Not making a minor injury worse

[mlentzner]

So I was doing my set of 5 deadlifts at 300# and on rep 4 I felt a little twinge in my left hamstring. I continued to rep 5, completed it, and felt some noticeable pain - it's right at the top of my leg/bottom of my glute.

The pain subsided and I was able to finish my workout of presses and ab work. The next day it is a little sore, but nothing that's really bothering me.

Looking at my training log I noticed that I had noted a hamstring twinge in the same spot during the previous workout. So it looks like I may be developing an "issue" with my tendon.

This is actually a common problem with me. It seems like my muscles get stronger faster than my tendons. I've had wrist issues, a back issue that set me back six weeks, and patellar issues that I was able to work through after I fixed my squat form (no knees sliding forward). I am 40 and I have heard this is a common problem for older trainees.

So my question is (sorry for being so long winded) what do I do now? I don't want to make a minor problem turn into something worse like I did with the back injury. At the same time I want to keep as much of my gains as possible.

I could:

1. Take a week off and then retry my last work set weight
2. Do a light workout for a couple scheduled sessions and then retry my last work set
3. Drop weight and work my way back up
4. Ignored it since it is likely minor enough that it will work itself out

Or some combination of those approaches.

Thanks for your advice,

Matt

[Mark Rippetoe]

Get the damn thing massaged. You probably have a small scar there from an old injury you've forgotten due to your advanced age. The layoff will not help aside form normal recovery aspects; don't break your program timing under the assumption that it will help the injury. Get it worked on and just do your warmups only on your next pulling day.