Why you have overly tight muscles

It has now been over a year since Tommy started training. He’s tried various training styles and even pushed his limits by preparing for a running race. Tommy is enjoying life, feeling healthy and comfortable in his body. He’s also started to notice a difference between himself, his friends, and his colleagues.

They often seem out of breath, get sick frequently, and complain about how hard it is to move their bodies. Even though Tommy feels great and can see the difference, he has also become more aware of his body, noticing signals in certain areas more often.

One day, Tommy went to the park for a quick workout. He had just had two rest days due to travel, spending hours on trains, in cars, or on flights. As he warmed up and started exercising, he noticed his inner thigh felt tight, making it hard to engage the muscle because it was so stiff.

Tommy thought to himself that he probably just needed to stretch. So, he started stretching his inner thighs, which loosened them a little, but they were still very tight. He took out his phone and quickly booked a massage appointment. Luckily, he was able to get in within two hours. Tommy stopped his workout, rushed home to shower, and headed to the massage place.

When he arrived, the masseur greeted him, saying, “It’s great you could come on such short notice!” Tommy responded, “Yes, my inner thighs are super tight, and it’s hard to engage them.”

“Hmm, let’s take a look and see what we can do,” replied the masseur. Tommy got on the massage table, and the masseur began by warming up the area, pressing on different spots on Tommy’s inner thigh and asking, “Does it hurt here, or do you feel pain radiating in any direction?” Tommy replied that it hurt in that specific spot.

“Okay, I can feel that when I press my thumb into the muscle, it’s extremely tight,” said the masseur.

“I can feel it too—it hurts a lot!” Tommy replied. The masseur and Tommy agreed to start light on the muscle and gradually apply deeper pressure.

When the massage session ended, the masseur told Tommy that his muscle was still very tight, even after 30 minutes of work. The masseur then asked if Tommy was training his inner thighs, to which Tommy responded that he’d mainly been focusing on general leg exercises. 

“That’s probably why,” the masseur said. “If you do squats with your feet angled out, you’ll target your inner thighs. When a muscle is overly tight, it’s often because it’s weak. You can stretch it all you want, but you need to strengthen it to loosen it up.”

“What exercises target my inner thighs?” asked Tommy. The masseur explained that deep squats with feet pointed outward could help, or he could go to the gym and use machines that specifically target those muscles.

Tommy knew right away what he needed to do. Since he was already familiar with the gym, going back wouldn’t be a problem.

The next morning, Tommy returned to the gym for a leg workout. After warming up, he started with deep squats, beginning with a manageable weight of 20 kg. As he completed each squat, he could feel the muscles in his glutes and inner thighs engaging. By the last rep, he could feel a real difference in those areas. 

For the second part of his workout, Tommy did a superset targeting his glutes and inner thighs. He struggled to get through the exercises, balancing the workout with stretching to even out the muscle tension.

During the first few days, he felt the soreness and realized how weak these muscles had been. But as time passed, he felt the tightness ease up.

The results were rewarding. Tommy felt strong and flexible in his legs, and he noticed an improvement in his movement overall.