Monthly Archives: April 2023

I had a really good workout week this past week, which made me so happy. I had a bit of a challenging week with stress and other things weighing on me, but my workouts helped me have something positive throughout the week. And even though I still hate waking up so early, I know that starting off my day with someone good really did help me manage everything else I dealt with in my day.

Monday’s workout was a signature workout. We had the Inferno class, which I’ve done several times. This is a rowing challenge so the other sections of the room aren’t as tough to maximize what you can do on the rower. I almost always start with cardio, so I had my rowing section second.

For cardio, we had 2 blocks. The first block had rounds of a push pace to a base pace. The push pace started at 30 seconds and went up by 15 seconds and the base pace stayed at 30 seconds each time. And that block ended with a 1-minute all-out. The second block was similar, but the push paces stayed at 30 seconds and the base pace increased by 15 seconds each time. And again, we had a 1-minute all-out to end the block. I wasn’t going too easy on cardio, but I also tried to not go too hard since I wanted to do really well on the rower.

For the 3 group class, the Inferno workout is a mix of rowing and a floor exercise. We start with a 100-meter row and then we have 20 lateral hops. I did the hops and side steps, but I think that was a good modification. We increase the row by 100 meters each time and the lateral hops stay the same. And the goal is to get as many meters on the rower as possible. I looked at my past Inferno results before this class, so I knew I wanted to just get close to 2000 meters since that was similar to my past attempts. But at the end of the rowing block, I really went hard so I could get all the meters possible. And when the 14 minutes were up, I had a new PR!

I was very happy with that result and I didn’t really expect to PR. But considering all the work I’ve been putting into my rowing form and endurance, it makes sense that I would be able to accomplish that.

And on the floor, we also had 2 blocks that were designed to not be too difficult for people who had the floor before rowing. The first block had chest flys, lateral arm raises, and step-downs. And the second block had standing rotations on the straps, reverse flys, and push-ups. Since I had already completed my rowing, I did go harder and heavier on the floor. But I was also a bit tired after pushing myself so I didn’t have any crazy increases in what I could do.

Tuesday’s workout was a good mix of endurance, strength, and power. And I was pretty happy with which section of the room had each type of workout because I think it fit what my abilities were that day.

Each section of the room had 2 blocks. Both of the cardio blocks were focused on doing incline work at 45-second intervals. For the first block, we started by increasing the incline/resistance level every 45 seconds for 4 intervals and then we decreased the incline/resistance level to get back to a flat incline before doing an all-out. In the second block, we started at the top of the hill and worked our way down before working back up and then going back to a flat road for our all-out. The resistance levels didn’t have to get too high, but I made sure that I did them so I was working above my usual all-out level for the 2 highest levels. That meant I was pedaling very slowly, but I enjoyed the challenge.

Both of the rowing blocks focused on an endurance row. We started and ended each block with a 30-second exercise and we rowed for distance the rest of the time. In the first block, the exercise was squats and in the second block, the exercise was in and out steps. It was about 5 minutes of rowing in each block, and I was hoping to not need to take any breaks during the row since I proved to myself during the Dri-Tri that I could do that. But I think the cardio blocks tired me out a bit so I did take a little break in the middle of each row. But I still did better than expected.

And on the floor, we had 2 exercises for each block. In the first block, we had single-arm high rows and step-ups. And in the second block, we had single-arm chest presses and step-downs. The step-ups and step-downs were supposed to be done with weights, but just doing the exercises instead of doing lunges is a challenge for me and I knew I couldn’t add weights to either one. I just took my time with those exercises since I do still lose my balance from time to time. But even without a weight and going slowly, I felt how tough both exercises were for me.

Wednesday wasn’t anything unique or crazy, but it was still a good workout and I was pushing myself since I was having a good week.

We had 3 blocks for cardio. The first block had 2 rounds of a 1-minute push pace and a 30-second base pace with a 1-minute all-out at the end. The second block had 1-minute intervals with increasing speed for a total of 4 minutes. And the last block had a 3-minute push pace with a 1-minute all-out at the end. The goal was to match or beat your distance from the first block in the last block. I didn’t track my distance since that’s not very easy to do from block to block on the bike, but I felt like I was doing a lot more in the last block so I think I was very close to my first distance if I didn’t beat it.

On the rower, we also had 3 blocks. Each block had a specific distance to row and an exercise to do between each row. The first block was a 200-meter row and pogo hops. I did my best with the hops, but they were a bit more like calf raises with a little bounce. The second block was a 150-meter row and side-to-side steps. And the last block was a 100-meter row and twisting hops, which I did as squats. Since it takes me a bit of time to get on and off the rower, I didn’t get in a lot of rounds each block, but I did my best.

