October - November 2007

[John]

Tuesday 6 November 2007

Chest

Early afternoon session because of function after work.

1. Flat BB Bench Press: 6x95, 5x95, 5x100kg
2. Incline DB Press: 7x34, 6x36, 3x36kg
3. Weighted Dips: 6x30, 6x30kg

Last set of incline presses were poor form, short range and couldn't press out the fourth rep. Still, good to get a set of flat benches in at 100kg.

[John]

Thursday 8 November 2007

Legs

I'm on a school water polo trip with Jenny for the National Junior Champs in Auckland. Not much time to get to a gym. Workout at Les Mills City (Auckland) was hot and sticky so felt a bit lethargic. Forgot to bring my singlet which would have made it a bit cooler than the T-shirt.

1. Back Squat: 2x120, 2x120, 5x110kg
2. Leg Press: 8x320, 4x400kg
3. Standing Calf Machine: 7x182, 7x182kg
4. Seated Calf Machine: 5x100, 5x100kg
5. Deadlift: 2x160, 4x150kg

No spotter available for squats so kept with lighter weight after trying 120kg.

[John]

Friday 9 November 2007

Arms

Les Mills City (Auckland):

1. Straight BB Curls: 5x45, 5x45, 5x45kg
2. Alternate DB Curls Standing: 6x20, 5x20kg
3. Curl-bar Curls, Leaning: 5x37.5kg

Only very limited time for this workout so missed out on tris, wrists and abs. Curl-bar curls done leaning over preacher stand from in front to support torso.

[John]

Monday 12 November 2007

Chest

Back home at Les Mills Hutt City gym.

1. Flat BB Bench Press: 6x100, 5x100, 4x100kg
2. Incline DB Press: 6x36, 6x36, 4x36kg
3. Weighted Dips: 6x35, 5x35kg

Flat bench improvements very slow. Still don't feel confident with shoulder to do these at 100kg without a spotter being there. Inclines not too bad but restricting ROM to dumbbells just off chest when lowered. Palms a bit tender when doing the dips at this weight. Need to toughen up!

[John]

Tuesday 13 November 2007

Shoulders & Traps

1. Standing BB Shoulder Press: 4x57.5, 3x57.5, 3x57.5kg
2. Seated DB Shoulder Press: 4x30, 6x30kg
3. Side Lateral Raises: 7x18, 7x18kg
4. Shrugs: 6x187.5, 5x190, 8x177.5kg
5. Close-grip Upright Rows: 6x50, 6x50kg

What happened :( Shoulder presses were, like, crap compared to previous week. Perhaps doing chest the previous day is not a good idea. Couldn't even raise the R dumbbell at 32kg.
Dropped back the weight on the last set of shrugs because ROM was pretty short on the 190kg set.

[John]

Wednesday 14 November 2007

Legs

Worked with John again. We added some more exercises this time, which made for a lengthy session.

1. Back Squats: 6x100, 4x110, 3x120, 2x130kg deep-as
2. Romainian Deadlifts: 10x100, 10x120, 7x130, 2x150kg
3. 45° Leg Press: 10x240, 8x320, 4x400, 2x480, 4x480kg
4. Overhead BB Lunges: 10x30, 8x40, 5x50kg
5. DB Lunges: 5x30, 6x30, 6x30kg
6. Seated Calf Machine: 15x40, 12x60, 10x90kg
7. Smith Machine Calf Raises: 7x10x160kg

Back a bit sore after straining it doing some hard-out HIIT rowing on Tuesday morning. Attempted 135kg on the squats but it stuck at the bottom. Shouldn't have jumped from 130 to 150 on the deadlifts. I blame John for being too enthusiastic. Neither of us have done overhead lunges before so had no idea what weight to use. Great exercise for core stability but I insisted that we do some heavier work directed more at the hammies to finish off with, so we switched to 30kg dumbbells. Planned to finish with 10 sets of 10 calf raises, but John D started whimping out so we stopped at 7.

[John]

Thursday 15 November 2007

Arms

1. Standing BB Curl: 4x50, 4x50kg
2. Alternate DB Curl: 7x22, 4x24kg
3. Curls Leaning Over Preacher Bench: 6x37.5kg
4. EZ-bar Lying Triceps Extension: 5x52.5, 4x52.5kg
5. Triceps Pressdown - Rope: 7x41.25, 6x41.25kg
6. Kickbacks: 7x18kg

Got interrupted at this point. Finish arms and abs on Saturday morning.

[John]

Friday 16 November 2007

Just 'Fran'

1. Thrusters: 21x42.5kg
2. Pull-ups: 21
3. Thrusters: 15x42.5kg
4. Pull-ups: 15
5. Thrusters: 9x42.5kg
6. Pull-ups: 9
   
   Time: 7:18

Who says you can't do a decent workout in under 10 minutes?
Almost a full minute faster than last time I did Fran and a new PR :)
Aim for sub 7 minutes next time.

