Kettlebell Possible muscle pull from swings?

[sierrayankee]

Hello all,
I was doing my daily S&S training this evening, and on the explosive/upward movement of right-handed KB swing, I felt a sudden muscle-pull-type pain halfway up my right lat on my 3rd set. It is very mild (2/10 on pain scale), but I discontinued my training due to the fact I have lost the young man's ego and gained an old man's musculoskeletal experience over the years.

I will be going to doc tomorrow.

Does anyone here have a similar experience? I'll be taking marching orders from my chiro tomorrow, and I'm hoping to supplement those orders with tips on how to prevent something like that in the future. Ie is there a common form issue that leads to this outcome? Many thanks.
-SY

 

[PeterLuffman]

I do not know of any common form issues that would cause that.

Do you have a body maintenance routine to down regulate?

 

[sierrayankee]

I do not know of any common form issues that would cause that.

Do you have a body maintenance routine to down regulate?

Thanks for response Peter. The only body maintenance routines I have are those that are incorporated in S&S book (the pre and post routines sandwiching the swings and getups).

 

[North]

I work with a trainer and recently experienced a muscle spasm while training. He reassured me my technique was good, but what we realized was that I had crammed a couple training days together without sufficient active recovery…and my sleep was poor. It’s one of the places I keep my tension and usually manifests when work is nutty and, well, kids.

A couple observations:

1. Well done to stop at the first sign of discomfort.
2. Shouldn’t hurt to see a doc. If it’s clearly muscular I might delay a day or two. I find in these situations that there is value in hot/cold therapy.
3. Revisit your workouts, stress, etc. if the workouts have been hard or you’ve noticed other twinges (I realized this in looking back) take a day or two for recovery (maybe message or a walk). if you notice stress consider a mindfulness or breathing practice.
4. Find a mobility or tonic routine to do when you are tired or having an off day. Sometimes I don’t have the focus for a kettlebell practice and just need to move my body and restore my energy. Regarding #4 Pavel offers some options in S&S or Q&D (basically reduce the weight or volume), Geoff Neupert has said “if you must add something to the Giant series do Aleks Salkins 9 minute challenge (Aleks Salkin - Aleks Salkin basically crawling, dead bugs, and marching), I personally find Dan johns youtube follow along tonic/mobility routines relaxing, Tim Anderson has original strength Pressing RESET: Original Strength Reloaded | Original Strength and a you tube series as well.

I find tweaks like you have described to be related to my neglecting mindfulness, my breathing’s, and pushing too hard without a tonic “workout” or routine movement practice for my body. I should add the standard YMMV

Edited: @Steve Freides confirmed above links are allowed - thanks!

 

[Steve Freides]

@Steve Freides if the links are not allowed please remove my post. I recognize some of these may be competitors to SF, but I don’t keep track or (or frankly care about) the various ties / vendettas within the strength community.

It's all fine.

-S-

 

[PeterLuffman]

Hello all,
I was doing my daily S&S training this evening, and on the explosive/upward movement of right-handed KB swing, I felt a sudden muscle-pull-type pain halfway up my right lat on my 3rd set. It is very mild (2/10 on pain scale), but I discontinued my training due to the fact I have lost the young man's ego and gained an old man's musculoskeletal experience over the years.

I will be going to doc tomorrow.

Does anyone here have a similar experience? I'll be taking marching orders from my chiro tomorrow, and I'm hoping to supplement those orders with tips on how to prevent something like that in the future. Ie is there a common form issue that leads to this outcome? Many thanks.
-SY

It sounds like you need a mobility routine that you do weekly. Something that incorporates release of tension and breathing. I subscribe to Kelly Starrett's mobility platform for this purpose. Its super cheap (15 bucks per month) but also super enjoyable!

 

[sierrayankee]

I work with a trainer and recently experienced a muscle spasm while training. He reassured me my technique was good, but what we realized was that I had crammed a couple training days together without sufficient active recovery…and my sleep was poor. It’s one of the places I keep my tension and usually manifests when work is nutty and, well, kids.

A couple observations:

1. Well done to stop at the first sign of discomfort.
2. Shouldn’t hurt to see a doc. If it’s clearly muscular I might delay a day or two. I find in these situations that there is value in hot/cold therapy.
3. Revisit your workouts, stress, etc. if the workouts have been hard or you’ve noticed other twinges (I realized this in looking back) take a day or two for recovery (maybe message or a walk). if you notice stress consider a mindfulness or breathing practice.
4. Find a mobility or tonic routine to do when you are tired or having an off day. Sometimes I don’t have the focus for a kettlebell practice and just need to move my body and restore my energy. Regarding #4 Pavel offers some options in S&S or Q&D (basically reduce the weight or volume), Geoff Neupert has said “if you must add something to the Giant series do Aleks Salkins 9 minute challenge (Aleks Salkin - Aleks Salkin basically crawling, dead bugs, and marching), I personally find Dan johns youtube follow along tonic/mobility routines relaxing, Tim Anderson has original strength Pressing RESET: Original Strength Reloaded | Original Strength and a you tube series as well.

I find tweaks like you have described to be related to my neglecting mindfulness, my breathing’s, and pushing too hard without a tonic “workout” or routine movement practice for my body. I should add the standard YMMV

Edited: @Steve Freides confirmed above links are allowed - thanks!

Thank you for the info! Now that you mention it …I was extremely inactive for 3 days prior to that training session which is rate for me (due to being under the weather). Active recovery/mobility will be a thing for me here on out.

 

[sierrayankee]

It sounds like you need a mobility routine that you do weekly. Something that incorporates release of tension and breathing. I subscribe to Kelly Starrett's mobility platform for this purpose. Its super cheap (15 bucks per month) but also super enjoyable!

I will be taking your advice Peter, thank you. I’ll start with the supple leopard’s mobility WODs in the book and go from there.