I have had so many weeks where my workouts were affected by various medical issues. I’m starting to be used to it, but it’s always a surprise for me and what ends up affecting what I can and can’t do. But as always, I pushed through all my workouts this past week. But I think this past week of workouts was also harder to get us ready for Hell Week.
Monday’s workout was a first for me. I’ve never had to leave class early, but this time I knew I would have to. I had my appointment with the doctor in bariatric medicine that morning, and I had meant to change what time I was going to work out. But by the time I remember I needed to do that, it was too late. And it ended up working out ok because if I had done the later class, I would have still been at my appointment since it took so long.
Since I was going to leave early, I only did the cardio and rowing portions of the workout. It wasn’t ideal to skip the floor, but that’s how it worked out so I could get home in time to shower before I had to leave for my appointment. I was still having some hip/back pain, but it was much better than how it was at the end of the week before.
Cardio was pretty simple. We had rounds of a 2 1/2-minute push pace followed by a 90-second base pace. I did use the new resistance levels for all of my cardio work and it’s starting to feel more normal to me. It’s still a challenge, but it doesn’t feel like I’m struggling quite as much. And we ended cardio with a 30-second all-out.
For the rowing, everything was a stroke drill and we were supposed to keep our stroke rate pretty low. We had 3 different stroke drills with 3 different exercises and we repeated each drill and exercise 3 times. We had 20-stroke drills with side hops, 15-stroke drills with front and back hops, and 10-stroke drills with high knees. The exercises were a bit tough on my hips, but I just went slowly and took breaks in the middle of them when I needed to. And as soon as I finished my last round of the 10-stroke drills, I had to leave class so I could get home. Just like when I’m dealing with pain and nausea, I know some workout is better than no workout. But I don’t want to have to leave a class in the middle again if I can help it.
Tuesday was a really tough workout. It was the first day after taking the new medication, and I had some side effects from it. I’m going to be taking steps to help make sure that doesn’t affect my workout too much (like drinking a little juice before working out to get some sugar in me), but I didn’t do that before this workout since I didn’t know. But also, it seemed like everyone was saying this workout was really hard so it wasn’t just me.
For cardio, we had 4 blocks. Blocks 1 and 3 were the same and blocks 2 and 4 were the same. For blocks 1 and 3, we started with a 90-second push pace followed by a 1-minute base pace. And we ended those blocks with a 1-minute base pace at an incline/high resistance level to make it feel like an all-out. And for blocks 2 and 4, we had all 30-second base pace intervals but the incline/resistance level increased every 30 seconds. I was mainly using the same resistance levels that I’ve been using the past few weeks, but I did make sure the highest level I used was higher than my new all-out one.
For rowing, we had the same thing for blocks 1 and 3 and similar things for blocks 2 and 4. For blocks 1 and 3, we had a 3 1/2-minute row for distance. That was a long row, and it was harder than normal because I could tell my blood sugar was dropping. I did take breaks during the rowing and they were a bit longer than I usually take for pain because I wanted to make sure that I didn’t make myself sick. But I have gotten pretty good and being aware of my body and how I’m feeling so I did ok. And for blocks 2 and 4, we had 30-second intervals with different exercises. For block 2, we had halos and squats with the medicine ball. And for block 4, we had overhead presses and squat jacks with the medicine ball.
And on the floor, we had one long block with different mini-blocks. For each mini-block, we did the exercises twice before doing the next one. We had bird dog low rows and mountain climbers, single-arm tricep extensions and bench hop overs, and plank low rows and squats. When the workout was done, I just got through the second round of the last mini-block.
I was doing better on Wednesday. I still didn’t have a chance to have something to drink before my workout, but I think the side effects were affecting me less than the day before. So I wasn’t quite as worried about how drops in blood sugar might hit me.
For cardio, we were on our own with some distance challenges. We had rounds on the treadmill/bike and then after getting to each distance we had squats. I made it to the 3rd distance in the challenge, which seems to be about how everyone else did as well. I used my new push pace resistance level for all the cardio work.
On the rower, we were timed for everything. We had 3 blocks and each block was different. In the first block, we had rounds of a 1-minute push row followed by a 30-second all-out row. In the second block, we had rounds of a 30-second push row followed by a 30-second all-out row. And in the third block, we just had 30-second all-out rows. I did try to get my rowing wattage up for the all-out rows compared to the push rows, but they weren’t getting as high as I know I can get them.
And on the floor, we also had 3 blocks. The first two blocks had 2 exercises each and the last block had one exercise. The first block had bicep curls on the straps and lateral lunges. The second block had incline chest fly with weights and sit-up to stand with shoulder presses. I couldn’t do the sit-up to stand because it was bothering my hips, so I focused on doing the shoulder presses instead. And the last block had single-leg squats using the straps, but I did them as regular squats. But since we used the straps for support for those, I was able to get much deeper into my squats than I normally can.
I think Thursday was probably my best day this past week. I did buy some juice so I could drink something with a little sugar before working out. It helped me feel better, but that could also be because I might be getting used to this new medication. But I think for at least a little while, I’m going to make sure I drink something before working out just in case.
For cardio, we had a pretty simple workout but it was tough! We had 3 rounds of a 3-minute push pace followed by a 2-minute base pace. Doing a 3-minute push pace isn’t unusual, but doing so many of them in a workout isn’t something we normally do. And since I have increased my push pace level, that added even more to it.
For cardio, we started with a 250-meter row and then had bicep curls with a medicine ball. We then did a 200-meter row and bicep curls and reduced the row by 50 meters each time. And once we did a 100-meter row, we then repeated that row again and the exercise changed to lunges as we increased the row by 50 meters each time. I only did one round with the increasing rows, but I also know that I took longer getting on and off the rower than I normally do.
And on the floor, we started with a stability circuit. We had balance shoulder presses, balance deadlifts, and bird dogs with toe taps. After those, we had similar exercises where we focused on strength. We had kneeling shoulder presses, single-arm deadlifts, and side plank leg lifts. For the balance exercises, I couldn’t really do them as balance things, but I tried to find ways to challenge myself where I could.
As much as I want to hope that this week will be easier for me, I know it won’t. I’m already dealing with pain and nausea, so that will be part of what challenges me. And I don’t know if I’ll have any of the other issues I’ve been dealing with kicking in again too. But I’m just going to keep going, and I’m making sure that I’m ready for Hell Week when it starts soon!
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