Monthly Archives: June 2021

This past week of workouts was pretty tough for me. I knew that my pain and nausea would be returning, but I had not been prepared for it to be so bad or so early in the week. The good thing is that it seemed to be the worst on Monday and got a little better each day. But I was surprised when it hit me on Monday because I was expecting another day or two before I had to deal with it.

Not only was the pain and nausea at their peak on Monday, but it was also one of the really tough signature workouts. This time, it was Orange Inferno. I’ve done this workout before, and I’m pretty certain I’ve done it as a 2 group class. But having a tough signature workout plus my health issues made it harder than any other Inferno I remembered.

The idea of Inferno is that you have a run/row for the entire cardio block. The run (or bike) distance is always the same. And the rowing starts with a 100-meter row and increases by 100-meters every time you are on the rower. You don’t reset the rower the entire 23-minutes, so you are challenging yourself to get as far as you can on the rower in that time. Considering how I felt, I’m happy with how I did on the bike. My time wasn’t great, but it was close to what I would have wanted to do. And on the rower, I did ok with the first few rows since they were shorter. The longer rows were really hard and I took a lot of breaks. But I just tried to go when I could and rest when I needed to. I didn’t get that far by the end, but I’m not too upset about that.

On the floor, we had 3 blocks. The first block had push-ups, chest fly with weights, overhead tricep extensions with weights, and crunches with over unders. The second block had plank low rows with weights, low rows on the straps, hammer curls with weights, and bird dogs. And the last block had hip raises and dead bugs core work. For all the face-down and plank work, I modified it to be using the bench. And for those modified exercises, I took a lot of breaks to let the pain and nausea pass.

Wednesday’s workout was a power day, and while I still felt pretty awful, I was doing better than Monday. This power day had a lot of short intervals, which helped a bit too. But it was still tough work and I pushed when I could.

For cardio, we had 4 blocks. Blocks 1 and 3 were the same and blocks 2 and 4 were the same. Blocks 1 and 3 were run/row blocks. We had a .1 mile run (the bike does 4 times the distance) and then a 100-meter row. We repeated that until the end of the block. I did ok with that since they were all short distances and I was able to take little breaks when switching back and forth. Blocks 2 and 4 were timed and we had rounds of 30-second all-outs followed by 45-second recoveries.

On the floor, we also had 4 blocks. Block 1 had lunges and plank side leg lifts. Block 2 was with the cardio timing and we had rounds of 30-seconds of front squats and 24 foot exchanges in the 45-second part. Our rest was in the 45-second segment for whatever time leftover we had. Block 3 had single-arm hip hinges and thread the needles (which I modified slightly, but still had to be face down a lot). And the last block was again timed with cardio and we had 30-seconds of lunges and 24 high knees in the 45-second segment with a little rest with the extra time.

Friday’s workout was an endurance day, and I really liked the cardio challenge. Even with my pain and nausea, this was a great reminder of what I can do when I push myself and don’t focus too much on anything other than trying.

The cardio was 6 rounds of a 3-minute distance challenge. And after each one, we had 1-minute to recover. The goal wasn’t to increase things each round or to be close to our push pace. It was all about trying to maintain the speed every round because it was naturally going to get tougher each round. I focused on my cadence on the bike and not how hard I was pedaling. And I was able to be within a 6 reps per minute range for every 3-minute challenge.

On the floor, we had 6 blocks and they were all 3-minutes as well. The first block had mini-band work with walkouts and in and outs (I did the walkouts on the bench). The second block was with weights and we had uppercuts, and front bench tap squats. The third block was more mini-bank work with more in and outs and isolated squat walks. The fourth block was TRX work with low rows and bicep curls. The fifth block was mini-bands again with crunch in and outs and toe reaches. And the last block was on the rower for a 3-minute row. Just like the other workouts this week, I took breaks when I needed to but things were continuing to get better so it wasn’t as often as Monday or Wednesday.

By Saturday, I was almost feeling like myself. I was still having some pain and nausea, but it was so different from the beginning of the week. And it allowed me to do more of the workout with fewer breaks. This workout was a strength-based class and it was my only 3 group class for the week.

