I went into this past week of workouts knowing it was a high probability that it would be a bad week for me. I was hopeful that it wouldn’t be, but I’m also realistic and have dealt with this enough. And I was right, it wasn’t a good week for me. But I still did what I could and I have to be ok with that.
Monday’s workout was a strength-based class and it also had a bit of a run/row to it. I was excited about this class, but I was having one of the worst hip pain days that I’ve had in a long time. Usually, my hip pain is either an on-going dull pain or occasional sharp pain. This time, it was an on-going sharp pain that spiked with every step I took. The pain was a bit scary because that can mean that I need to see an orthopedic surgeon, but I wasn’t going to freak out too much. But it did affect my workout a bit.
The cardio was split into 3 blocks and the middle block was the one that had the run/row. The first and last blocks were similar. The first block had a 90-second push, 45-second base, 90-second push at incline, 45-second base without incline, and a 90-second push at incline. The last block was the same work, but done in reverse (so starting with the 90-second push at the incline). After the first block, we had to remember what distance we got to so we could use it for the run/row. The run/row was rounds of half the distance from the first block and a 200-meter row. For all the cardio work, I had to go a bit slow on the bike and be cautious with the resistance levels I used. And it took my time getting on and off the rower so that took up some time that I wish I had been able to be working. But I did my best and I was pretty happy with what I was able to do.
The floor also had 3 blocks. The first block was mini-band work with squats to side kicks, hip raises, and lateral walks. The second block had goblet squats, plank side rotations, and bicycle crunches. And the last block had sumo squats to upright rows, step-ups (which I modified to be lunges), and more plank side rotations and bicycle crunches. There were a few exercises that were extra hard on my hip, but I was just patient with myself and made sure that I felt ready before starting each rep.
Wednesday’s workout was a mix of endurance, strength, and power. It was also a day that I had a lot of nausea. Fortunately, my hip pain was almost completely gone (so I don’t need to worry about seeing an orthopedic surgeon) and even though I was nauseous I wasn’t dealing with cramps at the same time. It’s not the best situation to work out in, but it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. It was also a switch day so we were switching a lot and I didn’t have to worry about being in one section of the room for too long. We had 2 blocks at each section (6 blocks total).
For cardio, the first block started with a 2-minute push pace. Then we had a 1-minute base pace before a 2-minute base at incline. And we finished with a 30-second base without incline and a 30-second all out. The second block started with a 2-minute push just like the first block did. Then we had a 30-second walk before a 1-minute all out. Then it was 2 rounds of 30-seconds of walking and 30-second all outs.
The first block on the rower was all about stroke drills. We had 15 pulls on the rower to get as far as we could. After 15 pulls, we had squat jacks (which I modified to be regular squats) and we continued doing rounds of those until the block ended. We had to remember what distance we got in that first block to use when we got back to the rower for the second block. The second block started with 25 squat jacks (which I did as regular squats) and then we were supposed to row the distance that we got in the first block. The second block wasn’t about doing stroke drills, we just rowed normally. I just got to that distance when the block ended.
And on the floor, we were supposed to use heavy weights but my nausea wasn’t really allowing me to. I hated that I had to go a bit lighter on the weights, but I knew it was what I needed to do. The first block had bicep curls, front squats, neutral half thrusters, and squats. And the second block had deadlifts, low rows with weights, burpees (modified using the bench), and double-tap crunches. The floor work in both blocks was a bit of a struggle with my nausea and I didn’t get as much done as I wanted to.
I also had a workout on Thursday. I couldn’t do my workout on Saturday so I had to fit in an extra class somewhere else. Every time I do a workout in the afternoon I seem so thrown off by them. And it’s weird because for years my workouts were in the afternoon so I should be used to them. But it is a good way to mix up things since I usually am pretty set in when I work out. And I don’t know if this was due to the workout being in the afternoon or it was just that day, but it was a bad nausea and pain day for me. I took all the medications that I could to manage it, but it wasn’t helping.
The workout was an endurance day and it was a 2 group class. The cardio had 3 blocks and the floor had 1 long block. For cardio, I know there were different push pace lengths, but I wasn’t really focused on that. I was pedaling when I could and resting when I needed. I didn’t think too much beyond that. I hate when I can’t really follow the workout, but for cardio sometimes I have to do that. And I know that when I do that on cardio that it’s not a horrible distraction or anything to the others in the class so I don’t feel as guilty.
On the floor, we started with a 500-meter row and then we had the exercises. We had a hip hinge swing with weights, lunges with lateral raises and front raises (I split them up and did the lunges on their own and the arm movements on their own), hip hinge reverse fly, hamstrings on the ab dolly (which I did as hip bridges), and roll-outs on the ab dolly (which I did on the straps). After completing the exercises, we went back to the rower and decreased the row by 100 meters each round. Between some of the modifications taking longer than the assigned exercises and needed to take breaks, I only made it through 2 rounds on the floor even though it was all one long block.
I was feeling a little better on Friday, but I still wasn’t doing great. It was a strength day, and I was able to do more than I could on Thursday which was nice. But there were still lots of breaks that I needed to take and I wasn’t doing as much as I could do if I was feeling ok.
For cardio, we had 2 blocks. Both blocks had a mix of push paces and base paces with and without incline. I was using the resistance levels for the incline work but I was going much slower than I normally would go on the bike. But it did feel good to push myself a bit more than I had on Thursday even if it wasn’t quite what I wanted to do.
On the rower, the first block was rounds of 200-meter rows with squats to shoulder presses with a medicine ball between each row. I was doing ok with doing 200-meters and only needed to take a break once in the middle of a row. And the second block was another stroke drill block. We had 20 strokes each time and the same exercise between each row. The 20 stroke drills took longer than 200-meters so I had to take breaks in the middle a lot more. The nausea was getting really intense on the rower, but it wasn’t as bad as it has gotten at times.
And on the floor we had one long block split into 2 mini-blocks. Each mini-block was supposed to be done 3 times before moving on. The first mini-block had push-ups (I used the bench to modify them) and single-arm hip hinge rows with a weight. The second mini-block had chest presses, plank pull-throughs (I modified these to be plank shoulder taps using the bench), and single-arm low rows on the straps (I modified these to be using both hands instead of just one). Even though I modified so many things on the floor, it didn’t feel that way to me and I was happy that I was using close to my normal weights for the weight work.
Just like how I was going into this past week, I am aware that this week might be a tough one for me. But I also know that hopefully after this week I’ll be back to feeling normal for about 2 weeks. And even if I feel awful and I am barely doing anything in the workout, whatever effort I can do is better than what I would be doing if I wasn’t in class. And sometimes that’s all I can tell myself when I’m really down on myself and my ability.
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