Monthly Archives: May 2021

I’m really feeling like I’m back in my routine and groove with my workouts. Most of my fears about being back at Orangetheory are gone. I do still struggle with feeling like I should be doing more or better, but I’m getting used to my current abilities and finding ways to challenge myself to get back to where I was a year ago. And like I’ve said so many times, having this routine has been so good for me both physically and mentally. Even with having a tough workout week this past week, I still feel so accomplished with what I did.

Monday’s workout had a bit of a surprise for me. One of my coaches from before the pandemic, Tyler, was back! I had no idea that he was back and coaching that morning, so it was a great surprise for me and I loved that it made the workout even more familiar to me. It seems like each week I have something else that makes the workouts feel more like they did before and having a familiar coach did that on Monday.

The workout was power based and we had 3 blocks at each section of the room. For cardio, we had a lot of all-outs with each block that were either 1-minute or 30-seconds. I didn’t do too much with the resistance levels because I wanted to work on getting my cadence up more, and I felt like I was really close to my old speed at some moments.

On the rower, the first two blocks had rows with medicine ball exercises. The first block started at a 100-meter row and increased 50 meters each round. And the second block started at a 250-meter row and decreased 50 meters each round. And between each row, we had squats with medicine ball front presses. And the last block matched the treadmills with a 30-second all-out, 30-second recovery, and 30-second all-out. And for that last 30-second all-out, I was finally able to get my wattage above 100. That’s been a challenge for me and I was so happy that I had a few moments when I was able to make that happen.

And on the floor, it was a lot of burpee work. The first block had burpees with hop overs, step-ups with weights (which I did as lunges with weights), and mountain climbers. The second block had rolling burpees (which I split into sit-ups and regular burpees), full thrusters with weights, and power sit-ups. And the last block, which was 90-seconds, was just all burpees. I did all the burpees using the bench, which helped a bit, but there were a lot and they were tough!

Wednesday’s workout was a benchmark workout: the 2,000-meter row. This is probably the hardest benchmark for me to do and I knew that I was going to struggle a lot. I didn’t look at my past times for the benchmark and I knew that there was no chance I would randomly PR. I just wanted to do what I could and take it from there.

Before the benchmark, I had cardio. But they kept the cardio a bit easier to make sure we weren’t too tired by the time we were on the rower. It was a single block where the treadmills had .25 mile runs (for me on the bike, it was 1 mile each time). And then we had a minute to recover after each time. I know I could have gone harder or faster, but I also didn’t want to burn out before the rower.

When I got to the rower, I had a few goals in mind. My biggest goal was to see if I could do the entire row without taking a break. My slightly easier goal was to only take breaks every 500-meters. And my easiest goal was to complete the row before the block ended (but I knew I could keep going if I wasn’t finished in time). I knew that doing the entire row without a break was going to be close to impossible, but I was proud of myself that I waited until I passed the 500-meter mark before taking my first break. But after that, I couldn’t maintain only taking breaks every 500-meters. I honestly took more breaks than I would have liked. But I was struggling so much and I needed to get myself together before rowing some more. In the end, I did finish before the block was done, so at least I met that goal. I was about 2 1/2 minutes off of my PR, which I don’t think is that bad. I was away from the rower for over a year and only back for a few weeks. I don’t know if I could have expected much more than what I did.

And on the floor, things weren’t too crazy (since some people had the floor block before rowing). We had lunges with weights, alligators on the straps, plank taps, sit-ups, and side lunges with upright rows. I was really tired after the benchmark, so I was taking a lot of breaks on the floor too. But I tried to take breaks only after I finished all the reps for one exercise. And I was able to do that so I consider that a win too.

Friday’s workout was a struggle. I was feeling really lightheaded and had a stomach ache. I wasn’t sick, but I wondered if maybe I had eaten something the night before that didn’t agree with me. But between that and feeling like I still needed to recover from the 2,000-meter row, I took the workout a bit easier than normal. Each section of the room had 4 blocks. 2 blocks were 4 1/2 minutes, 1 block was 1-minute, and 1 block was 30-seconds.

