Workout F #5: Killing it with the cardio!! (Workout 36)

Saturday's workout was excellent! The Cardio Intervals of
Insanity were insane!

We worked out on Saturday, but I didn't have a great chance to post about it Saturday (errands, fun, and arts & crafts) or Sunday (same, minus the errands). Here at the office, when work is a mite slow, I can't be doing any of those other fun things and it's a great time to post. :D 

It was a fantastic workout -- as I've noted here before, Workout F is always a great time. I raised some weights and pushed myself harder on some things, which was muy cool. I also ramped up the Intervals of Insanity and that was amazing! 

I haven't put much thought yet into what will be coming next after I finish this phase -- projected last workout in Phase 3 is this Wednesday. Part of why I'm so behind this time is because of the aforementioned fun and arts & crafts. A lot of it is because I'm having a minor procedure on my left (dominant) hand on Thursday, so I'm not 100% sure when I'll actually be starting What Comes Next. I'd like not to miss a workout (and will go and bust my heinie on the treadmill on Saturday even if I can't lift), but I don't know exactly what's going to be up with my hand. As important a reason as those two: I'll have all day Thursday after the procedure at home to do some research and pondering. I'll think up a plan then. 

I definitely want to spend one workout running through all the exercises to sort out starting weights and logistical issues again. That worked out *so* well at the beginning of Phase 3. If I can get it together enough to do that on Saturday, that will also give me a sense of whether my hand is going to be an issue.

Saturday's workout was:

• Cross-body Mountain Climbers - 2 x 30 - Going faster definitely makes a difference with these, but I still need to ramp something up for next time. I don't think I want to do another whole set. Something to consider for What Comes Next. I know that I can keep my focus on keeping my core tight as I go -- that will ramp it up some. :D 
• Explosive Elevated Pushups - 2 x 10 - I'm still going off the hip-high railing (because it's the best thing available) and they're still hard, but not as hard as I'd like for them to be. I'm aiming for faster and made a note for next time to be sure to work on that. I like these a lot, really. Kind of better than regular pushups, though I can't imagine why. 
• Alternating sets of:
• Dumbbell Front Squats - 3 x 12 - I went with 17.5 lb dumbbells again. The first set was really hard (hence the little "OMG!" in my notebooks) but for the second and third sets I did better at keeping my weight back on my heels, so they didn't work my core as hard. So I was actually kind of able to feel that they *don't* work my quads as hard as regular squats. I'm not quite sure how I feel about that. 
• Rear Lateral Raise - 3 x 12 - 7.5 lbs again and that was good. I'm sticking with that weight for next time. It might be a little light next time, but I think it will be in that celestial alignment state of perfection. I hope. I love that feeling. 
• Alternating sets of:
• Single Leg Hip Raises - 3 x 12 - Doing these with the working leg on a bench wasn't quite working my hams and glutes as hard as I wanted so I checked in the Women's Health Big Book of Exercises for a variation to scale it up some. What I found was holding a weight plate on my lower abdomen (right where my hips hinge) so that my hams had a bit more weight to raise. I used a 5 lb plate and next time I'll use 10. But that was definitely good and a bit more hamstring/glute focused than Step Ups. 
• Single-Arm Cable Chest Presses - 3 x 12 - I had planned to go up to 25 lbs, but forgot that for the first set (and for some reason didn't check my notebook). I did go up for sets 2 and 3 and had no problems.Working out on Saturday around noon is fun because the gym is pretty close to empty, so I plenty of room to work on the cable machines. I might change to some sort of bench press for next phase -- though I prefer not to sit down during my workout. 
• Coordination Rows (Single-Leg, Single-Arm Cable Rows) - 3 x 12 - Getting better all the time!! So exciting. I'm not sure if my body is just finally *getting* these or if doing them with both workouts (instead of just one) is making the difference, but I like it. That said, I'll still probably go back to doing these in only one workout in the next phase, just to get more different kinds of work in. 
• Cardio Intervals - 8 x 20:40 Intervals of Insanity -- This totally sounds like I was slacking (only 8 Insanities instead of 10) except that I did Jump Squats for ALL of the Insanity intervals. Thursday, I caught myself thinking of the Jumping Jacks Insanity intervals as the easy ones, or like I could rest a bit more during them, but I couldn't figure out any way to ramp them up (I was already going as fast as I could). So I just cut them out and went with nothing but Jump Squats. Which was just an awesome killer! Loved it! 

I also did 10 minutes of warm-up walking on the treadmill -- when I was warming up on the elliptical, I could burn 100 calories (according to the machine ) in 10 minutes but on the treadmill I was barely making it to 80 calories in 10 minutes. It was a bummer. But on Saturday, I got up to 93 calories in 10 minutes -- mostly by raising the incline. Knowing that, I think I can get up to 100 calories in 10 minutes, which totally makes me happy. 

Next workout is scheduled for tonight -- it's my last time with Workout E. Goal for the workout, finish STRONG!