Lack of warm-up has caused hip "injury" - where do I go from here?

[opf]

So I've been dealing with hip pain in my squat forever. I've posted about it several times here and cleaned my form up, but a slight, nagging hip pain persists to bother me everytime I squat, and it's also there "idle" when I'm not in the gym. Idle meaning I don't notice it *that* much on less I actively try to aggravate it by moving my leg in a certain way.

I've been unsure about what's been causing it, since I don't see any red flags in my forms. The coaches in here didn't either - someone noticed a slight problem with me not pushing knees out, but I fixed that and it still didn't help.

I actually think it stems from a lack of warm-up. I've never taken warm-up seriously, since I never squatted more than 220 lbs. So basically when warming up, I've been doing a single set of five with the bar, then progressively adding 20-30 kgs and doing sets of 3 or even just 2. So never more than 4-5 warm up sets with about 3 reps in each.

Couldn't this very well be the reason that I keep getting hip pain when squatting heavy - lack of warm up? I read on a different forum about some people who struggled with the same hip pain, and warming up had helped them.

So yeah, that's my first question: Could the lack of warm up be the cause of hip pain?

Second question is where do I go from here - meaning should I lay off the squats until it heals? I start to feel it everytime I squat a bit heavy. I feel like no matter what I'd do right now - even with proper warm up and perfect technique - the pain would still be there as soon as I squat down with weight on my back. So do you guys think I should stop squatting for a while? What should I do in the mean time? I can still deadlift pain free, so maybe I could substitute the squats with deads until my hip is back to normal - just to keep a good upper/lower body balance. The thing is that I've stalled loads on the squat, but I've had nice progression in bench and OHP, so I'm starting to get an upper body that's a bit out of proportions - and it looks kinda silly

Let me know what you all think

Thanks

[AdamZiegler]

What area of your hip is the problem? One side only, or both? Do you only feel it when you squat heavy, and in what part of the squat do you feel it?

[Charlie Davies]

Take a look at this thread: https://startingstrength.com/resources/forum/showthread.php?t=32464.

I'm not a coach or a doctor. But I have suffered a hip problem that could well be the same as yours.

What (eventually) worked for me: frequent gentle dynamic stretches for my hips, and squatting in a way that didn't aggravate the injury. Rest, static-hold stretching, and foam-rolling/massage did not help.

When my low-bar technique is really dialed in, I can low-bar squat without aggravating my hips much.
But high-bar is even easier on my hips.

[Ryan Arnold]

What is your height and weight? I saw you posted about needing to eat more in another thread. Being under-recovered(not eating enough) often has a correlation to body aches/pains. Feel free to post an example of the exact warmup weights you use for a typical squat workout, but I think its unlikely the warmup is the problem as long as you're doing it incrementally.

[opf]

In the other thread I said that I have a hard time eating enough and don't enjoy it - not that I don't do it - because I do. So much that I'm getting fat on the LP and actually just now decided to eat fewer calories. Right now I'm 40 inches around the waist - I've never been this fat.

The point of the thread was "how can I eat at a caloric surplus without stuffing myself with disgusting, processed food".

An example of a warm up (I'll do it in lbs so you americans don't have to do the math)

5 reps of empty bar

3-5 reps of 90 lbs

3 reps of 130 lbs

2 reps of 175 lbs

do work sets of 210 lbs

I hope those numbers make sense, converted them from kilos.

Do you think the short amount of warmup could be the cause?

I think so because I'm completely out of ideas about what else it could be. I cleaned up my form - no kneeslide, I push my knees out, I've tried all kinds of stances and pointed my feet in all kinds of directions. I've switched to high bar for my last two workouts to take some of the hips out. Nothing - the pain is still there. It even shows up a little bit now when I'm doing the press 2.0 (because the hip flexors are also involved)

So if it's not the warm up then I'm at a point where I don't know what it is. And I'm seriously considering giving up training now, because if I can't squat, then what am I doing? Should I walk around with skinny legs and a huge upper body? I'd rather be untrained then.

[opf]

By the way, I'm sorry if the last part was a bit melodramatic, but it's coming from a place of feeling powerless. I've been dealing with this hip pain for almost a year and am stuck at ridiculous low weights in the squat because of it. I've posted several form checks and cleaned up my form, yet nothing works. It seems like there is no fix to this issue.

[Pawn]

And I'm seriously considering giving up training now, because if I can't squat, then what am I doing? Should I walk around with skinny legs and a huge upper body? I'd rather be untrained then.

Might want to try some deficit trapbar deadlifts, highbar, front squats, etc. If you aren't powerlifting then you don't HAVE to LBBS. If you unable to use a typically 'optimal' movement then swap for a sub-optimal one. It might mess with some of the number or progression (i'm thinking hamstrings and low back might need more work eventually) but it will keep things going forward.

[Charlie Davies]

By the way, I'm sorry if the last part was a bit melodramatic, but it's coming from a place of feeling powerless. I've been dealing with this hip pain for almost a year and am stuck at ridiculous low weights in the squat because of it. I've posted several form checks and cleaned up my form, yet nothing works. It seems like there is no fix to this issue.

Connective tissue, like tendons, heals very slowly -- there's no blood supply. So once you have a problem like this, you have to manage it for a long time, as in months or years.

Find a way to train that doesn't make it worse and keep training. It will heal better if you train than if you just rest.

[opf]

Might want to try some deficit trapbar deadlifts, highbar, front squats, etc. If you aren't powerlifting then you don't HAVE to LBBS.

Yeah, I got to the same conclusion last week and switched to high bar. Now if I could just do *that* without pain, but even the high bar is aggravating it. Guess I'll try out some front squats next (even though I hate them)

[opf]

Find a way to train that doesn't make it worse and keep training. It will heal better if you train than if you just rest.

And which way would that be? It seems like no matter what I do - high bar, low bar, wide stance, narrow stance - no matter what cues I use, I get hip pain. Weird part is that I had one training where all of a sudden I had no hip pain at all for three worksets. But then it was back next time.