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1. go back to basics
Forget turning for a while, and go back to practicing forward rolls in
the water. Its amazing how hard they can be! Practice getting our head
down quickly and trying to roll all the way over without paddling too
much with your hands. When you feel comfortable practice swimming front
crawl into a forward roll. Aim to get your head down fast and rotate
quickly.
2. spot the turn
 Once you can spin
quickly you need to determine the best distance from the wall for your
turn. Initially practice swimming up to the wall, rolling over and standing
up. This will allow you to see how close to the wall you can actually
get. Experiment to find a comfortable distance for you - there is a bit
of adjustment available in your knees, but you should aim to finish horizontal
after the roll over, otherwise you'll push off up or down. It's an individual
thing so make sure you are comfortable that you can start your tumble
at the same point every time. Always aim to start the turn on a full
stroke, never a half stroke or a glide, and get your head down fast.
3. plant your feet
 Make sure you get the balls of
your feet firmly planted on the wall, about shoulder width apart. Imagine
you are about to jump off the floor, if your feet are too close together
you will not use your thigh muscles effectively.
4. bounce off the wall
Practice spending as little time as you can with your feet in contact
with the wall. Once they are planted drive with your thighs as though
you were jumping. Don't waste time turning onto your front before pushing
off, push off on you back if necessary (Michael Klim did this very noticeably
at the Olympics). Some people, such as Alex Popov in these photos, like
to incorporate a quarter twist into their tumble so that they push off
on their side. This is entirely a personal thing, but may work well for
you. Many top swimmers have coaches specifically to train them to be
better jumpers and hence get a faster push off from the wall. Practice
doing Sergeant jumps to improve your speed off the wall.
5. streamline
 Once your body
is moving away form the wall, on front or back, get into a good streamlined
position. One hand on top of the other, with your shoulders pushed up
and the tops of your arms tight over the sides of your head. Keep your
feet together and point your toes. If you can feel the water moving over
any par of your body, then tuck it in! You can often travel up o twice
as fast off the wall as you can swim so don't start to kick or pull too
early, and when you do keep the streamline; when you make you first arm
stroke, keep the other shoulder and arm tucked into your head. Finally,
don't come up to the surface too soon, there is more drag from the water
near the surface and you will slow down faster. However, don't swim too
deep or you will slow down before you can get to the surface and start
swimming. Practise to find a comfortable compromise for yourself.
Finally remember that whatever you may get from these tips, they will
be of no use if you don't remeber to turn properly every time you do
a tumble - only perfect practice makes perfect!
Your comments:
Try not to stay under water too far as you'll lose speed! -- Nathan
Oxford
A faster turn is dictated by tucking your head tighter, not by trying
to bring your legs over faster. If you tuck your head tighter and faster
you can spin aroung your centre of mass a lot faster -- Steve
After pushing off streamlined always pull with the deep arm first and
don't breathe for at least two strokes. When you do it right you will
surge forward and come up in front of the rest of 'em! --Mammamedley
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