Power
XL- Issue 3
Q: Hey Coach XXX I have a question for you. I am doing box squats as part of my training program on a low box or about 2 inches below parallel. I get a lot of hip soreness and was wondering if there was anything that could help this out. Sincerely, A: Hey Paul what’s up? So you like the box squats
do ya? Well as you mentioned earlier box squats will overload your
hip flexors even more than regular power squats. Now there are a
few things that you can do to make sure that you cut back on the
soreness of your hips. It is very important that your hip flexors
recover just as quick as your lower back and hamstrings because
they are needed on every other movements for lower body. So if your
lower back and hams are ready to hit the weights again but your
hip flexors are still cooked from your last training session you
are either going to enter a state of overtraining or get yourself
injured. So let’s take a look at some of the different things you
can do to help this area not take such a beating. The best way to
tackle this problem is from two angles. One is to reduce the wear
and tear strain that is being applied to your hips. The second is
to increase your recovery time through body work and nutrition. Box Squats can be hard on the hips so make sure you know how to protect them! Do a Proper Warm UpOk this is the first thing you should take a look at. Now many lifters take short cuts when it comes to warming up. This is not an area that you should skimp on because it will come and bite you on the ass later when you suffer the consequences of increased soreness or injury. Start with a light weight on the exercises that involve your hip muscles. If you are doing box squats make sure that you do as many sets as you need to feel truly warmed up. Don’t be lazy, if you feel you need to take another set or two before you handle a heavy set then do it. I am not saying that you need to do ten sets of warm ups and blow all your energy but make sure that you do what you need. Each person is different and the amount of warm ups you may need may be more than your training partner. Now if you still feel like taking a couple extra light sets isn’t doing you justice than you can even walk on a treadmill with a high incline for 5-10 minutes. This will help increase blood flow your lower back and hips and help loosen things up even more. Don’t be Lazy…StretchHere is another area again a lot of powerlifters ignore only to their loss. Make sure that you stretch before and after your workouts. Don’t over stretch before your training as this could lead to a strength decrement. Leave the majority of it to be done after your workout. Stretching can make a big difference in how sore you get after a workout. Stretching out tight muscles can make a world of difference when it comes to how sore you are the next day. Learn several different hip stretches that you can do on your own. To get the best stretch have a partner perform PNF stretching on you. This will help you get maximum results and can really help the next day. Most lifters ignore stretching but it can make a huge difference in not only your performance but also in your recovery time.
Apply Liniment to the Area Now if you were not already doing this then this is something I would do on all my lower body days. Apply some strong liniment to your hips about 20 minutes before you start training. By this time it will start kicking in nicely so that that when you begin your training your hips will already feel nice and warm. This will help not only heat up the area but will also increase blood flow as well. This will lead to your hips feeling loser and not so tight as well. There are many different mainstream liniments on the market as well as veterinary grade liniments that are very popular with powerlifters. I would go with one that becomes hot and avoid the ones that just cool the area, as this is not what you are looking for when it is time to train. So load it on your hips just make sure that you are wearing a jock strap under your suit or briefs otherwise you may get a little of the hot stuff on your family jewels and you will wish you didn’t. Remember wear the jock and avoid the roasted chestnut syndrome that many lifters have at least experienced at least once in their lifting career!
Wear Groove BriefsAnother way to help save your hips is to wear powerlifting briefs when you do your box squats. These can be used on your speed day as well as your max effort day as well. Many lifters will wear their suits with the straps down. With the improvement with brief technology over the last few years in particular this is no longer needed. Believe me some of the two ply briefs that are now on the market are giving lifters more carry over onto their squat then some suits used to. Now the purpose of the briefs will be to limit the amount of stress placed on the hips in any movement that put strain on them. Since you are a lifter and you either squat wide or very wide as your only options then this will increase the strain that is put on your hips week after week. Plus another benefit to wearing them is the fact that they will keep your hips warmer as well.
Incorporate GPP WorkOne other area that you can look at is your conditioning level. There are many lifters who have horrible levels of conditioning. Since a lot of lifters think that you only have to lift it once then it is ok to be an out of shape fat slob. This is not the case of the educated lifter who wants to be on top of his game. Many lifters now do GPP work in their training at least a couple times a week to focus on bringing up their level of conditioning. The key here is to make sure that it directly relates to what you are trying to improve in on in the gym. One exercise that can really help is sled dragging. When done with heavy weights it can really help increase the strength of your hip flexors. But at this point this is not what you are trying to accomplish right now. What you need to do is do sled drags with lighter weight for longer distances to help condition your hip muscles so they are ready for the ass beating you give them in the gym on squat day.
RolfingNow when you train alike an animal in the gym 52 weeks out of the year your body takes a beating like you can’t imagine. Yea you may feel sore and achy but if you realized what physiologically is happening to your muscle fibers, tendon, cartilage and joints then you would be amazed that it can take such a beating and keep coming back for more. One thing that I recommend for you it to get some Rolfing done. Now don’t say I didn’t warn you. This is one of the most painful things that you can go through no lie! Now I know some of you guys may think that it is just a simple deep tissue massage but this is not the case in the least. Rolfing is much more than just some deep tissue therapy. Let’s put it this way when I go in for a session of rolfing I am about to cry after 5minutes of it. Hell I wonder to myself how the hell I am going to get through the next 55 minutes of it. Now with the pain aside it can make a night and day difference for anyone that suffers from a problem area. With your tight and sore hips this can make a huge difference in only a couple sessions. Remember I warned you it is very painful when done correctly. I know of some lifters that feel like they are going to pass out when getting it done. Even though you will feel like you are going through Chinese torture techniques you will see a huge difference in the amount of soreness that you get from your training. You will be sore from the session for at least 1-2 days afterwards but you will start getting used to the amount of pressure that your practitioner uses after a few sessions.
Oh yea it hurts so good… like getting a tooth pulled without anesthetic Take Vitamin CNow here is a nutritional method to help you heal of faster. Taking Vitamin C can do a lot more for you than just help out with the common cold. Vitamin C can actually help repair damaged tissue and collagen at a faster rate. Now this is exactly what you need to help increase your rate of recovery. Another recovery benefit to taking Vitamin C is that it helps reduce Cortisol production. Cortisol is known for destroying your recovery time and putting you into a catabolic state. Vitamin C can help reduce its production. Since post workout is when Cortisol is at its highest I would take 1000mg right after you are done training. This will help in your recovery process and can actually help elevate your Testosterone level at the same time. We all know that Testosterone helps increase recovery time like no other, just ask some pro bodybuilders that train twice a day and do over 20 sets per body part. For you daily intake I would recommend that you take 1000mg –4 times per day spaced out about 3 hours apart. Since it is water soluble if you take too much at one time you are just going to pee it out.
Don’t forget to take your Vitamin C ConclusionSo here you have it man. These tips should make a world of difference when it comes to help getting rid of that hip soreness. Since it is one of the areas that is so heavily used in powerlifting it is hard to avoid most lower body exercise without it. So start incorporating all the techniques that I have laid out above so that you can lick this problem once and for all. Remember when you run into a problem you have to attack from as many angles as possible because it may be caused from more than one reason.
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XL Issue #3 |
