Workout J#6: Shoulder ouch! Workokout 68

A good workout -- first as an actual member at the Sport Fit,
pity about my shoulder though. 

If you look at my workout log from Wednesday night closely, picking your way through the atrocious handwriting and rather cramped formatting, you'll see that for the third set of Rolling Side Planks I only did 11 instead of twelve. That is because my right shoulder just wasn't getting with the program on those -- I could feel a sort of clicking (not exactly, more like something bumpy moving over something else bumpy) in it as I was rolling onto that side. Honestly, I probably should have stopped them sooner. (I also only did 10 for the first set, but that was a lapse of memory.)

I didn't have any problem completing my reps with any of the other exercises, but my right shoulder did feel a little funky. Like it wasn't moving as fluidly as the other one. It didn't hurt, really, so I did my thing. Though I did back down a bit on the YLTWI raises because those are really surprisingly hard.

Thursday morning, though, my shoulder was definitely hurty. And had that same "bumps moving over one another" clicky-type feel with some movements, though not others. (Row-type moves were okay, but lateral raise type moves were not, for example.)

Fortunately, I have a few days before I really put stress on that arm, Our next workout is Saturday and that will be the raquetball lesson with the pro at Sport Fit. I'll undoubtedly be using my left arm for the raquet, so I shouldn't put too much strain on my right shoulder. So I really have until Monday evening before I am lifting weights again.

That's five days.

I have great hope that my shoulder will be back to normal by then -- particularly if I manage to sleep on my back rather than on my right side. (Unfortunately, on my right side is how I normally sleep because that's the cuddled-up-to-Patrick side.)

Anyway, ouchsome shoulder aside, it was a very good workout and I really enjoyed it. The Sport Fit's weight room was a little more busy -- lots of trainers working with clients (the trainers wear shirts that say "Personal Trainer" which is how I know this). So maybe it just took a little longer for the Resolutionaries to become apparent there. In any case, even with an obviously greater number of people in the workout rooms, I didn't have the slightest bit of problem logistically or crowd-wise doing everything I wanted to do. So yay!

Wednesday's workout was:

• Core Stability - 3 x 45 seconds - I'm not totally exactly sure of the time to the second for each of these. I was at a bit of an awkward angle to the clock on the wall and I might have missed by a few seconds more or less. The 15lb kettlebell was really heavy, though, so I might have had a bit of incentive to, umm, read the clock wrong. 
• Rolling Side Plank - 3 x 10, 12, 11 - As mentioned above, these were a bit of a problem. The first set of ten was because I'd forgotten I was going up to twelve. The last set of 11 was because my right shoulder was just not going to take even one more. And probably shouldn't have been asked to take as many as it did. 
• Dumbbell Push Press - 3 x 5 - Doing five rep sets of these is much more achievable than doing bigger sets. Good to know, thought I probably won't be doing them again next phase. Unless Travis The Trainer thinks it's something I should be doing. I used a pair of 25lb dumbbells and they were hard. I swear I think I was doing more at that weight at one point and not finding them as difficult as now, though I'm not sure about that. There may be some interaction with the exercises that come before also working my arms and shoulders. 
• Alternating sets of:
• Single-leg Deadlifts - 3 x 10, 8, 8 - I used the pair of 25lb dumbbells for this as well. The first set I kind of got in a groove and I think I did 10 rather than 8, but I'm not 100% positive. I was more attentive after that. It's probably a sign that I could have raised the weight, and if I were doing Workout J again, I would. Since I'm not, though, I'm happy with what I did. 
• Pushups - 3 x 8 - I really do think the benches at Sport Fit are an inch or so lower than the ones at Planet Fitness. Though it's possible I'm just imagining that. In any case, I made my reps and was even able to do most of them pretty fast, so I'm super pleased with these. :D 
• Alternating sets of:
• Squats - 3 x 8 - I'm up to a pair of 45lb dumbbells with these and I'm pretty pleased with myself about that. I was able to make my reps with these working fast, which is excellent. I don't think my hands and arms (and shoulders) are up to going up to 50lb weights with these, so I believe if I keep going with these next phase, it's going to have to be a volume increase. Which I was pretty much planning on, so that works out fine. 
• Standing YTLWI Raises - 3 x 8 - These were so incredibly hard last time that I was really worried about them. Particularly with my shoulder being all clicky and weird. They were still hard but doable this time -- I used a pair of 5lb dumbbells for the first two sets and just bodyweight for the last set. I'm not sure if these are going to continue next time. Pondering that sort of thing is a project for this weekend. 
• Cardio - No time for Intervals of Insanity, but I did 174 calories in 10 minutes on the treadmill, so I'm pretty chuffed about that. 

I started this post on Thursday morning and am finishing it on Friday. The Friday Update on my right (clicky-weird) shoulder is that it's doing much, much better today. I slept on my left side (rather than my right) and that seems to have made a huge improvement. It feels more or less normal. My muscles are still a little sore from the hard workout though that's improving as normal as well. So yay! I'm going to continue to be gentle with my shoulder for a while, just to make sure it really is better, but I'm far less concerned than I was. 

Hooray! 

Our next workout is scheduled for Saturday. We're having a raquetball lesson with the pro at the Sport Fit in the morning, which should be a heap of fun. Goals for the workout are: Don't take a ball (or raquet) to the face and work up a good sweat!

Workout I #6: A Good Workout, Changing Gyms, and Looking Forward (Workout 67)

Another excellent workout at the Sport Fit. 

Last weekend was one with some big changes for us -- we officially cancelled our membership at Planet Fitness (we hope, we'll keep an eye out to make sure we don't get charged) and started a membership at the Sport Fit. We'd been planning to check out the third gym in town (L.A. Fitness) but ultimately decided that we just liked the Sport Fit so very very much that we couldn't imagine it being better.

Among the perks at the Sport Fit (or perhaps it's better called a signing bonus), is a free fitness evaluation and two free sessions with one of the trainers that works there. (They appear to be independent contractors.) For *each* of us, which is awesome. This seems as though it's going to be really personal, personal training, which I'm totally excited about. We have our first session with Travis the Trainer on January 30. 

The reason we're waiting so long is many-faceted. 1) Patrick has a cold, so we wanted to give time for him to recover and for me to recover from the cold we're convinced I'll inevitably get. 2) On January 23rd (Saturday week), we're celebrating my one year Fit-i-versary by going to a climbing gym (or climbing playground) in town and then meeting up with some friends at a local brewery. 3) On January 17, (this coming Saturday) we're getting a free session at Sport Fit with their racquetball pro. 

Apparently, the big draw at the Sport Fit is their racquetball courts (which is why the weight rooms are typically not terribly crowded). We've seen some folks playing every time we've been there and they look like they're having a great time. The sport just looks like a blast, entirely apart from the rules and scoring and so on. So we're getting an intro to the sport from someone who is, apparently, excellent at teaching newbies and instilling a love of the game. That sounds like a ton of fun. 

Anyway, I'm head of myself -- Saturday's workout was good but left me kind of hurty, especially with some neck strain. Which has been a bit of a problem and a bit worrisome. More on that below the workout...

Saturday's workout was: 

