Workout E#3: That went really well, all things considered (Workout 31)

You can see that I crossed off the Offset Reverse Lunges and
changed the Cable Pull Throughs to Romanian Deadlifts. 

Despite the pain in my right quad (about which I posted earlier), which is making anything like a lunge or a split squat a total non-starter for the nonce, I did really well today. I didn't even attempt the  Offset Reverse Lunges, but didn't have the slightest bit of problem with the Romanian Deadlifts or even the Dumbbell Jump Squats (which are a quad exercise, just one that works both legs at once). 

When I was doing the Intervals of Insanity at the end, I was alternating Jumping Jacks and Jump Squats (without weights) and after two rounds of the Jump Squats I knew I needed not to be doing any more. The sets I did were fine and didn't hurt, but I knew not to be doing any more. 

There is no substitute I can do until my leg isn't hurting. I have some hope for Saturday, but I'm certainly not going to push it. 

I also want to switch out the High (Bench) Step Ups that are part of Workout F with something else that's a single-leg hamstring exercise. I'm thinking of something like a Hip Lift (you can see a video here), but a single leg version where I hold one leg up and raise my hips with my glutes and hamstrings. It shouldn't put any particular pressure on my quads, I don't think, so it seems like a good choice. But that's getting ahead of *this* post. 

Today's workout was good and I didn't put any strain on my quads. So I feel really good about it, even if I didn't work as hard as I would have liked. I warmed up walking on the treadmill rather than the quad-busting elliptical machine. It's not really possible to burn calories as quickly on the treadmill as the elliptical, but I between raising the incline and the speed, I did pretty well. 

Today's workout was: 

• Half-Kneeling Cable Chop - 2 x 10 - I used 15 lbs of weight in hopes that doing this fast would help me feel as though it is working my *core* (which is what this is for) rather than my arms. I'm not sure I feel like it did. I'm thinking I might prefer to go back to Plank or Side Plank because this just isn't rocking my world. I'm going to ponder that. 
• Dumbbell Jump Squats -- 2 x 8 - I used a pair of 20 lb dumbbells for these and did the first few kind of tentatively. Once I realized they were going to be fine, I went at them with a bit more gusto. 
• Alternating sets of:
• Romanian (Straight-Leg) Deadlifts - 3 x 10, 12, 12 - I haven't done these for a while so I started with the same weight I used the last time I did them, which was a 60 lb barbell (like a dumbbell with a fixed weight). Last time I did them, I was doing sets of 15, but that was over a month ago. 60 lbs was, I think right for today. The first set was only 10, but that wasn't an issue with the weight. That was an issue with me still not having totally internalized sets of 12 yet. I definitely feel better about these than the Cable Pull Throughs -- those felt like I was working things I didn't want to work and not working my hamstrings and glutes enough. 
• Scaption and Shrug - 3 x 12 - I had written down to use 15lb barbells for this and as soon as I picked them up, I knew that was not going to work. So I went for ten and sort of berated myself for a wimp. After the first set, I looked back to see what I did with these last time -- 7.5 lbs. Oh. Well, okay then. So apparently when I wrote down 15 I was having a totally woolly-headed moment. 10 was actually a bit of a stretch. Which is why it felt like one. There we go. 
• Kneeling Lat Pulldowns -- 3 x 12, 10, 10 - These are such a vexation to me. Last time I did three sets of 12 at 72.5 lbs and felt really good about it. So good, in fact, that I decided to go up to 75 pounds, which is just a tiny little increase. Today, I was just barely able to do 12 reps at 75 lbs, then when I backed it down to 72.5 lbs, which I've been lifting for a while, I couldn't do 12 at all. Grar. I definitely got a good lot of work out of it, so I feel okay with it. But I'm mystified at these. I might try a session doing pulldowns on the cam machine (rather than the cable machine) just to see how I do with those. 
• Coordination Rows - 3 x 12 - I'm getting so much better at these, y'all. I don't think I ever really adequately conveyed how *bad* I was at these to start out and now I'm not. I'm still not getting through all of them without having to re-balance myself, but I'm getting so close. And it's just such an incredible improvement from the wobbly baby giraffe to standing on one leg and moving in a vaguely coordinated way. So cool! 
• Cardio Intervals - 5 x 20:40 Intervals of Insanity - As mentioned above, I was alternating Jumping Jacks and Jump Squats for the 20 seconds of all out crazy going. I stopped when I knew my quads wouldn't take another round of the jump squats, though they weren't hurting yet. I would have liked to do more, but I really am trying to be a bit gentle with myself. 

Patrick has been running into traffic jam problems in the gym on Wednesday evenings, so we're shifting our workout schedule to Monday, Thursday, Saturday. This shouldn't make a huge difference except that we'll be able to get through our workouts without having to wait for space at the machines. (We don't mind waiting for space at the machines when people are working out on them. It's when people are sitting on them chatting that it gets vexing.) 

So, next workout is scheduled for Thursday (and I think it's probably going to take a while before I have that totally internalized). Goal for the workout -- Make Workout F work without hurting my slightly sore quad.