Workouts I and J #2: Going Great! (Workouts 58 & 59)

Back at our home gym and it went really well, for the
most part.

I'm not *as* far behind as I have been, but I do have a couple more workouts to catch up on. Usually the second time around with a workout is starting to get smoother and better than the first time around -- though previous Phases aren't a great guide because I'm getting more experienced and this particular phase has a lot of repeat exercises. 

Workout I #2 was last Thursday. We were back at our home gym, which was nice. It was a really hard workout -- absolutely exhausting. Which was totally awesome. I love that! 

Workout I #2 was Thursday, December 17. It was:

• Plank With Reduced Base of Support - 3 x 40 seconds - It really does make a huge difference if I put down a specific time (40 seconds) or a generic one (30+ seconds, which of course would include 40 seconds). If I decide in advance I'm going for 40 seconds, I'll do that if I'm at all capable. If I leave it up to the moment, I'll stop earlier. For some reason that probably has to do with being a bit lame. Anyway, I wrote this down to be 40 seconds each set and that worked. 
• Coordination Rows (Single-Leg Single-Arm Cable Rows) - 3 x 10 - I've gone to 20 lbs with these because I'm doing fewer reps per set. I had two PERFECT sets as far as standing on one foot while doing them. Which is such amazing and awesome improvement. I love it. 
• Dumbbell Jump Squats - 2 x 5 - I'm doing these with a pair of 40 lb dumbbells at this point. With the weights, they are an entirely different sort of thing from the body weight only, go as fast as possible, jump squats I do during the intervals of insanity. These are great quad work and do seem to really push my quads and just generally are a lot of hard work. 
• Alternating sets of:
• Offset-Loaded Lunges - 3 x 8 - I actually backed down the weight on these a bit, because I was feeling too much strain in my (non-working) quad at 25 lbs. At 20 lbs it was a lot better, so I'll go with that until I don't feel like that's a potential strain. 
• Assisted Chin-Ups and Scapular Retractions - 3 x 8, 6, 6 - I had the machine set to the same level of assist as the first time, so theoretically I was lifting the same 90 lbs, but oh, my goodness was it hard this second time. I almost fell off the machine off the second set I was so wiped out by these. I wound out dropping the weight stack with a big echoing bang, which I was deeply embarrassed by. The third set was a little better, but there was absolutely no chance that I could have done any more than I did. I guess this leaves me a lot of room for improvement in  these. I was a little worried about these because there's only one machine at the gym, but it worked out fine. The other person using it and I just traded off and it really wasn't an issue. Except that he was Right There when I dropped the weights and made a big noise. Oops.
• Alternating sets of:
• Back Extensions - 3 x 8 - I used two ten pound weight plates while doing these. I feel like those are maybe a little easier than Deadlifts as far as being a hamstrings/glutes exercise, but they do make me work. I made a note to go up -- I'll try a 25lb plate next time. If the weight is weird on my back, I'll go instead for another set. 
• Diagnoal Raises - 3 x 8 - I'm doing these with a pair of 10lb dumbbells, Which doesn't seem like a lot, but I don't have a lot of strength in my upper body (though that's improving). I'm hoping to be able to take these up after one more time. ::fingers crossed::
• Cardio Intervals - 5 x 20:40 Jump Squats Intervals of Insanity - I didn't do any of the intervals with Jumping Jacks that I usually alternate the jump squats with. For a very lame reason -- the gym's trainer was back there with a class and she was sort of watching me and I didn't want to seem lame doing jumping jacks. Yeah, yeah, I know. I did jump squats until my legs pooped out and that was that. 

It was a very, very good workout. Aside from the embarrassment of dropping the weights on the chinups. And we weren't even too horribly late getting home, if I remember right. 

The workout was good, though I missed a bit doing the
Cardio Intervals.

Saturday, December 20, I did Workout J #2. I did a revised version where I replaced Dumbbell Front Squats with regular Dumbbell Squats because the front squats were too much the same as the Dumbbell Push Presses. We got to the gym really late because we had about a million errands to run -- we didn't get there until 7pm -- so I was, once again, in a bit of a rush with this one. Aargh. 

Saturday's workout was: 

• Core Stabilization - 3 x 30 seconds - Next time I'm putting myself down for 40 seconds for these. It just doesn't work expecting myself to keep going beyond what I had written down to do. I'm not increasing the weight because holding the weight at arms length is hard and I don't want to derail these from being a core exercise.
• Rolling Side Plank - 2 x 7, 8 - I increased the number of reps in the sets from the first time with this workout, which makes me happy. I think (but I don't remember for sure) that I have myself down for 3 sets of these next time. They're hard but I can do more than two sets, I think. 
• Dumbbell Push Press- 3x5 - I'm still at a pair of 25 lb dumbbells, which is where I feel good right now because I don't want to hit my shoulders too hard. And these are some kinda work, I'm just saying. I'm not sure why they're so much harder with just 5 lbs more than I was doing them at in Phase 4. Maybe because of what comes before them. I'm not sure. 
• Alternating sets of:
• Single Leg Dumbbell Deadlifts - 3 x 8 - I did the pair of 20 lb dumbbells with these again on Saturday, which was fine. But I have a note to go up next time. So I'll move up to a pair of 25 lbs dumbbells. I think that will be a better workout on my hamstrings and quads. 
• Push Ups - 3 x 8 - I'm still good and difficult on the weight bench and don't feel a need to move up yet. These are hard and I'm definitely not ready to move on. Good stuff.
• Alternating sets of: 
• Dumbbell Squats - 3 x 8 - For these I used 40lb weights and that was very very good. It was a great level of work, but not too much. This is a much better fit for this workout than the Front Squats, I'd originally started with. I'm pleased. 
• Standing YTLWI Raises - 3 x 8, 8, 5 - I'm absolutely not ready to move up in weight from the pair of 5lb dumbbells that I'm working with, but I did add a third set. I did half a set (well a bit more) and will try to do a third full set next week. I hope to raise the weight at some point, but not quite yet. 
• Cardio -- I started out with 8 minutes of walking (at almost 4 miles an hour on the treadmill) to get warmed up. I didn't do any Cardio Intervals at all though -- it was a late evening!

Two great workouts. These heavy phases are difficult -- I feel a bit creaky and sore because of the extra weight. But it's worth it. It's good to do a heavy weight phase every so often.