Category Archives: Fitness

I knew this week of workouts wouldn’t be my best, but I ended up having a few surprises as well. Some of the things I was concerned about weren’t as bad as expected. And then some unexpected issues came up. But I worked through most of the issues and had a pretty successful workout week.

Monday’s workout was a 2 group workout and it was similar to a run/row. Since most of my classes are 3 groups, run/row workouts are a rarity for me and I was excited to get to do one. The run/row was more planned and timed than most, but it was still fun.

For cardio, every block started with rowing. The first block was a 600-meter row, the second block was a 300-meter row, and the last block was a 150-meter row. We had a little more time than necessary to do each row so we had time to get back to the treadmills and bike and ready to go for the rest of the block. The first block was more endurance-focused with a 3-minute push pace to a 1 minute all out. I used my normal push and all out resistance levels for these. The second block was more strength-focused with hill work. I tried to do all my resistance levels higher than my normal push level, but I was starting to deal with a little bit of nausea so I had to bring things down a bit and go easy. And the last block was more power focused and we had rounds of 30 second all outs. I didn’t change my resistance level for these all outs but instead kept it at my base level and just focused on pedaling harder.

The floor was split into 2 blocks. The first block had lunges with shoulder presses and goblet lateral lunges. The second block was a tough one for me and I decided to challenge myself a lot with it. We had a lot of lower body exercises that used the bench, and those are exercises that I struggle with. I’ve slowly been working on doing them while using the straps for balance instead of modifying them a lot, but this block had a lot in a row. We were supposed to do bench toe taps, bench crossovers, and single-leg bench hops. And after all that we had sit-ups. I was able to do the sit-ups just fine, but all the bench work was changed a bit for me. I did almost a single leg squat using the bench instead of the toe taps, I did modified crossovers with just reaching back with my leg, and instead of the bench hops, I did almost a swinging lunge so I could get some of the same movement. All of the bench work was done while holding the straps so I could keep my balance and I did have to stop from time to time to have both feel down before continuing. But I still managed to do it when it wasn’t that long ago that I couldn’t do any of it.

Wednesday’s workout was a strength-based class and it ended up being very tough for me. I was already dealing with nausea, but I also had some side effects from my new medication as well. Plus, I think because of some of my nerves with the new medication I didn’t sleep well the night before. All of that made things rough for me, and the workout was a tough one even if I was having a good day.

The cardio and rowers worked together and switched back and forth. When you were on cardio, you did cardio, rowing, cardio. And when you were on the rower you did row, cardio, row. When you were doing cardio as a part of cardio (not in the middle of rowing), it was all incline work. I tried to work with the resistance levels a bit, but I ended up keeping things around my push and all out levels for the entire time. None of the incline segments were that long, but they were back to back so that made them harder. The cardio work in the middle of the rowing was a 90 second run for distance so that wasn’t as bad. I did use my push resistance level and did ok for that part.

On the rower, when it was a part of the rowing block we had different distance rows with overhead presses with the medicine ball between each row. We started with increasing distances (150, 250, 350 meters) and when we were back on the rower for the last part of the block we did them as decreasing distances. And the rowing in the middle of the cardio block was a 90-second row for distance.

The floor had 3 blocks, but block 2 was a really quick one. Block 1 had bicep curls and leg raises to hip raises. Block 3 had split stance low rows with weights and plank work. Block 2 was done when cardio and rowers had their 90-second distance challenges. The floor had 90 seconds of doing hollow hold chest presses. Normally I’m great at those, but doing them for 90 seconds it a long time and my arms were getting so tired. But I was grateful for feeling tired because it was a good tired and not due to feeling off.

Friday’s workout was called the Obstacle Course, and it was a really hard class. It felt like we had no breaks and that we worked even harder when we had moments between the main exercises. I also had to deal with my nausea and the side effects from my new medication which ended up making some funny moments for me. All sections of the room were one long block, but they were broken up a little bit.

For cardio, we started with a 4 minute run for distance. Then we had a recovery but the treadmills had to do it at 15% incline. Then we had a 3-minute run, 15% incline recovery, 2-minute run, 15% incline recovery, and 30 second all out. I used my push pace resistance level for all the distance runs and my normal all out level for the all out. And I went 2 levels higher than my all out for the recovery time since I knew it should be tough. The recovery did not feel like recovery and I had to take breaks from time to time to get through my nausea and drink water. I didn’t do as much distance as I would have liked to have done on the bike, but I think the high resistance level recovery affected that more than I thought.

