BFL Day 45: Change things up

We had a big storm blow through last night and this morning was beautiful: sunny and breezy and the perfect temperature. Florian headed off to his sports camp and I decided to forgo the gym today and spend some more time with Gillis and Felix. I know they don't mind me leaving them alone for the hour or so that it takes me to get to the gym, do my workout and come back, but sometimes, I mind. So after everyone had their breakfast, I convinced them to take a walk with me to the newsstand (via school) and back, which took us about half an hour. I figured I would do a lower body workout at home when we got back, after I was all warmed up (and woke up) from the walk. I love taking walks with them, it is the best opportunity to have a good conversation with them without interruptions!

We had a really nice walk, a great talk and good exercise for everyone. When we got back I got started on my "at home" lower body plan: 3 sets of 15 reps (since I don't have heavy enough weights to get progressively heavier, I decided to do straight sets) of the following:

• squats (with 2x 5 kg dumbbells)
• deadlifts (with 2x 5 kg dumbbells)
• lunges (without weights, but these always kill me - my legs were burning!)
• standing single leg press (with elastic band)
• angled calf raises (with 2x 5 kg dumbbells)

Then I did a "functional" ab routine that I had been wanting to try from an old issue of Oxygen magazine (November 2007: an issue I will never throw away because it has a picture of Jenny in it!). The exercises were all standing, with one leg raised (balance), and man, I can really feel it right now that I did it, even though they didn't seem too hard at the time.

I feel pretty good about the workout, I feel like it was a fair substitute for the BFL workout, and perhaps good to change things up once in a while. It's never good to be in a rut...although I am bit worried I might be unexpectedly sore tomorrow for the HIIT run!

One last thing: can anyone tell me what muscle groups lunges are supposed to target? Bill Phillips says hamstrings; Matt Roberts says quads and glutes. I'm confused but it feels to me like they work it all!