Giving Myself Some Breathing Room (or Just Getting Ready For Other Things This Summer)

Posted on June 7, 2023 | Comments Off on Giving Myself Some Breathing Room (or Just Getting Ready For Other Things This Summer)

I feel like I’m picking the right monthly challenges at the right time. I seem to know that I will need to do something in the coming month and focusing on it really allows me to make sure I do what I need to do. Sometimes I don’t know why I need to do something until the month is over, but it’s always a great lesson for me. And this past month was no exception.

The overall challenge I set for myself was to be ok with not being perfect. I wanted to let myself use that idea for different things throughout the month, but it mainly concentrated on one part of my life. And that was how I plan out my blog posts. I’m almost 11 years into writing and until May I wrote a post every weekday. Coming up with 5 posts a week is not easy. Sometimes I have ideas for each day and I can be excited about what I want to write about. But more often, I struggle to come up with ideas and I know that my posts can become repetitive. So my challenge with not being perfect was about being ok with not writing every single day.

As you can tell from the posts I posted last month, I did go down to 2 posts a week. My Monday post was my workout recap and then my Wednesday post was about something else. I debated if I wanted to also do a Friday post because I did have things that I wanted to write about, but I knew that it would be a better challenge if I did limit myself to just 2 posts a week. Sometimes I didn’t write about things as quickly as I normally would. For example, this post would have been on Thursday or Friday last week if I had my old writing schedule. I had to be more selective about what I was going to share, but that also allowed me to not focus on turning things I do into posts. I liked not having that stress and I know that this was the exact thing I needed to do for myself.

Giving myself permission to not feel perfect really did release something from me that I didn’t know I seriously needed. And my plan is to continue to not worry about posting every day. Right now, I think keeping it to twice a week is a good option. Later, I might want to add in a third day, but I want to do another few weeks with just 2 posts a week to see how I feel about it. And maybe it’s something I keep flexible and I write 3 posts if I have things I want to share but only do 2 posts if I don’t feel like I need that third post.

Releasing the stress of having to always think of posts has been great for my mental health. And I think I will need as little stress as possible as I get prepared for a potentially stressful summer. This summer is election season for my union, and that’s what inspired my challenge for June. This month, I challenge myself to stay involved in union things as much as I can and try to help others be involved as well.

I’ve already been working on this with the strike authorization vote. I worked on making sure all the people I knew voted and understood what the vote meant. Most people understood that the authorization vote didn’t mean we were going to strike, but we were giving the negotiating committee the ability to call a strike if necessary. And I’m so proud of the union because we had a really good voter turnout (at least for us) and almost 98% of the members who voted approved the strike authorization!

Union elections are always stressful, but adding in contract negotiations adds to that. We will have our regular elections plus we could be voting on a new contract if one is presented to the members. And if we don’t get a contract, there is a chance that we will strike. This is a lot of information for members to take in, especially if they haven’t been involved in the past. Even for me, things can get overwhelming with staying on top of all the things we should know to be informed voters.

But with all the craziness and potential stress, there are so many ways for me to stay involved and connected with my acting career. I know that I will be stressed (and not having to write as many blog posts will help to not add more stress), but it will be worth it. I know I feel better when I’m involved and active with the union. I look forward to the different opportunities that will be coming during this election season and contract negotiations. I might feel like it’s too much in the moment, but once I get through this summer I know I will be grateful that I did whatever I have the ability to do.

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A Very Rough Workout Week (or Taking Things Easy And Slow)

Posted on June 5, 2023 | 1 comment

I knew this past week of workouts might be a tough one for me with pain and nausea, and I was just grateful that it didn’t happen during Mayhem. But even with how prepared I normally am for my bad weeks, I really wasn’t ready for this one. I rarely think about skipping my workouts unless I’m really sick, but there were several times this past week I debated if it was even worth it to try to work out. I know that doing something is better than doing nothing, but I felt like I was close to doing nothing in several of my workouts.

Monday was the best workout for me this past week. I still struggled with pain and nausea, but it wasn’t as bad as it would get later in the week. I also got to sleep in a bit and do a later morning workout since I had the day off work. I think that helped make things a bit better for me. Because I did a different workout time, I was in a 2 group class instead of my usual 3 group class. And I got to have a run/row workout that was themed around choosing your own adventure.

For the first half of class, we had 4 distances for cardio and 4 distances for the rower. We got to pick which distance we wanted to do, but we couldn’t repeat a distance after completing it. I decided to start with the shortest distance for both and work my way up. That seemed to be the best way for me to do it, plus, the longest rowing distance was 1000 meters, and I didn’t want to do that one. I made it through 3 of the 4 cardio distances and was working on my 3rd rowing distance when it was time to switch to the floor.

On the floor, we had 6 blocks. The odd blocks were all the same and the even blocks were all timed blocks with each exercise being 1-minute long. In the odd blocks, we started with 1 rep of a plank jack, a plank pop, and a squat jump. Then we did 2 reps of each exercise and continued working with 1 additional rep each time. I usually got to the 3rd or 4th rep before the block was done. And I did use the bench for my hands which allowed me to do the exercises without getting too nauseous. For the other 3 blocks, they were 4 minutes long and we had 1 minute to do a specific number of reps for each exercise. And there were 2 exercises in each block so we did each one twice. In the 2nd block, we had bridge rows on the straps and side planks. In the 4th block, we had push-ups and lunges and I did chest presses on the straps instead of push-ups which helped me not feel as bad. And in the 6th block, we got to pick which of the previous blocks we wanted to do again and I the chest presses and lunges. It was a lot of work with very little rest, but I was glad I had the day off to rest and recover.

