Category Archives: Family

This past week of workouts was another good one. I had my usual schedule, but there were a few things that changed. But I think the variation in my workouts was for the best.

Monday’s class was a 3 group class. I think most of my classes will be 3 group ones right now (that can change, but I think it will be like this for a while). And that means I get to do more rowing, which is both good and bad. I think rowing is the toughest thing for me, but that’s why I need to do it more. And this workout was a power day so it was a good day to kick off having more 3 group classes.

We had 4 blocks for cardio, 2 that were longer and 2 that were super short. The longer blocks had push pace to base pace intervals ending with an all-out and the short blocks were just an all-out. I was doing better than I had over the weekend, but I was still dealing with the end of the side effects from my booster shot so I didn’t go too crazy.

On the rower, our blocks matched cardio with 2 long and 2 short blocks. For the first long block, we had either a 1-minute or 30-second row with squats between each row. And for the second long block it was either a 300-meter or 150-meter row with squats between each row. And the short blocks were just an all-out row.

And on the floor, we also had 4 blocks. In the first long block we had lunges to a neutral thruster with weights, lunges to hops, and plank punches. In the second long block we had goblet squats, squat jumps (which I did as squats with calf raises), and plank rotations. The first short block had bench sit-ups to squats and the second short block had froggers. It was a lot of work, but I took my time and rested when I needed to.

Wednesday’s workout was a special one for several reasons. First, it was a benchmark workout which is always special. Also, my dad worked out with me. He’s done a bunch of Orangetheory classes, but this was the first time that he’s done 2 classes within a week! And finally, this was Coach Benzo’s last class with us. He got a promotion and can’t keep the regular Wednesday classes, but he’s hoping to come back as a sub from time to time. I’m happy he got a promotion, but I’m sad he won’t be my regular coach anymore. He was my first coach back after the studio reopened and I’ve loved having him motivate me in the morning. But the class was more celebratory than sad, so that was good.

For cardio, we just had the benchmark to do. The benchmark was the 12-minute distance challenge. I hadn’t done this challenge since before the shutdown, so I wasn’t too stressed about trying to get a PR. And for my dad, this was his first time doing a benchmark so he knew he’d PR. And since he’s a runner at his gym, this wasn’t too hard of a challenge for him. For me, I set the bike resistance at the level between my base and push paces and just tried to keep my pace steady until we were almost done and then I went crazy to go as fast as I could for the last minute. I didn’t do my best, but I was close to my distance from before the shutdown.

On the rower, we had decreasing rows with lunges between each round. We started with a 400-meter row and went down 50 meters each round. I was doing better on the rower than I had on Monday. And even though normally my dad and I challenge each other when we row next to each other, we didn’t really do that this time and just tried to get in our best workouts.

And on the floor, we had one long block that had both upper and lower body exercises. We had balance bicep curls, seated torso rotations, knee tucks on the ab dolly (a piece of workout equipment my dad never used before), single-arm low rows on the straps, and triceps on the straps.

And of course, after the workout we had to get a photo! Both to celebrate Benzo’s last class and because I always get a photo after my dad comes to class with me!

Friday was another power day and I really did try to push myself more. I was finally feeling normal again and I know it’s only a bit of time before I start having nausea again so I wanted to take advantage of this workout.

We had 3 blocks for cardio and they were similar. The first block was a 2-minute push pace, 30-second all-out, 1-minute recovery, and 30-second all-out. The second block was 2 rounds of a 1-minute push pace and 30-second all-out with a minute to recover between. And the last block was 2 rounds of a 30-second push pace and 30-second all-out with a minute to recover between. I tried to not only increase the resistance level on the bike but also pedal faster, especially with the all-outs.

On the rower, all 3 blocks were similar with 3 different types of rowing. We started with a stroke drill, then a 100-meter all-out row, and then a recovery row. In the first block, the stroke drill and recovery each had 15 strokes. In the second block, they were 12 strokes. And in the last block they were 10 strokes.

And on the floor, we had 3 blocks and each block had 2 exercises. We had chest presses and power push-ups, hip hinge low rows and pull-ups on the straps, and seated torso rotations and sit-ups. My upper body was tired after all the floor work, but I knew I needed to push myself this way.

Saturday’s workout was a 2 group class (I think this one will be staying as a 2 group class for now). The workout was a mix of endurance, strength, and power and it gave me a lot of opportunities to work on a bunch of different things.

For cardio, we had 4 blocks that were basically the same. Every block has a 1-minute push, 1-minute base, 1-minute all-out, 1-minute of recovery, and a 1-minute all-out. The difference in each block was the incline/resistance level for the base pace. It started at the highest level and went down each block. I didn’t go too high for the resistance level on the bike, but I tried to keep it at either the level I use for my push pace or the level between my push and base paces. That wasn’t exactly what we were supposed to do, but it worked for me so I could do the all-outs faster.

And on the floor, we also had 4 blocks but there was one set of exercises for all of the blocks. For each block, the first 3 minutes was doing the exercises, then we had a minute to get to the rower, and then we had a 1-minute all-out row. Wherever we left off on the exercises, we picked back up there each block when we were back on the floor. The exercises were skater lunges, lateral lunges, deadlifts, and plank low rows. I didn’t go too heavy on the weights because I needed to be able to row and there wasn’t a lot of rest time. But because there weren’t breaks, the weights I used felt heavier.

I really enjoyed the workouts this past week, even when I had moments I was struggling. And this week, I’m excited because I will be doing my traditional Thanksgiving day workout even if it’s just me and not with my family. But I’m glad I’ll be keeping up with the tradition and I think it’s going to be a fun one!

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I knew that this past week of workouts was likely to be tough for me because I would be feeling pain and nausea through most of them. I can’t predict the exact day I would feel horrible, but it was almost a guarantee that it would happen at some point this past week. So I tried to hope for the best before the week started. But I also had some good distractions that helped me when I wasn’t feeling great.

