Workout M#4: Got behind again. But had a wonderful workout!

M#4 was as much fun as I've come to expect from this workout,
though I didn't have time, or attention, or something for Insanities.

Workout M #4 was last Wednesday, which was a bit of a cluster-mess of a day -- Patrick couldn't go to work because of the Washington Metro shutdown and that just threw everything into a hat and it hasn't quite recovered. But we did make it to the gym and we did both have a good workout. Patrick finished at almost exactly the same time as I was finishing my main strength workout, and I wasn't sure what I could find space to do (and wanted to do) for the Intervals of Insanity. And I just kind of didn't have the will. 

The workout itself was great though, as Workout M is. 

(And then the rest of the week was a bit of a mess as well, so I didn't have time to post about it and now I'm behind on posting again. Poop!)

Anyway, last Wednesday's workout was: 

• Bridge Slides - 3 x 30 seconds - I decided to go for a time on these rather than a number because the number was kind of too easy. I can do way more than 15 in 30 seconds and it feels a lot harder. It was made even harder for the first set by the fact that I missed the signal from the timer on my phone when 30 second was up and went for 50 seconds before I checked the time. My hamstrings and glutes were WAY tired after that. I'm just saying. :D The second and third sets I was more attentive to the timer and stuck with 30 seconds. 
• Kettlebell Swings - 3 x 30 seconds - For both these and the Bridge Slides, I'm doing them like I do the Intervals of Insanity (30 seconds of work followed by 30 seconds of rest). So it gets pretty intense. The 25 lb kettlebell was available, so I was able to use the weight I wanted and really work it hard. Of course, that's sort of a hams/glutes exercise as well so it was a lot of a lot by the time I was done with those and the Bridge Slides. 
• Step Up and One Arm Press - 3 x 15 - I did them on the stairs again because the step boxes were in use and I didn't feel like wrangling the wooden plyo box (I think that's what they're called) from the Serious Weight Room. (Also it's higher and higher is supposed to be rougher on the knees. I don't want to press my gravelly knees too hard too fast, so I want to work up to that, I think.) I used a 20 lb dumbbell for the first set, which was awfully hard in the pressing part. So I went for a 15 for the second 2 sets. I think I  may do that again next time. 
• Alternating sets of: 
• Swiss Ball Reverse Hip Raise - 3 x 15 - These don't seem that *hard* but boy do they get me exhausted and sweaty. Maybe it's something in the movement itself. Or having to balance myself on the ball. I don't know but this exercise rocks as far as making me work hard, get sweaty and breathe hard. I'm still not ready to move on from 15 rep sets. This is one where faster isn't really going to ramp it up, exactly, when I'm ready to make it harder. Slower might -- because controlling the slow descent and not just letting gravity do the work would have my legs working more. 
• Swiss Ball Chest Press - 3 x 15 - I used a pair of 15lb dumbbells for this, just like I did the time before. They are still the right amount of weight for me on this exercise, which is cool, because it really is terribly convenient to have the same weight for everything. (Or most of it). These are also really sweaty and quite a lot like work. I love them. 
• Alternating sets of: 
• Lunge & Rotation - 3 x 15 - I went up from a 10lb dumbbell to a 15lb dumbbell held up under my chin for these and that felt about right. The second and third sets I did alternating sides (rather than doing all the reps on one side then switching to the other). It's a lot more exhausting that way, though I can't say I understand why. (Except that part of the reason, I'm sure is that I seems to fairly often lose count and when that happens I go back to the last number I'm certain of and start counting again. So it's not unusual for sets to have way more than the required reps. 
• Neutral Grip Row - 3 x 5 - Once again, I stuck with the pair of  15 lb dumbbells here -- that may be a little light, but the convenience of using only one weight all the way through is kind of awesome. And the Lunges are so much work that something a little light for a change doesn't totally hurt my feelings. 

I was going to post about Workout N #4 in this post as well, but apparently didn't take a picture of the page from my workout log. So that will have to wait. I'll give you a little hint though -- it was a great workout and I had So Much Fun doing Insanities.

Now, for what can best be described as Reasons, I need to work on an email to Travis the trainer about what I want to work on with him. Patrick still needs one more session (on legs) with him, but because of the aforementioned Reasons, he's not going to be able to do it for a little bit. So I'm getting my session(s) next. Which is totally cool. I'm hoping to learn a new *structure* for a month's worth of workouts (though I really don't want to have a "chest" day and an "arms" day and a "legs" day, because that just makes for more muscle soreness, it seems). I'm also hoping to learn some new things I can do for Insanities so I can mix that up more. And I want to figure out how to better incorporate some whole-body and power exercises -- maybe in a way that I can still work everything out just as much but shave one or two exercises off my routine so I'm not going so much longer than Patrick most times. (This workout, I was very pleased because I was finishing my strength workout at the same time he was wrapping up his elliptical workout -- but if I'd been going to do Insanities, I would still have had 10 more minutes of Insanities, plus some cool-down stretches to go.) I may share the email here if it winds out okay.

Next post is going to be about Saturday's Workout N#4. I hope to do that tomorrow! Next workout is M#5 tonight. Goal for the workout -- work hard and do a lot of Insanities!!