This past week was another workout week where things were pretty mixed. I had some great accomplishments and some tough struggles. But I think the biggest thing I got through this past week was not letting how I felt one day make me think differently for the next workout. I was able to let it go and move on if I had a tough day and I think that helped me accomplish more than I would have been able to do before.
Monday’s workout was a strength day and it was also a walking day for me on the treadmill. I usually walk on strength days because they involve inclines, but my body was also just feeling off that morning (probably due to my dentist appointment after my workout). But it ended up being a good day to work on my incline work on the treadmill.
We started with 5 short blocks on the treadmill that each built upon the one before. The first block was a 30 second push pace at 9% (for power walkers at least, runners were at 5%), a 1 minute base at no incline, and a 30 second all out pace. The next block added onto the incline work so we had 30 seconds at 9% and 30 seconds at 8%. Each block added 30 seconds at an incline lower so the last block had 2 1/2 minutes of incline work starting at 9% and going down to 5%. I did use the inclines we were supposed to use even though 9% is a bit higher than I like to use. But I just went down a bit with my speed to make it doable for me.
The last block on the cardio side was a rowing block. It was 3 minutes long and we had rounds of 150 meter rows. But the goal this time was to do the row in as few pulls as possible. Usually you row fast to try to get through it in the shortest time, but to do the fewest pulls you have to go very slowly. It’s not easy to go that slow, but I’ve gotten pretty decent at doing it. The goal was to be lower than 15 pulls and our coach said to try to get 12. I was able to do 2 attempts in the 3 minutes and both times I got it done in 11 pulls! I tied for the best in class that morning!
The floor was 6 blocks and it also had a similar format to the treadmill where we added upon each block. The first block was just the ab work we had which was plank jacks, toe touches, reverse crunches, and full sit-ups. I really couldn’t do the reverse crunches because of my hips so I skipped that part and added regular crunches. Then we added on low rows with weights for the next block. Block 3 had us adding high rows using weights, block 4 had us adding lunges with weights, and block 5 had us adding lunges without weights. Each block I skipped the reverse crunches and added regular ones. And the final block skipped all the ab work and just had the exercises we added on. When I saw that this was our floor work, I thought it wouldn’t be too bad. But by the end my abs were on fire!
Wednesday was another strength day and the treadmill blocks had power walking work for everyone. Normally even on strength days the people who run still run but use inclines. But this time, every block had a section where we all were power walkers.
We had 4 blocks on the treadmill and every block had 90 seconds of power walking for everyone at 15%. While I have done a few moments of 15% incline work lately, I’m not that great at using inclines that high and especially not for that long. But I did try the best I could for those 90 seconds. I was using the 15% incline for the first 3 blocks, but I did bring my speed down quite a bit to do it. And for the last block I just wasn’t able to do the incline that high so I used my normal all out incline but was back at my normal speed. Each block we had a push pace after the power walking hill, which meant working at 6% which felt almost flat after doing 15%. I ended up taking a bunch of breaks during the treadmill blocks, but I think that my body was also a bit still due to stress and anxiety and that was affecting my workout.
The floor started with a rowing block. We had 10 pulls to see how far we could get on the rower. It was similar to what we had on Monday with trying to do 150 meters on the rower with as few pulls as possible. We also had some shoulder and tricep work using weights between each attempt on the rower. Then we had 2 regular floor blocks. The first had tricep pullovers, squats, and plank low rows. And the second was a core block with double crunches and half get ups. The ab work was a bit tough after Monday’s workout, but fortunately my soreness wasn’t as bad on Wednesday as it had been on Tuesday.
Friday’s workout was one that I was worried about before going in. I had a minor medical procedure done on Thursday afternoon (more on that coming up in my post on Wednesday this week) and I was prepared to be not at my best. I was a bit sore and dealing with some symptoms that were similar to how I feel when I have hormonal issues, so I dealt with the workout the same way I do when I am having that pain and nausea.
I was so grateful the class was a 3 group class so I wasn’t on the bike for that long. We had 2 blocks and in the first block we were supposed to do a distance at push pace, have a walking recovery, and then do an all out at an incline. But for me, I just tried to keep going on the bike for the entire block. I wasn’t really feeling up for pushing myself too much and I knew that just doing what I could was enough for that workout. The second block was supposed to be a 30 second all out and then 10 lunges and each round we were supposed to increase the all out by 15 seconds. I was able to do that for 2 rounds but then the lunges were starting to get to me so I just stayed on the bike and kept pedaling.
On the rower we had a similar format to the treadmill/bike. The first block was a 30 second all out row followed by 10 lunges and then increasing the row by 15 seconds each time. Again, I was able to do 2 rounds and then the lunges were bothering me so I stuck with just rowing. The second block started with a 400 meter row followed by rounds of 30 second all out rows. I wasn’t doing so great during this rowing block and I just rowed and took breaks when I needed to. It seemed like I needed a break every 100-150 meters so I didn’t get that far on the rower.
The floor was one long block but we had 3 mini-blocks within it. Each mini-block had 2 exercises and we were supposed to do 2 rounds of them before moving on to the next mini-block. We had single leg deadlifts, bird dogs, hammer curls, knee tucks on the ab dolly, tricep kickbacks, and ab dolly roll outs. I was just able to make it to the end of the last mini-block when time was up but I was pretty happy with my floor work. I went slowly, but I did heavy weights for all the weight work which is always a good thing.
Even though Friday was a tough day, I was determined to do better on Saturday. Fortunately I was feeling almost totally better by then and the workout seemed designed to allow me to do some awesome work! I went to a different class time than I normally go to so I was at another 3 group class and it was focused on power work.
We had 2 blocks at each section of the room. The first block on the treadmill was a 1 minute push pace, 1 minute base pace, 1 minute all out, walking recovery, 1 minute all out, walking recovery, 45 second all out, walking recovery, and ending on a 30 second all out. I walked the base pace and walking recovery, but I ran everything else! The second treadmill block was a 1 minute push pace, 1 minute base pace, 1 minute all out, 1 minute walk, and ending on a 30 second all out. Again, I ran everything except the base pace and walking recovery! That was such a huge improvement over what I had been able to do the day before.
On the rower, the first block started with a 100 meter row and frogger squats. Each round the row went up by 100 meters and the frogger squats went down by 2. And the second block had round of 100 meter rows with shoulder work with weights between each row. I had been dealing with some soreness in my shoulder so I struggled a bit with the weights, but I did about half of them with weights and then did regular squats after so I didn’t have to involve my shoulders.
And on the floor, the first block was regular chest presses, pull ups on the straps, and close grip chest presses. And the second block was sit up to squats on the benches, sit-ups, and pushups using the bench. For the weighted work I was using my heavy weights, but more of the floor work was body weight only work.
I’m so glad I didn’t let my performance on Friday affect my Saturday workout. I love when I end my week on such a high note because that puts me in a good mood for the next workout week. Of course, my issues vary from week to week so I have no clue how I’ll do this week in my workouts, but I’m optimistic and hopeful that I’ll have at least 1 awesome day!
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