I had debated about changing up my workouts this past week. I do like to work out on holidays when I can, and fortunately, that usually works well with my normal schedule. But with the 4th of July being on a Thursday, I couldn’t figure out what to change up to add that workout in (and I didn’t want to have 4 workout days in a row). So I kept my usual 4 workout schedule and it was a good variety of classes.
Monday’s workout was a partner workout for Canada Day. We were all in groups of 3 and technically everyone had the potential to be the pacer. Whoever finished their work first was the one who started the rotation, and the group I was in seemed to be very equally paced and most of the time we all finished around the same time.
There were two blocks for the partner part of the workout plus a third block that wasn’t partnered. For the first partner one, the person on the treadmill worked on .4 miles (for me on the bike, it was 1.6), the rower had 4 rounds of 100 meter rows with squat jacks, and the person on the floor had 1 round of exercises (pop jacks, hip bridges, v-ups, and plank jacks). Even if you didn’t finish when one of your partners was done, you switched. For the second partner block, the treadmill person had 4 rounds of .1 miles and squat jacks (I had .4 on the bike), the rower had an 800-meter row, and the floor person had the same exercises but the reps were cut in half and you had to do 2 rounds. We switched often enough to not get too tired, but not too quickly that I didn’t feel like I was getting my workout in.
And for the last block that wasn’t partnered, we had 3 1/2 minutes at each section of the room. The treadmill/bike had 4 rounds of 30 second all outs with 30 seconds of recovery in between. The rower was the same pattern but we could either use the recovery time to rest or just row very lightly. And on the floor, we had the same exercises as the partner workout but the reps were down to 6.
Wednesday’s workout was a power day and it was a great class for me. Everything was fast and powerful and I love how those types of workouts make me feel. I feel invincible and like I’m flying and it’s a feeling I try to find other places in my life. But it seems like they really only happen the way I like them to in power based workouts.
For cardio, we had 2 blocks. Both blocks started with a 90-second push pace. Then we had a walking recovery in both blocks. For the first block, we then had a push to an all out pace before another recovery and for the second block, we had a base pace to an all out. The 90-second interval was the longest one we had and everything else was so quick. I was using my usual resistance levels on the bike even though they were short intervals. When the resistance is higher, I’m not able to pedal as fast. And as I’ve mentioned before I’m playing with the idea of having different resistance levels for push and all outs based on the workout. So for this one, I was a bit lighter on the resistance to help myself fly on the bike.
On the rower, we had 1 long block that had 200-meter rows and medicine ball work. We started with 1 round of a 200-meter row and then the exercises. Then we did 2 rounds of the row before the exercises. And the pattern continued with adding more rounds of the 200-meter row before the exercises. We were supposed to be doing lunges with medicine ball twists for the exercise, but I changed them to be squats with medicine ball twists.
And on the floor, we had 2 blocks. The first block was single arm clean to press using weights, push-ups, sit-ups to squats, and bicycle crunches. I did split up the sit-up to squats to be separate moves since I can’t usually do them together, but other than that I was able to do everything normally. And in the second block, we had ground to press with weights, triceps on the straps, and straight leg lifts. The straight leg lifts were a bit tough for my hip, so I changed them to leg raises which are still a challenge for me. But at least it’s a challenge I know I can do and not a challenge I spend a ton of time trying to do and not getting it done.
Friday’s workout was a struggle for me. I didn’t sleep well the night before (not because I was out late, I just had a rough night of trying to sleep) and both my hips were hurting. I knew I would need to be easy on myself to not do any more damage to my hips, but fortunately, most of the things I had to modify were easy enough to figure out a good alternative.
We had 2 blocks at each section of the room and for cardio and the rower we had a similar plan. The first block was the workout in one order and the second block was doing it in reverse. For cardio, we had rounds of push to base pace (30-second intervals, 45-second intervals, and 1-minute intervals) with a 90-second distance challenge at the end. For the first block, we started at 30 seconds and ended at 1 minute with the distance challenge after. The second block started with 1 minute and went down with the distance challenge at the end. I was using my normal push paces and did the distance challenges at the level between my base and push. I had to take lots of breaks for my hips, but I got it done.
The first block on the rower had a 150-meter row, 300-meter row, and 450-meter row with squat twists using a medicine ball between the rows. The second block started at the 450-meter row and went down. I took so many breaks on the rower. I think my hips were just not happy with how I have to sit on the rower and they kept feeling like they were going to lock up and occasionally I had the nerve pain that I don’t get that often. It did scare me a bit how much it hurt, but I took it easy and fortunately it wasn’t hurting me the entire time.
And on the floor the first block had bear steps, y raises on the straps, and plank rows using weights. I tried the bear steps but my hips were not ok with them at all. The option we were given to do instead were bicycle crunches so I did those and was just careful with how far I straightened my legs. I also did the plank work on my knees instead of toes because I wasn’t feeling stable. The second block was supposed to be all ab dolly work, but I modified a lot. We were supposed to do hamstring curls, knee tucks, and roll outs. I always replace hamstring curls with hip bridges so that wasn’t too odd for me. I did the roll outs on the straps instead of the ab dolly. And I tried to do the knee tucks but my body just wasn’t working how I wanted it to. So I did a few reps of those before just doing the other 2 exercises until the block was done.
Saturday’s workout was a mix of endurance, strength, and power and it was a tough day! It felt like we were doing work with no breaks and it really pushed me as well.
For cardio, we started with a 4 minute distance challenge. Then we were supposed to do rounds of half the distance from that challenge and 10 squats. I was able to get in 2 1/2 rounds of the half distance and squats before time was done. It was really hard to get in and out of the bike, but I still was happy that I was using that instead of the treadmill.
On the rower, we started with 4 rounds of 100-meter rows with 10 medicine ball squats. Then we started a really challenging row block. First, we had a 500-meter row with 30 seconds to recover after. Then we went down to 400 meters with the same recovery. This pattern continued until the block ended. 30 seconds of recovery isn’t much, especially when you are trying to get out of the foot straps to drink some water. I know a lot of my recovery times were a bit longer, but I did manage to do each row without stopping which I think made up for it.
And on the floor, we had one long block. We had 6 exercises, but it worked 3 major muscle groups with back to back exercises working the same muscles. We had high rows and pull-ups on the straps to work the back muscles, sumo squats and single arm snatches with weights to work the legs, and bicycles and situps to work the core. It was hard to do 2 exercises that worked the same thing back to back and I was taking breaks a bit more often than normal. But I also know that needing to take those breaks could be a sign of working harder and not me being weak.
Overall, it was a great workout week. I didn’t mind missing a workout on the 4th of July when I did get a lot of great classes in with my normal schedule. Hopefully this week will be similar and I’ll have another week that makes me feel amazing!
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