For cardio, the longer blocks had push paces with base paces after. And we had an all-out to end the block. The first 4 1/2 minute block had a 1-minute all out and the second had a 30-second all-out. I didn’t do too much with the resistance levels, but I did increase for the push paces in the first block. The 1-minute block was a 1-minute all out and the 30-second block was a 30-second all-out.

On the rower, the longer blocks were a mix of rowing and squats. The first longer block had timed rows and we did either a 1-minute or 30-second row. And the second longer block had distance rows with either 300-meter or 150-meters. Between each time or distance row, we had squat jacks, which I modified to be regular squats. And just like with cardio, the 1-minute block was a 1-minute all-out row and the 30-second block was a 30-second all-out row. I was having a lot of trouble catching my breath on the rower. I was coughing a lot (something I’ve dealt with for several years now) and I took breaks when needed when I was feeling a bit more light-headed. I also made sure to drink more water than I normally do in a workout in case I was dehydrated.

And on the floor, the first long block had lateral lunges with either a single-arm thruster or a hop plus plank punches. And the second long block had goblet squats, regular squats, and plank rotations. The goblet squats were probably my favorite because I know I can use a heavy weight for those. It wasn’t my best weight for those squats, but I did get to pull the weight from the heavy weight rack. And the 1-minute block had frogger squats and the 30-second block had jump squats. I modified both of those to be calf raises instead of the jumps.

Saturday’s workout was a mix of power and strength. Whatever issues I had on Friday were gone so I was able to push myself a lot. And I had multiple opportunities to do that for cardio.

The cardio block was pretty much on our own. We were supposed to start at an incline/resistance level and then bring it down each round. And each round was a mix of all-outs and recoveries. We started with a 30-second all-out and 30-second recovery. Then we had an all-out for as long as we could hold it before another 30-second recovery. Then one more all-out for as long as we could go before having a 1-minute recovery and then bringing down the incline/resistance. I did start the resistance level higher than I normally do for my all-outs when I use the resistance for them. And when I did the all-outs for as long as I could go, I typically went about 45-seconds before needing to recover. I think that’s pretty good and it was nice testing out a lot of different resistance levels on the bike.

For the rower, it was all about sprints and recovery. We had rounds of 10 all-out pulls on the rower before having 5 pulls of a recovery. After doing that a few times, we had either overhead presses or front presses with the medicine ball. I really tried to go hard with my all-outs rows since I knew they were going to be over really quickly. I didn’t go as hard as I would have liked to, but I was getting better at making sure I focus on pushing back with my legs and not using my back as much.

And on the floor, we had 2 blocks that each had 2 exercises. The first block had rows with weights and then chest presses on the straps. And the second block had chest presses with weight and rows on the straps. And for both blocks, the exercise with the weights was done until we couldn’t do them anymore. We were supposed to push ourselves and then take a little break before pushing some more. I was trying to go a bit heavy with the weights, so I usually had to stop after 5 or 6 reps. But I felt really good about what I did because I pushed myself with the weights.

Even though I feel like I’m in a good routine again with my workouts, just like it always happens, my routine is going to have to change. The workout times are shifting a bit at the studio, and right now I’m not sure which morning class I’ll be taking. As you all are reading this, I’m trying to see if the morning class that is closest to what I was doing will work for me to get home and shower before work. It’s going to be really close. If that doesn’t work, I may have to start going to workouts at 6am! I’m hoping I don’t have to do that because I don’t want to get up that early. But I will do it if that’s what it takes. I guess I’ll report back next week on how this week goes!

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I’m very happy with how this past week of workouts went. Not all of my workouts were great, but I had some really great moments. And I honestly thought it would take a lot longer before I felt like I had some accomplishments or that I was feeling more like my old self. There are still a lot of moments when I feel my lack of strength or endurance, but it was wonderful to also have some moments when I felt very powerful.

