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.

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.

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!