And on the floor, each of the 3 blocks had 2 exercises. The first block had lunges to hops and plank taps. The second block had single-arm clean-to-press and plank jacks. And the last block had single-arm snatches and hip bridges. I went very heavy with my hip bridges since I know I can do a lot of weight for those. And for the lunges to hops, I balanced against the wall and did my best with getting the full exercise done.

Thursday’s workout was a themed workout because it was National Squat Day. So of course, the workout had a ton of squats in it. As much as I know squats are a good exercise, they are tough for me to do with my hip issues. So I knew I’d have to take some breaks throughout the workout to not hurt myself too much.

Fortunately, for cardio, we had no squats and it was just cardio work. The first and the last blocks were the same. We started with a 1-minute all-out followed by a 30-second recovery. We continued that pattern with the all-outs decreasing by 15 seconds each time. And we ended each of those blocks with a 15-second all-out, which we never really do. I didn’t change my resistance levels for the shorter all-outs, but I did really try to pedal faster as they got shorter. And for the second block, we spent most of the time at a push pace. But every 30 seconds, we had a 15-second surge where we were supposed to go faster. The idea we were given was if we were in a race and trying to overtake a competitor. That was something different and I liked trying to do short bursts of faster pedaling since that is close to what I like to do during the Dri-Tri.

On the rower, blocks 1 and 3 were similar. We started with an exercise for 6 reps and then did a 100-meter row. Then we did the exercise for 8 reps and another 100-meter row. That pattern continued through the block with the exercise increasing each time and the row staying the same. In the first block, the exercise was goblet squats. And in the third block, the exercise was sumo squats. And the second block matched cardio with the push pace and surges. I did have to take a few breaks in that row, but I was happy that I was able to do the surge rows each time with increased wattage on the rower.

On the floor, again blocks 1 and 3 were the same. We were timed with cardio for those blocks and it was all different types of squats. When cardio was in recovery, we had those 30 seconds to get 10 squats to calf raises done and if there was any time left we could rest. And when cardio was in an all-out, we had different exercises. For the 1-minute intervals, we had step-out squats. For the 45-second intervals, we had sumo squats with weights. For the 30-second intervals, we had kneeling squats to stands which I did as a squat hold. And for the 15-second intervals, we had speed squats so we just did as many squats as we could as quickly as possible. Those floor blocks were really hard on my hips and I just had to listen to my body and rest if I knew I couldn’t keep going. I tried not to be too frustrated when I took breaks since I knew those breaks allowed me to do more than if I hurt myself. And in the middle block, we were on our own timing with side-to-side step-out squats and bicycle crunches. This block was a little easier since we could rest more, but those side-to-side squats were a lot harder than they looked!

I really feel like this past week of workouts represented what I wish each week could be for me. I did push myself hard, even though I had moments when I couldn’t quite accomplish everything. But I left each workout feeling like I had some really great moments and I didn’t think I held myself back too much. If only every week for me was this great!

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This past week of workouts was kind of odd for me. I knew that I might have a little bit of pain and nausea at the beginning of the week, but I expected that things would be getting better throughout the week and each day would be better than the day before. And most of the week did go that way, but I also had a bit of a weird day in the middle of things too.

I was only feeling a little off on Monday, which was a nice change from the week before. And I was ready to get back into my workouts and hopefully have some good days in the week. I wasn’t able to push myself as much as I can on my best days, but I definitely did better than how I do on my bad days.

We had 2 blocks for each section of the room. For cardio, the first block was mainly 30-second intervals. We had some push paces to all-outs and some push paces that went into a base pace before an all-out. And after each all-out in the block, we had a 30-second recovery. The second block had the same intervals as the first block, but everything was at an incline instead. I did increase the resistance level on the bike for the second block by doing 1 level higher for everything except for the recoveries. Going up just 1 level wasn’t too much harder for the base and push paces, but it was tough for the all-outs.

On the rower, the first block was timed with the rowers with 30-second intervals. I did better than I expected on the rower, but I think that was because we did have recoveries throughout the block. I also didn’t row as hard as I know I can with the all-outs, so that probably helped too. The second block was rounds of a 30-second all-out row with lunges between each row. That block also went well, but again it was short bursts of rowing so that helped.

And on the floor, the first block was timed with the rest of the room for the first block. We had 30-second intervals of exercises with rests when cardio and rowing had their recoveries. We had lunges, shoulder presses, hammer curls, and bicep curls. We repeated the exercises throughout the block and at the end of the first block I was really tired. The second block was timed on our own. We had marching in place with weight overhead, step-ups, and bird dogs with toe taps. I put the bench lower so I could do the step-ups since I do try to do those whenever I can.

Tuesday’s workout was a bit more strength-focused compared to other workouts that usually are a mix of endurance, strength, and power. But I was happy to challenge myself since I was feeling a lot better that morning and wanted to get back to some of my better work.

