Simo - The Red Shoe Diaries Part 2.0

Training Training Logs
2582

Monday 28th April - week 7 (comp week)

Squat
Bar x 10
60 x 5
80 x 3
100 x 2
120 x 1
140 x 1 - nice speed
150 x 1 - still good speed
160 x 3 - third rep was tough
160 x 2 - first rep was good, second was slow. Felt it in my knee a little
160 x 1 - bit slow but ok
And that is it for heavy squats. Happy

Comp bench
Bar x 10
60 x 5
80 x 3
90 x 1
100 x 1
105 x 1
110 x 1 - moved pretty good.
100 x 5
Good benching today. Happy

Dips
7, 7
Just fluff

Dumbell row
35 x 8 x 2 sets
Just moving some blood

Rotator cuff work

Overall a good little session. Squats feeling solid enough and bench felt light. Quality

Squats

https://youtube.com/shorts/zjqTJ9X7nFE?si=Xem9N9IFLNulCyhc

Bench warm ups

Bench

16 Likes
2583

Way to fight through those squats! Excellent work.

1 Like
2584

I know they were tempo, I am talking in general, you grind through some tough sets on squats. :+1:

Nice work again today. That 160 x 3 was a tough set. :flexed_biceps:

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2585

Thanks mate that means a lot. I am not the worlds fastest squatter and often after the first rep my mind is telling me to rack it. But I have found I can usually get another 1 or 2 reps if I just suck it up.

That set of 3 last night, I have the left spotter strap on the mono lift a little too short and it pulled the bar a little at the bottom. It threw the weight to the right hand side which was a little off putting. You can see me look at during the set to try and work out what is going on. I managed to make it a little longer and not step back as far on the other sets so it didnā€™t interfere. It was a tough set, equals a rep PR from last year so I was pretty happy.

8 Likes
2586

The extra 1 or 2 reps is what I like to see. You definitely inspired me to push my workouts harder. I was leaving reps in the hole and seeing you take another couple reps made me realize it. Cheers and thanks. :flexed_biceps::+1:

1 Like
2587

I have @wiseman83 who has been coaching me for a while now to thank for that. He noticed pretty early on that I would over state my RPE on heavy sets. This helped me realize that I was leaving reps too. Itā€™s harder to leave reps when coach programs them and tells you to do your job. LOL

6 Likes
2588

It always helps when you have someone to keep you accountable. :+1:

2 Likes
2589

He just outworks everyone. And is very humble about it.

Iā€™ve tried to kill him several times. Keeps coming back.

8 Likes
2590

Wednesday 30 April - week 7 (comp week)

Deadlift
120 x 3 x 3 sets
All easy reps

Bench
90 x 5 x 2 sets
Moved pretty good.

Hammer row
40 x 6 x 2 sets

Pull ups
3, 3, 3

Rotator cuff work

Easy session just to keep everything greased. Had to help a mate move a piano before I went to the gym. It was heavy as fk. Lower. Back didnā€™t really lo e that. Couple of days rest now and then comp day on Saturday.

15 Likes
2591

We coming.

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2592

Good luck brother!!

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2593

Different rack from your normal place, did you get a new gym?

2 Likes
2594

Make sure to eat some extra veggies for the next couple days and go out there full Beast Mode on Saturday! Good Luck and HAVE FUN!!!

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2595

Same gym mate. The other racks were being used so I squatted in one of the three mono lifts that we have. I donā€™t use them very often but sometimes itā€™s good to mix things up.

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2596

Good luck this morning, lad.
LFG.

1 Like
2597

Sat 3 May

APL (Australian powerlifting league) comp today.

I actually took a day off work on Friday. I went to the gym where the meet was being held (about 1 hour from my home) and weighed in for the meet, set rack heights and give my opening lifts.
I was Competing in the 90KG class which meant no real dieting for me, although I did cut down the late night snacks for the last few weeks. I weighted in at 89.2KG in my shorts and t shirt. Bang on.
Set the rack heights for squat and bench which meant I got to feel the bar and bench which is always nice to do before hand.

