How to improve your ankle mobility when swimming with fins

Many people start swimming with fins and are initially surprised by the pain in their feet and ankles. Ankle mobility is the main cause of pain when it comes to fin swimming, which requires both practice and stretching. It usually takes 3-4 weeks before you feel like you can complete a fin workout without any discomfort in the feet and ankles. This is one of the many reasons we recommend Add mobility training to your workouts.

You can do this swimming workout every day of the week. However, we tend to use these to round out leg day. It takes about 30 minutes and is non-stop swimming. This uses a simple recovery method that keeps you moving so you don’t have to stop. It’s called “tortoiseshell backing.”

Use a pair of fins: easy-on fins if you’re new to swimming, or diving fins if you’re diving or preparing for a military mission. special operations diving programs. Ultimately, it would be best to use a larger fin, such as those used in scuba diving. The military uses rocket or jet fins during their diving school training. It’s good to get over the initial pain long before you go to these schools because the learning curve takes a few weeks.

This is how you can get used to the ankle pain that usually occurs after swimming a few hundred meters with fins. This workout gradually builds strength in the hips and legs and slowly works on mobility in the ankles. The ankles take significant torque from the fin as it hyperextends each kick.

This is the workout:

Repeat 10-20 times (depending on your skills):

• Swim 75 meters Combat Swimmer Stroke (CSS) or freestyle with fins
• Swim 25 meters turtle
• No rest. With the turtleback you can catch your breath.

If you are playing a long course (50 meter pool), try the following version:

Repeat 10 times.

• Swim 150 meters CSS or freestyle with fins.
• Swim 50 meters turtle.

Here is a video description of the training: Swim with fins with turtle recovery

This is a solid way to get 1,000-2,000 meters of finning experience, as you may not be able to complete the workout due to ankle pain. If this happens, remove the fins and replace the training with the following 50/50 training:

Repeat five times (no fins).

• Swim 50 meters freestyle.
• Swim 50 meters CSS or breaststroke.
• Rest and stretch the legs if necessary.

Once your ankles start to feel better, try the fins again. This process will increase both the durability and mobility of the ankles, which are necessary for longer periods of diving and longer open water swimming later in your training.

Take your swimming to a new level by adding one or two fin workouts per week if you enjoy swimming as your primary cardio. However, if you are preparing to go to military specialty diving or rescue swimming schools, you will need to build up your ankles and legs to handle long swims with large fins. Start small, increase the size and distance, and don the bigger fins when you’re ready to ride, swim, and dive the tides and currents of open water.

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