Simo - The Red Shoe Diaries Part 2.0

[LoRez]

@antiquity

I live in Northern California now, where most folks are relatively healthy and active.

I’m in southern Washington and the same here. But I grew up mostly in various parts of the midwest, and saw/see the same as you. Can be hard to watch friends/family struggle with this stuff. Local culture matters a lot more than people give it credit for.

I think some of it is just “weather-tolerance”. No matter the weather there are always people out and about here, but the midwest mostly shuts down at anything less than “sunny and warm”. I don’t think you have to go outside to be healthy and non-sedentary, but it helps.

[simo74]

@antiquity in Australia most kids play sport, the weather and life style is very given to outdoor activities and lots of people spend time outdoors or at the beach. There are gyms everywhere and new ones open all the time. But even with that most people are still over weight. Access to high calorie food, a drinking culture and just more people doing jobs that involve no movement or manual work whatsoever, mean the population is just getting fatter. If you spend time at the beach or places where people are active then yes you will see fit people but go to the shopping centre (Mall) and you see the real state of the nation.

[FlatsFarmer]

“Proper Jacked?”

[simo74]

Monday 1 Jan 2024

Squat
Bar x 10
60 x 5
80 x 3
100 x 3
110 x 10 x 3 sets (242 lbs)
These were hard work. Lungs pumping hard. Legs and lower back pump. Only 10lg more than last week but these were hard work. Still a little leg stiffness from last week but that was gone after the warm ups.

Dumbell bench
32.5 x 5
37.5 x 5
42.5 x 5
47.5 x 5 (105 lbs) last rep was slow but pretty happy with how well these moved.
37.5 x 10 - big papa pump
Nice to really get the upper body working.

Dips - BW - 3 sets
11, 11, 11

Tricep push downs
1 giant drop set - lots of reps

Cable bicep curls
1 giant drop set - lots of reps

Pump pump pump and more pump. Happy new year.

@FlatsFarmer thanks for that, I needed that laugh.

[bigpappafrance]

Whats the direction are you taking with training?

[FlatsFarmer]

Goody Gumdrops.

[simo74]

That’s a great question Rob. For this week I am just doing some volume to keep the body working and fill the time. Next week I am away on vacation so wont train much at all other than some body weight squats and push ups.

When I get back the plan is to move into a 6 week hypertrophy phase. This will likely be some sort of 531 and Mass made simple love child. Amrap work and high rep squats. After this phase I will switch back into some volume work and start to bring back in all the conditioning work and strongman Saturdays.

I will most likely compete in either strongman , powerlifting or both again this year. I just done have anything locked in yet.

[simo74]

OK so after a bit of thought and some chatting with @wiseman83 I have the first block of 2024 worked out. I will get one more training session in this week, just some more pump work to keep everything greased. Next week I will be on family vacation so will not do any real training. Probably some body weight squats and push ups just to keep the body moving. Planning a lot of activities with the family so will be active all week anyway. The following week when I get back will be a primer week where I can move some weight and work through any doms before I start for real.

I am going to be running a 6 week hypertrophy block. This block is inspired in some ways by Mass made Simple from Dan John. I blame both @T3hPwnisher and @wiseman83 equally, for that book recommendation. It will include complexes, strength work and high rep squats but I wont be following the exact programming as written in the book.

For the strength work I am going to use 531 progression, with 5’s pro (5 reps each set) and will keep the Amrap on the last set. For the high rep squats I will use a combination of 30 rep sets and 50 reps in as few sets as possible.

I will have 3 lifting days in the gym a week, 2 days will be the MMS 531 love child, the third day will be a pure accessories bodybuilding style workout (that’s just for @TrainForPain), where I can work on weak areas, or areas that don’t get enough volume in day 1 and 2.
I will have a fourth day in the gym which will be a loaded carry and conditioning day, and I will add in strongman Saturday sessions with the sandbag or log. The other 2 days a week I will try and still do some sort of movement, probably weight vest walks, swings or burpees.

