This past week, I only had 3 workouts. There was a time not that long ago that working out 3 times in a week seemed like a lot. Now, it feels weird to not have my 4th workout. But this was done for a good reason. This week, I’ll be hitting a milestone workout and because next week is also a 3 workout week (with a weird schedule), I had to skip a workout last week so my milestone class was in a class I usually take. But just because I had only 3 workouts doesn’t mean I didn’t work hard.
Monday’s class was a strength class. It was also my first workout after I hurt my back/hip, and I was a bit worried about how I would do. I already know a lot of modifications for my hip issues, so I figured I would do those and then just see how my back felt while doing other things and modify them from there.
Usually, strength classes have a lot of incline work, but this time it wasn’t too much. We had 2 cardio blocks and each block only had 1 hill. The rest of the work was regular base, push, and all out paces. I used my all out incline to be my hill work, which worked out well for me. I was able to do some work on increasing my pedaling speed, even with added resistance, since I wasn’t as worried about what I would do for my hill work.
For the floor work, we had an interesting format with doing multiple rounds of low reps for a few exercises. The first block had chest presses, deadlifts, pike situps, and then a 250-meter row. The second block had hip hinge low rows, shoulder presses, and side planks. The chest presses and hip hinge low rows were both done as 3 rounds of 5 reps with 10 seconds of rest between each round. It was hard to do some of the floor work because of my pain, but I was able to get it done. Sometimes I had to take a little extra break time, but I always got back to it to finish out the exercise.
Wednesday’s workout was a workout to get us ready for the Everest Challenge. I will actually be missing that workout because of my schedule this week. I’m not sure if I’m sad about missing it because I like to challenge myself or a bit happy because it’s not my favorite challenge. But either way, I’m glad I had the Everest prep day so I got to do a mini-Everest workout.
For cardio, we had a modified version of what the challenge is like. We started with 6 minutes of increasing the incline/resistance level every minute. Then we had a walking recovery before going back to the incline/resistance level we ended at and working out way down the levels to get back to flat incline. I did start my bike resistance level lower than my normal base is to make sure I could keep increasing it every minute. And it did feel really tough when I got to the top, but it wasn’t the highest level I’ve worked at. Considering that I was still dealing with pain, I was impressed with what I was able to do.
For the rower, all of the rowing was 200 meters. We were supposed to do different types of squats with a medicine ball after each row. We started with regular squats and had rounds of 5, 10, and 15 reps. Then they were supposed to be squats to overhead presses (with the same rounds of reps). I modified that one to just be overhead presses because the squats were starting to hurt. And the last exercise between the rows was supposed to be jump squats with the medicine ball, but I just skipped doing those and rowed more.
And on the floor, we had 2 blocks. The first block had chest presses on the straps, high rows with weights, and plank work. And the second block had tricep extensions on the straps, low rows with weights, and side plank extensions. These exercises weren’t as hard on my back as the Monday exercises were, but they still were tough and I had to rest a lot more often than I’m used to.
Friday’s workout was also a strength day, but just like Monday, it didn’t have a lot of incline work for cardio. It was also the first day that I didn’t have to think too much about my back/hip hurting. I was still in pain, but the pain was finally closer to what I’m used to dealing with every day.
For cardio, we had 2 blocks that were similar. We had a long push pace, a base pace, another long push pace, a base pace, and an all out. In the first block, the long push paces were 2.5 and 2 minutes. And in the second block, the long push paces were 1.5 and 1 minute. And the second block had the all out at an incline, which was the only incline work that we had for all of the cardio work.
On the rower, it was supposed to be long rows plus jumping jacks. I can’t do jumping jacks when I feel great, let alone when I’m still in a little pain. So instead of doing them, I spent the entire block just rowing. I tried my best to only take breaks when it was supposed to be when I would have been doing jumping jacks, but I was tired. The first row was supposed to be 1000 meters, then 500 meters, and 250 meters. I wasn’t able to do 1000 meters without a break, but I had also worked hard during cardio which made me feel ok about taking those breaks.
And on the floor, we had 2 blocks as well. The first block had sumo squats while holding a weight, shoulder presses with weights, hip bridges, and bird dog planks. And the second block had deadlifts, bicep curls, and plank pull-throughs. The only real modification I made was with the bicep curls. I’ve learned that my form isn’t as strong when I’m doing both arms at the same time. So even if they aren’t single arm bicep curls, I do those instead since I know I can lift heavier and do the exercise with the best form. For all the work except the shoulder presses, I tried to go heavy with my weights. I wasn’t doing the heaviest weights I’ve ever done, but I was close.
It really was weird to not go to workout on Saturday. I’m so used to my routine and I had to think about not putting on my workout clothes as I got ready to log in for work. And I did miss not having my workout, but I know it’s for a good reason. This week will be a huge milestone and I’m so excited about it!
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