Tuesday’s workout was another signature workout: Everest. The last time I had done Everest was on my birthday and I had gotten a new PR for that workout! But this time, I was feeling really horrible. I almost skipped class that morning because my cramps were so bad I was struggling to sit upright at times. But I wanted to work out with the hopes that it would maybe help me feel a bit better since I know that can sometimes work. But I knew going into the class that I wasn’t going to PR and I wasn’t planning on tracking my distance either.

With Everest, when you have a 3 group class, you increase or decrease the incline on the treadmill by 2% each time. I usually don’t do that on the bike, because the resistance level gets really high even just increasing it by 1 each time. But I normally start the resistance close to my base level to make sure I get it really high for the peak. This time, I started it much lower than my base and the highest the resistance level got was only 2 higher than my normal all-out. Even though the resistance level on the bike was always pretty low compared to what I normally do for Everet, I didn’t get close to even my worst distance in the past. I was pedaling very slowly the entire time and wasn’t trying to do anything too crazy. I knew I wouldn’t have a good attempt, but I was ok with that.

On the rower, we had 2 blocks. In the first block, we started with a 500-meter row and then did lunges before sitting back on the rower and doing a 400-meter row. We continued that pattern by decreasing the rows by 100 meters each time. The second block was similar but we started with a 100-meter row and increased it by 100 meters each time. I did the lunges for the first few times in the first block, but getting on and off the rower was getting painful with my cramps so I spent the rest of the time just rowing and taking breaks when I needed to. It wasn’t exactly what we were supposed to do, but it was something.

And on the floor, we had 1 long block with 2 mini-blocks in it. And as we usually do, we did each mini-block twice before moving on. The first mini-block had plank low rows with weights, tricep extensions, and side plank dips. And the second mini-block had plank single-arm reverse fly, hammer curls, and bicycle crunches. For both of the weighted plank exercises, I did them bent over instead since that wouldn’t make me as nauseous. I was going slowly through the exercises so I didn’t get to the point where you do all the exercises as a single block.

Wednesday was another really horrible day for me with cramps and I debated again about canceling my workout. I spent all day on Tuesday in a lot of pain and it was so much worse than I can remember having in the past. I was staying on top of taking painkillers on a schedule, but that was barely taking the edge off. But I did make it to my workout and just decided that I would do what I could and I told myself I could leave in the middle if things got really horrible. But I know myself and I’m stubborn enough that if I go to class, it’s really unlikely that I will leave.

For cardio, I really tried to do what the workout was supposed to be but I was in a lot of pain when I sat up on the bike. I rarely use the handlebars on the bike and lean over because that makes pedaling much more awkward for me. I like to sit up and bike without holding on. But I couldn’t do that this time and had to lean over and hold on the entire time. The focus of the workout was doing all-outs with recovery after, and I just tried to pedal when I could and took a break when I needed to. I wasn’t exactly following the workout template, but I was trying.

The rowing was timed along with cardio and I did the same thing with just trying to row when I could and resting when I needed to. And on the floor, each block was focused on supersets and doing similar exercises with variations back to back. We had lunges (which I did as the same type of lunges since I couldn’t do the variations), hip bridges, chest presses, and plank taps. I did my best with each exercise and just didn’t go too heavy with my weights which helped me not need as many breaks as I was worried I would need. But for the entire workout, I knew I didn’t do as much as I normally could, even on my bad weeks. I tried to not focus on the negative and just remember that I showed up.

Thursday was still a rough day for me, but it was slightly better than Wednesday so I was happy about that. At least that morning I didn’t debate about canceling my workout so that was nice.

For cardio, we had the same block repeated 3 times. We had a surge cardio challenge, so we were in our push pace for most of the time with a 15-second surge when you were supposed to go just a bit faster twice in each block. I was able to use my normal push pace and was able to pedal a bit faster for those surges. Each block ended with an all-out, and while I didn’t use my normal all-out resistance level, I did use the level between my normal push and all-out.

For rowing and the floor, we had a switch template. When we started the block on the rower, we did rower, floor, rower. And when we started the block on the floor, we did floor, rower, floor. In total, we had 3 segments for each but they were broken up. The rower was the same as cardio with a push row with surges. I tried to make sure my wattage got a bit higher in the surges, but it wasn’t easy with how I was feeling. I did manage to only need very limited breaks in my rowing, so that was something better than earlier in the week. And on the floor, each time we were there we had 2 exercises. We had neutral thrusters and high rows on the straps, single-arm snatches and squats, and hammer curls and skater lunges. The floor went a lot better than expected even though I had to modify a lot of the exercises to make sure I could get them done.

Considering how bad I felt this entire week, I’m honestly just glad I made it to all my workouts and didn’t have to cancel the morning of. It wasn’t an easy week and I know my workouts weren’t that intense or always what we were supposed to do. But showing up is better than nothing and I’m glad that I’m finally starting to feel better. I know this week might still be a bit rough, at least at the beginning of the week. But hopefully, I will be able to challenge myself a bit more and feel like I really am getting in a good workout instead of just showing up and doing something.

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Seeing Six (or This Was An Incredible Musical!)

Posted on May 31, 2023 | Comments Off on Seeing Six (or This Was An Incredible Musical!)

