, the tuck, and the angled push-off on the side.

Reviewer Solid breakdown of why the angled push-off beats a flat one — worth watching more than once.

Reviewer Good specific drill with a clear payoff.

Moderator Squarely a drill built to speed up the open turn -- tuck and back-spin, with the transfer to the wall explicitly named. On-skill.

Reviewer Simple cue, correctly taught, with a drill to lock it in. Good stuff.

Moderator Squarely about open turns start to finish -- Cavic breaks down the hot-hand touch-and-go mechanics and gives a partner drill to groove it. Dead center of the sub-skill.

Reviewer The 45/45 rotation split and foot-hiding trick are cues you don't get from a beginner video.

Moderator Focused entirely on the two-hand open turn used in breaststroke, butterfly and IM — a core variant of this skill, just not covering the one-hand free/back version.

Reviewer Solid, accurate walkthrough — just doesn't go much beyond the basics.

Moderator Clean, full walkthrough of the open turn — approach, elbow bend, knee drive, arm sequencing, streamline, push-off. All on-topic.

Reviewer Tiny clip, real coaching value -- quick and correct.

Moderator Exactly on target -- the hot hand touching and releasing instantly to spin the turn faster is core open-turn mechanics.

Reviewer Gets the steps right, doesn't go much beyond that.

Moderator Straightforward, entirely about doing the open turn for freestyle -- hand on wall, duck under, hands together, push off, staying sideways on the wall.

Reviewer The turn breakdown itself is top-tier coaching.

Moderator Most of the runtime is workout vlog, but he explicitly delivers on the open-turn promise at the end: touch with two hands, breaststroke/fly turn, three concrete mistakes. Core content is squarely on-skill even if it's buried in vlog footage.

Reviewer Good cues from a serious coach, but this is a highlight reel, not a full lesson -- better watched than read.

Moderator Squarely the open turn -- approach mechanics, not gripping the gutter, timing the knee tuck before the hands touch, treating the turn as its own phase rather than an extension of the last stroke.

Reviewer Clear basics, but that's all you get.

Moderator Short but squarely on target -- walks through the open turn for both freestyle and backstroke: touch wall, drop elbow, feet on wall, other hand over the top, push off.

Reviewer Specific enough to actually rehearse, and it solves a real problem -- panicking for air right off the wall.

Moderator Narrow but legitimate slice of open-turn technique -- the exhale/inhale timing through the approach, touch, and push-off. Doesn't cover the physical mechanics of the turn itself, but breath timing is a real, often-skipped part of it.

Reviewer The 'elbow your brother, call your mother' turn cue alone is worth the watch -- sharp, memorable, and correct.

Moderator Covers full butterfly race technique -- starts, underwater dolphin kick, and finish -- but a real chunk of it is specifically the open turn: the two-hand touch rule, staying low off the wall, and a dedicated turn drill.

Reviewer Right tip, but it's one sentence of coaching stretched over a whole video.

Moderator Squarely about open turn speed — the whole clip is built around one variable of the turn (knee drive) and how it affects total turn time.

Reviewer Good specific cues, but it's an 8-second clip -- treat it as a reminder, not a full lesson.

Moderator Description explicitly labels this 'Freestyle Open Turn' and describes a one-hand touch approach, which matches the actual technique (as opposed to a flip turn). From a self-identified swim coach account.

Reviewer Right structure, but shallow and a bit sloppily put together.

Moderator Squarely, explicitly about open turns as an alternative to flip turns, with a numbered how-to (approach, touch, pivot, feet to wall, push off). Directly on-skill.

Moderator Contrasts the standard 'elbow your brother, call your mother' open turn with a spin-turn approach: the elbow still drives back but the head tucks down into the side in a circular motion, to get the feet on the wall faster. On the open turn, but as a technique pitch rather than a full step-by-step.

Reviewer Useful idea: tuck the head into the side and spin. But it's a pitch, not a full lesson on the turn.

Reviewer Good, honest tip -- includes the cramp warning most 'just do this' videos leave out.

Moderator Specific technique point (drive off the wall through the forefoot/toes for a tighter streamline push) that applies to both flip and open turns -- real and relevant, just not exclusively about the open turn.

Reviewer Good skeleton to learn the turn from: touch, rotate, push, streamline. At 23 seconds it won't fix your hand placement or tuck timing, so pair it with pool time and feedback.

Moderator Open turn in three steps: touch, rotate and push off, then streamline and kick. Squarely the open turn, given as a simple sequence rather than a detailed breakdown.

Reviewer One useful cue, head between your arms off the wall, in a very short clip. A reminder more than a lesson.

Moderator Breaststroke open turn for competitive swimmers, with a cue to put your head between your arms in the streamline for more speed off the wall. Breaststroke is raced with an open turn, so it's the right skill, in its breaststroke version.

Reviewer Handy for knowing which turn to use when, but it won't teach you how to actually do the open turn.

Moderator Covers the open turn as part of a full run-through of all seven competitive turns (butterfly-butterfly, breaststroke-breaststroke, breaststroke-freestyle, etc.), so it's genuinely on topic for a good chunk of its runtime, just not exclusively.

Reviewer One good fix (push off at an angle, not flat) -- but that's about all you'll get on open turn specifically.

Moderator Mostly a which-turn-should-I-use comparison for triathletes, but it does include a specific, correct open-turn correction (push off at an angle in streamline instead of twisting flat).

Reviewer Three quick cues (dip the ear, tuck the head, drive the knees), not enough to learn the turn from.

Moderator Says to swap the standard open turn for a spin turn: dip the ear, tuck the head and drive the knees rather than falling back from the wall, claimed to be faster, tighter and more hydrodynamic. About turning at the wall, but it's a replacement pitch with three cues.