I knew this past week of workouts would likely be a bad one for me, but I’ve also had a lot of bad days recently. So to have this week be what I’m used to experiencing was a bit better than the unexpected random bad days. I was able to prepare for how I would feel and fortunately most of the things I did helped to take the edge off.
Monday was a bit worse than I expected but it was what I thought I would feel on Tuesday. Things just happened slightly earlier than I had planned, but I could still take my medications and do all the things I needed to before my workout to try not to feel too bad. And because of that, I think it was one of the better workouts I’ve had during a bad week.
For cardio, we had 2 blocks. They were similar with a base pace, push pace, and all-out with an incline with a base pace without an incline between each effort. The first block had lower inclines but longer intervals than the second block. For the resistance levels, I increased them by 1 for the first block and by 2 for the second block. And I didn’t worry too much about how fast I was pedaling since the effort was more about the added resistance.
On the rower, both blocks were focused on doing a 150-meter row. In the first block, we had either a front press or a shoulder press between each row. And in the second block, we had calf raises between each row. I was worried about how I would do on the rower since that can sometimes make my nausea worse, but I think I was saved by having shorter row distances so I didn’t feel that much worse.
And on the floor, each block had 3 exercises. The first block had lunges, single-arm clean to press, and hip hinge swing. And the second block had single-arm reach to rotation, single-arm close grip chest press, and a plank punch. I did have to go a little lighter for the weights than I would have liked to, but I was happy that I didn’t have to do that many modifications on the floor.
Tuesday was the toughest day for me with pain, but fortunately, the nausea wasn’t as bad as it could have been. And I think this was the hardest workout of the week, based on what other people in the class were saying too. So I just tried my best but I know I didn’t do everything I normally could.
For cardio, we started with a 1-minute distance challenge with a 30-second recovery after. Then we had a 2 1/2-minute distance challenge with a 30-second recovery and then a 5 1/2-minute distance challenge. Then we worked our way back down with another 2 1/2-minute challenge and ended with a 1-minute challenge. With only 30 seconds to recover after each one, it felt like we didn’t really have any recovery time and it was just a very long distance challenge. I put the resistance level between my base and push pace levels for all the challenges since I didn’t want to overdo anything.
We were similarly timed on the rower with 1-minute, 2 1/2-minute, and 5 1/2-minute segments. For the 1-minute segments, we had pulsing half squats for a minute with no rowing. For the 2 1/2-minute segments, we did a distance row with no exercise. And for the 5 1/2-minute segment, we started with a 100-meter row with lateral hops after. And the row went up by 50 meters each time we got back on the rower. I think for me, the 2 1/2-minute segments were the hardest since they felt like a long row with how bad I was feeling. But I was happy with how I did even with having to take some breaks.
And on the floor, we had some of the same timing as the other sections of the room. We had a 1-minute block to start and a 1-minute block to end and then a long block in the middle. For each of the 1-minute blocks, we had burpees, which I did using the bench for my hands. And for the long block, we had high rows, uppercuts, sit-ups to standing, and squats. I think the burpees were the worst for me overall, but I did have to just go slowly with the other floor exercises as well.
While I wasn’t feeling better by Wednesday, I was able to manage my symptoms a bit better which made the workout better for me. Plus, I think it was an easier day than the day before.
For cardio, we had 2 blocks. The first block had rounds of a 1-minute push pace to a 30-second all-out with a 1-minute recovery after. And the second block had rounds of a 30-second push pace to a 30-second all-out with a 1-minute recovery after. I was happy that the cardio intervals were short since that made it easier for me. And I did try to focus on deep breathing during the recovery so I wouldn’t need to take breaks during the short intervals.
On the rower, we had one long block. We had a 300-meter row with front presses using a medicine ball in between each row. A 300-meter row isn’t super long, but it was just long enough that sometimes my nausea would kick in during the row and I would need to stop in the middle of it to let that pass. But I was usually able to get back to the row pretty quickly.
The floor was probably the hardest for me that day. The first block had a squat to press, lunges, a y-raise on the straps, and we were supposed to do crab toe taps. I can’t do those because of my hips, so I normally do mountain climbers as my modification. But mountain climbers make me nauseous, so that modification was harder for me. But that’s what I had to do so I did it. The second block also had squat to presses and then we had deadlifts, plank low rows, and double crunches. The plank low rows were hard with my nausea, but I think they were better than my mountain climbers for some reason.
By Thursday, I finally was starting to have some relief from the pain and nausea. Even though I was still experiencing it, I felt like I was on the other side of things and they were starting to get better. And I’m glad because this workout had a lot of things that would have been hard if I was feeling worse.
For cardio and rowing, we worked together and switched back and forth every 2-minutes. It’s similar to how a run/row workout would be. Each block had 5 intervals with just a minute to switch between equipment. Every time we were on cardio, it was a 2-minute distance challenge. And every time we were on the rower, we had 12 lunges and then rowed for however long we had left. It wasn’t a lot of actual work, but it was a lot of movement which made it harder.
And on the floor, we had 1 long block with 3 mini-blocks in it. We did each mini-block twice before moving on to the next one. We had step-ups and step-downs (which I was able to do with the bench at the lower setting), single-arm high rows and single-arm reverse flys, and woodchoppers and plank rotations. I took longer with the floor exercises than most people in the class, probably because of how long it takes me to do step-ups and step-downs. So I actually never made it to the plank exercise in the last mini-block.
With all the issues I know I could have had this past week, I’m pretty happy with how my workouts went. And I’m so glad that all the pain and nausea that I experienced was what I’m normally used to so I didn’t have to leave class or do anything else to get through it. I just did what I always do and modified things as needed. And hopefully, this week I won’t have to do quite as many modifications and I’ll feel much more like my normal self.
You Might Also Like
An Almost Normal Workout Week (or Happy To Be Able To Push Myself)
This Is The Workout Week I Expected (or I Knew It Would Be A Bad Week)
A Short Workout Week (or I Guess I’m Glad This Happened On A Bad Week)
Surviving My Workout Week (or I Knew It Would Be Bad, But Not This Bad)
Just A Normal And Good Workout Week (or Using My Workouts To Get Out My Stress)
A Mixed Workout Week (or Preparing To Have A Bad Week Again)
