Just gettin back into cardio ...

[purbeast0]

Well this week I started cardio again for the first time since last July. I'm playin on a football team over the spring and wanna start cuttin up so I figured now is a good time to start.

Yesterday I stretched out before I ran and I could only make it about 5 laps (10 laps is 1 mile at my gym) before my leg muscles started killing me. It was primarily my groin muscles and partially my hamstrings.

Today I had little case of shin splints but tried to run today anyways. Today I made it 6 laps easily however I had pretty irritating groin muscle pain. It's not pain pain but it's more of muscle soreness. I don't know why but it's only in my groin area.

My legs have gotten noticeably bigger over the winter as I've finally been working them out consistantly w/out injuring myself at all. I don't do anything specifically for my groin muscles however so I'm wondering if they are aching cause I haven't targetted them specifically.

I noticed too after I get out of the car my left calf gets that "almost charlie horse" feeling when I get home. I drive stick now so that's why I think that's happening on my left but not my right.

Anyways, does anyone have any recommendations for this type of groin muscle ache to go away so I can continue to run more? The good thing is over the winter I got on some new asthma medicine and my wind/lungs aren't getting tired at all after 6 laps, it's only my legs gettin tired. So I know I'm not winded and could run more if my legs didn't bug me.

 

[spamsk8r]

What I used to do when I would get tight/sore like that is I would run one quick lap to warm up, then stretch for 5-10 minutes. The warm-up gets the blood flowing so you don't injure yourself when stretching. Ice packs, hot showers, and advil also helped me. Just ease into it, take an extra rest day if it's really bugging you. Or try some a lower-impact form of cardio, like swimming, tabatas, kettlebell work, high intensity calisthenics, etc. I personally do not like running very much because it does tend to injure me if I do it consistently (that's not to say I can't run, I can probably do a 5k without trouble, just that doing it consistently for more than a month kills my shins and calves).

 

[gramboh]

Try doing active warm-up before you run? Body-weight squats, squat stretch, squat on toes, leg swings, inch worms etc? I used to get awful shin splints when I started running (because I was fat and did no exercise), I found active warm-up (especially focused on hamstrings and calves and IT band since those impact shin splint pain) made a huge difference. I don't get shin splints at all any more, even after 10km.

For groin muscles, you do squats right? If you squat below parallel with your feet/knees out you should be working your groin adductors.

 

[zebano]

You shouldn't be doing static stretches before a workout anyway. Warmup 5 min slow jog (until you're sweating) then do some dynamic stretches. It's been shown that static stretches actually reduce the power that muscle can produce for the next hour or so. Doing static stretches before warmups is a good way to get injured.

1. warmup
2. dynamic stretches.
3. Exercise
4. Static stretch for flexibility

Recent research however has identified temporary decreases in skeletal muscle performance immediately after static stretching. This decrease in muscle performance includes decreases in muscular strength and power. Applying this research to athletes has led sports scientists and medical professionals to now recommend static stretching before an activity such as tennis or training at least 30-60 minutes before that activity starts. Additionally, the use of a warm-up (jogging in place, riding a stationary bicycle for 3-5 minutes to break a light sweat) is now highly recommended along with dynamic stretches immediately before the activity. Static stretching is most commonly used and recommended now after the activity when the body is very warm, and maximal elongation via stretching can occur. Static stretching after the workout is also thought to speed recovery and decrease soreness in addition to increase muscle length.

From the USTA but while the page in general is tennis specific, it does explain why things should be done in this order. Of course you will want to substitute appropriate dynamic stretches for your particular sport(s).


Contrary viewpoint where the author cites the same article on loss of power due to static stretching, but also claims that static stretching post-workout offers no flexibility gains which I have never heard before. He also makes this claim

Strangely enough most top soft tissue experts are now recommending that muscles be stretched "cold", without the benefit of a warm-up.

which I have never heard/seen anywhere else.


All the evidence I have seen except the one cited above suggests that you should do things as I recommend above, but this is all second hand based on some internet publications I have read.

 

[purbeast0]

Originally posted by: gramboh
Try doing active warm-up before you run? Body-weight squats, squat stretch, squat on toes, leg swings, inch worms etc? I used to get awful shin splints when I started running (because I was fat and did no exercise), I found active warm-up (especially focused on hamstrings and calves and IT band since those impact shin splint pain) made a huge difference. I don't get shin splints at all any more, even after 10km.

For groin muscles, you do squats right? If you squat below parallel with your feet/knees out you should be working your groin adductors.

i actually don't squat at all right now cause I have 2 messed up discs in my lower back. squats and deadlifts are just completely out of my workout for now and probably forever.

what i ahve been doing that is about as close to squats as i'll probably ever do is similar to this. it's not with a cable machine like that though, and it's at more of a 45 degree angle. it uses free weights however. but with that i go all the way down until the machine won't let me go any further, so i'm getting the full ROM.

also with this dynamic/static stretching what exactly is that? when i stretc before I run I don't really have a set stretching time/session. i typically will just do normal old hamstring, calf, and quad stretches. what are good ways to stretch groin muscles?

 

[gramboh]

Originally posted by: purbeast0
i actually don't squat at all right now cause I have 2 messed up discs in my lower back. squats and deadlifts are just completely out of my workout for now and probably forever.

what i ahve been doing that is about as close to squats as i'll probably ever do is similar to this. it's not with a cable machine like that though, and it's at more of a 45 degree angle. it uses free weights however. but with that i go all the way down until the machine won't let me go any further, so i'm getting the full ROM.

also with this dynamic/static stretching what exactly is that? when i stretc before I run I don't really have a set stretching time/session. i typically will just do normal old hamstring, calf, and quad stretches. what are good ways to stretch groin muscles?

Ahh sorry I had forgot you were injured and not squatting. What I do before leg workouts (and running as well) is start with either a light jog, or run up and down some stairs for a few minutes until my heart gets going a bit and I break a sweat. Then I do maybe 10 inch worms which stretch out your hamstrings nice. I then do 10 walking leg kicks (walk 2 steps, kick your leg up as high as you can and touch your toe with the opposite hand, keeping back straight, you kick from the hip) then I'll do a bunch of leg swings (stronglifts.com has a good video of these but I can't remember where -- again keep back straight and swing from the hip, rest of body doesn't move, this gets the hip flexors warm and your butt as well). Then I usually do a few 30second squat stretches (again see stronglifts.com -- not sure if you can do these with your back, but you squat into the low position and push your knees out with your elbows, really stretches your adductors in your groin).

After doing any leg exercises of run I spend 5ish minutes stretching after, both static stretches and a lot of work with a foam roller, I find the roller makes a HUGE difference with my IT band (I think that is why I don't get shin splints anymore).

Hope some of this helps!