Getting Back To Working Out (or Recovering And Going Easy)

After having to take the week before off of working out, I knew going back this past week wouldn’t be a week I could go all out. Whenever I’ve had to take time off, I’ve noticed that it takes a week or two to get back to my routine and not feel too weak. I was still recovering from the cold I had, which added to my weakness, so I was just very cautious. But I also was so happy to be back to working out because I missed it and craved the feeling I get from a good workout.

I was a bit nervous on Monday because I didn’t know how I’d do back in class. I still had some swelling in my throat, so I wasn’t always fully catching my breath. So I knew that I had to be very aware of how I was feeling and take breaks when I needed to even if I wanted to keep going.

For cardio, we had one long block. We started with a 30-second push pace and a 30-second base pace. We continued the pattern of the push and base pace matching, but each time they were increased by 15 seconds. We ended with a 75-second push pace and a 75-second base pace before having a 30-second all-out to end the block. I did ok at the beginning of the block, but toward the end, I was taking a lot more breaks to catch my breath and make sure I was still doing ok. The swelling in my throat also made it tough to drink water, so that was another reason I needed to keep taking breaks.

On the rower, for the first 3 minutes, we matched cardio with the push and base paces. Then we had stroke drills with medicine ball work for the rest of the block. We had 20 strokes on the rower and then squats with front presses and lunges. I didn’t use the medicine ball for the lunges, which I never do, but I did the squats with it and that didn’t feel too hard so I was happy that I seemed to be easing into workouts better than expected for the rower.

And on the floor, it was another long single block but there were 2 mini-blocks in it. The first mini-block was all mini-band work. We had torso rotations, scissor kick crunches, and toe taps. I did take a lot of rest during this, but at least I was seated for this first mini-block so it was easy to rest. The second mini-block was harder, but somehow I think I did better with it. We had skier swings, lunges, single-arm snatches, and standing wood choppers. I was going a lot lighter with the weights than normal, but I was very happy with how I did.

I was doing better on Tuesday, but I still was not fully recovered from my cold. But I was ready to keep going and see what I could get done in the workout. And it was a tough day, even if I was feeling 100%.

For cardio and the rower, we had the same thing on each. We had 3 blocks that were all timed distance challenges. We had a 3-minute challenge, a 6.5-minute challenge, and another 3-minute challenge. It was a lot to do, especially on the rower. But I knew that I could just do as much as I could and take a break when I needed to do so. I’m glad that I was breathing a little easier and I didn’t feel as much pain when drinking water because that helped a lot.

The floor work was a bit crazy and I had to do a bunch of modifications to make it work, but I did it. We started with 3 rounds of doing walkouts to plank pops for 30 seconds and butt kicks for 30 seconds. I did the walkouts but I didn’t do the plank work and I tried to do the butt kicks without jumping and found a way to make it work. The second block had 20 reps for each exercise. We had squat jacks, squats, lunges, mountain climbers, in-and-out hops, speed skaters, and burpees. I modified when I could, but I mainly just went slowly with each exercise and didn’t worry about rushing through them. And for the last block, we had 3 rounds of 30 seconds of squat jacks to knees to elbows and 30 seconds of squat jumps. Again, I took out any jumping elements and just went slowly with each exercise. I think if I was feeling great I still would have been exhausted after this class so I didn’t feel bad about how tired I was when I left.

I finally felt pretty normal by Wednesday, but I knew I still needed to keep easing myself back into things.

For cardio, we had 2 blocks. The first block was rounds of a push pace or a base pace for 1 minute each with a 30-second all-out at the end. The second block was rounds of a 30-second push pace with an incline followed by a 90-second base pace without an incline and another 30-second all-out at the end. The incline/higher resistance work was something I hadn’t done earlier in the week so it was another challenge for me to ease into. But I just kept things a bit lighter than normal and they were only 30 seconds each so that helped.

On the rower, the first block had rounds of a 200-meter row followed by a good morning using the medicine ball. Normally, a 200-meter row is a good distance for me to do, but I was getting tired quickly on the rower so I couldn’t quite push myself the way I wanted to. It’s hard when my mind is telling you one thing and my body is saying something else. But I knew I had to listen to my body. The second block had rounds of a 30-second all-out row with calf raises after each row, so that block went a little better for me and I was able to get very close to what I can normally do in a 30-second row.

And on the floor, we had 2 blocks that each had 3 exercises. We had single-arm high rows, shoulder presses to stands, and squats in the first block. And we had single-arm chest presses, deadlifts, and pullovers in the second block. I used a bunch of different weights for the floor so some of the exercises were with weights I normally use and some were with slightly lighter weights.

I’m glad I was feeling like myself for the end of the week because it allowed me to really try hard for Thursday’s workout. I did notice a few times where I needed to rest more than normal, but I think that was much more about a few lasting symptoms of my cold than me needing to work back up to my normal in my workouts.

For cardio, we started with a 90-second push pace, a 1-minute base pace, and a 30-second all-out. After a recovery, we did the push and all-out again without the base pace. We had that same pattern again but with a 1-minute push pace. And we ended cardio with an extra 30-second all-out at the very end of the block.

On the rower, the first block was focused on stroke drills. We did 15 strokes on the rower and then halos with a medicine ball. I usually do pretty well on stroke drills, and I was very happy with the distance I was getting each time. The second block had us doing 150-meter rows as quickly as possible and then rainbows with a medicine ball between each row. I wasn’t as good at the speed rows, but I know I never really am.

And on the floor, we had 1 block with 3 mini-blocks in it. And for each mini-block, we were supposed to do the exercises 3 times before moving on to the next one. We had lateral lunges and regular lunges, balance bicep curls and single-arm rows on the straps, and crunch hold over under and plank work. I did a few modifications such as doing bird dogs instead of the plank work, but I really tried my best to do as much as I could even if it was pushing me a bit more than I normally would. And I was very proud at the end of the workout with how I did.

Overall, this past week of workouts was a lot better than I expected after returning from being sick. I did have to ease myself into things a bit and I know that if I hadn’t been sick I could have done more, but this was a much easier easing in than I thought it would be and I think that shows how far I’ve come recently in my workouts. I can recover from time off faster and that’s a big deal! I never like taking time off, but how this past week went made me feel a bit better about possibly having to do that in the future. I know I can come back after being gone, and this past week really proved it to me.

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