Because I’ve had season tickets for the Pantages for several years now, I’ve had the opportunity to see so many musicals. I’m always so grateful that I’ve been taking advantage of having shows tour through LA and that I’ve had friends who have done seasons with me. I don’t always love every show, but I always enjoy my evening out seeing them. And sometimes, I see a show that is truly amazing!

I had heard a lot of good things about “Six” before this current season was announced. So when I saw that it was a part of the season, I was excited to see it because everyone seemed to enjoy the show. I didn’t know much about it other than it was about the wives of Henry VIII, but usually, I have a good time even if I don’t know much about the show or the plot. Sometimes, it’s better if you don’t know too much going into a show so it can surprise you. I didn’t even know that it was a short show without an intermission until I got an email a few days before the show from the Pantages with things to know (they send these out most of the time before a show).

We didn’t get dinner before the show this time, and it looks like our favorite pre-show place has closed down which I’m really sad about! Some of the things online say that it’s temporarily closed, but I think it permanently shut down so I’ll have to find a new pre-show dinner location for future shows. But it was fine not getting dinner ahead of time and we just met at the theater before the show and sat down just before the show was going to start.

And honestly, this was one of the best shows I think I’ve ever seen! I knew I’d probably like it because of how others were reacting, but I feel like people were underselling the show! It was so much better than I expected and I was enjoying the show from the second the first note played.

The story is about the wives of Henry VIII and each of the wives has a song to share their story. I didn’t know a ton about the different wives before so each of their stories was pretty new to me. I knew a bit about how some of the wives were beheaded, but that’s pretty minimal. And each of the songs was so amazing and unique. Each wife had a different singer or singers their style was inspired by and I loved how the styles were different and they didn’t blend together. There is a part of the story about how they are all unique but with a little bit in common, and I think the style of the show really demonstrated that idea.

It was a short show, only about 80 minutes long. I think the only thing I wished was different was wishing it was longer because I had such a great time at the show. I was in awe watching it and I didn’t want the show to end! I’m not someone who usually listens to the soundtrack of a show after seeing it, but I did listen to this one a few times in the week after going to the show. That’s how much I enjoyed it and wanted to relive it! And if a friend wanted to see the show, I would totally go again!

It’s hard for me to say what musical might be my favorite because I think I have a few favorites for different reasons. But there is no doubt in my mind that this is now in my top 3 of all time because it was so well done and so entertaining! The last 2 shows we have in this season are supposed to be really good ones too, so it will be interesting to see if either of them ends up in my top 3. And the shows we have next season look really great too!

I always love going out to a show to see a musical I’ve never seen before, but it’s even better when the show ends up being one of the most spectacular shows I’ve seen and I have no critique other than wishing there was more that I could watch!

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Mayhem Week (or Completing Another Orangetheory Challenge)

Posted on May 29, 2023 | 1 comment

This past week was Mayhem at Orangetheory, a fun and crazy week of workouts. This is a challenge that I’ve done before and I’ve always enjoyed it. It’s similar to Hell Week, with extra tough workouts. And you can officially sign up for the challenge and earn swag like a t-shirt. I don’t always sign up for the challenge as I do for Hell Week, but I always try to complete the challenge. And that’s exactly what I did this past week. You need to complete 4 of the 7 workouts, and I got all 4 done back-to-back.

Monday’s workout was a 3 partner workout and it was divided into 3 separate blocks. In each block, one partner was the leader so each partner was the leader once. And if you weren’t the leader in that block, you did work at whatever station you were in until the leader had everyone rotate.

If you were the leader, when you were on cardio you had a .15 mile (or .6 mile on the bike) distance. When you were on the rower, you rowed 400 meters. And when you were on the floor, you had one round of body weight work with hop-overs, leg raises, sit-ups to squats, and bridge rows on the straps. And as the leader, whenever you finished your work you had your group rotate around the stations.

If you weren’t the leader, when you were on cardio or the rower you just went for distance until the leader had you rotate. And on the floor, you had weighted work with bicep curls, skier swings, and plank rows and repeated those until you rotated.

I think my group was pretty similar with how we all did as the leader and we usually rotated about the same number of times within each block. It wasn’t an easy workout since there was only minimal rest during the entire class. Between each block, we had about 90 seconds to make sure we all knew who the new leader would be and get everything set. But that’s not a lot of time during an hour-long class!

Tuesday’s workout was a switch class, so we had 2 blocks in each section of the room and we rotated between blocks. So we had 2 rotations around the room to complete the workout.

Both cardio blocks were the same with 30-second intervals. We started with an all-out to a walking recovery. Then we had a push pace, all-out, and recovery. Then we added a base to push pace at the beginning before doing the rest. And finally, we added a base pace before everything. So the longest segment we had was about 2 minutes long but since the recovery was limited, it felt like we were working much longer than that.

On the rower, the first block started with a 200-meter row. Then we had lunges and a ground to press with a medicine ball. Each time we did the exercises, we increased the reps by 2. When we got back to the rower for the second block, we still had 200-meter rows and the same exercises. But the reps for the exercises started at whatever number of reps we left off at in the first block and we reduced them by 2 reps each time.

And on the floor, we were timed with cardio with 30-second intervals. In the first block, we started with squat jacks and then had a rest. Then we did push-ups, squat jacks, and had a rest. Then it was toe taps, push-ups, squat jacks, and a rest. And finally, we had pulsing half-squats, toe taps, push-ups, and squat jacks. In the second block, we started with cleans with weights. Then we added arnold presses. Next added reciprocating rows. And the last time we did all the exercises we added in pulsing half squats. Just like with cardio, even though we did have time to rest, it was really quick and didn’t really give us the time to recover.

