The opening paragraph of my little "History of Chicot Challenge" contained the assertion that long swims reveal weaknesses in the body (and sometime faith). I did not, however, in any of the four parts of that essay address those weaknesses. Well, if you were looking for it, waiting for it, this is your lucky day.
If you go far enough in the water or on foot or on a bicycle the weak links in your body are often exposed. For me, the Challenges have been a steady revelation of what I needed to pay especial attention to over the next twelve months until Chicot came around again. When I crawled out of the water at Chicot I, my hands had been in pain for a couple of hours. The next day, I had visible knots on the tendons on the back of my hands and lower wrists to go along with the stiffness and soreness to those areas. Weak link exposed.
I could not find anyone who had ever experienced such a thing and not wanting to spend money in the medical field (because I was convinced they would not understand and merely prescribe me anti-inflammatory meds), I was left to my own to ponder my course of rehab. Eventually, I came to the conclusion that I had a strength/flexibility imbalance between the muscles on the top of my forearms and the muscles on the bottom of my forearms. The muscles on the bottom being the ones most actively engaged while swimming (i.e. pulling the water) and the muscles on top being the antagonistic (i.e. opposing) muscles.
This brings me to a hard earned lesson and that is the importance of antagonistic as well as stabilizing muscles. In the past, I had performed strengthening exercises only on the prime movers for whatever sport I was training for. This meant for swimming, I hit the lats, pecs, shoulders, and triceps while ignoring the muscles in the middle of the back and biceps. I didn't work the forearms at all. There is a symbiotic relationship between the prime movers and their opposite muscles that I don't fully understand, but I'm beginning to appreciate.
To address my problem, I began to work the muscles on the top of my forearms. I did this a number of ways. One was to deposit a very light set of dumbbells (5 lbs) where I like to watch TV and while relaxing in front of the tube to do reverse wrist curls. I did more aggressive work outdoors at Plate City Gym. To make a short story long, it worked. Over the following years, whenever I became a little lazy on the top of the forearm work, the pain reappeared on my longer swims. This has happened enough to know that I rightly identified the problem as well as the solution to the problem.
This brings up another issue that I can't pass by: the issue of isolation vs compound movements. If there is anything that gets on my nerves it is the absolutists whom I continue to bump into when reading literature in the field of exercise physiology. For instance, I read a number of articles and watched some videos that expressed in no uncertain terms that Crossfit is the way all athletes will train in the future. Nothing else will work. The problem with that position is it is simply not true. I admire Crossfit, and I do incorporate some of their moves into my own regiment. But Crossfit is not the end all of fitness. It just is not and no single form of workout is or could be.
Another absolutist group is the Pose Running sect, a strange bunch that says their way of running is the only way to run and no one else is running correctly. This, like many of these athletic fads, is a theory that came about in someone's head while possibly drinking too much wine, certainly not while running. If you follow their instructions on how to run (yes, they describe in detail how to run), you will find their method is actually impossible. What they describe is running in place. It literally does not work, yet they insist that they do it and so should everyone else. Crazy. Usain Bolt can't run. Marathoners can't run. Olympic sprinters, football players, kids on the playground all are doing it wrong. You can't make this stuff up.
Had enough? Here's some more. Recently, I read an article that said science has proven there is ONE way to build strength. That one way is sets of three reps. Anything else, the three-rep evangelist said, is not strength training but some other form of training. That brings up a whole separate issue. Many people are invoking the name of science, but of course they rarely mention the study that allegedly backs up their claims. But how can anyone in the name of science or any other name say such a broad and obviously false statement. All those athletes and strongmen who went before weren't even strength trained, according to this theory. They just thought they were strength training and thought they were strong and made the rest of us think the same thing when they squated 1,000 pounds or bench pressed 600+. You can't make this stuff up!
Want more? No one is more dogmatic and nothing is more faddish than the current compound movement versus the isolation movement gurus. We only move and perform in compound movements and never compete using muscles in isolation, so why isolate muscles in training? That is logical. Unlike some of the other fads I have covered, it actually makes sense. But again, to totally rule out forms of exercise that have worked for decades is uncalled for. For instance, if training is specific (a long established exercise maxim that I agree with) and if we only compete with compound movements (which we do) then swimming long, long distances (which I did and do) would totally prepare my body for the rigors of those long swims. The problem is it doesn't. BUT, you protest, you are resorting to anecdotal evidence. Two responses. First, anecdotal evidence is evidence. Maybe it is not proof, but it is evidence. Second, some of the fads I have discussed aren't even based on any evidence. They are based strictly on theory. And that is the case with the current compound movement versus isolation movement sect.
Once more, I like compound exercises, not because they are the only way to do things, but because of their economy (work more muscles with fewer exercises) and because they place a larger load on the heart and THEORICALLY add a little boost to the VO2 max machine. But sometimes, and especially with a weak link, the best thing to do is to isolate a muscle and strengthen it. Is this not self evident in the case of my forearms? If you will argue against that you will argue, plain and simple. I care not to argue for the sake of arguing.
Enough of the hand pain and forearms. Chicot Challenge II brought to light another weak link. I swam the last few miles of that one with a severe pain between my shoulder blades. Sound familiar? Antagonistic/stabilizing muscles once more proved to be the part of my body that needed bringing up to code, so to speak. This time I didn't have to ask to think to meditate. I went immediately to Play It Again Sports in Jackson, purchased some heavier dumbbells and started to work. I always hated bent rows and one-arm bent rows, the opposite of my favorite bench press that works my prime movers for swimming. Note: if you hate an exercise, that is pretty strong evidence that you need to do that one. If you hate it, most likely you are weak and inefficient in that move and therefore can benefit from performing that exercise. To make a short story long, I began to pay more attention to my mid-back and for Chicot III, all was well.
Chicot III revealed pain under the shoulder blade which is one of the rotator cuff muscles. So you know what I did for the next year. Now I am either stretching or doing some sort of light dumbbell work whenever I am watching TV. All seemed well for Chicot IV. I had solved all the problems, strengthened all the week lings, right? Chicot V brought one more weakness to light. While training for my latest big effort, I began to experience some neck strain. Then the Tuesday after Chicot V, I awakened in the early hours of the morning on my right side. I rarely sleep on my right side, and when I moved, a muscle in my neck pulled. I hope you never go through that. To make a short story long, although my neck is not yet 100%, I have already started working on it. What's next? Where is the next weak spot? I have no idea; I hope nothing. Only time can tell.
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