Finding My Inner Bombshell

This past week of workouts was kind of odd for me. I knew that I might have a little bit of pain and nausea at the beginning of the week, but I expected that things would be getting better throughout the week and each day would be better than the day before. And most of the week did go that way, but I also had a bit of a weird day in the middle of things too.

I was only feeling a little off on Monday, which was a nice change from the week before. And I was ready to get back into my workouts and hopefully have some good days in the week. I wasn’t able to push myself as much as I can on my best days, but I definitely did better than how I do on my bad days.

We had 2 blocks for each section of the room. For cardio, the first block was mainly 30-second intervals. We had some push paces to all-outs and some push paces that went into a base pace before an all-out. And after each all-out in the block, we had a 30-second recovery. The second block had the same intervals as the first block, but everything was at an incline instead. I did increase the resistance level on the bike for the second block by doing 1 level higher for everything except for the recoveries. Going up just 1 level wasn’t too much harder for the base and push paces, but it was tough for the all-outs.

On the rower, the first block was timed with the rowers with 30-second intervals. I did better than I expected on the rower, but I think that was because we did have recoveries throughout the block. I also didn’t row as hard as I know I can with the all-outs, so that probably helped too. The second block was rounds of a 30-second all-out row with lunges between each row. That block also went well, but again it was short bursts of rowing so that helped.

And on the floor, the first block was timed with the rest of the room for the first block. We had 30-second intervals of exercises with rests when cardio and rowing had their recoveries. We had lunges, shoulder presses, hammer curls, and bicep curls. We repeated the exercises throughout the block and at the end of the first block I was really tired. The second block was timed on our own. We had marching in place with weight overhead, step-ups, and bird dogs with toe taps. I put the bench lower so I could do the step-ups since I do try to do those whenever I can.

Tuesday’s workout was a bit more strength-focused compared to other workouts that usually are a mix of endurance, strength, and power. But I was happy to challenge myself since I was feeling a lot better that morning and wanted to get back to some of my better work.

We had 2 blocks for cardio. The first block was really tough for me on the bike. We had 1-minute intervals and the incline/resistance level went up every minute. I didn’t start quite as high as I should have, but I knew I needed to do that so I could keep increasing the level every minute. And by the end of the block, I was at one of the highest resistance levels I’ve used. The second block was a little easier but still tough. We had 30-second all-outs at an incline with recoveries between each one. And the recovery got longer each time. I did use a higher resistance level than my normal all-out, but it was only 1 higher than I normally use so it wasn’t as bad as how high they got in the first block. But it was still much more difficult than what a normal all-out feels for me.

On the rower, we had one long block and the row focus was doing 500-meter rows. This is usually a really tough distance for me to do since there is a lot of endurance necessary with it, but I used a lot of the same technique I used for the Dri-Tri and didn’t try to rush anything. I think focusing more on staying steady with my rowing has really helped and I did get through a few rounds without having to take any breaks. And between each row, we had overhead presses with a medicine ball.

And on the floor, we had one long block which focused on 2 back-to-back exercises that were about strength for one and power for the other. We had woodchoppers and plank pull-throughs, skier swings and deadlifts, and uppercuts and arm raises. I didn’t use heavier weights than normal, but because the exercises were back-to-back, they felt heavier than they really were.

Wednesday’s workout was a very odd day for me. There were a few things that made the day weird, starting with I wasn’t feeling great that morning. It wasn’t like normal nausea I can have, so I just decided to do the workout and see what would happen.

Cardio and rowing worked together for this workout. Every interval was 4 minutes long. If you started the block on cardio you did 1 cardio interval, 1 rowing interval, and 1 cardio interval. And if you started the block on the rower you did rowing for the first and last interval and cardio for the middle one. So in the end, you had 3 intervals for each. Each cardio block was the same, we had a 4-minute distance challenge. And on the rower, we always started with a 10-stroke drill and then rested before increasing the stroke drill by 5 strokes each time.

I thought I was doing ok, even though I felt weird that morning. But when I was doing one of the last rowing intervals, I had some of the worst nausea that I had experienced in class. I have only had to leave class once before because I knew I was going to be sick, so I didn’t think that would happen again. But unfortunately, it did. But I felt immediately better after that, so I knew for sure this wasn’t my normal nausea since that doesn’t get better after being sick. I was a little shaky after that happened, but I think that was more mental than physical since I was shocked I had to leave class to be sick. So I knew I had to go a bit easier on the floor because of that.

