When I start using a new leg movement I get really really really sore hamstrings… In this case it was Goodmornings… I did 3x6 with 75kg on friday and my hamstrings don’t even have enough ROM to walk properly.
My quads almost never get tight from weights, not even high rep squats… its always the glutes and hamstrings.
I have to admit I didn’t use massage yet, and will use it in the future…
Just checking to see if this is normal …
I can handle sprint volumes pretty well for a guy my weight, and almost never get sore, but those hamstring movements can really kill me.
Oh by the way, this never happened to me using 3 reps and below…
This is typical for a lot of people on a lot of exercises. 1st time on a new exercise, or new rep scheme expect to “feel it” for a wk or two, until you get used to “it”.
Why are you getting used to a new exercise in Spp? Shouldnt you have done that during Gpp?
Thanks John and BOLDWARRIOR ! , about the GPP… I also “used it” to heal from a knee injury, that is why it took me 10 weeks… I couldn’t do full squats, lunges, etc… so i just stuck to deadlifts and upper body…
I was just wondering because the only time my hams felt like that is after my first time deadlifting…when I was 17.
that was HELL for 2 weeks.
I can’t talk of the load, but a ‘new’ exercise (or one that hasn’t been performed for quite some time) and/or this volume will almost unavoidably cause soreness. If you are not trained to use your glutes at least as much as your hamstrings, the latter will inappropriately take most of the load. A relatively small muscle area (with varying muscle fibre orientation) is therefore greatly stressed (i.e., more relative load for each fibre) and even more so under predominantly eccentric contractions.
Although there is muscle memory for some time, don’t get so (or any) sore again… Also, adjust next week’s training accordingly.
I don’t get the parallel with GPP’s Deadlift vs. Goodmorning.
I am sure this is somewhere discussed, but what is the philosophy behind trying to avoid muscle soreness?
I understand that DOMS is said to be associated with pain from damaged muscle cells, but there is also research suggesting that it comes from the reinforcement process to increase the size of muscle fibers, hence causing adaptation to higher levels of strength… so according to that it should be a desirable state. No?
No, because DOMS is not the only way to bring adaptations to your body, otherwise every training day would be a nightmare. I think you are seeing this rather partially and I understand why.
The 2nd part of my quote you referenced above (i.e., adjusting future training) partly answers your question -practically speaking. Most probably you will have to ‘down-regulate’ your training, otherwise you are naturally increasing the risk of an injury. There are consequences to this ‘down-regulation’ easily understood, I guess.
Even if this is excluded and building superb hamstring strength is your ultimate goal, your event, I would still prefer to avoid soreness, because it simply delays your adaptation process, let alone your progression. Of course, the important thing to remember here is that hamstring strength alone is not an event yet
Lastly, if your hamstrings get sore in such multi-joint exercises (vs. isolated ones), chances are that the problem isn’t only perhaps the hamstrings themselves, something that also needs to be considered for performance purposes.
Thanks Nik, It’s wierd because I do all of my activation work every day… for the glutes… How long does it take to “reactivate” numb glutes, that have been that way for years ?
Yep John, tomorrow’s speed session is not gonna happen, complete waste of 300m of quality speed work.
I didn’t want to ‘put you down’ with this and sorry if that happened, it wasn’t my intention for sure! It may simply be an activation/‘firing’ issue (i.e., vs. a purely strength one), which shouldn’t take that long to address -first in isolation and then on an exercise/movement.
For next week I would suggest more tempo days (e.g., 4) and perhaps a couple of speed sessions (e.g., Wednesday and Saturday) with their intensity progressively increasing, i.e., the more intense one towards the end of the week, while establishing soreness reduction/elimination.
A small cut back in Load, Volume or increase in recovery could be as simple as a solution. Or a combination of all the above depending on the grade of pain in the hammies.
should only take a wk, 2 tops to have no more pain in hammies.
Keep up the tempo to remove waste/byproducts etc and to help loosen up the hammies. Once the pain has gone - check out the hammies Tone via Foam rolling or massage before attacking too hard. You could do this via Warm up before said hard session to reduce hammies tone.
Also, adjust next week’s training accordingly.
