Yet another pain from squatting!

[medman]

In my first few months of doing stronglifts, I had a lot of mild-moderate pain in my hip flexors (the muscles in front of the hips near the groin). They were tight, so it made sense that the squatting motion, which repeatedly stretches them, would cause some pain. Fortunately, that ended around two months in.

 

I have, however, moved on to a new type of pain. This one is toward the top of my left glutes, more lateral than medial. I feel it when I'm done squatting, but also to a lesser degree at rest, even when sitting, even on my days off lifting. I also really feel it when doing a right side kick. I'm sure it's an MSK issue and not piriformis syndrome or anything, but it's really annoying. It just feels like I've irritated some sort of tendon or something.

 

Has this happened to anyone? Is there anything you did to help? It hasn't gotten any worse for quite a while, it's just always there, so I haven't stopped squatting (I would definitely stop if I felt it was getting worse/heading toward injury). Stretching and squatting were what loosened up my hip flexors, but this doesn't feel like an issue of flexibility, it feels more inflammatory to me (I say this as a former runner who is used to the pain of mild overuse injuries).

[VeganEssentials]

Hey, Medman!

 

Sorry to hear about the pain after squatting. To get a better idea of the location, is it more toward the hip at mid-high glute level, or is it more like it's in the lower back slightly above the glute?

 

If it's more on the side of the glute toward the side of your hip, I'd think that doing some rolling out on a foam roller for your IT band would loosen things up a bit. If it's higher than the top of the glute and almost at exact waist level, it sounds more like the QL issues I've suffere from since screwing up my back. From what the guy working on my lower back rehab has been telling me, QL issues can be mistaken for a whole slew of various ailments (often mistaken for disc issues, sciatica, etc.), so it can be a tricky one to diagnose. If it happens to be anything QL related, then some good stretching combined with rolling out on a tennis ball might do the trick. Of course, internet diagnoses are far from perfect, but those two areas seem to be pretty common for areas that get strained from squatting. One thing I've leaned, if you take the time to get plenty of warming up before squatting and learn how to roll out with a tennis ball or foam roller on those problem areas, it can sometimes make a world of difference and really keep things feeling comfortable vs. having areas that tend to feel tense and inflamed after training.

 

Now, if I could only figure out why my hip flexors are fine while squatting but cramp up on me while benching, I'd be good as gold!

[medman]

I realize I never quite pinpointed the pain, so I got up in front of the mirror and tried to find the exact spot. It's definitely "more on the side of the glute toward the side of my hip" like you said. It's definitely far lower than my waist. For some reason, IT band didn't occur to me...and thinking about it now, I vaguely recall having a possible IT band issue right when I was starting out. I'll have to see about tracking down a foam roller (or tennis ball or whatnot) and go to town on it.

 

What would you recommend for warming up if my work weight is 185? Right now, I start out with some squat stretches (getting down into a full squat position and maneuvering from side to side to stretch my hips), some leg swings (both front to back and side to side), some deep bodyweight squats, then I do a few reps with an empty bar, some more at around 100 lbs, and sometimes some more at around 140. Should I be going up in smaller increments to warm up? Like 100, 120, 140, 160, then 180?

 

Do you always bench after squatting? I had that same cramping issue on and off a couple of months ago. I definitely had hip flexor issues while squatting too, though, so I don't know if I can offer any help on that front!

[VeganEssentials]

From the sound of your added info, it definitely sounds like it could be an issue with the IT band. When I roll out to loosen up, it really keeps that area loose for me, so you'll definitely want to give it a shot!

 

For warming up, that's tough to say - when I'm in the swing of things, I like to go with a set or two of 3-5 reps with about 30-40% of my working top weight, then singles and doubles moving up via even increments to get at least 3-4 warm-up sets in before I'll start to squat. Usually, it'll break down for something like this:

 

Working set example - 3x5 @ 315 lbs.

 

Warm up -

5 minute walk

3x8 box jumps 24" box

Foam roll for quads, hamstrings, glutes and IT bands

Maybe a few sets of abductor/adductor work for 15-20 reps moderate weight to keep the hips feeling loose

Squat warm-ups in power rack -

1x10 bodyweight (usually bracing my hands on the pillars on the sides of the rack to get myself locked into ideal form from the start, it just tends to keep me in better position when I initiate squats that way)

1x5-10 w/ empty bar

1x3-5 @ 135 lbs.

1x3 @ 185 lbs.

1x2 @ 225 lbs.

1x1-2 @ 275 lbs.

Then on to the working sets. Sometimes, I find that if I work to a heavier single before the rep sets everything feels lighter, but that's just me. I used to always go 50-90 lbs. over my 5 rep set weight for a single first, then those 5 reppers felt much easier, but now I prefer to just go straight into my working sets without the heavy single. To each their own, but that's how I do it (even if I don't always log all the bits of the warm-up!)

 

I don't always bench after squatting, but lately, they've been overlapping. DB benching, no strain on the hips, but when I put in a good arch for barbell work, that's when the old left hip starts to cramp up after a few sets. Might just be one of those "getting older" things I have to contend with until I figure out how to stop it from happening!