This past week of workouts was the week that my nausea was starting. I’m sure some people would not be happy to know that they were going to be getting nauseous, but I like knowing what’s going to happen so I can prepare for it. I also think it gives me a little extra motivation to push harder because I know that the next week I probably won’t be able to do so. I had some moments that were tough, but overall I was happy with how I pushed through things.
Monday’s workout was a partner workout, which I was excited about. I know that not everyone loves partner workouts, but they do give me a lot of extra motivation to work hard. And the last time we had a partner workout, I wasn’t really able to participate properly because I was dealing with a lot of pain and nausea. So getting to do one on Monday was awesome.
The workout had 2 blocks and for both blocks the person on the floor controlled the switching. For both blocks the person on the treadmill (or bike in my case) went at a push pace until we were tagged to switch. On the rower the first block was rounds of 100 meter rows and squats and the second block was rounds of 30 second rows and squats. You didn’t reset the rower during the entire block and the goal was to go further on the row in the second block than the first. My group didn’t accomplish that, but that’s ok.
The first block on the floor had squats, plank low rows with weights, and crunches. We started at 12 reps and every time you returned to the floor you increased your reps by 2. And the second block had tricep work with weights, plank reaches, and sit-ups. For the second block we started at 20 reps and went down by 2 every time you got back to the floor.
As far as the timing goes, I think my group was pretty equal. If the person on the treadmill or rower controlled the switching I would have been a bit more concerned that I would be the slow one in the group. But on the floor I feel like I’m pretty average along with the other people in my class. I tried to limit my breaks to when I was on the bike since that was the time that my partners weren’t depending on me and I managed to do that for almost all the water breaks I needed. But I also had a good group and we all understood if someone needed to drink some water or catch their breath while on the floor.
Because of how the partner workouts go, I really don’t know how well I did on the bike or rower. I kept my bike resistance level at my old push pace just to make things easy on me since I didn’t always know how long I would be on there. But I do feel like I worked really hard and that’s the most important thing.
Wednesday’s workout was strength based and it ended up being the start of my nausea. Fortunately, the workout kind of worked well with being nauseous so I didn’t feel like too much was affected.
For cardio, we had base paces at no incline and then each block we had a little more incline work. I was able to just increase my resistance on the bike by 1 each time we had a bit more work so I was never that high on the resistance level. I was still doing a bit of a hill workout, but it was much less intense that it was supposed to be. But that worked well for taking it easy in class.
On the rower, we started with 4 rounds of a 150 meter row and squat front raises. Then we had 2 rounds of 300 meter rows with squat front raises. The block ended with a 600 meter row and I was working on that when the block ended. My rowing wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great. It’s frustrating when I’m in that middle space because I feel like it would only be a little more effort to do my normal rowing. But that little extra effort just isn’t possible when I feel nauseous.
The floor had 3 blocks and all the blocks included drop sets. Drop sets are when you have a small number of reps with a heavy weight immediately followed by a larger number of reps with a lower weight. I like doing them because I feel like I get to lift really heavy but I still get to do a lot of reps. The first block had drop sets for hip hinge low rows and then we had core work. The second block had drop sets for shoulder presses and hip hinge low rows with core work. And the last block had drop sets for goblet squats, shoulder presses, and hip hinge low rows without the core work. All of the floor work was stuff that was fine for me to do when I’m nauseous so it was a high point to end my workout.
Friday’s class was a mix of endurance, strength, and power. My nausea was a little bit worse, but still not too bad so I just tried to manage things the way that I normally do.
There were 2 blocks for cardio and the first block was a mix of hill work and rounds of 30 second all outs. I did the same thing I did on Wednesday and just kept increasing my resistance level by 1 each time. I was never at the resistance level I use for my all out pace, but it was still increasing the levels like I was supposed to. The second block was a 6 minute distance challenge. We could intervals or just maintain the same pace the entire time, it was our choice. I decided to set my resistance level at my new push pace and just keep it there the entire time. It wasn’t easy to do my push pace level for that long, but I did have little breaks when I had to let the nausea pass so that helped a bit.
The rower was also 2 blocks. The first block was a 300 meter row and then squats until we matched up with cardio and did rounds of 30 second all out rows. The second block was supposed to be a partner block, but there was an odd number of people so I was alone. I was happy to be alone so I’m glad it worked out that way. It was supposed to be one partner on the rower doing 200 meters and the other partner doing pulsing half squats. I did 200 meters and then 20 squats and just continued that until the block ended.
And the floor was also 2 blocks. The first block was high rows with the straps, skater lunges, and lunges while holding a weight overhead. The second block was lateral lunges with medicine ball front presses, pushups, and toe reaches with the medicine ball. I did a few different modifications for the exercises to limit my nausea, but it wasn’t too bad. And the modifications I picked allowed me to put some extra focus on my form so I tried to see it as a positive.
Saturday’s workout was a power day and even though it was the day I was most nauseous it always ended up being one of my best workout days. The cardio and rowing were done similar to a run/row pattern and we were only at each section for 4 minutes at a time.
Every time we were on the treadmill we had a 2 minute distance challenge, 1 minute of recovery, and 1 minute all out pace. I did my distance challenge at my push pace and I used my old all out resistance level for the all outs. But overall it was much easier than expected because by the time the nausea started to kick in from pushing myself the block was over and I was on the rower.
The rowing was an interesting pattern. We started with a 500 meter row and tricep extensions with a medicine ball. Every time we went down 100 meters on the rower. But because of the timing of the switches, most of the time I was in the middle of a row when I went back to the bike. So I had to remember where I was in the row and get back to finish it when I was on the rower again. It wasn’t too hard to remember, but it was something extra to focus on.
And the floor was 1 long block. We had shoulder work with weights, triceps on the straps, rollouts, deadlifts with weights, high rows on the straps, and ab work. The rollouts and ab work were both things I couldn’t do while nauseous the way we were supposed to because it involved being face down. So I did the rollouts on the straps and did the ab work on my back to accommodate how I was feeling.
I’m prepared for this week to be a tough week for me. I am hoping that because my nauseous kicked in early that maybe it won’t be as intense as it has been. I’m also trying to be more on top of my various medications and remedies so hopefully things won’t be as severe. But if it is, I know I can make it through and I’ll just have to do what I can.
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