On Wednesday, I had the added struggle of starting to deal with pain and nausea. It wasn’t too horrible since it just kicked in, but it was something that affected my workouts. But since the workout was going to be extra challenging anyway, I figured this was just adding to what the challenge was all about.

For cardio, we repeated the same pattern throughout the workout. We had a 1-minute base pace, a 1-minute base to push pace, and a 30-second push pace. After the push pace, we were back to the base pace but we increased the incline/resistance level by 1. I started the workout a bit lower than my normal base pace resistance level so I would be able to increase it each time. And at the end of the cardio block, my push pace was a few levels higher than what my normal all-out would be.

On the rower, we had rounds of a 2 1/2-minute segment so we were following cardio. In those segments, we had an exercise and then a 350-meter row. And if you finished the row, you could rest until you had to get up to do the exercise again. We had 2 rounds of the exercise being froggers and 2 rounds of the exercise being lunges. And for the last round, we could choose which exercise we wanted to do and I went with froggers. But I never really got a break because I was always working on the row when we had to get up to do the exercises again.

And on the floor, we also had rounds that were each 2 1/2 minutes long. We had 4 exercises to get done and if we had time remaining we would rest. We had 2 rounds of froggers, bicep curls, high pulls, and reverse grip low rows. And then we had 2 rounds of lunges, sit-ups to stands with shoulder presses, incline chest flys, and chest presses. And for the last round, we got to pick which set we wanted to do and I did the last set. This time, I did have some time to rest at the end of each segment, which helped me not feel too nauseous on the floor even though we were moving a lot.

I was still dealing with pain and nausea on Thursday, but it wasn’t that much worse than Wednesday so that was helpful. I was really expecting it to be a lot worse and I was grateful I didn’t have to work through some of the really high levels of pain I can sometimes be in.

For cardio, the focus of the workout was doing a push pace and then a surge of speed during the push pace. We had a 45-second push pace followed by a 15-second surge 3 times in each block. I kept my push pace resistance level the same as I normally do and just tried to pedal faster during the surge. I thought about trying to add a resistance level during the surge too, but it was enough of a challenge for me just to pedal faster.

On the rower, we also had 3 blocks. Each block started with a row and then we had rounds of a front raise and front press with a medicine ball before rowing for distance until the block ended. The first block had a 250-meter row and each block decreased by 50 meters. And the goal was to match your distance each time since you should have more time to row after the exercises in each block. I was able to increase my distance in each block and got my furthest distance in the last block.

And on the floor, we had similar timing to what cardio had with 45-second and 15-second intervals. In the first block, we had 45 seconds of clean to front squats and 15 seconds of a squat hold with 45 seconds of a v-up at the end. In the second block, we had 45 seconds of a hip bridge and 15 seconds of a bridge hold with 45 seconds of a boat hold at the end. And in the last block, we had 45 seconds of side-to-side push-ups and 15 seconds of a push-up hold with 1 minute of v-up and 15 seconds of a boat hold at the end. I did have to modify a few exercises so I did weight squats instead of clean to press and I just did regular push-ups instead of side-to-side ones. But I did try to use a heavy weight for my hip bridges even though we had the option of doing them without weights. And I used the weight for 2 of the 3 times we had to do a bridge hold as well.

It wasn’t easy to do all the Mayhem workouts in a row, but it was a good challenge! And I am so glad I completed it because I really like to take on the challenges that Orangetheory sets out, even if they do sometimes happen when I’m not feeling my best. I proved to myself I could do it, and that’s a great feeling!

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Authorizing A Strike (or I Got My Vote In)

Posted on May 24, 2023 | Comments Off on Authorizing A Strike (or I Got My Vote In)

Right now, the WGA is on strike after their negotiations stalled for their new contract. I fully support the writers and what they are asking for. It’s clear that streaming services bring in a lot of money and they should not be treated differently from tv since they are essentially the same now. They want other things in their new contract that are different from what actors would want, but the general idea of what they are striking for is very similar to what actors want in our new contract.

And it’s about to be time for us to negotiate our new contract. It’s not unusual for these negotiations to happen back to back, and the directors will be negotiating soon too. But this time, things really feel different from past negotiations. There has always been solidarity between unions, but this feels much bigger than it’s ever been. Things also seem more organized, which might be partially due to social media but also maybe it’s also due to unions wanting to band together. I think it’s been pretty amazing to see how together everyone seems to be.

Typically, as SAG-AFTRA is getting ready to start negotiations on our contract, there isn’t much for the general membership to do. Once a new contract has been agreed to by the negotiating committee, the membership will vote to decide if we will ratify that contract or reject it. This year, things are different and I have a feeling that the current strike is a big reason why.

SAG-AFTRA has asked all members to vote on a strike authorization. This does not mean we will be going on strike, but it will allow us to quickly go on strike if that becomes necessary. If the membership agrees to the authorization, then the National Board can call a strike and all work on the tv/theatrical contracts will stop. This wouldn’t affect commercials or other categories of members such as broadcasters, but tv/theatrical is a big category.

