Groin injury and squats

taso42

A couple weeks ago I hurt the left side of my groin doing squats. Being the super genius that I am, I just continued with my regular plan, and eventually injured the right side of my groin as well. I'm basically making it worse and worse. Today I did one single squat of my workset, and it hurt so bad, I just racked the bar and skipped the rest of the work sets (while fighting the incredibly stupid urge to just "tough through it"). Why is it so much easier to give the advice to rest than to actually follow it?

Anyway, my specific question is, should I just lay off completely for a while, or should I attempt an active recovery where I do less (or MUCH less) weight? I've been making great progress, so I don't want to take too many steps backwards. Any other general advice?

trelm249

I think you are looking at about two weeks of no squats, leg press, full deadlifts, or cleans.

Lunges, Romanian deadlifts, and stiff leg deadlifts may be OK. Try them light and see how it feels.

Keep doing upper body though.

In two weeks, ease into the deadlifts and squats to see what happens.

Beastette

LMAO at CoCo for your profile pic! Nothing constructive to add.

chrisdavey

I know what you mean about being difficult to take your own advice!

I had a serious groin injury earlier this year that was a full tear so may not be directly applicable but prior to it actually tearing it was a minor strain I believe. The tear was done in BJJ not weights also for your piece of mind.

I wasn't squatting at the time because of knee injury so can't be specific on that but I did find I could still do deadlifts & SLDL's. I just couldn't push to the max which is probably not a good idea with an injury anyway.

Maybe just go bro spec for a few weeks and do a heap of curls :P Seriously, can focus more on upper though to give it a rest.

You won't be losing muscle mass or anything in 2 weeks so I wouldn't be worried about stalling progress. Let it rest & come back stronger.

koosdel

That sux. But, neglecting recovery would be stepping further back than missing a few weeks of training.

Also, you will probably be surprised how quickly you recover any lost strength and maybe even gain a bit more. It seems recovery is the one thing we neglect the most.

ilovedeadlifts

I think i'd chill out on the squats for 2 weeks or so until it feels better.

It's much more beneficial to take time off, than to be forced to take time off, or totally quit squatting down the road.

Be smart about it. I know it sucks, but injuries happen.

taso42

Thanks for all the advice. I will lay off the squats for a while, for sure. Deadlifts and Power Cleans didn't seem to aggravate the injury so I will continue with those unless I feel some pain. And I can really focus on upper body a bit more.

eta: I think I needed a little break from squats anyway. I'd like to go into my next session strong, rather than with dread and fear

chrisdavey

fear is always tough!

It's a good idea to test out your squat rack from time to time as well. Just fail on purpose. Helps me mentally to know that I'm not going to die

taso42

fear is always tough!

It's a good idea to test out your squat rack from time to time as well. Just fail on purpose. Helps me mentally to know that I'm not going to die

Not a bad idea.. I've only ever "tested" it with the empty bar. Almost tested it today for real doing bench press, but sloppily powered through that last rep.

Well I've done my workout for tonight. No squats. I have to say, it's kind of nice to be able to walk after a workout :bigsmile: