I had 2 weeks in a row that were pretty tough workout weeks for me. First, was a week dealing with pain and nausea. Then it was a week dealing with the same issues that were caused by antibiotics. I usually don’t have 2 bad workout weeks in a row like that, so I wasn’t sure what to expect from my workouts last week. I knew I was going to be a bit weaker than normal, but I honestly didn’t realize it was going to be as bad as it was.
Monday’s workout was a power day. While I was finally feeling better after taking antibiotics, I also was still feeling a bit weak. I know that having so many days where I couldn’t push myself caused that, but having a power day was helpful with working back to my normal self.
For cardio, the first part was all about 2-minute blocks. These 2 minutes were split between push pace and all out. We started with a 90-second push and 30-second all out. Then it was a 75-second push and 45-second all out. Then it was a 1-minute push and 1-minute all out. Then we repeated that again but worked in reverse. We did have recovery time after every all out, but I did have to take a few little breaks during some of the push paces. Then we finished the cardio workout with a 1-minute, 45-second, and 30-second all out. We had 9 all outs during the entire cardio time, which is a lot.
On the floor, we had 3 blocks that mainly focused on upper body. The first block had pull-ups on the straps (I modified these to be high rows on the straps), single-arm low rows on the straps (I modified these to not be single-arm), and side plank rotations. The second block had pullovers with a dumbbell, bench plank reverse flys, and plank pull-throughs (which I modified to be bench plank pull-throughs).
And the final block was a core blast. This workout was the day after Kobe Bryant passed away, and most of the people in class were affected by his death. So the core blast was themed around 8 and 24 (Kobe’s jersey numbers). We had 3 exercises that had 8 reps each (so a total of 24 reps). We had hip bridge toe touches (I modified these to be regular toe touches), sit-ups with rotations, and atomic plank work. While I wasn’t a basketball fan, I know how much Kobe meant to the city of LA. And I could feel the mood in the room being different from a normal workout day. I think dedicating the core blast block was a good choice and the mood of the room was much closer to normal when the workout was done.
Wednesday’s workout was a mix of endurance and power. I was continuing to feel a bit more like myself, but I still could tell I wasn’t 100% back. But I was almost there so I was able to push myself more and worked a lot closer to what I normally do.
Cardio had 2 blocks. The first block started with a 2-minute push pace, then a 90-second base pace, a 90-second push pace, a 30-second base pace, and a 30-second all out. The 2-minute push pace was a bit long but everything else felt like it went by really quickly, especially with having such a short base pace at the end to recover. The second block was a similar pattern but in reverse. So we started with a 30-second push pace and ended with a 2-minute distance challenge.
On the rower, we started with a 600-meter row. Then we had 12 ground to presses with a medicine ball. Each round the row went down by 100 meters and we did 2 fewer squats. I didn’t get that far in the rowing, but I was also using a different rower than I normally do and there was a difference with how that rower felt. It’s weird how I’ve gotten so used to the rower I usually use, but I guess it was an added challenge for me to try a different rower and see how I could do on that one.
On the floor, we had 2 blocks. The first block had a lower body focus and the second block had an upper body focus. And for both blocks, we were supposed to do all the exercises on one side first and then switch to the other. But for the lower body side, I did each exercise on both sides first since my hips would hurt too much otherwise. The first block had single-leg squats (which I did as regular squats), toe taps on the bench, power step-ups on the bench, and plank kicks. For the benchwork, I did use the bench but held on to the straps to keep my balance. And the second block had hip hinge low rows, low rows with a split stance, low rows on the bench, and plank punches. For all the low rows, we used the same weights and I did use my normal weight even though my arms were so fatigued by the time I switched arms.
Friday’s workout was a power day and it was also a switch day. Both of those things helped me get much closer to my normal workout ability and I was finally feeling like I might not be as weak as I was earlier in the week. It was crazy how quickly I felt weak, but I’m glad that it was almost as quick for me feeling back to my normal strength again.
The first cardio block started with push pace to base pace intervals. The push and base paces were the same amounts of time. We had a 1-minute, 45-second, and 30-second round. Then we did similar intervals but with all outs and recoveries. Again, we had a 1-minute, 45-second, and 30-second round. The second cardio block was just all outs with 30-seconds of recovery between them. We had a 1-minute, 45-second, and 30-second all out.
On the rower, the first block started with a 300-meter row. After the row, we were supposed to do lunges, but I did squats instead. Then it was a 200-meter and 100-meter row, both that were supposed to have lunges. Then we repeated all 3 rows but did squats between each row instead of the lunges. And the second block was the same pattern as cardio with all outs and recoveries.
On the floor, the first block had burpees to reverse lunges (I did the burpees on the bench and did the lunges separately), neutral full thrusters with weights, and sit-ups. And the second block had hip hinge swings with weights and skater lunges. I thought that we should have had another exercise in that second block because I felt like I did a million rounds of those 2 exercises, but at least I was able to get them done!
Saturday’s workout was a mix of endurance, strength, and power and it was also a switch day. And just like with Friday’s workout, the combination of workout type and it being a switch day worked for me and I felt the best I had felt in a long time in class.
The first cardio block was a 2-minute push, 1-minute base, 1-minute push, 1-minute base, and 30-second all out. Nothing fancy, but it gave me a lot of time to work on getting back to my normal push pace pedaling speed. I know I haven’t been doing that for a little bit and it felt good to get back to what I usually do. The second cardio block was all all outs, but no matter how long the all out was we only had 30 seconds to recover. We had 1 round of a 1-minute all out, 2 rounds of a 45-second all out, and 3 rounds of a 30-second all out. This second block was much harder because of the limited recovery time, but I loved having so many all outs to work on my pedaling speed.
The rower had the same workout for both blocks, we just picked up where we left off when we went back to the rower the second time. The rowing started with 1 round of a 300-meter row with frogger squats. Then it was 2 rounds of a 250-meter row with frogger squats. 3 rounds of a 200-meter row with frogger squats. And I only did the first round of the 150-meter row when the second block ended.
On the floor, it was a lot of upper body and core work. The first block had pullovers with weights, side plank rotations, and single-arm snatches with weights. And the second block had pull-ups on the straps (I modified this to be high and low rows on the straps), plank pull-throughs, and squats. I thought I’d feel a bit more tired at the end of the workout, but I was feeling good. So I think that was a sign that I was finally better and I might have gone a bit easy on myself.
I want to say that I’m back to my normal self and normal strength now, but I also know that this week is the week that my nausea may be coming back. I’m hoping that doesn’t affect too many of my workouts. And I’m really hoping that I won’t lose as much momentum as I did this last time. I really want to be moving things forward, and it’s hard to do that when I take 1 step forward and 2 steps back.
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