I suspect that one can easily screw up the shoulders on any of the 4 competitive strokes, if not done carefully.
Oh yes, however do you manage that much pool time? I do about 5-6 hours a week. The chlorine is bleaching and causing my body hair to break off. My skin breaks out in a rash and my sinuses are crazy, even with the special shampoo and nasal irrigation afterwards and flonase. What's your secret?
Just remember at that level of sport, they're all mutants.
A swim yesterday. Worked on back streamline. I'm convinced that at best my legs will be about a foot underwater. Then did some upper body weight training after work, using the proper form for bench and shoulder press. My shoulders are feeling fair today. Maybe, I can bulk up the upper body a bit to offset lower body development from stairmaster and running, and get a better balance in the water.
Rest day today, but did some jump rope breaks to break up all the sitting that I do at work. Apparently,
sitting kills.
Shoulders are something to take seriously for swim, regardless of form. One of the collegiate athletes who has instructed my daughter, has the most beautiful of swim forms I have seen, surely better than anyone else on the college swim team, pretty as any I've seen on the youtube, graceful, perfect. She is maybe 20 yrs old and had shoulder problems last year. Overuse can happen for any stroke, and she confesses that she wasn't doing enough "dry land" exercises, just swim.
That said, I wince when I see all the people swim laps at the pool. The vast majority of the middle agers have terrible form (crossing over, slapping water, no rotation, breathing on only one side and so over reaching on the other, generally appearing to be fighting demons just below the surface, etc). Like with running, form matters. I have recommended to everyone who talks to me about swimming more to swim better first by getting instruction. It saved me a world of hurt and frustration.
I think people get the idea that because swimming includes flotation, there is no way to get hurt doing it.
I don't manage that much pool time. I do it to the detriment of other activities, or miss sleep.
As far as dealing with chlorine irritation, funny, but blowing out of my nose a bit while swimming, and flip turns, followed by letting the hot shower water run on my face for a while afterwards to get rid of goggle eye seems to clear me up better than a nasal rinse. Kind of icky when you think about the poor pool chemical guys trying to figure out why their proportional needs change on days I"m there, but hey, it works. Sorry if that's TMI
My skin is fairly dry. I put on lotion (it puts the lotion on....), but forget often. No rashes.
My skin has stayed very thin and fragile feeling, regardless. My plantar skin never "grew" or thickened this year, unlike last year, when I wasn't swimming; it's still soft and thin as if I wore shoes and socks all the time (and though I rarely run bf, I tend to walk about during some of each day bf. socks and shoes only happen for the gym, where it is required.)
Mack's ear plugs are the best for the water in the ears. As long as those are in securely before I'm in the pool, I'm fine. The other day, one fell out, and I had water in my ear the rest of the morning, even after thorough use of swim ear drops.
