Break: Changing Jobs

In the run-up to changing jobs just over a week ago, I've let my weight training lapse rather badly. Kept up boot camp up until I left my old place, but that's obviously not enough to keep me in shape, as these numbers show:

Exercise	Warmup	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3
Chin-up	12×-40kg	12×-25kg	6×-15kg/4×-20kg	8×-20kg(-20%)
Decline EZ Barbell Curl	12×12.5kg	12×15kg	10×17.5kg	8×20kg
Dumbbell Bent-over Row	12×17.5kg	12×22.5kg	10×25kg	8×27.5kg(-23.6%)
Dumbbell Lateral Raise	12×5kg	12×7kg	10×8kg	8×9kg

The decline barbell curls are much harder than regular curls, especially at the top of the movement.

Even though I didn't come close to my PBs, this session was really punishing. I could barely lift my arms to wash my face afterwards, and they still hurt now!

Hopefully I'll be back on form in a couple of weeks.

Killer Abs Workout

We started off with a pretty good set of weights. The pec deck holds - literally just holding out a pec deck handle for as long as possible - were surprisingly hard.

Exercise	Warmup	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3
Triceps Dip Chin-up	15×-35kg 15×-35kg	12×0kg 12×-15kg	10×4kg 5×-10kg/5×-15kg	8×8kg 8×-10kg
Barbell Decline Triceps Extension	15×10kg	12×20kg	5×22.5kg/5×20kg	8×20kg
Pec Deck One Arm Hold	30s×28kg	30s×63kg	30s×70kg	30s×77kg

We finished off with Andy's killer abs workout, which consists of:

• Plank, 30s.
• Side plank, 30s each side.
• 15 swiss ball crunches.
• 15 reverse crunches.
• High-to-low cable wood-choppers @ 64kg, 15 each side.
• Low-to-high cable wood-choppers @ 64kg, 15 each side.

It doesn't sound like much, but the last set of wood-shoppers cane. Oh, and you do the whole thing twice.

Last Saturday's workout.

This was a long way off the best workout. I lacked the energy or motivation to push myself really hard, so the numbers are pretty disappointing. I didn't even dare the last set of chins/dips, as my arms felt like they were about to give way. In retrospect, the lack of energy may have been an early sign of the illness that has laid me out for most of this week.

Also; the triceps press-up is from a youtube workout vid that Andy forwarded me. I can't find any other references to it though, so the image is pretty inaccurate.

Exercise	Warmup	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3
Sled Seated Leg Press Sled Seated Calf Press	15×88kg 15×88kg	12×106kg 12×106kg	10×124kg 10×124kg	8×142kg 8×142kg
Close Grip Chin-up Triceps Dip	15×-20kg 15×-20kg	12×-15kg 12×-15kg	10×-10kg 10×-10kg
Dumbell Curls(21s)		21×6kg	21×7kg	21×7.5kg
Dumbbell Lateral Raise	15×7kg	12×8kg	10×9kg	8×10kg
Dumbbell One Arm Triceps Extension	15×6kg	12×7kg	10×8kg	8×9kg
Stability Push-up †		12	7
Tricep Push-up ‡		8	8

†: Starting with both hands on a medicine ball; doing one push up, placing right hand two feet to the right, doing another, placing right hand back on the ball, doing another, placing left nad two feet to the left, doing another, and so on.
‡: Withg knees down, fists together under the body, palms facing each other, knuckles facing forwards. Push up from there.

Supersets 3: Pecs, triceps, back and legs.

Pretty happy with these numbers, and the fact that I don't hurt much today.
Never tried weighted dips or push-ups before. The latter are tough, but still easier than I expected. The former are brutal; simply balancing a 4kg dumbbell between your feet makes the exercise much more difficult.

Exercise	Warmup	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3
Triceps Dip Chin-up	15×-20kg 15×-25kg	12×0kg 12×-20kg	10×0kg 10×-15kg	8×4kg 8×-10kg
Sled Seated Leg Press Sled Seated Calf Press	15×70kg 15×70kg	12×88kg 12×88kg	10×97kg 10×97kg
Cable High Push Pull Cable Pulldown†	15×56kg 15×56kg	12×70kg 12×70kg	10×77kg 10×91kg‡	8×82kg 8×82kg
Weighted Swiss Ball Crunch	50	50×5kg	50×5kg
Twisting Crunch	50	100	100
Weighted Push-up		13×20kg	13×20kg	7×10kg
Kneeling Push-up		11

†: Using a nautilus machine with one cable attachment in each hand, kneeling on a swiss ball.
‡: Andy put up the weight without me noticing.

Partnered training

If anyone's in any doubt as to how much difference training with a partner makes, have a lot at these stats from my session last night with Andy - the numbers in brackets after the third set are the percentage improvement over my previous PB:

Exercise	Warmup	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3
Smith Bench Press	12×27kg	12×47kg	10×57kg	8×62kg(+32%)
Dumbbell Arnold Press	12×5kg	12×7kg	10×9kg	8×12kg(+33%)
Decline Skullcrusher	12×15kg	12×25kg	10×30kg	8×35kg (+113%)
Chin-up		5	5	5
Incline Crunch		20	25	30

As you can tell, we really pushed ourselves, and each other. His exercise log shows a similarly impressive improvement.
Tonight, we're going to pummel our legs. Tomorrow I suspect will be a day of rest - I probably won't even be able to climb stairs.

Update: After some discussion, I'm going to count the smith machine bar as 7kg, not 18. Though means my lifts aren't as impressive, it means my gains are more so, so it's all good.