Backstroke to breastroke turn

The back to breast transition is the turn where the most time is won or lost of any other turn. The two most common ways of performing this IM transition turn are the traditional open turn and the crossover flip turn. Generally, the crossover is quicker off the wall, but the push off is not as powerful, so the two turns even out in the end. Furthermore, unless the crossover is done precisely, the likelihood of a disqualification is fairly high. The crossover is much harder to teach and perform and should be taught to seniors swimmers.

Turn

The keys to this turn are simplicity and aggressiveness. A correct approach is both. Being blind to the upcoming wall unnerves many swimmers, whose tentative approaches cause them to slow down drastically.

• Know your count and attack. Swimmers must know their stroke count from flags to the wall and swim in as fast as they can without hesitation.
• Touch on the side*. Swimmers finish their last stroke with the body rolled on its side, head steady, and the top arm on the hip. They touch the wall at gutter level with the bottom arm. The biggest mistake novice swimmers make on this turn is touching the wall while on their backs with their shoulders flat. The second biggest mistake is turning their heads and looking for the wall as they approach; this often results in rolling theirs shoulders past the vertical for an instant disqualification.

Turn on the wall

The great challenge with the actual turn is to make it as simple as possible, with few movements required. Most swimmers make this turn complicated and, as a result, slow. The body remains on its side throughout the turn.

• Leave the side arm. As swimmers touch the wall, they leave the top arm that is by their side in place. 
• Knees up quick. The knees pull up to the chest while the side arm stays in place, the hand of the touch arm should press into the wall, and the body remains on its side.
• Touch-arm to streamline. Just before the feet hit the wall, the touch arm leaves and spears behind the ear to a streamline with the other arm. The body stays on its side as the legs push off the wall. 

Send away

Here we have a normal breastroke underwater sequence (for more read here) in all its parts.

Image source: [1]

* You might see that some swimmers (including Ryan Lochte) touch the wall with the top arm. It's a great variation of the back to breast transition turn but I find it a little tricky to teach to younger swimmers.