I have been squatting for some time but haven’t progressed as much as I would like due to it hurting my hip flexors.
When I back squat and increase the weight I feel really restricted because of my hips, I don’t really get bad pain, it is sore though and I just feel really weak in my hips. Sometime when I go heavy my left knee wants to turn in, my left glute is definately weaker than my right. I don’t really feel anything in my quads, hamstrings or glutes just my hips! Argh!!
I can manage Split Squats with no problems and am pleased with my progress on them. I have no problems with lunges, bulgarians etc sometimes I am sore after.
I practice Yoga and I am flexible so that shouldn’t be an issue.
I Hope this makes sense to someone as I really could do with some advice on how I can overcome this.
Thanks
[quote]Miss Navara wrote:
I have been squatting for some time but haven’t progressed as much as I would like due to it hurting my hip flexors.
When I back squat and increase the weight I feel really restricted because of my hips, I don’t really get bad pain, it is sore though and I just feel really weak in my hips. Sometime when I go heavy my left knee wants to turn in, my left glute is definately weaker than my right. I don’t really feel anything in my quads, hamstrings or glutes just my hips! Argh!!
I can manage Split Squats with no problems and am pleased with my progress on them. I have no problems with lunges, bulgarians etc sometimes I am sore after.
I practice Yoga and I am flexible so that shouldn’t be an issue.
I Hope this makes sense to someone as I really could do with some advice on how I can overcome this.
Thanks [/quote]
I know exactly what you’re talking about. I went to a few guys in the gym I trust for advice, and they all say they go through cycles of squat induced hip flexor pain. Here’s some ideas you might want to try:
Jump on the bike for a few minutes before squats. Add some resistance and do a couple minutes to loosen up.
Stretch out your hip flexors. This is going to be hard to explain, but I raise one leg at the knee (like im marching) and rotate it out to the side of my body and then bring the leg down. Then I raise it from that position and rotate it back in to the original position. I do this a few times, alternating between legs. I hope that makes sense.
The abductor machines. I sometimes warm-up with these, also.
I’m not too sure why I only feel this with squats. I’ve actually started doing squats once every other week and that has helped, also. Good luck.
[quote]Revo09 wrote:
I know exactly what you’re talking about. I went to a few guys in the gym I trust for advice, and they all say they go through cycles of squat induced hip flexor pain. Here’s some ideas you might want to try:
Jump on the bike for a few minutes before squats. Add some resistance and do a couple minutes to loosen up.
Stretch out your hip flexors. This is going to be hard to explain, but I raise one leg at the knee (like im marching) and rotate it out to the side of my body and then bring the leg down. Then I raise it from that position and rotate it back in to the original position. I do this a few times, alternating between legs. I hope that makes sense.
The abductor machines. I sometimes warm-up with these, also.
I’m not too sure why I only feel this with squats. I’ve actually started doing squats once every other week and that has helped, also. Good luck.[/quote]
Hey thanks for the advice and I’m glad its not just me who gets this! Oh and yes, your advice made sense, I understand what you mean, I will try it out. thank you
[quote]Pemdas wrote:
Is it sore while you are squatting or after?[/quote]
Its definately sore while I’m squatting, not painful like an injury if that makes sense. I feel like my hip flexors are being squashed!! and it feels weak, like that is the only thing stopping me squatting heavy. I do get some soreness after but no more than any other place.
[quote]Miss Navara wrote:
Pemdas wrote:
Is it sore while you are squatting or after?
Its definately sore while I’m squatting, not painful like an injury if that makes sense. I feel like my hip flexors are being squashed!! and it feels weak, like that is the only thing stopping me squatting heavy. I do get some soreness after but no more than any other place.
[/quote]
I had similar problems and moved my squat stance narrower. When I started getting more serious about powerlifting and realized I couldn’t get depth with a narrow stance squat, I moved my stance back out. Since doing so, I haven’t experienced hip pain, a fact I credit to doing lots of exercises that also work my hips like good mornings, deadlifts, and glute ham raises.
[quote]TunaMonkey wrote:
I had similar problems and moved my squat stance narrower. When I started getting more serious about powerlifting and realized I couldn’t get depth with a narrow stance squat, I moved my stance back out. Since doing so, I haven’t experienced hip pain, a fact I credit to doing lots of exercises that also work my hips like good mornings, deadlifts, and glute ham raises.[/quote]
I think it will be more effective if you try to figure out more specifically what the problem is rather than trying everything to see if it works. Some of the solutions may aggravate your problem.
For example, if you have anterior hip pain caused by the hamstrings being dominant over the glutes during hip extension, then stretching the hip flexors will allow more translation of the femoral head, causing more hip pain.
Give us a better idea of exactly where the pain is, what movements/positions aggravate the pain, and what movements/positions relieve the pain.
It sounds like femoral anterior glide syndrome (if that’s the correct name). Basically the pain is caused by the head of your femur sliding forward in the joint capsule due to underperforming glutes. I’ve had problems with it in the past, and if I’m right, Tunamonkey’s recommendations will help you.
[quote]smallmike wrote:
I think it will be more effective if you try to figure out more specifically what the problem is rather than trying everything to see if it works. Some of the solutions may aggravate your problem.[/quote]
I didn’t think about solutions aggravating the problem lol, you are right, I need to figure out more specifically what the problem is first.
This makes sense to me now, I probably have been making it worse by stretching.
The pain is felt when at the bottom of the squat position, and only in this position, it feels ‘squashed’ is the only way I can describe it, the whole crease between leg and groin. Abduction/adduction is fine. It does feel sore when stretching hip flexors.
[quote]rmccart1 wrote:
It sounds like femoral anterior glide syndrome (if that’s the correct name). Basically the pain is caused by the head of your femur sliding forward in the joint capsule due to underperforming glutes. I’ve had problems with it in the past, and if I’m right, Tunamonkey’s recommendations will help you.
Warrior position 1 & 2, and there are a few others.
There’s a book “yoga for athletes” quite a few copies at barnes and nobles, head down there crack it open, has a whole section on yoga positions for hip mobility.
