Some advice please

SarahAFerguson

I was wondering if swimming could be helping to increase my arm/shoulder strength at all. I'm concerned about losing muscle mass while restricting calories. I've got to get at the weights but haven't done very much yet, just trying one or two things to see how they go. I'm starting small and working my way up to it.

The problem is my left arm is pretty weak. My shoulder/tricep (something around there) isn't working quite right. Imagine you are standing and then lift your arms straight out to the side. My right arm can go all the way from 0 to 180 degrees (right beside my head) lifting 5 or even 10 lb and I can hold 5 lb at 90 degrees for a minute. My left arm can't go past 90 degrees most of the time even without any weight added. If I push to get it there it hurts a bit and I can feel my arm rolling forward for other muscles to take over the load. If the arm doesn't roll like that then it is like I've lost power and no amount of pushing is going to get that arm higher (think of pushing so hard the muscles are doing that quiver shaky thing when the are at their limit) . If someone moves my arm up a bit past about 100 degrees I can regain control and go all the way up. Then occasionally I can go all the way myself without rolling my arm, but I'm snap crackle popping all the way. I need some exercises to stengthen up this area and regain mobility. I can lift both arms straight out to the front, but the left definitely feels it more.

I should note that I usually carry my 35 lb 2 year old on that side - thank goodness for hips!

SarahAFerguson

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