Looking for Some Help Here Regarding Soreness (DOMS)

luluinca

You two (Sarah and Sidesteel) have helped me before when I believed I was stuck in a plateau and now I'm looking for some help with soreness, in particular my left hip flexor, after working out.

I took a diet break in July and August and maintained my weight and also managed to get to the gym about three days a week. I was generally going 5 days a week previously and working with my trainer on one of those. In September I was ready to get back on the train to losing weight and improving my strength after a busy summer.

Hah, first day back to the basics and my trainer said she was leaving for another gym and assigned me to a new trainer. I wasn't thrilled but decided to give him a chance. I was pleasantly surprised because he's more into strength training than she was, and even at my age (64 years young) he recognized that I was pretty strong and seemed excited to help me advance.

Long story short, at some point, either with him or on my own, I seem to have pulled an interior hip flexor muscle. He had me doing single leg RDL with 20/20 kettlebells pretty early on and I think that's where it happened but I can't be sure as I didn't feel anything until later.

Here's the problem, it only hurts, along with other muscles, the night and day or maybe two after, and then it feels better again after a day of rest. I don't think it's serious and mentioned it to my doctor who I saw on a rest day, and she doesn't think it's anything but sore muscles from working out. The problem is, it doesn't seem to be resolving the way other muscles do once they get used to the new routine.

What do you think? I've made some progress with weights, although I'm still not doing barbells, and he said my form is good. We're working toward more weight and barbells and I'm excited about it.

I can give you a rundown of my usual workouts (copy and paste from here) or you can look at my exercise diary for the last few weeks, it's open.

I guess my question is, do you think I can work through this, or do I need to take a genuine break of weeks or something for it to heal? I really want to keep going but not if it's ultimately going to make things worse.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

ETA..........I've lost weight since you last heard from me!

ETA #2.........I added "Strong Curves" into my workout this morning because I figured I might as well go back to basics re the hips and glutes. It was too easy so I added a few other lifts and/or exercises in there. Tomorrow I will primarily stretch (dynamic and static), do stairmaster and swim for about 30-40 minutes then back to "Strong Curves" plus on Sunday. I always incorporate what my trainer has been giving me at least another two days a week.

Sarauk2sf

Well done re your weight loss

- How many days a week are you lifting and how often are you doing lifts that involve hip joints - squats, deads etc?
- What volume of these are you doing each session?
- Are you also doing cardio that relies on a hip hinge a lot (e.g biking)?
- Have you been doing a lot more volume than before?
- How long have you had this issue for?

luluinca

Thanks Sara, I'll get those answers for you after I return from the gym this morning.

luluinca

Here you go Sara..............sorry this is so long.

Below are my workouts from this past week. Friday was day 1 of Strong Curves and I lowered the weights I normally do some of the lifts at to see how it went. It was too easy and so I added in several more lifts but mostly just arms because I wasn't sure how the hip flexor would feel after the RDL even after lowering the weight by 30-40 pounds. I did the box squat with no weight. I felt pretty good last night and again this morning. It hurts but not as bad as it has been hurting. This started about 3 weeks ago now and I can't pin point any single event that caused it.

I try to work out 5 days a week, with two medium and 3 harder workouts. I swim after a couple of them twice a week. I don't do much else for cardio but lately have been doing a quick and fast stairmaster to jump start my HR. I try to average a 350 to 400 calorie burn each day I'm at the gym and use a HR monitor.

Today was more of a circuit/stretching/cardio day but I try to get a few arm weights in every day I'm at the gym. I tried a disco squat to see how it felt with only a 12 lb dumbbell (generally do 20#). I could feel the hip going down but not too bad so I kept going. We'll see how it feels tonight.

Tomorrow I'm doing day 2 of Strong Curves and it looks like only step ups and possibly back extensions will involve my hips. I know I'll have to add more to it because I doubt this will challenge me much. I'd like to add back in my single leg RDL w/40 lbs but I'm not sure I should. I also gave up my leg presses for awhile and would love to get those back in. I was pyramiding up to 400 lbs and could go heavier.

My goal with my trainer is to finish up the last 15 pound loss and then progress to heavier lifting.

So, long story short last week, including tomorrow, was a bit of a back off while trying to figure this hip issue out.

