Kettlebell Pain in the quadriceps

[Anders]

I am currently doing S&S training, but I was at my parents place and found no suitable kettlebell size to do swings, so I did snatches instead 10*10 with the 20 kilo. This was great fun, but it seem to have lead to some acute pain in my right thigh. This pain has lasted for two days. It is however the second time I have had this pain during the last three weeks. The pain/discomfort is located five centimeter above the knee. It is not painful to walk, but it is slightly painful to climb stairs.

I have noticed when doing swings that when I do swings with a very slight bent in the knees I get less power but more endurance. And then when I bend more in my knees I get more power, but also more quickly get fatigued. Based on this I am wondering if my quads are a bit too weak.

So based on this I would be curious to know what you think I should do, and if you think I have some sorts of stiffness, imbalances in my legs that is quashing my quadriceps to be a particularly vulnerable ?


Anders

 

[Anna C]

I would say just keep training... moderate increases in volume/intensity... take a day off when you need one... see a doc if pain persists or worsens independent of exercise... try a little stretching and foam rolling on the quads... And yes, use the legs/quads for power with both swings and snatches. Some knee bend/flexion, more hip bend/flexion, both working together to produce force into the ground at the feet in order to move the weight powerfully, hardstyle. (The "more endurance" style you describe would be more towards GS as opposed to hardstyle. Not wrong, just different. Depends on your objectives as to which is better).

10x10 snatches is more work than 10x10 swings. You didn't say what your swing weight would normally be, but I would estimate that 10x10 snatches with 20kg could be even more overall work than 10x10 swings with 28kg... Perhaps similar to 10x10 swings with 32kg, depending on how powerful your swings are. So, if you're trying to do equivalent work (especially if doing a daily practice), I might suggest doing sets of 5-8 snatches, 10 total sets.

 

[william bad butt]

Knees and feet must track (point) in the same direction. If I screw up 1 swing or snatch rep, my knees bark at me.