Swimmer's Muscle

I just got acquainted with a muscle in me last night.

I went for a swim..after laying off for long long time.  I'm not a keen swimmer to begin with.
Only did six laps but my right arm hurt so BAD after that that it couldn't function properly.

Almost couldn't take off my clothes.
Had problems washing my hair.
Had problems putting on my clothes.
Had difficulty driving.
Arm was almost out of control when I reached out to insert the parking ticket to exit.


LOL..no exaggeration.



I've been actively working out all these years..body combat, rpm. half marathons...and I get this after six laps of freestyle at the pool??

WTH...

Even the high impact kickboxing jabs and punches did not give me this!



The pain and weakness were similar to that dreadful time when I had the TM attack 10-20 yearsback where I could only lift my arms half way.  Not something I'd like to experience again!

Perskindol was my saviour, I sprayed loads of it before leaving the gym, it helped relieve the spasms quite a bit, slowly felt better as I was driving home.

Later in the night, I felt that the main source of the pain and spasms was at the region diagonally below the arm pit, upper back near, below shoulder..somewhere there la.  Definitely the same muscle group that was also affected during the TM attack.

Did some googling and learnt that this region is called the latissimus-dorsi also known as the 'swimmer's muscle'.


Now I'm wondering why I'm writing this? haha..

I'm just happy to share the discovery I guess.  And..pretty awed and trying to accept the fact that despite  the regular work outs as a fighter-cyclist-runner wannabe ..couldn't handle a few arm strokes at the pool..?

Lesson learnt..there will never be perfection.

A runner may not fight well.
A swimmer may not run well.
A fighter may not even swim.


:P