This past week of workouts was my first full week back at Orangetheory in the studio! After having 2 workouts in the studio the week before, I was excited to be back for all 4 workouts. I had some moments I was worried that doing 4 would be too tough (for a while in the beginning, I was only doing 3 workouts a week at Orangetheory before bumping it up), but I also knew that I had been doing 4 workouts a week at home. So I wasn’t starting over and couldn’t really compare things to how I felt before I took my first Orangetheory class ever. I did have a little bit of soreness from the week before, and I knew this week would also be the week I would be starting to deal with pain and nausea. But I was ready for it and jumped into the week full force!
Going in for my workout on Monday was such a great way to start my week. Even though I’ve been working out at home on Mondays, going into the studio is a different feeling. And this time, I also got to work out with a coach that I used to work out with before the studios shut down! There’s something awesome about having a coach I knew and having the class be even more like what I was used to before.
The workout was an endurance-based class and it was a real challenge for me. I know that building up my endurance is so important, but I’m just not where I wish I was during the workout. The cardio and rower did the same plan. We had 2 blocks and each block had 3 rounds of 90-second endurance challenges. On cardio, the last 90-second challenge of each block was actually a 60-second push and 30-second all-out. The rower didn’t have the all-outs.
I’m still getting used to being back on the bike, so I had to take breaks to stand on the bike and not have some of the pain I feel sitting on it. I did try to increase the resistance for some of the pushes, but I focused more on my cadence than the resistance. And on the rower, I really just tried to row as long as I could each time. I wasn’t always able to do the full 90-seconds each time, but that was the goal. I tried to work on my form a bit more too since I know that wasn’t something I have been able to do in a while. I think that my form was a bit better than the week before, and I expect that it will just continue to get better as I have more classes back.
And on the floor, it was also 2 blocks. Things were pretty focused on lower body work. We had a lot of lunges and deadlifts of different styles. I had to test out a bunch of different weights to see what felt right to me. I also want to make sure that I’m pushing myself too. It’s a tough balance to figure out what is heavy because it’s pushing me and what is heavy because it’s too heavy and my form will be bad. But I was better at not judging myself as much for not being able to use the weights that I’m used to.
Wednesday’s workout was interesting for a few different reasons. First, it was my first workout back where I had to deal with pain and nausea. Even though I have been dealing with it for my home workouts, it’s different dealing with it when I’m in the studio. And also, I bought some mask brackets to see if it would make working out in a mask a bit easier. It hadn’t been hard to work out in a mask, but there were plenty of times that I felt like I was eating my mask and I didn’t like that feeling.
The workout was a power day and there were 3 blocks for cardio and rowing and 2 blocks on the floor. For cardio, we had 2 blocks that started with a push to an all-out pace and then 2 more all-outs after that. And the last block was 3 all-outs that decreased in length each time. I focused mainly on cadence and pedaling fast and didn’t worry about using the resistance on the bike. I’m slowly getting more and more comfortable on the bike, so I think it won’t be that much longer before I’m back to working with the resistance more often. And overall, I felt really great about the work I did on the bike. I know I pushed myself more than I had in the past few workouts and I lucked out that my pain and nausea didn’t really affect that part of the workout too much.
On the rower, the first block was increasing rows with jumping jacks between each row. We started with a 100-meter row and increased by 50 meters each time. And my 100-meter row went really well! I wasn’t as fast as I was pre-pandemic, but I wasn’t that far off. I impressed myself quite a bit! The jumping jacks had to be modified because my nausea really was hitting me during the row. The second block was decreasing rows and I didn’t do as well as I did in the first block because I still don’t have rowing endurance. But I tried. And the last block was working with the treadmills and again, my lack of endurance on the rower affected what I could do. But I still noticed that I was doing better than I over the past week, so that was good.
And on the floor, I really struggled because my pain and nausea really kicked in. I didn’t take any medication before my workout and I really should have done that. But I still tried my best. The first block was upper body work with single-arm presses and bicep curls, which went ok for me. The second block had push-ups, bench sit-ups to squats, mountain climbers, and triceps on the straps (my first time using the TRX straps in over a year!). I had to take a lot of breaks to deal with the pain and nausea, but I still got 2 full rounds in and a bit of a 3rd round done before time was called and the workout was over.
