Only the left side, only in the bottom third, and only under load, bodyweight squats are completely fine. It's a distinct pinch right at the front of the hip crease rather than an ache, and it goes as soon as I come up. It started around the time I moved from 45kg to 60kg. Nothing hurts afterwards or the next day. I've been stopping the set when I feel it, which means I'm not really squatting.
Check what's on your feet as well. Going from a flat shoe to a heeled lifting shoe, or the other way, changes how much your hip has to flex to reach the same depth. If you changed shoes anywhere near when this started, that's a suspect.
First things I'd change, in order, because they're free and take one session:
Widen your stance by about 5cm and turn your toes out a bit more, maybe 25 to 30 degrees. Hips vary enormously in socket depth and angle between people and even between your own two sides, and a stance that lets one hip travel freely can jam the other one.
Then film it from the front. A lot of one-sided pinching turns out to be a shift, where you drift towards the good side coming out of the hole and the other hip ends up in a position it can't get out of.
That said, one-sided sharp pain that appeared at a specific load is worth a session with a physio who works with lifters, not a general one. I spent nine months mucking about with cues before I did that, and the eventual answer took two appointments. That's what worked for me and I'd have got there a lot faster by asking someone who could actually see me move.
That's a good find. Single leg work for a block, and squat to a box at a depth that doesn't pinch so you're still training while you sort it out. Stopping entirely is rarely the answer.
Filmed it and there is a visible shift to the right coming up. Pretty obvious once you look for it.
Don't keep training into it hoping it resolves. Pinch under load is your body telling you a structure is being compressed, and the useful response is to change the position so it isn't, not to push through and find out. Box squats, front squats or split squats will all keep your legs strong meanwhile.
@swayback_sue · 6mo ago · 2 replies
Warm-up worth trying: two minutes in a 90/90 position each side and ten slow bodyweight squats to full depth before you touch the bar. Mine does the pinch thing when I go from sitting at a desk straight into loaded squats, and almost never when I've spent five minutes getting the hip moving first.
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@breath_bo · 6mo ago
Same here, and adding a couple of light sets at 40% before jumping to working weight made more difference than any mobility drill I tried.
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