Quads strained, both legs.

[Jeffcaul]

Well just weeks into my Fierce 5 journey, I'm already having to take a break. I stuck religiously to the program, but decided to go play a pickup game of soccer on one of my off days with some friends last week. I didn't have any falls, kicks to me legs, or anything that would really cause me injury. I was just running/walking for around 2 hours.

Next day I go to the gym and go to the power rack and get ready to do a warm up set (95lbs). I go down on the first rep and my legs are noticeably sore, come up, and go back down. This is where it started to actually hurt! I come back up and stretch my legs out, but they're just so tight. I try to just do a body weight squat and it's so sore. I went ahead and did my upper body workouts and called it a day.

There's no bruising, but very noticeable tightness on both quads, mid left on my left leg and mid right on right leg.

All this happened last Thursday, so it's been 4 days so far and I used RICE and the pain is completely gone at this point. I did a body weight squat and it was slightly tight, but didn't really hurt.



My question is how long should I rest it? What is the procedure for coming back from something like this? I've never had a muscle injury before. This is very discouraging, I was progressing so well, and now this...I know I need to recover properly so I'm not set back even further. I told myself, i'd potentially try to squat again this coming Saturday with just the bar (I do a Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday schedule.) Is that too soon?

Thanks for the help.

[sowilson]

if you've done a body weight squat then try a bar, and then if still good try some weight. It may take a little while to get back to where you were. However, make sure that you are very well warmed up prior to exercising. Do a dynamic warmup, wear a thigh sleeve for warmth if you want, use Cramer Atomic Balm if you want, use a heating pad, foam roll, KT Tape, whatever. Just make sure you're loose and ready to go before you lift. Then when you're done, static stretch, foam roll, and then RICE if you wish.

[Poseidon99]

dont see how you would have strained your quads doing this.. are you sure you dont have DOMS?

[Jeffcaul]

dont see how you would have strained your quads doing this.. are you sure you dont have DOMS?

I'm pretty sure. Unless this is just a very severe case. I had fairly bad DOMS my first week and a half, but it pretty much subsided from there, and I would recover in a day and be ready for the next workout. This is day 5 and my quad area is still pretty tight, though not painful any more, I have more range of motion than yesterday. That first day, I literally couldn't sit down, I had to keep my legs almost completely straight and waddle going up and down stairs.

I've been doing some stretches and the occasional bodysquat just to loosen up, which seems to be helping.