Abdominal Pain during Leg Workouts

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!

i am not very familiar with ian kings get buffed programme, but i do know that weak abs get lead to hernia. lack of strenght in the abdominal muscles can lead to a protusionn of the small intestine into a tunnel caled the inguinal canal. the canal ends in the scrotum.
not feling anything upon palpitation doesnt mean you dont have a hernia, the damn thing can just slide back in when tension is off. yup, lay off lower body exercises until you see a physian (actually all strenous exercises which have you contracting your abs) and do regular ab workouts once you get the green light.

Why don’t you take a week off lifting, return to the program, and then see if the pain is still there? Ian recommends taking a break after each phase anyway. You should have taken at least one week off by now.

As far as ab training goes, try some of the exercises Ian outlined in his ab article from T-mag #123. I’m doing his GET BUFFED routine right now (stage 2) and have been using the 4 day ab split provided in his article. Ab strength is important in maintaining the trunk/pelvis alignment that Ian recommends in many of his exercises.

Your knee problem might be stemming from tightening of the quadriceps tendon. Are you adequately stretching your quads/hip flexors before and after training? Anyway, I’m no expert, but these are some of the things I would try before quitting this great program all together.

I’ve had the same problem you’re referring to. It bothered me off and on for some 2 years until I started doing lots of abdominal work and learned how to utilize the abs during power movements. I recommend you read Paul Chek’s “beltless and back strong” series of articles as this will give you reasons as to why this is happening…

i felt the same thing when i was doing heavy deadlifts. it felt like my nutz were in my stomach. i went to the doctor and he said that some urine went back up and gave me an infection. he gave me a script and i took it easy for a while. now i make sure i throw a squirt before lifting!

About a year ago I felt the same thing only I disregarded it. After 1 week of this I finally doubled over during a workout.I went to see the doc. because of the wifes nagging and found out I had the start of an inguinal hernia. I wrote to t-mag asking for suggestions and Ian King wrote me a reply. He stated that the reason this usually happens is because of a tightness in that area. He suggested I do some stretches such as Yoga for the lower groin area. I gave up wieghts for 2 months,after this I started to stretch regulary and through time I have been lifting as my old self. But I think the key here is stretching how often do we stretch the groin area? For me it was never. My doc said I was done with lifting, but thanks to t-mag I am at it again. Hope this has helped.B

Hey, guys, thanks for all the suggestions so far! (And here I was thinking that everyone would ignore me because my post didn’t have any words ending in -bolan or -pionate!)

It seems clear that I once I get checked over by a doc that I should go into a heavy-duty ab program. I'll start using Ian King's ab recommendations, though I'm thinking of trying Tsatsouline's routines in his ab book, possibly with his Ab Pavelizer. Any comments?

B, your post was of particular interest to me, since you seem to have gotten the word from the horse's mouth, so to speak. Could you give me a little detail as to how to go about a "lower groin stretch"? You're right, I've never heard of such a thing before.

I don’t ever use a weight belt when lifting for exactly the reason described in that “Back Strong and Beltless” article, and I haven’t worn one in years. I also have been taking a week off every 3 weeks, which is the maximum Ian King recommends - autumn is just a busy time of the year, with lots of external stressors.

What is this about urine going up and causing an infection? I have felt that “testicle crawl up into my body” feeling in the gym before, but I’ve always recovered after a few minutes and I figured it was from the shock of heavy lifting or something. Can anyone elaborate on this?

Any more ideas on the knee thing, by the way? It doesn't really feel like a hip-flexor/quad flexibility issue. Ultimately, since I'm getting an unexpected break from lower body workouts while waiting to see the doctor about the abdominal thing, I figure the stress on my knees will heal anyways.

Again, any more comments would be appreciated. I sent an e-mail to the T-Mag staff, and though I always get good replies from them, I have to wait a few weeks. If I’m lucky maybe one or two will come across this post in the next few days and take a moment to jot something down.

Turbocow, actually I did a search on yahoo, for yoga. I found some very interesting things, you may shy away from some of it but it does work. The first one I found was for females when their monthly is starting it is called Naga Asani. I know, I am no female but beleive me here is where I swallowed my pride.I started doing this and a few others on a daily basis for like 10 minutes a day and I felt great.My doc told me I was a candidate for this type of hernia because of this pain. I guess I will always be a candidate for it but precautions can be made. I think if you do a search on yoga, and again don’t be concerned that they say they are for females, you will find quite a bit of pelvic stretches. Also there is a book out in dalton’s I forgot the name but it is about all kinds of stretches available to the athlete and normal joe.I sure wish I could put some pictures on here to give you a better Idea.If I can help any more feel free to ask. I will also try to find these sites and give you some names if this Forum allows it.B

I’m sorry Turbo cow I did a search and found that “pelvic stretching” will yeild better results. You can still try the yoga search but it is mostly about religion.B

I just had the same thing happen to me last saturday. One way to tell if its a muscle pull or a hernia it to take a shit. If it hurts when you push its a hernia. If it hurts when you stretch, its probably an ab muscle strain. Mine was a ab strain. Took 5 days off training. Good luck…Peace