The rower had a similar pattern to cardio. We had the distance rows and then when we had recovery time we had squats. I struggled on the rower. Not only was my nausea hitting me hard while I was trying to row, but I also ended up having to deal with feeling pins and needles in my feet when they were in the rower. I know that feeling is a side effect from the medication and is hopefully temporary, but it was really hard to row when I wasn’t able to feel my feet like I normally can. I couldn’t push back as hard as normal and I think I had a bit too much focus on how I was feeling and not on my rowing. I knew that the feeling was fine and I was ok, but it was distracting.

And on the floor, we had 1 long block but whenever the cardio and rowers had their recovery segments we had burpees. The floor work had thrusters with weights, high rows on the straps, double crunches, skater lunges, and running men. Each time we got through the exercises we got rid of the one on the end. But I never made it through the second time. I was pretty slow and I struggled with a lot. I modified the burpees and running men so I used the bench, but I still had to take breaks to let the nausea pass. Fortunately, by the time I was on the floor the pins and needles feeling was gone so I didn’t have to think about that.

Saturday’s class was much better with the nausea, but I had some of the same side effects with my medication to deal with. But overall it was a better workout and I was happy with that.

For cardio, we had 5 rounds of 1-minute push paces, 30-second base paces, and 30-second all outs. I used my normal resistance level for the push and base paces, but I decided to play around with what an all out would be like and did it at my normal base level but with increasing how fast I was pedaling. I’ve been doing that more often and I like having that as an alternative to higher resistance levels.

The rowing block was almost more like a squat block with a bit of rowing in it. It was hard, especially considering that I was dealing with the pins and needles feeling in my feet when I was rowing. We started with a 300-meter row and then 10 squat presses and 10 regular squats with a medicine ball. Then it was a 250-meter row and 2 rounds of 10 reps of each type of squats. I was able to do the 200 meters and was working on the 3 rounds of the 10 reps of each type of squats when the block was done. The squats took much longer than normal because of the pins and needles feeling, plus my hips were starting to hurt so I had to take a lot of breaks. That meant I didn’t make it back onto the rower as quickly as I would have liked and didn’t do as many rowing round.

And on the floor, we had 1 block that was split into 2 mini-blocks. The first mini-block had push-ups and pop jacks and the second mini-block had bridge chest fly, bridge tricep extensions, and leg raises. We started working through everything once. Then we had 2 rounds of the push-ups and pop jacks before moving onto 2 rounds of the other exercises. Then it was 3 rounds. I modified the push-ups and pop jacks by using the bench, but other than that I was able to do the floor work normally which I was happy about.

I will be increasing the dosage of my medication this week so I’m hoping that either the side effects go away or don’t increase. But if they do, I might email my doctor and discuss it with her because I can see it becoming an issue if it doesn’t stop. But I’m staying optimistic that it will go away and my rowing will be normal again this week, just as my nausea ends. So maybe I will be having an epically amazing week this week. At least that’s what I’m hoping for.

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I had debated about changing up my workouts this past week. I do like to work out on holidays when I can, and fortunately, that usually works well with my normal schedule. But with the 4th of July being on a Thursday, I couldn’t figure out what to change up to add that workout in (and I didn’t want to have 4 workout days in a row). So I kept my usual 4 workout schedule and it was a good variety of classes.

Monday’s workout was a partner workout for Canada Day. We were all in groups of 3 and technically everyone had the potential to be the pacer. Whoever finished their work first was the one who started the rotation, and the group I was in seemed to be very equally paced and most of the time we all finished around the same time.

There were two blocks for the partner part of the workout plus a third block that wasn’t partnered. For the first partner one, the person on the treadmill worked on .4 miles (for me on the bike, it was 1.6), the rower had 4 rounds of 100 meter rows with squat jacks, and the person on the floor had 1 round of exercises (pop jacks, hip bridges, v-ups, and plank jacks). Even if you didn’t finish when one of your partners was done, you switched. For the second partner block, the treadmill person had 4 rounds of .1 miles and squat jacks (I had .4 on the bike), the rower had an 800-meter row, and the floor person had the same exercises but the reps were cut in half and you had to do 2 rounds. We switched often enough to not get too tired, but not too quickly that I didn’t feel like I was getting my workout in.

