Monthly Archives: July 2022

This past week of workouts was a mix of good and bad. I wasn’t necessarily feeling off, but I was dealing with the effects of having a rough weekend. So I was a little weaker than normal and I had some moments of being lightheaded. It wasn’t as bad as my bad weeks go and I was still able to push myself quite a bit, but there were a few moments in each workout where I just had to stop and take it easy for a bit before I felt normal again.

Monday’s workout was a signature class. This time, it was the Inferno workout. Doing Inferno as a 3 group class is a bit different since it’s not a run/row, but you still get a lot of chances to push yourself.

For cardio, we had 2 blocks. The first block had intervals of base and push paces, but the base paces got longer each time and the push pace was always 1-minute long. And we ended with a 30-second push pace to a 30-second all-out. And the second block was the same idea but this time all the push paces were 30-seconds long. And we ended with the same 1-minute push to all-out.

The rower is the main part of the Inferno workout. We started with a 100-meter row and then we had lateral hops. I had to do them more like skater lunges, but I did get a little hop into them. And every time we went back to the rower, we increased the distance by 100-meters. The goal is to get as many meters as you can in 14 minutes. I didn’t have a real goal in my head since I didn’t have the information from the past 3 group Inferno classes I’ve done, but I felt like I did a pretty decent job.

And on the floor, we had 2 blocks. The first block had chest presses on the straps, chest flys with weights, and overhead tricep extensions. And the second block had low rows on the straps, reverse flys with weights, and hammer curls. And for the last minute, we had burpees and I used the bench as always for my hands.

On Wednesday, we had a repeat template, but I didn’t do this the first time it happened so it was new for me. It was originally before a benchmark run (which I didn’t do), so it was a prep for that benchmark. But even without having the benchmark coming up, it was a good endurance day for me on the bike.

For cardio, we had 2 blocks. The first block was a 6 1/2-minute distance challenge. We were supposed to keep things at one speed/resistance level and just see how far we could go. And in the second block, we did a 6-minute distance challenge with a 30-second all-out at the end. And the goal was to beat the first distance. Both times, I set my resistance level on the bike to be between my normal base and push paces. And I was very happy that I beat my first distance by quite a bit! Usually, it’s really close but this time I had a bigger difference than I can remember from challenges like this.

On the rower, we had 2 blocks and for both blocks it was all about 300-meter rows. We always had a 300-meter row and between each row we had a medicine ball exercise. In the first block, we had shoulder presses. And in the second block, we had tricep extensions. I have been going between the medicine ball I normally use and one that is a little heavier since I haven’t changed that in quite a long time. And while it is harder, that’s how it should be. I need to challenge myself more and push when I can. And that was the perfect way I could do that when I wasn’t feeling my absolute best.

And on the floor, we had one long block with mini-blocks within the big block. We did each mini-block 3 times before moving on. The first mini-block had goblet squats and jumps with back shuffles. I normally wouldn’t do a jump, but I decided to try it. I didn’t get a lot of distance and I stayed close to the ground, but I was able to do a bit of a jump each time. I did have the wall next to me to help with balance and I did need to use it quite a bit. But doing that is better than not trying a jump at all. But because I was doing the jumps and that took longer, I wasn’t able to get through all 3 rounds of the second mini-block. In that one, we had split stance deadlifts and lunges. And to finish the workout, we had plank jacks.

Thursday’s workout was a repeat from the 4th of July, so I had done it before. But I was happy to repeat this one since there were things I would be able to change about it. It was the workout where you could pick which of the options you wanted to do. I knew I would do a lot of it the same as the first time I did it because of some of my restrictions, but I did try to change it up when I could.

For cardio, we started with a .1 mile (.4 for me) distance with a 30-second walking recovery after. Then, we had the choice to either increase the distance by .1 (or .4) each round or increase the incline/resistance level by 1 each time. I picked increasing the distance since I didn’t want to get the resistance levels up too high. I kept my resistance level between my normal base and push paces, so it wasn’t too hard but there was a difference between when I was doing the distance challenge and when I was in the recovery.

