I am trying to increase volume and swim about 15-20K a week. Most of these yards a hard with not alot of drill yardage. I have sore shoulders all the time. Not injured, but sore and very tired. I have to be carefull how I sleep on them and not to put strain on them doing mundane daily activity.
....Is this normal?
I mix in alot of *** and back and kicking, but I would say 60-70% is freestyle. No fly due to lower back issues.
I just bought hand paddles but am afraid to use them. Instead I am trying to mix in fist swimming, kind of the opposite.
When my shoulders get very sore (usually the left one, but occasionally the right), I will swim with zoomers and "de-weight" the arms for a while. It feels a bit like cheating, but you actually can get a harder workout this way since the zoomers make you use your legs so much more, and leg muscle mass is so much greater than the arms/upper body. Eventually, my legs get so tired and sore and prone to cramping that I don't want to use the zoomers any more, and I go back to swimming normally, i.e., using my shoulders again, which no longer seem quite as sore as they once did, at least relatively speaking.
Think of it as rotating crops of pain.
I suppose it depends on what you mean by "sore" (and by "normal"), but I wouldn't call sore shoulders normal. Common, maybe, but also a warning sign of potential injury.
If you haven't, do consider incorporating some rotator cuff strengthening exercises into your routine before you develop clicking, sharp pain, or pain that gets worse when you are lying still trying to sleep. Other threads on these forums have discussed such exercises and a search should help you out.
When my shoulders get very sore (usually the left one, but occasionally the right), I will swim with zoomers and "de-weight" the arms for a while. It feels a bit like cheating, but you actually can get a harder workout this way since the zoomers make you use your legs so much more, and leg muscle mass is so much greater than the arms/upper body. Eventually, my legs get so tired and sore and prone to cramping that I don't want to use the zoomers any more, and I go back to swimming normally, i.e., using my shoulders again, which no longer seem quite as sore as they once did, at least relatively speaking.
Think of it as rotating crops of pain.
This is pretty accurate. And as Quicksilver said, we are not teenagers and have to train differently.
I think "sore" can be normal, depending. How quickly are you increasing your yardage? If it's too quick, that will cause undue soreness. Soreness can lead to tendonitis, etc. I'm assuming you're doing your RC exercises and lifting weights because you seem very knowledgable on that score in prior threads. If you're getting a dull pain across the back of your shoulders feeling, that's not good. Could be tendonitis. If you're not ramping up too quickly and are doing your exercises, it could be a technique issue.
Balance is key. Mix in drills, kicking, technique work, other strokes, fins, etc. Jim is right: fins can be a huge overload/cardio boost workout and de-weight the shoulders. I wouldn't use paddles or pull buoys if your shoulders are sore. Paddles, while they can help refine technique (I guess maybe they strengthen the pull a little), can be shoulder wreckers.
I know your goal is a sub 1:00 100 free. But I swam a :57 last year with a lot of speed work, fairly low yardage and maybe only 20% of my workouts free. 70% seems too high to me. But then freestyle is not my specialty either and a lot of freestyle yardage leads to shoulder soreness for me.
No clicking, but the left is a bit more sore than the right. I am leftie and my left shoulder and elbow are bit cooked from throwing a baseball and football.
I stopped lifting upper body over a year ago. Shoulders are too sore to lift and I feel like I can overpower the shoulders if I do weights and really get hurt.
I'll incorporate more zoomers into my workouts. Maybe I'll try to reduce free to 50-60 of total yards.
I've been slow to raise yardage and have been carefull. My goal is a sub minute 100 free for this fall and hopefully closer to a 55 for the spring.
No clicking, but the left is a bit more sore than the right. I am leftie and my left shoulder and elbow are bit cooked from throwing a baseball and football.
I stopped lifting upper body over a year ago. Shoulders are too sore to lift and I feel like I can overpower the shoulders if I do weights and really get hurt.
I'll incorporate more zoomers into my workouts. Maybe I'll try to reduce free to 50-60 of total yards.
I've been slow to raise yardage and have been carefull. My goal is a sub minute 100 free for this fall and hopefully closer to a 55 for the spring.
My left shoulder is my problem, and I'm a righty. (Perhaps from all the mega distance freestyle training with right side breathing when younger.)
Stopped lifting at all? Even at moderate weights? A sprinter needs to be strong and lift. Lifting and strengthening the non-RC muscles can help support them and keep you swimming. At least that's what my docs say. I don't do much by way of upper body weights (I prefer core drylands), but I try to do some moderate weights to support the shoulder, i.e., rows, lat pulldowns and presses, hammers, etc. If it hurts too much to do moderate or low weights, that's not good. (I'm not recommending bench press and or heavy overhead weights -- my teammate just tore his RC with that stuff.)
I've had some success with fins and sprinting, although I know my workouts are unconventional by most swimmers' standards. Race pace fin work can be very beneficial, wholly apart from the shoulder saving benefits. Sprinters train differently than others. You don't need mega yardage to get to your spring goal time.
Just a thought -- if you were a baseball/football jock and former runner, you may have a long-festering-but-hidden shoulder issue that is just manifesting itself now as a masters swimmer. I took a long time off from swimming and never thought I had a shoulder problem. When I hopped in the water, whammo, insta-tendonitis. After a year of pain and PT, I finally got an arthrogram and it showed an injury I sustained in youth. Just keep that in the back of your mind. You may have some RC/labrum wear and tear that you didn't previously think was an issue.
Yup. Are you swimming all freestyle?
I had the same problem a few years ago. Using big paddles only made it worse.
Maybe consider doing some IM or alternate stroke just to mix things up a bit?
Being a backstroker I find that the reverse action on the muscles can provide a nice stretch. Double arm backstroke will loosen everything right up.
Doing too much of the same stroke day after day may lead to overuse.
The paddles are great toys, and they can make your pull really strong... but they will put more strain on some already sore shoulders.
I've been told that too much pressure during the initial catch and pull (when the arm is straight) can strain the shoulder joint when it's in a vulnerable position. Applying force on the water should happen when the arm is bent.
Good luck with your training. As long as there's no clicking sounds your description of sore shoulders is fairly commonplace.
Remember we're not teenagers anymore. :)
I'm also left handed and have some occasional soreness in the left shoulder. It has gotten better over time (I restarted swimming 4 months ago) and I try not to wrench on it during the entry and catch phase of my stroke, which helps a lot. I'm doing these stretch cord exercises which also help:
www.usaswimming.org/.../ViewMiscArticle.aspx
I'm doing about half your yardage though, maybe 7.5k-9k per week max, swimming 3 days a week (and going to the gym 3 other days). When you say 15-20k/week, is that what you are doing now or is that what you are trying to increase to? If a heavy swimming routine is wearing down your shoulders you could try trading a couple swimming days a week for gym days and get treadmill or elliptical trainer time in, and see how that goes.
