After getting through Mayhem, I was hoping for a bit of an easier week this past week. I know they make the Mayhem (and Hell Week) workouts extra tough, but sometimes the regular workouts are just harder than normal too. And I feel like this past week was definitely tougher than normal, but it allowed me to really push harder.
Because Monday was a holiday and I had the day off of work, I went to a later class than I normally go to. It was actually the class time that I used to go to before the pandemic, but it seemed like everyone was in a class later than they normally do because most of the people in my class were the ones I see each week. And because this was a later class, it was a 2 group class. I forgot that it would be 2 groups and not 3 groups until our coach was doing the intro, but since it was a run/row day it felt similar to a 3 group class.
For the run/row, every time we were on cardio we had the same distance. For the treadmills it was .4 miles, for me on the bike it was 1.6 miles. After the cardio, we headed to the rower. The first row was 300-meters and then we took as long as we needed to recover and then we had another 300-meter row. The first row was supposed to be a push pace and the second was supposed to be an all-out, but for that distance, they were about the same for me. The second time we went the rowers we had 2 rounds of a 200-meter row and the third time we had 2 rounds of a 100-meter row. For those distances, I was able to do better on my second row and make it a bit more of an all-out.
On the floor, we had 3 blocks. For each block, we started with a buy-in exercise of doing roll-outs on the straps. After doing one set of that for each block, we focused on the other exercises in the block. The first block had chest presses, y-raises, and reverse grip low rows on the straps. The second block had chest flys, single-arm shoulder presses, and high rows with weights. And the last block had chest presses, hammer curls, and single-arm low rows with weights. I did try to go heavier with some of the weights because I know my upper body is getting stronger. But I kept my lighter weights at my station because I did have to switch back and forth as I got tired during each block.
Wednesday’s workout was back to my normal schedule and my normal 3 group class. And while I know that now all classes have a mix of endurance, strength, and power in them, this class felt a lot more like a power class to me.
For cardio, we had 3 blocks. The first 2 blocks were the same. We had 1 minute between our base and push paces, 1 minute at our push pace, 1 minute between our push and all-out paces, and 1 minute at an all-out. So I started my resistance level exactly between my base and push paces and then going up by one every minute worked out perfectly for what we were supposed to do. The last block was a 1-minute base pace, 1-minute push pace, and 1-minute all-out.
On the rower, we also had 3 blocks and in each block, we had one row distance and one exercise and we went back and forth until the end of the block. The first block was 200-meters and halos with a medicine ball. The second block was 150-meters and lunges. And the last block was 100-meters and tricep extensions with a medicine ball.
And we had 3 blocks on the floor as well. Each block had 2 exercises. For one we had a range for the reps and for the other we had a set number of reps. The exercises that had a range were single-arm shoulder presses, suitcase deadlifts, and double crunches. And the set rep exercises were dead bugs, plank bird dogs, and back extensions. Because the blocks were short, it didn’t feel like I was repeating each exercise too many times because I used heavy weights and that took up time.
Thursday’s workout was a bit tough. I thought it might have just been me because I didn’t sleep well the night before, but one of my friends in the class said after class that this workout felt harder than Mayhem did. So I guess it was just a really hard class.
For cardio, we had 3 blocks. The first and third blocks were the same and focused on 45-second intervals. We started with a 45-second push pace followed by a 45-second base pace. We had 2 more rounds of that but each push pace had an increase in the incline/resistance level. And then we ended with a 30-second all-out. In the second block, everyone on the treadmills did power walking and nobody was running. This was all about the incline work for 30-second intervals. For me on the bike, I worked with really high resistance levels. I started at what is normally my all-out level and increased the level every 30 seconds. I have worked with these much higher levels more often lately, but they are still very difficult for me and it feels like I’m barely moving.
On the rower, we also had 3 blocks and the first and third blocks were the same again. For those blocks, we started with a 500-meter row. Then we were supposed to do foot exchanges and high knees, but I was only able to do the high knees. Then we rowed until the last 30-seconds of the block and did that as an all-out. The second block was a similar pattern, but we had a 250-meter row instead of a 500-meter row.
And on the floor, we had one long block with 3 mini-blocks. For each mini-block, we were supposed to do the exercises twice before moving on to the next one. And again, we had a range for the reps we were supposed to do so I tried to go heavier and went back to my normal weights if I needed to. We had single-arm low rows and tricep extensions, hip hinge swings and lunges, and push-ups and bench pullovers. I did make it through the entire floor workout and was working on the first mini-block again when the workout was done. I know I probably could have gotten through the exercises faster if I used lighter weights, but the challenge was good even though the workout was already hard.
Friday’s workout was an interesting challenge. I could really tell which sections of the room were which type of workout and that allowed me to focus on the workout in a different way.
For cardio, it was very clear that it was all about power. The first block had all 30-second intervals. We had a few rounds of a push pace to a base pace and then we ended with an all-out. The second block was all 30-second all-outs with 1-minute walking recoveries between each one. And the third block was all 30-second all-outs with 45-second walking recoveries between each one. It was nice to not have to work with any higher resistance levels for cardio so I could really focus on trying to pedal faster during the all-outs. I still want to get better, but I did notice that I was going faster than I have been pedaling recently.
On the rower, we were focusing on strength rows. We had all timed rows and we were supposed to keep the stroke rate below 24 strokes, which is just a bit slower than I naturally go. We had a 4-minute, 2-minute, 1-minute, and 30-second row. I was very happy that I was able to keep rowing the entire time for all the rows and I didn’t need to take any breaks. That’s totally a sign that I’m finally getting some of my endurance back with my rowing. Between each row, we had medicine ball exercises that I had to modify. We were supposed to do lunges with halos and squats with bicep curls and front presses. I didn’t do the lunges or squats but did the upper body part of each exercise.
On the floor, we had 3 blocks and it was about endurance. The first block was all about core work. We were supposed to do bicycle crunches and v-ups on the Bosu. I modified these to be side crunches and regular crunches but I did still do them on the Bosu. And for the next 2 blocks, we were timed with cardio. So for the second block, we had 30-second and 1-minute intervals. For 30-seconds we had close-grip chest presses. And for 1-minute we had to do 6 lunges on each side and then we could use the rest of the minute to recover. And in the last block, we did low rows with weights for 30-seconds and we had 10 skier swings to do and then we could rest for any time in the 45-second interval that we had left.
I’m seriously so happy with how I did this past week. I challenged myself more than I thought I would and I feel like seeing the progress was a nice surprise. And because there is a chance that this week will be tough for me toward the end of the week, I’m glad I got this boost before heading into a week where I might be feeling down about what I can do.
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A Week Of Mayhem (or Completing Another Fitness Challenge)
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A Week Of 3G Workouts (or Pushing Myself When I Feel Stuck)
A Bit Extra Pain In My Workouts (or Always Pushing Through What I Can)
Just A Normal And Good Workout Week (or Using My Workouts To Get Out My Stress)
