I have a question I am hoping to get some insight on from the group. A little context to start: I broke my shoulder very severely right before the start of 2020. We all know what happened after that… I shifted away from multisport and focused primarily on cycling, with some running here and there as the world went upside down for a bit. Unfortunately, when events came back, my work situation had become prohibitive to taking on triathlon training in any substantive way and swimming remained in my rearview for several years. I recently started a new job with the needed flexibility, and got back into the pool about a month ago now, with a myopic focus on good technique and muscle memory.
The left shoulder I broke in 2019 and the right one, on which I had a labral tear repaired years ago, were never really rehabilitated properly (my own fault and there is no structural reason why I can’t be at 95% or better). As a consequence, I have organically become very bicep dominant and need to do the work both in and out of the pool to rebuild my lats and those smaller shoulder muscles as an on-ramp to taking on a plan designed with more intervals, speed work, and volume.
I am already seeing solid progress with 4 sessions per week in the water, but here’s where I can use some help: I have enough proprioception to tell when my elbow dips below my hand and can mindfully correct it on the next stroke. It happens occasionally if there is a lot of wake in the pool (damn water aerobics) and I don’t get good rotation and it’s an easy correction (just like open water), But it’s problematic when I notice it creep in more as my shoulders and lats fatigue—which still happens frequently. My scapular stability is complete garbage (hypermobile) and I know if I don’t continue harping on the right technique right now, I would just default to muscling my way through using my shoulders and arms, which I absolutely will not let happen.
What I feel happening is when my muscles start to fatigue and I start getting less distance per stroke, I’ll find myself subconsciously cutting my front arm extension shorter as a cheat to increase turnover; forcing my forward arm into a position that I can’t possibly catch with my elbow above my forearm. When that happens, I do one of a few things: 1. make sure I rest at the next wall to reset the stroke, 2. with snorkel and fins work in some 6 kick 1 pull drills to focus on fewer strict strokes per length, or 3. also using snorkel and fins finish out a length with easy kick if the form is breaking down…
With that epic preamble out of the way, the question is, committing to 4 days a week in the pool to get those touch points in the water, does it make more sense to trim back the length of those 4 sessions at the point I am seeing things break down for now and do more stretchcordz/dry land work to build the muscle strength so as not to ingrain bad technique as I fatigue later in sessions? Or should I continue to build that strength in the water with extended pool time coming from longer rest intervals to let my muscles fully recover and reset form? For additional context, I do incorporate regular strength work 2-3 days per week, generally calisthenics or lighter weight at this point in the season, so I am working those muscles in more dimensions than the direct swim training.
Curious if anyone with shoulder injury (or physio or coaching) experience has any thoughts 🙂