hi crew, first post on any forum anywhere!
58 year old male, basically self taught (yes i know) live in country australia, training under a tree since may last year
a week ago i was squatting 130kg 1@8, on the descent something happened in LHS hamstring muscle, i yelled out and dropped the barbell, have been following all the pain info, thought here’s my opportunity to practice the new knowledge, unloaded the bar and tested if i had the ROM to squat the bar, successful, 2 sets 6 reps, did my OH presses, myo pendlay rows and finished,
have trained a couple of times since at about 60 percent of usual loads, lots of bruising has become apparent on the affected leg, interestingly not at primary pain site
question is, just continue slow and steady working within pain threshold? question two is what in the hell went on in the back of my thigh!
thanks
a.
Hey @angelo_rossi sorry to hear about the recent issue. Where is the bruising located? Where are you having symptoms?
thanks for the reply Michael, the bruising on the back of my thigh runs from about mid thigh to just below the knee, the associated pain was initially mid thigh in certain positions and at just above parallel in squat, i kept active and i am quite happy with how i’m recovering, the extent of the bruising is actually surprising to me, the thigh is somewhat sensitive to the touch but my ROM is good, thank you for all the great work you guys are doing, best regards
Hey Angelo, it sounds like you may have suffered a hamstring strain. The good news is bruising isn’t necessarily correlated with degree of strain or recovery. I would recommend grading back into training and you would likely benefit from some eccentric based training for your hamstring. The typical go to exercise here is a Nordic hamstring curl. It’s one of the few exercises that you can say with a good degree of certainty makes strains better and reduces the likelihood of their reoccurrence. Initially this can be a very hard exercise so often I’ll start people with a stiff legged deadlift/RDL where the focus isn’t on touching the ground but rather getting a good eccentric contraction through your hamstring. I normally start individuals out with 4 sets of 6 here. I would also cap RPE at 7 for a few weeks for squats and deadlift. Strains typically feel good before they are.
thanks Derek, so good to have direction from a reputable source… it’s a mine field out there!