Yesterday I got a pain to my left inner thigh. (Adductor? I’m not up on the terminology. Which is thematic, as you’ll see in a minute.)
On a 1 - 10 subjective pain scale, the pain climbs with the load, like this.
Standing - 0 (no problem)
Walking - 0 (no problem)
Getting up - 1/2 (slight sore feeling)
Body weight squat - 1 (beginning to feel “Something’s off”)
Squat, 45 lb. (empty bar), very first rep - 2
Squat 95 - 3
Squat 135 - 4
Squat 185 - 5 (feeling like “Whoa, this isn’t killing me but I had better stop”)
For reference, my max is a set of 5 at 225, or 9 at 205, or 12 at 185, all of which I achieved in good form in the prior 2 weeks. I am 54, in good shape “for my age”, have done BBM weekend workshop.
My questions:
- Should I keep squatting on this?
- If yes: at usual weight? (“dude, take an Advil”)
- If no: How many days off should I take? Is it OK to keep up with my other stuff, like deadlift?
- What is the NAME or terminology for this type of modest, load-related muscle injury?
Thanks!
Hey, thanks for posting, hopefully I can lend some helpful advice!
If this is the first instance of this pain, it’s likely it can change (for the positive) very quickly. That being said, I would definitely train some version of the squat, even if it’s just the empty bar. You can decide what’s a tolerable level of symptoms that doesn’t interfere with performance. Your example of the 5 - whoa I better stop, is a good example of maybe where you can draw the line. You can keep the effort moderately high by adding in some tempo (3-0-3) and keeping the weight within that tolerable pain level. Advil isn’t necessary, which goes back to my prior point on tolerable symptom levels.
Definitely okay to keep up with all your other training., i.e. deadlifts, within tolerance. What does your training look like right now? Are you running any particular program?
Hard to give a diagnosis in a lot of these cases because symptoms aren’t the best indicator of underlying tissue physiology. Honestly, the way you described it is perfect. What matters is what it feels like to you and it affects your function and performance, which you laid out well. We could slap a label on it, i.e. adductor strain, but what’s more important for treatment and how to move forward is all the other information you provided.
Let me know if you have other questions and keep us updated on how the next session goes.
Thanks! I took an easy week and when I squatted yesterday, it was much better. I got from body weight up to 85% of previous max load before I felt any symptom, and the symptom was mild.
I guess the muscle had gotten a bit overworked or locked up (at the time, it felt almost as if an inner strand of it had hardened) and the answer is to simply watch it a little and not be hitting RPE 9/10 all the time.
In answer to your question, I’m not doing any particular program right now except LP in which I vary the set length - some days I do 5s, 9s or 12s. I started this in January, eking out a little progress every fortnight or so, so that for example my squat 5 (keeping decent form) had gone from 185 to 225 before this small injury.
One problem, maybe, is that I can’t leave anything ever at RPE 8. My weight numbers are on the low side, right? At lifting time, I get a sudden mentality of “I refuse to lower this weight any from last time” and “Oh, I’ve got a couple reps left in the gas tank, I can push it” and there I am at RPE 9.5 or 10, even though I had meant not to. Which is a mistake, right? When I get under the bar, it suddenly becomes impossible to trust that anything less than max effort will achieve progress.