• Plank with Reduced Base of Support - 3 x 54 seconds, or at least that was the plan - I did the first and last sets with one arm raised and the middle set with one leg raised. Holding a leg up is, oddly, easier than holding up an arm. I forgot to keep my phone with me, so I'd have a timer available, so I was using the big clock-with-a-second-hand ont he wall. I think this is when I hurt my neck, oddly, because I had to crane around to see the clock while I was holding this position. Very annoying.
• Coordination Rows (Single-Leg, Single-Arm, Cable Rows) - 3 x 10 - I was absolutely perfect for the first set, very wobbly for the second set, and then close to perfect for the second set. That's as far as standing on one leg goes. I'm still doing 20 lbs for these. If I stick with these in Phase 6 (which is coming up soon, more on this below), I'll be raising the weight, I think. 
• Dumbbell Jump Squats - 3 x 8 - I was reluctant to raise the weight on these (from a pair of 30lb dumbbells to a pair of 35lbs) because the heavier weight places a great strain on my shoulders when I land. This may also have contributed to my upper back strain that I've been dealing with since this workout. 
• Alternating sets of: 
• Offset Lunges - 3 x 8 - I used a 25lb weight again.. I was able to do these with the 25lb weight moving fast, which is my usual first line of increasing intensity. As this was my last time with this workout (probably), I didn't really feel like raising the weight and risking hurting my quad, so I just rocked the 25lb weight and it was good.
• Assisted Chinups and Scapular Retraction -  3 x 8 for both - I did my best to set the weights so that I was actually lifting about 95 lbs (in the vicinity anyway) based on what I'd weighed in the morning when I woke up. That's a bit of an increase over what I've been lifting, I believe, which is cool. I'm not sure I really love the grips on the assisted chinup machine -- I feel like this is working my triceps more and my back less than I really want, but I have been getting stronger so it's okay I guess. I almost feel like I get more of the kind of work I want on my back from the scapular retractions, which I'm also getting stronger at.
• Alternating sets of:
• Back Extensions - 3 x 8 - I was able to go back to the "right" order for these, which was nice. I used a 30lb dumbbell, because I couldn't find a 30lb kettlebell, which might have been a tad easier to wrangle, and that worked just fine. I was a little concerned earlier in the workout that I'd have to figure out an alternate for these on the fly because there was a group working out in the room with the back extension station. As it turned out, they were done before I got in there and it all flowed just seamlessly. Woot! 
• Diagonal Raises - 3 x 8 - These went just fine and despite the upper back strain I didn't have any problems with a 10lb weight. Which was nice. It's possible that I could go up to 12 lbs, but there isn't one in that part of the gym and I didn't feel like going on a quest. 
• Cardio - No Insanities on Saturday, because our day was plenty insane without me spending an extra ten minutes working out. I did do 10 minutes on the treadmill for 165 calories. 

I have one more workout in Phase 5 -- that'll be J#6. It would have been scheduled for Monday, January 11, but I took that evening off because of my stiff back and the crick I'd had in my neck. I just though a little break would be a good idea. Especially as Patrick took the evening off yesterday for his own reasons.

I'm at the point of working out my workouts for Phase 6, but there is a wrinkle. We're meeting with the trainer on January 30  and I'm not sure I want to get to attached to my Phase 6 workouts before I get his professional expertise. Right? We get an evaluation (presumably on January 30) and two free sessions with him.

By my count I have five more workouts between now and seeing Travis the Trainer, one of which I know will be J#6. Our up-coming workout schedule is:
Wednesday, January 13 -- Workout J#6
Saturday, January 16 -- Raquetball with the Pro
Monday, January 18
Wednesday, January 20
Saturday, January 23 -- Climbing at Climb Zone to celebrate my Fit-i-versary
Monday, January 25
Wednesday, January 27
Saturday, January 30 -- Travis the Trainer, first session

I think I'll come up with a couple of Inter-phase workouts to alternate until I have something to take away from working with Travis. I need to work on that before next Monday. I know I want to work in some of the exercises I identified a couple of weeks ago when looking at exercises to improve posture. Those are: seated cable row, back fly with band, shoulder external rotation, rear-delt row. I need to look those up. I also want possibly make use of some of the new options available unto me at the Sport Fit -- stability balls! BOSU! Valslides! TRX Suspension system! Woot!

Next workout is scheduled for Wednesday and it will be my last workout in Phase 6. I'm excited. These heavy phases are kind of difficult and leave me feeling sore and creaky. I don't know if that's a weight thing or a technique thing or what. I do definitely push myself to lift heavier during them. Goal for the workout -- finish strong and be ready to move into new and exciting things in the new gym. :D 

Workout I #1 (and the Pre-Phase 5 walkthrough): Going Heavy!! (Workouts 56 & 56)

I'm a little concerned about how this workout is going to
work, logistically. But I'm excited about it. 

I decided a week or so ago, before I really was getting down to the nitty gritty of planning Phase 5 and Workouts I and J, that I wanted to do another "heavy" phase. If you remember (and if I remember), Phase 1 had 2 sets of 15 reps and fairly low weights, Phase 2 had 3 sets of 10, and Phases 3 and 4 had 3 sets of 12. Phase 4 was kind of modeled on the same philosophy as Phase 1, but I didn't want to go lighter on weights (so I could do more reps), so I just continued on with 12. I'm ready for another heavy phase now, though, because it's been a while and I want to really push myself.

So for Phase 5, I'm going for 3 sets of 8 reps, which means fewer reps overall by rather a lot (which I'm not entirely in love with, but I don't think I have time to do 4 sets of everything). If I get to a point where I want to increase the volume of lifting (the number of times I move the weight) rather than increasing the weight, I'll go up to 4 sets on a few of them, maybe. And maybe we'll just enjoy a month where workouts take a little less time than they have been. Or I'll be able to get back to doing Cardio Intervals every time because I won't be running so long. Or something. 

Reducing the reps means I can increase the weight by a fair amount, though less than you might think in some instances. Certainly less than I thought. 

I did my Pre-Phase 5 walkthrough -- where I do one (or maybe 2) sets of each of the exercises in both workouts so I can set the weights, make sure I'm physically capable of everything I'm planning on, and sort out any logistical wrinkles. I'm clearly getting better at planning these workouts, because I didn't have to make any changes from my initial plan after the run-through. I can do everything and the balance of what I'm working when (which muscles get worked in which workout and how) is good. 

There is a logistical problem with Workout I -- two of the exercises (Assisted Chinups and Back Extensions) use equipment that there's only one of in the gym. I don't know about how much use the Assisted Chinup machine gets, but I know the Back Extension station gets quite a lot. I have an alternate exercise for both of them though. If the Assisted Chinup machine is in use when I need it, I can do Lat Pulldowns. If the Back Extension station is in use, I can go up to the dumbbell corner and do Romanian Deadlifts. So I am not without recourse for those busy nights at the gym when there can be traffic at some of the stations. 

Yesterday, I went late enough in the afternoon that the gym was nearly empty and I didn't run into any traffic problems on anything at all. So I was able to do the whole workout as I planned it. :D 

Yesterday's workout was: 