It looks a bit like this:

Day 1 (Monday)

Warm up with complexes (from MMS)
SSB Squat (use 531 progression % but keep 5 reps for all sets - 5’s pro) - Amrap the last set
Bench press (use 531 progression % but keep 5 reps for all sets - 5’s pro) - Amrap the last set
High rep squat - one set of 30 reps
Triceps (dips and something else)

Day 2 (Wednesday)
Warm up with complexes (from MMS)
Deadlift (use 531 progression % but keep 5 reps for all sets - 5’s pro) - Amrap the last set
Overhead press (use 531 progression % but keep 5 reps for all sets - 5’s pro) - Amrap the last set
high rep squat - 50 reps minimum sets (from MMS )
pull ups
biceps

Day 3 (Thursday)
Loaded carry and conditioning

Day 4 (Friday)
Big accessory / BB day. Lots of machines / dumbells

hammer inc press
hammer pull overs
Seal rows
dumbell rows, heavy high rep
dumbell shrugs
good morning machine

Day 5 (Saturday)
Strongman - Going to try and get my son training with me on this day too.

No idea how it will go, I am expecting it to be painful and am expecting to need to consume a lot of food. I’ll log it all here and tweak as I go if necessary. Wish me luck.

[TrainForPain]

That looks like a ton of fun. Maybe even enough variety for my squirrel brain. I like the daily focus - very cool.

[simo74]

Feel free to jump on board or make changes mate. It should be fun but also I am expecting it to kick my butt

[simo74]

A few of you who read my log will know about the challenges I have had with my son and his ADHD and ODD. 2023 was a pretty good year for him, the medication is working well and his schooling progressed well albeit with some hiccups along the way. He is generally a much happier kid and that makes for a lower stress household.
The one challenge we still have with him is eating enough food and his weight. He has never been a big eater and the medication is known for suppressing appetite even further. We weighed him yesterday and for his age and height he is in the 1 percentile in terms of weight. He is so skinny, he had ab veins and almost translucent skin.
He has become more interested in weight lifting, muscles and strength in general lately and I credit Arnie movies and The Rock movies for this, and maybe just a little bit of him seeing what his dad does. He has been watching a lot of them lately and started doing random push ups and flexing his biceps, LOL.

I plan to get him to start doing some training with me on strongman Saturdays when we get back from holiday. But I am very concerned that he just doesn’t eat enough to fuel any kind of training.

He is usually good at eating breakfast but mostly cereal, he rarely eats his school lunch, just eats a packet of chips and a biscuit and leaves everything else. I have tried just giving him boiled eggs or just meat because he doesn’t like sandwiches but it is very hit and miss. Also if you give him the same thing too often he goes off it.

I made some protein balls last night, from oats, protein powder, syrup, peanut butter and rolled in coconit. He ate a couple and said he liked them. Hoping he will eat some more today and this is something we can include into his lunches as a good high calorie snack.

So what was the point of this post. Well I need some help. I need high calorie food and snack ideas that are easy to make and a 10 year old will eat. I don’t care at this stage if it has chocolate and other sweet things in it, this is about getting him to eat - period. Obviously it would be good if it was also nutritious but happy to blend sweet with healthy-ish to just get him adding some weight.

Tagging a bunch of you that have spoke with me about the kids or know stuff about food. Any one I missed please feel free to jump in.

@TrainForPain @wiseman83 @jdm135 @SvenG @ChickenLittle @QuadQueen @Chris_Shugart @T3hPwnisher @Dani_Shugart @alex_uk

[T3hPwnisher]

Really appreciate the tag man.

Are liquid calories an option?

Does your kid like barbarian Movies/stories? You might be able to get him excited about eating meat off the bone like a barbarian. Especially with barbarian style strongman training. Make an event of it. Cook it over fire after strongman training and feast.

