Workout F # 6 and a cardio day: Look, ma! No hands! (Workouts 38 and 39)

Took forever to post about it, but the workout was excellent! 

I haven't gotten a chance to post about last *Wednesday's* workout, but I really did go and it was really excellent (as workout f has tended to be). But then on Thursday, I had hand surgery and then I've been mad busy. Today I have a moment to catch up with myself. 

Wednesday's workout was the last of Phase 3 -- round six with Workout F means it's time to move on. I haven't yet (still) figured out what I'm going to be doing for Workouts G and H, but I have a little time (another whole week, darn it) to work it out. 

The reason I have this time is that I had (extremely) minor hand surgery last Thursday to remove a lump that I've had for, seriously, decades, but that finally started bothering me and being quite uncomfortable right around when I started lifting weights. Or maybe a bit before. Anyway, while my hand is fully functional for normal things like typing (clearly) and writing and drawing and holding (most) things, anything that puts a stretch on my palm tugs at the stitches uncomfortably and unpleasantly (and makes me feel like I'm going to tear one out). 

You'd be surprised at all the things that put a stretch on one's palm, by the way -- toweling off after a shower has been the big unpleasant surprise. 

The stitches come out on Saturday (Oct. 31), if I have to find a random stranger on the street to do it for me. (The surgeon says anyone can do it.) Once they're out, I'll be able to get back on track with Phase 4 and Workouts G and H. 

In this post-hand surgery time, I'm kind of making do. 

Saturday, I did a cardio day -- walked for 45 minutes at a good incline and a really stiff pace. It was fine, but not as satisfying as lifting would have been. On the other hand, it was way more satisfying that tearing out a stitch would have been, so I'm okay with it. 

For tonight and Wednesday, I'm going to try to figure out how much of an actual workout I can do without using my hands. I figure I can do body weight squats (or jump squats, though I may save those for Intervals of Insanity), body weight reverse lunges, hip raises (maybe even with a weight plate, because I can hold that with my right hand) with both legs, step ups (maybe with raising my knee high as I go up), plank, side plank. So that's quads (both with one leg working and with both legs working), hamstrings and glutes (ditto) and core. I can't find a chest or shoulder exercise that doesn't use the hands, but Y-T-I raises on the floor would work my back some. 

But that's looking ahead. Wednesday's workout was: 

• Cross-body Mountain Climbers - 2 x 30 - Doing these fast makes all the difference in the world as far as how well I feel it's working me. These may make it on in the next round, because I do deflinitely enjoy them, though I'll need to raise the stakes somehow with them. 
• Elevated Explosive Push-Ups - 2 x 10 - if these are going to go on, I need to make them harder. Which I really want to do because I think they're doing me a world of good. Maybe I can figure out how to go lower or something. As with so many things, going faster makes a huge difference in how much work I feel I'm getting. 
• Alternating sets of:
• Dumbbell Front Squats - 3 x 12 - I used a pair of 17.5 lb dumbbells again, because these put so much work on my core that I just can't go higher. I can tell they're not working my quads as much as I'd like, but I get that quad work elsewhere, so I guess that's okay. 
• Rear Lateral Raises - 3 x 12 - I used a pair of 7.5 lb dumbbells. These are almost certainly going to make it into the next round. I love these. They're crazy difficult, don't get me wrong, but I think they're doing very good things for me. 
• Alternating sets of: 
• Single-leg Hip Raises - 3 x 12 - I went up to a 10lb weight plate held on my lower abdomen for these this time, to raise the difficulty and make my hamstrings and glutes work harder. It was a good thing to have done because I could definitely feel that my glutes had been worked hard. It was excellent. 
• Cable Chest-Presses - 3 x 12 - I'm still at 25 lbs on these and they are plenty difficult at that weight. I might switch to a more "classic" chest press (like a bench press maybe) in the next phase but I need to ponder that. I like these pretty well and like that they keep me standing and work my core. 
• Coordination Rows (Single-leg, Single-arm Cable Rows) - 3 x 12 - I did one whole set, both legs, without having to put a foot down to keep my balance!! When I started doing these (two months ago), I couldn't even do one whole rep without having to touch. :: happy dance :: Doing them with every exercise is making a big difference, but I probably won't keep that up in Phase 4, when I can do the reverse lunge cable rows as an alternate whole-body exercise. Still at 15 lbs. 
• Cardio Intervals - 10 x 20:40 Intervals of Insanity -- ALL JUMP SQUATS!! For 10 rounds!! And I didn't die. :D It was fantastic. Absolutely fantastic!! 

Saturday's workout, as mentioned, was just a cardio day. 50 or so minutes of walking at around 4 miles an hour with the treadmill set at incline 6. I watched an episode of Castle on our tablet. It was fine and I worked up a good sweat. But I missed a proper workout. 

Next workout is scheduled for tonight.  I'm sort of developing a plan, which I will finalize before we get to the gym. Goal for the workout -- don't hurt my hand but feel as though I've really worked hard.