• Plank with Reduced Base of Support - 3 x 30 + seconds - (You can see a video of a regular Plank here.) This is like a regular Plank only with fewer points of contact with the ground, and therefore less stability. The options are to raise one leg, raise one arm, or raise one arm and the opposite leg. What I did yesterday was to raise one arm. The instructions in the book (The New Rules of Lifting For Life) say to do half the time with your left arm or leg up and half the time with your right arm or leg up, which makes a lot of sense. In quest of a video to link to, I found one site which suggested that raising the leg is easier than raising an arm. Huh. I'll try that next time to see if it's the case. This is going to present the same problem I had with planks before -- clock watching and stopping before I need to because the clock says to. The first two sets I did 30 seconds (15 each side) and felt like I could have done more. The third set I did 40 seconds. So I'm going to start there next time. 
• Coordination Rows - 3 x 10 - Because I'm doing a heavy phase, I decided to reduce the number of reps of these so I can increase the weight a bit. I might change my mind about that though, because really the point of these is to stand on one leg and move and doing that for *longer* is what helps my balance more. Or something like that. I'm going to ponder this between now and next time and think about going back to 12 reps per set. 
• Dumbbell Jump Squat - 2 x 5 - I used a pair of 35 lb dumbbells doing these which was hard. I need to be careful how I do these to not put strain on my back in either the jumping or the landing, which is why I'm reluctant to increase either the weight or the number of reps. I'll keep an eye on them and when I feel I can I'll either go up to 3 sets of 5 or I'll raise the weights. 
• Alternating sets of:
• Offset Dumbbell Lunges - 3 x 8 - (You can see a video of this here.) I've been doing bodyweight lunges only (or trivial weight -- I went up to a pair of 7.5 lb dumbbells for the last workout in Phase 4) since I had my Hurty Quad issues back in Phase 3. And when I hurt my quad back in Phase 3 it was doing Offset-Loaded Reverse Lunges. So I'm feeling just a tad diffident about these. During my walkthrough on Wednesday, I figured I could use a 30 lb weight for these. During my workout yesterday, I accidentally grabbed a 25 lb weight. (I'd like to think it was in the rack in the wrong place, but it was probably just a swing and a miss on my part.) I felt the first bit of a twinge of that pain in my quad when I was doing these, so I'm probably going to back the weight down a bit until I'm not straining my quad. I'll try 15lbs next time. 
• Assisted Chinups (and Scapular Retraction) - 3 x 8 - I decided to take a break from the Lat Pulldowns I've been doing since, well, Phase 1 (eep) and do Chinups instead. Except that I'm totally not ready for lifting my whole bodyweight. So I'm using the Assisted Chinup machine. (You can see a video of how to use the machine here. Ignore the first half where he's showing how to use it for dips -- I'm not doing those.) I started with it set so I was chinning up about 85 lbs, but moved it after the first set because that was way too light. I now have it set so that I'm chinning-up about 90lbs, which is a nice increase over the 80 I would be doing if I were doing 12 reps of Lat Pulldowns. There is a lot more *core* work in these chinups than there was in the Lat Pulldowns. I'm excited about that. While I'm on the Assisted Chinup machine, I'm also doing what The Women's Health Big Book of Exercises calls Scapular Retraction -- hang from a chinup bar and pull your scapulae back and down. (You can sort of see a video here, though I'm doing them a little bit differently -- I'm doing 2 sets of 4 repetitions and holding each rep for a count of two (one-one thousand, two-one thousand), at the end of a set of Chinups.) I might eventually fold those into doing the chinups -- start with the scapular retraction and continue to chinning up. If the Assisted Chinup machine is in use, I can do Kneeling Lat Pulldowns at the same weight I'm doing these at. I can also do the scapular retractions with that bar. 
• Alternating sets of: 
• Back Extensions (or Hyperextensions, as they're called on Bodybuilding.com) - 3 x 8 -  (You can see a video of these here.) I need to remember to set the pad that I lean against at a low enough height that it doesn't interfere with the hinge action of my hips. I did it right when I was doing my walkthrough on Wednesday but had it one notch higher yesterday and it didn't feel quite as right. I started out holding onto a 10lb weight plate, but two sets of that made it clear that was way too light, so I went up to two 10lb weight plates for the third set and that was a better challenge. If this machine is in use when I need it, I'll go up to the front corner and do Romanian Deadlifts. My last weight for deadlifts was two 40lb dumbbells for 12 reps. I'll probably try 45s at first if I have to go that route. 
• Diagonal Raises - 3 x 8 - (You can see a video of these here.) This is one of those upper body exercises in an area where I am Not Strong. After the walkthrough on Wednesday, I set my weight for these at 7.5 lbs. After a couple of sets I went ahead and moved up to 10lbs because 7.5 wasn't enough of a challenge. Which means I'm maybe getting stronger. Which is cool. 
• Cardio Intervals - 5 x 30:30 Jumping Jack alternated with 5 x 20:40 Jump Squat Intervals of Insanity - It was good to do Insanities again. Fortunately, I was under absolutely no time pressure yesterday, so I could spend as long as I wanted. I've manged to balance the level of effort of the Jump Squats and the Jumping Jacks pretty well (because of the different amount of time and the different recovery periods) so it's a lot of crazy all out effort. Love it. Though I was definitely About Dead when I finished. 

So that was yesterday's workout and my first venture into Phase 5. This is going to be a serious muscle-building phase. I can tell, I'm kind of creaky sore today. In a good, "I used these muscles hard" way. I'll take something for it tonight before bed so I don't go through the day creaky sore tomorrow too. 

I'm pleased with how Phase 5 is shaping up. As I was drafting the workouts, I really liked how Workout J looked. Though it's a lot more familiar than this one. Workout I has a lot of new things that I've not done before with only a few old friends. If I remember right, Workout J is the opposite -- mostly familiar things with some new stuff to brighten it up. 

Next workout is scheduled for Monday. Goal for the workout: Rock Workout J and get it off to a great start! I'm hoping to really kick some things up quite a bit. :D 

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. 

Workout E #5: I can do reverse lunges again! (Workout 35)

Nothing's scratched out! I did a whole workout! :D

After about 10 days of giving my quads the babying treatment so they would recover from whatever insult they felt they had received, I was able to do Reverse Lunges again!! I didn't push them too hard -- no weight but my own body weight -- but they handled that with no issues at all. So yay!! 

In addition to that bit of excitement, I did well with everything -- I went up with the weights on the Romanian Deadlifts (from a total of 60 lbs to a total of 70) and the the Squat Jumps (from a pair of 20 lb dumbbells to a pair of 25 lbs dumbbells). I continue to improve by leaps and bounds at the Coordination Rows. 

I also got more data for my question about the Lat Pulldowns -- if the type of high pulley (fixed on an arm out from the machine or adjustable makes a difference in how hard they are (which I'm sure is a function of which muscles are being worked).

Yesterday's workout was:

• Cable Half-Kneeling Chop - 2 x 10 - I raised the weight on these for the second set, because they still seem like not enough work. Or too much worko n the arms and not enough on the core. Or something. On the other hand, today, I can definitely tell that my core has been worked, so maybe I'm not doing as badly as I feel like I am. 
• Dumbbell Jump Squats - 2 x 8 - I raised the weight from 20lb dumbbells to 25lbs because I hadn't really felt like I was working hard enough last time. Increasing the weight definitely helped a lot, I must say. Though I might work my way up toward doing sets of 10 of them eventually. 
• Alternating sets of: 
• Romanian (Straight-leg) Deadlifts - 3 x 12 - As mentioned above, I raised the weight on these from a total of 60 lbs to a total of 70. And they still felt really good. I'll stick at 70 again next time -- just because going up another 10 lbs would be rather a lot. I haven't decided what's going to be coming in the next phase yet, but I really like deadlifts so I wouldn't be surprised if I'm still doing them. :D 
• Scaption and Shrug - 3 x 12 - Still doing 10 lb dumbbells and still really having a hard time with them. These are *difficult*. Or I just have no back/shoulder muscles. Which is also entirely possible. The only way to make them stronger is to work them and these are definitely work. I can't say I enjoy them, but I'm getting better at them, so I think they're doing their job anyway. 
• Alternating sets of: 
• Reverse Lunges!! - 3 x 12 - I'm back in the Lunge business!! Well, not really a business as I don't make any money or anything, so I guess I'm back in the Lunge hobby. But still, hooray! :D I had absolutely no problem at all with bodyweight lunges yesterday. They didn't feel like a great big ton of work, but I was happy to be doing them. I've only got one more time with Workout E and will probably do bodyweight reverse lunges again just because I don't particularly feel like pushing my quads too hard. 
• Kneeling Cable Lat Pulldowns - 3 x 12 - As mentioned above, and building from the lengthy babbling about these in my previous Workout E post (from last Saturday), I did these from the adjustable pulley at its highest point, rather than the overhead arm fixed high pulley. They were still hard but from the high adjustable pulley, I felt like I could maybe raise the weight. From the overhead fixed pulley I can barely make my reps. At the same weight. That probably means I should alternate them, so I don't neglect the muscles that are getting used with the more difficult ones. I actually went up to 75 lbs (from 72.5) for the third set. Woo hoo!! I've been at 72.5 lbs for like a month or more. 
• Coordination Rows (Single Leg, Single Arm Cable Rows) - 3 x 12 - I may be moving up the weight on these before Thanksgiving! There was a time when I was thinking I wouldn't be moving the weight until 2016. Improvement is improving! I love it! 
• Cardio Intervals - 10 x 20:40 Intervals of Insanity, alternating Jumping Jacks and Jump Squats during the 20 second Insanity intervals. I may need to stop with the jumping jacks and just do all jump squats all the time -- I'm not getting worn out enough anymore. :D 

So all in all it was a good workout. I'll be doing my last Phase 3 workout next Wednesday so I totally need to get cracking on what I'm doing for Workouts G and H. Before that I need to figure out if I'm circling back around to phase 1 (and thus doing Workouts A1 and B1), but I don't think I totally like that idea.

Next workout is scheduled for Saturday. I'm going to stick with the single leg hip raises for Saturday, but maybe the next time I'll go back to the bench step ups. Goal for the workout: Have a blast -- Workout F is a ton of fun. 

Workout F #3 (Modified): Oh, that was good! (Workout 32)

The main modification I made was getting rid of the High
(Bench) Step Ups. But the replacement worked me hard , so
it was all good. 

I'm still babying my quads, specifically my right quad, though it hasn't actively felt weird in several days, so I'm working on a modified Workout F right now. I replaced the High (Bench) Step Ups, which put a lot of work on my quads, with Single-leg Hip Raises, which worked my glutes and hamstrings really well but didn't transfer any work to my quads. 

One of my warm-up stretches is a quad stretch where I go down on one knee and lean to stretch the down leg. On the left, I could get a very good lean and stretch going. On the right, I could feel it as soon as I started and essentialy had to back off a bit from "starting position" not to feel like I was doing too much to it. 

So that leg is not right at all. It just didn't stop me being able to get my workout in. 

That is a very happy thing indeed. 

The official trainer who works at our Planet Fitness (I think her name is Janet or Janice) was doing an abs class in the same corner I was working in when I was doing my front squats and rear lateral raises -- when we made eye contact she told me I was doing good. That was nice. :D 

Yesterday's workout was: 

• Crossbody Mountain Climbers - 2 x 30 - Sets of 30 was definitely right for yesterday evening. I was able to work fast and really get going on these though and they went well. I'm going to work on speed and stick with 30 for next time, but I'll probably go up to sets of 35 for the nest time. 
• Alternating sets of (notice this is out of order): 
• Dumbbell Front Squats - 3 x 12 - I'm finally getting to a point with these where I can feel how they're working me that's different from the squats I've been doing. I'm still using a pair of 15lb dumbbells for these and I could feel last night how hard my core was working to keep my form good and my back protected. I could also feel how hard my quads are *not* working -- most of the exertion is when I'm squatting down (keeping my torso as upright as possible) not when I'm raising my body and the weights back up to standing. So these are being more of a core exercise than a quad exercise at this time, but I'm cool with that. My core needs the work, for one thing. My quads are a bit tender for another. AND I get other quad work with the jump squats I'm doing as part of my Insanity. 
• Rear Lateral Raises - 3 x 12 - I went up to 7.5 lb dumbbells for this one and that worked really really well. It was hard -- I was dripping sweat off my chin onto the floor -- but it was good. (During these sets is when the trainer noticed me and said I was doing good.) 
• Explosive Elevated Push-Ups - 2 x 10 - I would normally have done this before the first pair of alternating sets but got a little mixed up and, well, didn't. Whoops. They went well. I'm pretty sure I'm not ready for a lower bar on these, so I just need to focus on being more explosive when I do them. 
• Alternating sets of:
• Single Leg Hip Raises - 3 x 12 - (You can see a video of hip raises (they call them glute bridges) here, but I"m doing them with one knee held to my chest.) I started these with the working foot on the floor for the first set and that was too easy. For the second and third sets I did them with the working leg on a weight bench, so I have to lift the weight I'm lifting higher. That was a lot better. This and the step-ups it's replacing (whether those step-ups were to a box or a treadmill deck or a bench) are in the workout as Hamstring/Glute exercises where I'm working one leg at a time. I've never really felt that, exactly, from the step-ups. I've always felt they were more of a quad exercise, even at the lower heights. This finally felt like I was really working my hamstrings and glutes. Perhaps it was a bit too isolating (I prefer to work muscles in concert with one another than in isolation), but it was nice to feel the work in the target area. 
• Cable Chest Presses - 3 x 12 - I moved up from 15 to 20 pounds on these, though there was a bit of a mis-step at first with the machine due to there being two different kinds of "high pulleys" on the cable machines -- the adjustable pulley moved to the top and the ones with a fixed pulley on an arm sticking out from the top of the machine. Working with the fixed high pulley these were virtually impossible at any weight and clearly going to do Bad Things to my shoulder (I gave about two test pulls and stopped). From the adjustable pulley moved to the top, they worked great. Huh. 20 lbs was a good amount of weight, but not too much. Yay! 
• Coordination Rows - 3 x 12 - I'm doing these in both of my workouts right now because they're doing me a world of good. The whole body/combination exercise I was doing in Workout F involved a lunge movement and that's not going to be happening for a while. So I'm just doubling up on the Coordination Rows. What I'm getting from them is about the balance and coordination, not so much the rowing, so I don't think I'm overworking anything. 
• Cardio Intervals - 10 x 20:40 Intervals of Insanity alternating Jumping Jacks and Jump Squats during the 20 second "go like crazy" intervals. Those are a pretty good combination of exercises to do for this, though the Jump Squats are a lot harder than the Jumping Jacks. Maybe I should do 30:30 intervals with the Jumping Jacks and 20:40 with the Jump Squats. I wonder if that would get too confusing around minute 8 when I'm starting to get pretty cooked and negotiating with myself over how much more I can do. ("I can do one more round of Jumping Jacks, they're not so bad." One minute later: "Heck, having done those, I know I can do one more round of Jump Squats.")

So that was my awesome workout. Moving to Thursday to avoid the crowds Wednesday evening worked well (though with only one data point, we can't really say anything for sure). It did have one unintended consequence, however -- Patrick didn't run into any traffic jams on the machines he was using, so he was able to go straight through his workout really fast. He was done with his entire workout, including the cardio (though he doesn't do the Insanity business) at the end, before I'd even started the Coordination Rows. So he had around 15 minutes to hand out and wait for me to be done.

Next workout is schedule for Saturday. I'm doing a modified Workout E. I'm going to see what happens if I replace the Reverse Lunges, which I'm not even going to be trying for another week, probably, with another quad exercise that works each leg individually. I'm looking at a Single Leg Stand Up (where you sit on a bench with one foot on the floor and the other sticking straight out in front of you then stand up using only the one leg). I'm not sure I can actually *do* those -- there seem to be some balance and center of gravity issues, among other things -- but I'm going to give them a try. I can also try Single Leg Squats, but a few test goes with those seem like they're going to be rough on my knees unless I can figure out how to modify them. (And seriously, my whole body weight is a lot to lift with one leg.) Anyway, goal for the workout -- sweat and be awesome without aggravating my quads. 

Workout E#3: That went really well, all things considered (Workout 31)

You can see that I crossed off the Offset Reverse Lunges and
changed the Cable Pull Throughs to Romanian Deadlifts. 

Despite the pain in my right quad (about which I posted earlier), which is making anything like a lunge or a split squat a total non-starter for the nonce, I did really well today. I didn't even attempt the  Offset Reverse Lunges, but didn't have the slightest bit of problem with the Romanian Deadlifts or even the Dumbbell Jump Squats (which are a quad exercise, just one that works both legs at once). 

When I was doing the Intervals of Insanity at the end, I was alternating Jumping Jacks and Jump Squats (without weights) and after two rounds of the Jump Squats I knew I needed not to be doing any more. The sets I did were fine and didn't hurt, but I knew not to be doing any more. 

There is no substitute I can do until my leg isn't hurting. I have some hope for Saturday, but I'm certainly not going to push it. 

I also want to switch out the High (Bench) Step Ups that are part of Workout F with something else that's a single-leg hamstring exercise. I'm thinking of something like a Hip Lift (you can see a video here), but a single leg version where I hold one leg up and raise my hips with my glutes and hamstrings. It shouldn't put any particular pressure on my quads, I don't think, so it seems like a good choice. But that's getting ahead of *this* post. 

Today's workout was good and I didn't put any strain on my quads. So I feel really good about it, even if I didn't work as hard as I would have liked. I warmed up walking on the treadmill rather than the quad-busting elliptical machine. It's not really possible to burn calories as quickly on the treadmill as the elliptical, but I between raising the incline and the speed, I did pretty well. 

