Doms in legs only

squod

Can anyone shed light as to why I seem to only get DOMS in my legs. Never upper body and seldom lowerback. Is it just my bad luck or what?

Saturday was my first day back (lifting weights) since January sometime. Anyone shed some light on this phenomenon?

arybvtcw0eolkf

squod wrote: »

Can anyone shed light as to why I seem to only get DOMS in my legs. Never upper body and seldom lowerback. Is it just my bad luck or what?

Saturday was my first day back (lifting weights) since January sometime. Anyone shed some light on this phenomenon?

Just to tell you, your not alone.

I never get DOMS, anywhere except my legs & thats only if I haven't done squats for awhile & even at that its only for a few days then gone.

For me personally I put it down to staying hydrated and working on my flexibilty.

rubadub

I get wicked DOMs in my legs just from what I consider a normal workout, never in my upper body after a normal workout. If you want DOMs in your upper body try doing heavy negative only sets, that is about the only time I get DOMs in the upperbody, and savage ones at that, lasting days...

Dazd_N_Confusd

Why do people want DOMS? I only get it if I take a break from lifting. Then again I don't do 24 sets for each bodypart!

Brian?

I still get DOMs in my legs from squatting, not as bad as it used to be though. I seem to remember that its because of the concentric part of the lift being so long.

In other words every squat you do, you're doing a negative.

arybvtcw0eolkf

Dazd_N_Confusd wrote: »

Why do people want DOMS?

Battle scar's?.

Mark of a man?.

No idea, I'd rather not get sore from any training.

Brian?

Arianna Hollow Railway wrote: »

Battle scar's?.

Mark of a man?.

No idea, I'd rather not get sore from any training.

+1 to that man. I never understood going after DOMS, all it does is lengthen your recovery time and make stairs a nightmare.

squod

briankeating wrote: »

I still get DOMs in my legs from squatting, not as bad as it used to be though. I seem to remember that its because of the concentric part of the lift being so long.

In other words every squat you do, you're doing a negative.

That explains it, negatives.

briankeating wrote: »

make stairs a nightmare.

Took two paracetamol today as I couldn't get into teh car. Worth it, probably.

rubadub

briankeating wrote: »

In other words every squat you do, you're doing a negative.

I imagine doing proper negative only squats would leave you in bits, I never see anybody here mention doing them, I have seen videos on youtube though.

briankeating wrote: »

I never understood going after DOMS, all it does is lengthen your recovery time and make stairs a nightmare.

I would do heavy negatives if I know I will not be training for several days, so all the time is spent recovering and I do not feel bad for missing out -but I am not aching and it would be upperbody DOMs. I expect others might like them as they see it as a sign that they did work out hard. I think many people have a no pain no gain mentality, this is why I think negative only training is not more popular, people think it is cheating since it is so damn easy.

alfy101

what are DOM,S? I dont understand

rubadub

alfy101 wrote: »

what are DOM,S? I dont understand

Delayed onset muscle sorness. For some reason I keep forgetting that the S is for soreness and not a plural! so I keep writing DOMs instead of DOMS

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_onset_muscle_soreness

arybvtcw0eolkf

alfy101 wrote: »

what are DOM,S? I dont understand

Stands for Newbie :pac:

Brian?

rubadub wrote: »

I imagine doing proper negative only squats would leave you in bits, I never see anybody here mention doing them, I have seen videos on youtube though.

That is easily the worst leg training idea I've ever heard of. Not that I'm saying it doesn't work.

rubadub wrote: »

I would do heavy negatives if I know I will not be training for several days, so all the time is spent recovering and I do not feel bad for missing out -but I am not aching and it would be upperbody DOMs. I expect others might like them as they see it as a sign that they did work out hard. I think many people have a no pain no gain mentality, this is why I think negative only training is not more popular, people think it is cheating since it is so damn easy.

I am down with the heavy negative idea when you know you won't be training for a while. I think the normal everyday soreness from training is a good enough guide when training regularly though, its not pain but there is gain. Not as snappy a line though.

