Dealing with Injury

The human body does not like change.  When I first started running, back in 2007, I got hurt, almost right away.  Bad shoes and weak tendons led to a 3 month  injury which even made it difficult to walk.  It took me till the next year to start running again, and again I got injured, this time it was with shin splints (went from the treadmill to outdoors.  Didn't know you had to be careful!).  I've been running consistently for 5 years now, and I know how to listen to my body and cut back to avoid injury.  But my body has also adjusted to running.  While I know I can still get injured, it's less likely to occur if I'm not aggressive and remember to cut back once in awhile.

Now I've started something new, kettlebells.  I want strength.  The problem is that I have never been a physically strong person.  And my body's response to trying to get strong at 43 is to complain, loudly.  When I first started Lauen's book, Kettlebells for Women, I added daily push-ups and (negative) chin-ups.  I was very aggressive about it.  I was determined to be able to do real push-ups and chin-ups, but all I managed to do was aggravate my shoulder.  I stopped doing the daily push-ups and chin-ups when I switched to Lauren's new program, Be SLAM.  I also learned better technique from a kettlebell trainer.  The combined has helped, for the most part, take care of my shoulder issue.  At least I thought so.  My left shoulder issue is completely better, but the top of my right shoulder is hurting, a lot.   It seems that the TGU's aggravated it, as the one arm swings with the heavier bell.

I know I need to give my shoulder a break.  I'm supposed to do a conditioning workout tomorrow, but instead I 'm going to run.  The 2 days after that are rest before the next strength workout, and I'm hoping that the 3 day rest will help resolve my issue.  I doubt it, but I'm hopeful.  I know I need to be careful.  When you're over 40 your body can not handle the same amount of stress that it could when it was 20.  Hopefully, I can nurse this along by small breaks and dropping to a lighter weight for some things.  I'm trying to very extra careful with push-ups.

It does stink getting old.