Gripping the quads!

[minminlulu]

Hello everyone, I'm after a bit of advice. I'm an adult learner and have been attending classes for the past 4 years or so. I've been taking a lot more classes than usual due to classes moving online and I'd gotten to the stage where I was really happy how strong my turn out was in terms of activating and holding the appropriate muscles (external rotators, etc). However, I've found in the past 2 weeks or so I've suddenly started gripping with my quads and now that I've started doing it I can't stop! My quads are developing and I struggle to activate my external rotators and glutes now. I'm not sure if I'm just getting tired from all the classes but it's so frustrating and I'm not sure why it's happened! Any advice on why and how to stop? Many thanks.

Edited October 18, 2020 by minminlulu

[Miss Persistent]

Without seeing you it would be difficult to say, and we always advise getting a professional opinion on anything that could be a potential injury or require treatment.

That said, I know in my own body that if my deeper hip flexors have become tighter from sitting too much, it can makes my pelvis tip forwards which will makes my quads 'turn on' and my glutes 'turn off' essentially.  If it was me, I would try some gentle and simple hip flexor and quad stretches to see if that helped to start.  If not, I would get a professional opinion!  It's also worth asking your teacher for any potential postural corrections that might be influencing the position of your pelvis causing an imbalance.