T Nation

Sore in the Wrong Places

Beginners
#1

First of all, my subject line sounded dirty. My bad.

Second, I’m hogging the forums lately - not sorry, I’m learning good stuff.

On to the question - yesterday I did my “back day.” My training included dumbbell pullovers, close grip pulldowns, machine rows, DB rows, and deadlifts. Today, though, I have no soreness in my lats (which I expected), but I’m not.

Today is suppose to be shoulders and delts in the gym, but my delts are sore today. I’m wondering if I did my workouts with correct form, or my weight wasn’t heavy enough…something. I just really anticipated feeling more soreness in my lats. Anyone experience this sometimes? Am I being a little paranoid about this particular workout, or do I need to revisit my form and such? Thanks.

#2

Paranoid though you may not be really getting the mind-muscle connection with your lats - which are one of the harder muscles to “feel” in my opinion. You don’t have to be sore to get a good workout or to have progress. Very rarely am I ever sore anymore yet consistently make progress. Don’t sweat the small stuff.

Eat big, Lift big, Get big.

#3

[quote]LiquidMercury wrote:
Paranoid though you may not be really getting the mind-muscle connection with your lats - which are one of the harder muscles to “feel” in my opinion. You don’t have to be sore to get a good workout or to have progress. Very rarely am I ever sore anymore yet consistently make progress. Don’t sweat the small stuff.

Eat big, Lift big, Get big.[/quote]

You dont get sore all the time because you arent a beginner.

Beginners should be sore all the time as their strength should be rapidly increasing.

OP the problem is not the weights are too light. the problem is that you arent targeting the lats.

Dumbell pullover is a horrible exercise and is why your shoulders are sore.

Straigh arm pulldowns from the lat tower with a rope is better for preexhausting the lats. Although I dont think beginners need to preexhaust, as strength gains shuold be the number 1 priority.

#4

[quote]BONEZ217 wrote:
Straigh arm pulldowns from the lat tower with a rope is better for preexhausting the lats. Although I dont think beginners need to preexhaust, as strength gains shuold be the number 1 priority. [/quote]

I agree, and am not arguing this.

HOWEVER, I will say that doing high-rep shit towards the beginning of my lat work (early on in my career) really helped me figure out how to hit the lats when the heavier sets came, and what not.

I generally tell people that pinpointing lats when doing back work is one of those things that’s tricky for people to do right off the bat. Again, just IMO.

#5

My lats never grew until I really learned how to feel them work. Straight arm pulldowns with light weight and a wide bar and narrow grip pulldowns with a big stretch at the top always help me make that connection.

#6

is there a reason you aren’t doing pullups?

For quite a long time pullups/chinups were the Only exercise I could feel my lats on.

#7

[quote]thogue wrote:
is there a reason you aren’t doing pullups?

For quite a long time pullups/chinups were the Only exercise I could feel my lats on.[/quote]

then you must have been doing all of the other stuff wrong. There is nothing inherently special about pullups. Great exercise but not irreplaceable by any means.

#8

[quote]atg410 wrote:
My lats never grew until I really learned how to feel them work. Straight arm pulldowns with light weight and a wide bar and narrow grip pulldowns with a big stretch at the top always help me make that connection.[/quote]

This is one of the things a lot of beginners seem to overlook. I know the importance of getting stronger with the exercises, but I’ve recently just started to focus on feeling the muscles getting worked and it’s been amazing.

#9

Thib’s lat pulldowns w/ the hanging leg raise straps really help be focus on the lats by taking grip and biceps out of the equation.

Link:

http://www.T-Nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/highperformance_mass_lats_and_biceps_fatigue_loading&cr=