Hi, everyone. I’m on Week 8 of Ian King’s “Get Buffed” workout. During my quad workout last week (which is the same as the “12 Weeks of Pain”), I felt a brief but sharp pain in my lower right side (about 3 inches ABOVE the scrotum, in the center of the scrotum, navel, and right hip crest) during my last rep of a set of quarter squats. It was so brief I thought I was imagining it, but yesterday when I did a heavy set of deadlifts I felt it again. It only hurts when I’m doing extremely heavy weights (and not when I’m walking around or anything), and I’ve felt around the abdominal/scrotal area extensively but there are no abnormal lumps or pain. Although my strength is at an all-time high because of this program (all my 1RM are up over 30 lb, some close to 70 - and this is only halfway through the program), I’m not sure whether this means I should quit now and rest up for a few weeks (which I would be really disappointed in doing), or whether I should switch something around in my training, or if I should just ignore it. I’m also getting a little sore in the soft tissue area above both kneecaps, which has never happened to me before. Again, is this normal for strength workouts? The soreness lasts several days after either leg workout, but I’ve been ignoring it so far since I figured my tendons just need to get used to the unusually high loads I’m lifting lately. (I’d be more worried about the knee thing if my strength weren’t rapidly increasing with every workout - which it is, plus my quads still tolerate the loads i use easily.)
I'm seeing a physician on Monday - until then I'm only going to do upper body workouts. If the doctor recommends surgery, do you think that would be a good idea? - I know a lot of you don't recommend orthopedic procedures.
But anyways, about that ab pain / possible hernia, here are some of my theories on what I might be doing wrong. Can anyone give me any comments, or advice on how to prevent any injury and/or speed rehab/recovery (e.g. training, rest, diet)?
a) too much load increase, too quickly b) i shouldn't be leaning back at the end of my deadlift (this is the only way i feel deadlifts in my glutes, but i noticed it also stretches my abs - is this bad form?) c) i shouldn't be leaning forward at the bottom of the squat d) lack of proper ab work (i often forget to do abs at all, since i'm a moron and an ab program isn't explicitly written out in ian king's book - do weak abs increase the chance of hernias, and if they do, how can i go about fixing this problem without aggravating my suspected current condition?)
Thanks all for any quick replies. I’m kinda worried here!