Even though my pain and nausea were worse on Friday, I remembered to take my meds before my workout. They didn’t kick in right away, so my workout started feeling really rough but it did get a little better throughout class.
The workout was a strength workout with lots of incline work for cardio. We had no walking recovery during the entire cardio time, which also made things a bit harder. We did have some flat incline work, but that’s not the same as recovery. We had 3 rounds of hills. The first round was 1-minute at each incline, the second round was 45-seconds at each incline, and the last round was 30-seconds at each incline. So it did get a little easier each round even though the inclines went up a bit each time. And I did work with the resistance levels on the bike. It made it tough with the nausea, but I’m glad I did it because it was a good challenge for me.
On the rower, it was all about stroke drills. We always had 15 strokes every time on the rower with a medicine ball exercise between each round. The medicine ball exercises were supposed to be done while balancing on one leg, but I wasn’t able to do that so I did them with both feet down. We had tricep extensions and front presses. For the stroke drills, I was pretty good at doing these before the pandemic and I was glad to see that I’m still pretty decent at them now. It can be tough to make sure I go slow enough to fully take advantage of the exercise, and while I wasn’t as slow as I know I can go I was doing ok.
And on the floor, it was also one long block but broken into 2 sections. The first section had chest presses on the bench, chest presses on the straps, and bird dogs on the floor. And the second section had regular squats, single-leg squats on the straps, and alternating leg lifts. I did have a little bit of trouble with the bird dogs since those aren’t as easy to modify, but I was able to modify the leg lifts so I did them on the bench and they didn’t make my nausea that much worse. And while I wasn’t using the same weights I used to use before the pandemic, they are getting closer to what I used to do!
And on Saturday, we had another strength workout. And I was feeling a bit better than I was on Wednesday and Friday, so that was good. I still took meds before my workout just in case, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be that day.
For cardio, we had 2 pretty similar blocks. They both had 3 different inclines for 1-minute each. But the first block was increasing inclines and the second block was decreasing inclines. And again, just like on Friday, I did work with the resistance levels on the bike. They were getting a bit easier the more I use them, but I also am noticing more soreness as I use them. So I’m still finding the best way to get back to what I used to do on the bike. But it’s really nice that I’m seeing a lot of progress after just a week back!
The rower also had 2 similar blocks. The first block was rounds of a 300-meter row at specific stoke rates with 2 medicine ball exercises between each row. We had ground to presses and isolated squat raises. I was using a lighter medicine ball than I’m used to, but that wasn’t something I planned. I didn’t notice how light the medicine ball was until I was almost done with the second block. And the second block was just like the first except the rowing was for 1-minute instead. I’m slowly noticing my endurance on the rower getting better. I still struggle at times when I know I used to be able to row longer, but it’s getting better each class. I know we have a 2,000-meter row benchmark coming up (although I don’t know if I’ll be at class that day) and I would love to be able to do that with minimal breaks if I could.
And the floor was also 2 blocks. Both blocks were all weight work. The first block was uppercuts, chest flys, and pullovers. And the second block was bent over rows (which I modified to use the bench for my weights), scaptions, and tricep extensions. My arms were definitely sore after this workout, but I really am proud of being sore without hurting. It’s a sign that I’m working hard and pushing myself but not overdoing it. And that was something I was worried about before I was back to the studio.
For being my first week back in the studio, I think I did a great job! And considering that I spent most of the week dealing with pain and nausea, I’m even more proud of myself! I had what could have been a really tough week and I didn’t let that hold me back. I still pushed myself and I know I worked hard. And seeing my progress in such a short time is such great motivation for me. I will still possibly be dealing with some pain and nausea this week, but I’m already looking forward to what I will be able to do. Each class is making me feel more and more like my old self, and it’s a feeling that I’ve needed for so long. And I’m so grateful to be back. Every time I see my name on the heart rate board, it makes me smile because I know I’m doing something amazing for myself and it gets me ready to work hard!
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