Groin pain doing squats

[kia75]

Whenever I try to do squats I get a pain on my left groin muscle.

Any ideas on how to fix it?

More rest time between squats? Any stretches I need to do?

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Lamont Burns]

squat stretch helps. bend down, put your elbows inside both knees, lock hands and push your knees out a bit. also make sure you are pointing out a bit with your feet when squatting, with a wide enough stance.

i had major groin pain when i first started. i was doing SS and went from 95 to about 185, 185 is where the pain became very bad. i took 2 weeks off and eased back in, up to 245 now with no major pain.

 

[kia75]

Thanks for the suggestions.

I did try giving squats a rest about a month back for two weeks , but two weeks later I was having the same pain. I'll try widening my stance and pointing out my knees next time.

 

[Albus25]

Maybe you hurt your left groin muscle. You can try to massage your muscles, and remember you should do some warming up before and do some relaxing exercise
after.

 

[Koing]

Do you warm up and do dynamic stretches before you train? If not theres your problem unless you have a pre exisiting injury. I see it all too often where people DO NOT WARM UP OR STRETCH before training...

Koing

 

[SociallyChallenged]

The question you need to ask is "What am I doing wrong to induce pain?" Have you checked squat form videos? Have you read up on how to squat? If not, you need to do that before you ask us why it hurts.

 

[kia75]

Do you warm up and do dynamic stretches before you train? If not theres your problem unless you have a pre exisiting injury. I see it all too often where people DO NOT WARM UP OR STRETCH before training...

Koing

I haven't really, but I guess I'll start doing them now. Any specific warm up and dynamic stretches I need to do?

Socially Challenged, I'm borrowing a friends video camera sometime this week and I'll post it for criticism. I've been learning how to do squats through a book (starting strength) and various you-tube videos, but I'm a newb and I'm not quite certain I'm doing them correctly.

 

[kia75]

Ok, some guy at the gym just told me I was doing squats incorrectly, but every single thing he told me is contrary to everything I've read.

The first thing he advised was to put the bar on my neck and look at the ceiling. Isn't this dangerous?
The 2nd thing he advised me to do was to put my arms as far apart as possible. Aren't you supposed to keep your arms as close together as possible to build shoulder strenghth?
He also had me doing weird things with my legs. Since I was looking up while he re-arranged my legs I had no idea what he was doing down there.

Since he was telling me to lift less weight (I was lifting 195) with more reps ( I was doing 5 reps) I'm tempted to ignore everything he says, but I would like to cure my left groin pain.

Today I did ellipticals for 2 and a half minutes (enough to sweat), the stretch Burns advised (squatting down and holding your knees open), and These stretches right here from Stronglifts

I still felt a tug on my groin, but no pain.

 

[EvilYoda]

Yeah, don't ever listen to that guy again. Sounds like your stereotypical gym rat who learned from another gym rat who just made shit up.

Stick to SS and you'll be fine.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Ok, some guy at the gym just told me I was doing squats incorrectly, but every single thing he told me is contrary to everything I've read.

The first thing he advised was to put the bar on my neck and look at the ceiling. Isn't this dangerous?
The 2nd thing he advised me to do was to put my arms as far apart as possible. Aren't you supposed to keep your arms as close together as possible to build shoulder strenghth?
He also had me doing weird things with my legs. Since I was looking up while he re-arranged my legs I had no idea what he was doing down there.

Since he was telling me to lift less weight (I was lifting 195) with more reps ( I was doing 5 reps) I'm tempted to ignore everything he says, but I would like to cure my left groin pain.

Today I did ellipticals for 2 and a half minutes (enough to sweat), the stretch Burns advised (squatting down and holding your knees open), and These stretches right here from Stronglifts

I still felt a tug on my groin, but no pain.

Yeah, that guy is a joke. Did he tell you to point your toes forward too? Sigh... The squat form is SS is the ideal way to squat (unless you're an olympic lifter and front squat).

Five reps is a good number of reps to balance volume and strength gain. Stick with that. You may want to lift less weight especially while your groin hurts though. Don't progress in weight while you're still hurting. Definitely continue stretching and always do dynamic warmups before lifting.

 

[Mr.IncrediblyBored]

I had groin and hip pain when I started squatting. I realized I was inadvertently squeezing with my inner thighs. My toes were pointing out and I had a decently wide stance. But at the time I was trying to lift more than I should have been. Which threw my form out of wack, causing me to tense muscles that shouldn't be involved. By concentrating on pressing outward with my knees I could keep tighter glutes and hamstring and take the awkward strain off my groin.

 

[kia75]

Knightbreed, I'll go ahead and go light on the squatting for a bit. Any suggestions on how light I should go?

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Knightbreed, I'll go ahead and go light on the squatting for a bit. Any suggestions on how light I should go?

Bodyweight or the bar until the pain goes away. Work your way up with perfect form. If your form is wrong, dropping the weight just a little bit may not alleviate your problems. Try starting fresh. Stretch a lot and build up 10 pounds a workout and see where that takes you.

 

[kia75]

My friend didn't bring his camera today, but he promised to bring it next Tuesday. Then you guys can critique my form.

I'll go ahead and just do Bar Squats until then.

One thing I did notice today at the gym, my left groin "clicks" whenever I do leg swings. Anyone know the cause of the clicks? Should I be worried about them?

 

[SociallyChallenged]

My friend didn't bring his camera today, but he promised to bring it next Tuesday. Then you guys can critique my form.

I'll go ahead and just do Bar Squats until then.

One thing I did notice today at the gym, my left groin "clicks" whenever I do leg swings. Anyone know the cause of the clicks? Should I be worried about them?

Well, what kind of leg swings are you doing? Basic ones in front of you? My right hip click if I bring my it into extension with the momentum of the swing. It doesn't necessarily signify a problem. Usually it means the flexors/capsule is tight and, with the extra velocity, the ball moves around a little bit within the socket. You should be ok unless that actually starts causing you pain.

 

[kthroyer]

I'm certainly no expert, but I had the same problem doing while doing 5x5. I narrowed my stance a little, and the pain went away. I believe that my stance must have been too wide, because after changing I started to feel the squats a lot more in my ass.

 

[Mr.IncrediblyBored]

I'm certainly no expert, but I had the same problem doing while doing 5x5. I narrowed my stance a little, and the pain went away. I believe that my stance must have been too wide, because after changing I started to feel the squats a lot more in my ass.

The problem is the wider the stance, the harder it is to keep your knees aligned with your toes. The natural tendency is to squeeze inward with your groin and hip flexors, which causes unnatural strain on your groin, hips, and knees when you press upward, causing lots and lots of pain.

Without having seen the OP's form it's hard to tell if that's his problem. But I still think he's better off sticking with a wider stance, correcting any form issues, and resetting the weight, as SociallyChallenged suggested.