pointing down towards the bottom of the pool and have my toes pointed back.
Recently did some video and found myself impressed how my toes were pointed down.
TY
Kneel on the floor, then slowly sit back until you’re sitting on your ankles. Lean back more if u can. Can u do that?
Fins
They’re great for all sorts of reasons
Tell me more. When I swim with fins I feel fluid and smooth, like a real swimmer. Without them it’s fine but not nearly as smooth
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Regarding ankle flexibility using fins simply work. You will easily sense that you get more power pointing your toes and you’ll do it naturally.
Be ready for the calf cramp, though!
I’m pretty sure Tim in here does a lot of fin work.
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Makes sense about ankle flexibility. You can also really feel when you take them off of your feet are hanging.
I guess my worry is using them so often that my stroke gets optimized for fin swimming at the expense of regular swimming.
Is a lot of fin work like 20%? Or like 50%?
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Hmm I’m not sure I see that problem. Let me back up a bit and say: yes, if you use buoyancy shorts, you are disengaging your midsection to the long term detriment of your swimming. So using those shorts too often might not be the best plan. I’m not seeing an equivalent issue with fins.
20% would be on the high side, though. It’s really tiring to use them if you do it right. And Personally I’d recommend shorter fins.
AJT may disagree but for swimmers, fins are like the equivalent of floaty shots for triathletes.
fins should be like the dessert, you’ve been well behaved and eaten all your vegetables, now you can have ice creams / lollies as dessert
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Hehe. Yeah I disagree. Maybe the common ground is I feel like if you’ve got fins on, you should be going fast. Don’t use them to simply go faster.”
Further, kicking with fins on your back with your arms overhead in the streamlined position is the best way to improve the ankle flex, right??? A swimmer can either kick standard backstroke flutter kick, or kick dolphin kick on the back, or do both.
I’ll second this comment. i took this on board from someone else on ST in a different thread (i cant remember who it was). it was great advice though. i like to keep my kicking with fins to my warm up, and then hard short kicking on my back in streamline (like hard 25m or 50m intervals). it was great advice. when kicking hard with fins straight away i can feel the tops of my feet and my ankles stretching out. also agree on short fins. long fins (like diving fins) feel REALLY odd. i use dmc but i dont know where they are available overseas.
A few things you can do! A lot of people are suggesting fins, which (in my opinion) is the best way to actively help with getting more range of motion with ankles. If you can, try isolating your legs by doing just kick with fins. And do it hard! The more force you put out, the better. That way “fin swimming” won’t interfere with your stroke. If your ankles aren’t flexible please use long fins. Short fins won’t get you the same movement. Great for people who already have the flexibility and have a strong kick, but counterintuitive for people with stiff ankles.
I also second the “kneel on the floor and lean back” stretch. That will help open up the front of your ankles.
Another thing to consider is if you’ve had ankle injuries in the past? Coming into running, I have rolled (and severely damaged) both of my ankles. So their range of movement is no longer (and never will be) as great as they were before my “accidents” 
Hope some of this helps!
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I do this “leanback” on thick cushioning (sofa, couch) for both my wildly tight hip flexors and ankles, 2-for-1. I go back only to the point that maintains form, no anterior pelvic tilt and arching back. The cushioning spreads pressure across the ankle and top of foot, but weight is pressing on heels so the ankle joint gets what it needs still. It wouldn’t work as well on something too hard. It’s added more flexibility for both hip flexors and ankles.
Back in college, my D1 swimmer roommate would do the shins-up version: heels touching the lower part of a flat plank (book, board), strap ball of foot down, maximizing foot arch or “point”.