I knew going into this past workout week that I might only get 3 workouts in and I might have to change the times. I was trying to do what I could to keep things as normal for me as possible, but I had to make adjustments and it’s ok that happened. While I love my routine and plan, it’s also good to be flexible because things come up. And I still got in some really good workouts during the classes I did take.
Monday’s workout was a mix of endurance, strength, and power and we had a lot of short blocks. When our coach was describing the workout at first, it sounded awesome but I wasn’t sure if it would feel like it had endurance elements. But this workout ended up challenging me even though the blocks were short and it was definitely an endurance day too.
For cardio, we had a run/row format but it was all coached so we weren’t switching on our own. When we were on the treadmill we had 2 different plans. The first was a 1-minute push pace, 1-minute base pace, 30-second push pace, and a 30-second all-out. The other plan was rounds of a 30-second all-out and a 45-second recovery. 45 seconds of recovery isn’t a lot, even when it’s a short all-out! And when we were on the rower, we had rounds of 30 seconds of a base row, 20 seconds of a push row, and 10 seconds of an all-out row.
On the floor, we had a mix of regular blocks and timed blocks. In the regular blocks, we had 2 exercises for each. We had hip hinge low rows and squats, push-ups and bird dogs, and mountain climbers and burpees. And the timed blocks focused on variations of similar exercises. The first one had bicep curls at tempo, bicep curls at our own speed, and holding a bicep curl at 90 degrees out. The other timed block had chest presses at tempo, chest presses at our own speed, and holding a chest press at 90 degrees.
Wednesday’s workout was a strength day and it was my last regular workout this past week. And for cardio, we had lots of hills!
We had 3 blocks for cardio and they all had 3-minute hills. The first hill was increasing inclines, the second hill was decreasing inclines, and the last hill we got to decide if we wanted to start at the top of the bottom of the hill and go from there. Whenever we have a choice to start at the bottom of the hill and work our way up or start at the top and work our way down, I always start at the top. I figure it’s more fun for me if the bike is getting easier as I go and not harder. But all the hills were tough and I got the resistance level up pretty high on the bike. And each block also had a 1-minute all-out at the end that wasn’t on an incline, so I went a little less than normal on the resistance level for the all-outs so I could feel like I was really flying as I was pedaling!
On the floor, we started each block with a 300-meter row. I really wanted to try hard on my rows, but it just wasn’t working for me that morning. I wasn’t struggling that much, but I couldn’t push myself the way I was hoping to. After the row, each block also had regular floor exercises. In the first block, we had curtsy lunges to overhead reaches and reverse lunges to shoulder presses (I did the lunges and shoulder presses separately). The second block had sumo squats to upright rows, weighted squats, and sumo deadlifts to low rows. And the last block had transverse squats (which I did as sumo squats) and goblet squats.
I skipped my workout on Friday. Thursday night was the ballot counting for my union election, and I had no clue how late the night would go. In the past, it went until very early the next morning. But since it was being done on Zoom, I didn’t know if it would be shorter or longer. So it just felt safer to cancel the class. And I’ll talk more about the election results in another post.
And on Saturday, I couldn’t go to my normal class time because my parents were coming to visit me! I’ll write more about their visit in other posts, but I went to an earlier class than I normally do so I could still get my workout done. I didn’t realize that I was going to be taking a 3 group class, but it was a nice surprise! It’s been a while since I’ve had a 3 group class and it made it a good challenge.
For cardio and rowing, we had a very similar pattern with timed challenges that decreased as we went. For cardio, we started with a 4-minute distance challenge followed by a 90-second base pace. Then it was a 2-minute distance challenge, 1-minute distance challenge, 30-second distance challenge, and 30-second all-out. And all of those had the 90-seconds of base pace after them. I was starting to experience a bit of nausea during class, so I did have to take some breaks but I tried to keep those to the base pace times.
For rowing, we had the same thing with the timed challenges, but we didn’t get the same 90-seconds of base rowing after. Instead, we used the medicine ball for 15 reps of squats and 15 reps of shoulder presses. Those 90 seconds almost didn’t feel like enough time to do all those reps and get a moment to breathe or drink water! It was a lot of rowing and more rowing than I’ve had in a while, so I know my form suffered a bit. But it was a nice way to challenge myself without feeling the stress of getting a PR on a benchmark challenge.
And on the floor, we had 1 block that had 3 mini-blocks in it. Each mini-block had 2 exercises and we were supposed to do 2 rounds before moving to the next mini-block. The first mini-block had single-arm dumbbell reverse lunges and lunge jacks. I had to modify the lunge jacks to be regular lunges without the weights. The second mini-block had lateral lunges to suitcase squats and cossack squats. And the last block had sit-up to torso rotations and reverse crunches (I did the sit-ups and torso rotations as separate exercises). I finished all the mini-blocks and was starting on the lunges again when the class was done.
Even though I only got 3 workouts done, I think I did a lot of great work in them. And it was nice to see that I could adjust my routine and not have it affect me too much. And this week, I also have a small change to my workouts, but that’s mainly because I’ll be doing a workout with my dad so we picked a different time from what I’m used to doing. I’m so excited about that class because it’s always fun when I have someone with me in class!
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