Ham and Glute Soreness

[Dave_G]

I've been squating for a while now, and haven't had DOMS since I started. Recently I have been trying to have absolute perfect form for obvious reasons. Today my glutes and hams are sore. Yesterday's squat workout felt particularly good with respect to form. I focused on hip drive and not going into lumbar flexion. Is this "new" soreness a sign that I am finally engaging my posterior chain the right way?

[Mark Rippetoe]

Maybe. Normal soreness from a squat workout is very general, aside from quad soreness which occurs with most squat workouts. You probably figured out the hip drive cue.

[Bluntschli]

I have almost never had muscle soreness in my legs, ever, which worries the fuck out of me (makes me think I'm doing it wrong, therefore wasting time and hard work). Recently, I've started having a lot of lower back soreness, particularly on the sides. This coincided with renewed concentration on keeping the bar in the "slot." No idea if this means I am now finally starting to work the muscles the way I'm supposed to, or if I'm now squatting with my hip angle too far open.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Soreness is NEVER an indication of program effectiveness. It may indicate the effectiveness of a single workout if something has been corrected, but constant soreness simply means a lack of recovery, either by design (CrossFit, P90X) or inattention to recovery (undereating,undersleeping).

[quikky]

I've never had sore hamstrings after squats. Worst case, they just feel "worn out", but not actually sore. Like curling my leg behind feels weak after squats. The sorest muscles for me, aside from quads, oddly enough, are adductors. Is that a common occurrence?

[Mark Rippetoe]

Hamstrings don't usually get sore for most people, because their primary function is isometric, with not much eccentric component. Quads usually get sore, adductors usually get sore, because both are one-joint muscle groups (rect.fem. being in the same boat as the hamstrings here). Glutes don't seem to be noticeably sore unless you're doing front squats, and I'll leave that to you to figure out why.