Squat - Groin Pain

[jmcq]

I've been doing Starting Strength for 5 and a half weeks now. My squat went from 55lbs to 140lbs in that period of time. About 2-3 weeks in I noticed that I kept making my stance wider and as a result have developed some pain in my groin. It's not terrible enough to make me stop doing squats three times a week and adding weight but it is irritating and bothers me in my day-to-day activities. There's even a slight pain when squatting down with no weight at all. I adjusted my squats to have a more narrow stance and the pain is less now. The pain in my groin is the hardest part about my heavy sets. I've been incorporating stretching generally throughout the day to try and ease the pain.

Should I back off on the weight or keep pushing through and hope the groin pain goes away?

[chazzy1864]

It's most likely weak adductors (if it feels like your groin muscles are stretching/tearing when you're in the hole). Warm up with the good girl (adductor) machine before you squat.

At the end of your leg days (and I'd suggest on other days as well) go heavier on the machine to strengthen your adductors. If that is, in fact, the culprit, you should notice improvement within a week (the warming up with adductor does wonders in itself).

Article on the subject:
http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_...n_by_adduction

The main part to read:

The adductor group consists of the adductor magnus, adductor brevis, adductor longus, gracilis, and pectineus. Together, the five muscles comprise the vast majority of the medial compartment of the thigh (1). Generally speaking, all of the muscles attach proximally on the pubis and ischium and distally on the linea aspera (posterior shaft) of the femur (2).
undefined

While adduction is the primary function of each, the amount of hip flexion present determines whether or not some of the adductors work on the femur as medial or lateral rotators and extensors or flexors (2). As odd as it may sound, the adductors are important as both hip flexors and extensors during the sprinting motion (3,4). Depending on the individual, the shift from flexor to extensor role occurs between 50 and 70 degrees of hip flexion. This phenomenon is possible due to the distal insertion point on the femur. When the hip is extended, the adductors' line of pull is anterior to the hip joint axis, whereas this line of pull is posterior to the axis when the hip is flexed (2).

Unfortunately, unless you're a horseback rider or breaststroker, the adductors receive little work in "ordinary" human movement (1). To further aggravate the "natural" lack of training, most training splits are geared solely toward hams and quads. Unless you're training with a very wide stance or significant amounts of unilateral exercises, you likely aren't hitting your adductors directly enough to realize their full growth potential. Additionally, while the hamstrings are predominantly fast-twitch in composition, the adductors usually have a greater proportion of slow-twitch fibers (5). As such, if you're partial to the time under tension school of thought, your low-rep hamstring training probably isn't doing much for your adductors (6).

[jmcq]

It's most likely weak adductors (if it feels like your groin muscles are stretching/tearing when you're in the hole). Warm up with the good girl (adductor) machine before you squat.

At the end of your leg days (and I'd suggest on other days as well) go heavier on the machine to strengthen your adductors. If that is, in fact, the culprit, you should notice improvement within a week (the warming up with adductor does wonders in itself).

Thanks! That sounds like it might be the culprit. I'm currently squatting every training day (3x a week) so I'll try warming up with the abductor machine and ending with it as well to see if that helps. I hope so, it's an annoying problem.

[Jasonk282]

weak adductors

[Retoaded]

It's most likely weak adductors (if it feels like your groin muscles are stretching/tearing when you're in the hole). Warm up with the good girl (adductor) machine before you squat.

this is the REAL good girl machine

[adamdavidson47]

this is the REAL good girl machine

Sweet mother of baby Jesus that's a nice vase.

[Haunt]

Sweet mother of baby Jesus that's a nice vase.

Water Dispenser.
Yes it's nice.

[jmcq]

So I'm pretty sure I've sprained/pulled a muscle. It's gotten to the point where I can't run without serious pain. Should I take a few days off squats or lower the weight? Also there doesn't appear to ba an adductor machine at my gym, are there any other good adductor strengthening exercises?

[chazzy1864]

So I'm pretty sure I've sprained/pulled a muscle. It's gotten to the point where I can't run without serious pain. Should I take a few days off squats or lower the weight? Also there doesn't appear to ba an adductor machine at my gym, are there any other good adductor strengthening exercises?

[IDrinkBloodLOL]

Back the fukk off and take it easy until you can say with 200% certainty it's not this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inguinal_hernia