The workouts this past week continued with the new theme for Orangetheory workouts with all the workouts being a mix of endurance, strength, and power. There were some days where it was a bit clearer which section of the room was which, but on other days it just felt like each section was a mix of all three. And it was another week where I only worked out on weekdays instead of having a workout on a Saturday. I am glad to have this extra time on Saturdays, but I’m still debating if I would keep up this schedule regularly after I’m done moving.
Monday’s workout was one where it felt like things were a bit mixed for all sections of the room.
For cardio, we started with a 4-minute push pace followed by a 90-second walking recovery after. I can’t remember any time where we had a walking recovery after a push pace instead of an all-out. But it was to allow us to really focus on our push pace and not worry too much about getting back to a base pace after. We also had a 3-minute, 2-minute, and 90-second push pace with the same recovery after each one and then we ended with a 30-second all-out.
On the rower, we started with a 400-meter row with a round of squats after the row. We then rowed again and decreased the row each time. After doing the 100-meter row and the squats, we did the 100-meter row again but had good mornings between each row instead of squats and then increased the row each time.
And on the floor, we had 2 blocks. The first block had close-grip chest presses, lunges, and skier swings. And the second block had hop-overs (which I was able to do by lowering the bench to the lowest setting) and push-ups. The second block was definitely more challenging for me than the first, but it wasn’t too horrible and I was happy with what I was able to do.
Wednesday’s workout was all about constructing and deconstructing. And it was a tough workout even though I know I’ve done similar workouts to this one. Each section of the room had 3 blocks.
For cardio, the first block was a 1-minute base pace, 1-minute between a base and push pace, 1-minute push pace, and a 1-minute all-out. The second block was the first block in reverse so starting with the 1-minute all-out and ending with the 1-minute base pace. And for the last block, we got to choose if we wanted to repeat block 1 or block 2 and I decided to do the second block.
The rower was the same idea as cardio with the first block starting at a base row and ending at an all-out row, the second block starting at an all-out row and ending at a base row, and the third block was our choice. I did try to increase the wattage on the rower to have a difference for each minute, but I really struggled with doing that and for the last block I just did a 4-minute row without worrying about switching things each minute.
And on the floor, we had 4 exercises and did each one for 1-minute. The first block was seated torso rotations, alternating shoulder presses, squats, and squats to upward rotations. The second block started with the squats to upward rotations and ended with the torso rotations. And for the third block, we got to choose which one to do and I started with the torso rotations because I was already on the floor. There were so few changes to rest and catch your breath and the workout felt so tough. I was exhausted at the end of the class and I don’t even think I went that hard during the class!
Because I’m skipping Saturday workouts for now, I also went to a Thursday workout. I was pretty tired from not sleeping well and a little sore from the Wednesday workout, but I was going into this workout and hoping for the best.
We had 2 blocks for each section of the room. For cardio, the first block had a 90-second push pace, 1-minute push pace, and 30-second push pace with a 1-minute base pace between each one. And we ended that block with a 1-minute all-out. For the second block, the push paces were all 45-seconds and the base paces were 90-seconds, 1-minute, and 30-seconds with the 30-second all-out at the end.
On the rower, the first block started with a 250-meter row with medicine ball squats to overhead presses after the row. The row went down by 50 meters each round and the medicine ball exercises stayed the same each time. And in the second block, the row was always 150-meters but the medicine ball exercises started at 25 reps and went down by 5 reps each round.
And on the floor, the first block had lunges to step-ups (which I had to do as just lunges), alternating close-grip chest presses, and single-arm low rows on the straps. The second block had lunges, chest flies, and single-leg lifts using the straps. I felt better about this workout than I did about Wednesday’s, but I know I was going a bit easier since I was going to be going to another workout the next day.
For Friday’s workout, we had 2 blocks for each section of the room and we switched between blocks so we had 2 rotations around the room. Switching between blocks doesn’t really happen much now (they stopped during the pandemic), so this was something different from what I have been used to. This workout was about load and explode, so we worked out similar muscle groups but had some exercises that were more steady and others that had more explosive movements.
For cardio, the 2 blocks were very similar. We did almost the entire block at a base pace, but we used inclines. We had 3 hills per block and each hill had 3 inclines. Each hill was 90-seconds long and each incline was for 30-seconds. And between each hill, we had 45-seconds at a base pace without incline. And on the last hill, the last incline was supposed to be an all-out, so it was the highest incline and we were also supposed to increase our speed. I used all the resistance levels I should have been using on the bike and I tried to focus on keeping my speed on the bike somewhat steady the entire time. I did struggle to keep up my speed with some of the higher inclines, but I was closer than I would have been if I wasn’t focused on that.
For the rower, we had 3 rounds of 90-seconds of work each block. We had a 30-second base pace, 30-second push pace, and 30-second all-out. And after that, we had 45-seconds to do a recovery row, so we were still rowing but we could go as slow as we needed to go. I was able to get my wattage up a bit on the rower each time, but it wasn’t as much as I know we should be doing.
And on the floor, the first block had weighted squats, squat jumps, and plank low rows. I did squats with calf raises instead of squat jumps, but I tried to do them with more power to fit into the theme of an explosive movement. And the second block had chest presses, power push-ups, and lateral lunges with balance. For the lateral lunges, we were supposed to use weights, but I wanted to try to do the balance work so I did them without weights because I wanted my hands free if I needed to balance myself. The balance work was tough (as it always is for me with my hips), but I did find a way to make them work so that was a good accomplishment for me.
This was definitely a good week for me with my workouts. I have been liking the new way the workouts are planned so that we get endurance, strength, and power in each class. And even though doing 3 workouts in a row isn’t the easiest thing for me, I’m glad that I’m able to do that without too many issues. Especially since it looks like at least the few weeks will continue to be this same plan so I have as much time as possible on Saturdays to get things done with my move.
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