Category Archives: Fitness

It’s Not Always Easy To Go Easy (or Doing What I Can)

Posted on August 17, 2020 | Comments Off on It’s Not Always Easy To Go Easy (or Doing What I Can)

This past week of workouts was just a struggle for me. I had so many things working against me and I really couldn’t find a way out of it. I was dealing with a lack of motivation, lack of interest, and the pain and nausea that I was expecting. If I was feeling ok, I still didn’t want to work out. When I felt more like working out, I was feeling sick. I felt like I couldn’t win. And each time I had a bad workout, I felt even worse after it was done because I felt like I failed somehow.

I had video workouts on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday this past week. I tried to do what I could, but I wasn’t really doing the videos. I wasn’t feeling encouraged or motivated to do them. I felt like I wasn’t doing each exercise to the fullest and I was just kind of playing around. I know that doing something is better than doing nothing, but I couldn’t convince my brain that was true.

It didn’t help that I’ve been seeing friends in different parts of the country able to go to their gyms again. I’m especially jealous of my friends who can go to Orangetheory where they live. My last class in the studio was 5 months ago. And I miss it more and more every week that I’m not back there. I miss the coaches, everyone in the class, the workouts, the community feeling and encouragement, and feeling like I’m accomplishing something amazing when I finish a workout. I feel like my workouts when I’m dealing with nausea are so much better when I’m in the studio because I can work with so many more modifications. I used to feel more confident about when we would be able to go back, but now I’m less optimistic about it. I’m scared that it won’t be until next year that we can be back. And feeling like I’m missing a huge part of my life isn’t easy. I know that I’m not the only person dealing with this right now, but that doesn’t necessarily make it easier.

So for now, I just have to do what I can on my own. And for right now, that does mean doing the video workouts 3 days a week. I am working on finding alternatives to those because maybe I just need more variety. But it’s also easy to just do those videos since I know how to get everything set up and I don’t have to think too much about it.

What does help is having one workout each week on Zoom. This week, we had to move it to Saturday, so it was my last workout of the week. Having someone coach me feels so good and so familiar. Having my friends on the screen with me makes me feel less alone. Even though I was feeling the worst on Saturday, I know that was my best workout. It also was easily the hardest. If I could do Zoom workouts every time, I think that might be perfect (and I am looking into seeing if that could happen with different coaches).

Our workout on Saturday was a great all-over workout. We worked core, legs, and arms. And some of the exercises were not just strength but cardio too. For most of the workout, we all work together on intervals. For example, we have 6 different exercises that we do for 40 seconds on and 15 seconds off and go through the series 2 or 3 times. We also had one block where we had 3 exercises to do in 1 minute. It didn’t take the full minute, so whatever time we had leftover we got to rest. And we did that 5 times. I still don’t have my weights that I am getting for my birthday, but I was feeling really weak so the weights I use right now (like my water bottles) worked fine for me.

Even though there were a few times where I truly thought I would have to run to my bathroom to throw up, I finished that workout feeling amazing. I know I didn’t work as hard as I could when I feel normal, but I still finished that workout on the high that I am used to. It was the best way I could end my workout week.

I potentially have another week of dealing with pain and nausea this week. And I’m going to try my best to do what I can. My new weights might also be arriving this week, so that could be awesome if it happens. I know that I won’t be able to do the best or hardest workouts if I’m feeling ill, but I know I will try. And for me right now, trying is sometimes all I can ask of myself. If I’m not feeling like I want to work out, I just have to try. I can’t give up and do nothing. Even though there definitely were days this past week where I felt like it.

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How I’m Hoping To Push Myself In My Workouts (or I Can’t Wait For My Birthday Gift To Get Here)

Posted on August 10, 2020 | Comments Off on How I’m Hoping To Push Myself In My Workouts (or I Can’t Wait For My Birthday Gift To Get Here)

Just like I wrote last week, I’m starting to get into a groove with my new workout plan. I love having a Zoom workout once a week (although I bet I would love it if I had more than that). Even though we are all working hard during those workouts, it still feels more social than what I’m doing on the other days at home alone. We have some time to chat and encourage each other and I didn’t know how much I was craving that until I got it again. And I’m so grateful for it.

