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.

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).

Supersets 2: Triceps, Chest, Legs and Abs

I was dead chuffed with this session. I'd under-slept the night before, and wasn't even sure if I would make it to the gym, between that and how much my muscles still ached from the last session. Though knackered when I arrived, by the time we hit the skull-crushers adrenalin had kicked in (or perhaps the CEE I'd munched just before leaving the office), and the rest of the workout was brilliant. Never thought I'd lift that 40kg bar, even if my muscles gave out one shy of a full set. We were there for two hours, and even got in some boxing in the end. Class.

Today, I've got a burn in my chest, abs, and bizarrely, my upper back - but the part that really canes is my quads. I can barely walk!

Exercise	Warmup	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3
Cable Pushdown	15×20kg	12×45kg	10×50kg	8×55kg
Triceps Dip		12×-40kg	10×-30kg	10×-20kg
Dumbbell Fly Barbell Decline Triceps Extension	15×6kg 15×20kg	12×12kg 12×30kg	10×14kg 10×35kg	8×16kg 7×40kg
Medicine Ball Incline Crunch†		30×3kg	30×3kg
Weighted Lying Straight Leg Raise		20×2kg	20×2kg	20×2kg
Overhead Medicine Ball Lunge‡		20×4kg	20×4kg	20×4kg

†: Throwing the medicine ball and catching it between crunches.
‡: With a medicine ball held overhead (rather than a barbell on shoulders as illustrated). Last set with eyes closed to increase core stability work.

The numbers for the triceps dip are low because I was concentrating on perfecting my form, and using a full range of motion. My shoulders are sufficiently inflexible that I can't hold a barbell behind my neck comfortably - so this was hard work, and I felt it almost entirely in my shoulders rather than my chest or triceps.

Chest and triceps

Another training session with Andy, and another set of impressive gains:

Exercise	Warmup	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3
Dumbbell Bench Press†	12×12kg	12×18kg	10×20kg	8×26kg(+30%)
Barbell Military Press	12×15kg	12×25kg	10×30kg	4×35kg
Dumbbell One Arm Triceps Extension	12×3kg	12×6kg	12×8kg	8×10kg
Triceps Dip	15×-25kg	12	10	8
Medicine Ball Incline Crunch‡		30×3kg	35×3kg	40×3kg

†: On a Bosu Ball, rather than a bench.
‡: Throwing the medicine ball and catching it between crunches.

After utterly caning our triceps with the presses and extensions, I have no idea how I managed 3 sets of dips. I practically fell off the bars at the end, my arms were so close to failure. We can push ourselves much harder than we often think.
In the last set of medicine ball crunches, I felt tired after fifteen, knackered after twenty, and ready to give up at twenty-five. At thirty, adrenalin took over, and I hammered out the last ten reps with even more energy than I started.