This past week of workouts was another good one for me. Not only was it my birthday week, but I was feeling really great. I’ve said several times that I really think it’s awesome that I turned 40, but I think seeing how strong I am in my workouts really has helped with that feeling. I can see how different my body and my strength are compared to when I turned 30. And I got to experience that feeling several times in this past week of workouts.
Monday’s workout was a lot of strength and endurance. I tried to push myself where I could, but I’m still balancing out how much I can push myself without making my hips hurt too much from also going out to walk and picket. But I’m getting pretty good and sensing when I’m pushing just a bit too much.
For cardio, each block focused on push paces and base paces. The push paces started longer without incline and as they got shorter, we added incline and resistance levels. And the all-outs for each block also used incline/resistance. None of the resistance levels got too high, but I was still using higher levels than I normally do for my push paces, so I tried to keep pedaling as fast as I do without the extra resistance level.
For rowing, we had 2 blocks that both started with a 400-meter row that decreased by 100 meters each round. And between each round, we had a medicine ball exercise. In the first block, we had lunges with rotations. And in the second block, we had halos. Because of my balance issues, I really can’t do rotations with lunges. So I alternated doing lunges between one set of rows and then rotations with the medicine ball between the next rows. I figured that was the best solution for me.
And on the floor, we also had 2 blocks. The first block had single-leg deadlifts, single-arm reach to rotations on the straps, and tricep extensions. The second block had rows on the straps, squat to presses, and plank low rows. I was happy that I was able to do these exercises with very few modifications so I could maximize my time on the floor. As hard as it is for me to see progress on the floor because I don’t change the weights I use too often, I do like to see how much easier some exercises become for me to do over time.
Tuesday’s workout was the last workout of my 30s and I felt like that was something to celebrate. I don’t usually get really sentimental around birthdays, but this time I did. And I really was reflecting on how much I accomplished with my workouts in my 30s and what that really did to make me the person I am today. It sounds a bit cheesy, but that’s how I was feeling during the workout.
For cardio, we had long push paces and shorter base paces. This was a lot of endurance work to fit in with this month being marathon month so those participating in it could get as much distance as they could in the workout. I was using my usual push pace and base pace resistance levels and was just enjoying how normal and chill that felt. It was still a challenge for me, but it was also nice to realize that my body could do that and I wasn’t struggling all the time.
On the rower, we had one long rowing block. We started with a 600-meter row followed by 20 high knees. I had to do the high knees as marching in place, but I did them. Then we did a 400-meter and 200-meter row with high knees before going back up the pattern and switching the exercise to butt kicks. I did all the rows with high knees and the 200-meter row with butt kicks. I was working on the 400-meter row when the block ended, but that was further in the block than I thought I would get.
And on the floor, we had back-to-back sets. We had 2 exercises we were supposed to do without resting between each one. And we did each set twice before moving on to the next one. We had chest presses and split squats (which are more like lunges for me), hammer curls and single-arm hip hinge swings, and chest flys and speed skaters. Besides modifying the split squats, I was able to do the rest of the exercises without modifications. Because of the weights that were available after others picked what they used, I did go a bit lighter with the hammer curls, but I added a few extra reps to make up for that.
Wednesday’s workout was my birthday class, and my coach said happy birthday to me as soon as I walked inside the lobby. They also wrote happy birthday on the brag board, and I took a photo with my coach before class started so I could get a non-sweaty photo to remember spending a milestone birthday at Orangetheory.
I’m also excited to see when we have rowing benchmarks how I do because I am in a new age group. For cardio benchmarks, this won’t really be a factor since my benchmarks are listed in the bike section and that’s not split by age group. But it would be cool if I could make the leaderboard a few times for rowing now that I’m in the 40-49 group instead of the 30-39 group!
For cardio, we had 3 blocks that each had 4 different 1-minute push paces and all the push paces used inclines. In the first block, the inclines increased by 2% each minute. In the second block, the inclines increased by 1% every minute. And in the last block, the inclines increased by 0.5% each minute. For the first 2 blocks, I did change the resistance level to the correct amount each minute. But the resistance levels are in whole numbers, so I can’t increase by 0.5%. So for that block, I repeated the second block and increased them by 1 every minute.