There is no question that my Zoom workout is the hardest one of the week. But it’s also the most rewarding and the one that makes me the happiest. So the sweat and pain are totally worth it. I did have some pain issues this past week with all of my workouts, but it was manageable. And I know that I’m doing what I can to make it better. I just have to be patient and allow my body time to heal.

And there’s a chance I might be getting more social workouts into my workout week. There was a class that I couldn’t make it to last week that was a socially distant workout in a park. I would have loved to have been there, but it wasn’t possible with my schedule. But everyone was very far apart and were wearing masks. So I think if I can make it in the future, I will be going to that workout. I know how much any social aspect of a workout pushes me, and I need that as much as I can get it.

And pushing myself has been a recurring goal of mine since I’ve been doing workouts at home. We are coming up on 5 months of this, and finding ways to push myself hasn’t been the easiest. But I’ve slowly figured out things I can do and they have all benefitted me a lot. Adding home workout equipment and having more social workouts have been game-changers for me. I’m doing a lot better than I was when this all started. It’s taken time for me to figure things out, but I didn’t give up and I’m glad.

One of the things that has been hardest for me was figuring out how to get my strength training to be close to what I was doing in the studio. Finding weights has been difficult because so many people are building home gyms right now. I kept looking online for some, but either they were not the weights I was looking for or they were really expensive for what I could afford. But as my birthday got closer, I realized that asking for some of the weights that were a bit out of my budget might work as a gift from my parents. So I asked my dad about it and he agreed that it would be a good gift. I asked him about it several weeks ago and we spent a lot of time doing searching online for what would work for me.

I have limited floor space so originally I was thinking the weights that you can adjust might be a good option. But most of them were very expensive and they had much heavier weights than what I need. I didn’t need something that went up to 50 or 75 pounds. And when we were looking at individual weights so I could make sure I only get the weights I need, those could get really expensive as you get a few sets, and then I run into the issue of storage. So it really was a bit of a challenge for us to figure out what would work best for me.

In the end, my dad and I found a set of adjustable weights that only goes up to 25 pounds. Because the weight range on them is more limited than many other sets (which is perfectly fine with me), they were much more affordable. Still out of my budget for right now, but an acceptable price for a present from my parents. My dad did a bit of research to make sure this was the right option for me before we ordered. And now they should be arriving in the next week or two (there was pretty much nothing that would be able to get to me quicker than a week).

I’m excited and nervous for the weights to arrive. I know I’ve needed to get weights for a while. But I’m scared to see how much strength I really have lost in the past few months. I know that I won’t be able to lift the way that I did the last time I took a class at the studio, but that’s my goal to work up to again. I don’t know if I could get to a point where I am lifting more than I did before, but you never know. That could be a good second goal if I am able to get back to where I was and I’m still working out at home.

I’m so happy that even though I’ve been working out at home for a while now, I’m still finding ways to make it better for me in multiple ways. And as soon as I get my new weights, I can’t wait to see how that will push myself in the video and Zoom workouts!

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This Does Feel Like A Normal Routine (or Another Full Workout Week)

Posted on August 3, 2020 | Comments Off on This Does Feel Like A Normal Routine (or Another Full Workout Week)

I just started doing Zoom workouts with one of my Orangetheory coaches, but having that a part of my workout week is already feeling normal. I did another 3 home workouts and 1 Zoom workout this past week, and that felt pretty amazing. If I could do all Zoom workouts, that might be a great way to work toward the transition of going back to workouts in the studio, but I also don’t want to overdo things and go to hard too fast.

There is a clear difference to me in my video workouts and Zoom workouts. I would love to feel like I’m being pushed to do more in the video workouts, but it’s not the same. It’s just like how going to the gym is not anywhere as good as going to an OTF class for me. I need the coach there to push me. Even if I’m doing the same workout, there is something so different when you have a coach there encouraging you and keeping you on track.

But that doesn’t mean I didn’t work hard in my other workouts. I did work hard for sure. I was doing a few jump rope workouts after the video workout too. And I finally got a brace for my arm to help make it hurt less, so that helped me do a bit more. I still have some issues with my arm (and along with that, my grip strength), so I had to work around a few things. When there were some plank exercises, I had to figure out alternatives if I knew my arm couldn’t support me.