I was finally starting to feel a bit better for Monday’s workout. I still was dealing with some pain and nausea, but I was over the worst of it. And I’m glad I was starting to get better because this workout was a tough one! It was considered an endurance/strength/power workout, but for me, it felt like it was a lot of endurance.

For cardio and rowing, we had 4 blocks that had similar ideas but they were each a little different. For cardio, we started with a 3-minute distance challenge. I was actually impressed with myself with how far I could get in 3 minutes. I know that it’s not my best, but it’s very close! The second block was 5-minutes long and the goal was to beat our 3-minute distance. But the challenge was that we had all incline work. I think I might have set the resistance level a bit too high to start, but I lowered it a bit. And every minute of the 5 minutes, we decreased a bit more. I was able to tie my original distance. The third block was a 90-second distance challenge and the goal was to beat half of what the 3-minute distance was. And the last block was a 45-second distance challenge, and we were supposed to beat half of the 90-second challenge. I managed to beat my distance goals for both of the last distance challenges.

On the rower, we also started with a 3-minute distance challenge. This was the longest I’ve rowed since I have come back, and I wasn’t able to make it the entire time. I did make it for about half of it before I needed my first break, but once I took that first break I felt like I lost a lot of my endurance. I didn’t get as far on the rower as I hoped. The second block was 5-minutes and we were supposed to be our distance, just like we had on cardio. But this time, we rowed for 30-seconds and then had jump squats between each row. I did squats with calf raises instead. And just like with cardio, we had a 90-second and 45-second challenge. But for those last two, I was able to beat my distance goals.

On the floor, we had 1 long block that was split into 3 different mini-blocks. We were supposed to do each mini-block for 3 rounds before moving on to the next one. The first mini-block had squat jacks and push-ups to plank jacks. The second mini-block had ground to press and burpees. And the last mini-block had triceps with weights and pull-ups on the straps. I did struggle a bit with the exercises that had me face down, so I got the bench out to use so I wasn’t all the way to the ground and that helped a bit. But I think some of the struggling was also because this was a really tough workout! I loved how tough it was, but it also was a reminder of where I want to be able to get back to.

I was finally feeling better in time for Wednesday’s workout. It’s always a relief when I get past when I feel nauseous and can focus on the workout again. And for this workout, I knew I wanted to work hard because I was going to have a tough class on Friday.

Wednesday’s workout had the same timing for cardio and the rowers. Everything was in a 2-minute chunk. For cardio, we had push to all-outs that changed in length (but always equaling 2 minutes) with different inclines/resistance levels. And the rower was also the idea of a push to all-out on the rower for 2 minutes and while cardio was doing a walking recovery the rowers had medicine ball work. The medicine ball work was bicep curls, shoulder presses, and overhead triceps. I did pretty decently on the cardio. I’m noticing that I’m getting back to what I was able to do before on the bike a lot faster than everywhere else. But on the rower, I really struggled to row for 2 minutes without stopping. I know I’ll get there eventually, but it’s hard when it seems so far to be where I was.

On the floor, we had one long block that was split into 3 mini-blocks. And we were supposed to do each mini-block for 5 rounds before moving on (it was a Cinco de Mayo theme). The first mini-block had deadlifts and plank Spidermans. The second mini-block had chest presses and squats. And the last mini-block had low rows with weights and plank shoulder taps. I didn’t make it through it all and never really got to complete a round of the shoulder taps. But that was ok because for all the weight work, I was trying to go heavier than what I was using before. I sometimes could only do half the reps and then had to switch weights, but it still is progress!

Friday’s workout was my first signature workout back. And this time, we had Orange Everest! I have done this a few times and I think I’m having a better time doing it on the bike than I did on the treadmill, but it’s still a tough one. And since I only started back a few weeks ago, I wasn’t going to look at what I was able to do before and try to beat it. I only wanted to be able to finish it.

