Saturday, August 15, 2015

Workout Thirteen: 60 lbs

45 seconds on the side planks and 60 lbs on the deadlifts and
the lat pulldowns. :D Go, Sara!! 
I worked out *hard* today and really pushed myself. There were two exercises where I pushed the weights a bit and didn't finish my reps, but I'm okay with that. I did more side plank than I thought I could even do, which kind of balances that out. And I worked *hard*, really hard, the whole time. Which makes me extra-happy.

I didn't have too much trouble with the split squats this time. My left quad was completely fine. My right was mostly fine -- I just needed to not have my feet quite so far apart so my quad got less of a stretch and I was able to do it without any pain or tightness at all. Hooray. 

I did wind out with my left glute feeling a bit hollow, which I realize makes no sense at all. I particularly noticed it when I was doing the Intervals of Insanity at the end. Maybe people who have more of a clue would describe it as weakness. I don't know. It didn't (and doesn't) hurt, it just didn't have a lot more to give. Which is why I only got five Insanity intervals in today. 

Today's workout was: 
  • Side Plank -- 2 x 45 seconds. When I started this strength training, I was doing 15 seconds of side plank. Today I did 45 both sides, both sets. :D :D I had a little problem on my right side getting to a stable position -- my foot felt like it was slipping, then when I got that settled my (sweaty) arm felt like it was slipping on the mat. So I actually did a little longer on the right because there were a few false starts getting to a good position, then I went to 45 seconds. 
  • Alternating sets of:
    • Split Squats -- 2 x 15, pair of 20 lb dumbbells. As mentioned above, the split squats went fine today. I'm not totally loving the quad stretch I added to my warmup (because it doesn't feel like it's stretching my quad all that much) but between that and doing some impromptu stretches just during the day, it seems to be a lot better. Certainly, the 20 lb dumbbells had me feeling like I was working hard, but I was able to finish my reps. I think I'll bump up to 25 lb dumbbells next time -- at least as long as my quads continue to feel good.
    • Cable-Machine Kneeling Lat Pulldowns -- the goal was 2x15. I did one set of 15 and one set of 14 with the weight at 60 lbs. Last time I had the weight at 50 lbs and they'd seemed way easy so I made a big jump. Possibly too big, though since I was able to do them (mostly), possibly not. It certainly felt all kinds of difficult this time and I don't think I need to adjust the weight for next time. 
  • Alternating sets of:
    • Straight Leg Deadlifts -- 2 x 15 with a 60 lb barbell. I believe these are also called Romanian Deadlifts. With these one doesn't take the weight all the way to the ground between each lift. They just go from below the knees to hip height (straight arms) and it's very much mostly a glutes and hamstrings thing. (Bend at hips to lower weight, fire hips forward to raise it, repeat.) I'd wanted to go with a 60 lb barbell last time but thought it was in use so I'd used a 50 lb, which had been not as hard as I wanted. I'm glad I did 60 lbs, today because that was some kinda work. These are the same deadlifts I've been doing all along, but I'm describing them more accurately to distinguish them from the ones I'll be doing next phase, when I will be taking the weights all the way to the floor every rep. 
    • One-Arm Shoulder Press -- the goal was 2 x 15. I did one set of 10 and one set of 15 with a 17.5 lb dumbbell. Last time I'd used 15 lb dumbbells and worked both arms at the same time. With the 17.5lb dumbbells, and with being pretty whipped already from the rest of the workout, I worked one shoulder at a time. In some ways that's more of a strain, because the off-balance load makes the core work harder, but I found it a lot more do-able one arm at a time. Even so, the first set I could only do 10 before I was afraid I'd drop a weight on my head. I rested a bit longer before the second set (I only rest as much as I need to between sets and sometimes probably not long enough) and was able to finish the 15, but only by stopping after 10 and switching arms. But that worked and for the second set, I got them all in. 
  • Cardio Intervals -- 5 x 20:40 Intervals of Insanity. I only did five 20 second rounds of Insanity (crazy, all out effort on the elliptical machine, followed by 40 seconds of recovery) because I'd worked so hard throughout the workout, I just didn't have a sixth one in me. But I'm not too upset about it. I did five and I did them well and I certainly worked myself to what the fitness people call "volitional exhaustion". I could do no more. Well, except that I did spent another few minutes on the machine. I generally stay on the elliptical machine until it tells me I've burned 100 calories, which, in practice, is about 10 minutes. 
We went and checked out a different Planet Fitness today -- there's one right near where I pick up Patrick after work and we thought it might be more convenient on weeknights to get there than go to the gym near our home. The guy at the counter was nice and the place seemed entirely fine, but it doesn't look like there will be much of an advantage going there -- we were hoping to get in before their busy time and that won't work. 

I'm pretty sure I have Workouts C and D all sorted out. I'm excited to get started on them -- I'm going to start doing a dynamic stability exercise (moving while holding the core tight and steady), a power exercise (an explosive move), and a "combination" exercise (which involves moving more than one part of the body at one). I've tried to put these new pieces in and balance them so the workouts won't be hugely longer. We'll see how that works out. 

I'm worried and excited because the power exercise I've picked and the combination exercise I've picked both require some coordination, which is not a trait I have in abundance. On the other hand, I have some confidence that it will improve with training. It certainly won't get worse and if I look goofy doing these things, I'm okay with that as long as I'm getting better, stronger and healthier. 

In related news: Despite a week in Nashville eating (well there were other things too, but there was an awful lot of eating for sure), I managed to lose 2.4 pounds between my last weigh-in (August 1) and today. Huh. I can't say I expected that what with the weight lifting building muscle and the FOOD in Nashville. (If you ever go there, go to the Hot Hattie B's near Broadway and get hot chicken (I liked the medium; Patrick got the hot). Then go next door to Gigi's Cupcakes. So good!)

Next workout is scheduled for Monday. It will be my last time with Workout A. I'm going to see if I can push things just a tad, as this will be my last time with this number of reps and these specific exercises for a while. :D (Workout C is built on the same bones as A, so I'll still be doing plank and squats and rows and step-ups and push ups, I'll just be making them *harder*.) Goal for the workout: End phase one strong!! 

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