I’ve said this a lot, but I never thought we’d still be staying at home and places would still be closed at this point. I was so sure we’d be back in the studio by now. I was thinking about if I would switch up my workout schedule this coming week to have a birthday workout. I was prepared to be back with my workout family and to have that support multiple times a week. Now, I do have a bit of that support one day a week and I have my friends that I check in with on other days. I am finding the support in other ways and I’m still trying to be hopeful that we will be back in the studio soon. I don’t know how realistic it is to think we’ll be back soon, but I have to keep that hope my first thought. Otherwise, I feel really depressed about losing all this time that I couldn’t have much progress with my workouts.

Every step I’ve taken to work on making my workouts better have done a lot of good things for me. Adding things to my home workout gear has made a big difference. Adding some more cardio has been great. Adding the Zoom workout has been a game-changer for me and has brought some normalcy to my life. I just have to find the next thing that will add to my workouts and help even more. I want all of my workouts to feel amazing. They did all feel great this past week, but I know they can feel better and I want to find a way to achieve that.

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Some Of My Best And Worst Workouts (or A New Type Of Home Workouts)

Posted on July 27, 2020 | Comments Off on Some Of My Best And Worst Workouts (or A New Type Of Home Workouts)

I knew going into this past week of workouts that it might not be a good week for me. I was expecting to have pain and nausea and I never know how it will hit me each month. And this time, it was one of the really bad months. But I also was lucky because it was concentrated within a few days so it wasn’t the entire week that I was miserable.

The worst day for me last week was Monday. I ended up sleeping away a lot of the day because I was feeling so awful. When I woke up that morning, I figured I’d try to do my workout because sometimes that does help a bit. But this time, it just made things worse. There were multiple times that I was worried I would just pass out. I technically made it through about 30 minutes of the workout, but I wasn’t really doing much of it. I didn’t even count it in my workout tracker as a workout because it didn’t feel like I did one.

Wednesday was a bit better, but I was still feeling sick. I did make it through the workout and felt like I did at least a little something. It was far from a good workout for me, but it was not like the attempt I had on Monday. So that made me feel a bit better because I was really down on myself about not being able to do a workout on Monday.

But thank goodness I was feeling better by Friday. I wasn’t completely better, but I was significantly better than how I was for the first half of the week. And it was so important to me to be better for this workout because I was going to have a virtual reunion with some of my workout friends!

One of my coaches at OTF has been doing virtual workout classes over Zoom. My workout friends found a time that we could have a private group class with her and I was so excited to join in. It was different from the official OTF at home workouts since it was a bit customized for us. And the focus was on strength training (not doing any cardio work even though the strength training totally got my heart rate up).

I have needed this workout. Even though I have been very consistent with my home workouts, it’s not like having a coach there. And having this Zoom workout was the hardest and best workout I’ve had in months. I pushed myself so much (although I did have to rest from time to time to let my nausea pass). I don’t think I have had this hard of a workout since my last studio one. Even though it’s still not as good as the studio classes are, it’s significantly better than the videos and it’s much closer to a studio feel.

When the workout was done, I was beyond exhausted. I knew I’d probably be very sore the next day, but I couldn’t stop smiling either. And of course, we had to take a screenshot of the Zoom session as a post-workout photo.

This may end up being a regular Friday thing for my group, so that would be really awesome. I miss my friends so much, and this was a great way to get to see them and feel like I’m not just doing things alone in my house.

Saturday ended up being another great day. I was a bit sore from my hard Friday workout, but nothing too bad. I was able to do the OTF at home video just fine. I do still want to have some new equipment to make those workouts a bit better, but it’s not bad with what I have. And after I completed the video, I got my new jump rope out to do some interval training. I hadn’t done any jump rope work the entire week, mainly due to being nauseous. But I wanted to get at least one session in this week.