On the floor, we focused on cluster sets with the exercises. So we did a set number of reps first and then go heavier with the weight and do as many reps as possible. The goal is to try to get usually between 6-10 reps with the heavier weight. In the first block, we had cluster sets of a squat to calf raise and a low row. And between each exercise, we had either mountain climbers or skater lunges. In the second block, we had bicep curls and hip bridges for the cluster sets and squats and high knees between the exercises. I did make an effort to make sure I had the right weights at my station so I could use heavier weights for the second part of each cluster set. And fortunately, whatever issue I was experiencing that made me sick on the rower didn’t happen again so I didn’t have to leave class a second time.

And I had another good day on Thursday, which I was very happy about. I think it was probably one of my better days as far as how I was feeling, and it was a nice way to end the week.

For cardio, we had 2 blocks that were very similar. The first block started with a 2-minute push pace followed by a 45-second base pace. Then we had 2 rounds of a 1-minute push pace at an incline with a 45-second base pace without an incline after with an all-out at the end of the block. The second block started with a 1-minute push pace instead of a 2-minute push and the inclines were 1% lower than what they were in the first block. But they were the same intervals other than that first push pace. Even with the higher resistance levels for the push paces, I felt pretty good about what I was able to do.

On the rower, we also had 2 blocks and each block started with a timed row that matched the first push pace for cardio. After that timed row, we had rounds of a 20-stroke all-out row with exercises between each row. In the first block, we had squats between each row and in the second block, we had high knees between each row. Doing those row drills wasn’t easy since we have to go slowly with them, but I was happy that I was pretty consistent with each of my rows and didn’t tire out during the block too much.

And on the floor, we had supersets which are back-t0-back exercises for each block with one additional exercise. In the first block, we had chest presses and chest flys with cross back lunges. And in the second block, we had upright rows and high rows back to back with sit-ups to standing shoulder presses. We were supposed to use the same weight for the supersets, so I had to go a little lighter with my chest press weight to be able to do it for my chest flys as well. But that allowed me to focus on form and go slowly, so it wasn’t easier than normal.

Overall, I think this was a pretty good week considering I was coming back from a bad week. It wasn’t perfect and the issues I had on Wednesday really caught me off guard, but I think that I was able to work pretty hard for most of the week and I feel really positive about what I accomplished. I always worry that something will happen when I’m supposed to have a good week that will make it hard, but hopefully, this week that doesn’t happen and I have a strong week of workouts ahead!

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I knew going into this past week of workouts that it was going to be a hard week for me. I sometimes am grateful that I know when pain and nausea are going to affect me, but it doesn’t make it easier to deal with. And sometimes when I take all the medications I have, it doesn’t help so it’s just frustrating. I had some mornings when my medications helped a bit and some when there was no difference in how I felt. And for the entire week, I just had to push myself to keep going and not give up.

Monday was probably the worst morning of the week for me. We had a sub coaching our class and I think I worried him a bit because he asked me how I was doing and then he sent in the front desk staff to see if I needed help. I probably should have explained that I’m used to feeling this horrible in class and it’s unfortunately normal for me. But I did appreciate the concern.

We had 3 blocks for cardio. The first block had 2 rounds of a 1-minute push pace and a 30-second base pace with a 1-minute all-out at the end. The second block had 1-minute intervals with increasing speed for a total of 4 minutes. And the last block had a 3-minute push pace with a 1-minute all-out at the end. Even with how bad I was feeling, I was happy with what I did on the bike, especially in the last block. I did my normal push pace resistance level for the 3 minutes and didn’t feel that much worse than normal.

On the rower, we also had 3 blocks. Each block had a specific distance to row and an exercise to do between each row. The first block was a 200-meter row and back-and-forth hops, which I did as quick steps. The second block was a 150-meter row and side-to-side steps. And the last block was a 100-meter row and twisting hops, which I did as squats. The nausea was really hitting me hard on the rower so I had to take a lot of breaks during each block and a few times in the middle of a row.

And on the floor, each of the 3 blocks had 2 exercises. We had lunges, plank jacks, single-arm clean-to-press, plank shoulder taps, single-arm snatches, and hip bridges. It wasn’t the worst set of floor blocks for me, but it wasn’t that great either. I did a lot of modifications, mainly for the plank work. And fortunately, there wasn’t a lot of work that needed to use weights so I didn’t have to worry too much about trying to go heavy.

