Lifting and muscle pulls

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RinseRepeat
RinseRepeat Posts: 6 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hey all... I'm pretty new to lifting. I've been following the Stronglifts 5x5 routine for a few months now and have made a lot of progress from never lifting in my life to doing more than 1x my body weight on squats. In the last couple of sessions though, I've started to feel a pulling in my groin muscle while squatting. I tried deloading the weight a bit, but that didn't do anything to help it.

My next thought was to either do bar only on squats for a week or so or just forgo the squats and do some stretching instead for the next week or so and then just make sure I deload some before I go back at it.

Can anyone offer advice or suggestions based on experience? I don't want to injure myself further or lose too much progress because I didn't take the right steps. Thanks in advance!

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  • morowinder
    morowinder Posts: 35 Member
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    Take it easy for a week or two. Do SL have squats every workout? I'm doing squats every workout, when I started going past parallel it felt like my joints were grinding. Skipped squats on few workouts to fully recover, no problems since.
    Also warm up and do plenty of squats without bar between sets.
  • RinseRepeat
    RinseRepeat Posts: 6 Member
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    Thanks for the reply!!

    SL does have squats every workout. For warm up, I start with the bar and do about 6 sets of increased weight until I get to my actual workout weight and then do 5 sets of 5 reps with rests between. Should I be doing something else for warmup beyond that?

    Hadn't thought of doing squats without weight between sets... I'll give that a go after I've rested a week or so.
  • Cait_Sidhe
    Cait_Sidhe Posts: 3,150 Member
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    My suggestion- deload using just the bar and work on your form. If you're not sure if your using correct form, there are many instructional you tube videos. I usually search "Rippetoe Squat Form" and get exactly the results I need. Bad form WILL lead to injuries. And don't forget to warm up first.
  • StereophoneyGaz
    StereophoneyGaz Posts: 406 Member
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    As the comment above suggests form should always be a priority, as for the groin injury itself you need to get that healed before continuing, I pulled my groin playing football and squats were out of the question for a couple of weeks as I must draw my legs inwards slightly during the lift for stability, after the initial treatment I deloaded the weight and slowly rebuilt it up and I'm now back where I was and pain free. Good luck :)
  • cfp1981
    cfp1981 Posts: 29 Member
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    Could also try some mobility work if you are not doing so already - check out DeFranco's Limber 11 or Agile 8 routines. Might help.
  • RinseRepeat
    RinseRepeat Posts: 6 Member
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    Thanks for the suggestions all. I've definitely been trying to focus on form, but I do only have the videos and they don't give a very objective look at what I'm actually doing. I've considered getting a few sessions with a personal trainer just to verify my form and correct any issues I'm having. I'll consider this more when I get back to it again.

    I'll look into the mobility work as well. Thanks for the tip!
  • LolBroScience
    LolBroScience Posts: 4,537 Member
    edited May 2015
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    RinseRepeat wrote: »
    Thanks for the suggestions all. I've definitely been trying to focus on form, but I do only have the videos and they don't give a very objective look at what I'm actually doing. I've considered getting a few sessions with a personal trainer just to verify my form and correct any issues I'm having. I'll consider this more when I get back to it again.

    I'll look into the mobility work as well. Thanks for the tip!

    Film yourself for post it for critique if you can as well.

    As for the pain, I would either eliminate squats for a week or two (possibly try a work around - Front Squats, Box Squats, etc). Certain movement patterns won't aggravate it and you'll still get the benefit of performing a similar movement pattern.
  • dtrmcblo
    dtrmcblo Posts: 6 Member
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    Man you pulled a muscle and you will stretch? It will pull the muscle even more. The groin is a complicated area in itself. Good luck. Peace.
  • Snow3y
    Snow3y Posts: 1,412 Member
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    Unfortunately, a muscle pull, tear or injury can take quite a while to heal, and by putting any strain on it will only hinder the progress.. Try take some weeks off of exercises targeting the muscle group and using ice quite often to bring down any inflammation, do some VERY light stretches when you feel the groin has healed a bit - then introduce lighter weight exercise to the area again.. Hang in there, it's frustrating, but even more frustrating if hurt again and being forced to start at stage 1 again.
  • RinseRepeat
    RinseRepeat Posts: 6 Member
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    I'll consider taking vids of the lifts. I can see the benefit of doing that for sure.

    To clarify, I don't think it has gotten bad yet. There isn't any inflammation. I can walk and move my leg without limitations in motion without even feeling it. When I feel it is when I start lifting heavy and afterwards for the next few hours. I just want to make sure I take care of it before it becomes a major problem and stop/reset as necessary to not exasperate the issue.

    Correct me if I'm wrong, but the overall feedback I'm seeing goes as follows:
    1. Take a week or so off from squats (more if necessary)
    2. During this time, do some light stretching, mobility exercises, and/or bodyweight/bar only lifts
    3. Check and ensure form is on point
    4. Deload by quite a bit and go at it once healed

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