This past week of workouts was kind of odd for me. I knew that I might have a little bit of pain and nausea at the beginning of the week, but I expected that things would be getting better throughout the week and each day would be better than the day before. And most of the week did go that way, but I also had a bit of a weird day in the middle of things too.
I was only feeling a little off on Monday, which was a nice change from the week before. And I was ready to get back into my workouts and hopefully have some good days in the week. I wasn’t able to push myself as much as I can on my best days, but I definitely did better than how I do on my bad days.
We had 2 blocks for each section of the room. For cardio, the first block was mainly 30-second intervals. We had some push paces to all-outs and some push paces that went into a base pace before an all-out. And after each all-out in the block, we had a 30-second recovery. The second block had the same intervals as the first block, but everything was at an incline instead. I did increase the resistance level on the bike for the second block by doing 1 level higher for everything except for the recoveries. Going up just 1 level wasn’t too much harder for the base and push paces, but it was tough for the all-outs.
On the rower, the first block was timed with the rowers with 30-second intervals. I did better than I expected on the rower, but I think that was because we did have recoveries throughout the block. I also didn’t row as hard as I know I can with the all-outs, so that probably helped too. The second block was rounds of a 30-second all-out row with lunges between each row. That block also went well, but again it was short bursts of rowing so that helped.
And on the floor, the first block was timed with the rest of the room for the first block. We had 30-second intervals of exercises with rests when cardio and rowing had their recoveries. We had lunges, shoulder presses, hammer curls, and bicep curls. We repeated the exercises throughout the block and at the end of the first block I was really tired. The second block was timed on our own. We had marching in place with weight overhead, step-ups, and bird dogs with toe taps. I put the bench lower so I could do the step-ups since I do try to do those whenever I can.
Tuesday’s workout was a bit more strength-focused compared to other workouts that usually are a mix of endurance, strength, and power. But I was happy to challenge myself since I was feeling a lot better that morning and wanted to get back to some of my better work.
We had 2 blocks for cardio. The first block was really tough for me on the bike. We had 1-minute intervals and the incline/resistance level went up every minute. I didn’t start quite as high as I should have, but I knew I needed to do that so I could keep increasing the level every minute. And by the end of the block, I was at one of the highest resistance levels I’ve used. The second block was a little easier but still tough. We had 30-second all-outs at an incline with recoveries between each one. And the recovery got longer each time. I did use a higher resistance level than my normal all-out, but it was only 1 higher than I normally use so it wasn’t as bad as how high they got in the first block. But it was still much more difficult than what a normal all-out feels for me.
On the rower, we had one long block and the row focus was doing 500-meter rows. This is usually a really tough distance for me to do since there is a lot of endurance necessary with it, but I used a lot of the same technique I used for the Dri-Tri and didn’t try to rush anything. I think focusing more on staying steady with my rowing has really helped and I did get through a few rounds without having to take any breaks. And between each row, we had overhead presses with a medicine ball.
And on the floor, we had one long block which focused on 2 back-to-back exercises that were about strength for one and power for the other. We had woodchoppers and plank pull-throughs, skier swings and deadlifts, and uppercuts and arm raises. I didn’t use heavier weights than normal, but because the exercises were back-to-back, they felt heavier than they really were.
Wednesday’s workout was a very odd day for me. There were a few things that made the day weird, starting with I wasn’t feeling great that morning. It wasn’t like normal nausea I can have, so I just decided to do the workout and see what would happen.
Cardio and rowing worked together for this workout. Every interval was 4 minutes long. If you started the block on cardio you did 1 cardio interval, 1 rowing interval, and 1 cardio interval. And if you started the block on the rower you did rowing for the first and last interval and cardio for the middle one. So in the end, you had 3 intervals for each. Each cardio block was the same, we had a 4-minute distance challenge. And on the rower, we always started with a 10-stroke drill and then rested before increasing the stroke drill by 5 strokes each time.
I thought I was doing ok, even though I felt weird that morning. But when I was doing one of the last rowing intervals, I had some of the worst nausea that I had experienced in class. I have only had to leave class once before because I knew I was going to be sick, so I didn’t think that would happen again. But unfortunately, it did. But I felt immediately better after that, so I knew for sure this wasn’t my normal nausea since that doesn’t get better after being sick. I was a little shaky after that happened, but I think that was more mental than physical since I was shocked I had to leave class to be sick. So I knew I had to go a bit easier on the floor because of that.
On the floor, we focused on cluster sets with the exercises. So we did a set number of reps first and then go heavier with the weight and do as many reps as possible. The goal is to try to get usually between 6-10 reps with the heavier weight. In the first block, we had cluster sets of a squat to calf raise and a low row. And between each exercise, we had either mountain climbers or skater lunges. In the second block, we had bicep curls and hip bridges for the cluster sets and squats and high knees between the exercises. I did make an effort to make sure I had the right weights at my station so I could use heavier weights for the second part of each cluster set. And fortunately, whatever issue I was experiencing that made me sick on the rower didn’t happen again so I didn’t have to leave class a second time.
And I had another good day on Thursday, which I was very happy about. I think it was probably one of my better days as far as how I was feeling, and it was a nice way to end the week.
For cardio, we had 2 blocks that were very similar. The first block started with a 2-minute push pace followed by a 45-second base pace. Then we had 2 rounds of a 1-minute push pace at an incline with a 45-second base pace without an incline after with an all-out at the end of the block. The second block started with a 1-minute push pace instead of a 2-minute push and the inclines were 1% lower than what they were in the first block. But they were the same intervals other than that first push pace. Even with the higher resistance levels for the push paces, I felt pretty good about what I was able to do.
On the rower, we also had 2 blocks and each block started with a timed row that matched the first push pace for cardio. After that timed row, we had rounds of a 20-stroke all-out row with exercises between each row. In the first block, we had squats between each row and in the second block, we had high knees between each row. Doing those row drills wasn’t easy since we have to go slowly with them, but I was happy that I was pretty consistent with each of my rows and didn’t tire out during the block too much.
And on the floor, we had supersets which are back-t0-back exercises for each block with one additional exercise. In the first block, we had chest presses and chest flys with cross back lunges. And in the second block, we had upright rows and high rows back to back with sit-ups to standing shoulder presses. We were supposed to use the same weight for the supersets, so I had to go a little lighter with my chest press weight to be able to do it for my chest flys as well. But that allowed me to focus on form and go slowly, so it wasn’t easier than normal.
Overall, I think this was a pretty good week considering I was coming back from a bad week. It wasn’t perfect and the issues I had on Wednesday really caught me off guard, but I think that I was able to work pretty hard for most of the week and I feel really positive about what I accomplished. I always worry that something will happen when I’m supposed to have a good week that will make it hard, but hopefully, this week that doesn’t happen and I have a strong week of workouts ahead!
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