Striking isn’t something that any of us want to do, but if things can’t be agreed upon, it could become necessary. And while some productions have continued during the writer’s strike because scripts have been written, it’s a lot harder to continue working when actors aren’t on set. I know that when the commercial strike happened years ago, this led to an increase in non-union commercials. But I couldn’t imagine that happening with tv and movies. I think the producer/studio side knows that a strike by actors would be devastating, They have already lost so much money due to productions being shut down from the writer’s strike, which would only increase if actors go on strike too.

As soon as the strike authorization vote was announced, I knew I would vote yes on it. It’s important for us members to give the negotiating committee all the tools they feel they need for this contract negotiation. And if they feel having the approval of a strike authorization would help, then I want them to have that. And I’m encouraging all my fellow members to do the same.

I know that this can sound scary, but it’s important to remember that this might not lead to a strike. Sometimes just having this vote approved can be enough for the other side to want to make a deal and avoid a strike. And if you are a member and have questions or haven’t voted yet, you can go to this website for more information. If you haven’t received your PIN to vote, that can be accessed on the IVS ballot website with your membership number.

Voting will end on June 5th, so there is still time to vote if you are a paid-up member. And I know that if we had a high turnout, that would work in our favor even more.

So if you are in SAG-AFTRA, please vote and I highly encourage you to vote yes. This is only going to help in these negotiations and if it leads to a strike, then that must be necessary in order to get the fair things that we deserve.

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A Very Good Workout Week (or I Love When My Good Weeks Match With Good Workouts)

Posted on May 22, 2023 | Comments Off on A Very Good Workout Week (or I Love When My Good Weeks Match With Good Workouts)

When I have my good workout weeks, I always try to make the most of them because I know I will struggle during my bad workout weeks. I do whatever I can during those workouts so I can feel good about myself. But sometimes, those good weeks match up with when we have fun workout challenges or benchmarks and it makes the week even better than a normal good week.

Monday’s workout wasn’t anything spectacular, but it was still a good workout and I was feeling really good after celebrating my milestone workout the week before.

For cardio, we focused on long push paces followed by walking recoveries. We usually don’t have recoveries after a push pace, but that just allowed us to go harder on those push paces than we normally could. The push paces started at 3 minutes and went down by 30 seconds each time. And the recoveries were always 1 minute long. The block ended with a 30-second all-out, which was a good way to end a long endurance block.

On the rower, we were kind of timed with cardio. When cardio did their push paces, we had 2 rounds of rowing with 30 seconds to rest between them. So when cardio had a 3-minute push pace, we had 2 rounds of a 75-second row. It was a lot of rowing without a lot of rest, but I did pretty well with limiting taking a break in the middle of it.

And on the floor, we had 3 mini-blocks and we did each one twice before moving on to the next one. The first mini-block had lunges and hip bridges. The second mini-block had kneeling shoulder presses, bridge holds with pullovers, and push-ups. And the last mini-block had knee tucks (which I did as sit-ups) and back extensions. I had to make a few modifications to some of the floor exercises because of my hip, but those were just the normal modifications I make and nothing more than that.

Tuesday’s workout was a pretty typical workout, but I was going to do my best since it was just a good morning for me. I don’t know why I was feeling really great, but it worked in my favor and I went with it.

For cardio, we had 2 blocks. We had rounds of a base pace with an incline and a base pace without an incline. In the first block, the inclines were a bit lower than in the second block. I use the resistance level between my base and push paces for the first block and between my push and all-out for the second block. It wasn’t easy, but I knew that the struggle I was feeling meant I was working and I was happy with that.

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. It was a lot of getting on and off the rower, so that slowed me down a bit. But since I didn’t have to rush anything, that was ok.

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 struggle a little with the hip hinge swings because I started to feel a bit of a pull in my hip, but considering how much I did before I had gotten to that exercise, that seemed pretty normal for me and I just took my time with making sure I kept good form for all the exercises.

Wednesday was a benchmark day. It was the mile challenge, which is one of the benchmarks I have enjoyed in the past. Even though I’m not using the treadmill anymore, I can be very competitive with myself on the bike and I like to see improvement when I can. I had checked my past benchmark times, and I knew my last one was really fast. I didn’t set a goal to PR, but I wanted to be close to my PR to feel like I could still do that.

Even though it’s the mile challenge, things are a bit different on the bike and it’s actually 4 miles instead. That’s how it always is so it’s nothing new to me. For our cardio block, the only thing we had was our benchmark to do. I reset the bike before we started so I could get the most accurate time and I set the resistance level to be one lower than my current base pace. I like feeling like I’m flying when I do challenges like this. I knew to be close to my benchmark, I had to be as close to 2 minutes per mile as possible. I tried to keep my pedaling really fast and every 90 seconds or so I did a little burst of sprinting for about 15 seconds. I wasn’t being too strict about those intervals, but I kept them in mind to make sure I was still doing them somewhat regularly.

Once I got past the halfway mark, I knew I was currently ahead of what my last PR was. I know that sometimes I slow down a bit in the second half, but I was so happy to see I was making good time. I don’t know how I did this, but once I finished the challenge, I managed to get a new PR!

I actually took 13 seconds off of my last time which is a lot! I probably went a bit too hard because I could feel my hip out of place as soon as I got off the bike. But I think I would have felt that no matter what since I’m pushing myself a lot in that benchmark. So at least I got a PR along with my pain.

On the rower, we had endurance rowing starting with a 600-meter row. We were supposed to do jumping jacks after the row and then take 100 meters off of the row every time we did it. I knew I couldn’t do jumping jacks, so I just focused on trying to row through the entire block. I took plenty of breaks, but I tried to be aware of each distance I was supposed to do and limit the breaks within those. And once I completed a distance, I took a bit more of a break before getting back to rowing.

