I have been saying for a while that once I am vaccinated, I will look into going to Orangetheory again for the outdoor workouts. They have been doing outdoor workouts for a long time now, and I know they are doing everything they can to keep things safe. I haven’t heard of anyone getting sick because of the outdoor workouts and the people I know who have gone to them have said they feel almost safer there than anything else they have been doing the past year. I know people in other parts of the country that have been back to indoor workouts (with restrictions) and they have also said they feel safe being there.
But even with how safe everyone feels, I have said that I wouldn’t think about it until I’m vaccinated. And honestly, even though I wanted to be vaccinated as soon as possible, I really thought it wouldn’t happen for me for a little while. So when I was able to get a vaccine a week ago, I was in shock for multiple reasons!
Now, there is a real possible end date for my home workouts. The soonest I would consider going would be next month (I have to wait 2 weeks after the second vaccine before I have full antibodies). But it’s something I’m really thinking about.
And also in the past week, there have been some changes for when gyms can reopen. It’s looking like it will be possible sooner than expected for gyms to open with restrictions and limited capacity. The Orangetheory studios I go to haven’t announced anything official yet because they are waiting on things to be announced from the state and county. We all know how things can change, so they don’t want to say anything until they are certain. But it’s exciting to think about things being opened as they are safe.
As of right now, I do still plan to try to do something through Orangetheory once I can. Whether that’s going to the outdoor workouts or the studio ones, I’m not sure. I don’t know if they will both be options in a month. I don’t know how I will feel about doing to a workout in the studio if that is an option. I also don’t know what the schedules might be like in a month because that changes things too. The outdoor workout isn’t too far from my house, but it is further than the studio in Culver City (because of my new job, I don’t know how often I’ll be going to the Brentwood studio anymore since I won’t be able to attend the Monday classes I used to go to). I don’t feel like I can make too many decisions yet with so much being up in the air. And I want to see how I feel when it’s closer to when I can start.
But I know I am getting closer and closer to the date when I will be back at some sort of coached Orangetheory class. And as I’ve said in posts over the past year, I know that I’ve lost a lot of what I gained from Orangetheory before. Having a year off has been very hard for me. I’ve still been able to keep up my workout schedule, but it’s nothing like what it was like before.
For example, this past week, I did my 4 workouts as I planned. But they were all pretty weak. I did do the strength training that I’ve been doing for a few weeks now, so that’s good. But I had both pain and nausea as I expected as well as some minor side effects from the vaccine (mainly arm pain and a headache). So I wasn’t able to push myself the way that I would want to. I know I’m not lifting as heavy as I was before. I have a ways to go before I get back there. And I feel pretty certain that I’ve lost a lot of cardio ability too. I haven’t had a substantial cardio workout in a long time. And I know it will be really rough when I’m back in an environment where I want to push myself hard and have high expectations.
I want to say that I’m going to take the next few weeks and push myself extra hard to be ready for my first coached workout. But I also know that’s not likely to happen. I’ve been trying to push myself for the past year and I know that it’s never been what I really wanted to do. As I’ve said more times than I can count, doing something is better than doing nothing. But at the same time, I hate that I’ve had to settle for just doing something instead of doing something I’m really proud of.
I don’t know if the next few weeks will have many changes to my workout plan. I might have some adjustments to make in 2 weeks when it’s after my next vaccine if I’m having more side effects. But I am going to keep going with my workouts and trying to find ways to be prepared to make the switch from home workouts to coached ones (even if I only do 1-2 coached ones a week, it’s going to be a big adjustment). I want to believe I will be ready to start next month. I know that it will do wonders for my mental and physical health.
I want to get back to what I was doing a year ago, I just don’t know if I will ever feel ready. Then again, I don’t think I really felt ready before I started with Orangetheory. I just didn’t know a difference so being unprepared didn’t seem that bad to me. Now that I do know, it’s scary. But I know that after I get back, it’s only a matter of time before I feel like I’ve never left and I’ll be back to making progress.
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