And for the last block that wasn’t partnered, we had 3 1/2 minutes at each section of the room. The treadmill/bike had 4 rounds of 30 second all outs with 30 seconds of recovery in between. The rower was the same pattern but we could either use the recovery time to rest or just row very lightly. And on the floor, we had the same exercises as the partner workout but the reps were down to 6.

Wednesday’s workout was a power day and it was a great class for me. Everything was fast and powerful and I love how those types of workouts make me feel. I feel invincible and like I’m flying and it’s a feeling I try to find other places in my life. But it seems like they really only happen the way I like them to in power based workouts.

For cardio, we had 2 blocks. Both blocks started with a 90-second push pace. Then we had a walking recovery in both blocks. For the first block, we then had a push to an all out pace before another recovery and for the second block, we had a base pace to an all out. The 90-second interval was the longest one we had and everything else was so quick. I was using my usual resistance levels on the bike even though they were short intervals. When the resistance is higher, I’m not able to pedal as fast. And as I’ve mentioned before I’m playing with the idea of having different resistance levels for push and all outs based on the workout. So for this one, I was a bit lighter on the resistance to help myself fly on the bike.

On the rower, we had 1 long block that had 200-meter rows and medicine ball work. We started with 1 round of a 200-meter row and then the exercises. Then we did 2 rounds of the row before the exercises. And the pattern continued with adding more rounds of the 200-meter row before the exercises. We were supposed to be doing lunges with medicine ball twists for the exercise, but I changed them to be squats with medicine ball twists.

And on the floor, we had 2 blocks. The first block was single arm clean to press using weights, push-ups, sit-ups to squats, and bicycle crunches. I did split up the sit-up to squats to be separate moves since I can’t usually do them together, but other than that I was able to do everything normally. And in the second block, we had ground to press with weights, triceps on the straps, and straight leg lifts. The straight leg lifts were a bit tough for my hip, so I changed them to leg raises which are still a challenge for me. But at least it’s a challenge I know I can do and not a challenge I spend a ton of time trying to do and not getting it done.

Friday’s workout was a struggle for me. I didn’t sleep well the night before (not because I was out late, I just had a rough night of trying to sleep) and both my hips were hurting. I knew I would need to be easy on myself to not do any more damage to my hips, but fortunately, most of the things I had to modify were easy enough to figure out a good alternative.

We had 2 blocks at each section of the room and for cardio and the rower we had a similar plan. The first block was the workout in one order and the second block was doing it in reverse. For cardio, we had rounds of push to base pace (30-second intervals, 45-second intervals, and 1-minute intervals) with a 90-second distance challenge at the end. For the first block, we started at 30 seconds and ended at 1 minute with the distance challenge after. The second block started with 1 minute and went down with the distance challenge at the end. I was using my normal push paces and did the distance challenges at the level between my base and push. I had to take lots of breaks for my hips, but I got it done.

The first block on the rower had a 150-meter row, 300-meter row, and 450-meter row with squat twists using a medicine ball between the rows. The second block started at the 450-meter row and went down. I took so many breaks on the rower. I think my hips were just not happy with how I have to sit on the rower and they kept feeling like they were going to lock up and occasionally I had the nerve pain that I don’t get that often. It did scare me a bit how much it hurt, but I took it easy and fortunately it wasn’t hurting me the entire time.

And on the floor the first block had bear steps, y raises on the straps, and plank rows using weights. I tried the bear steps but my hips were not ok with them at all. The option we were given to do instead were bicycle crunches so I did those and was just careful with how far I straightened my legs. I also did the plank work on my knees instead of toes because I wasn’t feeling stable. The second block was supposed to be all ab dolly work, but I modified a lot. We were supposed to do hamstring curls, knee tucks, and roll outs. I always replace hamstring curls with hip bridges so that wasn’t too odd for me. I did the roll outs on the straps instead of the ab dolly. And I tried to do the knee tucks but my body just wasn’t working how I wanted it to. So I did a few reps of those before just doing the other 2 exercises until the block was done.

Saturday’s workout was a mix of endurance, strength, and power and it was a tough day! It felt like we were doing work with no breaks and it really pushed me as well.

