Testing the Water and it Still Hurts

I went to master swimming yesterday and pretty much used a pull buoy the entire time. My shoulders are sure sore. My knee is more sore today. My coach said that I need to loosen up all my muscles and I'm holding too much in my shoulders and it could be affecting my knee. I ordered some resistance bands to use on my banana boat accident left shoulder. See the banana boat pic. Harmless looking isn't it? I need to get it stronger and more range of motion. I also ordered a book on stretching and another on exercises for your knees and how to make them more flexible. I showed my coach how in-flexible I am. I have never been able to touch my toes...maybe once in my life. I can touch my knees, but most 90 year olds can do that. It's terrible! I'm the girl in yoga that can't even sit cross legged on the floor. I have awesome balance but no flexibility.

I took the next step and joined our wellness center at work. They have yoga over the lunch hour. I just got back from it and it's great. We hold poses for a long time so I can really stretch. They have quite the studio and machines....it's all windows like you are running outdoors and flat screen TV's on the walls. It's really nice.

If you want to read about the banana boat here's the story...

In 2001 I went on a vacation with Fanta, Neumann and Jess Smith. We went to Puerto Vallarata for a cheap, warm vacation. In college we said we would try to take a trip every year no matter who can make it. We were riding on a banana boat when we all fell off and I kept hanging on with my left shoulder. I thought I could pull myself back onto the boat, but we were going so fast that it stretched out the ligaments and tendons in my shoulder. I knew right away I hurt my shoulder. When I got home they did two MRI's and didn't find a tear but thought there might be one and they could do surgery. I didn't want surgery, so I took up running to help get my shoulder stronger. I could only run about a mile before my shoulder was grinding. I still have problems with my shoulder anytime I do something new. Last year it was painful swimming but I seemed to work through that. Biking on my Soft Ride was painful and still is if my shoulder is sore. Add to that a car accident that I was rear ended and you have a mess of muscles in my back/neck and shoulder. So this is why my knee hurts? I don't get it but right now I'll try anything to get better.