Today's workout was: 

• Half-Kneeling Cable Chop - 2 x 10 - I used 15 lbs of weight in hopes that doing this fast would help me feel as though it is working my *core* (which is what this is for) rather than my arms. I'm not sure I feel like it did. I'm thinking I might prefer to go back to Plank or Side Plank because this just isn't rocking my world. I'm going to ponder that. 
• Dumbbell Jump Squats -- 2 x 8 - I used a pair of 20 lb dumbbells for these and did the first few kind of tentatively. Once I realized they were going to be fine, I went at them with a bit more gusto. 
• Alternating sets of:
• Romanian (Straight-Leg) Deadlifts - 3 x 10, 12, 12 - I haven't done these for a while so I started with the same weight I used the last time I did them, which was a 60 lb barbell (like a dumbbell with a fixed weight). Last time I did them, I was doing sets of 15, but that was over a month ago. 60 lbs was, I think right for today. The first set was only 10, but that wasn't an issue with the weight. That was an issue with me still not having totally internalized sets of 12 yet. I definitely feel better about these than the Cable Pull Throughs -- those felt like I was working things I didn't want to work and not working my hamstrings and glutes enough. 
• Scaption and Shrug - 3 x 12 - I had written down to use 15lb barbells for this and as soon as I picked them up, I knew that was not going to work. So I went for ten and sort of berated myself for a wimp. After the first set, I looked back to see what I did with these last time -- 7.5 lbs. Oh. Well, okay then. So apparently when I wrote down 15 I was having a totally woolly-headed moment. 10 was actually a bit of a stretch. Which is why it felt like one. There we go. 
• Kneeling Lat Pulldowns -- 3 x 12, 10, 10 - These are such a vexation to me. Last time I did three sets of 12 at 72.5 lbs and felt really good about it. So good, in fact, that I decided to go up to 75 pounds, which is just a tiny little increase. Today, I was just barely able to do 12 reps at 75 lbs, then when I backed it down to 72.5 lbs, which I've been lifting for a while, I couldn't do 12 at all. Grar. I definitely got a good lot of work out of it, so I feel okay with it. But I'm mystified at these. I might try a session doing pulldowns on the cam machine (rather than the cable machine) just to see how I do with those. 
• Coordination Rows - 3 x 12 - I'm getting so much better at these, y'all. I don't think I ever really adequately conveyed how *bad* I was at these to start out and now I'm not. I'm still not getting through all of them without having to re-balance myself, but I'm getting so close. And it's just such an incredible improvement from the wobbly baby giraffe to standing on one leg and moving in a vaguely coordinated way. So cool! 
• Cardio Intervals - 5 x 20:40 Intervals of Insanity - As mentioned above, I was alternating Jumping Jacks and Jump Squats for the 20 seconds of all out crazy going. I stopped when I knew my quads wouldn't take another round of the jump squats, though they weren't hurting yet. I would have liked to do more, but I really am trying to be a bit gentle with myself. 

Patrick has been running into traffic jam problems in the gym on Wednesday evenings, so we're shifting our workout schedule to Monday, Thursday, Saturday. This shouldn't make a huge difference except that we'll be able to get through our workouts without having to wait for space at the machines. (We don't mind waiting for space at the machines when people are working out on them. It's when people are sitting on them chatting that it gets vexing.) 

So, next workout is scheduled for Thursday (and I think it's probably going to take a while before I have that totally internalized). Goal for the workout -- Make Workout F work without hurting my slightly sore quad. 

Workout F #2: Darn it! (Workout 30)

The ouch doesn't show on the front and I was in fact able to complete
everything. But...

In some ways, Saturday's workout went really well -- I feel like I'm ready to go to up on the weight with the Rear Lateral Raises and the Cable Chest Presses, which is awesome. I felt like I'd worked out a different way of doing the elliptical that didn't beat up my quads so much (and may have really succeeded with that, it's hard to say in light of what came later). For the most part, I felt like I had the *move* down for the Reverse Lunge/Cable Row. It was really good. Even the Dumbbell Front Squats went well and felt good (those are just really hard). 

What didn't go well is that my right quad is definitely and un-ignorably Not Happy. I think the High (Bench) Step Ups is what got me, because I was fine until that point. The extra height on those adds a lot more quad work to something that's in the workout as a single-leg hamstring exercise and those are just killers. I think that's what did me dirt, though that's not when I started hurting. I felt a sharp pain across the front of my right thigh when I was doing the Reverse Lunge and Cable Rows (specifically on the side when my right leg was stepping back and being the non-working, down leg, which is when I've always had problems). 

I've been holding off posting in hopes it would sort itself out over the next couple of days, but it hasn't shown any sign of doing that. Well, I mean it hurts less than it did, but even just sitting it doesn't feel quite right. I took an Aleve last night and that my have helped some, but I don't want to read too much into it either. 

As I've always said, you shouldn't be aware of your insides. If you are something's not working right. As I'm sitting here typing doing nothing at all, I can feel the muscle in my leg. It doesn't exactly hurt, but I'm aware of it. 

Not good. 

So, I'm going to have to figure out something *else* to do for my single-leg quad exercise, because reverse lunges are out of the question at this time. I'm also going to have to figure out something else to do for my single-leg hamstring exercise, because I do think that the high step-ups are the real, actual culprit. At the least they're *not* helping. And no more elliptical for me, at least for a while, because I know that's hard on my quads. In a few days, I'll see if I can do something like a single-leg stand up (sit on bench, extend one leg straight in front of you, stand up using only other leg) or a single-leg squat instead. 

Eventually. I'm not even trying for a few days at least. 

I'm not sure exactly how long I'll have to stop the Reverse Lunges and so on -- I'm hoping only for a few days, but I don't want to risk a serious injury. A coworker of mine tore a muscle in his arm a few years ago and had a bruise basically from elbow to shoulder and was in a lot of pain for a while. I do not want to have that happen.  

Saturday's workout was: 

• Cross-body Mountain Climbers - 2 x 30, 25 - I was finding lower numbers of repts way too easy for these, so I ramped up both the speed and the number of reps and that was *good*. Very very good. :D I'll probably stick with 30 as a target next time, because I didn't make my reps in the second set. 
• Elevated Explosive Push Ups - 2 x 10 - I'm still good at the hip-high railing for these because while I made my reps, that was really really hard. And I think I can go lower into the pushup-ness before pushing back up. And I can concentrate more on using my chest muscles rather than my arms. 
• Alternating sets of: 
• Dumbbell Front Squat - 3 x 12 - Glory be, these are hard. I need to keep a note in my book to keep my weight back on my heels and to push up through my heels when standing back up. I was rocking too far forward onto my toes. That doesn't make them easier, but it is the right form. I continued with a pair of 15lb dumbbells and will continue with those again next time because this exercise is *hard*. 
• Rear Lateral Raise - 3 x 12 - I used a pair of 5 lb dumbbells again and really felt good about it. The weights weren't quite singing, so I may stick at this level one more time, but they were close. So I may go up to 7.5 lb dumbbells (if those aren't in use). I'll see when I'm doing these next. They're definitely a good exercise for me. 
• Alternating sets of: 
• High (Bench) Step Ups - 3 x 12 - I'm still not using any weight for these (other than my bodyweight) and they're definitely very very hard. Less technically difficult than the Front Squats, but they just kick my butt. And my quads. I didn't make a note about my right leg hurting at any point when doing these, but I did note that they're *hard*. 
• Single-Arm Cable Chest Press - 3 x 12 - I think I've finally got the knack of these. The trick is to have the pulley behind the shoulder of the working arm, so there's not as much rotational and wobble motion involved. I did 15lbs again and will move up to 20 next time because now that I get what I'm doing, I feel I can totally move more weight. 
• Coordination Rows - 3 x 12 - Still improving, but not to the first goal of being able to stand on one foot while moving for 12 whole reps. Still at 15 pounds. I'm probably going to just do these in every workout until I can do the reverse lunges again. The work isn't in the rowing, it's in the standing on one leg, and that's not putting undue strain on my muscles. 
• Cardio Intervals - 10 x 20:40 Intervals of Insanity alternating Jumping Jacks and Jump Squats. Interestingly, perhaps oddly, despite whatever's up with my quads, these Jump Squats didn't bother them at all. Though maybe they got tired a little sooner. I didn't really notice that though. It does bode well for me being able to do jump squats tonight. 

Next workout is scheduled for tonight. Goal for the workout - do as much as I can without putting any additional strain on my quads. I'm going to be walking for warmups, because the elliptical is out of the question. My routine tonight is supposed to be: Half-Kneeling Cable Chops, Dumbbell Jump Squats, Romanian Deadlifts, Scaption and Shrug, Offset Reverse Lunges, Kneeling Lat Pulldowns, and Coordination Rows. I'm definitely not even trying the Reverse Lunges and I'll probably do the Cable Chops as totally kneeling rather than half kneeling. Everything else I'll *try* to see how it goes. Any twinge and I'll just move on to the next thing. 

Workout E #2: I have to rethink this a little (Workout 29)

Not a bad log page -- some things marked to go up next time. :D

Yesterday's workout was good in some ways, not so good in others. The good is that I want to raise the weight on the Kneeling Lat Pulldowns next time. I've been doing 72.5 for a *long* time and I'm excited to finally be budging with that. The other good is that I really am getting distinctly better at the Coordination Rows. I may be only a few more sessions from getting through all of one set without having to put my foot down to catch my balance. We'll see. 

