Before this past week of workouts, I was worried that it might be a bad week. I knew my pain and nausea might kick in during the week, but I was also hopeful that it wouldn’t be as bad as I know it can be. It’s not exactly something I can predict, I just know when the likely time is for it to happen.
Monday was a tough day for me for nausea, but it was somewhat manageable. I just tried to do what I always do with taking breaks when I needed them to make sure I let the nausea pass.
For cardio, we had 2 blocks. The first block was rounds of a push pace or a base pace for 1 minute each with a 30-second all-out at the end. The second block was rounds of a 30-second push pace with an incline followed by a 90-second base pace without an incline and another 30-second all-out at the end. The incline/resistance level wasn’t too high, but I still tried to keep it above what I normally use for my all-out to make it a bit more challenging.
On the rower, each block was a row and a medicine ball exercise. The first block was a 200-meter row and a good morning with the medicine ball. And the second block was a 30-second row and calf raises with a raised medicine ball. The calf raises were supposed to be single-leg and sometimes I do try to do those, but I knew my balance was not up for it so I did them as regular calf raises instead.
And on the floor, we had 2 blocks that each had 3 exercises. We had single-arm high rows, shoulder presses to stands, and squats in the first block. And we had single-arm chest presses, deadlifts, and pullovers in the second block. I did split up the shoulder presses to stands into 2 movements, but other than that I was able to do a pretty good job with all the floor work and used some good weights.
I was expecting to still have nausea on Tuesday, but I was doing a lot better so that was a nice surprise for me. I know how much I have to take advantage of the days I feel good when I’m expecting not to be ok, so I tried my best not to go too easy on myself.
For cardio, we had one long block. We started with a 30-second push pace and a 30-second base pace. We continued the pattern of the push and base pace matching, but each time they were increased by 15 seconds. We ended with a 75-second push pace and a 75-second base pace before having a 30-second all-out to end the block. I didn’t change up my resistance levels from what I normally use, but I did pay more attention to how fast I was pedaling so I could try to increase it just a little bit more than what I usually do.
On the rower, for the first 3 minutes, we matched cardio with the push and base paces. Then we had stroke drills with medicine ball work for the rest of the block. We had 20 strokes on the rower and then squats with front presses and lunges. The first 3 minutes were tough since my endurance on the rower isn’t my strong spot, but I did ok. And for the stroke drills, I really made sure I took my time since that’s the best way to maximize distance for those.
And on the floor, it was another long block but there were 2 mini-blocks in it. The first mini-block was all mini-band work. We had torso rotations, scissor kick crunches, and toe taps. I did change up the order so that I did all the toe taps at one time since I was a bit worried about being face down during exercises, but it was ok. And the second mini-block had skier swings, lunges, single-arm snatches, and standing wood choppers. I didn’t go too heavy with these weights, but I never do so it was pretty much my normal ability.
Wednesday was also a pretty ok day for me. I was surprised I didn’t have nausea in the morning since I really expected it after Monday, but I wasn’t going to complain too much. Especially since this was right after I decided my monthly challenge was going to be all about making improvements in my workouts.
For cardio and the rower, we had an interesting switch format. Every block was 4 minutes long and if you were on cardio, you did the first and last block on cardio and the middle block on the rower. And if you were on the rower, the first and last blocks were on the rower and the middle block was on cardio. So we were switching every 4 minutes. Every block on cardio was 3 rounds of a 1-minute all-out with a 30-second recovery in between. And every block on the rower was a 3-minute push pace with a 1-minute all-out. I did increase my all-out resistance level for cardio and it was a lot harder than my usual level, but also a good challenge. And on the rower, I tried to not take breaks but I did need to take a few.
And on the floor, we had a lot of Bosu work but I had to modify some of it to make it work for me. We had lunges (which I did off of the Bosu), kneeling tricep extensions, crunches, kneeling single-arm bicep curls, push-ups (which were also off of the Bosu), single-arm chest presses, and hip bridges. It was a lot of work, but also another good challenge. I wanted to try heavier weights, but for most of the weights I use, going heavier is a 5lb difference which is a bit more than I’m ready for. But I did try each weighted exercise with the heavier weight before just using the weights I normally do just in case I was able to do it.
And my surprise continued on Thursday when again I didn’t have nausea. I really felt lucky that I only had one day of nausea, but I also know that I might have a lot more this week. But I enjoyed having a much better week than I planned.
For cardio, we had 4 blocks. Each block started between our base and push pace and then went to a push pace, push to an all-out pace, and ended with an all-out pace. In the first block, we didn’t have any inclines, and in each block after that, we increased the inclines but the times for each interval decreased. I did try to use higher resistance levels than normal. So for my first base to push pace, I used my normal push pace. And that meant my all-out level was 1 higher than I normally use when we had no incline work. And each block everything went 1 level higher which was a big challenge by the last block.
On the rower, we started with a 500-meter row. Then we had lunges and deadlifts with shoulder presses using a medicine ball. We continued the pattern of the row and exercises and did 2 rounds of a 250-meter row next. We were supposed to do 3 rounds of a 125-meter row at the end, but I only made it through 2 rounds before we were done on the rower.
And on the floor, we had 1 long block. We had step-ups to knee raises, shoulder presses, step-downs, reverse fly with weights, bear planks, and double crunches. I did a few modifications on the floor such as lowering the bench so I could do the step-ups and step-downs, but I was able to do them with the lower bench. I also skipped the bear planks because I was struggling a lot with my balance once I got to those. But I did use a heavier weight than normal for my double crunches which I was very happy with.
I’m so glad that this past week went a lot better than I thought it would. I was able to have some really good workouts and start working on my monthly challenge toward the end of the week. This week might be a tough one for me or I might be surprised again. But either way, I’m going to keep going and hopefully I can find more ways I can still work on improving things.
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