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Hey Folks, my first post other than my introduction here on the forums, and I just wanted to share my experience of the past 2 days. So I’ve been exercising for the past 7 months or so, lots of different exercises but me and my buddy, we never did anything Squat related at the gym. When we just started going to the gym I would do squats at home, but just body weight, no additional weights or anything. So last Tuesday I was at the gym a bit earlier than my bud, I did my warming up, and then went to my favorite machine, the Leg Press and did 4 reps up to 150kg, when my buddy was ready to do our regular routine, among the exercises we did leg extension up to 55kg, leg curl up to 50kg, calve press up to 100kg, and we did another 6-7 exercises to finish our Tuesday routine. Then at the end we noticed the Barbell Squats “machine†Smith Machine was free, and since we never tried it, I suggested that we would give that a go, I went first, and it was only the barbell which weighs at least 5kg by itself, and I went for a full squat (which I can do easily with just my body weight), but just with the bar it felt it was a hard exercise to do. After 2 reps (12 then 10) we added 5kg on both sides which today I realize was a mistake.. and we did another 8 and 6 reps. Afterwards my legs felt like they were glowing, and I joked to my friend that it was a mistake to first do the regular leg exercises and then finish with this squatting. So we said our goodbyes, I went home, showered and went to bed. Next day I was laughing, the muscle ache was old school (like you feel when you just start out in the gym) but taking my foldup bike down the stars (2 floors) riding it to the train station (10 minutes) walking down the stairs holding the bike, then in Amsterdam where I work walk up the stairs holding the bike and riding it to my work (10 minutes) was no problem, same on the way back. But today.. my god today.. Crouching especially is torture for my legs, going down the stairs holding my bike I felt like as if I was 95 J walking up the stairs was a new kind of hell.. But I love It. It feels good to have this ache again and I cant wait till the next time we do the Barbell Squats. But first.. tonight is cardio night, normally that means 30 min running, 20 min bike, 15 min Elliptical machine, and 10 minutes rowing, and here I am curious if I’ll make it up the stairs to the 3rd floor where the gym is located. I already read that when you have this much muscle ache its better to skip a day or take it easy and see where your limits are, so that is my plan for this evening, see how far I can take cardio day without it being painful or destroying my legs, so wish me luck, Kind regards, m0j0