For the rower, we had intervals of rowing and squats. And the options were to always do a 200-meter row and start with 6 jump squats and increase the squats each time or to start with a 100-meter row, do 6 regular squats, and then increase the row by 100-meters each time. I picked starting at 100-meters and increasing by 100-meters each time because I knew that adding more squats each round was going to be too tough on my hips.

And on the floor, the options were either a strength or a stability challenge. The first time I did it, I chose strength. But this time, I went with stability and knew I would have to just go slowly. I did have to modify the first exercise in the floor block because it was a lunge using the Bosu. I had to do regular lunges since I knew that there was no way I would be able to balance. Then we had bridge hold chest presses, hip bridges, and sit-ups; all while laying on the Bosu. That does involve stability, but it was more about core stability and not too much on my hips.

And by Friday, while I was still a little bit weak, I was very close to normal and took advantage of that. I still had moments when I needed to rest, but it was much better than the rest of the week.

For cardio, it was all about 30-second intervals. We had rounds of a 30-second push pace, 30-second all-out, and 45-second recovery. Each block had 4 rounds and in the first block the focus was going harder for each push pace and in the second block the focus was going harder for each all-out.

On the rower, we had a pyramid row. So we had a 200-meter, 400-meter, 600-meter, 400-meter, and 200-meter row. And between each row, we had medicine ball exercises. I modified them so they were just upper body work, so I had overhead presses and front presses and skipped the lunges and squats since I knew I would have some lunges and lower body work in the floor block. I did ok with my rows, but not great. I was working on the second 400-meter row when the block was done and I really was hoping to at least be working on the last 200-meter row before it was done.

On the floor, we had one long block with 3 mini-blocks in it. We did each mini-block twice before moving to the next one. We had close grip chest presses and low rows with weights, sumo deadlifts and lunges, and tricep extensions and concentration curls. I was just finishing the last round of the last mini-block before we finished with 30-seconds of lateral lunges to finish the workout.

I didn’t have the great week that I was hoping for, but I really am proud of what I did considering how I was feeling. And knowing that it wasn’t as bad as my bad weeks normally are helped me a lot. All I can hope for is to have a similar feeling this week and to know I did what I could no matter how I might feel.

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After so many bad weeks in a row dealing with pain and nausea, I was really hoping this past week would be much better. I’m so glad that it was and that I could really push myself. I have felt like I wasn’t doing a lot in my workouts lately since I was restricted with how I was feeling. But this past week, I really could see what I could do.

I got off to a good start to the week with Monday’s workout. I was motivated to work harder than normal and I was able to do so as well. My motivation and ability don’t always match up, so when they do I take advantage of that.

The 2 cardio blocks were similar, with a slight difference at the end of each block. We started with a 75-second push pace followed by a 60-second base pace. Then we had a 60-second push pace and a 45-second base pace. In the first block, we had 2 rounds of a 45-second all-out with 30-seconds in between, and in the second block we had 3 rounds of a 30-second all-out with 30-seconds in between. I wasn’t using higher resistance levels, but I could tell I was pedaling faster and I was able to get my heart rate up higher. And I was really tired by the end of the second block.

On the rower, we had one long block. We started with a 600-meter row and then we were supposed to do lunges with tricep extensions using the medicine ball. But because my hips were already a bit off, I skipped the lunges and just did the medicine ball work. Then we had 2 rounds of a 300-meter row with the same exercise in between. And at the end, we were supposed to do 4 rounds of a 150-meter row, but I was only able to complete 2 of them.

On the floor, we had two blocks and they each had some strength moves and some stability moves. I knew I would have to modify the stability moves, but I tried my best. In the first block, the strength moves were front squats and floor chest presses. And the stability moves both used the straps with lunges to squats and chest presses. I couldn’t do the lunges to squats as a single move, so I split them up but still did them with the straps instead of balancing against the wall like I normally do. The second block had single-arm shoulder presses and hammer curls for the strength moves and split squat shoulder presses and balance bicep curls for the balance moves. Unfortunately, by the end of the workout, I was really struggling to balance so I did the shoulder presses without the split squat and did the bicep curls as normal ones. But I did feel the burn in my arms at the end of the workout.

