This past week of workouts was another 4 workout week for me to finish the workouts I needed to do to complete the 12 Days Of Fitness challenge. We had to do 7 out of the 12 days, and I had 3 days the week before so I needed to do 4 more this week. That’s normal for me with my workout schedule. But just like I’ve done recently, I had to pack in my workouts to fit with the holiday schedule so I did 3 workout days in a row.
Monday’s workout was Day 6 of the 12 so we had a few different 6-minute of 6 1/2-minute challenges and it was endurance-focused. For all sections of the room we had 2 blocks. The first block was 6 1/2 minutes and the second block was 6 minutes.
Both cardio blocks had the same format. We had a 3-minute push pace, a base pace, a 1-minute push pace, and a 1-minute all-out. The difference was the length of time for the push pace. I was still feeling a bit nauseous that morning, but I was doing much better so I could do a decent effort for the 3-minute push paces. I did put the resistance level at my normal push pace level to start, but in the second block I had to move it down a bit.
On the rower, the first block had rounds of 1-minute all-out rows with squat jacks and lunges between each row. I did the squats as normal squats and my lunges were not that deep because of feeling some hip pain getting on and off the rower, but I still did the exercises. We didn’t reset the rower for that block and then in the second block we first rowed the same distance we did in that first block and then just had the squats and lunges until the block was done.
And on the floor, the first block had sumo squats to upright rows with weights and lunges to bicep curls. I ended up splitting up each move so I had 4 exercises instead of 2, but I still did all of them. And then the second block was a 6-minute challenge with the Bosu. We had push-ups, pop jacks, and single-leg v-ups all using the Bosu. We started at 8 reps and went down by 2 each round. The goal was to finish the round of 2 reps, but I only started it when the workout was done.
Wednesday was Day 8 and it was a power day. And we had an 8-minute floor challenge.
For cardio, we had 2 blocks. The first block was rounds of a 1-minute push pace to a 30-second base pace with a 1-minute all-out at the end. And the second block was rounds of a 30-second all-out with 1-minute to recover between. It feels like it’s been a while since we had short all-outs with recovery for an entire block, so this was a fun one to do.
On the rower, we had a similar timing pattern with the cardio. The first block was the same intervals with the push pace to base pace with the all-out at the end. And the second block was technically the same timing, but during the recovery time we also had lunges to do before continuing our recovery. So we didn’t have the full minute to rest before the next 30-second all-out row.
And on the floor, the first block was a short block with bicep curls and tricep extensions. And then the second block was the 8-minute challenge where the goal was to get through 5 rounds of hip hinge swings, sumo squats to froggers, plank pull-throughs, and plank dumbbell taps. And if you finished all the rounds, the bonus round was double crunches. I was able to get through almost 4 rounds of the exercises, but I didn’t make it to the 5th one. I wanted to make it to the end, but I also knew if I went faster that my form would have been sloppy and that wouldn’t have been good.
Just like the past few weeks, I worked out on Thursday instead of Saturday. For Day 9 we had another challenge on the floor, but this time it was using the TRX straps.
For cardio, the first block was rounds of 30-second push paces and 30-second all-outs with 30-second recoveries, which felt like not having much of a recovery. And the second block was rounds of 90-second push paces with either 1-minute or 90-second base paces with a 30-second all-out at the end.
The first block on the rower was rounds of 150-meter rows with 12 criss-cross squat jacks between each row. I did regular squats instead. And the second block had 300-meter rows with front press jacks between each row with the goal to double the distance from the first block. For some reason, that day I really struggled with the rowing and I didn’t get that much distance for either block, but I tried.
And on the floor, the first floor block was shorter with gorilla rows with weights and overhead presses. And the second block was the 9-minute challenge with the straps. We were supposed to start with knee tucks in the straps, but I did mountain climbers instead since I can’t do that sort of unstable exercise. Then we had 3 rounds of tricep extensions, bridge rows, and squats using the straps. And if we completed that, we had the knee tucks again. But I was doing my last round of squats when the 9 minutes were done. I felt like this was the toughest of the floor challenges this week, but it might have been because all my workouts that week had floor challenges.
And Friday was Day 10 of the challenge but day 7 for me so I was able to complete the challenge and earn my hat! This workout was an endurance day and it was a really good endurance challenge.
For cardio, we had rounds with different distance challenges with 45-seconds to recover between each round. Because some of the distances were a bit longer than what I would normally do in a push pace, I set my resistance level to be between my base and push paces and that seemed to work really well for me. And even though the recovery time was short, I tried to pedal really slow on the bike to get some recovery instead of doing something closer to what my base pace is like, which is what I tend to do at times.
On the rower, we had our 10-minute challenge. We started with a short block with a 2-minute warm-up row with some push paces and an all-out. Then we had 5 rounds of a 2-minute block on the rower. We started each block with high knees and then we went to the rower to row the rest of the time in that block. I usually had about 90-seconds to row each time. And we had some distance goals to hit, but because my hips were hurting from getting on and off the rower I really didn’t get close to the goal time. But considering how much time I had on the rower, I didn’t do too bad.
And on the floor, we had 1 long block that all had exercises with weights. We had neutral thrusters, reverse flys, sumo squats to upright rows, tricep kickbacks, bicycle presses, and plank low rows. I might have gone a bit too heavy with my weights for the floor because I needed to take more breaks than I normally would. But it was a good floor block and a great way for me to finish this week of workouts.
Even though I have done weeks in the past with 3 workout days in a row, I think this is the first time where I had multiple weeks doing this. And I’m debating if I want to change up my regular workout schedule to be Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday from now on. It does make it tough, but it also makes my Saturdays a bit more open since the earliest I can go on Saturdays is at noon after work. I’m still deciding what I will do this week, but I know the week after I have to do this again because of the holiday schedule. So I think I’m going to keep testing this out and I know I can decide to change whenever I want. But maybe change will be good for me. I’ll just have to wait and see.
You Might Also Like
Kicking Off The 12 Days Of Fitness (or A Different Type Of Hell Week)
Finishing Up 12 Days of Fitness (or This Felt Like A Long Hell Week)
Kicking Off The 12 Days of Fitness (or It’s Like Hell Week Again)
A Very Short Workout Week (or Having Some Sick Days)
Finishing The 12 Days Of Fitness (or Some PRs and Some Setbacks)
Some Interesting Workout Days (or 3 Regular Workouts And 1 Traditional One)