I did similar intervals to what I had done before. 15 seconds of jumping with 30 seconds of rest. I don’t know if I’m ready to increase the interval times just yet, so I increased how many rounds I did. Last time, I did 6 rounds. This time, I did 8. And I was able to jump the entire time without tripping for 5 of those 8 rounds. For the 3 that I tripped, I just got right back to it and kept going. I’m still shocked by how quickly I have been able to pick this up. Now I just have to work on my endurance to work on making the intervals a bit longer.

Even though the beginning of last week started off pretty bad, I’m so glad I ended on a good note. I had 2 amazing workouts (and 2 not-so-amazing workouts) and that is always something to be proud of. I just hope that I can continue to have a few amazing workouts this week.

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Figuring Out Some Cardio (or Working With What I Can)

Posted on July 20, 2020 | Comments Off on Figuring Out Some Cardio (or Working With What I Can)

I knew going into this past week of workouts that it might be a challenging one for me due to the pain and nausea I was expecting to have. What I didn’t expect was that the week would be challenging because of something I decided to do.

Ever since I started working out at home (which was 4 months ago now), I have known that I would need to find ways to do the home workouts with a lot of effort. I have gotten weights and other exercise things in my house now and it has been so helpful that I had things to make my workouts harder. There are still things I wish I had and do searches online to see if I can find, but I’m in a pretty good spot with what I have been able to get and I know that I am working hard.

But the place that I know I’ve been slacking off for the last few months has been my cardio. I have been doing the cardio portions during the at-home workouts to the best of my ability. And I do a lot of running in place when I can to try to get a little more cardio work in each workout. But it’s not the same as my OTF workouts in the studio. I have looked at getting or renting cardio equipment, but that hasn’t worked out for me just yet. And at some point, I probably should give up on that idea. But I didn’t want to fully give up on cardio, so I had to think of a new idea.

And when I was doing some online shopping for supplies, I did a little searching for exercise stuff (because you never know when you can find dumbbells for sale). And one of the things that came up were jump ropes. I’ve never really been someone who jump roped except in elementary school. I do have orthopedic issues that made me hesitate about getting one. But I figured that I already surpassed all expectations for my hips so far, so I might as well go for it. And if it was too painful, I didn’t have to keep doing it.

The jump rope didn’t get to me until the end of the week. And that worked out well because my pain and nausea ended up mainly being toward the beginning of the week. I did still have some struggles for the rest of the week, but it was much easier for me during my Friday and Saturday workouts. So I went for it with the jump rope.

For Friday, I didn’t really have a plan for what I wanted to do. I knew I needed to shorten the rope and I had to find a place in my house where I had the space to do it (I didn’t feel like being in front of my house). And then it was time to just try to do it. I started with jumping rope with double jumps (so I had a little jump between each time I jumped over the jump rope). But I had seen some articles online that said not to do it that way because it can make things harder. So I tried to find a rhythm to do it without the extra bounce. It wasn’t easy, but I managed to do it. And I set a goal to be able to do 20 jumps without tripping on the rope. I did it after about 8 attempts. And by that point, I was exhausted and ready to be done.

On Saturday, I again did some jump rope work after my OTF at home workout. I originally thought I would try to do another jump count challenge, but that didn’t seem to be the right thing to do after I surpassed my challenge goal on the first try (which I never expected). So I found an app to do some interval counting for me and I did 6 rounds of 15 seconds of work and 30 seconds of rest. I know it doesn’t seem like a lot, but it felt like it! And I need to ease myself into this since it’s not easy. But I’m proud of what I was able to do.

I’m hoping I can still do some jump rope work this week. But if my nausea is really bad, I might not be able to do so. It’s going to be something I just have to try and see how I feel. But I’m excited to have a new cardio thing to challenge myself with. I don’t know how many days a week I will use it, but I’m hoping to build up to doing it for each of my home workouts. I need to get more cardio work done. I know I need to. But it’s been hard to figure out what I can do at home. Now, I need to be glad that I found something that fits into my space and I just have to build up my endurance.

