This past week of workouts was another good one for me. I’m so glad that I’m getting a little bit of time of feeling normal and good when I dealt with so many weeks with nausea and pain. I know that I’m about to have the nausea and pain again, but I’m trying to take advantage of the time before that. And I feel like I did that for sure in my workouts.
Monday’s workout was an interesting one. It felt like a run/row but technically it wasn’t. During the cardio and rowing blocks, we switched back and forth every 2 minutes. For cardio, we had increasing incline/resistance levels each time we were there. I did work on increasing my resistance level on the bike since I hadn’t done a lot of that recently. On the rower, we had a 100-meter row to start and we increased the rowing 50 meters each time. And between each row, we had squats.
On the floor, we had 1 long block. But within the block, we had main exercises and add-on exercises. The main exercises were chest presses, hip hinge rows with weights, and shoulder presses. We did each of the main exercises twice and after it, we either had crunches or side crunch heel taps. Then we moved on to the next main exercise. It was an interesting format and a bit different from what we normally do.
Wednesday’s workout was a benchmark prep class. We have the 12 minute run (or bike) for distance later this month so this was a workout to get ready for it. For cardio, we had 2 rounds of 5 1/2 minute runs (or bikes) for distance with a 1-minute recovery between them. I kept my resistance level at my base level because I wanted the focus to be on biking the entire time and not being at a higher resistance level. It worked out well for me and I was proud of myself for what I was able to do. I did get a little further on the second one, but that’s how it normally goes for me.
On the rower, we started with a 90-second row for distance. Then we rowed 50 meters less each time we rowed and we had squats with the medicine ball between each row. My rowing wasn’t that strong that morning so I didn’t get as far as I should have in the 90 seconds. So I used 300 meters as the distance instead so I would have easy numbers to remember when I kept taking 50 meters off.
And on the floor, we had 1 long block with 2 mini-blocks in it. The first mini-block was bicycle crunches and hip bridges for 3 rounds. The second mini-block had suitcase squats, single-arm shoulder presses, leg balance curls, and chest presses. I wasn’t going too heavy with the weights for the upper body but I did do heavier weights for the lower body work to make up for that a bit.
Friday’s workout was a strength-based class. I feel like we have had a lot of those lately and it’s having me make up for all the time I wasn’t using the resistance levels on the bike. This time, it was a lot of resistance level changes. We had push and base paces at incline/higher resistance levels with some base paces at a flat incline between. It wasn’t easy because I was getting the resistance level really high on the bike and I wasn’t able to pedal as fast as I’m used to. But it was a good thing to do since I needed to get some resistance work in my workouts again.
On the rower, we had 2 blocks. The first block had 3 rounds of a 300-meter row followed by 10 frogger squats. We weren’t supposed to reset the rower during the block so we were higher than 900 meters when we were done. The second block was to row the distance from the first block total. Then we had squats when we finished that. It was hard to row for that second block and I did have to take some breaks. But I did get it done before the block ended.
And on the floor, we had 1 block with mini-bands and one without. The mini-band block had squats with weights, lateral walks, and plank toe taps. The other block had goblet squats, tricep kickbacks with weights, and leg raises to crunches. The mini-band work was hard on my hips and I was starting to have some hip pain, but nothing unexpected for me. The second block was much better for me and I was able to use some heavy weights.
Saturday’s workout felt like a tornado workout because we were switching every 4 minutes or so. We were constantly moving which is something I like in my workouts. It doesn’t give me enough time to get tired and I feel like I work harder.
For cardio, we had the same block every time. We had a push pace, base pace, all out, recovery, push pace, and all out. That’s it. All the intervals were 45 seconds or 30 seconds. The recovery didn’t even feel like a recovery because it was so quick. And because we were doing such fast intervals, I didn’t change the resistance level on the bike during the workout. It was just easier to keep it the same for the entire time. But that meant I had to focus on pedaling faster when we had a push or all out.
On the rower, we had a similar format for all the blocks. For the first 2 blocks, we had a 200, 150, and 100-meter row. Between the rows for the first block, we had squats with the medicine ball and I did do those. For the second block, we were supposed to do lunges. But because it’s not easy for me to get on and off the rower and lunges are already tough, I skipped those and just rowed for the block. The last block was all 100-meter rows and we were supposed to do both squats and lunges between each row. I just did the squats between my rows.
And on the floor, each block had 2 exercises. Since we didn’t have that much time, it was better to only have 2 exercises to worry about. We had clean to presses with weights, squat jacks, lunges with a hop (I used the straps to help with those), high rows on the straps, pop jacks, and sit-ups. It was hard to not take too many breaks because I was tired, but I didn’t want to miss out on that much workout time either.
I was feeling really proud of myself after each workout this past week. I worked really hard and I felt it in my body too. I had to be a little gentle with myself on my rest days and I did work on taking care of myself. But having muscle soreness is something I consider a positive because it is proof of what I did. And I’m hoping I have the same this week in my workouts. And I’m extra excited about this week of workouts because my parents are going to be in LA and my dad is joining me for a class! I can’t wait to see how my dad and I challenge each other and what he thinks of the Culver City studio!
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