Shoulders tiring quickly

I've always had this problem where my shoulders get tired quicker than they do for most other swimmers. It must be something with my technique. Even an easy 200 for me is not a pleasant thing. Does anyone have any general idea on why this might be happening or tips?
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  • Former Member
    Former Member
    I think you will find that you are using arm muscles to swim and not using the larger back muscles to do the work. There should be very little tension in the forearms. A lot of the tension comes from holding the fingers tightly together and or pressing the thumb tightly against the index finger. In the old days we taught the arm muscles were the only muscles used my coach always told us to swim with the back muscles. If you see by my avatar that I was rolling (the picture is from 1956) more then the swimmers of my time, we were all told that the shoulders should be flat but I found it much easier to roll. Also shoulder problems may come from harsh stretching, I call it pretzell stretching, before you warm up. Another problem could be caused by pulling too deep.
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  • Former Member
    Former Member
    I think you will find that you are using arm muscles to swim and not using the larger back muscles to do the work. There should be very little tension in the forearms. A lot of the tension comes from holding the fingers tightly together and or pressing the thumb tightly against the index finger. In the old days we taught the arm muscles were the only muscles used my coach always told us to swim with the back muscles. If you see by my avatar that I was rolling (the picture is from 1956) more then the swimmers of my time, we were all told that the shoulders should be flat but I found it much easier to roll. Also shoulder problems may come from harsh stretching, I call it pretzell stretching, before you warm up. Another problem could be caused by pulling too deep.
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