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Making Home Workouts Feel A Bit More Like Studio Ones (or I Do Still Wish I Was In-Studio)

Posted on July 13, 2020 | Comments Off on Making Home Workouts Feel A Bit More Like Studio Ones (or I Do Still Wish I Was In-Studio)

This past week was supposed to be the week I went back to Orangetheory to have in-studio workouts. I had been so excited to be going back, but I also understood when they had to announce that the re-opening had to be postponed. I’m so grateful that they are more concerned about safety and health than rushing to re-open so they can have business again. And as I get to 4 months of home workouts, I’ve got the routine down. I have gotten some things that make my workouts better, but for the most part, I have a system each time.

And I noticed that whenever I would start a home workout in the OTF app, it would try to connect to my heart rate monitor but couldn’t find it. I couldn’t figure out why because it was connected to my device and I was using it on another app. After the first few home workouts, I just gave up on it and didn’t bother. But for some reason, this past week I decided to figure it out and see what I could do.

It ended up being a really simple fix (even though my monitor was connected to my device, I needed it to also be connected to the app). And I’m so glad that I did it. Because now, when I do my workouts at home I can see my heart rate information on the screen. It’s so much more like being in the studio.

And this is really a big difference for me. Even though I have an idea of what my heart rate is or what zone I’m in based on how I feel, I like having the data and information to track it too. It holds me more accountable for my work and gets me to push myself if I’m close to the orange zone. I know that having it on the screen doesn’t necessarily change my heart rate, but it changes my work and that can change my heart rate.

I did really notice a change in my workouts this week. I was going harder. I was more aware of what I was doing and if I was pushing myself enough. It almost made me feel like I was being coached because there was no denying my heart rate numbers. If I thought I was doing enough but my heart rate was really low, I knew that I wasn’t doing what I should.

And just like the week before, I felt it after each workout. I was sweating so much and was sore after each one. I really tried to step things up a bit and seeing my heart rate on the screen really helped me to do that. And I’m glad I had 2 good weeks in a row because I’m coming up on when I will likely have bad weeks. As always, I’m trying to be optimistic and hope I’ll feel fine. But I’m also realistic. I know it’s very likely that I won’t be feeling great. But I’m also thinking that having my heart rate visible to me the entire workout will make me feel a bit better about having a harder time in my workout. It’s a sign of what I am doing even if I don’t feel like I’m doing much.

I’m still working on improving my home gym equipment and figuring out what I want to spend money on to have in my house. I have so many ideas. I’m just lacking in space and money and the inventory of some things is lacking too. But I’m dedicating some time this week to look online and make some decisions about what I really want to get. Hopefully soon, I’ll have some new stuff in my house to help my workouts. But at least for now, I have some equipment already here and now I have better monitoring of my heart rate.

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I Guess I’ll Be Working Out At Home A Bit Longer (or Working Out Hard Is Always A Good Thing)

Posted on July 6, 2020 | Comments Off on I Guess I’ll Be Working Out At Home A Bit Longer (or Working Out Hard Is Always A Good Thing)

Last week in my blog post, I wrote about how this past week of workouts was going to be the week I get myself ready to work out in the studio again. I was excited to get back to more normal workouts for me and I was ready to see my friends and my coaches again. I was a bit nervous about going back, but the excitement outweighed the nerves and I was feeling like this was going to be a good thing for me.

And when I started my workout week last week, that’s exactly the mindset I had. I was working hard during my home workouts. I feel like I was doing a lot more than I ever had. It wasn’t that I was necessarily slacking off while working out at home, but this past week brought things to a new level. I was sore, but that soreness made me very happy. I was counting down the days until this week when I was supposed to be back in the studios.

But I was still a bit nervous about going back. Cases of COVID have been increasing, but with the safety measures that Orangetheory was taking, it seemed like it would be as safe as possible. I even started to see some articles saying how going to the gym could be good as long as certain precautions were taken. And everything on those lists was things that OTF was going to do. Plus they were doing things above and beyond what was on the list. I was also starting to get a bit nervous because the workout-specific masks I ordered hadn’t arrived yet. I knew they might be delayed, but I wanted to have them in time for my first in-studio workout.

