lower back strain - 5x5 or russian twists?

lisajtubs

so today was day 3 of my journey into 5x5 lifting. I did deep squats (only 30kg), OHP (20 kg) and rows (25 kg) I feel like my form was good for each exercise and I had no discomfort during any of the exercises. afterwards I did some upright leg raises, and russian twists. About 2 hrs later I have soreness in my lower back on the left hand side. Would people be inclined to think that the twists caused it rather than anything else? I have decided that I dont like doing them anyway.

me: female, 5'5", 142lbs, looking to lose another 16 lbs of fat and build/strengthen muscles.

should I stop doing the lifting until the discomfort is gone? it is fine standing, but seems worse if i sit for a while, or bend right over.

I am not going to bother seeing a Dr for some minor discomfort!

jhc7324

Without seeing a vid of your lifts its impossible to assess your form, so that could easily be the problem.

That said, you don't need to add other exercises to the 5x5 routine. The workout itself hits all of the muscles. Early on you probably feel like you're not accomplishing a whole lot with the relatively fast workout, but in a few weeks when the weights get heavier you'll be happy that you're "only" doing three lifts a day.

lisajtubs

you are so right!!! I added the extra exercises and then 20 mins of cardio, because it felt like I had done almost nothing. The exercsises felt challenging during the exercise (especially the OHP, was difficult to finish the last 3 sets), but thats it. Unless I do an hour of hard cardio or boxing training etc I dont feel like I have done anything. Even now i feel guilty, like i should head back out for a swim or something.

I guess this will change as the weights move away from the light ones i am on now!!

jhc7324

you are so right!!! I added the extra exercises and then 20 mins of cardio, because it felt like I had done almost nothing. The exercsises felt challenging during the exercise (especially the OHP, was difficult to finish the last 3 sets), but thats it. Unless I do an hour of hard cardio or boxing training etc I dont feel like I have done anything. Even now i feel guilty, like i should head back out for a swim or something.

I guess this will change as the weights move away from the light ones i am on now!!

I never did stronglifts, but the beginner program I used was similar. The first few weeks you'll feel like you're slacking off on the lifts. Use that time to focus on your form. Take vids of yourself, watch them back, compare it to vids of people you trust on the web (Mehdi @ 5x5, or any of Mark Rippetoe's videos are a good start), post them here and get feedback...

For the most part you won't notice any issues in your form until the weight starts getting harder for you to handle. Until then you can just kind of power through bad form and not have it impact much. But if you don't fix it early on, and keep getting to heavier weights you'll stall, or hurt yourself.

If you still feel the need to do more after your lifting workouts, do some cardio, but don't try to add other strength moves to a program that works as it is.

lisajtubs

thanks very much for your replies, i will see if I can get some videos of myself

Sam_I_Am77

It's very possible it could be anyone of those.

Squats: lean forward to much or use too much back to try and lift out of the hole

Press: hyper-extending your back

Row: Arching while bent over

Russian Twist: kinda' obvious