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 J #5: Auditioning a new Gym still (Workout 66)

Back at the Sport Fit for another good workout

I'm behind on posting again, because we had a super busy weekend. I'll get to some of what we did in my next post about Saturday's workout. This is about Thursday's workout -- we got to the Sport Fit for our free trial day kind of late because of work and traffic. I had a good workout, but figuring out how and where to do things made it a little slow. 

It was a good workout though and it was really not crowded at the Sport Fit -- I saw one of their trainers with a client, so they apparently get the New Year's Resolutionaries like Planet Fitness, but they don't seem to make the place as unmanageably crowded as at Planet Fitness. 

Thursday, January 7th's, workout was: 

• Core Stabilization - 3 x 45 seconds - I can definitely feel these in my core as I'm doing them, in a very good way. I went up to 15lbs from 10 last time (using a kettlebell) and that worked well. Probably better than increasing the time would have.
• Rolling Side Plank - 3 x 10 - These are definitely improving as well, It's amazing what a difference it makes just in how I place my arms. It makes it a lot less strain on my shoulders and makes it more possible to feel like I'm moving my whole body as a unit. For J#6 I might go up to 12 per set, just to end really strong.  
• Dumbbell Push Press - 3 x 7, 5, 5 - I had myself down for three sets of five, but kind of got ahead of myself on the first set. Which was kind of a mistake because the other sets were *really* hard and felt like strain. Three sets of five would have been a lot better. I used a pair of 25lb dumbbells, which is what I've been using for a while, if I remember right. 
• Alternating sets of:
• Single-leg Dumbbell Deadlifts - 3 x 8 - I'm still using a pair of 25lb dumbbells for these because I hadn't written down that I was thinking of going up and just totally forgot. Whoops. I did increase the intensity by doing them *fast*, which worked out well. 
• Push-Ups - 3 x 8 - I think the bench I was using at Sport Fit is lower than the ones at Planet Fitness, which is good because I was looking for a lower surface. Not a lot lower, just a bit, so I was still able to go pretty fast with them which was good.
• Alternating sets of:
• Squats (Dumbbell) - 3 x 8 - I increased the weight on these to a pair of 45lb dumbbells (from a pair of 40s). Holy kittens were they heavy. I was able to make my reps, but holding the weights was really hard. 
• Standing YLTWI Raises - 3 x 8, 8, 5 - These were ridiculously difficult. Staggeringly difficult. I barely made my first set with a pair of 5lb dumbbells, which I've been using this whole phase. For the second set, I went without weights and those worked out okay. If they hadn't, I was going to skip the third set entirely, because they were so hard and I really felt like I was over-straining my upper back. For the third set, I went back to the 5lb weights and did 5, which was really difficult but I was able to do it. There was no way I could have done a third set of 8. I am not really positive why these were so hard except possibly the very heavy weights I was using for the squats.
• Cardio - I didn't do any Intervals of Insanity, but I did spend 10 minutes on the treadmill before I started working out. According to the treadmill, that was 170 calories burned. Which may be right.

It was a good workout. Patrick wasn't feeling great and was a bit overwhelmed by the entirely different workout space, but I had a great workout. I really really like the Sport Fit -- it's just very comfortable and I really like the vibe there -- the people talk to each other in super friendly ways and it just feels very homey and comfortable. 

After Thursday's workout, our next workout was scheduled for Saturday and planned to go to the Sport Fit again. That'll be my next post. :D

Workout J #4: Pre-feasting sweating is even better (Workout 63)

New Year's Eve workout. The gym was pretty
empty and it went well.

The previous time I did Workout J (J#3) it was a very difficult time -- not like the weights were too heavy, it was just a grind. Like my body didn't want to or something. I don't know. It was not a lot of fun. Fortunately, this time (which was last Thursday on New Year's Eve) it went *great*! I felt really great and either raised the intensity one a few things during the workout or have them marked for increase next time. 

I didn't do any Intervals of Insanity at the end because Patrick and I had a few errands to run on our way home and we needed to get to it before places started closing for New Year's Eve. But I did a lot of good cardio exercise at the beginning and worked really really hard during the workout. 