For cardio, we started with a 4 minute distance challenge. Then we were supposed to do rounds of half the distance from that challenge and 10 squats. I was able to get in 2 1/2 rounds of the half distance and squats before time was done. It was really hard to get in and out of the bike, but I still was happy that I was using that instead of the treadmill.

On the rower, we started with 4 rounds of 100-meter rows with 10 medicine ball squats. Then we started a really challenging row block. First, we had a 500-meter row with 30 seconds to recover after. Then we went down to 400 meters with the same recovery. This pattern continued until the block ended. 30 seconds of recovery isn’t much, especially when you are trying to get out of the foot straps to drink some water. I know a lot of my recovery times were a bit longer, but I did manage to do each row without stopping which I think made up for it.

And on the floor, we had one long block. We had 6 exercises, but it worked 3 major muscle groups with back to back exercises working the same muscles. We had high rows and pull-ups on the straps to work the back muscles, sumo squats and single arm snatches with weights to work the legs, and bicycles and situps to work the core. It was hard to do 2 exercises that worked the same thing back to back and I was taking breaks a bit more often than normal. But I also know that needing to take those breaks could be a sign of working harder and not me being weak.

Overall, it was a great workout week. I didn’t mind missing a workout on the 4th of July when I did get a lot of great classes in with my normal schedule. Hopefully this week will be similar and I’ll have another week that makes me feel amazing!

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This past week of workouts covered the full spectrum of how I feel each month. I had some workouts with horrible pain and nausea, some workouts with other health issues, and some workouts feeling ok. It really did change a lot from day to day this past week and I wasn’t sure what to expect each morning when I woke up. Fortunately, I’ve been dealing with this long enough that I’m prepared for almost anything. But it still messed with me a bit when I wasn’t sure how I’d react to different aspects of the workouts.

Monday’s workout was a strength day. I was feeling pretty horrible but I was determined to make the best out of it. Besides my normal pain and nausea, I was also dealing with a new issue. Because I wasn’t eating much (and things weren’t staying in my stomach), I was extremely hungry while working out. I don’t normally eat before my morning workouts because I find that I work better on an empty stomach, but this was a much emptier stomach feeling than I’m used to.

For cardio, we had 2 blocks. Even though one block was 8 minutes and the other was 4 minutes, they had the same idea. We were supposed to decrease the incline/resistance levels at specific intervals. But I was not feeling like I could do those resistance levels based on how I was feeling and the lack of focus I was experiencing. So I just did both blocks at the level between my base and push paces the entire time. It wasn’t the best cardio workout, but it was more than doing nothing which is something I have to remind myself of when I have days like this one.

On the rower, we started with a 4 minute row for distance. After that row we had exercises but I modified them to be regular squats and pulsing half squats. Then we had a 2 minute row with more exercises (I did my squats again) and then a 1 minute row and 30 second row. I wasn’t rowing as hard as I usually do so my distances weren’t that great. And even with doing squats as my modification I was still much slower than I thought I’d be between each row. Again, I had to have the mindset that it was better than nothing.

The floor had 2 blocks and I felt like I did the best with those blocks. The first block was drop sets with low rows with weights and overhead triceps. Drop sets are when you do a heavy weight for a low rep count immediately followed by a lighter weight and higher rep count. I wasn’t going as heavy as I have done in the past with the weights, but they were still heavier than I was using last year. That first block also had v-up sit-ups and I had to modify those a little to keep my balance. And the second block had side hip dips and side to side crunches, both of which I was able to do fine so I ended my workout on a good note.

Wednesday’s workout was another strength day, but I was feeling a little better than I was on Monday. I was still struggling a bit, but it was much more manageable and I felt like I could make the workout a little closer to my normal. We had 2 blocks at each section of the room and we rotated after each block which helped to break things up a bit.

For cardio, we had the same block both times we were there. It was a push pace for distance followed by a base pace for distance. And each time we did the push pace the incline or resistance level was supposed to go up by 1. I started doing my push paces at my normal push pace level and was able to do the increases I was supposed to. Since the block wasn’t super long, I was finishing both blocks with a push pace at the resistance level I usually use for my all out, which seemed very fitting and right.