I was feeling a bit better when I got to the floor, but I still was sore so I had to go easy and slow. And a few exercises did need modifications from me to be able to do them. We started with doing low rows with weights and then step-ups on the bench. As always, I lowered the bench to do them but I also made sure I put both feet down instead of trying to just tap my toe during the steps. Then we had chest flys and single-leg deadlifts. For the single-leg deadlifts, I held onto the wall for balance but I was able to do most of the reps without putting my foot down so that felt like an accomplishment.

I was a little sore from the benchmark on Thursday, but not too bad so I was able to finish out my week with another really good workout.

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. Having short cardio bursts was nice after the benchmark the day before and I did try to pedal quickly. But I realized that the soreness I was experiencing was affecting my speed so I was not able to go quite as quickly as I would have liked.

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. I’m glad we had shorter rows since Wednesday had longer rows. I wasn’t going too crazy with the rows, but I was happy that I was pretty consistent with how long it took me to do each one and I didn’t slow down too much.

And on the floor, we had 2 blocks. The first block had a squat to press, lunges, a y-raise on the straps, and crab toe taps. I can’t do the crab toe taps, but we were given bicycle crunches as an option so I went with those instead. The second block also had squat to presses and then we had deadlifts, plank low rows, and double crunches. And I was able to do all those exercises without any modifications so I was happy.

I’m so glad that not only did I have a good workout week, I had a huge win with my new PR. And I’m glad I had that last week because this week is going to be a tough one. It’s Mayhem, which is similar to Hell Week. I’m going to do the 4 workouts required to complete Mayhem, but I didn’t sign up for the shirt so I won’t be earning it. I’m ok with that since the most important thing to me is completing the challenge and not always getting the stuff. But it’s going to be a challenging week and I’m feeling ready to get the hard work done!

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Another Virtual Union Meeting (or Getting Ready For What Is To Come)

Posted on May 17, 2023 | Comments Off on Another Virtual Union Meeting (or Getting Ready For What Is To Come)

I have tried to stay as involved with my union as much as I can for quite a bit of time. It hasn’t always been easy and I regret not doing it sooner, but I’m very glad for all the things I have been able to be a part of since I decided to be involved. Some of the meetings I have been able to attend are small groups or committees, which are nice to get to know people who have similar interests. And others have been big meetings like the LA Local Membership meeting which all members in the LA local are invited to attend.

The LA Local Membership meeting used to be a big in-person event that can be fun but also can feel overwhelming. And since the pandemic, it became a virtual event with everyone on a giant Zoom. As much as I love the in-person meetings because I get to meet new people, it is nice to watch the meeting from home so I don’t have to drive to get somewhere and I can be comfortable. And these meetings tend to be several hours long, so being home and able to move around and stretch or get some water and snacks while still watching is a nice bonus.

We had another Membership meeting this past weekend. Because of confidentiality, I can’t share much about what we specifically discussed. But there were a few main topics that came up quite a bit. The meeting started with the reports by different local officers, which is standard. The building that the union headquarters will be moving into was discussed in more detail than what we previously had. But the biggest things that were discussed over the 4 hours of the meeting were the upcoming elections, the current strike, and our upcoming contract negotiations.

The upcoming elections were gone over a bit with the dates and deadlines to keep in mind. But because we are almost in election season, things had to be discussed carefully so they weren’t considered electioneering. I don’t know how many members who were on the call were interested in running for union office, but I’m glad the information was shared because the more informed members are, the better.

The current strike took up a good amount of time because that is one of the biggest things affecting the industry right now. And I’m proud that SAG-AFTRA has been standing with the WGA and the union has been so great at getting information out to all the members about different picket lines and events we can be a part of. I still haven’t had the chance to go on a picket line, but I’m trying to figure out when I can take a little time away from work to do so. Because the WGA contract is not our contract, we don’t know when the strike might end, but we know why it’s happening and why it’s important.

Obviously, the WGA strike discussion lead to a discussion about our upcoming contract negotiations and if our union will strike. That is a decision that hasn’t been made yet and will have steps before it can happen. The leaders who ran the meeting went into the process that will be coming up with the negotiations and what steps would happen if we were to go on strike. I know there have been a lot of members confused about what happens before a strike, and it’s good that was cleared up. And I know others were worried that not enough would happen before we would go on strike or we wouldn’t know when that might occur. I know we get a lot of information via email, but people miss those. There aren’t a lot of other systems to get information out to thousands of people quickly, but I think discussing that everyone should check their emails will help more people to open them and maybe even have members reach out to other members to remind them to do the same.

The meeting was supposed to be 3 hours long, and it was over 4 hours long before it had to end. I was hoping to have a chance to ask a question during the Q&A, but there were too many other members ahead of me in the line so I didn’t have a chance to do so. But I’m ok with that since I have friends who can help me get the answers so I won’t be wondering. And I can share what I learn with other members through social media and other ways if necessary.

Overall, it was another really good and informative meeting to attend. And I think more people attended with it being virtual than could have attended if it was in-person. There are a lot of moving parts happening right now in the industry, and this was a great way for a lot of us to get on the same page with what is happening and to keep us all informed as things change. And I hope that all the members who attended will feel motivated to continue to be informed and educated so we can continue to strengthen our union.