Up early on Saturday morning, I was in the morning session so needed to be at the gym by 8:00 for the athlete briefing. Got my son up too and be willingly came to watch and support.

Got to the gym on time, found a spot to lay me bag. There were two flights in the morning session, women and light weight menā€™s classes. Women were up first so it meant I had about an hour and a half before I needed to work up for squats. Spent that time chatting to a few other competitors and some people
I know from other comps.
Soon it was time to warm up, there were plenty of bars to warm up so it was really easy to go through my warm up lifts and spread them out. Hit my last warm up at 150 with about 10 mins to go, moved well.

First squat 160KG. This is a weight. I know I can triple so wasnā€™t worried.

Walked out got tight under the bar, waited for the squat command and then just sunk it real deep. Came but up nicely. Happy. Always nice to just get a squat on the board. Great start but things didnā€™t go so well after this.

Took 172.5KG for my second which would be a 2.5KG Comp PR. I was confident that I could squat this. Walked out, unracked the bar, got right, waiting for the squat command. Sunk this one deep too but just a little too reel. Fought it for a bit in the whole bit it wasnā€™t coming up. Spotters did a great job and helped me out.

Took 172.5 for my third. I knew I could squat it if I didnā€™t sink too deep. Squatted down,
Hit depth (so I thought) and up it came. I was happy with it, looked up Nope - 2 red lights for depth. It was bloody close but no point worrying about it. Move on.

Bench was next. Took 110KG for an opener, I knew this would be easy but wanted the confidence, and benching to command is always different. I didnā€™t use a handler for bench preferring to unrack myself like I do in the gym. I un racked the bar and waited for the start command. But instead I was told to
Re-rack it. The judge came over and told me to make sure my arms were properly locked out at the start. Looks like this old man was cheating with slightly bent arm. LOL.
So I started again, un racked, got the start command, lowered slowly paused, got the press command and it flew up, waited for the rack command and done.
Decided to take 115 for my second, this was me being very conservative. In my last 2 Meets I have jumped to 120 for my second and ended up missing it and again for my third. No way I was going to do that again.
115 for the second was like clock work, very easy press for a 2.5KG comp PR.
Took 120KG for my third and it moved really well. Bang another PR, happy days.

Onto deadlift which is alway the easiest lift as it has far less technical rules.

Took 190 for an easy opener. No problems at all.

Took 202.5KG for my second which was a 2.5KG comp PR. This was a really nice pull,
Heavy but smooth and not in any doubt.

Selected 207.5KG for my third and last lift of the day. And boy did I want this one.

Walked out, set feet, big breath, brace, grip the bar, drop the hips and pull. It came off the ground ok but it was slow. In my head I was just saying ā€˜pull harderā€™. Legs got a good shake on but it kept moving, locked it out, waited for the down signal, put the bar down and waited for the lights. Three white lights.
Fkn Quality. This was a comp and all time deadlift PR. Awesome.

Squat 160
Bench 120
Deadlift 207.5
Total - 487.5KG.

This was a 7.5KG comp PR for me. Canā€™t ask for more than that.
Thanks @wiseman83 defff couldnā€™t do this without you in my corner.

https://youtu.be/nHA06kgJYzI?si=Syc5HFnEZfmZRiRA

24 Likes
2598

Hard work and consistency, you exemplify both and the results are there for all to see!

Absolutely fantastic, well done Simo! Great write up as well, always love reading these sort of things. Video was great as well, looking solid in a singlet!

Massive congrats on the lifetime meet and deadlift PRs.

2 Likes
2599

Thanks Alex, I had to turn a lot of the sound off because of stupid YT copyright stuff. Glad it still came out ok. Just need to fix my knee and get squat more sorted and Iā€™ll be even more happy.

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2600

Great work old fella.

That bench thing always annoys me, because guys with ā€œdodgyā€ elbows would get the ok to lift that wayā€¦then have no issues locking out at the end of the lift. Used to shit me. :joy:

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2601

I didnā€™t know why she told me to rack it, I thought it was a bit silly but it didnā€™t affect the lift anyway.

2 Likes