The rower had similar blocks for both blocks. We started with a 250 meter row and then had medicine ball exercises. Then a 200 meter row and more exercises. Each row went down 50 meters. Both times I was working on my 150 meter row when the block ended. The first block was supposed to be lunges with overhead triceps for the exercise, but I modified it to be squats with triceps. And the second block had squats with side rotations which I was able to do normally.

And on the floor, we had a good mix of upper body and lower body work with a little bit of core work. The first block had lunges while holding a weight goblet style under the chin, plank work, and hollow hold single arm chest presses. I had to modify the plank work due to my nausea since I can’t do normal planks when I feel like I did. We were supposed to do plank pull throughs with a weight, but I did plank shoulder taps using the bench so I wasn’t totally face down. The second block needed a bit more modification for me. We were supposed to have back extensions and half get-ups with weights. I could do the half get-ups, but back extensions are definitely out when I am nauseous. I did low rows on the straps instead since that exercise works the back muscles, but I did feel a bit disappointed that I didn’t feel the same stretch that I get when I do back extensions.

Friday’s workout was a signature workout: the Everest Challenge. I’ve done this challenge a few times in the past so I know what I’m in for. But even though I knew what the workout would be I still never know how well I’ll do with it. I was feeling a bit less nauseous going into the workout, but my cramps and pain had gotten much worse. The pain reminded me of the pain I had before my hip surgery. My vision would go white when I had a cramp sometimes and I just had to stop whatever I was doing to let it pass. I hate that I have dealt with this type of pain enough that I know what to do, but I guess I should also be grateful for that.

For the Everest Challenge for a 3 group class, we have 14 minutes of work. Every minute for the first 7 minutes the incline on the treadmill or the resistance level on the bike goes up by 1. And for the last 7 minutes, every minute we go down by 1 so we end exactly where we started. I know the resistance levels on the bike that I’m comfortable with plus I had to take into account how I was feeling. So I started lower than I normally use as my base pace level. The highest resistance I got to was 2 levels above what I use for my all out, but it’s a level I use for incline work from time to time so it wasn’t horribly hard. I tried my best to not take breaks while doing the challenge, but sometimes the pain required me to. But when it was done, I was happy with what I did. It wasn’t the best attempt I’ve had with the challenge, but it was a good attempt.

On the rower, we started with a 100 meter row and then we were supposed to do squats and lunges with the medicine ball. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to do the lunges so I just did the squats to start. But then the squats started making me nauseous so I had to do the medicine ball work on its own. Each round we had on the rower increased by 100 meters and the reps with the medicine ball went down by 2.

And on the floor, we had 2 blocks. The first block had chest presses, hammer curls, and bicycle crunches. And the second block had bench plank work (which meant I didn’t have to modify it), tricep extensions with weights, and leg raises. I was feeling a bit more normal by the time I was on the floor, but it was still challenging to get through things and it was frustrating how often I had to take breaks.

By some miracle, I was feeling like myself by Saturday’s workout. The only thing I was dealing with was a little soreness from the Everest Challenge, but I was very happy to deal with than and not nausea and cramps. I was a little weak from issues related to nausea, but it was still nothing like how I feel when I’m in the middle of the worst days. This workout was a power day and it was the perfect way to end my week and to feel back to normal.

The cardio workout had 2 blocks. The first block was repeating push pace, base pace, all out, and walking recovery 3 times. Each time we did it, the base pace got a little longer. It was a great block for me on the bike and I felt so strong because I had time to recovery so often. The second block was 3 rounds of 30 second all outs with recovery between them. Again, I felt like I was flying and pedaling so quickly because I had a lot of recovery time. It was the best boost to my confidence.

On the rower, it was all about having powerful strokes. We started with doing 20 power strokes. You were supposed to go slowly with these because you wanted to be able to explode backwards each stroke. Then we were supposed to do lunges with medicine ball tricep work. Since it’s tough for me to get in and out of the rower, I did squats instead. Each round on the rower went down 2 stokes but we were supposed to maintain the power we got each round.

And on the floor, we also had 2 blocks. But these blocks took a bit of modification to make it work for me. The first block was single arm hip swings, lunges with power steps, plank work, and v-ups. I couldn’t do the lunges the way we were supposed to and I didn’t want to just do regular lunges. So I did the movement while standing on the bench and holding on to the straps. It was a good balance challenge for me. And the second block was supposed to be lunges using the bench and squat jacks. I did regular lunges and regular squats instead.