Thursday's New Year's Eve workout was: 

• Core Stabilization - 3 x 45 seconds - These are definitely getting better. I'm getting stronger at holding the weight at arms' length and at moving it around. I can feel it in my core as I'm doing it, but it's a good feeling. I'm going to try going up to 15lbs next time. Either that or going up to 50 seconds (at least). 
• Rolling Side Plank - 3 x 8, 8, 10 - These are getting better too. I'm really feeling like I'm moving my whole torso as a unit, which is how it is supposed to be. I went up to 10 for the last set just to give myself some extra work. Which is  cool. I'll do that with all three sets next time. 
• Dumbbell Push Press - 2 x 8, 7 - I had myself written down originally to do three sets of five. Then I got a little lost in the *doing* for the first set and did 8 reps. So I thought I'd do two sets of eight. Except that I really was only good for 15 total, so I stopped the last set at 7, unable to go on. I think I have myself down for 2 sets of 8 next time. Maybe I'll try for a third set and just see how far I can go. 
• Alternating sets of:
• Single-leg Dumbbell Deadlifts - 3 x 8 - I'm still using a pair of 25lb dumbbells for these and that went really really well. I don't have a note to go up with these, but I think I'm going to try 30s next time. (If I remember.) Because those went really really well! 
• Push-Ups - 3 x 8 - I'm ready to start looking for a lower surface to do these off of. I'm doing really well off the bench and have started increasing the intensity by doing them *faster* which is all I have. I don't think I'm ready for the floor yet. 
• Alternating sets of:
• Squats (Dumbbell) - 3 x 8 - I'm using a pair of 40lb dumbbells for these. I've gotten to where I'm doing them fast, which is, as noted above, how I increase the intensity on things without increasing either the reps or the weight. The extra speed keeps the tension on the muscles in a more sustained way, which is something. I don't know that my arms and shoulders are up for holding 45lb weights, but I may try it to keep more work going. 
• Standing YLTWI Raises - 3 x 8 - I actually did three whole sets of eight! I've been working toward that for a while and I'm very happy to have gotten there. I don't think I'm even close to going up from 5lb weights to 7.5lb weights (let alone 10lb), though. At least, not unless I scale back the sets and reps by rather a lot. 
• Cardio - I didn't do any Intervals of Insanity, but I did spend 10 minutes on the treadmill before I started working out. According to the treadmill, that was 160 calories burned. Which may be right. 

The workout really did go very well and I had a great time. I was sweaty and felt *strong* which was awesome. Loved it!! 

Our next workout was on Saturday, January 2, and I'll post about it separately, because it was pretty exciting! 

Workout J #3: Christmas EveEve workout (Workout 61)

This was such a difficult workout -- things were surprisingly
hard all the way through -- but I really got an excellent
workout from it.

I'm not sure why, but this was *such* a difficult workout. Everything was just really hard -- from the Dumbbell Push Presses, which I did in Phase 4 and know pretty well, to the YTLWI Raises. It was just a *challenge*. I guess it's most accurate to say that anything that involved my shoulders or back was really hard. I wonder if I was still kind of spent from the Chinups on Monday. 

It was just a hard workout. A good one, all in all, but oh, my goodness did I have to *work*! 

We were going to  go Christmas Eve morning (the gym was open until 1) but we wound out being free Wednesday evening and decided to go ahead and go then so we could relax more on Christmas Eve (we both took the day off). I had one errand to run this morning (vehicle inspection) but other than that and making a dish for family Christmas tomorrow, we've been free. (I even got to watch my one essential Christmas movie (Lethal Weapon) this morning.)

Yesterday's workout was: 

