Workout Fifteen: Phase one is Done!!

The end of Phase 1 -- Workout B #6. 

I'm at an exciting point in this weight training thing -- I've finished Phase 1 (the first month of three-times-a-week weight training) and am moving into Phase 2 with my next workout. I'm excited about this, because Phase 2 is supposed to be all about really building on the progress made in Phase 1 and I've made so much progress, I'm not even sure I can grasp it all. I mean, I can do Plank for 45 seconds (sometimes), I can do push-ups that aren't against a wall, I can do Romanian deadlifts with a 60 lb barbell. My balance is better, my knees are better and I feel better in about a million ways.

As actress Anna Kendrick said on Ellen DeGeneres a few months ago: "'Oh, this is how healthy people feel.' I get the appeal." (No, I don't watch the show, I ran across the quotation in a magazine.)

Even aside from the physical changes, I feel more confident. I claim my place with at the cable machine with the big guys moving lots of weight without hesitation now. I walk up to the barbell rack and grab the heaviest weight on there. I take my dumbbells with pride. Outside the gym, I'm feeling more confident as well at work and just moving through the world.

That's awesome too. :D

For my last workout in Phase 1, I pushed the weights on one exercise (Shoulder Presses) and backed them down on another (Split Squats), but mostly kept at the same level as last time because it'd been such a great workout on Saturday. You can tell it didn't kick me quite as hard yesterday because I was able to do more of the Intervals of Insanity at the end. :D 

Yesterday's workout: 

• Side Plank - I was aiming for 2 x 30 seconds. I went a little higher than that -- 35 seconds the first set (on each side) and 38 seconds the second time. The first set I had the same problem I had Saturday with my feet slipping, but I somehow managed to avoid it the second set. Not sure what I did differently, alas. Especially alas because Side Planks are in phase two as well (only I'll be lifting one leg up so I have less support and more wobble to deal with). 
• Alternating sets of:
• Split Squats (with dumbbells) - 2 x 15. I'd written down to use a pair of 25lb dumbbells but forgot to check my log before I went to pick them up off the rack so I grabbed 20lb dumbbells instead. Oops. It still wound out feeling like a really good workout, so I'm not sad. My left quad is definitely better now but my right still requires just a little bit of babying on these. Basically, I just keep my feet a little closer together to reduce the amount of stretch on my non-working thigh on that side. (The stretches I've been doing during warmups and cool-downs, and on non-workout days have helped *tons* with the tightness of my quads and hip flexors. I'm super-pleased about that.) 
• Lat Pulldowns (cable machine) - 2 x 15. I stayed with the 60lbs that I used on Saturday, which had been almost a little too much for me -- I don't think I made all my reps but I did get close on Saturday. I made them all yesterday, but it was *work*. Felt great, but oof! 
• Alternating sets of:
• Straight-leg Deadlifts - 2 x 15. I used the 60lb fixed-weight barbell again. I'm bummed that this is the heaviest weight barbell they have at the gym if one isn't using the Smith Machines, which are a) always in use and b) really not at all tempting to me. This is a large part of why I've planned on dumbbells with for my deadlifts in phase 2. I didn't get as much of a workout from these last time -- I don't know if I was using other muscles to lift so I didn't use my glutes as hard or what. Or maybe 60lbs was just a little too light. 
• Shoulder-Press (single-arm) - I was aiming for 2 x 15. I used 20lb weights last time and probably went up a little too much. I'd used 17.5lb dumbbells on Saturday and they'd been hard -- I hadn't finished my reps on one set and only barely finished them on the other. I had myself down for 17.5lbs again and should have done that, I think. (My main reason for going up to 20lbs were not great -- the 17.5lb dumbbells live at the way far opposite corner of the gym from the barbells and I didn't want to have to get them and then put them back. The secondary reason was that there were a lot of people working out in the corner where the 17.5lb dumbbells live and they were using the weights, so I hated to take something that might be in demand to the far corner of the gym.) The 20 lb weights were tough -- I did about 8 or 9 with each arm straight through (and I don't understand why my non-dominant arm is stronger with these than my dominant arm), then squeaked out the rest alternating the weight back and forth. (So 8 with left arm, 9 with right, 3 more with left, 4 more with right, etc. until to 15 on each arm.) The first set I was able to get to 15. The second I stopped at 12 because I was *done*. 
• Cardio Intervals - 7 x 20sec:40sec Intervals of Insanity. I did well with the Intervals of Insanity after all that hard work, which always pleases me! I did seven of the 20 second rounds of all out crazy effort (with 40 seconds to recover), which is pretty good for after that workout. Hooray! The elliptical machine still beats the heck out of my quads, though. When I start Phase 2 on Saturday, I'll switch which machine I go on for the Insanity. I'm thinking the bikes.  

After all of that, I was pooped but the recovery stretches felt great (except the one that's sort of a lunge and feels a bit like work). The foam roller work when we got home also felt good, though I've stopped doing the illo-tibial band rolling (the outside of the thigh from hip to knee) because it just didn't feel right (it hurt in a way that felt like it was doing harm not good). I'm going to work on stretching and strengthening it instead. :D 

All the recovery and warm up and everything is really paying off -- once I figured out that post-workout soreness for two days after every workout (when I'm working out every other day) was just not going to fly, I've made changes so I have basically none. That's much better! 

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.

Workout Seven: Side Plank is much harder!

I love this workout! And I love this workout log book --
it's all handwritten and low tech, which means it's
whatever I need it to be today.