This past week of workouts marked half way through the year and as I mentioned last week I’m over half way to my goal for my workouts this year. It wasn’t the best week of workouts to mark it, but I still did my 4 workouts a week. Next week is a holiday week and I’m still debating if I should change up my workouts a bit. But I know for sure I should be getting in my 4 next week since I don’t want to slack off and miss my goal when December 31st is here!

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This past week of workouts had some really amazing moments and some really annoying moments. It really was a week of ups and downs for me. I knew going into the week that I would likely be nauseous for at least a part of it. And that was accurate. But I still had some really great victories that even the worst pain and nausea couldn’t bring down.

Monday’s workout was an interesting day. First, it ended up being a 2 group class. My normal classes are all 3 group ones so it’s been a while since I was in a 2 group class. But it was fun to take one when I’m not used to it. Also, the workout had the 200 meter benchmark row. Rowing benchmarks are very competitive for me, especially the short distance ones. I knew what my best was from before going into class, and while I would have loved to have beaten it I went into class just hoping I was close.

I started with cardio but since everyone was going to do the benchmark toward the beginning of class we started with an extended warmup. Then it was time to head to the rower to try my best with 200 meters. I know that for the sprint rows like that it doesn’t matter to have nice long pulls on the rower. So I tried to keep my strokes short and fast. I think I got the wattage higher than it ever has been which is a great accomplishment. I didn’t get a personal best, but I was close and was very happy with that.

After everyone in class finished the benchmark, then we were back to regular blocks. For cardio, we had a lot of all outs with walking recoveries and push paces with base paces after. I stuck to my normal resistance levels on the bike and just focused on not letting the higher resistance levels make my pedaling slower. It’s not easy to go at the same speed when it’s harder to pedal, but I was close to keeping everything within the same range.

On the floor, we had 2 blocks. The first block was longer and had shoulder presses, lunges, plank low rows, and sit-ups. After completing those exercises we had a 100 meter row. I was more determined to see what I could do with a sprint row so I asked my coach for a little bit more advice on what to do. He gave me some pointers on keeping my strokes short and he made sure that my hard rowing didn’t make the rower bounce too much (which does happen from time to time). Even though I already did over 40 minutes of my workout, I was able to get my 100 meter row within a fraction of a second of my personal best. My coach said if I had done it toward the beginning of class that I probably would have gotten a personal best. The second floor block was shorter and had toe-tap lunges, bench hop overs, and crunches. By the time class was done, I was exhausted from the work I did on the rower but felt super accomplished.

Wednesday’s workout was the first day that I was experiencing nausea. It wasn’t as horrible as it could get, but it still slowed me down and made me a little extra cautious during the workout. So I just worked on modifying where I needed to and just worked what I could.

For cardio, it was pretty simple. We had 3 rounds of 3 minute distance challenges. I put the resistance level between my base and push pace and that was comfortable yet still a bit of a challenge for me. I know if I was feeling my best I would have done better with the distance each time, but I was just happy doing what I could and feeling like I didn’t have to modify the cardio work too much.

On the rower, we had 3 rounds of 400 meter rows with ground to press using a medicine ball after the row. But my station ended up having a broken rower so I used the bike again. I did the bike for 2 minutes (approximately the time I do a 400 meter row in) and then got off the bike for the ground to press. It wasn’t that bad having to do more bike work and I’m ok with missing the rower.

And on the floor, we had 3 blocks. The first block was the longest and had single leg deadlifts (I used the wall for balance), squats, bicycle crunchs, and hip raises. The second block was a bit shorter and it was mini-band work with hip bridges and scissor crunches. And the last block was a 1 minute plank and I used the bench to help keep the nausea from getting worse. Overall, it wasn’t my best workout but it wasn’t my worst either.

Friday’s workout was much worse for me in terms of my pain and nausea. I was having what I hope will be the worst day this cycle and I just had to tolerate it and hope for the best in my workout. I am so grateful that my coaches know me well enough to know that when I’m having a bad day that they don’t have to worry about me. This was a day I wanted to be left alone for a lot of it.

For cardio, we had 2 blocks. One was a 4 minute block and the other was an 8 minute block. For the 4 minute block, we were supposed to have increases every 30 seconds and for the 8 minute block we were supposed to have increases every minute. For both blocks, I just kept the bike as my base pace resistance level. I couldn’t really do any more than that and I had to take a lot of breaks during each block.