[simo74]

Liquid calories are deff an option, he will drink a smoothie or a milk shake. He does take some milk shake cartons to school that are like milk cereal smoothie, we thought that would be a good idea to add some calories but really he just drinks that and doesn’t eat the food. I am OK with that because at least he gets some nutrients but ideally he would have the shake and his lunch.

I love the idea of cooking something together on the Grill after training, can deff include that. He has not watched Conan yet. He watched The Running Man with me last night, but Predator is still his favorite.

[SvenG]

Thanks for the tag, @simo74. I’m happy to read of the progress he made last year!

Both my kids (daughter, 13, and son, 10) have always been interested in my protein shakes, which I just recently started drinking again during Super Squats. I’m no expert, and I’m not even sure about doctor recommendations for kids regarding protein shakes, but if you’re just looking to get some reasonable calories into him, maybe you could make them with whole milk and advertise them as “milk shakes”?

Edit: And… I just read the last two posts, so there you go. Haha!

[simo74]

@SvenG

maybe you could make 'em with whole milk and advertise them as “milk shakes”?

Love the false advertising idea. LOL

We have tried him on some of those kids sustagen shake powders but they taste worse than my WPC. Adding some whey to a big ice cream smoothie is deff an option worth pursuing. Not sure why I haven’t done that already really. Weird.

[T3hPwnisher]

@simo74

he will drink a smoothie or a milk shake.

Remember the “Get Big Drink” from the complete keys to Progress? Bound to work. Can make your own version.

Protein powder can also get mixed into the milk with cereal. And thats a super anabolic post workout meal. Tends to make the Protein taste like cereal vs the other way around.

[simo74]

“The ‘Get Big Drink.’”
“Why do you call it that?”

LMAO. I do remember the drink but couldn’t remember if it was in that book or Texas. Thanks

[alex_uk]

Thanks for the tag, it’s actually something I struggle with, both my kids are skinny, they’ve had fairly big appetites over the years (would regularly eat sand size meal as me) but over the last year it two both of them have just lost interest in food, youngest (very similar age to yours and also has abs looks borderline malnourished!), eats cereal for breakfast.

He’ll actually eat overnight oats if they’re there for him (oats/ yogurt/ raspberries mixed up together with a bit of water and left in the fridge overnight), lunch he is awful at and so it’s my daughter (few years older) but she’s bad at breakfast as well (I’ve actually weighed her a couple of times because she’s lost weight and just keeping track to make sure she isn’t developing an eating disorder) if they’re at school it’s the usual sandwiches crisps and fruit but not confident either of them eat them.

Lunch if they’re at home they’ll usually eat what I’m having (usually scrambled eggs beans and bacon). They also love the mad mix of potatoes and veggies fried up and served with cheese, bacon and eggs, but that’s a real chore to make.

Dinner both eat main meals and aren’t fussy and eat those well.

They also love sugar but I’m trying to limit that!

Not a huge amount of help but my go tob for stuff they like that’s nutritious: overnight oats, scrambled eggs, mad veg:

Things they’ll eat but I don’t encourage: waffles croissants and pan au chocolat for breakfast, pizza for lunch, good old British fish and chips for dinner, Pringles, like an entire tub at a time.

Alteratively there’s always the donut/bagel switch out!

[TrainForPain]

First, this is absolutely awesome - really glad to hear all of this!

If the movies have an impact, I would casually leave some on where the heroes are eating like animals. Rocky chugging eggs or Conan eating over the fire come to mind.

Is texture a thing for him? If so, and you can find something he’s into, we could just cram fat and carbs into that.

[jdm135]

Glad to hear the meds are vectoring in the right direction. Sorry about the eating situation. I think the others have better input than I do.
I agree that with visible ab veins and translucent skin, calories are the primary concern - keep it up with the chocolate, sweetened milk, sneaky solutions whatever gets him to eat. You don’t want to build unhealthy habits but it sounds like the immediate problem is worse.
Some kids don’t like to eat. And if the meds kill his appetite, that’s really tough. Hang in there dad.