Am I doing this right?

danirosevoelkel

I'm practicing my form with either no weight or my little 5.8 lb bar and the squats are killing me! I did maybe 3 sets 5 and the whole fronts my thighs and the backs of my thighs are killing me, ouch.. are these the right places to be sore? hell there is no way I can do that with a 45 lb bar...

canadianlbs

sounds right to me. my first experience with squats was i don't know, just a couple of sets of them spread out through a circuit-training session, just body weight. i've been a cyclist for something like 10 years so it's not like my legs had been sitting on the couch all their life either. and still it took me almost a week to recover. the doms was insane.

the good news comes in two parts.

1. first-time doms is usually the worst that it ever gets. by quite a margin. so if you hang in there and don't let this stop you, you'll find yourself on the other side of the fence pretty soon, going 'did i really work out? because i thought i was doing it right but i don't feel anything' the next day. i practically swear this will happen for you.
2. if your quads AND your hamstrings hurt, i think that actually is an extremely good sign. a lot of people (me) start out very quad-dominant with squats, and that worked for me for a while because quads are strong. but as i started adding weight it really hasn't been good for my knees and i had to back up quite a bit and spend time re-learning to get the hamstrings and glutes into it. so it sounds to me kind of like you're getting it more right than i did when i first started.

you can do it with a bar ;-) don't worry about that part of it. you really can.

justmytype

canadianlbs wrote: »

first-time doms is usually the worst that it ever gets.

Agree completely. Only started about 3 months ago (with some dumbbells cause that's all I had) and was VERY sore at first. Now lifting much heavier weights I am only slightly sore the next day, but not even sore where it hurts really. Just a feeling that, yeah, I lifted last night. Actually I love the feeling!!

And you'll be surprised at how quickly you progress starting out. I started with dumbbells and doing goblet squats. Once I got a 45 lb bar and "tried" to use it for the first time I thought I was going to die! Now I use the bar alone for some warm-ups and it doesn't even feel like I'm lifting anything.

Keep at it! I'm still a newbie, but it's so empowering to see your strength increase week after week, and the ladies here are so awe-inspiring.

danirosevoelkel

Thanks guys! I used a foam roller last night and did some stretching so that helped.

Canadianlbs, I have heard how easy you can tear up your knees doing incorrect squats and so I've watched a ton of videos (on all the lifts pretty much lol) and read as much as I could about proper form. My husband said that since I was so sore, he thinks I got it right.

Justmytype, I really do enjoy the soreness, but I also like things like walking hahaha! It's not too bad today, but I am really afraid to do them again. But I will push through. I also didn't really warm up since it was right after work, I'm thinking that also had a lot to do with it.

Haven't even really got my gym membership yet but I'm signing up today... really nervous, but I'm in it and a little pain won't kill me.

Again, thank you! I was scared I was all wrong haha. You guys are great