For the rower, both blocks were similar. The first block was rounds of 100 meter rows with medicine ball squats between each row. And the second block was rounds of 200 meter rows with medicine ball squats between each row. I was fine with the squats for the first block, but by the second block, I discovered that squats were making me feel super nauseous. I had to skip the squats but I did do overhead presses with the medicine ball.

And on the floor, we started with walkouts to pushups. I was able to do 1 of them just fine, but then I realized that being facedown like that wasn’t going to be ok for me. So I just did pushups using the bench instead. Then we had a lot of weight work. We had sumo squats with upright rows, shoulder presses, hip bridges to chest fly, bicycle presses, sit-ups with rotation, and hip raises. I was able to do most of the weighted floor work without modifications, but I was working very slowly.

Saturday’s workout was a strength day and I was feeling a little better than how I was on Friday. I was still struggling, but I was able to do a bit more than the day before. I’m glad I was since with strength days there is a lot of incline/resistance work and I wanted to do a little.

For cardio, we had two blocks that were almost the same. They had a mix of push paces, base paces with incline, high incline power walks (or high resistance slow biking for me) and an all out at the end. I did add resistance on the bike for the hill work, but I stayed within my normal push and all out range. I didn’t do anything too extreme but at least it was something.

For the rower, we had 1 long block. We started with a 700 meter row and then we had arm raises using the mini-bands. Each row went down 200 meters with more mini-band work between. I was surprised that I was able to do the rowing without taking any breaks, even for the long ones.

And on the floor, we had another 1 long block. We had weighted lunges, bench situp to stands (I split these to crunches and squats), lunges with torso rotations, plank work, and hip bridges. I had to make modifications to not me totally face down, but that was it for changing things up. So it was another workout that made me feel not too horrible about how I was feeling since I was close to the actual workout.

And I had another accomplishment in my Saturday workout. I have a goal of doing 200 workouts this year. This year isn’t quite half over, but I made it to the halfway mark of my goal!

I wasn’t worried about getting to half my goal by halfway through the year, but it’s nice to know I did it and with a week to spare! That doesn’t mean I’m going to go easy on myself, but it does make me feel extra confident about hitting my goal.

I’m prepared to have another tough week this week. Besides the usual issues I knew I’d be dealing with, I hurt my ankle over the weekend. I’m doing better than I was when I hurt it, but it may still restrict things for me. I guess I’ll just have to see what happens.

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This past week of workouts was a really good week for me. They were good workouts, I was not dealing with any nausea, and I had lots of opportunities to work hard. These weeks are the weeks that really help me feel amazing about the hard work I’ve been doing and I love them!

Monday’s workout was a strength day and it was a pretty standard strength workout. Lots of incline/high resistance work and lots of opportunities to work on weight work. Even though I loved all the themed workouts the week before, I was equally as happy to see one of the more standard workouts that I also love.

On cardio, we had 2 blocks. The first one was base work with no hill work and base work with hill work with an all out at the end. Even the all out had hill work which is not too common. I was playing around with the resistance levels on the bike to see which ones felt like the right levels for me. It was a bit tough to figure it out because the hill work was so quick, but it gave me a bit of an idea of what I want to use next time. And the second block was a 5 minute hill with the incline/resistance level going down every minute. I was able to plan it out so that the last minute was going to be at the resistance level between my push and all out levels. I needed to make that last minute a bit easier because my legs were so tired by the end of the 5 minutes.

On the rower, we had 2 blocks but they were very similar. The first block started with a 1 minute row and then we had lunges with medicine ball rotations. After that, we repeated the distance we did with the first row and had more lunges between each round. And the second block was the same idea but we started with a 30 second row. And on the floor, we had one long block. We had deadlifts, side lunges, regular lunges, crunches on the Bosu and Spiderman planks on the Bosu. I wasn’t using my heaviest weights for the deadlifts, but they were only one weight down from my heaviest. And I did go heavier for the weight on my side lunges.

Wednesday’s workout was a mix of endurance, strength, and power. I feel like each section of the room was a good mix of those 3 things and it made for a really tough class!