• Core Stability - 3 x 40 - I used a 10 lb weight plate for these and did 40 seconds of moving it slowly around me while holding my torso and core very still. If there are 15lb weights available next time, I might move up. If there aren't, I'll go up to 45 seconds per set. These are definitely a challenge to my core, but not excessively difficult. I think I like them. Though they do also put some strain on my arms holding the weight out at arms length. 
• Rolling Side Plank -- 3 x 8 -- It's possible that I lost count on at least one of these sets and did more than 8, which is fine. I don't mind going over. I just don't want to not do enough. I did these the way the video I linked to in the first post about Workout J -- with my arms horizontally across in front of my chest rather than sticking out in front like they would be for a regular plank -- is actually a lot easier. Not easier as far as the difficulty of the exercise (which is plenty hard) but easier as far as not feeling like I'm playing a game of Twister as I move around. I think 3x8 will be good again for next time, but I might want to increase the number of reps after that. 
• Dumbbell Push Press -- 3 x 5 -- This was one of the exercises that was surprisingly very hard during this workout. I was doing these in Phase 4 with a pair of 20 lb dumbbells and 8 reps, so this seems like it should be totally possible to do 5 reps with 25 lb dumbbells. I think I was doing Shoulder Presses with 25s way back when I was doing those (Phase 2, I think). These should not be so much harder. I wonder if it has to do with what comes before  -- those Core Stabilities do work my arms and shoulders a bit as well as my core. 
• Alternating sets of:
• Single Leg Dumbbell Deadlifts - 3 x 8 - These were also surprisingly hard. I use the same pair of 25lb dumbbells I use for the Push Presses. Yesterday, my hips were just very stiff and sore. I'd kind of abbreviated my normal warmup routine, because of a lot of people and an abs class back in that corner of the gym, and part of what I skipped was the hip openers. That may be why these were a little extra challenging. 
• Pushups - 3 x 8 - The first set was *really* hard and I didn't think it would be possible for me to make my reps with the subsequent sets, but those seemed a little less difficult. Maybe to do with hand placement. Maybe to do with me finding some extra strength somewhere. My money's on hand placement. I'm still working off of the bench. I'd be feeling wimpy about this, except that I've worked down by about 2 feet over the course of a few months. 
• Alternating sets of:
• Dumbbell Squats - 3 x 8 - I used a pair of 40 lb dumbbells for these again. I was surprised when posting earlier that I was doing Jump Squats with the same weights (though with fewer reps). Either the Jump Squats are too heavy or these are too light. I'm pretty sure the Jump Squats are too heavy (see my previous post). Though these may go up after one more workout. We'll see. They were hard, but not as hard as the Single-Leg Deadlifts. 
• Standing YTLWI Raises - 3 x 8, 8, 5 - I'd been planning to do three 8-rep sets after the previous go-round with Workout J, but the first two sets about killed me. I wasn't sure I'd be able to do a third set at all, but decided to go for 5. A set of 5 was pretty easy, but 8 would probably have been too hard. (I have to decide before I start how many I'm doing because of the way these work -- there are five different raises done in sequence without stopping, so I need to know how many to do for each of them.) As it was I was literally dripping with sweat running off my nose while I was doing these. 
• Cardio - Patrick finished before I was done and ran across the street to the Market (thus completing what would have been a Christmas Eve chore early) while I was finishing up. I didn't really have time to do any Intervals of Insanity, though. Which was fine. I did 10 minutes hard on the treadmill at the beginning, which was good. And the workout was really hard and sweaty. Good stuff. 

I'm hoping that next time won't be such a grind. Though I'm now half-way through Phase 5, which kind of boggles my mind. These phases seem like they're going faster and faster now. As I mentioned in my previous post, around when I start Phase 6 is when we're thinking of switching to a different gym. We'll have to do some research in the New Year as to which of the other two gyms in town we want to switch to. There may be others that I missed during my research about this last summer. (I'd love to find one like the place in my mother's Teeny Little Town in Georgia -- small but well-equipped and with a fairly small clientele. Though they didn't have an elliptical machine that was totally satisfactory to Patrick.) 

Next workout is scheduled for Saturday. Goal for the workout -- workout hard but without it being as grindy-difficult (I don't mind hard lifting, that's what I'm there for, but I don't want to feel like my hips and shoulders aren't cooperating). 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Saturday's workout was: 

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

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

Workout J #1: Visiting at a different gym (Workout 57)

Kind of rushed and weird at a different gym, but a good
workout nonetheless.

Workout J #1 was last Monday, December 14. Because Patrick had to work late, I wound out going to a different Planet Fitness (one near where I pick him up every day) instead of our home gym. I've worked out at this gym before (under similar circumstances) and it works out fine. It is a much smaller space than our usual place -- they have pretty much the same equipment (for the most part), though, so the other place is really a lot more compact and sort of compressed. 

Among other things, there's not really a comfortable place for me to work with the dumbbells. This is purely a psychological thing -- at our home gym there's some space near the windows that's sort of on the edge of the free weights area and out of people's way. There's no place like that at this other gym so I'm either crowded into a corner (where I'm emphatically in the way of people getting to the squirt bottles of disinfectant they want people to use) or kind of on display in the middle of the crowd. Neither of which is psychologically all that comfortable for me. But they have everything I need and the folks seem nice there, so it's okay. 