The bad is that my right quad (this time, last time it was the left) started really hurting during the reverse lunges. Not so bad that I had to stop, though I did modify how I was doing them to put less strain on that leg (fortunately it's fine when it's the working leg, it hurts when it's the non-working leg). 

The other bad is that the gym is just a lot more crowded on Wednesday nights -- Patrick runs into regular traffic jams on the machines he uses and there are classes with the trainer using up the weights and so on. Mondays are less of a problem. It's less of a problem for me than for him, just because of the exercises we each do, but it's still vexing. I don't know that going to a different gym would make a difference. Going a little later might, but then we won't get home until later and that's vexing too.

I'm not liking the Cable Pull-Throughs, I find. The fact that they're vaguely indecent looking doesn't bother me (you can see a video here), but they seem to put more strain on my arms and shoulders than they should for something that's a glutes and hamstrings exercise. There are plenty of other things in these two workouts working my arms and shoulders, so I don't really want the extra work here. In addition, because my arms aren't nearly as strong as my glutes and hamstrings I can't work them as hard as I'd like (by moving as much weight as I want) because my arms and shoulders can't take the load. It's vexing. I'm going to ponder for a few days (I don't do this workout again until next Monday) but I may switch back to the Romanian Deadlifts for the rest of Phase 3. I liked those, they didn't strain my back at all, and I can really put a lot more work on the target muscles. 

This change will also do nice things for the geography and logistics of this workout -- I can do the Romanian Deadlifts and Scaption and Shrugs up in the free weight area and then go back to the cable machines with a 25lb dumbbell for the Offset Loaded Reverse Lunges. Believe me when I say that will be easier, though it's maybe not immediately obvious as I describe it. 

I didn't change any of the weights from Workout E #1 because I forgot to write in my starting weights into my notebook, which means that I didn't have a record of any changes I wanted to make. I just used what I did for E #1 (with one exception) 

Yesterday's workout was:

• Cable Half-Kneeling Chop - 2 x 10 - I used 25 lbs for these. I need to review what I'm doing here. It's possible I have the weight too high, though I don't want to make it too low. Anyway, this is a Core Stability exercise intended to work the muscles that stabilize my core while my upper body is moving. Unfortunately, what I'm working most (and what gets tired), is my *arms* because they're Not Strong. If I lower the weight so my arms can handle it maybe I can start doing the chops faster so that then I have more work for my core to stabilize against. I'm going to drop these down to 15 and make a note to go fast and see if that helps me feel like I'm working what I want to be working. 
• Dumbbell Jump Squat - 2 x 8, 10 - I used 20lb dumbbells for these and did the first set of eight without too much trouble, so I did ten for the second set. That was a bit more trouble, but the book says these should be sets of 6-8. I don't mind doing more than the book says and I do think these are helping with explosive power, which is very very good. I'll see how I do with 20 lbs and ten reps next time. When that gets to feeling like it should be harder, I'll raise the weight. 
• Alternating sets of:
• Cable Pull-Throughs - 3 x 12 - As mentioned above, I'm having some problems with these because they put extra strain on my arms and shoulders without putting as much work as I'd like on my glutes and hamstrings. This is not satisfactory as Working The Big Muscles is part of the basic idea of this whole program. Also, it's not nearly as much fun. I used 35lb weights, which is just over half of what I can do with the Romanian Deadlifts (or what I think of as Romanian Deadlifts, which name I'm not 100% sure about). I'm jumping ship and going back to the Romanian Deadlifts -- I'll start with 60lbs, which is where I left off when I stopped doing these at the end of Phase 1, but expect I'll be moving up pretty quickly. 
• Scaption and Shrug - 3 x 12 - I actually had to decrease the weight I used for these from 10lb dumbbells to 7.5 lb dumbbells yesterday because of the aforementioned crowding problem at the gym. All of the 10 lb weights were in use, so I got a pair 7.5lbs from the rack in a different part of the gym. I'm actually not particularly upset about this -- they were still hard but I think I was able to do them with better form and keep my shoulder blades back and down better with the lighter weight. I'll probably stick with the 7.5s next time. Particularly because they were still plenty hard, especially the last set. 
• Alternating sets of: 
• Offset-loaded Dumbbell Reverse Lunge - 3 x 12 - I used a single 25lb dumbbell for this. As I mentioned earlier, I had problems with my right quad doing these. It is so strange to me that it's not when it's the working leg that it hurts. I really worked my quads hard on the elliptical warming up, though I'm still trying to figure out the knack for using the elliptical without beating up my quads, and even though I stretch them some during warmups, I clearly need to do more of that because they're still really tight when I get to work. I do like the offset load, though I need to be careful when supporting the weight to keep my core engaged which helps keep it balanced. 
• Kneeling Cable Lat Pulldowns - 3 x 12 - I was able to do these at 72.5 pounds (and the wide-grip bar) without too much trouble, so I think I'm actually *finally* ready to go up to 75 lbs (I can increment the cable machine by 2.5 lbs if I want to). Huzzah! With these I need to really focus on keeping my shoulder blades back and making sure the main drivers of this lift are my back muscles. Not my triceps, which are totally inadequate to the task of shifting 70+ pounds. 
• Coordination Rows (Single-leg, Single-arm Cable Rows) - 3 x 12 - I'm still getting better at these. As mentioned above I figure I'm a week or two away from being able to do one whole set (of three) without having to put my foot down to correct my balance. There are no words for how much of an improvement this represents -- when I started these I could barely get through one whole rep without having to catch myself. Once I can do that, I can start getting rhythmic and faster and more powerful. I can't wait. Still at 15 pounds for the foreseeable future though. 
• Cardio Intervals -- these were a scratch. The corner where I did jumping jacks and squat jumps the other day had a class doing abs work, my quad hurt so there was no way I could do more on the elliptical, and Patrick had been done for like 20 minutes when I got to this point, so I decided to pass. I sort of regret it -- I didn't get nearly as sweaty as I like and didn't feel like I worked nearly hard enough. But the reasons were sound -- especially the hurty quad part. I'll get back on these on Saturday. 

So it was a good workout but not a great one -- I learned some things and know where I'm going next with Workout E. That's all important. :D

Next workout is scheduled for Saturday. Goal for the workout -- pick up the pace and the intensity a bit to make up for a slightly easy workout on Wednesday. 

Run Seventy-Three: No really, a run! :D

I went for a run around the lake this evening --
it was such a beautiful evening! 

Patrick decided to stay home from the gym today on account of still being a bit sore from last week (he's starting to do a "heavy" week every couple of weeks where he'll lift higher weights for fewer reps and he over-did it a bit). It's an incredibly gorgeous evening here -- perfect temperature and sunny and clear -- so I decided to go for a run instead of going to the gym by myself. 

Especially as I'm a little creaky and sore my own self after Saturday's workout -- which didn't seem like that much more than the previous time, but absolutely tied me in knots. I figured it would be fun to run again and see if the weight-lifting is making anything like a difference in my running. I was maybe a little bit disappointed to find that it really didn't make a huge difference. Huh. I'd've figured that stronger legs would be good and the fact that I can deal with the Intervals of Insanity driving my heart rate up over 180 would help. 

Things I learned on this, my first run since July 22: 

• Running hurts my lungs in ways that lifting, and even the Intervals of Insanity, doesn't. I come home from the gym after a lifting workout absolutely soaked in sweat, having given everything I have to give, but I don't have the hurty-lungs-cough-post-exercise asthma (that I couldn't replicate for the allergist, by the way). One fairly easy run and I do. I'm not sure if it's the sustained work (though going on the elliptical doesn't seem to do it as much) or something about running specifically. Some experimentation might be in order. (Also some looking back over old posts to look for patterns.) 
• The custom arch support in my right running shoe, which was *fine* when I first started running, is now awful. It was really hampering my running because it felt like I was stepping on a stone in my arch for most of the way. Kind of miserable. I've actually taken it out and replaced it with the one that came with the shoe. 
• It wasn't as much of an "I'm taking it easy" evening as I expected -- that worked the hell out of my quads and calves -- but I don't feel like I worked nearly as hard in general, all over, as I would have lifting. Despite the fact that my lungs feel awful. 
• I should have done my usual post-workout stretches and foam rollering because I can practically feel myself tightening up. Sigh.

On the whole, I think the main lesson is that I'm  pretty happily in a weight lifting place right now. When/If I start running again, I definitely need to talk to the allergist about the post-exercise asthma thing because this lung thing is No Fun.

Next workout is scheduled for Wednesday. I expect I'll be lifting again, even if Patrick isn't going to the gym with me. I feel like I get more out of the weights. Goal for the workout -- rock Workout D, don't hurt, be awesome. 

Workout C # 5: Took a couple of days to recover... (Workout 23)

This was a tough workout -- felt great at the time, but kind of
run over the day after. :D 

Patrick and I worked out Saturday morning first thing, before breakfast even, though we did have a snack to get some carbs into our systems and available for energy.

I worked hard during this workout -- kept my heart rate up the whole time and put a lot of strain on my quads. And pretty much every other part. Workout C is my killer right now -- D seems a little easier. The Coordination Rows are difficult, but I don't *exert* really. (I'm too busy wobbling and trying not to fall.) Workout C is all exertion all the time. 

I did fine with everything *except* the second to last Deadlift in the last set. I didn't have any problem lifting the weight (which is really all quads and glutes), but setting the dumbbells back down I let my form slip just a tad and tweaked my lower back on one side. It wasn't enough to stop me doing my last rep and I didn't have any trouble setting them down the last time. Or putting them away. Or getting through most of the day. But by the end of the day (in which we ran a million errands and went to a mall and so on), my back was just *stiff* and sore. Like I'd slept on it badly. 

Sunday I felt kind of stiff and sore all over -- not just my back (and not at all localized to the bit that had barked at me when setting those dumbbells down) but really everywhere. Which didn't do a lot for my motivation to post (that and being awfully busy) or for my motivation to figure out Workouts E and F which are really coming up quickly -- I start them in a week. 

Anyway, Saturday's workout was: 

• Side Plank - 2 x 40 - I'm definitely getting stronger at these. I can feel that while I'm doing them even, though the last few seconds are crazy hard. I need to remember to keep my body straight and firm while I'm holding the side plank position, but otherwise, I'm pleased with how these are going. 
• Jump Squats - 2 x 10 - I held 10 lb dumbbells while I was doing these this time, because they have started seeming a bit easy with just my body weight. I also did more -- 10 rather than 8 each set -- and between the weight and the additional reps I was really working hard on these. Yay! 
• Alternating sets of:
• Reverse Lunges - 3 x 10 - I did these with a pair of 30 lb dumbbells. If I remember right that was my second time at that weight -- the first time I had to take big breaks between the left and right sides in each set, which is not optimal. I didn't have to take those breaks on Saturday, so I did better.  I think I've managed to deal with the quad issue that had me struggling with lunges/split squats for a while. I made my reps, but I'm still going to stick with the 30 lb weights next time, because I don't really feel ready to go up to 35lb dumbbells. Also, it's convenient having the same weight for these and the rows. 
• 3-point Rows - 3 x 10 - I used a 30 lb weight. I remembered what I learned last time -- that I do better if I work my left side first, then the right. It doesn't make a lot of sense, but it is consistent. I'm planning to stick with the same weight next time -- these are still really hard and I don't want to go up too quickly. 
• Alternating sets of: 
• Deadlifts - 3 x 10 - I mentioned above that I used a pair of 40lb dumbbells, which were a good, hard, heavy weight for it, but very doable. These really are all quads and glutes and a little bit of upper back just to finish strong and proud I do need to be careful to protect my back, though, when I do these again. I need to remember to keep my quads carrying the load as I set them down.
• Pushups (I forgot the added "Plus" of the push upwards at the end) - 3 x 10, 9, 9 - I'm still working on the windowsill and not making my reps, so I'm clearly working at the right level. I think the "Plus" actually makes it a little easier to do these because it's almost like a tiny break between reps. Someday I'll be able to move down to a weight bench. Someday...
• Cardio Intervals - 7 x 20:40 Intervals of Insanity - I raised the level (I think it's a resistance level) on the elliptical machine on Saturday and it actually took some of the work off my quads so I was able to go more insanely cardio-wise without feeling like my  quads were on fire. That was nice. I also burned more calories per minute, so I got to 100 calories about 20 seconds faster. Which was also nice. 

I spent most of yesterday wondering if I was going to feel up to working out tonight or if I was going to still be too sore from yesterday, but two nights of sleeping much of the night with everything all aligned properly (which helps more than I can say) has me doing pretty well. My upper back is still a little tight and I clearly worked the hell out of my quads, but I'm feeling pretty good today. 

Yay!! I really didn't want to miss a workout. 

That said, I'm kind of planning to take a day or two off from lifting between Phase 2 and Phase 3. I didn't when I moved into Phase 1 and I think it was a mistake. I think I could have really used the break to sort of integrate what I'd gotten from Phase 1. It's also possible that we're going hiking this Saturday (if the weather actually winds out as gorgeous as the forecast says), so we'd both skip lifting in exchange for a good, strenuous hike. :D 

Next workout is scheduled for tonight, because I've been so slow posting. I believe it is going to happen, though I reserve the right to bail if it feels bad or like I shouldn't be doing it. Goal for the workout: Go to the gym, do something (either Workout  D or some sweaty cardio time). Do it hard and with enthusiasm. 

Workout Thirteen: 60 lbs

45 seconds on the side planks and 60 lbs on the deadlifts and
the lat pulldowns. :D Go, Sara!! 

I worked out *hard* today and really pushed myself. There were two exercises where I pushed the weights a bit and didn't finish my reps, but I'm okay with that. I did more side plank than I thought I could even do, which kind of balances that out. And I worked *hard*, really hard, the whole time. Which makes me extra-happy.

I didn't have too much trouble with the split squats this time. My left quad was completely fine. My right was mostly fine -- I just needed to not have my feet quite so far apart so my quad got less of a stretch and I was able to do it without any pain or tightness at all. Hooray. 

I did wind out with my left glute feeling a bit hollow, which I realize makes no sense at all. I particularly noticed it when I was doing the Intervals of Insanity at the end. Maybe people who have more of a clue would describe it as weakness. I don't know. It didn't (and doesn't) hurt, it just didn't have a lot more to give. Which is why I only got five Insanity intervals in today. 

Today's workout was: 

• Side Plank -- 2 x 45 seconds. When I started this strength training, I was doing 15 seconds of side plank. Today I did 45 both sides, both sets. :D :D I had a little problem on my right side getting to a stable position -- my foot felt like it was slipping, then when I got that settled my (sweaty) arm felt like it was slipping on the mat. So I actually did a little longer on the right because there were a few false starts getting to a good position, then I went to 45 seconds. 
• Alternating sets of:
• Split Squats -- 2 x 15, pair of 20 lb dumbbells. As mentioned above, the split squats went fine today. I'm not totally loving the quad stretch I added to my warmup (because it doesn't feel like it's stretching my quad all that much) but between that and doing some impromptu stretches just during the day, it seems to be a lot better. Certainly, the 20 lb dumbbells had me feeling like I was working hard, but I was able to finish my reps. I think I'll bump up to 25 lb dumbbells next time -- at least as long as my quads continue to feel good.
• Cable-Machine Kneeling Lat Pulldowns -- the goal was 2x15. I did one set of 15 and one set of 14 with the weight at 60 lbs. Last time I had the weight at 50 lbs and they'd seemed way easy so I made a big jump. Possibly too big, though since I was able to do them (mostly), possibly not. It certainly felt all kinds of difficult this time and I don't think I need to adjust the weight for next time. 
• Alternating sets of:
• Straight Leg Deadlifts -- 2 x 15 with a 60 lb barbell. I believe these are also called Romanian Deadlifts. With these one doesn't take the weight all the way to the ground between each lift. They just go from below the knees to hip height (straight arms) and it's very much mostly a glutes and hamstrings thing. (Bend at hips to lower weight, fire hips forward to raise it, repeat.) I'd wanted to go with a 60 lb barbell last time but thought it was in use so I'd used a 50 lb, which had been not as hard as I wanted. I'm glad I did 60 lbs, today because that was some kinda work. These are the same deadlifts I've been doing all along, but I'm describing them more accurately to distinguish them from the ones I'll be doing next phase, when I will be taking the weights all the way to the floor every rep. 
• One-Arm Shoulder Press -- the goal was 2 x 15. I did one set of 10 and one set of 15 with a 17.5 lb dumbbell. Last time I'd used 15 lb dumbbells and worked both arms at the same time. With the 17.5lb dumbbells, and with being pretty whipped already from the rest of the workout, I worked one shoulder at a time. In some ways that's more of a strain, because the off-balance load makes the core work harder, but I found it a lot more do-able one arm at a time. Even so, the first set I could only do 10 before I was afraid I'd drop a weight on my head. I rested a bit longer before the second set (I only rest as much as I need to between sets and sometimes probably not long enough) and was able to finish the 15, but only by stopping after 10 and switching arms. But that worked and for the second set, I got them all in. 
• Cardio Intervals -- 5 x 20:40 Intervals of Insanity. I only did five 20 second rounds of Insanity (crazy, all out effort on the elliptical machine, followed by 40 seconds of recovery) because I'd worked so hard throughout the workout, I just didn't have a sixth one in me. But I'm not too upset about it. I did five and I did them well and I certainly worked myself to what the fitness people call "volitional exhaustion". I could do no more. Well, except that I did spent another few minutes on the machine. I generally stay on the elliptical machine until it tells me I've burned 100 calories, which, in practice, is about 10 minutes. 