For Orange Everest, every minute the incline or resistance level goes up for the first 7 minutes. And for the last 7 minutes, we bring it back down one minute at a time. I knew the resistance levels were going to get really heavy for me on the bike and it would feel like I was biking in Jello or concrete. And it did feel that way for some of the highest resistance levels. But I managed to make it through with minimal breaks (I have to stop in order to sip water). And I did take a photo to remember what I did because we weren’t able to enter things into the tracker during class. But when I had a bit of a break, I looked at the app to see what I had done with Everest in the past and I realized that I PRed! The one below in my photo that says PR is my old PR. The distance I got done in this workout is the screen of the bike.

I wasn’t expecting this at all considering how far it seems I have to go before I’m as strong as I was. I was so shocked that I managed to do this and I asked my coach if there was a way to add it into the tracker because I want my PR there, so he was going to work on doing that for me.

On the rower, we had decreasing rows. We started with a 500-meter row and it was going to go down by 100 meters each time. And between each row, we had lunges with a medicine ball. I knew that rowing for 500-meters without stopping was a big challenge for me. I struggled to row for more than 90-seconds and I knew a 500-meter row would take at least 2 1/2 minutes. But I decided to go for it and not focus on the wattage on the rower or how long it took me. And I was able to row the entire thing without a break! This gave me a huge confidence boost because I’ve been worried a lot about the 2,000-meter row challenge coming up. I know that will still be really hard, but to know I can row for 500-meters without stopping is a great sign that I am making progress. I only got to work on the 300-meter row when the block ended, but I did also do the 400-meter row without stopping too!

And on the floor, we had a focus on upper body (since a lot of people were going to be doing the floor before Everest). We had low rows with weights, tricep extensions with weights, leg raises, chest presses, hammer curls, and bicycle crunches. I wasn’t lifting anything super heavy, but they were close to what I used to use for all the exercises. I was a little tired from Everest and my rowing to test out using heavier weights for a bit, but I figured that was ok. I was still able to do a lot of good work on the floor and I left this workout feeling so amazing!

Saturday’s workout ended up being a bit of a recovery day for me. I didn’t want to take the day off, but I was a bit sore from Friday and the work I had done in that workout. So I went a little easier on myself while still pushing a bit.

The cardio was one long block with no recovery time in it. We started with a 3-minute push pace to a 3-minute base pace. Then we had a 2-minute push and 2-minute base. And we ended with a 4-minute distance challenge. I went a bit easier for the 2 push paces than I did for the distance challenge. But for those last 4 minutes, I really tried to go hard and see how far I could bet. I set my goal based on doing a little less than I knew I was able to do before in that time. And I was able to beat that distance! I really felt like that this completed an amazing week on the bike. The bike has been the place I have felt like I have come back the quickest, and I think this workout proved me right.

On the rower, we had rowing with dumbbell exercises between each row. The first set had 300, 200, and 100-meter rows with single arm deadlifts with a weight. And the second set was also 300, 200, and 100-meter rows but we had split stance low rows with the weights. I got through all of the first set and completed the 300 and 200-meter rows for the second set before time was done with rowing.

And on the floor, we had 2 blocks. The first block had squat to reaches on the straps, squats to I-raises on the straps, and low rows with a medicine ball. And the second block was a core blast. We had crunches, plank punches, and mountain climbers. And for the last minute, we were supposed to hold a plank. I wasn’t able to hold my plank for the full minute, but I tried to stay up as long as I could before taking a bit of a break.

Even though I didn’t get amazing things done in every workout, I feel like I’m really seeing progress. I was so worried it would take a long time for me to feel like I’m getting back to the old me, and I’m glad I was wrong. I do still think it will take at least a few months to be back to where I was before the pandemic, but I’m happy to see that I will notice progress as I get there. I can still celebrate the accomplishments even if it’s not quite what I was able to do in the past.

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