Ow, my arms.
As I type this, I’m pretty sure I can just feel my muscle fibers disintegrating in my upper arm. I hope it’s a sign that I’m working harder at the swimming pool, but my word does it leave my arms all noodly and useless for most of the day!
Granted, this week was nowhere near as bad as last week, and I put that down to being sensible and stretching before I went for my swim. I’m trying to up the number of lengths I do before taking a rest, and I think I’m doing better. But it’s not the actual doing of the exercise that’s intolerable (oddly enough, as I avoid expending as much effort as possible as a general policy). It’s the aftermath! The painful limbs, the weakness in the muscles for a few hours… I swear, I reached out to grab a pole on the bus on the way home. Now, I could pull myself towards it, but when the bus changed direction and I had to try and push against it, my arm just sort of… Collapsed. Fortunately, I was able to stop myself with my shoulder, but is that normal for a workout?
I’m sure that at least a few of you are gym buffs, and much better at this exercise thing than I. Any tips on how to avoid having weak arms that flap in the breeze after a swim? Any and all advice is more than welcome!
Anyway, I’d best be disappearing off for now, so I’ll see you all again on Friday! Stay awesome, guys!
M.
It should get easier, and arms less flapping noodly with time (over the course of weeks); but some brief thoughts:
stretching afterwards is a bigger help than before for any exercise generally; and depending on who you believe stretching beforehand can be detrimental, so a moderate warmup is better (eg jumping jacks)
your swims are generally early morning, right? If you’re running on petrol fumes that could possibly exacerbate tiredness/weakness; although some would argue a workout on an empty stomach is a good metabolism boost. Tricky call, but relatedly:
staying hydrated (and electrolyted) is important (I always underestimate this!) for an intense workout, so it’s worth having a small drink beforehand and something afterwards too
anecdotally, over-fatigue may also be exacerbated by ‘inefficient’ (for want of a better word) technique; however I am not a swimming coach by a very long stretch of the imagination so I’m only reporting what I’ve heard here- like any good recipe, take with a pinch of salt
Standard disclaimers apply: YMMV; advice off the top of my head; I am not a doctor, I just play one on TV; Dammit Jim! I’m a doctor, not a sports physio; no purchase necessary, see packs for details; smoking may seriously harm your and your baby; this advice has been known to cause cancer in the state of California.
OW! He punched me right in the formatting! D: