Been at the gym for about a month now, doing this as I'm a complete beginner going primarily to build functional strength. I've noticed that I never feel soreness in my core, is this normal?
Been at the gym for about a month now, doing this as I'm a complete beginner going primarily to build functional strength.
Yes. Core and calves are just different and never really get sore. You can basically train them every single day if you wanted to. They respond better to higher repetitions
Gotcha, thanks.
>Core and calves are just different and never really get sore.
Hasn't been my experience, I've had sore calves from calf raises to failure
I do the calf press machine with the whole stack of weights at the end of leg day for like 4x15-20 and my calves are never sore. Train abs to failure and cramping and zero doms the next day
Quads stay sore for like three days whenever I move up on leg press/deadlifts/squat.
>Yes. Core and calves are just different and never really get sore.
That is not true
Its okay for you to add in sit ups on the decline bench on one of the days. 3 sets of curls on one day and 3 sets of lateral raises on the other day.
>I've noticed that I never feel soreness in my core
because you aren't working your abs. You are destroying your back though. Or you will when you stop using baby weight.
Not enough engagement. Are you training to failure?
I think so,but again I'm a complete beginner. The next day the primary movers are sore as frick but nothing in the core area. I do feel some soreness in core day of - should have said this in OP, but nothing the next day.
Just do the program. Once you start squatting heavy, you'll feel it in your core. Also, don't use soreness as an indication of progress
https://startingstrength.com/training/soreness#:~:text=by%20Mark%20Rippetoe%20%7C%20September%2008,penance%20is%20Religion%2C%20not%20training
If you want to get big and strong, do the program and don't add anything else to it because then you're not doing the program. It's so simple, why do ISTizens overcomplicate it? Because most don't lift, and for the ones the do, most don't lift heavy.
SS got my squat from 150 - 300 for 3 sets of 5 within 4 months. Didn't feel my abs get sore until the late 200s.
Once 3 sets of 5 stops progressing daily, add a light day, so do Monday: 3x5 adding 5lbs from previous workout, Wednesday: Do 70-80% of what you did Monday, Friday: Add 5lbs to what you were doing on Monday.
For bench/OHP (which stalls first), once 3 sets of 5 stops working, switch to triples. That should add another 2 weeks more or less to your LP. After that's done, THEN you can consider doing a more hypertrophy focused program. Yes jimmy, you can use your machines now, but only after you've acquired a strength base.
Thanks for the link, helpful read.
I'm happy to help. There's alot of people who just have not done the program yet. It's such a good start, and will represent an incredibly small fraction of your total lifting career. 4 months is nothing. You're gonna be moving onto much greater horizons after you're done, but you've GOT to get your LP over with. Mind letting me know what your stats are? Height? bw?
>switch to triples
You mean 5 sets of 3?
Yeah, exactly. Only do that for bench, OHP, and deadlifts. Once 5's stop working on squats, there's lots of programming adjustments you can make to drive your LP up a bit further. The squat is the main lift you want to focus on because all your full body strength is coming from that.
For instance on my LP, I began at 160lbs and bulked to around 185 over 4 months. I was dead set on becoming as strong as possible (yes I still saw my abs in the mirror, adding 25lbs to a twink ass frame only makes you look BETTER, contrary to what the nonlifters on this forum will tell you).
My squat started getting really fricking hard around 260. So I added light days. Once I was at 285, I began doing top sets. This meant that I'd do a heavy set of 5 with 5lbs added on the bar from last time, then do 2 backoff sets at 90% intensity. This allowed my squat to get to 315ish. After that I decided to just do the texas method. That got my squat to 400 within a few more months. Here's a basic template of how you'd transition:
Week 1:
Monday: 250
Wednesday: 255
Friday: 260
Week 2: Squats feel heavy, add a light day
Monday: 265
Wednesday: 235
Friday: 270
Week 3 goes by just fine, ends with 280
Week 4:
Monday: 285 for a set of 5, then 250 for 2 sets of 5
Wednesday: Light day (70% of Monday's work for 3 sets of 5)
Friday: 290 for 1 set of 5, then 255 for 2 sets of 5.
All of these programming ideas are in a book called "Practical Programming 3rd ed" you can just get from libgen or buy from amazon. Point is, there's lots of ways to drive progress in a ridiculously short amount of time. Beginner gains are sick. Just stick to the program
I also started a few weeks ago and I am not recovering enough
My hipflexors hurt when I squat and deadlift because of soreness and I'm dreading the deadlift now even though I'm only at 100kg
I am lucky to get more than 7 hours a day
Sounds to me like you're not eating nearly enough. But more on that later.
>My hipflexors hurt when I squat
Been there. Okay number 1 thing - hip flexor pain is not going to do anything to you. It sucks, and it's annoying, but it's not serious or something that should make you reconsider squatting.,
Second - Your knees are extending forward. That's the only reason it happens. This is because your hamstrings aren't tight, meaning you're getting loose at the bottom. The hamstrings are designed to keep the knees behind the toes when contracting, meaning if you loosen them, your knees go forward. What's left to keep them back? Your fricking hip flexors, and those b***hes aren't designed to lift alot of weight, so they get irritated and you get tendonitis ridiculously fast. But it's not serious, and it goes away fast.
What to do? 1) - When going down on the squat, STAY FRICKING TIGHT. Take a deep breath, unrack, make sure your back is tight, and go down SLOWLY. Some people just fall into the bottom. Don't do this. That's not a squat, that's a catch. You need to GUIDE the barbell down. then GUIDE it back up.
2) - Focus on keeping your knees OUT, not just forward.
Hip flexor pain is not serious at any weight below 350lbs, trust me. It also goes away within a week or 2 of using proper form. But this is literally just a form issue. A properly performed squat should not cause any pain, anywhere, at all.
>and deadlift because of soreness
Soreness is something you'll get used to. If it's only been a few weeks, give it a bit more.
>I am lucky to get more than 7 hours a day
Take naps. Take melatonin. Get your sleep schedule fixed. Drink night-time tea, there's a million methods. But worse than not sleeping is NOT EATING. If you're UNDER-EATING you're never going to fully recover. If you want to get big and strong, you need to fricking eat. 200g protein a day minimum.
If you can't fall asleep in bed at night, you should be making yourself chocolate milk with protein powder and a peanut butter sandwich to get the fricking nutrients into your system. Make that your new rule from now on.
Got it
I think I'm going to post my Squat on the ss forum but I think I'm doing them alright after I fixed a few things like doing them too fast, as you mentioned, and my stance was too wide so I couldn't reach depth, etc.
I eat about 3500-4000kcal. It's not much and I think I need to up that very soon
Post it on the SS forum anyway. The coaches there know what they're doing far better than myself or any fricko on this forum. There's always going to be something wrong with your form. Always. There's always something you can do better. So just ask them.
>I eat about 3500-4000kcal.
How do you know? Do you track calories? I thought I was getting 4,000 a day but in reality it was 3300. I noticed when my bulk plateaued. Prioritize protein over calories. Your grams of protein should equal your goal weight. My goal weight was 220lbs, so I aimed to get 220-230g of protein daily. It's hard. It's really fricking hard to be consistent, but so worth it. The only sugar I'd allow is chocolate sauce in chocolate milk for extra calories. Get everything else as cleanly as possible. You're going to feel better on a diet of 3000 calories with 250g of protein then you will on a diet of 4500 calories with 150g of protein. Protein is what'll make the difference. Keep going. You're gonna make it, then you can do all the other moronic shit IST wants you to do, but actually get results from it. (Imo, I'd just stick with texas method modified with hypertrophy bench days to get a decent physique)
I use myfitnesspal to track my food intake
The amount of fat I'm eating is scary. I'm worried of becoming fat. The only sugar I'm getting is from milk and peanut butter aswell as bananas and other fruit
Top left is me at my heaviest (212lbs). Top right is me at now (190lbs). I started at 160lbs. See how I'm not even flexing and you see my abs? You're not going to become fat. All the losers on fit only say that because they've never lifted. You sound like a tall'un. I'm 6'1 (185cm) so tall'uns like us have the insane privilege of being able to eat whatever and it'll hardly change our appearance.
But you will get some chub. That's normal. That's temporary. And that's life. But it's part of muscular growth. Once you accept that you're going to get a slightly higher bf, you learn to appreciate your body so much more. Everybody wants to be a twink their whole life, and it holds them back because they never bulk or get strong. They stay weak. They stay tiny. Just accept that fat gain is part of muscular gain, but nobody's asking you to get fat. That's why I say go for protein over pure carbs/calories. Plus the minor chub you do get comes off in literal weeks. It took me 6 weeks to cut down from 212-190, and that was WITHOUT trying. I'm not a bodybuilder, I never even trained for size, I train to rock climb, so the weight came off naturally as a result of that.
Anon, you have so much potential. Just do this stupid shit for 4 months. You don't even have to gain 52lbs like I did, but gaining weight will allow you to grow. You won't look fat. You'll look fuller. You'll look like a fricking man for once in your life.
Thank you for your encouraging words
Did you ever do power cleans?
There's a starring strength coach in my city but his lessons are so expensive
You should keep going. Make sure your form's good, up the weight until you can't do the full set. Do that for a session - hit failure in a power rack or close to it at least - and record yourself if you can. See where your form falters, feel where your muscles end up sore after (same and next day, think about how long shit takes to process lol), and address that. If your main muscles outside the core are what are sore, then your core is probably strong enough for the compounds you're doing, and your weak point is likely in those other muscles. As such, you should do some auxiliary movements that isolate those muscles on the same day you do the compounds, also to near failure, to get them up to speed.
Nope. Wrong again. https://startingstrength.com/article/form-creep
Just because form breakdown occurs DOESNT mean you need to add other auxiliary lifts. Try again twink. God, Mark Rippetoe has an article for every single moronic thing people say on these forums. It's almost as if he's been exposed to the moronation that's infected the fitness industry for 30 years.
Mostly from him
work your core, you will regret it if you don't
hanging leg raises, planks, hollow body hold
just learn to brace, my core is sore after every gym session, even if I'm only doing cables, cause I'm always braced
Soreness is not an indicator for hypertrophy. Progress is. End of story.
Btw number one goal always is avoiding wear and tear. I recommend a beginner to never do complex compound movements that involve the spine till failure. Just not worth the risk.
If you haven't got the book you should. There are lots of lil gems in there to help you nail form and mechanics down so you don't frick up.
why are you asking this question? why would it be normal or not normal? if you deadlift 10000kg and squat 70000kg but dont feel soreness in your core, okay? so what? like i dont get it. are you making progress? are you injured? if things are going fine, then just shut the frick up and stop trying to create imaginary problems.
Lucky you.
First time I did deads, I couldn't sleep at night because of my core.
The first time I ran the LP I had lots of soreness in adductors and elbows. Form related problems...
Don't have much pain at all going through another run through after several years layoff.
The books ( I own the entire collection ) are a valuable tool and should be in any mans home library.
Looks like your average SA disciple on the right
OP - don't do it. you'll just get fat.
throw the blue book in the trash can.
to think the fat man baited another sucker in this day and age
Get off SS, get on GZCLP
You'll feel core activation when the Deads and Squatz get heavier.
if SS doesn't make you fat what about the legions of people who did SS only to become really fuggen fat...or mark rippetiptoe himself?
The people getting fat doing SS are the people who'd get fat anyway. Gaining fat isn't the same thing as getting fat.
>or mark rippetiptoe himself?
Do I seriously need to explain why the way a 65 year old fat guy looks in no way affects his coaching and methods?
>REeee, my coach isn't swole so everything he knows is wrong
The way programming on the barbell works has been known for awhile now. How rip looks doesn't fricking matter. The program works. That's all I give a shit about. Twinks need to learn to understand that. But they won't. They'll just type,
>Reeee it gets you fat, do SL 5x5 and 3 sets of 10 on bench
then wonder why they haven't benched more than 2 plates after 3 years.
Yeah SS coaching is expensive af in person, but highly recommended if you can afford it. Nowhere can you b***h about all your fitness questions than to those guys. They'll answer all your questions and make sure you never get hurt lifting. For those who haven't realized it, yes I literally paid for SS coaching, worth every penny.
>Did you ever do power cleans?
Not seriously, no. They're part of the program but honestly unless you get coached on it, replace it with a light deadlift day or rack pulls. The power cleans can ACTUALLY frick you up if you don't know what you're doing, and it's damn near impossible to teach yourself them.
>why the way a 65 year old fat guy looks in no way affects his coaching and methods?
you should, because he looks like shit and only looked good when he was pumping steroids 40 years ago.
Two Q's:
>what can you do for a groin strain? it hurts when I stretch or contract the iliopsoas, most significantly during lat PDs, the contraction of the iliopsoas to brace against the knee pads (resisting the weight pulling you off the seat) causes pain
>what muscles would you strengthen and what would you stretch to fix a foot turning out to one side after an ankle sprain? I did the NHS physio meme exercises and it didn't work. the toes of my right foot point out about 45 degrees and if I consciously straighten them my knee rotates inwards. if I straighten it too, my hips turn
You may have inguinal hernia
You need to have it checked via ultrasound
Oh no
So the fact there's no lump (visible or palpable) doesn't rule out a hernia?
Having a lump is usually an advanced stage of inguinal hernia
It's almost impossible to be sure without getting checked by a doctor with an ultrasound unit
OK, thanks. Are my heavy squat and deadlift days over if it is?
If it doesn't hurt you can do them for now.
You're going to have to take 3-4 weeks off of lifting after surgery. You will be able to lift heavy again.
Look up the starting strength forums. There are several threads with good info regarding recovery if you search on Google.