I know I’ve said this a few times, but I’m seriously so grateful that I’m back at Orangetheory and doing my regular 4 workouts each week. I know there were a lot of things that were making me feel out of sorts when I wasn’t able to take class at the studios, but not having my regular workouts was a big part of it. And each week as I’ve been back, I feel more like my old self. I know things are still not completely back, but even having a regular (and maybe boring) workout week means a lot to me these days.
Monday’s workout was a strength-based day. I was grateful to have a Monday that I was feeling good since I haven’t had a lot of good Mondays lately. This workout was a pretty classic strength one for cardio.
We had 3 blocks and they were all similar. We started with a push pace, a base pace, a base pace at incline, a flat base pace, and ended with an all-out. The push pace to start the block decreased each block and the incline/resistance level increased each block. The idea was to have the incline work feel similar to the push pace, and when the push pace is shorter you need to increase the incline to recreate that feeling. I tried to keep my pedaling consistent from block to block when doing the same thing (so every push pace was similar and every hill section was similar), but the last block was tough with the highest resistance level.
On the floor, we had 2 blocks. The first block had goblet squats, lateral lunges, and crunches using the Bosu. I had to do some minor modifications due to hip pain, but nothing too bad. The second block had weighted front squats, single-leg deadlifts (that I modified to be regular deadlifts), single-leg hip bridges (which I modified to be regular hip bridges), side plank hip work, and then a 300-meter row. Even though I had a lot more modifications in the second block, I also tried to push myself more with the weights I was using. I know I’m still not back to where I was before the shutdown, but I was able to use heavier weights for a lot of the exercises.
Wednesday’s workout was a mix of endurance, strength, and power. I was feeling a little off, but that had more to do with lack of sleep and not any nausea issues.
The cardio work had 2 blocks with short push pace to all-out intervals and 1 block with incline work. The blocks with push pace to all-outs had 30-second push paces and 45-second all-outs. Those are all fast sprints which were fun to do. And the incline work was all 30-second all-outs with decreasing inclines. I’m glad they were short because increasing the resistance level on the bike is still something that challenges me a lot.
On the floor, we had 3 blocks. The first block had skier swings, lunges, and plank jacks to push-ups. The second block had full burpees with squat jacks and a 150-meter row. The burpees took me a really long time, so I only got to do 1 row, but I was able to get the highest wattage I’ve gotten since the shutdown (and close to my all-time highest wattage) and my time was very close to my PR! And the last block had deadlifts (they were supposed to be single-leg but I modified them), lunges, and running man plank work. By the end of the workout, my hip was really sore, but I know when I’m tired that can be an issue that comes up.
And Friday’s workout was a strength day. My pain and nausea started to kick in so I had to work through that. Fortunately, unlike most of the time when they are both bad, this time only the pain was bad. So I still had to breathe through the cramps, but at least I didn’t have to do the same for the nausea.
For cardio, we had 5 blocks that had similar formats. We started with a 90-second push pace, then a 60-second base pace, then a 30-second push pace at an incline, and we ended with a 30-second all-out. Each block, the first push pace increased the incline and time and the second push pace decreased the incline and time. But every block was always the same length in total because of the change. I didn’t have to bring the resistance level up too high on the bike, but because of the cramps I had, it felt a lot harder.
And on the floor, we had one long block that was broken up into 3 mini-blocks with 2 exercises each. You did each mini-block 5 times and then did a 300-meter row before moving on to the next mini-block. The mini-blocks were deadlifts and front squats, chest presses with weights and seated low rows, and shoulder presses and squats to high rows on the straps. I did try to go heavy on the weights since that is the goal with strength days, and I was using heavier weights for some of the exercises. But my rowing wasn’t very good that day. I had some horrible cramps while sitting on the rower and I just had to be slow and go easy. But I did complete 2 different 300-meter rows, so that’s better than nothing.
Saturday’s workout was a power day, and again I was struggling with pain and nausea. It wasn’t as bad as it can usually get, but it was worse than Friday. But I was grateful that there were very few exercises that could make me feel worse, so that’s a bonus.
For cardio, we had 5 blocks. Every block had a push pace, base pace, and then a run for distance or an all-out. The push pace and the run for distance/all-out were always the same amount of time. They started at 90 seconds and decreased by 15 seconds each block. It wasn’t the hardest cardio workout I’ve done, but I was happy we had a decent amount of base pace time because I did use that to recover and rest when I needed to.
And on the floor, we had 2 blocks. The first block had sumo goblet squats, lateral hops (I did these as lateral lunges), sit-ups (I did these as crunches), and a row. The row started at 100-meters and increased by 50 meters each time. And the second block had sumo squats, squat jumps (I didn’t jump but did calf raises), plank punches (I used the bench so I wasn’t totally facing the ground), and a row. This time, the row started at 250-meters and decreased by 50 meters each time. I had to take my time on the floor, but I still did almost 3 full rounds of each block.
I know my workout posts don’t share a ton of crazy stories. I haven’t had a lot of exciting news other than me being back in the studio. And I’m sorry if they aren’t as interesting as they used to be. But I am getting back to where I think I will have some great accomplishments and hopefully I’ll have some fun workout news to share in the future!
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