Breaststroke Ankle Flexibility

I do regular hip stretches every morning and just added a suggested ankle exercise.   1) lying on my back,  I pull one knee up to my chest and hold.   While in this position I flex my ankle to the count of 20 up/down and then another 20 going in circles (aka paint the alphabet motions).  repeat for the other leg.   2) lying on my back, pull one knee towards the opposite shoulder for a count of 20 while rotating my ankle then repeat for the other leg   3) lying on my back, I put one knee up at a 45 with the foot flat on the floor (or bed) then cross the other leg over the top. From this position grab your shin on the lower leg and pull the knee towards you.  You will feel some tightness in your help so just do in moderation as you build flexibility  Hold for 20-30 seconds then switch legs.     As to swimming, my current focus in to 1) get my feet as close to my butt at the start of the kick, 2)  I imagine my toes painting the letter J as my feet roll outward during the kick.  You can see what it feels like to adjust your kick's width - some like a wide kick to generate a lot of power, others like a narrow kick for maximum tempo.   3) Finish the kick by squeezing your legs together to get into a streamline (yep, I get called out for being lazy here - just sayin' ) .   I also do a lot of breaststroke double kick drills during the kick/drill choices in a set.

I do regular hip stretches every morning and just added a suggested ankle exercise.   1) lying on my back,  I pull one knee up to my chest and hold.   While in this position I flex my ankle to the count of 20 up/down and then another 20 going in circles (aka paint the alphabet motions).  repeat for the other leg.   2) lying on my back, pull one knee towards the opposite shoulder for a count of 20 while rotating my ankle then repeat for the other leg   3) lying on my back, I put one knee up at a 45 with the foot flat on the floor (or bed) then cross the other leg over the top. From this position grab your shin on the lower leg and pull the knee towards you.  You will feel some tightness in your help so just do in moderation as you build flexibility  Hold for 20-30 seconds then switch legs.     As to swimming, my current focus in to 1) get my feet as close to my butt at the start of the kick, 2)  I imagine my toes painting the letter J as my feet roll outward during the kick.  You can see what it feels like to adjust your kick's width - some like a wide kick to generate a lot of power, others like a narrow kick for maximum tempo.   3) Finish the kick by squeezing your legs together to get into a streamline (yep, I get called out for being lazy here - just sayin' ) .   I also do a lot of breaststroke double kick drills during the kick/drill choices in a set.