Mon Oct 20 – Rest Day

Tues Oct 21 – Foam roller/stretches. 70 min circuit/strength including 20 pushups, 2 min forearm plank, 60 sec basic plank, 10 walkouts, 5 min stairmaster (all warm-up), followed by session w/Brent including 3X 10 each side single arm TRX row, 3X 25 bench pushups, 3X 20 bench dips, 3X 10 dumbbell shoulder press w/30 lbs, 3X 10 standing bicep curl w/30 lbs, 3X 10 deltoid pull w/30 lbs, 3X 15 TRX deltoid fly, 3X 20 inner thigh w/40 lbs. 350 calories Hard workout

Wed Oct 22 – Foam roller/stretches. 55 min circuit/strength including, 20 pushups, 5 walkouts, 90 sec forearm plank, 6.25 min stairmaster, 3X 10 TRX single arm row, 3X 15 TRX each side reverse lunge, 3X 1 min KB toss/squat w/15 lb KB, 3X 12 lat pulldown w/50 lbs, 3X 12 underhand pulldown w/50 lbs, 3X 15 inner thigh w/40 lbs, 3X 12 deltoid fly w/40 lbs, 3X 12 deltoid raise w/30 lbs. 20 min swim. 370 calories Medium workout

Thurs Oct 23 – Rest Day

Fri Oct 24 – Foam roller/stretches. 80 min calisthenics, circuit and strength training including, 15 push ups, leg swings, abductor side leg raises, bird dog, 60 sec basic plank, 2 30 sec side planks, walking glute stretch, 3X 10 each side single leg AB-X bridge, 3X 10 each way AB-X leg circles, 3X 15 prone glute bridge,3X 15 each side bench one arm row w/20 lbs, 3X 15 box squats, 3X 12 dumbbell bicep curls, 3X 12 bench chest press @ 30 lbs, 3X 12 dumbbell pulls w/30 lbs, 3X 12 dumbbell RDL w/40 lbs, 3X 10 each side step ups w/ 24 lbs, 3X 15 each side bosu up/down side planks, 3X 15 bench pushups, 3X 1 min cardio row. 345 calories Hard workout

Sat Oct 25 – Foam roller/stretches. 50 min circuit/strength including 10 pushups, 90 sec forearm plank, abductor leg raises, abductor clams, 3X 15 glute bridges, 3X 15 situps w/10 lb ball, 3X 20 side to sides w/10 lb ball, 3X 12 each side disco squats w/12 lb dumbbell, 3X 15 overhead tricep curl w/25 lbs, 3X 10 V lifts w/8/8 lb dumbbells, 5 min stairmaster, 3X 25 bench pushups, 3X 25 bench dips, 3X 15 TRX deltoid flys. 35 min swim. 360 calories Medium workout

Sun Oct 26 will be day 2 of Strong Curves plus whatever else I feel comfortable adding. I'd like it to be a hard workout.

luluinca

Here is today's workout. I'm trying to add in a lot of the Strong Curves warm up of bridges, abductors, etc to see if that helps. I also upped my weight on my RDL to 60 from 40. I felt the hip but not too bad. I'll know tonight or tomorrow if it's improving or getting worse as that's when it seems to really kick in. I'd really like to get back to my squats and at least 90-95# RDL's but I'm not sure if it's the smart thing to do or not.

Foam roller/stretches. 90 min warmup/circuit/strength including 5 walkouts, 15 pushups, leg swings, 90 sec forearm plank, 1X 20 bird dog, 2X 15 glute bridges, 1X 15 each side abductors and clams, 3X 15 single leg elevated glute bridge each side, 3X 10 each way leg circles, 3X 15 45 degree back extensions, 3X 12 (each side) angled side crunches w/10 lb plate, 3X 20 swiss ball crunch w/25 lb plate, 3X 12 lat pull down w/60 lbs, 3X 12 shoulder press w/30 lbs, 3X 12 cable overhead tricep extension w/30 lbs, 3X 12 seated row w/60 lbs, 3X 12 bicep curl w/30 lbs, 3X 10 RDL w/ 60 lbs, 3X 10 each leg step ups w/30 lbs, 3X 15 each leg long lever reverse lunge/row w/20 lbs, 2X 15 each side bosu up down side planks, 2X 30 sec side planks.