We had 2 blocks in each section of the room. For both cardio blocks, we had hills with increasing incline/resistance with base pace recoveries between each of the hill intervals. The first block had hill intervals that were 1-minute each and the second block had hill intervals that were 30-seconds each. And the resistance levels on the bike got really high for me. But I took advantage of this challenge and really focused on my cadence during the entire time. I was able to pedal faster when we were doing our base recovery intervals, but I did manage to keep the cadence the same even as we got higher up the hill. I haven’t focused too much on that on strength days before, but it was good to track it and I think I will keep that in mind for the future.

On the rower, both blocks had rowing intervals with medicine ball exercises between each interval. In both blocks, we had overhead presses and front presses with the medicine ball. In the first block, we started with a 200-meter row and we were supposed to count the strokes it took to get there. Then, for each interval after, we reduced 1 from the stroke count. We didn’t reset the rower and we used the total distance rowed for the second block. We did half of the total distance for the first interval in the second block and kept cutting it in half each time.

And on the floor, even though I was feeling better as far as pain and nausea goes, I had to do a few modifications due to my hip. Both blocks started with the same core work with sit-ups (which I did as crunches) and bicycle crunches. Then in the first block, we had lateral lunges and sumo squats. I can do both of those without too many modifications, but I do adjust them a little to make them hurt less. And in the second block, we also had swing lunges and pivot lunges. Neither of those were things I could really do, so I did weighted lunges and then supported lunges with holding on to the wall (I can go lower in my lunges when I’m supported, so it was a good mix). But I was grateful there was nothing face down while on the floor because I knew that would make me feel worse.

Even when I’m prepared for having a week of nausea, it can sometimes still surprise me or hit me in a different way. But I am so grateful that even though it was a bad week, it only started off bad and got better every day after.

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This past week, there were a lot of changes at my Orangetheory studio. Some of these changes were back to things that I was used to before the shutdown and some of them were brand new to me. But for the most part, every single workout this week was different from the week before for me. And I know that things will continue to change for me as things continue to get safer and get back to how they were before, but I think having so many changes at once was a bit shocking.

Monday’s workout was my first 6:30 am class, and it worried me about getting up that early. But I have been slowly adjusting my wakeup time so fortunately, it wasn’t too bad when my alarm went off. I had never worked out that early before, but if I wanted to work out before work, that was the latest time option I had with the new schedule. I still am hoping that the schedule will change again soon so that I don’t have to be up quite as early, but it seems like it will be doable until things change.

The workout was a strength-based class and it was a 3 group class (my last morning 3 group class for a while). For cardio, we had 2 blocks but they had similar patterns. In both blocks, we had a set distance we were supposed to do and the incline/resistance level went up by 1 each round. The first block had a bit longer of a distance for each round, but for both blocks, they were pretty short and it was nice to get to a recovery break quickly. I never got the resistance level up too high, but I did most of my work higher than my normal base resistance level.

For the rower, we had one long block. We started with a 250-meter row and it went down by 50-meters each round until it was a 100-meter row and then it repeated from the top. In the first round, we had high knees between each row, the second round had lunges between each row, and in the last round, we had shuffles between each round.

And on the floor, we had 2 blocks. The first block had deadlifts, side lunges, and step-ups (which I modified to be regular lunges). And the second block had sumo squats, hip bridge tricep extensions, and bridge chest fly. I did try to go a bit heavy with the weights, but I’m still using a little lighter weights than I was using before the shutdown.

Wednesday’s class had even more changes for me. Besides it also being at 6:30 am, t was the first class I had where masks were optional as long as you were fully vaccinated. This was something I hesitated on, but I ended up deciding to go without a mask but keep one with me in case I changed my mind. It also was the first 2 group class I’ve had in a long time. 2 group classes used to be what I had all the time, and they are great for a lot of reasons. But I also knew it would mean less rowing for me.

On both cardio and the floor, we had 5 blocks. For cardio, 3 of those 5 blocks were 2-minute distance challenges. And the goal every time was to beat the distance from the previous time. And the other 2 blocks were similar patterns with 45-seconds of base pace at an incline and 30-seconds of a base pace without incline for 4 rounds plus a 30-second all-out at the end. The first one had increasing inclines and the second had decreasing inclines. And they were high and I had to use very high resistance levels on the bike. It was a really challenging cardio section. Not only because of the resistance levels but because this was the longest time I’ve been on the bike for a very long time.

