New to lifting / pain at leg/hip junction at beginning of upward drive

[jjuanez]

Hi. I decided to start lifting properly. I read the chapter on squats, took some videos of myself and realized I was not reaching full depth.

Hence I started going lower. However as I was doing this I believe I pulled something or somehow injured myself.

The pain is felt at the top of my left leg at the junction with the hip. I feel it when the upward drive is just starting at the bottom of the lift.

My right leg is fine. I don't feel the pain every repetition.

Does anyone know what this is and how long I need to wait before this will heal? Every time I try to start again I somehow re-injure myself I think. I'm paying close attention to form (knees out, feet pointing outward) and I'm only lifting the bar -- figure I need to fix this before adding real weight.

I tried seeing a "sports medicine" guy (tele-consultation) and he told me to not go past 90 degrees at the knees ... which most lifters seem to disagree with.

A bit frustrated here. Any help appreciated. thanks.

[Chris Palladino]

jjuanez,

Can you be a little more specific of the location of you pain? I am assuming you mean the anterior thigh/hip...

If your pain is inconsistent and does not occur on each rep then my first thought would be, is your technique consistent? Depth, knees out, midfoot etc. If its your anterior thigh/hip, your stance might be too narrow, toes pointed too forward and/or knees are not out, causing impingement.

I suggest to continue training becuase you need the added stimulus and adaptation of adding 5# each session and clean up you stance with:
- heels at shoulder width
-toes out 20-30 deg
-shove the knees out (same direction your toes are pointing). Most beginners have trouble with keeping the knees out during the squat. I suggest recording yourself, review your videos and rereading the knees out portion of that chapter.

Proper depth is hip crease just below the top of the knee.

Keep me posted, good luck

[jjuanez]

Indeed -- anterior. I will double check my form with some footage, thanks.

[Chris Palladino]

let me know how it goes

good luck