Workout H #1: First real test of my hand (Workout 45)

I think I'm going to really love this workout, though the single leg
dumbbell deadlifts are really weirdly difficult. 

This was Monday's workout. I'll post tomorrow (I hope) with this evening's workout. This was my first time with Workut H and I had a great time with it. It was hard (Side Plank is not a lot of fun) and at times weird (Single Leg Dumbbell Deadlifts, only without any dumbbells). But it was really good. 

With the T-stabilization and the Push Ups, this workout put some actual stress on my palm (which had minor surgery in October). It went just fine while I was working out. I still feel like I'm healing and have a thick spot where the lump was removed, but I didn't have any problem with my workout.

Monday's workout was:

• Side Plank - 3 x 45 seconds - I can't say that I exactly enjoy doing Side Plank, though I kind of love having done it and it's a great part of a workout. I haven't done them in a while, so it's good to get back to them. 
• T-Stabilization - 2 x 10 - (You can see a video of this here.) This is the exercise that I was not at all sure I would be able to do when I did my test workout last Thursday. It just seemed like it would require more balance or upper body strength or whatever than I expected I would have. I was dead surprised when I could do them. They're hard, no doubt, but definitely possible. In fact they're so possible, that I'll quite probably add another set of these before Phase 4 is done. 
• Dumbbell Hang Pull - 2 x 10 - (You can see a video of this here.) As the dude in the video says, it's a good explosive exercise. I'm doing it as a power exercise and also a whole-body exercise (all in one). I sure hope that video is sped up or something, because I'm nothing like that fast. I need to remember to drive myself all the way up onto my toes. On my test-run day, I tried doing this with a barbell rather than dumbbells, but those didn't work as well. The dumbbells are a little easier to manage with these. I used 15 lb weights and that was a good weight for while I'm getting the hang of these. I think I'll be able to move up soon, though. 
• Alternating sets of: 
• Sumo Squat with Single Dumbbell - 3 x 12 - (You can see a video of this here.) I realize that in the page pictured above, it looks like these are Jump Squats with Dumbbell. It's my own handwriting and that's how I read it. But no, no Sumo Squats. I'm doing Jump Squats for my Intervals of Insanity. I used a single 45 lb dumbbell for these and it was good. The problem looming is that the dumbbells at the gym only go up to 50 lbs, so I don't have a lot of room with these before I've maxed out what I can do at our gym. But I'll burn that bridge when I get to it. For right now, 45 lbs is a good weight. 
• Standing Y-T-L-W-I Raises - 2 x 10 - I posted a video of these when I was doing Hands Free Workout A - These are surprisingly hard. Partly because I'm standing and leaning forward while I do ten reps of each of five exercises without a break. And it's all upper body stuff which is where I need the most help. No weights -- even 5 lbs would just about kill me, I reckon. 
• Alternating sets of:
• Single-leg Dumbbell Deadlift - 3 x 12 - (You can see a video of this here.) This is another balance exercise and is therefore, very challenging for me just doing the movements right. So I'm not using weights just bodyweight for now (which makes this really incredibly mis-named). I was a little dubious that the bodyweight version would do much for me, but it is. 
• Push-ups Plus - 3 x 12 - I haven't done regular (non-explosive) push-ups since Phase 2, so it's nice to get back to them. By kind of broad values of nice anyway -- I don't really like push-ups but I'm much better at them now than I was when I stopped. I'm still at the windowsill height (about knee level) but I could make all of my reps at that height. I might try a weight bench next time. 
• Cardio Intervals - 4 x 30:30 Jumping Jacks alternated with 4 x 20:40 Jump Squats. I did well with these and don't stop until I can't go on. I've been getting some side-stitches during these lately, which has been making me stop at eight rather than ten Insanities. Ten is always my goal. 

It was a good and effective workout. I'm definitely in the start of a new phase -- I'm always sore for the first week or so when I move to a new phase. I think it's because there are always some new exercises and my muscles aren't used to them. It's not a bad soreness -- just a little bit lurking around when I make big movements.

I could take an Aleve to deal with them, but I really don't like to do that. I read something (which may be wildly wrong, it was in a magazine or something) which said that the post-exercise soreness is from inflammation and that inflammation is part of your muscles rebuilding and getting stronger after exercise. So stopping the inflammation can stop the beneficial effects of exercise. (As I said, this may be wildly wrong, but it makes a certain amount of intuitive sense.) So I usually wait at least 36 hours before I even think about taking an Aleve.

It's not really right to day that my next workout is scheduled for Thursday -- my next workout happened on Thursday. It was kind of awesome. I'll post about it tomorrow.