We went and checked out a different Planet Fitness today -- there's one right near where I pick up Patrick after work and we thought it might be more convenient on weeknights to get there than go to the gym near our home. The guy at the counter was nice and the place seemed entirely fine, but it doesn't look like there will be much of an advantage going there -- we were hoping to get in before their busy time and that won't work. 

I'm pretty sure I have Workouts C and D all sorted out. I'm excited to get started on them -- I'm going to start doing a dynamic stability exercise (moving while holding the core tight and steady), a power exercise (an explosive move), and a "combination" exercise (which involves moving more than one part of the body at one). I've tried to put these new pieces in and balance them so the workouts won't be hugely longer. We'll see how that works out. 

I'm worried and excited because the power exercise I've picked and the combination exercise I've picked both require some coordination, which is not a trait I have in abundance. On the other hand, I have some confidence that it will improve with training. It certainly won't get worse and if I look goofy doing these things, I'm okay with that as long as I'm getting better, stronger and healthier. 

In related news: Despite a week in Nashville eating (well there were other things too, but there was an awful lot of eating for sure), I managed to lose 2.4 pounds between my last weigh-in (August 1) and today. Huh. I can't say I expected that what with the weight lifting building muscle and the FOOD in Nashville. (If you ever go there, go to the Hot Hattie B's near Broadway and get hot chicken (I liked the medium; Patrick got the hot). Then go next door to Gigi's Cupcakes. So good!)

Next workout is scheduled for Monday. It will be my last time with Workout A. I'm going to see if I can push things just a tad, as this will be my last time with this number of reps and these specific exercises for a while. :D (Workout C is built on the same bones as A, so I'll still be doing plank and squats and rows and step-ups and push ups, I'll just be making them *harder*.) Goal for the workout: End phase one strong!! 

Workouts Eight, Nine, Ten and Eleven: Hurty Quads, but Good Stuff

 I've been busy like crazy the last week, so I haven't had time to post, but I've been working out on schedule and enjoying it. Patrick and I are back home now from a trip to Nashville for a professional conference. Last Monday and this evening, we worked out at our normal gym here at home.

Last Wednesday's scheduled workout we did at a Planet Fitness in Nashville because Patrick was going to be using their weight machines and wanted to be using the machines he was used to. (They weren't exactly the same, but they were close.) Last Saturday, Patrick was doing a cardio day, so we worked out at the fitness room in our hotel. Our hotel actually had an excellent fitness room -- the only thing I had any trouble with was the pushups because I'm still at the hip-high support level (about a 45 degree incline maybe) and there wasn't much at the right height.


I'm getting to a point where I need to think about what I want to change to in a few weeks. I've got two more times with each workout and it will be time to start a new workout -- the next stage has two to four sets of eight reps each. So the weights will be higher and the reps lower. Which will be pretty cool. I'll probably change up some of the exercises too -- reverse lunges instead of split squats, possibly some sort of cable machine row rather than dumbbell rows, etc. I need to work out what I want to start doing.

I had a problem last Wednesday with Workout B -- it involves split squats, which are normally not much of a problem. Unfortunately, my quads were killing me (and still are a bit). One leg got sore when I stood up from sitting on the floor before we left home. The other got sore when I stood up from doing some warm-ups on the mat on Wednesday. It wasn't a good feeling when they got hurt, but I don't think anything is really wrong. They only hurt when I did something like a lunge (which you can see here) -- with all my weight on one leg and the other behind me a step and the knees bent. The leg that hurt, for the record (and my mother's peace of mind) was the *down* leg which doesn't do nearly as much work.

Anyway, when I got to doing the split squats last Wednesday, they just didn't feel at all good, so I did regular squats instead. When I worked out again on Saturday morning, with Workout A which doesn't have split squats but does have regular squats, I gave one try at doing the split squats and did regular squats again. (Actually, my warm-up sequence has a sort of lunge-y thing in it and I knew from that I wouldn't be able to do split squats.) I was back to Workout B today, though, and was able to do split squats, though my range of motion wasn't entirely where I'm used to it being.

I'll just keep going with the "pain free range of motion" thing, and if it's too small a range for me to really be working my glutes, I'll do regular squats until they don't hurt anymore.

The weird, and maybe interesting, thing is that it really does seem like the problem is more with the stretch in the less-working leg. The initial pain felt pretty sharp and immediate (and lousy) but only when doing that kind of move -- lunges, split squats, reverse squats, standing up from the floor one leg at a time. Any other kind of move is fine.

I will say that whatever it is that's up with my quads is slowing me down a tad with the Intervals of Insanity part of each workout -- especially last Wednesday when they were at their worst, I couldn't go nearly as fast for my 20 second intervals because my legs just wouldn't generate as much power.. Though what that meant was that I could do eight of the intervals rather than the five I'd been doing.

All of these issues seem to be resolving, along with the pain, now. Which is excellent.

Wednesday will be Workout A -- which doesn't involve split squats. The Step-ups I do with that workout *never* caused me any problems, even when my quads were most weird. Which kind of means I have an extra couple of days off for my legs to recover before I tax them at all again. Hopefully by Saturday, my quads will be even better and more back to normal.

Anyway, we're back to normal -- today's workout was at our usual gym at (approximately) our usual time. It was nice to be back. Next workout is scheduled for Wednesday -- goal for the workout: is to get better at everything, Without hurting my quads.

Run Seventy-Two: And Other Stuff

I don't know why I'm sucking so badly at running
right now.

I went for my first run in a little over a week today -- it did not go well, though I did keep walking, and walking pretty fast, so I did get a decent workout. My hip started hurting while I was walking and it never really felt quite right. I'm not at all sure what's up with that. 

I haven't run in a while, but I haven't been slacking either -- we went to visit my parents over the weekend and went to her local gym twice while we were there. Small-towns are awesome, by the way -- the owner of the gym let us come in on Saturday, even gave us a key because no one was likely to be there when we went, without charging any sort of daily use fee because we were just using the cardio machines. Very nice. 

I went on one of the elliptical machines on Saturday, so Patrick and I could be next to each other. Also, I'm enjoying mixing things up, which may be part of why my running is getting worse. Though I'm not sure how much sense that makes. 

On Monday, I spent a lot of the time talking to the trainer at the small-town gym about what I want to do with dumbbells and weights. I didn't do full sets of anything, but did a lot of moving dumbbells around. Some of what I learned from her was really helpful -- good form for squats -- and some I'm keeping in my head for the future (the Cybex leg press machine is a beast). 

We did a lot of driving to get to my parents' place and back so maybe I'm just sort of congealed from  sitting all day yesterday and that's why running didn't go so well today. I'm glad I at least got out and moved around. And I didn't stop when my hip got a little hurty -- I just slowed down. That's a little bit of something anyway. 

(Note for my mother: Nothing is seriously wrong with my hip. It just got a little tired while I was walking, but I was walking pretty fast. It'll be fine tomorrow.) 

Next workout is scheduled for Saturday -- It's going to be a sort of a prep day. I'll do some cardio to start off (maybe 20 minutes or so), then I'll go through all of the strength-training exercises I'm planning on doing (there are two different workouts which I'll be alternating) to make sure I'm comfortable with what I'm doing. Also to get an idea of where to start as far as weights. 

(More detail on the two different workouts and the exercises I'll be doing after Saturday's prep session.)