I started a pretty liberal cut about two and a half weeks ago and things were going really well. I was increasing my strength and losing weight. Then, 12 days ago at the end of my workout, I had to do 4 sets of 6 chinups (OF ALL THINGS) after my close grip benching. Benching was no issue. After I finished the second set of chins, I noticed a little discomfort in my right pec, like maybe I overstretched it or something. It was at the bottom of the center of the pec where it meets the ribs and not at any insertion point. It was not really “painful” and only a .5 on a scale of 1-10 so I finished my next two sets with no increasing issue. I became more aware of my pec the next day, however I trained like usual and trained the next full week as well. Pressing was no issue. Benching felt maybe a little “odd” because I was aware of it, but no “pain” and I was able to go heavy and hit 300lbs for 5@8. However when it came time last week to do the chins again, while I was able to finish the sets fine, I again felt a sensation creep up after the last set, even though I changed my grip to a neutral one. This time it felt like the feeling had moved to my nipple area. I continued training still, and now 12 days later it feels like its starting to move more towards underneath the armpit almost where the lat starts. Still no “issue” with anything, but now even on planks I will be “aware” of my pec. Like something is not right. Sleeping on my stomach on that area of the pec, I could feel it was tender and it just felt “funky” for lack of a better word. No bruising or anything.
While all this was going on, 4 days ago while warming up on rack pulls, between sets I felt my left hamstring feel kind of odd. Directly in the center and slightly inside toward the groin. If i locked my knee and flexed it, it felt like there was a little strain there or something and the feeling would intensify. The feeling did not get worse as I got heavier, so I worked up to something in the mid 500’s for my 5@8. Afterward, it still felt “funky.” Again on a pain scale this was more uncomfortable and “weird” feeling than any sort of actual pain. Like a burny tightness. Or how I would imagine a small micro tear would feel. Both kind of felt like minor muscle tweaks but there was no pop or snap or initial onset. I just kind of became aware of the areas. Luckily, I had off Sunday and waited until Monday for my Squat session to see how the hammie felt as the little feeling had not gone away and would come and go throughout the day. Warming up I felt nothing. After the warmup sets for a second the feeling would sometimes creep in. I did 335 for a set of 5 as my last warmup set and did not feel anything bad, but the sensation was still there and unchanging. I ended with 365 for a single instead of my working sets just because I was nervous that my hamstring was going to just tear or something! Last night, a day after my last training session, it was pointed out to me that there was a very small and light black and blue mark on my hamstring at the spot that I was getting the feeling at. Now I am not sure if this was because of all the pushing around I did with my fingers the days before (no clue what I was doing). This scared me because I thought perhaps I had a minor tear or something, as I know a black and blue mark usually comes with a tear.
Now, I tend to get inside my own head quite easily. And I can not shake the fear, despite repeatedly going over Austin’s techniques to stop catastrophizing, that perhaps I had slightly weakened or had very minor strains or tears in these two areas, and that if I just keep training like usual that I would get to a point where they would just tear one day and sideline my training. I recognize that Austin’s recommendation for pain management is to just find a pain free range of motion or exercise and to work back up from there. But what do you do if the regular exercises do not actually cause “pain,” just these weird sensations that something may tear that seem to slightly throb in and out throughout the day and then go away?