After the week before, I was so glad I was doing better during last week’s workouts. I knew that would likely be the case, but I’m always worried that my nausea would last extra long or something else would come up that would make the week harder. I had a few random moments that hit me funny, but overall it was a much better week of workouts and I was able to do a lot more in each of the workouts.
Monday’s workout was probably the day I had the most moments of weakness, but I think that was because I was coming back from the hard week before. I sometimes have a day or two when I need to ramp things back up or regain some energy or strength. And I think that’s what happened this time.
For cardio, we had 2 blocks with the same pattern. We had some incline work mixed with base paces without an incline. The first block had higher inclines than the second block. I didn’t want to overdo things, so I did the first block at my all-out resistance level and the second block between my push and all-out levels. That felt like enough of a challenge and I could do everything I was supposed to.
We had a mix of crew rows and medicine ball work on the rower. Crew rows are when everyone in your section of the rowers rows together and is synchronized. One person was the leader each time, and the crew rows were only 1 minute long so it wasn’t too bad. Usually, for crew rows, I struggle because I row slower than others in the class. But since they were short, I was able to keep up with almost all of them. Between the crew rows, we had either presses or bicep curls with a medicine ball.
And on the floor, we had cluster sets. Each block focused on one exercise. In the first block, it was chest presses. And in the second block, it was hip bridges. For the cluster sets, we did 3 rounds of the exercise with only 10 seconds to rest between sets. In the first block, we also had sit-ups and in the second block, we also had lunges. Because cluster sets are harder than just doing one set of an exercise, I didn’t go that heavy with the weights. But when I was doing the third set, it felt like I was using weights much heavier than they actually are.
Tuesday’s workout focused a lot on surges, which is something we’ve been doing often in recent workouts. They are different from challenges we’ve had before and I am starting to like them more. They are great for pushing myself without feeling like I’m burnt out.
For cardio and rowing, we were timed together. We started with rounds of a 45-second push and a 15-second surge. We had a few 30-second recoveries mixed in, but because they were so short they didn’t feel like much of a recovery. Then we had 30-second all-outs and 30-second recoveries. And we ended both cardio and the rower with the 45-second pushes with 15-second surges again. On the bike, I kept my push pace resistance level to what I normally set it to and focused on pedaling faster during the surges. And on the rower, I really tried to get 20 watts higher during the surges, but I wasn’t always able to get to that. But at least I tried.
On the floor, the first and last blocks were timed with the rest of the room with 45-second and 15-second intervals. In the first block, we did froggers for 15 seconds and sumo squats for 45 seconds. In the last block, we did rows on the straps for 45 seconds and rows with weights for 15 seconds. For the second block, we had dead bugs and plank low rows. The second block was a lot of core work and I felt it even though it was a pretty short block.
Wednesday’s workout was a new signature class. This one was called “Tread Trail”, and the idea of the workout was to be like a trail run. When you are running outside, you don’t always know what the incline might be ahead and your speed can vary a lot. So we weren’t told what was coming up for cardio and were just surprised by the incline and how long each interval was.
For cardio, we worked with a base, base to push, push, and push to all-out paces. The length of time we did each one changed up, so we never knew if it would be as short as 15 seconds or as long as a minute. Each block used a different incline, but you mixed up when you had an incline or not. The inclines got higher each block, and I realized that with how the workout would go, it would be really hard for me to do both the incline and the variation of what type of pace we were supposed to do. So I decided to focus on the type of pace and just used my normal resistance levels for each block. But it was still a challenge since I never knew if I should push myself more because it would be a shorter interval or save some strength because it would be a long one. I really liked how this cardio workout went and I hope we will do similar things again soon!
On the rower, we started with a 600-meter row followed by lunges, shoulder presses, and calf raises using a medicine ball. We repeated that pattern but decreased the row by 100 meters each time. I was taking a bit longer than normal to get on and off the rower, so I didn’t get that far down the rows. But I was happy with how I did with my rowing and I was pretty consistent with how fast and powerful I was with each row.
And on the floor, we had one long block. A few of the exercises were two exercises combined, and I split them up into individual parts to make sure I was able to keep my balance. We had shoulder presses to stands, lunges to bicep curls, y-raises on the straps, rollouts, and plank kick-throughs. Besides splitting up some of the exercises into individual parts, I also modified the plank work. I tried doing the kick-throughs, but my hips weren’t really letting me do them. So I did mountain climbers instead and made sure I brought my knees to the opposite elbow instead of just straight forward.
I think my best workout this past week was on Thursday. I was feeling rested, I felt strong, and I was ready to push myself. Sometimes I just have mornings where things are working better than others and this happened to be a pretty good day. It wasn’t an easy class, but it was a good one. And we had 2 blocks for each section of the room.
For cardio, the first block was focused on 2-minute push paces and 45-second base paces. Each time we had a push pace, the incline went up. And I did increase my resistance level for each of them so I was working with a higher resistance than normal for my push pace. The second block was the same pattern and inclines, but the push paces were 1 minute instead of 2. Even though the push paces were shorter, because I was tired from the first block, it seemed just as hard as the first one.
On the rower, we were timed with cardio. We had the same push pace intervals as cardio did. But when cardio had a base pace, we had those 45 seconds to get 12 squats done and then sit back on the rower. I usually had about 10 seconds after completing my squats to be back on the rower before we had our next push row. Both blocks were tough since there wasn’t a lot of time to catch my breath, but I just focused on staying consistent with my rowing and not pushing myself too much.
And on the floor, the first block was a circuit focus so you could take breaks when you needed to. We had lunges, kneeling halos, and incline bench bicep curls. I was shocked at how hard the incline bicep curls were and I struggled to use even lighter weights than I normally use. But I did my best to get each one done. The second block was focused more on using heavy weights. We had single-arm chest presses, hammer curls to stands, and seated low rows. I did have to split up the hammer curls to stands to be separate, but I know that’s usually how things will be for me with my hips. I did need to rest more in the second block, but I know that block was designed for that and it meant I wasn’t going too light with the weights.
I was really happy with what I did this past week and how I felt after each workout. I know I was feeling down after the week before and felt like I really couldn’t do much, but I got my motivation back after this week and I hope that will continue through this week when hopefully, I have another really good workout week ahead!
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