Conditioning with Quad Injury?

For the last week or so my quad (rectus femoris, i think) has been getting this really nasty pinch on things like squats, sprints, cycling, rowing etc.

Anyone have any suggestions of upper-body exercises i could do for conditioning? I was wondering if med ball throws would be appropriate.

You can certainly make throws work.

Do you swim? Swimming with a pull buoy is basically upper body swimming only.

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Like Tepford said, med ball throws should be fine. If you have room, the “throw ball, walk/jog to ball, throw ball, repeat”-workout can be killer.

Boxing is another obvious upper body only option, if you have equipment. Bodyweight stuff like a circuit of push-ups, chins, and planks. Loaded carries. Battle ropes. Barbell or dumbbell complexes.

And, of course, somewhere along the way figure out what’s causing the problem in the quad and sort it out.

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I often swim on recovery days, not conditioning as a I usually do that after weights and my gym doesnt have a pool. I guess beggars cant be chiosers and i should be more flexible. Thanks for the idea

There are a few things that you can do using your legs which shouldn’t bother that area of the quad. Try jumping rope. The action of jumping rope does not rely on a quad flex as you are on you toes in a vertical position. Do 10 sets of jumps 1 min. per set with a 1 min rest in between… You can play with those numbers if you find it too easy or overly difficult. I just want to caution you, if you feel any pain in that area stop immediately as you don’t need to make what is probably a minor injury worse.

Also, I agree with your idea of using medicine ball throws. Use the wall toss it as high as you can while still hitting the wall. These will get your heart rate pumping. But your arms will tire before your heart and lungs that is the only drawback.

One more thing, you didn’t describe your injury in detail but it almost sounds like something that I have had before (if you train long enough you have everything eventually ha). The first thing I did was ice it three times a day for 20 to 30 minutes. I did that for about 4 days. I then switched to heat. After a couple of days of heat I went to a good deep tissue massage therapist. And she painfully worked it out. It was good as new two days after that.

Thanks for the advice! Ive been trying to learn jump rope for the last month but am pretty awful at it; it doesnt seem to annoy my leg though.

In terms of the injury the best way i cam describe it is as extremely localised tightness, like an inch or so of very tight, painful tissue and then normal. Up until now Ive just been rolling it and stretching daily and it seems to be doing the trick, but I will give RICE a go.

Keep practicing with the jump rope it takes a bit of time to get used to it but it’s well worth it in the long run. It’s something you;; always be able to rely on in the future. You can get a great cardio workout literally standing in one spot!

You may have a minor tear in the muscle. Keep deep tissue massage in mind. I have been relying on it regularly for two decades.

Here’s hoping your back up to speed quickly!