I ended up only working out 3 days this past week. There were a few things in my schedule that made it need to be that way and I also felt like in a way the Dri-Tri counted as a workout this past week as well as the week before. So it didn’t really only feel like 3 workouts for the week. But I also needed to be a bit easier on myself. I was still dealing with some pain and nausea plus I knew I’d be recovering from pushing myself so much on Sunday. So having a slightly easier week plus fewer workouts was probably needed.
Monday’s workout was a strength day and I was pretty tired after the Dri-Tri. I was also still dealing with some pain and nausea, but it wasn’t as bad as the week before. But I knew that I needed to take things a bit easy since I was still recovering from the Dri-Tri. This workout was a 5×5 themed class, so there were a lot about 5 rounds throughout the workout.
Cardio and rowing both had 5 blocks and they did work a bit together. For cardio, we had a push pace and an all-out for each block. The push pace started at 90-seconds and at no incline and the all-out started at 30-seconds and at a higher incline. And each block, the push pace got shorter and higher in incline and the all-out got longer and lower in incline. And after each all-out, we had a minute of recovery. I tried to keep working with the resistance levels on the bike the way that I normally would, but for some of the higher resistance levels, I decided to bump it down by 1 just to make it a little easier on my legs.
Rowing also did the push paces and all-outs along with cardio, but instead of having the regular recovery time we had medicine ball exercises. We did 5 bicep curls, 5 overhead presses, and 5 tricep extensions. And any time we had leftover after that could be used to recover before the next block started.
On the floor, we had one long block with 2 mini-blocks. For each mini-block, we were supposed to do 5 rounds before moving on to the next one. And all exercises were either 5 reps or 5 reps per side. We had deadlifts and front squats for the first mini-block and shoulder presses and single-arm low rows. I probably could have gone heavier with some of the exercises, but it was the end of the workout and I was feeling pretty exhausted.
Wednesday’s workout was a mix of endurance, strength, and power and I was finally feeling better for this workout. I wasn’t completely better, but it’s always a relief when I no longer feel sick throughout the entire workout.
For cardio, we had 3 blocks. For blocks 1 and 3, we had a 4-minute distance challenge. For both of them, I set the resistance level on the bike to be between my base and push paces. And for block 2, we had a 2-minute distance challenge followed by a 30-second recovery and 30-second all-out. For that block, I used my push pace resistance level for the distance challenge.
On the rower, we also had 3 blocks. The second block was a 3-minute distance challenge and that was a bit tough for me to keep going the entire time. I know I can row longer than that and I did that for the Dri-Tri, but it’s different when it’s not the first thing in the workout. For block 1, we had a 90-second row for distance, 60 reps of high knees (which I did as standing marching), a 45-second row for distance, 30 high knees (or marching), and then held a squat until the block was done. This was still tough since we were constantly moving, but I liked having the shorter rows. And for the last block, it was the same idea as the first but we did the 45-second row and 30 reps of high knees first.
And on the floor, we had a single block. We had 4 exercises and the first time we did them for 20 reps. Then we split them up 2 and 2 and did the first 2 exercises for 10 reps twice and then the second 2 exercises for 10 reps twice. And we were supposed to keep them split up and do each set for 5 reps 3 times before moving to the second set, but I didn’t make it to the 5 rep round. We had chest presses, hip hinge reverse grip low rows, hip raises, and toe reaches. I tried to do the hip raises, but I was starting to have issues with my hip so I did as many as I could and then switched to crunches.
And my last workout this past week was on Thursday. I took Friday and Saturday off, but I wasn’t originally planning on doing that. But my schedule ended up that way so I went to this class instead. And it ended up being one of the signature workouts, The Chipper. I’ve done this workout before, but I think I normally have done it as a 2 group class and not a 3 group class. So it was an interesting experience for me.
For cardio, it was similar to the 2 group class with having rounds of a push pace that got shorter each time with a 1-minute base pace between them. We had a 3-minute, 2.5-minute, 2-minute, and 90-second push pace. And we ended the block with a 30-second push pace and 30-second all-out. I kept my push pace resistance level the same for all of them, but I tried to pedal faster as they got shorter.
The rower was a bit complicated, but the coach was helping us make sure we were doing the right thing every time. We started with having 3 minutes to do 20 squats, a 250-meter row, and then doing bicep curl to overhead press to tricep press with a medicine ball. We did the medicine ball exercise until the time was done. Then we had a 100-meter row and held a squat until that time was done. And we repeated that work with fewer squats each time but the time in the first section got shorter each time too. But because of the shorter time to get the work done, I only did the medicine ball exercises once and never made it to those again. And at the very end, we also had a 30-second all-out along with the cardio side.
And on the floor, the exercises were very similar to what I’m used to with the 2 group class for The Chipper. We had 40 bench tap squats, 35 leg raises, 30 sumo squats to upright rows, 25 low rows on the straps, 20 palms to elbows (which I did as plank shoulder taps), 15 chest flies, and 10 step-ups to bicep curls (which I was going to do as lunges and bicep curls separately, but I only had time to do the bicep curls). Between each exercise, we were supposed to do forward and back hops for the same number of reps of the exercise we just did. So 40 squats and then 40 hops. In the 2 group class, you have rowing instead of hops. I did the hops after the squats, but they were starting to make me a bit nauseous and hurt my hip. So I decided just to do one exercise after another. And I’m glad I decided to do that because I didn’t quite finish everything by the time the workout was done.
I think that being a bit easier on myself (although not that much easier) plus having some extra days off between workouts from this past week to this week will hopefully set me up for a great week of workouts this week. I guess I’ll have to wait and see!
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A Shorter Workout Week (or Trying To Go All Out)
Almost Having A Second Hell Week (or Just Pushing Through)
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