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Celebrating My Workouts (or Benchmarks and Milestones)

Posted on May 15, 2023 | 1 comment

I knew this past week of workouts would be better than the week before. I was feeling much better, which always helps me have a good workout week. But this week was unexpectedly good in ways I didn’t plan for, which made things even better!

Monday’s workout had an interesting format. For cardio, we had our blocks back to back. But for the rower and the floor, we switched between blocks. So when we started on the rower, we went rower, floor, rower. And on the floor, we went floor, rower, floor.

I started on cardio, and we had 3 blocks that focused on 30-second intervals. We had 3 30-second intervals before a recovery in each block. Sometimes those were base, push, and then all-out. And sometimes it was a push, push to all-out, and all-out. I used my normal resistance levels for these and when we were supposed to be between a base and push or push and all-out, I used the level between those.

On the rower, we had the same thing each time we were rowing. It was a 3 1/2-minute row with a 30-second all-out at the end. Rowing for 4 minutes isn’t the worst thing, but it’s also tough to do sometimes. I tried to limit my breaks on the rower, but I did have to take a few. And on the floor, we also did the same thing each time we were at that station. We had bicep curls, lunges, tricep extensions, and push-ups.

On Monday evening, I went to look at the Orangetheory app because I knew on Tuesday we had a benchmark class. I wanted to see my past times so I would be prepared for the next class. I took a look at that but noticed something else pretty amazing. The app also tracks how many in-studio classes you have taken (it doesn’t could any of the at-home classes done when things were shut down). And I missed noticing this before, but Monday’s class was a milestone one for me!

I knew that this milestone was coming up, but I wasn’t paying that much attention to when it would happen. I couldn’t believe it when I saw it, but I’m proud of myself. When I started going to Orangetheory, I wasn’t sure how long I’d be able to keep things up even though I knew I wanted to. But I was quickly hooked and it’s become a part of my routine now and I’ve missed it when I haven’t been able to go to class. When you could my home workouts, I’m over 1700 workouts, but I also know I didn’t work out as hard when I was at home compared to when I was in the studio.

Tuesday’s class was the 200-meter row benchmark. This is a fun benchmark to do because it’s always very fast. Since I knew my past times for the row, I had a goal in mind for what I wanted to do. I wasn’t going for a PR since I know I can’t PR every time, but I wanted to be close to it so that was the goal I had in mind.

I had my cardio work first, and it wasn’t too intense since we were supposed to save our strength for the benchmark. The first 2 blocks were 4-minute distance challenges. I set my resistance level to be just below my push level so it wasn’t too hard but not too easy either. I think that was a good choice because it did feel challenging, but not impossible. In the last block, we had intervals of a push pace to a base pace with an all-out at the end. I did use my normal resistance levels for those, but I didn’t go too crazy since I was about to row.

On the rower, the first block was more of a warmup and prep for the benchmark. We did have 200-meter rows, but we weren’t supposed to go hard and be closer to a push row. Between each row, we had lunges. I felt pretty ready for the benchmark in the second block. And that’s all we had in the second block to do. I didn’t rush into starting since I had 4 minutes and I knew the row would be less than a minute. And I was very happy with how it went. I was rowing a lot harder than I thought I could do and I was keeping my form to a sprint row form. I didn’t get a PR, which is what I expected, but I was closer to it than I thought I could. Only being .15 seconds off is probably more about a tiny bit of form than anything else so maybe I’ll be able to beat it soon.

The last row block gave us another chance to do the benchmark, but I was exhausted so I just did push rows again instead of going crazy. I also still needed a bit more recovery time from the benchmark, so I was happy I had the time to do that.

And the floor was also a bit easier than normal since the entire workout was designed around the benchmark. Each of the 3 blocks had 2 exercises that were supposed to help people get ready for the benchmark if they did the floor first. We had high lows to low rows on the straps and hip hinge swings, plank pikes and superhero planks, and single-leg deadlifts with the straps and plank pull-throughs. I know I was still a bit sore from the row so I didn’t do anything extraordinary, but I was trying to work harder than I would have if I still had to do the row after.

Wednesday’s workout was a bit of a recovery workout. I might have overdone things on Tuesday or I might have just been having a bad hip day. I wasn’t sure what was causing the pain, but I was hurting so I had to just be cautious. But I was still pushing myself quite a bit.

For cardio, our 3 blocks focused a lot on incline work. We had base, push, and all-out paces with inclines and a lot of base paces without inclines between them. For the resistance levels, I did try to increase them compared to what I would normally use, but I struggled to do exactly what we were supposed to do. So for most of the workout, I did just one level higher than normal when we were supposed to have inclines. It was still harder than normal, but not quite as hard as it could have been if I did what I might have done if I wasn’t hurting.

On the rower, we had one long block. We started with a 600-meter row followed by front presses with a medicine ball. Then we had a 400-meter and 200-meter row also with the front presses. Then we worked our way back up starting with a 200-meter row but we had overhead presses with the medicine ball between each row. I did a lot better with my rowing than I thought I would. Even though I did need some breaks in the long rows, I didn’t need as many as I thought I might have to take.

And on the floor, the focus was on load and explode movements. So we had back-to-back exercises that worked similar muscle groups. We first had goblet squats to regular squats. Then we had lateral raises to uppercuts. And finally, we had bicycle presses to sit-ups. I did have to do a few modifications for some exercises, but they were expected modifications for me and not necessarily because of how my hip was doing.

When I showed up to Thursday’s workout, my coach had set up the brag board to celebrate my milestone. It was set up to say I did 1500 classes, but that class was going to be my 1503rd. So I joked to him that I was going to fix it later, which is exactly what I did before I posted it online.

