Am I too late?! Hope not.
Ok so my main overall goal was to improve my upper body strength. Anthony set my goals as:
- 5 negative chin ups @ 10 secs each
- 5 negative dips @ 10 secs each
- Get to 14kg dumbbells on the shoulder press.
Starting stats
Height – 5 foot 6
Weight – 133.2lbs/60.55kg
Upper arm – 11.5 inches
Chest – 34 inches
Above navel – 28 inches
Waist (navel) – 30.5 inches
Thighs – 22 inches
Hips – 38 inches
Calves – 14 inches
Finishing stats
Height – 5 foot 6
Weight – 134.2lbs (+1lb)
Upper arm – 11.5 inches (=)
Chest – 34 inches (=)
Above navel – 27.5 inches (-0.5)
Waist (navel) – 29.5 inches (-1)
Thighs – 21.5 inches (-0.5)
Hips – 37 inches (-1)
Calves – 14 inches
My goals weren’t to change my shape, although there are a few minor fluctuations! Weirdly I seem to have lost 3 inches but put on a 1lb! :-D
First DD workout:
Leg press – 12 reps @ 117.5kg
Calf raise – 11 reps @ 110kg
Chest press – 8 reps @ 9kg (dumbbells)
Lat pulldown – 8 reps @ 40kg
Shoulder press – 9 reps @ 9kg (dumbbells)
Assisted chin ups – 6, 5, 5, 4, 4 (5kg assist)
Assisted dips – 4, 4, 5, 4, 3 (12kg assist)
Abs – the plank – 60secs
Back extension on floor – 10 reps (12 sec pause at top)
Final DD workout
Shoulder press – 2.5 reps @ 12kgs (thought I’d try it just for kicks. Ha!)
8 reps @ 10kgs
Leg press – 14 reps @ 127.5kg
Calf raise – 13 reps @ 127.5kg
Seated row – 12 reps @ 32.5kg
Chest press – 13 reps @ 10kg (dumbbells)
Negative chin ups – 10, 10, 10, 10, 9 – bah!! So close!
Negative assisted dips @ 5kgs – 6, 5, 5, 4
@ 12kgs – 8, 7, 6, 6, 5, 4
Abs – the plank – 74secs
Back extension on floor – 8 reps (20 sec pause at top)
Overall review:
Shoulder press goal – 14kg dumbbells
My nemesis. During this challenge I’ve tried everything to improve this. Put it first in my workout, employed breathing techniques and attempted a positive mental attitude – but I’ve still not achieved this goal! I am however pretty pleased with my performance. When I started I could only do 9 reps at 9kgs and to be honest even that was bit of a struggle and I’d been stuck at that weight for months. I can now do 2 good reps at 12kg and 8 good reps at 10kgs. It doesn’t sound very impressive I know but I’m quite pleased. Also tried my first drop sets on this exercise which was fun.
Negative chin goal – 5 10 sec negative chins
When I started working towards these goals I was using the lowest assistance on the machine for my negative chins because I couldn’t get up to the top position on my own. After a few weeks my strength and confidence improved and I ditched the assist and got to the top position with a little jump. I didn’t quite make my goal of 5 10 second negatives but I was so annoyingly close! I’m still really proud of what I’ve achieved here. I don’t even care that other gym goers look at me like I’m nuts. My biceps are SO much stronger now and I’ve definitely noticed more definition. I now really want to be able to do a couple of proper full unassisted chin ups!
Negative dip goal – 5 10 sec negative dips
I’ve struggled with these throughout the challenge. I’ve never been fully confident about my form and technique and as a result my confidence hasn’t been great. Hand pain sometimes hasn’t helped either! My best performance is probably 5 negative dips at the lowest assist taking an average of 7 seconds each. I just find these negatives so unsatisfying, so I’m really excited about going back to full dips for my triceps. I totally failed to achieve my goal however I do think my strength has improved. For example when I first started doing dips to work my triceps back in April, I had to have the assist set at 33kgs. Now I think I can probably comfortably do a good set at 19kg assist.
So overall I’m fairly pleased. I would have loved to have reached my goals but in hindsight they were perhaps a bit ambitious.
So what’s next? Putting my workout back in the right order. Trying to figure out how to work up to a full unassisted chin up and improving my bench press. Will continue my log of course :)
