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.

Knackered

After the PBs of Monday, and the knee-tuck jumps, frog jumps, walking lunges and burpees of Boot Camp on Tuesday - with my right calf, left forearm, glutes, pecs, abs and especially quads aching - I felt far too knackered to attempt any big lifts. The warmup set of incline dumbbell presses hurt so much that I didn't even do any work sets.

Instead we did some boxing, which was surprisingly enjoyable - though it probably didn't help me recover any for today's Boot Camp.
After two mornings of having to slather myself in Tiger Balm just to leave the house (and no doubt annoying everyone on the tube), I was quite relieved when Andy cancelled it because only 5 people hadn't dropped out (2 of whom had missed Tuesday anyway). I feel better knowing he slaughtered everybody!

Exercise	Warmup	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3
Dumbbell Incline Bench Press	15×14kg	-
Dumbbell Lying Rear Lateral Raise	12×6kg	12×10kg	10×12kg	8×16kg(+33.3%)
Dumbbell Hammer Curl	15×6kg	12×10kg	10×12kg	8×14kg(+16.7%)

Drop sets

For variety, we tried drop sets this session - a set where you go to failure, then drop (reduce) the weight, and go to failure again; until you're practically lifting air.
We probably didn't set the initial weight high enough for the lat pull-downs, but I don't think Andy was impressed. It was an interesting variation, but I doubt we'll be doing it again.

Exercise	Warmup	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3
Triceps Dip	15×-25kg	12×2kg	10×4kg	8×6kg
Barbell Curl	15×20kg	7×35kg / 5×30kg / 10×20kg / 15×10kg
Dumbbell Arnold Press	15×6kg	12×8kg	10×10kg	8×12kg
Cable Rear Pulldown		12×56kg / 10×42kg / 12×28kg
45° Side Bend †		25×10kg	25×10kg

†: Dangling a weight plate with lower arm.

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.

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).

Return: Biceps & Back

Exercise	Warmup	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3
EZ Barbell Curl	12×15kg	12×20kg	10×25kg	8×27.5kg(-8.9%)
Cable Underhand Pulldown	12×49kg	12×56kg	10×61kg	8×63kg(+12.5%)
Dumbbell Hammer Curl		12×7.5kg	10×10kg	8×12.5kg(+4.2%)
Dumbbell Lateral Raise		12×7.5kg	10×10kg	8×12.5kg(+39%)
Sled Seated Calf Press	12×79kg	12×115kg	10×124kg	8×133kg(+7.3%)

Not too bad after a break. Slight improvements on everything except the barbell curl, which might be ascribed to my lack of cardio warm-up.

With my weight and BF, things look less positive. Andy's mentioned that scales that attempt to measure it via electrical impedance are notoriously inaccurate, and also that whether you measure before or after a workout can make a difference. With that in mind, I measured both:

Measurement	Before Workout	After Workout
Weight	74.1kg	74.4kg
FFM	60.8kg	60.3kg
BF	18.0%	18.9%
FFM Change	+0.9kg	+0.4kg
Fat Mass Change	-0.1kg	+0.7kg

Since I normally measure after a workout, and an increase of muscle mass with a decrease in body fat seems utterly implausible, let alone when I'm not working out, I'm going to assume the latter figures are more accurate. Which means that, roughly, I was over-consuming an average of about 300 calories a day during the trip.

Back and biceps

It was far too sunny and pleasant a day on Saturday to spend two hours of mid-afternoon in the gym, so I missed this week's Wu Shu Kwan class. I made up for it on Sunday, though, by really hammering the weights:

Exercise	Warmup	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3
EZ Barbell Curl	12×10kg	12×20kg	10×25kg	8×30kg
Barbell Bent-over Row	12×25kg	12×35kg	10×40kg	8×45kg
Cable Straight Backed Seated Row	12×40kg	12×70kg	10×90kg	8×102.5kg
Cable Underhand Pulldown	12×28kg	12×42kg	10×49kg	8×56kg(+33%)
Dumbbell Hammer Curl	12×6kg	12×9kg	10×10kg	8×12kg
Sled Seated Calf Press	12×79kg	12×106kg	10×115kg	8×124kg(+27%)

I'm particularly pleased with being able to pull the entire stack, plus a 7.5kg topper on the seated cable row. It does mean I should drop that exercise, though, and go back to dumbbell rows. No pain, no gain.

I also had another go at caning my calves. I reckon they can cope with being trained twice a week; it's been a while since I've ended up hobbling around for three days after overtraining them.

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!