[quote]Mark111 wrote:
I have been having problems lately with pain in my right hip when I am doing squats. I haven’t trained in awhile, because of the pain I was having. I have been recommended to try out some glute activation, and some hip flexor stretching. Although those helped some, I am still getting the pain in that area.
It seems like the problem is with my hamstring. With squats, deadlifts, ect, all I can feel is my quad working. With squats, when I try to sit back, and use my hamstrings all I can feel is my right quad working, it seems like I get no hamstring activation at all. With Romanian deadlifts, I can feel a stretch in my left hamstring, but I don’t feel a stretch at all in my right hamstring.
So I figured I would take a look at my hamstring. I noticed that I have way more quad development then my hamstring. The other reason why I think it is my hamstring is, because my knee feels unstable.
I was trying to see if you guys have any suggestions, as to what I can do for my hamstring?[/quote]
I second the notion that you should take a break from squats. They’re great, but I don’t think they’re going to do anything but make the problem worse.
Chances are there’s a lot going on here, more than one thing. Mobility/flexibility problems, activation problems, imbalances, etc. But I think the one thing we can surely say is that squats will make the problem worse. I’ll hazard a guess and say you’ve been doing a lot more squats than deadlifts and a lot more quad work than hammie work, when you were training.
So in addition to the glute activation, hip flexor stretching, I’d recommend foam rolling and hamstring prioritization. Stay away from conventional deadlifts for the time being as well, since you seem to notice the quad problem there as well.
I would suggest glute activation work at the beginning of each session, as well as doing 1 leg romanian deadlifts (with dumbbells)–reason I say that is that if you can feel the left stretch but nothing in the right, I’m guessing your barbell technique is off and has helped solidify some pulling imbalances.
so, unilateral hamstring work, leg curls (gag me! but yeah they might help here), unilateral leg work in general, “waiter bows” holding a plate, light good mornings (emphasis on light), pull-throughs will help with hip power, 45 degree back raises–but concentrate on squeezing your glutes instead of your back. Try to keep your back from stretching and get a big stretch in the hammies. You can also do these 1 leg at a time, but be careful if you’re really weak at the beginning.
Honestly, I’d say post over in one of the contributor’s locker rooms. But in the mean time get rid of quad isolation work and squats.
