I know Kung Fu

This Saturday finally saw me recommence martial arts training, at the Fitness First on Seven Sisters Road. The bank holiday studio schedule had dropped their usual Saturday Wu Shu Kwan class, so I decided to try Andy's evil biceps workout. Quite punishing, really gets you pumped, recommended. I should be able to myself harder, as I still had energy at the end - so threw some hammer dumbbell curls to finish off. Stats:

Exercise	Warmup	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3
EZ Barbell Curl	12×10kg	12×20kg	10×25kg	5×30kg
Barbell Bent-over Row	12×15kg	12×25kg	10×35kg	8×45kg
Dumbbell Bent-over row	12×15kg	12×25kg	10×27.5kg	8×30kg
Cable Underhand Pulldown	12×21kg	12×28kg	10×35kg	8×42kg
Dumbbell Hammer Curl	12×6kg	12×8kg	10×9kg	8×10kg

As I was walking back to the changing room, I noticed some Wu Shu Kwan guys in the studio and asked if the class was just starting. They said yes, so I fell in and spent the next two hours falling somewhat short of keeping up with a class composed about three quarters of black belts.
Somewhat gratifyingly, after the class the instructor asked me which martial arts I'd done before since it was clear that I'd done something. He reiterated what I knew already - that my body needs to be retrained to be able to do what I remember being able to, and until it catches up, I risk overexerting and injuring myself; so should only train at 70% for the first six weeks or so. Despite knowing this already, I somehow managed to hurt my left index finger (I assume while sparring), and spent Sunday worrying that I'd fractured it. I'll take it easier next week.

I'm also going to avoid doing weights beforehand. Not that I think training biceps interfered with the class - punching uses your triceps - but because it meant I spent three hours in the gym, which makes something of a mockery of the Tom Venuto diet. I was ravenous when I left!