We had 2 blocks for cardio. The first block was really tough for me on the bike. We had 1-minute intervals and the incline/resistance level went up every minute. I didn’t start quite as high as I should have, but I knew I needed to do that so I could keep increasing the level every minute. And by the end of the block, I was at one of the highest resistance levels I’ve used. The second block was a little easier but still tough. We had 30-second all-outs at an incline with recoveries between each one. And the recovery got longer each time. I did use a higher resistance level than my normal all-out, but it was only 1 higher than I normally use so it wasn’t as bad as how high they got in the first block. But it was still much more difficult than what a normal all-out feels for me.

On the rower, we had one long block and the row focus was doing 500-meter rows. This is usually a really tough distance for me to do since there is a lot of endurance necessary with it, but I used a lot of the same technique I used for the Dri-Tri and didn’t try to rush anything. I think focusing more on staying steady with my rowing has really helped and I did get through a few rounds without having to take any breaks. And between each row, we had overhead presses with a medicine ball.

And on the floor, we had one long block which focused on 2 back-to-back exercises that were about strength for one and power for the other. We had woodchoppers and plank pull-throughs, skier swings and deadlifts, and uppercuts and arm raises. I didn’t use heavier weights than normal, but because the exercises were back-to-back, they felt heavier than they really were.

Wednesday’s workout was a very odd day for me. There were a few things that made the day weird, starting with I wasn’t feeling great that morning. It wasn’t like normal nausea I can have, so I just decided to do the workout and see what would happen.

Cardio and rowing worked together for this workout. Every interval was 4 minutes long. If you started the block on cardio you did 1 cardio interval, 1 rowing interval, and 1 cardio interval. And if you started the block on the rower you did rowing for the first and last interval and cardio for the middle one. So in the end, you had 3 intervals for each. Each cardio block was the same, we had a 4-minute distance challenge. And on the rower, we always started with a 10-stroke drill and then rested before increasing the stroke drill by 5 strokes each time.

I thought I was doing ok, even though I felt weird that morning. But when I was doing one of the last rowing intervals, I had some of the worst nausea that I had experienced in class. I have only had to leave class once before because I knew I was going to be sick, so I didn’t think that would happen again. But unfortunately, it did. But I felt immediately better after that, so I knew for sure this wasn’t my normal nausea since that doesn’t get better after being sick. I was a little shaky after that happened, but I think that was more mental than physical since I was shocked I had to leave class to be sick. So I knew I had to go a bit easier on the floor because of that.

On the floor, we focused on cluster sets with the exercises. So we did a set number of reps first and then go heavier with the weight and do as many reps as possible. The goal is to try to get usually between 6-10 reps with the heavier weight. In the first block, we had cluster sets of a squat to calf raise and a low row. And between each exercise, we had either mountain climbers or skater lunges. In the second block, we had bicep curls and hip bridges for the cluster sets and squats and high knees between the exercises. I did make an effort to make sure I had the right weights at my station so I could use heavier weights for the second part of each cluster set. And fortunately, whatever issue I was experiencing that made me sick on the rower didn’t happen again so I didn’t have to leave class a second time.

And I had another good day on Thursday, which I was very happy about. I think it was probably one of my better days as far as how I was feeling, and it was a nice way to end the week.

For cardio, we had 2 blocks that were very similar. The first block started with a 2-minute push pace followed by a 45-second base pace. Then we had 2 rounds of a 1-minute push pace at an incline with a 45-second base pace without an incline after with an all-out at the end of the block. The second block started with a 1-minute push pace instead of a 2-minute push and the inclines were 1% lower than what they were in the first block. But they were the same intervals other than that first push pace. Even with the higher resistance levels for the push paces, I felt pretty good about what I was able to do.

On the rower, we also had 2 blocks and each block started with a timed row that matched the first push pace for cardio. After that timed row, we had rounds of a 20-stroke all-out row with exercises between each row. In the first block, we had squats between each row and in the second block, we had high knees between each row. Doing those row drills wasn’t easy since we have to go slowly with them, but I was happy that I was pretty consistent with each of my rows and didn’t tire out during the block too much.

And on the floor, we had supersets which are back-t0-back exercises for each block with one additional exercise. In the first block, we had chest presses and chest flys with cross back lunges. And in the second block, we had upright rows and high rows back to back with sit-ups to standing shoulder presses. We were supposed to use the same weight for the supersets, so I had to go a little lighter with my chest press weight to be able to do it for my chest flys as well. But that allowed me to focus on form and go slowly, so it wasn’t easier than normal.

Overall, I think this was a pretty good week considering I was coming back from a bad week. It wasn’t perfect and the issues I had on Wednesday really caught me off guard, but I think that I was able to work pretty hard for most of the week and I feel really positive about what I accomplished. I always worry that something will happen when I’m supposed to have a good week that will make it hard, but hopefully, this week that doesn’t happen and I have a strong week of workouts ahead!

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