For cardio, we started with a 90 second push pace to a 60 second base pace. Then we repeated that and the goal was to maintain what we were able to do the first time. Then we had our hill work. We had all outs with hills (again, not something we normally do) and each round the hill went down. I was trying to keep my resistance levels on the bike above my normal all out level for all the inclines, but by the last one, I had to drop down to the level between my push and all out. The high resistance levels are really tough, but I’m getting more motivated to work on them.

On the rower, we started with an 800 meter row and then we had squats to shoulder presses with a medicine ball. Each row went down 200 meters and we had the same squats to shoulder presses each time between the rows. I was struggling more than I expected with the rowing. I don’t know what I didn’t have the same endurance that I’m used to, but I had to take a lot of breaks with each row. It was really weird and I just had to be ok with it and keep going.

And on the floor, we had 2 blocks. The first block was shorter and was using the bench. We started with being in a plank position on the bench and then we had single arm reverse fly using weights. And then we had sit-ups on the bench to squats. I really can’t do the sit-ups to squats in a single movement because when I’m on the bench my feet don’t really touch the ground. So I split up the movements and did all my sit-ups and then stood up and did all my squats. And the second block was all mini-band work but the mini-bands were around our arms so that was much better for me. We kept the mini-bands in the same spot the entire block and we had hammer curls using weights, scissor kick crunches with our arms up, and plank in and outs. My arms were really sore in the best way at the end of the workout because of all the mini-band work.

Friday’s workout was another strength day. I think being on the bike has made strength days a bit easier for me since I struggled with the inclines on the treadmill so much. I do struggle with the higher resistance levels on the bike, but not as much as I did with inclines. We had 3 blocks for all 3 sections of the room. The blocks were 2 1/2 minutes, 3 1/2 minutes, and 5 minutes. And each block within a section of the room was pretty similar.

For cardio, we started with a 1 minute hill, 1 minute base pace, and 30 second all out. We had the same pattern for the second and third blocks but the second block had a 2 minute hill and the third block had a 3 minute hill. My 1 minute and 2 minute hills were above my normal resistance levels and I did the 3 minute hill at my normal all out level. It was very tough to do 3 minutes with that high of a resistance level, but I felt so amazing when it was done and I realized I was able to do it!

On the rower, we had the same assignment for each block. We had rounds of 150 meter rows and then we were supposed to do lunges with tricep work using a medicine ball. I don’t mine doing lunges between rows if I don’t have to do that too often. But when we have to do lunges more often I really can’t do them because it’s hard for me to step in and out of the rower. So instead of the lunges, I did squats which worked out fine for me.

And on the floor we sit-ups, toe reach crunches, low rows using weights, shoulder presses with weights, and sumo squats. For the second block, we added torso rotations and all the weighted work was 2 rounds instead of 1. And for the last block, we added double crunches and had 3 rounds of the weighted work. I was able to go heavy with my sumo squat weight but not as heavy as I would have liked to for the other work. But I also know my arms were tired by the time I was on the floor because of all the tricep work on the rower.

Saturday’s workout was an endurance day. It was nice to have a break from all the strength work I had earlier in the week, but that didn’t mean the workout was any easy. It was still really hard and challenging and I got to test myself.

For cardio, we had 3 blocks. The first and last block were both 4 minute distance challenges. The second block was to do half the distance from the 4 minute challenge and then do squats until time was callled. For the second block, I cheated a bit and just did another challenge for time because I didn’t want to get off the bike. But for all of the blocks, I did the entire thing at my push pace resistance level. It was so hard to do that for 4 minutes at a time, but it was a great boost to my self-esteem when I found out I could do it.

The rower also had 3 blocks. The first and last block had a 90 second row, squats, a 45 second row, squats, and then to row until time was called. The middle block was a 3 minute row for distance. I was worried that I would struggle with the 3 minute row, but I did it without needing to take a break which was another boost to how I feel like I’ve been doing.

And on the floor, we had one long block. We had weighted chest presses, push-ups, triceps on the straps, plank work, single leg bicep curls with weights, and hip bridges with weights. It was a lot of work and my muscles were getting so sore after completing each round. I did take breaks when I needed to and I was still able to get almost 3 rounds done before the workout was done.

I really felt so accomplished after this past week of workouts. It’s so nice to just have a great week with lots of awesome work. I need these to make me feel better when I’m having a bad week. And I’m so glad I have this one in my recent memory since this week may be when my nausea kicks back in.

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