Then, things changed. First, I got an email that my masks wouldn’t be arriving on time. This was disappointing, but not the worst thing since I have other masks I could use for working out (they just wouldn’t be the most ideal masks to sweat in). Then, the rules about how gyms could reopen changed. Originally, they didn’t require masks. Then they said they would require them for the entire time someone was inside a gym. That was fine with me since it’s what I was planning on doing. But then they added a rule that full gloves would be required at gyms. I wear workout gloves, but they don’t cover my entire hand. My palms and fingertips are exposed. I know they make full-hand workout gloves, but I didn’t want to buy those. And wearing nitrile gloves while working out didn’t seem like something I would like. The sweat would get in the gloves and I could see how it could make holding onto things harder.

I started to wonder if I should go back to studio workouts. My original plan was to go 3 days a week and then do 1 day at home. Then I switched that around and picked 1 day to go to the studio and was going to do the rest at home. I figured I could see how I liked working out in the studio with the new rules and if I didn’t like it I would just go back to doing them all at home. But soon after the rule about wearing full gloves was announced for Los Angeles, I didn’t have to worry about if I should go to the studios or not. Because the reopening of the studios in LA was pushed back.

I know this was a hard decision for the owners, but it was the right choice. This is about the safety of the members and staff. And even with all the precautions, there is still a risk. And the safest thing to do would be to not reopen until they feel confident that they could reopen safely for everyone.

I was disappointed because I was so excited about getting back to my normal workouts, but I understood why they made this choice. It wouldn’t be easy for everyone to work out with a mask and full gloves. A lot of people don’t have gloves (and they aren’t easy to find right now) and they didn’t have a stockpile of gloves to give some to every member for every class. But most importantly, as I said, this was about safety. And I find it admirable that the owners care more about safety than reopening and making money (while the studios are closed, all memberships are frozen so we are not paying).

I’m still really proud of the workouts I did at home this past week. Even though I won’t be back in the studio this week to show off what I’ve been able to do at home, there are no negatives to working out hard. And I’m glad I pushed myself because I did need to do that. I haven’t had a lot of great workout weeks at home, so anytime I can have one I need to take advantage of it. And I’m hoping that this week I will have another great workout week at home.

I’m still hopeful that the studios will be reopening in the near future. Nobody knows when it will be safer for us to be back there and there is no timeline just yet for when they may try to reopen again. I know the owners are paying close attention to the numbers of cases and all the new policies that are being announced. And when they feel like they can open the studios and provide the workouts we are used to, then that’s when they will do it.

In the meanwhile, I’m looking again for ways to make my home workouts better. I found a way I could rent a water rower and have added myself to the waitlist for one. I would consider buying a rower, but they take up a lot of space and I don’t know if I’ll want one after I’m back in the studio. So renting would be a great option. Hopefully, they will have one available for me to rent soon. And I’m still looking at other options for different pieces of exercise equipment that would work in my house. I just want to figure out how to keep improving while staying home.

I think I was using the idea of the studios reopening as an excuse to not keep looking for better options. Now, I’m not going to think that way and just figure out how to make my home workouts the best they can. Especially because I’ll be doing these for at least a little while longer.

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Not The Workout Week I Planned On (or Starting To Prepare To Go Back)

Posted on June 29, 2020 | Comments Off on Not The Workout Week I Planned On (or Starting To Prepare To Go Back)

This past week of workouts was not what I expected. I thought it would be a pretty decent week for me, as far as my health goes. I wasn’t expecting to feel any nausea until the end of the week if I felt any. I was excited to see what I’d be able to do.

But my body had other plans.

I wrote about how I got my period very early, so the entire week ended up being pretty rotten. I will say that it was better than it usually is, but this was not what I thought the week would be like. The pain and nausea were there, but I was able to manage it with medication and other remedies I have. The fatigue hit me really hard and that wasn’t easy to get over. I had some serious struggles with the workouts each day, but because I knew what was causing the struggles I wasn’t too frustrated with myself. I wished I could have done better, but I also accept the reality of it.

And I did try to celebrate the workouts that I did do because this past week I completed my 100th Orangetheory class for the year! I’m on track for my goal for the year. Of course, I didn’t expect that I would spend several months doing classes at home. But those still count to me, so I’m excited that I’ve been making steady progress toward my goal for the year.