Monday’s workout was a special one for me because my dad was able to come work out with me! We hadn’t worked out together in almost 2 years, and I’m so glad that we were able to do so when my parents were visiting me this time. Also, since it was a holiday I did a slightly later class than I’m used to, so I didn’t have the usual people in class with me. But that’s ok because my dad and I still got a great workout in together.

The workout was a power-based class and the cardio section had 10 all-outs! We had 4 blocks and blocks 1 and 3 were the same and blocks 2 and 4 were the same. For blocks 1 and 3, we had 2 rounds of 1-minute push paces and 1-minute base paces with a 30-second all-out at the end. And for blocks 2 and 4, we had rounds of 30-second all-outs with walking recovery after each one. I was on the bike while my dad was on the treadmill, so we weren’t exactly next to each other during cardio. But that just allowed us to both focus on doing the best we could in the cardio blocks.

On the floor, we had 3 blocks on the floor and then 1 block on the rower. Each floor block had 2 exercises. We had single-arm full thrusters with rotations and supermans, split stance high rows and plank punches, and sumo squats and mountain climbers. And on the rower, we matched the final cardio block with rounds of 30-second all-out rows with recovery between each all-out.

And of course, my dad and I had to celebrate working out together with a photo with our coach!

Wednesday’s workout was a bit of a struggle for me. I was really starting to deal with some serious pain and nausea that day. And I found out when I got to the workout that it was also the 2000-meter row benchmark class. I had thought the benchmark was a day I had off, so I wasn’t expecting to do it. It’s the hardest benchmark and we had done it recently, but because the Dri-Tri is coming up we had it again to prep for that.

I started on cardio, which was really more of a floor block. We had a short push pace before going to the floor where we had sumo deadlifts, alligators on the straps, palms to elbows (which I skipped due to my nausea), and sit-ups. It was an easier block than normal because we were supposed to use that time almost like an extended warm-up for the row.

When we got to the rower, I knew I wasn’t going to do a great job. I didn’t have much of a plan for what I wanted to do because I really didn’t know how I would feel. I knew I’d get it done, but I also knew that it was very possible that it would be my worst time ever. So I just rowed when I could and took breaks when I needed to. It was a little frustrating when I didn’t really want to take a break but I was either having a severe cramp or my nausea was really extreme and I knew I needed to. But I just kept going and I did have a very slow time in the end. But I did get it done and after class I also took a photo with the brag board because I wanted to celebrate doing the 2000-meter row when I was feeling so awful.

After the benchmark, we were back on the floor where we had upright rows to lateral lunges (which I did as 2 different moves), tricep extensions on the straps, and side plank work. And we ended on cardio for the last block where we had 1-minute intervals of push pace and base pace before doing a 1-minute all out to end the class.

Friday’s workout was a power day, and I was feeling truly awful. I knew going into the class that it was going to be a day where I just did whatever I could and not stress out too much about what I was doing or how my effort compared to my normal days. We had 3 blocks for cardio that all had push paces to all-outs. Every block had 30-second all-outs and the push paces got shorter each block. I did the first block with the resistance levels on the bike that I normally use, but it was getting too hard for me to keep going so I just kept it at my base pace level and tried to do what I could with pedaling faster.

On the floor, we mainly focused on rowing. Every block started with rowing before moving to the floor. We had 2 rounds of stroke drills where you go back really hard with each stroke and try to let the water settle between strokes and 100-meter row sprints. The stroke drills started with 15 strokes and went down each block. After the rowing we had 2 exercises each block on the floor. We had goblet squats and squat jumps (which I did as squats with calf raises), reverse lunges and jump lunges (which I did as regular lunges for the entire time), and double crunches and sit-ups. I really did try my best during the entire class and I know that if I had gone much harder that I probably would have felt even worse than I already did. But I was annoyed how horrible I was feeling since it’s never fun to feel rotten when working out.

While I wasn’t feeling much better on Saturday, I was doing a little better than I was on Friday. But I knew this meant another class where I just had to do what I could and not stress too much about it. The workout was a mix of endurance, strength, and power and I used a few different methods to make sure I didn’t make myself feel worse.

For cardio, each of the 3 blocks had a different focus. The first block was the endurance block and we had push pace to base pace intervals. All the base paces were 45-seconds and the push paces ranged from 30-seconds to 2-minutes and we had an all-out at the end. For this block, I did use the resistance levels for the push paces and all-out. The second block was the strength block and we had intervals of either 30-seconds on a hill or 1-minute at a flat road. Again, I was using the resistance levels on the bike to do the hills. And the final block was the power block and we had 30-second all-outs with recovery time after. But for this block, I was really really nauseous so I didn’t use the resistance levels at all and just tried to pedal faster for the all-outs.

We also had 3 blocks on the floor. For the first and second block, we started with rowing and I just rowed at a slow and steady pace to make sure I didn’t make myself feel worse. In the first block, we had all strap work. We did chest presses, Y raises, and back reaches. And in the second block it was all weight work with close grip chest presses, low rows, and squats with shoulder presses. For all of these exercises, I was able to do them without modifying them. The last block was timed with the treadmills and we did pop jacks when the treadmills were in their all-outs and squats when they were recovering. I used the bench to modify my pop jacks and I had to take a lot of breaks during this block to breathe through either pain or nausea. But I did at least a few reps each time.

I’m hoping that this week I will be feeling better soon. I say this each month, but it’s so tough on me when I’m feeling like this because I hate having limitations on my workouts that I don’t feel like I always need but I know how bad it can get if I don’t do them. I think at least the end of the week should be ok, but I hope that the beginning of this week isn’t too bad.

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