I had 2 weeks of not so great workouts back to back. This past week of workouts wasn’t a week of amazing workouts, but it was the week that things finally turned around for me. I am so glad things were getting better because I was really tired of having tough days. I still struggled this past week, but on those bad days, I at least knew it was finally starting to get better.
Monday’s workout was an endurance day, but we also switched between blocks so that helped make it a little easier. I was still dealing with some nausea and pain, but it was finally starting to get a little bit better. I was tired of feeling so horrible and it was nice to finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.
All of the cardio blocks were the same thing. We started with a 2-minute push pace with a 30-second base pace after that. Each push pace went down by 30 seconds followed by a 30-second base pace. And we ended with a 30-second all out. I probably could have worked with the resistance levels on the bike for the push paces, but I decided to continue doing what I had been doing for 2 weeks with keeping it at the base level and working on pedaling harder. It’s been a different feeling for me in the workouts and it’s been interesting to mix things up a bit.
Between each block for cardio, we had floor work. The first block on the floor had chest presses with weights, push-ups, tricep work on the straps, and crunches. I had to modify the push-ups to be chest presses on the straps due to my nausea, but that wasn’t too bad of a modification. The second block had shoulder presses with weights, lateral raises with weights, plank work, and sit-ups. And the last block was all core work and I had to modify all of them because they were all face down things. It wasn’t the best block for me, but I made it work and it was the best workout I had been able to do in about 2 weeks.
Wednesday’s workout was a mix of endurance, strength, and power. I was finally feeling more like myself, but I was also dealing with being nervous because that was the day we were getting the results from the union elections. Having an early morning workout was a good distraction from that plus a way to get some of that nervous energy out.
I continued doing what I have been doing with the bike lately with keeping the resistance level at the base level I’ve been working with and just focusing on increasing my pedaling speed. The cardio was a mix of push to all outs and push to base to all outs. And in the end, we just had all out on their own. After all the all outs, we had recovery, but it was still one long block of work. I think because things were changing up a lot it did work out well to keep the resistance level the same the entire time. It took away one thing that I had to think about and I could put more attention on my workout.
On the rower, we started with a 600-meter row and then we were supposed to do power jacks and squat jacks with a medicine ball. I modified that to be squats with an overhead raise and regular squats using a medicine ball. Then we had 2 rounds of a 300-meter row with the squats work. Then, 4 rounds of a 150-meter row with the squat work. I was working on the 150-meter rows when the block was done.
And on the floor, we had 2 blocks. The first block had to be modified a lot for me. A lot of the work was lower body work on the bench and I just didn’t have the balance to work on the bench that morning. So I modified it to be reverse lateral lunges using the straps for balance, regular lunges, crunches, and bird dogs (which is plank work). Since I was not dealing with nausea, the plank work was finally easier on me. The second block had lunges, skater lunges, and heel tap crunches.
Friday’s workout was a mix of endurance and power. I was finally feeling normal and I was done with nerves since the election was done. I missed feeling like me and it was so nice to have a workout that didn’t feel like I was only able to do a fraction of what I know I can normally do.
For cardio, we started with rounds of push to all outs. All of the all outs were 1 minute long but the push paces decreased. We started at 90 seconds and then went down to 1 minute, 45 seconds, and 30 seconds. After all the all outs, we had recovery. And in the end we had a standalone 1 minute all out and 30 second all out. I did the same as I had for a while with the resistance level staying at my base level. But I made sure to make this workout hard because I could finally do it. And it wasn’t easy to do so many all outs.
When I got to the rower, it was the same pattern as the cardio work. We had the push to all outs with the recovery and then the standalone all outs at the end. I tried to take advantage of the recovery on the rower because that was a lot of rowing time. I don’t remember having that much rowing without another exercise mixed in there for a while and I needed that break. But I also did feel great knowing I was able to do all that work.
And the floor was 1 long block with 2 mini-blocks in it. The first mini-block was all mini-band work. We had front walks, side toe taps, and static crunches with leg work using the mini-bands. And the second mini-block had upright rows using weights, single-arm chest fly using weights, and plank reaches. This was a great floor block for me and I was so happy that I was finally able to work hard and feel like I was putting in the effort and not just sweating because I was feeling so horrible.
Saturday’s workout was definitely the best workout of the week for me. I was feeling totally normal and was able to do what I normally know I can do in class. It was a feeling I had been missing and it was so great to have it back and to have that confidence again. The class was strength-based and we switched between blocks so we had a little recovery from one section of the room to another.
The 2 cardio blocks were the same. We had rounds of doing .1 miles (.4 for the bike) and every time we increased the incline or resistance level. I hadn’t been playing with the resistance levels for a while, but this was the perfect class to work that back into my cardio. I was increasing it to higher than my normal all out level both blocks which was really hard considering I hadn’t used the resistance levels for a few weeks. But it also reminded me that I could do it so I don’t keep skipping it in the workouts this week.
The rower had 2 similar blocks. The first block started with a 30-second row and each row increased 15 seconds. Between the rowing, we had squats with a medicine ball and tricep work with a medicine ball. The second block started with a 1-minute row and they decreased 15 seconds each row. We had the same medicine ball work between the rows.
And on the floor, we had 2 different blocks. The first block had single-arm clean to press with weights, rollouts on the straps, and half get ups (sit-ups while holding a weight overhead in one hand). The second block had ground to press with weights, high rows on the straps, and plank pull throughs. I was using heavy weights for the weight work to challenge myself so I didn’t get as many rounds in as I would have if I used lighter weights.
I’m really hoping this week of workouts will be a really good one. I’m finally past the nausea so I know that shouldn’t be affecting my workouts. I do have a little bit of random body pain that might affect things, but I feel like I deal with that better than nausea. I’m just glad that I made it through the nausea and have a bit of a break before I have to expect that again. I’m going to try to take advantage of the good weeks and work as hard as possible.
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