Did I pull my quad or is it just sore?

krista12352 · July 2013

I started Insanity on Monday, and I've gotten some muscle soreness but it's all gone away. However, I did the cardio recovery video on Thursday night - I'm not used to doing the lunges and squats so much, so it was hard on my legs and burned a lot. On Friday morning, I noticed that a muscle on my left quads was sore and bothering me when I did my quad stretches, but I kept going and did the workout anyway.

It is Saturday afternoon now and I still have pain in my left quad when I walk. I can't tell if it's sore or injured, but I'm concerned since I'm only having pain in this muscle on the left side of my body. I can walk, jog, do squats, high knees, etc. and it's not excruciating, but it seems to be hurting in a different way than my other sore muscles. The pain is worst if I raise my leg into a high knee, and it's around the middle of my thigh.

Did I pull the muscle, or is it just sore? What can I do for it and when can I resume insanity?

Thanks!

MsEndomorph · July 2013

I had the exact same thing happen. Those lunges can be brutal in the beginning! I ignored the pain when I was stretching as well, went back to lunging, and it felt like my thigh was being ripped from my body. I literally had to limp my way home.

You probably pulled something. Ice it! Rest it. I've never done Insanity so I don't know if it's possible to avoid movements that would exacerbate it. I know for me, after the initial pain and inflammation went down, very few movements actually caused me any pain.

krista12352 · July 2013

Thanks so much for the reply! I tried today's video, pylometric cardio, earlier today. I did about half of it and at some points the muscle hurt and at some points it didn't. I didn't finish the video because it was hurting in a way that felt different from soreness and I didn't want to further injure it. I don't think I would have gotten to the point where it was as bad as you said yours was, though. But it's probably still pulled, then?

elephant_in_the_room · July 2013

I'd say you injured it and you should rest it for a while and let it heal, and avoid any exercises that make it worse, i.e.all exercises that make you feel it. In particular lunges and squats.
Ice -- good against inflammation. But really, if you want to heal a muscle, you need to keep it warm. It increases the blood flow which carries the healing process.
By all means,avoid stretching it until it's fully recovered.

MsEndomorph · July 2013

Thanks so much for the reply! I tried today's video, pylometric cardio, earlier today. I did about half of it and at some points the muscle hurt and at some points it didn't. I didn't finish the video because it was hurting in a way that felt different from soreness and I didn't want to further injure it. I don't think I would have gotten to the point where it was as bad as you said yours was, though. But it's probably still pulled, then?

Probably.
I'd do ice today and switch to heat tomorrow, and stay off of it. When you go to exercising, skip the things that make it hurt (like lunges, I'm assuming.) I know it sucks to take time off, but it's less time than if you really screw it up'

krista12352 · July 2013

Thanks a ton to both of you for replying, I really appreciate it. Do you think I might be able to resume insanity on monday night? Are there any other options for exercise that I can do in the meantime? I was going to do pushups, upper body weightlifting, and ab stuff. I just wish I could do cardio, though.

Ljvalsan · July 2013

if it is soreness you should see a difference with stretching, exercise and time. If it hurts consistently no matter what you do it might be pulled, or torn. Give it time to rest and if it does not go away a little each day it is pulled

elephant_in_the_room · July 2013

I have hamstring tendonitis which is a different beast, but I know what it is like to have to avoid all exercises that exert certain muscles in the upper leg. I don't know what insanity is but probably a type of circuit training? Abs and upper body strength will of course be fine, but it might also be possible to find cardio that doesn't strain the injured muscle. There are at least 2 types of jumping with the feet together, legs closed -- one is rope jumping (real or with a pretend rope) with both feet, of course, the other is twist jumping. Jumping jacks might also work if you are careful and don't overdo the movement. Punches can be done as cardio of the upper body, too.

Did I pull my quad or is it just sore?

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