This past week, I wasn’t doing too great with my workouts. I thought the beginning of the week would start off well, but I had other medical issues come up that made those workouts harder. And then, I started to have to deal with nausea. So while I was hoping at least the beginning of the week would start off well, it really didn’t.
I was feeling a bit weak going into Monday’s workout. My gallbladder attack was on Sunday, and even though it wasn’t the worst attack I’ve had, I was still recovering from the pain and a few other symptoms. I probably should have taken some pain medication before my workout because my body was sore from being tensed up during the attack, but I didn’t think of that until I was already in class.
For cardio, we had 3 blocks and did the same pattern each time. We had a 2-minute base pace at an incline, a 1-minute push pace at the same incline, and a 1-minute all-out. Because of the incline we were at, the base pace was at the resistance level I would normally use for my push pace, so I kept it there for those first 3 minutes and just pedaled faster for the push pace. And for the all-out, I did go up to my normal resistance level. We had that same block 3 times and we were supposed to try to get better each time. But I think I probably did about the same effort each time because as I tried to push myself I was also getting tired so they canceled each other out.
On the rower, we had 1 long block. We had 2 rounds of a 300-meter row, 2 rounds of a 200-meter row, and 2 rounds of a 100-meter row. The idea was to get to each distance with the fewest number of strokes each time. To do that, you have to pause at the front and back of the rower and really explode from your legs. I’m not great at explosive power, but I have built up core strength so I can do better with the pauses. And between each row, we had lunges that were supposed to be with a medicine ball, but I did regular lunges.
And on the floor, we also had 1 block. We had 4 exercises and we were supposed to do each one twice before moving on to the next one. For all the exercises, we had the mini-bands around our legs and they were drop sets so we did 8 reps with a very heavy weight and then immediately go into as many reps as we can with a lighter weight. We had upright high rows, deadlifts, low rows, and front squats. I went heavier than I can remember with my deadlifts, and that was a real challenge for me. And for the front squats, I really needed to keep my hands free for balance because I was having a tough time with the mini-band on my legs so I did those without weights. But considering how I was feeling going into class, I was very happy with the work that I was able to do.
On Wednesday, I was feeling a bit better but it was also the start of having nausea. I tried to not let it affect me too much, but there were a few moments when it got a bit more severe and I just had to let it pass. But fortunately, this was right when the nausea was starting, so it wasn’t as bad as it can get.
For cardio, we had one long block. We started with a 90-second push pace followed by a 3-minute base pace. Since the base pace was so long, the idea was to work on increasing your base pace speed. Since my speed can be a big variable on the bike, I decided to increase the resistance level by one. So my base pace was between what my normal base and push paces are set at. That did add a challenge, but it wasn’t too different so it was manageable. We repeated the pattern with the 90-second push pace and 3-minute base pace a total of 3 times before we ended with a 1-minute all-out.
On the rower, it was all about doing 300-meter rows. I was surprised at how well I did with the rowing since I usually struggle a lot on the rower when I’m nauseous. I only had to take a break during the row once. Between each row, we had either front presses or calf raises with a medicine ball.
And on the floor, we had 2 blocks. The first block had single-arm shoulder presses, squats to shrugs, and lunges. And the second block had chest presses, sumo squats, and lunges. I did go heavier with my sumo squats since I know I could probably go heavier than I think I can. Sometimes the bigger struggle is picking up the weight, and not using it in the exercise. But I tried and I’m glad I pushed myself a bit more on the floor to prove that I could do it.
Thursday’s workout was a 2 group class, so we had 23 minutes for cardio and 23 minutes for the rower and floor. I was still dealing with nausea, so having such a long time on the bike was a challenge, but the entire workout was set up to be a good challenge.
For cardio, we had a single 23-minute distance challenge. You could keep your speed the same for the entire thing, but there were 3 times throughout the challenge where we were encouraged to go a bit faster for about 90-seconds. Because it was such a long challenge, we were told to be at our base pace or a little above our base pace. Since I had just done a challenge with using one resistance level higher on the bike for my base pace the day before, I did that again. I also increased my push pace for the 3 short intervals where we were supposed to push ourselves. It wasn’t an easy challenge, and it was harder being nauseous while doing it. But I was really proud of myself for what I did and how I did push myself to do a bit more than what I thought I could do.
And for the second half of class, we alternated between floor and row blocks. We had 3 of each of them. For all of the blocks on the floor, we had the same exercises. We had sumo deadlifts, wood choppers, bicep curls, and bird dogs to push-ups. Every time we got back to the floor, we picked up where we left off. And on the rower, we were rowing while cardio was in their push intervals and we just rowed for those 90-seconds each time. I struggled a bit on the floor with the push-ups, but again I was proud of myself for what I was able to do considering how I felt.
Friday was probably one of the toughest days for me since it was the worst day of nausea. I knew it wouldn’t be a great workout and I would just do what I could. But it’s always frustrating when I feel like that.
The two cardio blocks were very similar. We alternated between a push pace at an incline and a base pace without an incline. And again, I tried to use my potential new base pace. I haven’t increased what my push or all-out paces should be just yet, so I didn’t challenge myself much harder outside of my base paces. At the end of each block, we had an all-out at an incline, which was 2 resistance levels higher than what my normal all-out is.
We also had 2 blocks on the rower and it was all about 400-meter rows. In the first block, between each row, we had squat presses and tricep extensions with a medicine ball. And in the second block, we had bicep curls and shoulder presses with the medicine ball between each row. My rows were pretty slow and I had to take a lot of breaks during them, so I didn’t get that much done in each of the blocks.
On the floor, I ended up doing a lot of modifications between my hip issues and dealing with nausea. In the first block, we had lunges, chest fly with weights, and push-ups. There were 2 types of lunges, but I can only do one type of lunges so I did squats to replace one of the lunges. And sometimes I modify push-ups to be on the bench, but this time I did chest presses instead since they work the same muscles. In the second block, we had lateral lunges, skater lunges, sit-ups with rotations, and sprinter sit-ups. I did bicycle crunches instead of sprinter sit-ups, but that was the only modification I had to make for that second block. I know I did the best that I could in this workout, but I hate when I finish a workout and feel like I should have done more. But I also know there was nothing else I could have done with how I was feeling.
And I’m mentally preparing myself for this week. It might not be as horrible as some of my bad weeks are, but it can be and I know I need to be ok with that. Hopefully, I’m preparing myself more than I need to so it won’t be as bad and I will feel better about myself and my efforts when I’m writing my workout recap next week!
You Might Also Like
Another Mixed Workout Week (or Biking More Than Normal)
This Is The Workout Week I Expected (or I Knew It Would Be A Bad Week)
A Short Workout Week (or I Guess I’m Glad This Happened On A Bad Week)
Surviving My Workout Week (or I Knew It Would Be Bad, But Not This Bad)
A Better Workout Week Than Expected (or I Like When Things Aren’t As Bad As I Thought)
The Beginning Of A Bad Workout Week (or Just Pushing Along As Always)