But soon, I might not be working out at home. As I’ve shared before, the studios are getting ready to reopen. The reopening date is a week away. And while I’ve been hesitant about if I’d go back right away, I spoke to my family who is in medicine and they think it should be fine with the precautions that the studios are taking. Classes were posted in the app at the end of the week last week so we could start booking classes, and I got myself into a few of them.

The class times aren’t the times that I usually go. They are doing a different schedule because they are allowing 30 minutes between classes to disinfect everything. And I have the flexibility with my schedule right now since I’m not working much. So I’m not doing classes as early as I normally go. But I probably will also need the extra time to get ready since I’m so used to only having to walk into my living room to work out.

My regular workout schedule is Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday. And that’s the schedule I’ve kept while working out at home. But because I know things will be harder in the studio, I have decided to start with 3 days in the studio and 1 day at home. Hopefully, this helps me ease back into my workouts and I don’t get too overwhelmed or too sore.

I will have some new struggles when getting back to the studio besides being weaker than normal. Some of it will be the stress and anxiety about being back and being worried if I’m making the right choice. But I feel pretty comfortable that I am and I know that if anything changes that I can cancel the classes I booked and just do the workouts at home. But the thing I think will be the hardest will be working out in a mask. I did order some fitness-specific masks (I don’t want to use a cotton one as it will be gross when I sweat). And I have heard from people that it isn’t too hard working out in a mask, but you never know. Hopefully, the masks I ordered get here soon so I can do a workout at home with them first.

Since I plan on being back in the studio in a week, this week I’m really hoping to push myself. I want to be in the best place possible when I get back to the studio. I want to be proud of what I was able to do at home, even when I struggled. But no matter what, I am seriously proud of myself for not giving up when it would have been very easy to do so.

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Another Mixed Motivation Week (or I Might Be Almost Done With At-Home Workouts)

Posted on June 22, 2020 | Comments Off on Another Mixed Motivation Week (or I Might Be Almost Done With At-Home Workouts)

As much as I wanted this past week of workouts to be as good as the week before, it just didn’t happen for me. It wasn’t that I was dealing with physical issues (except that I might have tennis elbow again, but that wasn’t really hurting my workouts). I just wasn’t feeling the workouts. This feeling is something that I have struggled with the entire time I’ve been working out at home.

So much of what I love about going to Orangetheory is being with others. I’ve said this so many times in the past few months, but I crave having my friends and coach cheering me on and encouraging me to keep going or to do more. And it’s not just having the environment of a group workout because I’ve done other workout classes and never felt the same way I feel at OTF. There is something special there and you just can’t replicate it at home.

And I have to repeat again that I know that OTF is doing everything they can to help us with the home workouts. They have created challenges, made sure we had a variety of workouts posted online, and those videos have also been pretty funny with what they use instead of weights (like backpacks filled with things or oversized household objects). OTF was not designed to be done as a video workout, and they have done amazingly well with adapting things and taking suggestions from members and changing the videos based on what we were asking for.

I try to use the idea of going back to the studio as part of my motivation. I don’t want to be starting at square one when I get back there. I don’t think I will be as weak as I was when I started, but I know I won’t be anywhere near as strong as I was when the studios closed. I know my cardio ability is down too, and that’s going to be hard to get used to. So I keep reminding myself about those things to try to push myself harder.

But there is a chance that I won’t be doing all my workouts at home for much longer. I still am undecided about going back right when the studios open, but they do have a reopening date. It’s still 2 weeks away and other gyms are opening sooner, so I should be able to see if there are a lot of outbreaks at gyms. I need to make the choice that will make the most sense for me. For my physical health, I think it’s a coin toss between putting myself at risk and being able to work out better. For my mental health, no question going back to class is better for me.