Noffles

The older I get the worse the DOMS get, I'm 40 now and this is the worst I've had DOMS ever. Did legs yesterday, squats etc and my legs are bloody killing me today.
I also get DOMS in my chest, Triceps, Traps really sore and to a lesser degree all other body parts...
I train 4 times a week and all muscle groups are hit.

Brian?

Noffles wrote: »

The older I get the worse the DOMS get, I'm 40 now and this is the worst I've had DOMS ever. Did legs yesterday, squats etc and my legs are bloody killing me today.
I also get DOMS in my chest, Triceps, Traps really sore and to a lesser degree all other body parts...
I train 4 times a week and all muscle groups are hit.

Do you foam roll, stretch and stay properly hydrated?

If you do, maybe you need to adjust your volume.

Inspector Coptoor

Im getting DOMS a lot more now that ive changed from doing heavy loads with a low rep range to moderate weight with a high rep range.

lubie76

I got the worst case of DOMS about 2 months ago after doing a few too many sets of straight leg deadlifts. It was solely in my hamstrings and lasted about 3 weeks. I honestly thought I had lost my flexibility for good and was really peeved because I love my Yoga and it took years of work to get that flexible. I was so happy when it subsided. I never thought DOMS would last that long.

Noffles

briankeating wrote: »

Do you foam roll, stretch and stay properly hydrated?

If you do, maybe you need to adjust your volume.

I do stretch and take plenty of water, not sure about this foam rolling though... can you elaborate?

But I have always trained hard, so i don't want to change the volume really.

ray jay

Liam Henners257 wrote: »

Im getting DOMS a lot more now that ive changed from doing heavy loads with a low rep range to moderate weight with a high rep range.

same here, I find low rep ranges produce no doms at all

noffles maybe you could switch to more sets of less (heavier) reps to maintain the volume while avoiding the pain

Noffles

ray jay wrote: »

same here, I find low rep ranges produce no doms at all

noffles maybe you could switch to more sets of less (heavier) reps to maintain the volume while avoiding the pain

Well I squat between 120 - 140 for about 5 reps, I think any lower than this would be pointless really..

rubadub

rubadub wrote: »

I imagine doing proper negative only squats would leave you in bits, I never see anybody here mention doing them, I have seen videos on youtube though.

briankeating wrote: »

That is easily the worst leg training idea I've ever heard of. Not that I'm saying it doesn't work.

I could think of worse leg training ideas, from the sounds of things most people in gyms are not even doing squats, many gyms do not even have a squat rack or cage. I find it really puzzling why so few people do negative work. The moment a guy says he cannot do chinups everybody is raving about how good negatives are, they helped me immensely I wish I had kept figures to compare to how my other exercises progressed.

Here is a bit on negatives by Arthur Jones, who I know is not popular with many, but still interesting. http://www.musclenet.com/arthurjonesarticles.htm

I think negatives are avoided for 2 main reasons,
1 -since people overdo them and end up in tatters. I am still not convinced about the theory that the negative causes more DOMs. I think people try to get the same intensity and so overdo them, if you go to failure on negatives you are almost guaranteed to be in bits the next day -so do not do it!
2. -They are far too easy to do, so people do not feel they are doing a real workout -like how some people might like DOMS to "know" they worked hard. Being too easy then goes back to point 1 again.

Brian?

rubadub wrote: »

I could think of worse leg training ideas, from the sounds of things most people in gyms are not even doing squats, many gyms do not even have a squat rack or cage. I find it really puzzling why so few people do negative work. The moment a guy says he cannot do chinups everybody is raving about how good negatives are, they helped me immensely I wish I had kept figures to compare to how my other exercises progressed.

I was half joking about the negative squats, I think they'd be a killer. Have you tried them? I imagine the setup is quite difficult, you'd need a spotter or do you drop the bar to pins once you're in the hole.

