January - March 2009

[John]

Friday 2 January 2009

Legs

1. Smith Machine Back Squat: 12x60, 10x80, 8x90, 6x100, 6x100, 12x80kg
2. A1: DB Curls (L hand): 30x2, 30x2, 30x2, 30x2kg (rehab.)
3. A2: DB Hammer Twist (L hand): 30x2, 30x2, 30x2kg (rehab.)
4. 45° Leg Press: 12x240kg
5. Leg Extension: 10x(54 R/ 54 L/ 110kg Both), 10x(54 R/ 54 L/ 110kg Both)
6. Smith Machine Lunge: 12x20, 12x20, 10x30, 10x30kg
7. Horizontal Calf Machine: 20x125, 15x145, 12x165, 10x190kg
8. Seated Calf Machine: 15x45, 15x60kg superset
9. Leg Raise: 15, 15, 15
10. Side Crunch: 15 R, 15 L
11. Crunch: 15

I've strained my R hip adductor, so limited the weight on the lunges. Pretty painful. In case it's not obvious, I'm in the early days of rehabilitation of my L biceps, following surgery to reattach the distal tendon on 5 November.

[John]

Sunday 4 January 2009

Arms & Shoulders

Pre-breakfast:

• Kettlebell Swings (R hand): 7x(1:05r0:55 x 16kg)
  Total = 224reps

Afternoon:

1. DB Snatch (R hand): 10x30, 6x34, 2x38, 1x40, 1x40, 10x30kg
2. DB Curl (L hand): 30x2, 30x2, 30x2kg
3. Triceps Press-down (L hand): 20x6, 20x, 20x6, 20x6kg
4. Narrow-grip Bench Press: 15x17.5, 12x27.5, 10x37.5, 10x47.5, 10x47.5kg
5. Shoulder Press: 10x17.5, 10x17.5, 10x27.5, 10x27.5, 6x40kg
6. DB Side Raise: 12x2, 12x3, 12x4kg

Was pleased to get two snatches at 40kg. DB curls at 2kg are boring as, but I'm gonna have to get used to that over the next couple of months I guess.

The last few press-downs I found hard to summon the strength for, but they feel like good rehab for my weakened L arm muscles. Tried shoulder presses for the first time today. Was careful to stop short of lockout, keeping about a 150° angle at the elbow so as not to place any strain on the biceps tendon. Side raises were OK but until I'm game to increase the weight they're going to be pretty ineffective. Still it was good to actually do some shoulder work (of sorts) after so long.

[John]

Monday 5 January 2009

Upper Body

Pre-breakfast:

• Kettlebell swings (R arm): 7x(1:05r0:55 x 16kg)
  Total= 240reps

Afternoon:

1. Tricep pressdown (L arm): 5 x 20 x 6.25kg
2. Narrow-grip bench press: 10x17.5, 10x37.5, 10x47.5, 10x57.5kg
3. Narrow-grip inc. press: 10x20, 10x40, 6x50kg
4. Narrow-grip dec. press: 10x37.5, 10x57.5, 6x67.5kg
5. Iso-lateral row (R arm): 12x60, 12x80, 12x100, 10x120, 10x120kg
6. DB curl (L hand): 30x2, 20x2kg

All the presses felt fine. Using a narrow grip seemed to help keep strain off the shoulders and biceps. Stopped the dumbbell curls after second set because I just started to feel the tendon a bit. Don't want to push these because it's barely 9 weeks post surgery.

[John]

Tuesday 6 January 2009

Not Much at all Really

1. Dumbbell snatch (R arm): 10x30, 3x36, 3x36, 1x40, 0x40kg
2. Smith machine squat: 12x60, 10x80kg

Smith machine weights don't include the bar.

[John]

Wednesday 7 January 2009

Kettlebell

Pre-breakfast:

• Kettlebell swings [R arm]: 7x(1:05r0:55) x 16kg
  Total = 230reps

[John]

Thursday 8 January 2009

Body-for-LIFE style Lower Body Workout

Pre-breakfast:

• Kettlebell swing [R arm]: 7x(1:05r0:55) x 16kg
  Total = 242reps

Evening:

1. Back squat: 12x40, 10x50, 8x65, 6x75, 12x65kg
2. Leg extension [superset]: 12x103kg
3. Smith machine lunge: 12x10, 10x10, 8x20, 6x40, 12x25kg
4. Prone leg curl machine [superset]: 12x67kg
5. Smith machine calf raise: 12x60, 10x80, 8x120, 6x160, 12x120kg
6. Seated calf machine [superset]: 60kg
7. Knee/leg raises: knee: 12x0kg, leg: 10x0, 8x4, 6x4, 12x4kg
8. Crunch [superset then 30s rests]: 12xhalf, 12xside, 12xfull

Kept strictly to the 1min rests between sets and about three between exercise pairs. Have a sprain in R hip adductor caused, I think, by the Smith machine lunges, so kept the weights a little lower on them. Pleased, though, to be able to manage squats using a free bar again, but they were pretty tough due in part to the groin injury.

[John]

Saturday 10 January 2009

Body-for-LIFE style Upper Body Workout

1. Bench press: 12x37.5, 10x47.5, 8x57.5, 6x67.5, 12x57.5kg
2. Pec deck [superset]: 12x40kg
3. Seated cable row: 12x16.5, 10x23.5, 8x30.5, 6x37.5, 12x34kg
4. Iso-lat row machine [superset]: 12x40kg
5. Military press: 12x25, 10x35, 7x40, 4x42.5, 8x37.5kg
6. Bent-over DB raise [superset]: 12x7kg
7. Triceps rope pressdown: 12x14, 10x19, 8x24, 6x26, 12x26kg
8. Kickback [superset]: L 12x9kg, R 12x9kg
9. Standing DB curl (R arm): 12x10, 10x12, 8x14, 6x18, 12x14kg
10. Hammer curl (R arm) [superset]: 12x10kg
11. Standing DB curl (L arm): 5 x 20x3kg
12. DB reverse wrist curl: 12x6, 10x7, 8x8, 6x8kg
13. BB wrist curl: 12x15, 8x25, 8x25, 6x30, 12x25kg

Some adjustments to routine to work around L-arm rehab. So, for example, weights on pec deck, rows and pressdowns were lighter so that L arm could keep up. I over-estimated the weight for military presses, so the sets were short. The shoulders are obviously weaker than I thought - as are the wrists - and I cut the reverse wrist curls short because the L one just couldn't cope. Conversely, I could have gone heavier for the bent-over raises.

Will do a bit of catch-up work on the shoulders and chest now, although I'll probably avoid doing any heavy flat bench presses because of shoulder pain.

[John]

Sunday 11 January 2009

Kettlebell

Pre-breakfast:

• Kettlebell swing (R arm): 7x(1:05r0:55) x 16kg
  Total = 245reps

I'm running over time on the working intervals so it's more like 1:10r0:50 cycles. Will set the timer to 1:10 r 0:50 in future. Plan is to progressively increase the time spent on the work intervals while reducing the rests butkeeping to a 2-minute cycle. I'd like to get to 1:30 r 0:30 but keep the total number of swings somewhere between 200 and 250. This means ending up with only five cycles.