After my first box was bought out by the intense, crazy owner, I found myself nursing a sore shoulder within a couple of weeks. I was worried that I had done something to my rotator cuff and finally decided to see a PT about it. I'm so glad that I did because she checked me out and told me it was just my pectoral muscle and gave me some excercises to do at home. She was worried about me doing CrossFit at my age though, and said that many of her clients came to her because of CrossFit injuries. We went over safe practices and she pointed out my weaknesses and gave me additional excercises to address them. One of the things I didn't know about myself is that my joints, my shoulders especially, are hyper-mobile. This basically means that the muscles around my shoulder aren't strong enough to hold them in place so they move too much. Apparently this is very common in women. She explained that CrossFit only works the big muscle groups, and that I needed to work on the smaller muscles, also known as stabilizer muscles to ensure that I didn't injure my shoulders. So whenever I saw a heavy shoulder workout scheduled, I would allow myself time before I left home to mobilize and warm up my shoulders, and I tried to be good about doing the stabilizer excercises at home. Another thing my PT told me was that my shoulders should never go behind my back because I could dislocate them.(!!!) This was news to me--our standard warm-up before doing shoulder work was to take a PVC pipe and rotate it from the hips to the lower back.
She almost screamed in horror when I told her, lol, and made me promise to not do it again. This is not to say this stretch is bad for everyone--lots of people do it and it works. Just be aware that you should know your body and be careful when doing new moves, even something as simple as a stretch.
It's also important when you're older to know your limitations on the volume and intensity of the excercises you're doing. It didn't take me long to realize that my former box was not a good fit for me so I scaled back on the number of workouts per week and left as soon as I had an opening. My new box is a much much better fit for me. The owner is a young guy who has been to regionals (in the CrossFit open) and is knowledgable and capable. He places a lot of emphasis on form and on strengthening the stabilizer muscles. I really feel like I've hit the sweet spot at this box. And what's really amazing is that I am lifting better and am much stronger than I ever was at the old place, because I have a coach who cares about building strength the right way even if it takes a little longer.
As an older athlete, it's important to remember that you can't do everything the 30 somethings do. If you want to be able to do CrossFit, or any form of excercise for a long time you need to be sure that you:
1. Listen to your body
2. Rest if you're tired
3. Do not push through the pain
4. Seek the help of a PT or orthopedic doctor if you have a nagging pain/injury that won't resolve
5. Find a box or gym or coach that fits well with your goals and abilities
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