Negative chins are a gret intro to chins. What I did was negative chins to failure and then inverted rows as a super set.

rubadub wrote: »

Here is a bit on negatives by Arthur Jones, who I know is not popular with many, but still interesting. http://www.musclenet.com/arthurjonesarticles.htm.

I'll have a read of that when I have more time.

rubadub wrote: »

I think negatives are avoided for 2 main reasons,
1 -since people overdo them and end up in tatters. I am still not convinced about the theory that the negative causes more DOMs. I think people try to get the same intensity and so overdo them, if you go to failure on negatives you are almost guaranteed to be in bits the next day -so do not do it!
2. -They are far too easy to do, so people do not feel they are doing a real workout -like how some people might like DOMS to "know" they worked hard. Being too easy then goes back to point 1 again.

I don't think negatives when done properly are easy at all. Quite the opposite. Except for the intro to chins though, I only do them on isolation stuff like cable curls and pushdowns, for the exact reason that they seriously hamper my recovery time if done on any compound moves.

My understanding has always been that negatives are done with a weight you can't get more than 1 or 2 reps with. Sometimes not even 1 rep, like curling a DB 2 handed and controlling the negative 1 handed.

The only thing worse than that for DOMS for me is running the rack, something I do quite regularly for arms.

rubadub

briankeating wrote: »

I was half joking about the negative squats, I think they'd be a killer. Have you tried them?

I have never done normal back squats, I did do hip belt squat negatives but they are quite different and a bit of hassle.

briankeating wrote: »

I imagine the setup is quite difficult, you'd need a spotter or do you drop the bar to pins once you're in the hole.

Yeah, you would drop the bar to pins, or more like have the bars set just below the parallel point so you are not really dumping it or anything, just going below parallel so it rests on the bars. If you know it is coming it would not be such a big deal. It would be nice to have a spotter to help rerack it each time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNfOFn0Yznk

briankeating wrote: »

I don't think negatives when done properly are easy at all. Quite the opposite.

By easy I meant not seemingly taxing on the system when you do them, the technique for some exercises would be tricky alright, I have done negative dumbbell presses which are tricky. And by not taxing I am talking about doing them at the same actual intensity as normal exercise -not the the same apparent intensity. i.e. If you hooked up some machine that told you how stressed your muscles are I think you would breeze through negatives, like if you went to failure on 10 chins it might only take 15 negative only chins to mimic the same response as those 10, and I think this would be a breeze to most people. The problem is if you went to failure on the negative only reps I think you would have put far more stress on the muscles than going to failure on normal ones. e.g. You might be able for 25 negative only chins to failure while 15 might have equaled your 10 normal ones, so by doing 25 you have destroyed yourself, and gone well beyond your usual failure.

briankeating wrote: »

My understanding has always been that negatives are done with a weight you can't get more than 1 or 2 reps with.

I have read this a lot and this is no doubt why people end up destroyed from them! This again is people feeling the need to feel the same intensity as normal reps, and therefore overdoing them big time, stopping maybe 1-2 short of failure when it might be better to only do 60% of possible reps or 3-4 short of failure depending on reps being done. You see this on high intensity training discussions, lads puking between sets etc, going all out and having long recovery times -and greater risk of injuries. Just because you CAN do them with lots of weight does not mean you should or have to. These days I mainly do them extending a set. I could do maybe 10 weighted ring dips when I could have gone to 12, then I continue after 10 to do maybe 8 negatives, ring dip negatives are a favourite of mine as I find the concentric very hard stability wise, and I find the moving rings easier on the joints during the negative phase.

This is a Dorian Yates article on them
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0KFY/is_4_20/ai_98464560/

Negative-only training is one of those misconceptions that I caution neophyte bodybuilders about; rather than trying to complete a negative-only set -- something I would never do -- I preach the efficacy of applying the negative-reps (or reverse-gravity) principle to extend a set past failure.

Also a study on them https://www.rpfit.com/pdf/Negative_Case_Study.pdf