With the exception of last year when things were still closed, it’s been a tradition for me to work out Christmas week. I always do a Christmas Eve workout and I would probably do a Christmas Day workout if the studios were open that day (but they are all closed that day). But I still got in my 4 workouts this past week and I have been more used to this type of schedule since I’ve been doing a lot of only weekday workouts lately.
Monday’s workout was an endurance day and it was also a signature workout. This workout was called “Non-Stop” and it was pretty much what it sounds like. The blocks didn’t have breaks built in and we were working pretty much non-stop.
For cardio and rowing, we had the same workout. We had a 3-minute push pace, 90-second base, 2 1/2-minute push, 75-second base, 2-minute push, 1-minute base, 90-second push, 45-second base, and a 1-minute all-out. For cardio on the bike, this was tough but not impossible. I did have to take some breaks during the base paces to drink some water, but those were minimal. But on the rower, this was really hard for me to do. Rowing has been my tough spot for a long time, and rowing for that long isn’t something I’ve done more than once or twice. I took a lot of breaks during the rowing and I didn’t get close to the distance we were supposed to reach. But I tried my best and with doing a 14-minute row, that’s pretty much all I can ask of myself.
On the floor, while it was non-stop work we did have the block broken up into 2 mini-blocks. The first mini-block had lateral lunges, regular lunges, squats, and deadlifts. And the second mini-block had hammer curls, shoulder presses, hip hinge low rows, and push-ups. The idea was to use the same weights for each mini-block without putting them down. But for the first mini-block, I knew I couldn’t do weights for the regular lunges. And after a few rounds I had to stop with the weights for the lateral lunges and squats too. But I did keep the same weights for all of the first mini-block when I used them and I kept the same weights for the second mini-block the entire time.
Wednesday’s workout was a power day. And everything was pretty short intervals for us.
For cardio, the first block was all 30-second all-outs with 1 minute to recover between each one. And the second block was all 30-second all-outs with 45 seconds to recover between each one. And the rowers were timed with cardio. When it was the all-outs for the cardio, we had an exercise on the rower. The first block was neutral half thrusters and the second block was hip hinge low rows. Then when the cardio was recovering, we had a row. The first block had a 100-meter row and the second block had a 50-meter row. Any time that was left after the row was used for recovery, but it usually wasn’t much time.
And on the floor, it was all about using the TRX straps. The first block had pull-ups (which I did as high rows) and tricep extensions and the second block had chest presses and bicep curls.
And this class also marked my 200th workout for 2021! Even though I started out the year working out at home, a majority of my workouts this year were in the studio and I’m so proud that I didn’t struggle too much getting back into things after being away for over a year!
Thursday’s class was a mix of endurance, strength, and power. And it also was a 2 group class, which I rarely have anymore. But it was a nice way to switch things up when I normally have only 3 group classes.
For cardio, the first block was all about 2-minute push paces and 1-minute base paces. We did those back and forth until we ended with a 1-minute all-out. The second block was a mix of 1-minute all-outs and 30-second all-outs. And those all-outs were all done with inclines. Between each all-out we had 1 minute to recover and the inclines went down each round, so that helped to make it be not too impossible. And it was good it wasn’t too hard because this day I was hit really hard with pain and nausea. So having a workout that didn’t seem impossible helped.
For the floor, the first block was broken up into 2 mini-blocks. In the first mini-block we had single-arm low rows and torso rotations. After 2 rounds of that, we had a 200-meter row and then we had the second mini-block with single-arm chest presses and wood choppers. The second block had neutral grip front raises, hip hinge triceps, uppercuts, and running men. This block was more of an endurance block since you weren’t supposed to take breaks until after you finished all the exercises. But I unfortunately couldn’t do that. I just did my best with getting through each exercise and took breaks when I needed to.
And for Friday on Christmas Eve, there is always a tradition to have a workout that is theme Naughty or Nice. Sometimes that means you pick from stockings and that tells you what your workout assignment is or sometimes half the workout is themed Naughty and half is themed Nice. This year, it was the theme for each half of class. Each section of the room had 5 blocks this time.
For cardio, the odd numbered blocks were all 90-second runs for distance at an incline. And each time the incline got higher. For block 2, we had a 45-second push pace, 45-second base pace, and then a 90-second run for distance. And for block 4 we had a 1-minute push pace, 1-minute base pace, and 90-second run for distance.
For rowing, the odd numbered blocks were all 90-second rows for distance. For both even blocks we had intervals of squats and side hops. But in the 2nd block we increased out squats each time we did them and for the 4th block we increased our side hops each time we did them.
And on the floor, the odd numbered blocks were always sumo squats and squat jacks (which I did was regular squats) and the even numbered blocks were always lunges with bicep curls, lunges to uppercuts, and hip hinge reverse low rows. For the lunges, I dd them separately from the exercises since I have to hold onto the wall for balance.
This felt like a pretty traditional Christmas week for me at Orangetheory. And this week will be a pretty traditional NYE week for me! I’ll be finishing out my workouts for 2021 and kicking off my workouts for 2022!
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