I wasn’t feeling that much better on Tuesday, but it wasn’t as bad as Monday was. The medication I took did take the edge off of things for me, but I still struggled. But I was glad that at least things were a little easier for me.

We had 4 cardio blocks. The first and last blocks were the same with 30-second push paces and 45-second base paces with a 30-second all-out at the end. The second block had rounds of a 30-second all-out and a 45-second recovery. And the third block had rounds of a 30-second all-out and a 1-minute recovery. The shorter intervals helped me not feel as horrible on the bike and I was able to take fewer breaks.

On the rower, we had 3 blocks. The first and third blocks were timed with cardio so we had push rows and base rows. And for the second block, we had stroke drills for 15 strokes on the rower with halos using a medicine ball between each row. I felt a lot better about the second block than the other blocks since the rowing was a lot shorter, but I tried my best with the longer blocks knowing that I do have more rowing endurance than I think I do.

And on the floor, we had one long block. We had 4 exercises on the straps and 2 using weights. On the straps, we had chest presses, high rows, tricep extensions, and y-raises. And with weights, we had lateral lunges and regular lunges. I did skip using weights for the lunges since it’s always a balance issue for me, but I was very happy that I didn’t have to modify anything else for the floor.

Wednesday’s workout was a new themed workout. This one was a playlist designed by a woman who posts treadmill playlists on TikTok. The idea of her playlists is that you want to match the beat of the music to your steps for each song. I had seen her playlists before on TikTok, so I was curious to see how it worked for class.

For cardio, we had one long block with 45-second intervals. There were 20 intervals total and every 45 seconds you were supposed to increase the incline on the treadmill for the first half and decrease the incline for the second half. And everyone on the treadmill was a power walker instead of having some people running. For the bike, it was the same idea but with changing the resistance level. I tried to match my pedaling cadence to the beat of the music, but there were times when we were at the top of the hill when I was using resistance levels I almost never use that had me pedaling very slowly.

On the rower, it was also one block. We started with a 100-meter row with high knees after the row. We went up 100 meters each time until we got to a 500-meter row and then we went down by 100 meters each time. I did the high knees as marching steps as I normally do, but between those taking longer than normal high knees and the breaks I had to take in the rowing, I didn’t get past the 500-meter row to start working down again. I wasn’t expecting to do much better than that, so I was ok with only getting half the row distances completed.

And we also had one block on the floor. Almost everything was with weights, and I used the normal weights I use instead of trying to go heavier. But considering how I was feeling, that was ok with me. We had reverse grip low rows, squats, arnold presses, deadlifts, and bicycle crunches. Only the bicycle crunches were without weights. And for the last minute of class, we had squats to arnold presses, which was not an easy combination for me.

Thursday was the day I felt the best and mainly just felt a bit off instead of feeling super sick. The nausea wasn’t too bad, but I did have some pretty extreme cramps that hit me throughout the workout. But I just took a break when I had cramps and waited them out before continuing on with the workout.

For cardio, we had 3 blocks that were identical. We did a 3-minute push pace and a 1-minute all-out. I did my new normal resistance levels for the bike for every block. It was a bit hard in the last block to keep going and I debated lowering the resistance level a bit, but I’m glad that I didn’t do that and pushed through.

On the rower, we also had 3 identical blocks. And the goal was to get further in each block. We had a 200-meter row followed by foot exchanges and squats before getting back on the rower and rowing until the end of the block. I was surprised to see that I did get further every block and I had a pretty significant increase between the first and third blocks. I think it was more about getting the exercises done quickly and less about my rowing, but I was happy no matter what the reason.

And on the floor, we had one block with 2 mini-blocks in it. We were supposed to do each mini-block twice before moving on to the other one. The first mini-block had close-grip chest presses, leg raises on the bench, and hip hinge swings. And the second mini-block had sumo squats to upright rows, rollouts on the straps, and step-ups (which I did as lunges). I had to modify the leg raises to be single-leg because they were hurting my hips too much. And when I was starting with the second mini-block, I didn’t have a lot of time so I didn’t do the sumo squats to upright rows to get through the other exercises first. The floor might not have been as great as the other sections of the room, but it was still pretty good considering how the rest of the week had gone for me.

I am glad that I probably am done with the worst of the pain and nausea for this month. I might have a little bit more for the first few days of this week, but it shouldn’t be as bad as what I dealt with last week. And before I know it, I should be feeling normal again so I can try to push myself without having issues stopping me from really going for it.

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