Simo - The Red Shoe Diaries (Part 1)

Movement helps me. A good warm up on my day off from lifting can go a long way. It can be a bit painful getting started but it’s worth it.

That is the thing, my legs are usually very tight and sore but if I hang out in the prayer squat position for while they loosen up. But even with walking, foam rolling and other movement to flush some blood through the muscle soreness is still lasting 4-5 days.

Do you take any BCAAs? They’re supposed to help and I drink them liberally.

When I finally started playing college basketball I had crippling leg soreness. I used a concoction of protein, Gatorade, and glutamine to help me recover between practices. It’s hard to tell if it helped or if I just got in better shape.

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No bcaa other than what’s in the protein I eat or drink. I do use some creatine, some DAA, magnesium, vit d3, glucosamine and fish oil. Wife says I rattle when I walk !!

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Monday 9th April

Micro 3 week 1 - Squat and bench

Squat
Bar x 10
65 x 10
87.5 x 8 x 4 sets
RPE 5, 5, 6, 6
Legs felt good, only thing that would have limit more reps was my lungs running out of puff !!

Bench
Bar x 10
65 x 8
80 x 8 x 4 sets
RPE 7, 8, 8, 8
Good pressing tonight, nice and smooth, long pause on last rep of each set. Left shoulder a little sore but didn’t effect the sets.

Row
75 x max x 4 sets
12, 12, 12, 8 (ran out steam)
Superset with
Inc bench
60 x max x 4 sets
12, 12, 11, 10

Upright row 25kg x 20 x 2 sets
Superset with
hanging leg raise 15 x 2 sets

Good sesh tonight. I ate dinner early with the kids which was a mistake because I felt like throwing up for most of the workout. Got through it without a chunder so all good.

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Vomit, to our American and Canadian friends.

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Lol yer sorry, forgot that was a Aussie saying. 12 years ago I would have said puke or spew.

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Weighed myself today and was 85.6kg, another 700g gain from just a few days ago. Looks like a few beers and lots of good food over the weekend have added a bit of bloat. Time to embrace the bulk.

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I’m happy to see that other people are suffering through sets of 8 on squats too. Feels like high reps to me!

Yep feels like that to me too!

Thursday 12th April - micro 3 week 1

Deadlift and OH press

Deadlift
Bar x 10
65 x 8
105 x 8
117.5 x 8 x 3 sets
RPE 5 5 6
Pulled fast tonight and it felt good. Kept rest shorter too so lungs got a good workout too !!

OH press - band pull aparts between sets
Bar x 10
45 x 8
52.5 x 8 RPE 8 (had a coughing fit as I unracked the bar which made it a bit harder to press),
52.5 x 8 RPE 9 getting tough
52.5 x 8 RPE 9 urghhh
52.5 x 8 RPE 10 last rep was sloooow!
Was feeling pretty tired tonight. Press was tough tonight damn them high reps !!!

Pull ups - Max x 4
8, 8, 8, 8
Superset with -
Push ups - Max x 4
25, 20, 20, 20
Kept the rest short here and the reps a bit lower. Still got a great pump.

Hanging leg raise
20 x 2 sets
Superset with
hammer curl 12.5kg x 10 x 2 sets

This week was kind of a mini deload (or a slightly lighter session) to give the body time to heal and grow. Session still felt hard tonight but mostly because I was tired from a few shite days at work. Body still feels ok though so it’s all good.

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Found a good way to get a little bodyweight exercise today. I lift my 5 year old up onto my shoulders and do 10 full squats with him. The faster you go the more he likes it. Then as soon as I finished my daughter who’s nearly 7 wants a go. So I lift her up and do 10 more and as soon as I finish my 8 1/2 year old daughter wants her turn. 30 quick reps to flush some blood through the legs.
Once this is done my son then wants me to press him over head. He stands straight with his arms up like he is flying and I pick him up and strict press him. On the third rep he likes me to launch him in the air and catch him. Then the two girls want a turn and then my boy wants another turn so they all get 2 turns. There a nice 18 reps of press and my full body workout is done.

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I have done almost exactly this in the past. It’s pretty cool.

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It is, the kids laugh so much if you drop in real fast for the squats and love it when you launch them to the ceiling. Its good to be a dad.

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Glad im not the only one

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Super log man.

Thanks mate and welcome

Monday 16th April - micro 3 week 2
Squat and Bench

Squat
Bar x 10
65 x 8
85 x 5
100 x 5 x 5 sets
RPE 7 felt harder that it should, 7, 7 better set, 8, 9 got totally off balance at the bottom and had to fight it back up.
Kept the rests at around 2 mins tonight. Made it harder for sure!

Bench - band pull aparts between sets
Bar x 12
65 x 8
87.5 x 5 x 4 sets
RPE 7, 7, 7, 7
87.5 x 8 - should have been 5 but felt good so did 3 more and still had 1-2 more in me.

Row - 75 x max x 4
13, 12, 12, 12
Superset with
Inc bench - 60 x max x 4
13, 12, 12, 10 (finally ran out of steam !!)
Rows and inc bench flew up and down tonight . Quality

Upright rows
25 x 20 x 2

Pretty happy with the session tonight, legs were a little off and I would have liked the squats to feel easier but I still hit the reps so can’t be too upset. Bench moved really well tonight so I added a few more reps for good measure. Accessories moved real nice and gave me a great pump tonight. Now to feed and sleep !!

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A lot of the time when my squats just feel off it’s that I was being sloppy with my bracing.

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Funny you say that Mark. There were a few reps last night where My head travelled to far forward and my body wanted to fold in half. I don’t use a belt for any of my training at the moment but thinking I might add it for squats in the next block. Any tips on bracing without a belt ?