This morning was my first time with re-vamped Workout B -- as with the revamp of workout A, this is basically the same exercises, but this time with free weights and the cable weight machine (for the lat pulldown). (And no ab-machine-I-don't-like.)

After Wednesday's workout, I was worried that I was going to be sore -- I felt really achy after Monday's. If I did I was going to have to rethink something, or a few things, because sore all the time is no way to live your life. But the new recovery program -- a few stretches while still at the gym, a high protein snack when getting home -- and the warmup exercises (some stretches and range of motion exercises after a few minutes on the elliptical machine) made a huge difference. I felt great on Thursday. 

I did the same warmup and recovery stuff today but also did some work with a foam roller today when we got home. (You can see some exercises you can do with a foam roller here.) Using the foam roller is a bit of work, but it's like a massage as you roll over the dense foam. I'm interested to see how I feel tomorrow -- right now (about 6 or 7 hours hours after the workout) I feel awesome. I feel like I worked hard, but there is no achiness at all. 

Today's workout was: 

• Side Plank -- 2 sets of 30 seconds on each side. (You can see how to do it here, though they call it Side Bridge.) This is another one that doesn't have reps -- just hold the position for 30-45 seconds on each side. It's harder than the front plank, probably because of the asymmetry. The first set I did a "modified"  side plank, where I had my knees on the ground (rather than the side of my foot). I did all 30 seconds in that, so for the second set I did the full side plank. I'm not at all sure of my form with that -- it really is *hard* -- so I'll be working on that lots. 
• Alternating sets of: 
• Split Squats (dumbbells) -- 2 sets of 15. Last time I did these with 10 pound weights, but I didn't feel like my form was all that great, so for the first set I backed down to bodyweight only. I did have better form with bodyweight and felt like my body had a better grip on what to do, so I went with 15 pound dumbbells and that was good. Very good -- I worked hard. 
• Kneeling Lat Pulldowns (cable machine) -- 2 sets of 15. I invaded the province of the Serious Lifters (or at least serious-acting ones) who use the cable machines today. I had to screw up my courage a bit, but I'm glad I did. For one thing the guy using the other side of the machine was pretty nice. For another, I really loved this exercise, though I need to increase the weight next time. You can see about the cable lat pulldowns here, but instead of sitting (with padded bars on the bench to help hold you down), I was kneeling. Kneeling makes it more of a whole-body exercise, which I prefer, and more of a core workout. You can lift more sitting, but work harder in ways that are important to me standing. (Sources are in consensus on this.) Because I'd heard that you can't lift as much with the kneeling pulldowns, I backed down the weight some. I did 45 pounds with the pulldown machine (which is has a seat and the padded bars to hold you down) last time. 30 pounds was way too easy, so I went up to 35 for the second set. Next time I'll go up one more step -- which will be 42.5 lbs.
• Alternating sets of:
• Deadlifts -- 2 sets of 15. Instead of using dumbbells this time, I used a fixed-weight barbell, which was a little easier to wrangle. I used a 30 pound barbell, which is the same weight as the two 15lb dumbbells I'd used before. I was thinking of taking the weight up a notch, but I wanted to work more quickly today (more on this below) and decided to stay at the same weight. I liked the barbell (much easier to wrangle) but next time I think I need to move up a notch. (Though from 30 lbs to 40 lbs is quite a big leap, so we'll see how that goes.)
• Shoulder Presses -- I planned to do 2 sets of 15, but was a little aggressive with the weights so I wound out doing 1 set of 15 and 1 set of 11. When I did these on Monday, I used 10lb dumbbells and thought it was a bit light maybe. So I went with 15lb dumbbells today. The first set was *hard* -- I barely eked out the 15 reps. I thought about backing down to 10lb dumbbells for the second set but decided I'd rather see what I could do with the 15lbs. Only doing 11 was okay, given the situation. I'll go with 15s again next time and see if I do better. (I bet I will!)

After the weights, I did my Intervals of Insanity again. Goodness, I love those. Once again it was five rounds of 20 seconds of insanely all-out effort on the elliptical machine followed by 40 seconds of easy going. This time it was five *full* 20 second stretches though (Wednesday it was more like four and a half and on Monday I missed a few seconds of one). I thought about doing a sixth, even got started on it, but after like five seconds I was done. My legs were wobbling. 

One of the big changes today was that I moved faster when lifting. I've been extremely deliberate with the weights -- pausing after each rep for a beat or two before doing the next one. I thought that was what you were supposed to do (for some reason). Sources indicated that not only is that not necessary, it is really not as good because one doesn't tire one's muscles as effectively. So I was consciously working more quickly today -- I still took rests between sets, but I didn't stop to reset (or even pause) between reps. I liked that a lot -- I could feel the difference in how I was working my muscles. 

Unfortunately, the faster work wasn't reflected in how long it took me to do my workout. Patrick wound out having to wait for me. I think he did 45 minutes on the elliptical (he was doing a cardio day) and he probably waited another 15. I suspect I'll get quicker as I get more confident and comfortable. As I get more familiar with my warmup sequence, that will get faster too.

All in all, it was another excellent time in the gym. I really love the two Workouts I've built. I'm figuring I'll do these for another four or five times each, then move on to new challenges. I don't think I need to do any more tinkering with these, though.

Next workout is scheduled for Monday. I'll be doing Workout A -- plank, squats, bent-over rows, step ups, and pushups. I'm looking forward to it. I've already got my first set weights picked, though I need to figure out how I want to make the step ups more challenging (given that there's only one height of steps at our gym). Goal for the workout: Keep getting better!