I know that the studio owners aren’t taking the situation lightly. They have opened studios that they own in other parts of the country so they already had a plan about how to try to make things as safe as possible. I know that there will be empty workout stations so you are never next to someone else. Also, you will be the only person using the equipment at your station. Normally, for example, there is someone on treadmill 1, rower 1, and floor station 1. And when we switch you stay with your number, so 3 people use each thing per class. But when things open, if you are on treadmill 1, there won’t be anyone on rower 1 or floor station 1. They also are adding time between classes so they can do 30 minutes of disinfecting after each class. Originally they said that masks would only be required when you are coming into or leaving class. Now, since masks are required more in CA, I know they are working on changing that policy to be the best policy it can be. But for me, if I return I think I will wear a mask for the entire class. I don’t love the idea of having something on my face getting sweaty while I work out, but if that is what I need to do to feel comfortable working out I will do it. I’m not worried about breathing through the mask, it’s really just the idea of being sweaty that I don’t like.

When the studios open, hopefully I will know more about things so I can decide if I will go or not. I go back and forth on how I feel about it. But I need some actual numbers and evidence from other gyms being open for me to know which way is best for me. I also know that if I decide to go when they open that I don’t have to go for all 4 workouts a week. I will still have the option to work out at home. So maybe I’ll do 2 workouts there and 2 at home. I really don’t know. This is what I have been wanting but at the same time, I’m unprepared for it and don’t know what to do.

Now that there is a real date for when the studios will open, I hope that I feel a bit more motivated at home this week. I know when I could get back into class, and I want to be ready for that. I know that this might not be enough motivation for me to do exactly what I want to do, but I’m going to use it if I feel low at all this week. And hopefully, in a few weeks, I’ll be able to write about having a mix of studio and home workouts. And one day in the future, I know I’ll be back to writing my normal workout recaps and they will be all studio workouts!

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Feeling Like I Worked Hard (or At Least I’m More Used To This)

Posted on June 15, 2020 | Comments Off on Feeling Like I Worked Hard (or At Least I’m More Used To This)

I’ve been doing my workouts from home for a quarter of a year now. That’s crazy to me. It feels like it’s been forever and not that long at the same time. I never thought I’d be away from Orangetheory for this long, even when I was planning on my liver surgery. It still seems so crazy that before I went to Orangetheory, this time away from the gym wouldn’t have felt that crazy to me. But now, it’s a huge part of my life that feels gone.

Technically, gyms in LA can start to reopen, but the studios I go to won’t be reopening until they can make sure they have the safest environment for the staff and customers. I appreciate that they are doing that and not rushing to get people back in there. I still am hesitant about going back as cases are still rising right now, so I’m glad I don’t have to decide what to do just yet.

I do want to be back in the studio and back with my coaches and friends. Especially when I have bad weeks where I know I would have done better if I was in class and not at home. But this past week of workouts was actually a really good one for me so it made it a bit easier on me missing things. I did have a little bit of nausea to deal with, but nothing like what I had been experiencing the week before. And most of the modifications I made were to work around my hip issues, not nausea. Somehow, that makes things better in my mind.

And what was the best part about this past week of workouts was that I really was feeling like I worked hard. I was sweating so much (and it was just due to the weather because I was running my a/c while working out). I know I went hard and the dripping sweat was proof. I do know that I’m still weaker than I was while working out in the studio, but at least I can feel like I’m putting in the work. I even had some muscle soreness this past week. I know that’s not necessarily a good thing, but I see it as one. I also missed the feeling of being sore after a good workout, so it was a nice reminder for me. I wish I had different weights to use so I could feel like I am improving, but weights aren’t easy to find to buy and I don’t want to spend the money right now since I am feeling like I’m working hard with the weights I have right now. But if this continues for a while, I might have to figure out a new plan so I can find a way to get stronger instead of just maintaining where I am.

I’ve got my home workout routine down by now. I have a plan for what I do and how I do it. I have a routine to my workout mornings and it does give me a bit of that sense of routine that I crave right now in such a crazy time. Sometimes I am sad because I’ll do something that makes me miss the studio more than normal or wish I had my friends to joke around with, but it’s getting better.

It took me a while to get into a groove with the home workouts, but I’m glad that I’m finally there. When I get back into the studio, I don’t think it will take me as long to get used to it. I might need some time to be used to the new policies to keep people safe and to get back to what I know I used to be able to do, but that’s something I think everyone is expecting to do. And if things reopen and then have to close again (compared to things closing down before they are able to reopen, because I feel like another closure is ahead), hopefully I have an easier time getting to this point in my comfort with my home workouts.

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