I was still feeling pretty great on Wednesday and continued to push myself in the workout. Although I might have pushed myself a little too hard since I was really feeling it after this workout.

For cardio, we had 2 blocks that were both timed on our own. The first block was a 6-minute distance challenge and we increased the incline/resistance level every .1 miles (or .4 miles for me on the bike). I was getting pretty high up in the resistance levels and was above my typically all-out, but since I was feeling good I wasn’t going too slowly for most of the challenge. And in the second block, we started at the level we ended the first block on and then decreased by 1 level at the same distance interval. And at the end of the second block, we had a 30-second all-out.

On the rower, we had one long block. Every row was 150-meters and we had different exercises between each row with a medicine ball. We had squats to bicep curls and deadlifts to overhead presses. I did have to split up the exercises so I did them separately, but that’s pretty normal for me now.

And on the floor, we had 2 blocks that were timed for us. In the first block, we had 45-seconds of lunges followed by 1-minute to do 12 uppercuts. Any time we had after the uppercuts, we could rest. But that usually was only about 15-seconds. In the second block, we had 45-seconds of alternating arnold presses and 1-minute to do 12 lunges and then we could rest. It was a lot of lunges for me and my hips were really feeling it at the end, but I also know I pushed myself quite a bit.

Because of how hard I pushed on Monday and Wednesday, I was definitely sore on Thursday. So I went a little easier while still pushing myself. I just was being mindful of how I was feeling so I didn’t make things any worse.

For cardio, we had 2 blocks and they were almost the same. For both blocks, they started with a 2 1/2 minute progressive challenge where we started at a base pace and ended with an all-out. Then after that all-out, we had 30-second all-outs. The difference was that in the first block we had 1-minute between the last 2 all-outs and in the second block we had 75-seconds between them.

On the rower, we had one long block and one short block. For the long block, it was all about doing stroke drills for 15 strokes. Then, we had different medicine ball exercises between each row. We had front raises, tricep extensions, and rainbows. The goal with the stroke drills was to keep the strokes per minute down but the wattage up. And I was able to keep the wattage above what I do when I’m rowing regularly. And for the second short block, we were times with cardio for the 2 30-second all-outs with the 75-seconds to recover in between.

On the floor, we had 2 blocks that had some power moves and some strength moves. In the first block, we had shoulder presses, high rows, lunges, and sumo squats to high rows. And in the second block, we had regular chest presses and chest presses with explosive tempo. And we ended the workout with 30-seconds of sit-ups.

I was so happy that I was still feeling good on Friday. I was still a bit sore, but compared to the past few weeks this past entire week was a good week for me. So I continued to be mindful while pushing myself.

For cardio, we had 2 blocks and the first block was similar to Thursday. We had a 6-minute distance challenge and started between a base and push pace and increased every 2 minutes. Then we looked at that distance to use in the second block. For the second block, we also had a 6-minute challenge, but we were supposed to stay at the same pace the entire time. For the second block, I keep the resistance level between my base and push pace and I was able to go further in the second block than I had in the first.

On the rower, the first block started with a 250-meter row. Then we were supposed to do side hops and high knees. I was only able to do the high knees, but I did more than we were supposed to do to make up for skipping the side hops. Then we had a 200-meter row and continued the pattern, decreasing the row by 50 meters each time. And in the second block, we started with a 1-minute all-out row. Then we had a recovery row before a 45-second all-out row. We ended the row block with 3 sets of a 30-second all-out row. I was getting a little sloppy toward the end of my rowing because of my hips, but when I could feel my form being off, I made sure to make corrections as quickly as possible.

And on the floor, we had 2 blocks and each block had only 2 exercises. So we were supposed to focus on going slowly and using heavy weights. The first block had single-arm low rows and step-ups. I did the step-ups as lunges. And the second block had single-arm chest presses and split stance deadlifts.

I have no clue how this week will be for me. It should be another good week, but I’m feeling a little uncertain since you never know when things might decide to change up on me again. But hopefully, I will continue to push myself and have hard workouts by choice.

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