Can asymmetrical occur during a period of overtraining?

Medical Q&A [Moderated]
1

Hello Doctors,

A while back, I found that I had a hip shift in the deadlift, and spent about 4 weeks fixing that issue. This happened back when I also was experiencing hip discomfort on the right side. Now, I have fixed that issue, and my deadlifts have no noticeable imbalances when looking at videos of my lift filmed from behind. However, ever since I started doing the transition to singles @ 8 with some dropsets, I have noticed a similar right hip discomfort. I am not sure what could be causing this, other than the overall cumulative stress experienced by my body. I always stress technique and film myself, so the chances of it being due to technique are low.

I do have a couple of interesting piece of information about how the discomfort presents itself. Today while doing pause squats, I noticed that after doing the set, and then taking a step back from the platform, only then did I feel it. Not during the set, not after while I was still in the DL start/end position, but only when I took a step back. The second thing I have noticed is that at least for a couple of nights it hurts more. Some mornings I would wake up and flex my hip abductors and it would hurt. When I got up and started going throughout my day, I did not notice it. It is all very peculiar and annoying. Considering the fact that I can’t squat for the time being due to a hip adductor issue, it would be great for my deadlifts to be going more smoothly.

Thanks,
ColoradoMinesCole

2

Hi CMC,

Difficult to say what exactly is going on here, but I think your suspicions are probably correct that it’s a “cumulative stress” / load management issue, as most of these things tend to be – particularly when it came about around the time of a change in programming. You may need to review your recent programming for trends in things like training volume, average intensity, frequency, etc to suss this out. Sometimes these sorts of things can be “trained through” and resolve on their own (I have a few random aches myself that I’m primarily ignoring at the moment, and expecting will resolve). If they don’t, then a programming adjustment is in order.

3

I don’t know much about programming at all. I probably don’t know how to effectively change training variables (although I have never really tried). Are there any good resources for becoming more learned on the subject of programming and how intensity and volume affect stress/adaptation, or is it more of a personal experience thing?

4

We’ve put out quite a lot of content related to programming in the past. If you need assistance with programming around pain/injury, our rehab guys would be happy to help with that.