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?
The subject is popular because a lot of swimmers are walking around with shoulders. Any repetitive overhead activity poses potential problems for the shoulder joint, especially as we age and the supporting muscle groups weaken or become imbalanced. If your shoulders are sore throughout the day and, perhaps more importantly, at night during sleep, you need to adjust your workouts, address any inflammation (tendinitis) or actual injury, and begin a rehab program. Otherwise the problem will only get worse. As I have posted previously, I believe all Masters swimmers should be doing rotator cuff exercises on a consistent basis. These are relatively small muscles that need to be targeted with specific exercises. You need a healthy rotator cuff if you want to swim.
And that about sums it up perfectly!
On my team, some of us have shoulder issues and some of us don't. It seems like those in the 40-60 range have more issues. But if you train a significant amount, you must be vigilant about shoulder health.
The subject is popular because a lot of swimmers are walking around with shoulders. Any repetitive overhead activity poses potential problems for the shoulder joint, especially as we age and the supporting muscle groups weaken or become imbalanced. If your shoulders are sore throughout the day and, perhaps more importantly, at night during sleep, you need to adjust your workouts, address any inflammation (tendinitis) or actual injury, and begin a rehab program. Otherwise the problem will only get worse. As I have posted previously, I believe all Masters swimmers should be doing rotator cuff exercises on a consistent basis. These are relatively small muscles that need to be targeted with specific exercises. You need a healthy rotator cuff if you want to swim.
And that about sums it up perfectly!
On my team, some of us have shoulder issues and some of us don't. It seems like those in the 40-60 range have more issues. But if you train a significant amount, you must be vigilant about shoulder health.
