Smashing my Personal Bests

Very happy with this session; I smashed my PBs on both the dumbbell bench press and bent-over row.

Also, having checked my BF with calipers, I've lost 1.48%, which means a 1.22kg fat loss and 0.52kg FFM increase.

Exercise	Warmup	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3
Dumbbell Bench Press	15×12kg	12×26kg	10×28kg	8×30kg(+25%)
Dumbbell Bent-over Row	12×12kg	12×24kg	10×30kg	8×36kg(+10.8%)
Medicine Ball Incline Crunch †		40×3kg	40×3kg
Lying Straight Leg Raise		30×0kg	30×0kg
Medicine Ball One Hand Snatch		10×7kg	10×10kg
Stability Push-up ‡	15	12	15	8

†: Throwing the medicine ball and catching it between crunches.
‡: First set with feet on a Bosu ball, hands on a swiss ball. Second set with feet on a swiss ball, hands on the floor. Third set with hands on a Bosu ball, flat side up. Fourth set with hands on a Bosu ball, flat side down.

I even tried some one-arm push-ups towards the end. Unfortunately, I could only do one, with my right hand. Also, after the leg raises, manoeuvring my legs to give the required stability for a one-arm push-up caused a twinge around when I have a hernia.

We finished up with some boxing, where Andy repeatedly punished me for leaving my left chest open.

Some combination of the strain 36kg dumbbells put on my grip, bashing the back of my forearm while swinging a medicine ball overhead, and boxing has left my wrists feeling rather sore. Lets hope today's boot camp doesn't require using them.

Superset & 21s.

New twist today, 21s. Simple concept; using half your usual weight, perform 7 reps of the first half of a movement, 7 reps of the second half, and then 7 reps of a full movement. They give you one hell of a pump.

Total reps for this workout: 538. The 300 workout doesn't seem so intimidating anymore.

Exercise	Warmup	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3
Barbell Curl Barbell Military Press	15×20kg 15×20kg	12×30kg 12×30kg	10×32.5kg 10×32.5kg	8×30kg 8×30kg
Dumbbell Lateral Raise Barbell Bent-over Row	15×4kg 15×30kg	12×6kg 12×40kg	10×8kg 10×50kg	8×10kg 8×62.5kg
Dumbell Curls(21s)		21×8kg	21×8kg	21×8kg
Weighted Back Extension	30×0kg	24×5kg	20×10kg	16×15kg
Floor Wipers †	50×0kg	40×0kg	30×5kg	20×5kg
Stability Push-up ‡		11	12	7
Push-up		11	13
Kneeling Push-up		11

†: Feet together, using nothing or leg weights rather than a swiss or medicine ball.
‡: First set with each hand on a medicince ball, second set on a bosu ball (flat side down), third on a bosu ball (flat side up).

Legs

Not the best session ever. I forgot to pack my shorts, so had to race round Victoria trying to get new ones. I was sufficiently late that Andy had disappeared off to Boot Camp by the time I'd arrived, so I worked out alone, and pressed for time. The results aren't great:

Exercise	Warmup	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3
Dumbell Squat†	12×12kg	12×16kg	10×18kg	8×20kg
Cable Standing Calf Raise	12×56kg	12×84kg	10×91kg	8×98kg (+11%)
Barbell Deadlift	12×12kg	12×32kg	10×37kg	8×39.5kg

†: Standing on a Bosu Ball.

I'm particularly concerned about my deadlift technique. My upper back hurts a lot more than it should, which makes me wonder if I'm hunching during the lift without realising it at the time. I also have a pain just below my lowest right rib, which is bizarre. It may be necessary to drop the weights even further 'till I get the technique right.

Also, the Bosu ball dumbbell squat. I was taught this was a great core stability exercise, but Charles Poliquin would appear to disagree:

The BOSU ball is a Swiss ball for morons! Again, when you stand on it you're always bowlegged. Why do you want to get into a position that's not good for your knees and ankles?

Quite happy with Andy's suggestion to use a cable machine for calf raises - it seems to work a treat.