This past week, all the workouts were a part of the 12 Days Of Fitness. Like I said before, these typically are harder than normal workouts but they aren’t quite as bad as Hell Week is. I had the added challenge of not always feeling so great, so I think that made it feel a bit more like Hell Week to me. But as always, I tried to find a good balance between pushing myself in a challenge and going easy on myself when I needed to.
Monday’s workout was one of my better ones since I work out before doing my injection. So I’m not feeling really any side effects going into class, which I like as a way to kick off my week when I know that I might be struggling later in the week.
For cardio, we had 3 blocks. The first and third blocks were the same with 1-minute intervals between a base pace with an incline and a base pace without an incline. And in the second block, we had a 2-minute decreasing hill where the incline/resistance level went down every 30 seconds and we ended with an all-out. The resistance levels weren’t too high, so it was a good challenge but nothing that I struggled with too much.
On the rower, we started with 3 rounds of a 100-meter row. After each of those 3 rows, we could rest as long as we needed to in order to feel like we could match or beat our time the next time. After doing 3 rounds, we got off of the rowers and did lunges. Then we repeated that pattern with rounds of a 150-meter row and 200-meter row before working our way back down. The goal was to get back to the rounds of the 100-meter row, but I didn’t quite make it to that.
And on the floor, we had 3 blocks. The first and third blocks were the same and started with kneeling squats to jumps, which I had to do as regular squats with calf raises. We also had pull-ups on the straps and tricep push-ups. The push-ups decreased in reps each time and the goal in the block was to get as far down as possible. I did get further through it in the third block than I did in the first since I was used to what we had to do. And the second block had close-grip chest presses and pullovers.
On Tuesday, I was really feeling the side effects so I just had to do what I could. It was weird with the side effects this time because the nausea was different from what I had experienced before. But I just took breaks when I needed to so I didn’t make myself feel worse.
For cardio, we had 2 blocks that both had 6-minute distance challenges. But in the first block, we were supposed to increase our speed every 75 seconds for 15 seconds. And in the second block, we were supposed to increase our speed every 45 seconds for 15 seconds. For those increases, I took it between my push and all-out resistance levels and kept it around my push level for the rest of it. Since I needed to take breaks, it wasn’t like I spent all 6 minutes at my push pace which helped.
On the rower, the first block matched cardio. I did need to take more breaks than I would have liked during that, but rowing for 6 minutes is tough even when I’m feeling ok. In the second block, we had stroke drills for 15 strokes each time. I did much better with those since I was able to get through them quickly and take a break between each one.
The floor was one long block that had 2 mini-blocks in it. In the first mini-block, we started with hammer curls for 6 reps and then repeated it for as many reps as possible. We also had seated torso rotations. In the second mini-block, we repeated that pattern with doing deadlifts twice and then upright rows.
I was feeling a little better on Wednesday, but I was still dealing with nausea. But I was glad I could at least do a little bit more than I did on Tuesday.
The first cardio block had rounds of a 90-second push pace and a 30-second base pace. And the second block had rounds of a 2-minute push pace with a 30-second recovery. We didn’t have an all-out at the end of either block which was unusual for our cardio blocks, but I didn’t mind it. I was able to do something closer to my normal push pace because of the recovery and the lack of the all-out which was nice.
For the rower, the first block was all about 90-second crew rows where we were partnered with one or two people and we had to stay together while rowing. I was in a group of 3 and we each took a turn being the leader. The second block started with crew rows again but they were for 30 seconds each which was much easier to match the other people in my group.
On the floor, we had 2 blocks. The first block had step-ups and plank steps. I lowered the bench so I was able to do the step-ups, but I did have a few balance issues so I had to go very slowly. But I’m always happy when I try to do the step-ups since they weren’t something I could do for a long tie. In the second block, we were timed for the entire thing with 30 seconds of work and 15 seconds of rest. We had cleans with weights, alligators on the straps, and plank toe taps. 30 seconds doesn’t seem like it’s that long, but after a few rounds, it feels so much longer.
I was almost done dealing with side effects on Thursday, which gives me hope that maybe I’ll be doing better each week and won’t be affected as long going forward. I still had some moments when I had nausea hit me hard, but since I’m starting to deal with nausea anyway I wasn’t sure which thing was causing it. But it doesn’t matter since I manage it the same either way.
For cardio, we had 2 blocks. The first block was 5 minutes long and everyone on the treadmills was power walkers. Every 30 seconds, they had to increase the incline by 1% so they got very high up in the incline. For the bike, every minute I was supposed to increase the resistance level. But I didn’t hear that instruction at first so I did it every 30 seconds a few times and then I did it every minute. But I got very high up in the resistance levels so I was barely moving by the end of the block. In the second block, we had rounds of a 30-second all-out and then a walking recovery. The recoveries started at 30 seconds and increased by 15 seconds each time so at the end, we had a 90-second recovery before the last all-out. I tried to pedal harder and faster each time since we had more recovery time, but there is a limit to how fast my legs will move.
On the rower, the first block was just rounds of 150-meter rows and we rested as long as we needed to each time. In the second block, we had 100-meter rows and after each row, we had tricep extensions with a medicine ball. I was really pushing myself hard on the rower and I finally got below 20 seconds for my 100-meter row! It wasn’t a PR, but I can’t remember the last time I had been below 20 seconds.
On the floor, the first block was interesting. We had a few different exercises but between each one, we were supposed to have bench hop overs. I did these as lateral lunges instead. Between the rounds of the hop overs, we had lunges, bicep curls, front squats, and shoulder presses. And in the second block, we were supposed to put these exercises into a single movement. We started with plank knee drives and we were supposed to do a lunge to a bicep curl to a squat to a shoulder press. I can’t hold weights while doing lunges, so I did the lunges separately and then the rest as a single movement. And we had a 30-second finisher doing any of the exercises we wanted to do and I picked bicep curls.
Even though these workouts were more challenging than normal, I really enjoyed the challenge we had each day. I didn’t always do what I wanted to be able to do, but I had to work around my other issues and I think I did the best I could do. And this week, this challenge ends and I will be getting my swag for it! And I think knowing I will earn awesome swag will help me get through whatever side effects and other nausea I have to get through this week.
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