While I was doing the workout, I realized something that I'd missed during my walkthrough of these Phase 5 workouts -- Dumbbell Push Press and Dumbbell Front Squats are very similar, at least for part of the move of the Push Press. Doing them one right after the other is too much of a muchness. I've changed the Front Squats to regular Squats, which will be just fine. 

Monday's workout was: 

• Core Stabilization (at least that's what The Women's Health Big Book Of Exercises calls it) - 3 x 30 seconds - (You can sort of see a video of this here. The trivial difference is that I'm using a weight plate rather than a medicine ball. The significant difference is that I do them a lot slower and the focus is on keeping my torso and core *still* while moving the weight around them. It's all about stabilizing my core in the face of the weight moving around instead of using my core muscles to move the weight around.) These are good -- one of the challenges is holding a 10 pound weight plate at arms length for 30 seconds at a stretch. I wrote this down originally as 2-3 sets, but wound out doing three on Monday. They challenge the core, but they're not a beat-down. 
• Rolling Side Plank - 2 x 6 - (You can see a video of this here. Though actually what she's doing in the video looks a little easier because of how her arms are positioned. I'll have to do it that way.) This is a really good exercise and really challenging. Especially after the good core work of the Stabilizations above. I kind of think I have two dynamic stability exercises rather than one dynamic and one just about stability. But I'm okay with doing these two together -- they're a challenge and I like it.
• Dumbbell Push Press- 3x5 - (You can see a video of this here. Though I do a bit more of a deep squat than the video shows.) I was doing these in Phase 4 with lighter weights (though not as much lighter as you'd think) and fewer sets (though a higher overall number of reps). That makes me want to raise the weight or something, except that a pair of 25lb dumbbells is the right weight for now. I suspect that the first thing I'll raise is the number of reps per set before I raise the weights (because I don't want to over strain my shoulders). 
• Alternating sets of:
• Single Leg Dumbbell Deadlifts - 3 x 8 - (You can see a video of this here, except that I'm resting the non-working foot on a weight bench. This takes some of the balance out of the equation, though not all of it, and keeps the focus on my hamstrings and glutes where I want it.) I used a pair of 20lb dumbbells for these which is a considerable increase over the amount of weight I was using for 3 sets of 12 in Phase 4. (I'd gotten up to 10 lb dumbbells.) These are tricky, even with my foot supported, but seem to give good work to my hamstrings. So okay. 
• Push Ups - 3 x 8 - (I don't figure you need to see a video of these.) Because this is a heavy phase and I'm only doing 8 reps per set, I'm doing these from a weight bench rather than  the windowsill I'd been on for ages. I'm actually pleasantly surprised that I can, with some struggle (some lots of struggle) make all my reps off the bench. If that keeps up, I'll have to figure out some way to go lower -- maybe use a pair of dumbbells as supports or something.
• Alternating sets of: 
• Dumbbell Front Squats - 3 x 8 - (You can see a video of this here. Except that I'm using dumbbells and the video shows a guy using a barbell.) This is the one that was too similar to the Dumbbell Push Presses (as I do them). Especially since I'm using a pair of 25lb dumbbells for these as well. Front squats are more of a core exercise for me than really a quad exercise, because I need to stabilize the weights up high. I want this to be a quad exercise, though, so it's changing to regular squats.
• Standing YTLWI Raises - 2 x 8 - (You can see a video of someone doing something very similar to what I was doing here, though I was standing and leaning forward at the hips about that much and I wasn't holding any weights. I also do the last ones (the I raises) differently.) I'd been doing these as 10 rep sets in Phase 4 without any weights. I'm doing them here as 8 rep sets with a pair of 5 lb weights. Adding that little bit of weight has me back to dripping sweat off my nose as I do these. Which is extremely cool. 
• Cardio -- I started out with 8 minutes of walking (at almost 4 miles an hour on the treadmill) to get warmed up. Normally, I do ten minutes, but in the interest of time, because I knew it was going to be a crunch, I kept it to 8. I didn't do any Intervals of Insanity for the same time-crunch reason. 

It was a good workout, though it is weird working out in a different space than I'm used to. And while I understand that sometimes it's a necessity, I don't like being pressed for time as I'm working out. Main thing is that it was good. 

I'll make another post soon about Workouts I and J #2. Those were the next workouts.