Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

Question

1

So whenever I dead lift (standard, sumo, straight leg) my hamstrings are excessively sore for a few days. I can squat heavy with no problems but if I a do D/L's I limp around like an old man. I am sure I am a little tight in the hamstrings but I do stretch and do stuff I see on the mobility WOD. My general mobility isn't that bad I can squat to the ground easily and in good form and I am more limber then anyone I know. I have gone through times of D/Ling around twice a week to see if it would help but it didn't seem to. When I do D/L I am doing it in a 5x5 program so I am not going to my max every time or anything.

So what's up why do my hamstrings hurt so much?

Is this normal?

Is there a lifting program that may address this?

flag	asked Sep 7 2011 at 17:02 hammy 13●3

	Whenever i train legs( and do d/lifts, my hammies are always sore...your not alone :) – Ness Sep 7 2011 at 19:29
	This is normal. This is good. DLs (esp. SDLS and RDLs) hip hams hard and directly, squats don't. DOMS is your body speaking to you, telling you "I am not recovered yet." If you want a rule of thumb, don't train a bodypart until it has not been sore for at least a day--if you are training for hypertrophy and LBM gains... For you this might mean deadlifting once/week or once every 5 days... – Daniel Kirsner Sep 8 2011 at 8:50

WyldKard · Accepted Answer · 2011-09-07 17:26:09Z UTC

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What sort of warm-up do you do before jumping into your working weight?

In the context of the D/L, programs like Stronglifts 5x5 don't actually make you do 5x5 on the D/L, but rather 1x5 because you're already working a lot of the same muscles in the squat, and the D/L is more taxing. So if you're actually doing 5x5 on the D/L and still squatting several days a week, consider switching to a 1x5 on the D/L and see if that helps.

answered Sep 7 2011 at 17:26

WyldKard
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	As for a warm up I usually start with some air squats a little stretching. Then squat first starting off with a few rounds of low weight high rep(10-15) sets then get into working weight. Then If I am going to D/L I will do maybe o 1 or 2 sets of a low weight high rep. Then do a 5x5 at working weight. So you are saying I should do 1 set of 5 reps or 5 sets of one rep. Either way that could make a huge difference thanks for the help. – hammy Sep 7 2011 at 17:50
	Do one set of five reps at your working weight. Your warm-up is likely fine, but you may want to play around with a Starting Strength-style warm-up and see if it works better for you: 5 reps empty bar, 5 reps @40% working weight, 3 reps @60% working weight, and 2 reps @80% working weight. – WyldKard Sep 7 2011 at 19:32

FED at LiveCaveman.com · Answer 2 · 2011-09-07 18:34:26Z UTC

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Hammy, DOMS is highly correlated to the eccentric phase of a lift. Soreness is also unnecessary in order for you to get stronger, so the simple answer is to eliminate the negative portion of the deadlift.

Set up as normal, pull to full hip extension, and drop the weight.

Voila, a concentric only deadlift that will almost certainly leave you NOT sore.

The only issue is whether or not you workout in a legit power/olympic lifting gym. I know that PF gyms have a "lunk alarm" or some other such BS that goes off whenever a weight is dropped.

answered Sep 7 2011 at 18:34

FED at LiveCaveman.com
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	Actually I work out in my second floor apartment. So at least for now I won't be dropping any weights. But thanks for the info. Maybe I can rig something up. – hammy Sep 7 2011 at 18:47
	The eccentric portion is the most productive portion of any lift. One of many studies: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11834103 – Daniel Kirsner Sep 8 2011 at 8:57
	It is the "most productive" and also the most damaging on a cellular level. The original poster was experiencing debilitating muscle soreness "limping around like an old man", so this would be the most effective strategy for mitigating that soreness while still training deadlifts. – FED at LiveCaveman.com Sep 8 2011 at 12:19

dlb · Answer 3 · 2011-09-07 17:36:48Z UTC

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One word and google it. DOWNWARD DOG! :-)

answered Sep 7 2011 at 17:36

dlb

community wiki

Thanks I actually have a lot of experience with yoga and do downward dog once or twice a day. – hammy Sep 7 2011 at 17:51

peter · Answer 4 · 2011-09-08 07:52:39Z UTC

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Have you tried BCAA? I find them fantastic for recovery. Go for a walk the same day for about 1/2 an hour as well. I also find that helps.

answered Sep 8 2011 at 7:52

peter
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hack my sore hamstrings

4 Answers