weight training gurus.... question about injuries??

stephanielynn76
stephanielynn76 Posts: 709 Member
edited September 25 in Fitness and Exercise
So I've been weight training for a long time and I normally subscribe to the high-weight-low-rep mentality... and I do that with my upper body but haven't been with my legs. I used to lift heavy back in college but as I got older and popped out two kids I've changed my training in favor of lighter weights and more reps for my lower body. Here lately I've decided it's time to take it up a notch so I've been adding more weight... but not too much. I intended to go up a little at a time. I started with the increase 3 weeks ago. On the first week I pulled my left groin. Last week it was my right glute. Today I was feeling it in my right medial quad. What in the world? I've been doing this for years without injury and I decide to add just a little more weight and now I'm riddled with them? I've been just pushing through the pain because I'm determined (or maybe hard headed) and I want to get it done! Today I just did what I could do. Exercises that didn't hurt I did like normal. Exercises that did hurt I went slower and dropped the weight if I needed to. These injuries aren't so bad that I can't walk or anything.... just painful/noticeable with certain moves. Give it to me straight. Should I just continue to push through it or am I gonna have to take a break?

Also... is it possible that the first injury somehow predisposed me to the others???

Ugh. I hate setbacks....

Replies

  • taso42_DELETED
    taso42_DELETED Posts: 3,394 Member
    [Disclaimer: I am not a weight training guru and the following is my opinion]

    You do not want to "tough through" an injury. That will more often than not lead to a worse injury. That's easy advice to give but hard to follow (as I sit here typing with an injured ankle that I refused to give a break to).

    The injuries may have been caused by improper form and/or from not being warmed up enough. Once healed, perhaps you can consider doing 1 or 2 warmup sets with less weight and more reps to loosen up the muscles and focus on form. Then follow up with your regular heavy weight / low rep sets.

    Heal up well and keep lifting heavy!
  • stroutman81
    stroutman81 Posts: 2,474 Member
    How do you define "small increases"?
  • stephanielynn76
    stephanielynn76 Posts: 709 Member
    How do you define "small increases"?

    like 10-15lbs... no more than twenty. What I was doing wasn't all that heavy to start ya know...
  • stephanielynn76
    stephanielynn76 Posts: 709 Member
    [Disclaimer: I am not a weight training guru and the following is my opinion]

    You do not want to "tough through" an injury. That will more often than not lead to a worse injury. That's easy advice to give but hard to follow (as I sit here typing with an injured ankle that I refused to give a break to).

    The injuries may have been caused by improper form and/or from not being warmed up enough. Once healed, perhaps you can consider doing 1 or 2 warmup sets with less weight and more reps to loosen up the muscles and focus on form. Then follow up with your regular heavy weight / low rep sets.

    Heal up well and keep lifting heavy!

    You are so right... I do neglect warming up properly. That could totally be it. I'm usually quite a stickler for proper form. I watch myself in the mirror to make sure I'm doing things right. Well crap. I'm probably gonna have to take it easy for a bit. I was actually going to do the cold plunge for a bit today at the gym but the darn thing was broken.
  • jpmajors
    jpmajors Posts: 53
    If you are sore immediately after or during your work out it very well could be an injury which you should not work through on the other hand if you sore the day after and even sore two days after that is most likely your muscles healing and recovering. and that requires rest.

    I personally add or take weight off weight to work outs in percentages of my 8 rep max. I will add and or subtract 10% depending on what I am trying to achieve So for more reps I might bench 175 and less reps more weight 215. I can us that formula for almost everything. You said 10-15 lbs which depending on the exercise could be a huge increase

    Make sure your posture is right, Machines like cybex etc are great for helping with that but I prefer free weights for the core support needed etc.watch yourself in a mirror
  • stephanielynn76
    stephanielynn76 Posts: 709 Member
    If you are sore immediately after or during your work out it very well could be an injury which you should not work through on the other hand if you sore the day after and even sore two days after that is most likely your muscles healing and recovering. and that requires rest.

    I personally add or take weight off weight to work outs in percentages of my 8 rep max. I will add and or subtract 10% depending on what I am trying to achieve So for more reps I might bench 175 and less reps more weight 215. I can us that formula for almost everything. You said 10-15 lbs which depending on the exercise could be a huge increase

    Make sure your posture is right, Machines like cybex etc are great for helping with that but I prefer free weights for the core support needed etc.watch yourself in a mirror

    Nope... I'm quite familiar with the soreness that happens 1-2 days after a great workout... this ain't that. It's not an overworked soreness more like a pinching pain that happens right as I'm doing an exercise. I know I've pulled something. I remember when I first felt the pulled groin. I wasn't even doing any lifting at the time. I was actually just getting on the leg press machine and suddenly felt it. It was so weird. I wasn't in any kind of awkward position or anything. It's like it came from out of nowhere. I'm wondering if the other two injuries/issues came from the lunges. I think I'm going to try using the smith machine for lunges next time instead of free weights. This way I will be sure to go straight up and down with perfect posture and form. When you already have an injury, that tends to throw your posture/form off because you compensate for that injury... then you end up causing new injuries!!!
  • braggb22
    braggb22 Posts: 1 Member
    Hi, I am a physical education teacher, coach, and currently getting my grad degree which has included bio-kinetics and advanced exercise physiology. Just for some background...

    I went through something similar back in November. I had been squatting heavy, took a few months off and then tried to get back into it and my right groin pulled. I tried a few days later again and it was worse. So I took a month or two off of squats or anything that would aggrevate my groin. I have been back to squatting (humbly) started light and have worked my way up. It was tough feeling like I was starting over, but that is what I had to do.

    As far as your other injuries they may very well be caused by your initial injury. So many muscles work together to support each other. When one goes down sometimes another muscle has to over-compensate. Also, warm-up, warm-up, warm-up!!! Warm-ups should last anywhere from 5-15 minutes and you should be sweating...stretch lightly when your warm-up is complete. Good luck!!!
  • chrisdavey
    chrisdavey Posts: 9,834 Member
    I'm no guru but I do a fair bit of strength training (and seem to have my fair share of injuries).

    I think Taso42 has pretty much hit the nail on the head. We know we shouldn't train through injuries but the stubborn side comes out and we attempt to anyway. This draws out recovery time and then eventually we cut out the exercises and take a good break for the injuries to repair themselves.

    [hansel]
    I pulled my groin about 5 weeks ago now. I had never injured groin before so figured it would just fix itself up in a few days. I cut out squats but I was still deadlifting. It was only noticable on my heaviest sets but I think I did aggrevate it doing this. Then this week I thought I was ok to go back to mma training. Went to sweep someone (which involves using a lot of inner thigh muscles) and instantly I felt the pain :( Much worse than what it has been, so I'm now off to the physio where I'm sure they'll tell me I'm a di(khead and to rest it until it's ALL GOOD.

    [/hansel]
  • stephanielynn76
    stephanielynn76 Posts: 709 Member
    Drats! I guess I am going to have to rest the injuries for a while :( I did stretch really really well yesterday after working out and I think that was quite helpful. I'm feeling the general soreness from a good workout but honestly no "pain" this morning, at least with everyday activities.
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