I really appreciated that because it’s always awesome to be celebrated. But it’s more awesome to be celebrated for something that wasn’t easy to start and could have been very simple to give up on. But I have stuck with it. Even though now it’s something I’m used to, I still make a choice to go early in the morning when I would rather be sleeping in a bit more.

I only celebrated the milestone for a quick moment before the workout started and it was time to get into things. For cardio, we had 3 blocks. The first block was focused on 30-second intervals with a base pace, push pace, and all-out. We did that twice within the block. In the second block, we did bases at inclines, and I was able to use the resistance levels I should have used. And the last block had 90-second base paces with 30-second push paces with the focus being more on the base pace and making sure we could get back to a base without needing to recover.

On the rower, we had 3 blocks that all had 150-meter rows. The first block was just rounds of an all-out 150-meter row. We could take whatever recovery time we needed before doing another all-out row. In the second block, we had 10 step-out squats between each row. And the row was supposed to be a push row instead of an all-out row. And in the last block, the rowing was supposed to be more of the recovery than the focus. We had 10 squats to start and then the 150-meter row was a base row.

And on the floor, we had one long block. In that block, we had skater lunges, cleans with weights, kneeling shoulder presses, lunges, plank taps, and double crunches. I didn’t go extra heavy with the weights I used, but I did try using the heavier weights before going to the normal ones I use. I’m glad it was just one block of work because it allowed me to take my time to work on each exercise and not feel rushed.

When I started this past week of workouts, I knew it would be a benchmark week, but I had no clue it would be a milestone week. I’m so glad I happened to look at the app on Monday so I could see that I hit such a cool milestone the day it happened. Of course, I would have celebrated it even if I didn’t notice until I was past it, but I’m happy I got to celebrate as I did my 1500th class! And based on how many workouts I do on average, I’m about 2 1/2 years away from celebrating my 2000th class!

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The Importance Of The Writers Strike (or I Support The WGA)

Posted on May 10, 2023 | 1 comment

The Writers Guild of America has been on strike for just over a week now. This isn’t the first time they’ve been on strike in recent history, but this time it feels different. The last strike was in 2007 and lasted 100 days. And even though there was social media during the last strike, I think the influence of social media is really showing itself this time.

I remember during the strike in 2007, there were people who were confused about why TV shows were shut down and not putting out new episodes. It didn’t feel like it was a huge news issue outside of LA or those in the entertainment industry. And when it did make the news, I feel like it took longer for those not directly involved to hear about it or understand what was going on. But this time, I was seeing things by friends who aren’t in the entertainment industry posting about a potential strike the week before it was going to happen. And as soon as the strike started, I saw people asking what they could do to support the WGA.

If you aren’t directly in the entertainment industry, there isn’t much you can do right now. I’ve seen some people post saying they should cancel Netflix, but I’ve seen people with the WGA say they aren’t asking for a boycott right now and it’s just a strike. So canceling streaming services isn’t necessary. If you are near where there are picket lines, you can always bring things like water, snacks, or sunscreen for everyone who is out there.

And for those of us in other unions, unless we have a show with a contract right now, we shouldn’t be crossing picket lines. I’ve seen things from SAG-AFTRA saying that if you are in production with a show and have a contract, you may be required to still go in for work and if you chose not to, there can be legal issues. I know that other actors have called into the union to check to make sure things they are doing are ok, and I think that’s a great option if you are confused. And a lot of my fellow actors have been joining the writers on the picket lines since the strike started. I haven’t had a chance to do that, but I’m hoping I can go soon during my lunch break from work since one of the picket line locations is pretty close to me. I might only be able to be there for about 30 minutes, but that’s better than nothing.

It’s never great when there is a strike and when work has stopped, but this is for something important. And the things the writers are asking for are very similar to what actors will be asking for in our upcoming contract negotiations. Streaming shows are not going away, and we need to restructure our contracts to fit that type of work. We have residuals in streaming, but it’s not the same scale we are used to. And having a limited number of episodes in a season has changed so much, but I think it has changed things more for writers than it has for actors. Making sure everyone is paid fairly for their work is a top priority. The work can be sporadic and not necessarily steady, but when someone is working full-time as a writer, they should be able to support themselves doing that and not stress about having a second job to make sure they can pay their bills.

I know most people hope that this strike will be shorter than the one in 2007, but I don’t know if that will happen. It seems like both sides are very far apart in what they want in the new contract, and it’s going to require a lot of compromises to come to a deal. But I know that this strike is important for the industry as a whole and that more than just the writers will benefit from the outcome.

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My Normal Bad Workout Week (or At Least This Is What I’m Used To)

Posted on May 8, 2023 | Comments Off on My Normal Bad Workout Week (or At Least This Is What I’m Used To)

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.

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Default ThumbnailAn Almost Normal Workout Week (or Happy To Be Able To Push Myself) Default ThumbnailThis Is The Workout Week I Expected (or I Knew It Would Be A Bad Week) Default ThumbnailA Short Workout Week (or I Guess I’m Glad This Happened On A Bad Week) Default ThumbnailSurviving My Workout Week (or I Knew It Would Be Bad, But Not This Bad) Default ThumbnailJust A Normal And Good Workout Week (or Using My Workouts To Get Out My Stress) Default ThumbnailA Mixed Workout Week (or Preparing To Have A Bad Week Again)

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