i cant squat at all

[SirIsaacBrock]

so Ive been trying to get into lifting weights, Ive been at it now probably three weeks, doing the stronglifts 5x5 and trying to eat 3k or so calories a day of mostly clean food, ground beef, tuna, pasta, oats, natty pb, whole grain breads, fruits and veggies etc.

my bench, overhead press, bb rows, and deadlifts have all seen gains and I am seeing gains in size as well without any real fat gain so I know I am on the right track. Im drinking a few litres of water a day and taking animal pak and flex, a long with a whey protein supplement. Im hitting between 1-1.5g of protein per day

the thing is, my legs are dead. I had to skip squats all last week because my legs hurt too much, like serious stabbing pains in my quads as I tried to even just squat my body weight. At this point im pretty much just trying to squat the bar, but I can only do a few sets of 5 before they feel like theyre going to die. Ive tried laying off them and letting things heal, but I waited like a week and then I lifted at half the previous weight and they still got crazy sore.

I was pretty sedentary for a while, and I am a huge lightweight.. Ive been walking a lot more and thats made my legs sore too I suppose..

I guess I just want to know is this normal? I feel like squatting 3x a week is never going to be possible.. I cant seem to go as 'hard' as I can on every other exercise, barely pounding out the last set..

I need that natural HGH runnin through my veins but I cant seem to squat at all without serious doms for a long time. All my other muscles are sore as fuck the next day but by day2 they're good for another beating.

Should I just do the squats like once a week until my legs work in if they ever do, and just keep the other exercises up? right now im lifting far more on every other exercise.. its pretty embarassing to say the least

 

[bluetoolpaul]

If u've only been lifting 3 wks ur body isn't even used to the movements yet. U don't need to be concerned at all w/ how much weight ur using but using correct form. Believe me when I say this, u will save urself from a ton of injuries and pain if u focus on the form ur using and 'feeling' each rep. Ur diet sounds good. Scrap the 5x5 wrkout. Start w/ a 3x10 on al lifts for right now, it'll be a lot easier on ur joints if u do.

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[micanovic]

When I started squatting I would be sore for a week and would wait that long to do it again. Over time technique improved, but the main thing that helped speed up recovery and make gains was eating more food. Lots of meat and milk. I don't know how much you weigh or how many calories you should eat, but it is a number higher than 3000cal for your workout program.

 

[SirIsaacBrock]

im 130lbs pretty much.. Ive hit as high as 4k per day but I don't want to go overboard and become skinny fat.. ive done the caloric needs calculators based on moderate exercise and they all pegged me around 22-2500 cals a day, adding another thousand that puts me around 3500~

I got blasted for drinking milk on here before so I didnt even mention it but I try to drink around a litre a day

my daily meals go something like this:

breakfast:
(loosely somewhere around 500-600cals with 45~g protein)
1+1/3cup large flake oats
2tbsp pb
1 scoop whey

mid morning:
pb sandwich, or a tuna/egg salad sandwich (ill make a huge batch and just bring it to work with me and a loaf of bread, pretty much eating whenever hunger strikes, along with pb if I am runnin low on tuna/egg salad)

lunch: apple, two more sandwiches

mid afternoon: same shit, or another thing of oatmeal (I just put the same as I have for breakfast in a little tub and then just add boiling water.. does the trick)

dinner: this is where I feast, 1-1.5k cals, typically Ill have pasta and ground beef.. Ill eat up to a pound of ground beef if Im not tryin to conserve food, or something like basmati rice and 1-2 chicken breasts, peas, corn etc, I make sure its a good healthy dinner anyway

later on ill just have some more pb, even more oatmeal

after workouts I slam a shake of just water and whey, sometimes ill throw in a banana if I have em..

now you may think thats a lot of sandiwches and I guess maybe it is. I eat only ancient grains bread (thank god I got over white bread, that shit sucsk!), and Ill layer the pb on till its oozing out, and the tuna sandwiches well.. sometimes I'll pretty much have an entire can of tuna on a sandwich :rofl:.. its spread out more though when I make my egg/tuna salad, I throw in green onions, pickles and shredded carrot

add in various quantities of milk, mostly with breakfast and dinner and im hittin pretty good numbers I think :dunno: I dont eat any sweets or chips or anything like that at all, no soda or even juice really.. just water and milk.

 

[training700]

Milks always good!! Yeah would agree that a 3x10 more straight forward basic kinda workout 3 or 4 days a week would be better for you. Squating 3 days a week is a bitch if ur that in experienced and also when you get advanced enough that you can push too much weight for 3 days a week

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[SirIsaacBrock]

I dunno how much more basic than the 5x5 you can get
workout a: squat 5x5 bench 5x5 bb row 5x5
workout b: squat 5x5 overhead press 5x5 , deadlift 1x5

with of course having a warmup set for each exercise at half weight

I guess Ill just keep the squat till once a week until my legs are conditioned enough. Im seeing improvement each time I workout on every other lift so I know its workin good.. im a weak ass and this is a strength program and I did a shitload of research before I settled on the 5x5 so I know its for me.

 

[micanovic]

Have you read Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe? You can buy it or find it in PDF form on many torrent sites.

 

[bluetoolpaul]

5x5 is very basic if you've been lifting awhile. 3 wks is not awhile. U have to get ur muscles used to the exercise. If they're not used to it, u barely being able to do 5 reps of evry set will promote bad form and increase ur risk of joint or ligament injury. That's why you use a lighter weight for sets of 10 so ur muscles become accustomed to the movement.

Lifting weights, while very basic and far from rocket science, also require respect for what ur doing and what ur trying to get out of it to avoid serious injury. If u feel 5x5 is the best thing for u, stick w/ it and see where it takes you. However, in my experience, lighter weight and higher reps are best for a beginner.

Btw, if ur having trouble w/ squats, do bodyweight squats, reps of 25-30 to get used to the movement. Then get dumbells when u get used to it, then move t th bar ad then start adding weight to the bar. I can't tell u how many people I see at the gym w/ terrible form , load waaaaaay too much weight on the bar bc they never learned to do the movement correctly.





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[training700]

Ya sounds like not used to it/possible off on ur form squats are not as natural a movement for a lot of ppl I know when I first started felt so unnatural and difficult it still sucks now but in a good way and don't gotta think about a thing can just hit it.

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[lweaver]

I would just continue to perform the squats as prescribed in the program, even if the weight needs to be light. Take as much time between sets as you need in order to prepare yourself for the lift. If the weight is getting heavy for you, 3-5 mins of rest or even more between sets isn't unheard of.