Talk to me on how to get my ankles flexible as hell or stop from

Island - Wow, that is moderately amazing given the emphasis in the swimming world on getting the ankles very flexible. I don’t know what to tell you but perhaps some of the super swimmers and coaches will see this thread and give you some feedback. :slight_smile:

Yeah, I am proof that flexible ankles might reduce drag, but they do not automatically equal a good/strong kick.

Anyway, pointy toes is the one and only thing I never have to think about :rofl:

Can you vertical kick? Deep end, arms at your side like you’re standing at attention, and just flutter kick with your head above the surface? The entire leg needs flexibility, hips and knees included, to get the wavelike whip kick that actually propels you. So I’m saying it’s not common, but you could have crazy flexible ankles and still have a “bad” kick, i.e. not terribly propulsive.

Your motor pattern is wrong. You are dorsiflexing at your ankle as you kick downward. As you kick downward, your feet need to be relaxed.

Fins do help for this, the bigger the better. The way it happens is that the fin is big enough that you just can’t dorsiflex as you kick, you have to let it relax. If you have a friend with scuba fins that fit and you can borrow for a few weeks, even better for getting the idea.

Someone else said that kicking on your back in streamline is good, and I generally agree; though if your motor pattern is bad enough you will find it impossible to start that way. My sense is that when kicking on our back our natural inclination is to plantar flex, not dorsiflex.

I’m not sure how you can say this without having not seen me. I can promise you my feet aren’t ever in any kind of dorsiflexion, they live in plantar flexion.

The main problem I see with my kick, is that I have a natural anterior pelvic tilt, causing me to hinge at the hips and my legs to be a little to low below the water, I don’t have the strength to lift them or kick upwards very well. Also my legs are longer than they should be for my height (Short torso, long legs) and I think this makes it hard to keep them at the surface too.

(Uggh that dropped elbow is my nemesis!)

Holy smokes your feet are like a dancers or ballerina, very flexible

Unfortunately they make me neither a good swimmer nor a good dancer :rofl: :rofl:

So, what about dolphin, back, and breast kick??? Sometimes people who are bad flutter kickers become very good breast kickers. A very good breaststroker can go almost as fast on breast as in free, albeit only for 50-200 m. I know tri is freestyle-centric but swimming other strokes helps your overall feel for the water. Also, if you could become a good breast swimmer, it would give you a feeling of accomplishment. If not, take solace in the knowledge that in distance free races, the kick is mainly used in the last 100m of a race when sprinting for the finish. As a tri-girl you have no need to sprint at the end of the swim, obv. :slight_smile: