On Monday of last week (10/20), while I was stretching before running, I did a side bend to the left (thus stretching the oblique and lower back muscles on my right side). I did it with sloppy form, though, and caused a muscle in my back to become aggravated. It was not bad at the time, so I did my run with no problem.
The next day (10/21) I went in to the weight room, and, while doing front squats and tensing my back muscles to support myself, the aggravated muscle in my back went ballistic on the fourth set. I put the bar back in the rack and hobbled out of the gym in pain. It felt as though the muscle was super-tense and would not relax no matter how hard I tried to relax it. Sleeping was difficult, as whenever I twisted and turned in my sleep it would hurt and wake me up.
Since then, it has hurt less and less each day, up to now where I do not notice it in the course of normal movement, although it still flares up slightly when I stretch it out to see if it is healed or tense it up to see if it will react. I’ve also been sick since then and am getting over my cold, so needless to say I’ve been out of the gym for a week.
How should I go about reintroducing myself to the weight room without reinjuring the aggravated muscle?