[John]

Saturday 17 November 2007

Forearms & Midsection

Spent an hour or so with Andro this morning introducing the idea of HIIT cardio in place of some of the four or five 2-hour treadmill sessions that he has been doing. Spent another half hour doing some wrist and abs work that has been neglected recently.

1. BB Wrist Curl: 6x50, 5x50kg
2. DB Wrist Curl: 8x18kg
3. Weighted Leg Lift: 12x10, 12x10kg
4. Cable Crunch: 8x48.75, 8x48.75kg
5. Full Crunch with Resistance Band: 10, 10
6. Weighted Incline Hyperextension: 12x0, 6x15kg

Came back in the afternoon and did a bit of shoulder and core strengthening stuff: seated presses with 30kg dumbbells and overhead squats with 40kg bar.

[John]

Sunday 18 November 2007

CrossFit Total

Fantastic weather this weekend. Too good to be in a gym pushing weights, so decided just to try my second CFT, since it's now four weeks since the first one.

• 1-RM Back Squat: 120, 125kg, 130 (fail)
• 1-RM Shoulder Press: 60, 62.5, 65kg
• 1-RM Deadlift: 175kg, 180 (fail), 180 (fail)
  CFT = 365kg (805lb) (+5kg (+11lb) on previous PR)

Three attempts at each lift. Once you fail a lift you cant attempt a lower weight. Squat must be with top profile of thigh going below parallel to the floor, shoulder press must be with absolutely no dipping with the knees, deadlift from weight on the floor to knees locked and back extended. For all three lifts the weight must continuously ascend (as measured at the middle of the bar) throughout the concentric phase without pausing or descending.

Was hoping for improvements on all three lifts but ended up equalling my weights for squat and deadlift from last time. However I was really happy to take a 5kg (8%) gain on the shoulder press. That's the one I'd like to get over the 70kg mark. Oddly enough the 60kg rep was pretty ugly (weak shoulder caused R arm to lag the L), the 62.5kg was perfect and the 65kg was pretty good.

Surprised to find I failed on the 130kg squat attempt, since I've been squatting one or two reps at this weight for the last two legs sessions with reasonable form. Rushed into it and had my weight too far forward. I grumbled that I couldn't get off the bottom so John touched my elbows for moral more than any physical support. It got me out of the sticking point but I can't count it.

[John]

Monday 19 November 2007

Nothing Much

Today is the last day of my one-year membership contract with Les Mills. I managed to renew for another year at a reduced rate :) Met Andro at the gym, who had just finished doing the HIIT regime that I gave him for the treadmill. Had a chat and pursuaded him to do some 'weights' on the machines: leg presses. Didn't do anything myself except for a couple of rounds of 'The Bear', which is an exercise I showed John D from the CrossFit website.He had done the whole thing earlier in the day and insisted that I should try just one round.

• Five rounds for maximum weight on last round of:
• 7 reps of the combination:
  CleanClean-Front Squat-Press-Back Squat-PressThe bar cannot be rested on the floor to regrip. You can rest as often and whereever you like in the cycle except with the bar on the floor.The movements may be combined but you must stand up after the clean, not catch the bar in a front squat.

I did two rounds at different times with just 30kg. The front squats were hard on the quads after the cycling. Yeah! Finally got off my butt, pumped up my tyres and rode my bike to work and back today in beautiful Wellington weather. Approximately 38km round trip.

[John]

Tuesday 20 November 2007

Shoulders & Traps

Biked to work again today and legs were pretty much fried.

1. Standing BB Shoulder Press: 5x57.5, 4x57.5, 3x60kg
2. Seated DB Shoulder Press: 4x32kg, 8x32kg
3. Lateral DB Side Raise: 7x18, 6x20kg
4. BB shrugs: 6x180, 5x190, 4x200kg
5. Close-grip Upright BB Rows: 7x50, 6x55kg

[John]

Wednesday 21 November 2007

Back

Legs day, but still feeling a bit feverish so settled for a back workout instead. Worked with John D.

1. Under-hand Grip Bent Over Row: 10x77.5, 7x87.5, 8x87.5, 3x117.5kg
2. Over-hand Grip Weighted Pull-up: 10x10, 9x15, 6x20, 5x30kg
3. Lying DB Pull-over: 10x30, 10x40, 7x44, 3x50kg
4. One-arm DB Bent Over Row:10/10x50, 10/10x55, 10/7x60, 8/8x65kg R/L
5. Straight-arm Alternate Cable Swing Thing: 10xdunno, 10xdunno

Working out with a partner really does push you that extra bit. Never even contemplated picking up the 65kg DBs before!

The cable thingies require a bit of explanation: Hold a cable attached to a high pulley in each hand, palms pronated, arms extended above head and out to the sides about 40°. Keeping the arms straight, pull down with one arm bringing the hand to the side of the hip and return. Alternate arms. I found this a bit challenging with my weaker shoulder (R) and probably should have used a lighter weight. Can't remember what weight I used, but it doesn't need to be very heavy.

Three of these exercises are ones I haven't done for years and I felt the effect the following day :)