Workout F #2: Darn it! (Workout 30)

The ouch doesn't show on the front and I was in fact able to complete
everything. But...

In some ways, Saturday's workout went really well -- I feel like I'm ready to go to up on the weight with the Rear Lateral Raises and the Cable Chest Presses, which is awesome. I felt like I'd worked out a different way of doing the elliptical that didn't beat up my quads so much (and may have really succeeded with that, it's hard to say in light of what came later). For the most part, I felt like I had the *move* down for the Reverse Lunge/Cable Row. It was really good. Even the Dumbbell Front Squats went well and felt good (those are just really hard). 

What didn't go well is that my right quad is definitely and un-ignorably Not Happy. I think the High (Bench) Step Ups is what got me, because I was fine until that point. The extra height on those adds a lot more quad work to something that's in the workout as a single-leg hamstring exercise and those are just killers. I think that's what did me dirt, though that's not when I started hurting. I felt a sharp pain across the front of my right thigh when I was doing the Reverse Lunge and Cable Rows (specifically on the side when my right leg was stepping back and being the non-working, down leg, which is when I've always had problems). 

I've been holding off posting in hopes it would sort itself out over the next couple of days, but it hasn't shown any sign of doing that. Well, I mean it hurts less than it did, but even just sitting it doesn't feel quite right. I took an Aleve last night and that my have helped some, but I don't want to read too much into it either. 

As I've always said, you shouldn't be aware of your insides. If you are something's not working right. As I'm sitting here typing doing nothing at all, I can feel the muscle in my leg. It doesn't exactly hurt, but I'm aware of it. 

Not good. 

So, I'm going to have to figure out something *else* to do for my single-leg quad exercise, because reverse lunges are out of the question at this time. I'm also going to have to figure out something else to do for my single-leg hamstring exercise, because I do think that the high step-ups are the real, actual culprit. At the least they're *not* helping. And no more elliptical for me, at least for a while, because I know that's hard on my quads. In a few days, I'll see if I can do something like a single-leg stand up (sit on bench, extend one leg straight in front of you, stand up using only other leg) or a single-leg squat instead. 

Eventually. I'm not even trying for a few days at least. 

I'm not sure exactly how long I'll have to stop the Reverse Lunges and so on -- I'm hoping only for a few days, but I don't want to risk a serious injury. A coworker of mine tore a muscle in his arm a few years ago and had a bruise basically from elbow to shoulder and was in a lot of pain for a while. I do not want to have that happen.  

Saturday's workout was: 

• Cross-body Mountain Climbers - 2 x 30, 25 - I was finding lower numbers of repts way too easy for these, so I ramped up both the speed and the number of reps and that was *good*. Very very good. :D I'll probably stick with 30 as a target next time, because I didn't make my reps in the second set. 
• Elevated Explosive Push Ups - 2 x 10 - I'm still good at the hip-high railing for these because while I made my reps, that was really really hard. And I think I can go lower into the pushup-ness before pushing back up. And I can concentrate more on using my chest muscles rather than my arms. 
• Alternating sets of: 
• Dumbbell Front Squat - 3 x 12 - Glory be, these are hard. I need to keep a note in my book to keep my weight back on my heels and to push up through my heels when standing back up. I was rocking too far forward onto my toes. That doesn't make them easier, but it is the right form. I continued with a pair of 15lb dumbbells and will continue with those again next time because this exercise is *hard*. 
• Rear Lateral Raise - 3 x 12 - I used a pair of 5 lb dumbbells again and really felt good about it. The weights weren't quite singing, so I may stick at this level one more time, but they were close. So I may go up to 7.5 lb dumbbells (if those aren't in use). I'll see when I'm doing these next. They're definitely a good exercise for me. 
• Alternating sets of: 
• High (Bench) Step Ups - 3 x 12 - I'm still not using any weight for these (other than my bodyweight) and they're definitely very very hard. Less technically difficult than the Front Squats, but they just kick my butt. And my quads. I didn't make a note about my right leg hurting at any point when doing these, but I did note that they're *hard*. 
• Single-Arm Cable Chest Press - 3 x 12 - I think I've finally got the knack of these. The trick is to have the pulley behind the shoulder of the working arm, so there's not as much rotational and wobble motion involved. I did 15lbs again and will move up to 20 next time because now that I get what I'm doing, I feel I can totally move more weight. 
• Coordination Rows - 3 x 12 - Still improving, but not to the first goal of being able to stand on one foot while moving for 12 whole reps. Still at 15 pounds. I'm probably going to just do these in every workout until I can do the reverse lunges again. The work isn't in the rowing, it's in the standing on one leg, and that's not putting undue strain on my muscles. 
• Cardio Intervals - 10 x 20:40 Intervals of Insanity alternating Jumping Jacks and Jump Squats. Interestingly, perhaps oddly, despite whatever's up with my quads, these Jump Squats didn't bother them at all. Though maybe they got tired a little sooner. I didn't really notice that though. It does bode well for me being able to do jump squats tonight. 

Next workout is scheduled for tonight. Goal for the workout - do as much as I can without putting any additional strain on my quads. I'm going to be walking for warmups, because the elliptical is out of the question. My routine tonight is supposed to be: Half-Kneeling Cable Chops, Dumbbell Jump Squats, Romanian Deadlifts, Scaption and Shrug, Offset Reverse Lunges, Kneeling Lat Pulldowns, and Coordination Rows. I'm definitely not even trying the Reverse Lunges and I'll probably do the Cable Chops as totally kneeling rather than half kneeling. Everything else I'll *try* to see how it goes. Any twinge and I'll just move on to the next thing.