On the floor, we also have 5 blocks. The first and last blocks were both 2-minute row challenges and the goal was to do better on the second row than the first. I managed to get about 50 meters further the second time, which shocked me since I was so tired at the very end of the workout! We also had 1 more 2-minute block in the middle that was just 2 minutes of squat jacks to burpees (which I had to take very slow and didn’t get a lot of reps in). And for the long blocks, we had 3 exercises each. One block had clean to front squats with weights, lunges with hops, and push-ups. And the other block had weighted lunges, plank jacks, and low rows on the straps.

I was happy to not need to wear a mask anymore. Even though I didn’t struggle too much wearing it in class, it was nice to be able to easily take a drink of water when I needed to. And I’m glad that I didn’t do too bad in my first 2 group class since I knew it was going to be very different from what I have been used to since I started back.

Friday’s class didn’t have any new changes for me, but it was still an early 2 group class that was mask-optional. This workout was a strength-based class and I knew it would still be a challenge with being on the bike for so long. I’m sure I will get used to the longer cardio soon, but for now, it will probably still be tough for me.

For cardio, we started rounds of base paces at inclines followed by base paces with no incline and then an all-out followed by a longer block of just incline work. The incline started at the highest point and then went down and then we started back up the hill again. For the first half, as the incline went down the time we were at an incline went up. And in the last part, as we were going back up the incline, every incline was done for a minute. I was using the higher resistance levels on the bike and I was pedaling really slow for so much of it, but I was really proud of myself for not going easy on myself with the hills.

On the floor, we only had floor work so there was no rowing. The first 3 blocks had a bit of an add-on element and the last block had a takeaway element. The first 3 blocks all started with 1 round of bear steps. The second block added toe reaches and the third block also added on static crunches with scissor kicks. And all 3 of those blocks followed those add-on exercises with rounds of tricep extensions, chest press to reaches, and seated low rows. The last block had all 3 add-on exercises plus plank in and outs and we did 4 rounds with taking away one exercise each round. Then we had the same weighted exercises. My arms were so tired doing all the weight work since I was exercising a lot of the same muscles and the floor was for half the class (instead of a third which is what I’ve been used to), but it was good and I’m proud of what I was able to get done.

Saturday’s class was a 3 group class (for now, that will be my only 3 group class a week until things change up again). But it was at a slightly different time than I’ve been used to. This time change wasn’t as bad as the morning one, I just have a little more time between ending work on Saturdays and when my workout happens so I can get a few things done around my house between the two things.

The workout was a power day and there was a lot of emphasis on making sure we pushed ourselves hard, especially for cardio. There was a lot of recovery time in each block, so if we didn’t push hard then the workout would be much easier than it should be. We had rounds of push paces followed by base paces and then an all-out. The push paces weren’t too long, so I really did focus on getting my pedaling speed up and maintaining it the entire time. And for the all-outs, I really tried to maximize how quickly I could pedal without losing control. When we had the base paces or the recovery time, I was taking little breaks, mainly to drink water, but I was usually ready to pick things up again when we were back to the rest of the block.

On the rower, we had 3 blocks that all had repeats of a certain row distance plus exercises. I actually never made it to the exercises for any block (those exercises were frogger squats and then a squat hold), so I just did all the distance rows. The first block was 5 rounds of 100-meter rows, the second block was 4 rounds of 150-meter rows, and the last block was 3 rounds of 200-meter rows. Between each round, we were supposed to keep rowing but do 5-10 recovery strokes so they could be really slow. I didn’t go too crazy with any of my rowing since I knew I was pretty much going to be rowing for the entire block, but none of my times were that bad or off of what I would want to do.

And on the floor, we also had 3 blocks. The first block had ultimate burpees with half thrusters and lateral crunches on the Bosu. I had to modify the burpees and I broke them down into different parts and did those separately. So I did push-ups, plank rows, and squats. The second block had tripod burpees (which I just modified to be slower and walking in and out) and v-ups. And the last block had hip hinge swings and running man on the Bosu. It wasn’t my best floor block since I had to modify so much of it, but I was grateful it was a 3 group class since that meant I wasn’t on the floor as long.

Overall, considering all the changes I had this past week, I’m proud of how quickly I adapted. I wasn’t too worried about adapting to not wearing a mask, that was more of just feeling ok with it. But getting used to early workouts and going back to 2 group classes worried me. But like so many things I have worried about, I didn’t need to. My body adapted quickly and I’m sure this will feel normal and routine to me in no time. Probably right before things change up again.

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