Was this your first workout?
Member
Gauging Soreness
Overall Question:
My question to you Coach(or coaches), is how do you approach gauging where an athlete is in the recovery, adaptation cycle between sessions and whether or not to continue resting or get the lift in with the 2.5 pound incremental increase, or scale back and decrease the weight in the working set of the movement. I have included data and a bit of background information.
Background/Subjective information:
I am a novice trainee. My training background is 3-4 years in high school where I lifted weights like a bro and did so inconsistently. Since high-school I have gone into the weight room 3-4 times a month and done some low weight bench presses and lots of barbell curls. Over the past year I have been reading ss and pp at a casual pace out of interest in the subject material and I have been practicing the squat, dl, press, and bench press in the weight room but not performing the program.
I am 6'5 295.
Squat:
45x5
135x5
185x5
225x5
275x5
285x5x3(work set)
Press:
45x5
95x5
115x5x3(work set)
Deadlift
135x5
185x5
225x5
285x5
305x5x3(work set)
My bench press was done on Tuesday with limited upper body soreness
45x5
135x5
185x5
205x5
225x5
235x5x3 (working set)
I just performed this workout the past saturday 4/7 and I have been sore in my legs that it hurts to take full strides walking and I would have to use the desk to help sit down at work and use my chair arms to get up at home.
I am set on breaking through the soreness and completing at least 3 months of the SS protocol. I am still on the fence whether or not to increase working sets by 2.5 pounds and completing workout #2 which is four days removed from my workout #1. I sleep 8 hours and tend to usually overeat high protein meals with a lot of calories. I am always hydrated and I have had no significant injuries outside of a bad ankle sprain 2 years ago.
TMPHBITEU
Was this your first workout?
Member
Yes, first workout since February
TMPHBITEU
Yes, this is very odd. After a 3 month layoff and after a workout that was not done according to the program, you're sore. Crazy. Inexplicable. I'll have to consider the ramifications of this completely weird phenomenon.
Member
9 out of 10 scientists are baffled.Originally Posted by Mark Rippetoe
Starting Strength Coach
When you first start conducting the program as prescribed, you do not worry about soreness. When your day comes to squat again, you just do it...whether you are sore or not. After your first workout in three months, I'd worry less about stress-adaptation, and just do the program as prescribed. It is a little early to start worrying about deloading and resetting.
Member
3-month layoff as a novice = detrained.
You started with too much intensity. You bought the books and read them casually, which might imply that you didn't really retain critical information about much of anything. Had you read the books carefully--and why wouldn't you if you already spent the money?--you'd know this.
You also say you're practicing the lifts, but not doing the program. Why not?
You have SS and PP. Recover from your intense workout and then start the program. You have the info you need.
Member
It's called DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness). I had it bad this week after taking off two weeks for vacation. First day back was fine, and then about 24 hours after the workout, the soreness came on hard. My second workout, 48 hours after the first workout, my legs were still in pain. Went down for my first warmup squat with the emtpy bar and thought I was going to die. Guess what? After 3x5 with the empty bar, they didn't hurt so bad, and by the time I got to my working weight, the soreness was still there, but totally not an issue at all.
Just power through, like Will Morris said.
Starting Strength Coach
Remember that the linear progression is not just a set/rep scheme... and you deadlifted more than the set/rep scheme would entail, which might in part account for your soreness.
Read through these two articles closely, read the novice section of the book (or re-read it in detail if you skimmed it), and start from scratch. SS is not a cookie-cutter template, and the details are significant.
Member
The type of soreness that was present on my day to squat was so bad it took me 10 seconds to stand and sit and when I tried to do a bw squat to below parallel my hamstrings clenched so hard that I fell right on my ass.
I understand general soreness that lasts 24-48 hours. However, soreness that prevents you from conducting layperson movements and leaves your muscles tight and stiff will not allow you to squat.
That being said, I realized that I did not follow warm-up set instructions and went too high on w/u sets, thus overloading myself and setting myself back. Ill get it right this weekend. Three perfectly performed sessions next week.
Thanks for your input and direction.
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