Groin/ Abdomen Pain on NLP

[murklurker]

Good day, coaches.

I'm training a buddy on his Novice Linear Progression. He requested big and strong, so I was tickled. Unfortunately some groin/ abodminal pain is giving him trouble. We have been training for about 2 months.

6'1 Male/ 29 yo/ BW 182-205
He's eating 4000 calories a day.

Squat- best 295, current 265 post reset
Deadlift- 390
Bench- 197.5
OHP- 107.5

The issue:

While squatting one day, things were looking good, he was squatting for 3x5 his old 1rm - standard NLP stuff- when he lowered a rep to the pins.

I asked what happened and he said that he had a "hot" sensation. The location is the "crease" between the leg and the abodmen, and he pointed somewhere between the ASIC and his groin. This was on the second work set, so I had him do a couple sets with weight way backed off. He did 45 lb and 95 lbs pain-free.

The next workout we re-tried 295. On the third set he had the same problem but on the other side (left side)

Same description of sensation, and pointing to same area. I told him to leave everything and head to the medic for a hernia poke around. The PA couldn't feel any culprit.

When i've continued to ask him about the area he would draw a 4 inch line up the crease on each side again.

The aftermath:

He said that the area was quite tight, but it didn't keep him from any daily activities. No visible bruise, no blood leaking from anywhere that shouldn't be leaking blood.

The plan:

He was quite disappointed to have to lower squat weight, but I was worried about a third painful squat experience in a row.

The next workout was 225 pain-free, and i had him work back up in 5 lb jumps for 2 weeks, then a couple 7.5lb jumps, then 5 lb jumps again.

These were pain-free, but he would fairly regularly tell me that the area feels "tight." He had asked about if belt could "stretch" the wound. ( I told him no) **It's one of those velcro belts- a SS one is on the way.

The Hiccup:

Today, about 3 weeks post-injuries, He had another painful session. He didn't need to ditch the bar this time, in fact the squats looked great, but after the set he said it was painful. Tonight- the evening after his afternoon training- he said the side feels "weird/ swollen."

He also said that as the weight gets higher he is just anticipating the next painful tweak, despite the fact that the weight doesn't feel challenging yet.

He is very invested in getting strong, and i assess his mental attitude on these setbacks as excellent, despite being disappointed with the injury.

My Concerns:

Him saying that he is anticipating the pain means I'll be reducing the weight on the bar to something pain-free again. Am i correct in questioning whether the LBBS will be his main stimulus for growth in the near term?

I'm sending him to the doctor again and am considering telling him to ask for some imagery. Thoughts?

Also, anything that you would recommend to do differently next time?

My head says hernias, despite the initial clearance.

Thanks for your time

Adam

[Frank_B]

I experienced this very thing for a while.

Three things I didn't realize, because I'm a motor moron and I started at about the same height and weight as him:

1. Make sure he is not "sucking in his gut" to brace. This seemed to highly irritate my lower ab musculature, which goes down into that crease.

2. If he's not leaning over enough and he's a big, tall guy like me, this will pinch some shit in there and aggravate it. Every once in a while I fuck it up and still get this pain on a rep. Then I lean over more and it goes away.

3. The proof for me was having a reliable massage therapist massage that lower ab muscle, groin, and upper leg region. She sunk her elbow into that spot and I almost came off the table, but it "unknotted" once she worked it out. Then I fucked it up again not leaning over. Then she unknotted it again.

[murklurker]

thanks Frank,

I'll pass that along!