On the rower, we also had 3 blocks. Each block started with a distance row. Then we had lunges off the rower before rowing for distance until the block ended. The goal was to get at least the same distance for each block. The first block started with a 200-meter row, the second block started with a 150-meter row, and the last block started with a 150-meter row. I was pretty close to the same distance for each block, so I was pretty happy with that.
And on the floor, we also had 3 blocks but they were different from what we normally do. Each block focused on a single exercise. We had a minute to do a specific number of reps and any time at the end of that minute could be used to rest. We repeated that 4 times in each block to make the blocks 4 minutes long. The first block was 12 reps of a goblet squat each time, the second block was 12 reps of a reverse grip low row each time, and the last block was 8 reps of a deadlift each time. We also had the option to do more reps if we felt like it wasn’t enough or to do a plank hold at the end of the last minute. I did the plank hold for the extra time in the last minute for each block which was tough enough for me. It was a challenge, but I felt like it was a great way to start things as a 40-year-old.
Thursday’s class had a bit more of a focus on power, which felt different from the other workouts we’ve had so far this month. It still had a lot of opportunities for people to get mileage for the marathon challenge, but it was all about all-outs for cardio.
For cardio, we had one long block. We started with 2 rounds of a 1-minute all-out followed by a 1-minute recovery. Then we continued the pattern of an all-out with a 1-minute recovery after, but the all-outs got shorter every other time. So we had 2 rounds of 50-second all-outs, 2 rounds of 40-second all-outs, 2 rounds of 30-second all-outs, and we ended with just one 20-second all-out. I used my normal resistance level for all-outs on the bike, but I tried to pedal faster for the second time we had a certain all-out time. I didn’t get that much faster, but it was a little extra which I think counts a lot.
We also had 1 block for rowing. It was similar to what we had on Tuesday, but there were a few differences. This time, the rows were 400 meters, 300 meters, 200 meters, 200 meters, 300 meters, and 400 meters. After the first 3 rows, we were supposed to do a squat hold bicep curl with a medicine ball, but I was having a tough morning with my hips so I just did the bicep curl with the medicine ball. And for the last 3 rows, we were supposed to do a squat hold tricep extension, and again I just did the exercise without the squat. I was working on the last 400-meter row went the block ended, so again I got pretty far in the exercises which I was happy about.
And on the floor, again it was a single block. We had drop sets this time, which is always a good challenge. But we also had single-side exercises this time which added to the drop set challenge. So we did a heavy weight on the right side, light weight on the right side, heavy weight on the left side, and light weight for the left side for each exercise. The exercises we had were goblet lunges, single-arm low rows, and single-arm shoulder presses. I can’t do goblet lunges, so I did regular lunges with no weight and goblet squats separately. It was like the lunges counted as one weight and the squats as another. It’s not exactly what we were supposed to do, but it was the best thing I could do with modifying things the way I needed them to be. And I did make an effort to try to use heavier weights than normal for the heavy weights to make sure I pushed myself. It was hard and I was pretty low with the rep count, but that’s how things should be for drop sets since I got a lot more reps done with the lighter weight.
I don’t think I could have asked for a better week of workouts for my birthday week. I was feeling good and strong, which is always a sign of a good week for me. I had the chance to challenge myself but I wasn’t struggling or getting frustrated. And I felt like a badass as always, which is the best way to turn 40!
You Might Also Like
Getting In Some Birthday Workouts (or Switching Up My Schedule For This Past Week)
Non-Mayhem Workouts Are Still Hard (or Pushing Myself During A Good Week)
A Short And Slightly Painful Workout Week (or Still Getting In My 3 Workouts)
Just A Normal And Good Workout Week (or Using My Workouts To Get Out My Stress)
Birthday Workouts (or Just Having A Good Week Of Workouts)
A Full Week Of Christmas Workouts (or Having Some Traditional Workouts)
