I did 3 sets of 10 sit ups yesterday. Yesterday, the most I felt was a little soreness from lactate. Today, I feel a lot of abdominal pain when I stretch the muscle but not when I contract it. Because of this I did push ups today to kind of give abs a rest while still toning muscles.
It feels like an injury except it isn't all time soreness(very little pain during contraction and absolutely none at rest). Stretching is when I feel pain the most. This made me think maybe it is an injury(I would expect DOMS to hurt more in the contraction phase). But then again I didn't feel the pain for hours(just discomfort from lactate).
I am a little confused here. It is like I am having both DOMS and muscle injury at the same time. So which one is it? Either way, I know I will have to stop sit ups and abdominal exercises for some time(at least a few days). Also the pain is more upper and central(so sometimes I get rib pain as a result). Could it be both?
Injury or just extreme DOMS?
Moderators: cassiegose, Boss Man
Re: Injury or just extreme DOMS?
It's either an injury, or possibly an injury coupled with DOMS. The best thing for now would be to ease off the abs stuff partly or all together and reassess in about 3-4 days, because if there was DOMS involved with an injury I would expect the feelings and sensations caused by certain abs exercises to be different.
If after a few days or partial or total abstinence from abs exercises the feelings and sensations you were getting felt the same, then it's not DOMS it's some kind of injury, in which case get it seen to.
DOMS only tends to last 24-48 hours, so therefore any change to what you feel after 3-4 days in the abs when you train them as normal, should be indicative of DOMS and an injury, with the DOMS completely subsiding, but no change should mean just an injury, so therefore get it sorted, but either way it is likely you have some kind of injury, but knowing whether it is an injury alone or coupled with DOMS would be useful before getting it seen to, so any doctor knows batter what is going on, so there testing the theory as to whether DOMS is partly involved would be useful before being checked out, as an abs injury is not going to be so bad that you'll end up in constant pain, as that's not what you say is happening to you, so then it should be nothing to do with nearby muscles like adductors or pectineus as examples, or you'd feel sensations in the abs and / or groin.
If after a few days or partial or total abstinence from abs exercises the feelings and sensations you were getting felt the same, then it's not DOMS it's some kind of injury, in which case get it seen to.
DOMS only tends to last 24-48 hours, so therefore any change to what you feel after 3-4 days in the abs when you train them as normal, should be indicative of DOMS and an injury, with the DOMS completely subsiding, but no change should mean just an injury, so therefore get it sorted, but either way it is likely you have some kind of injury, but knowing whether it is an injury alone or coupled with DOMS would be useful before getting it seen to, so any doctor knows batter what is going on, so there testing the theory as to whether DOMS is partly involved would be useful before being checked out, as an abs injury is not going to be so bad that you'll end up in constant pain, as that's not what you say is happening to you, so then it should be nothing to do with nearby muscles like adductors or pectineus as examples, or you'd feel sensations in the abs and / or groin.
Re: Injury or just extreme DOMS?
It turns out that the abdominal soreness mostly when stretching or during active contraction was due to me pulling a muscle at some point in the 3 sets of 10 sit ups.
After a week of total rest I tried to do 1 sit up but I couldn't do it. And I mean really couldn't do it. I couldn't lift body up, just move legs like crazy.
But now it is a piece of cake just as it was several weeks ago. And now I will try not to pull a muscle again by gradually adding more. So I will do 1 set of 10 sit ups for a week, then 2 sets of 10, then 3 sets of 10, then new exercise again with 1 set of 10, then 2, then 3, and doing this weekly change in exercise, I should be able to get a six pack by a year or at least a 2 pack since I am burning fat as I am encouraging muscle growth.
If it interrupts menstrual cycle at all(like if I miss a period altogether(that happened twice in life, once last year in October, and again this year in January but that was not exercise or emotional stress related)) I will stop for as long as it will take for menstrual cycle to be going again.
But hopefully, I can get to having a 6 pack without burning so much fat that I will lose or get interruptions in menstrual cycle.
After a week of total rest I tried to do 1 sit up but I couldn't do it. And I mean really couldn't do it. I couldn't lift body up, just move legs like crazy.
But now it is a piece of cake just as it was several weeks ago. And now I will try not to pull a muscle again by gradually adding more. So I will do 1 set of 10 sit ups for a week, then 2 sets of 10, then 3 sets of 10, then new exercise again with 1 set of 10, then 2, then 3, and doing this weekly change in exercise, I should be able to get a six pack by a year or at least a 2 pack since I am burning fat as I am encouraging muscle growth.
If it interrupts menstrual cycle at all(like if I miss a period altogether(that happened twice in life, once last year in October, and again this year in January but that was not exercise or emotional stress related)) I will stop for as long as it will take for menstrual cycle to be going again.
But hopefully, I can get to having a 6 pack without burning so much fat that I will lose or get interruptions in menstrual cycle.