Sore shoulders normal?

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.

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.