I had a really good workout week this past week, which made me so happy. I had a bit of a challenging week with stress and other things weighing on me, but my workouts helped me have something positive throughout the week. And even though I still hate waking up so early, I know that starting off my day with someone good really did help me manage everything else I dealt with in my day.
Monday’s workout was a signature workout. We had the Inferno class, which I’ve done several times. This is a rowing challenge so the other sections of the room aren’t as tough to maximize what you can do on the rower. I almost always start with cardio, so I had my rowing section second.
For cardio, we had 2 blocks. The first block had rounds of a push pace to a base pace. The push pace started at 30 seconds and went up by 15 seconds and the base pace stayed at 30 seconds each time. And that block ended with a 1-minute all-out. The second block was similar, but the push paces stayed at 30 seconds and the base pace increased by 15 seconds each time. And again, we had a 1-minute all-out to end the block. I wasn’t going too easy on cardio, but I also tried to not go too hard since I wanted to do really well on the rower.
For the 3 group class, the Inferno workout is a mix of rowing and a floor exercise. We start with a 100-meter row and then we have 20 lateral hops. I did the hops and side steps, but I think that was a good modification. We increase the row by 100 meters each time and the lateral hops stay the same. And the goal is to get as many meters on the rower as possible. I looked at my past Inferno results before this class, so I knew I wanted to just get close to 2000 meters since that was similar to my past attempts. But at the end of the rowing block, I really went hard so I could get all the meters possible. And when the 14 minutes were up, I had a new PR!
I was very happy with that result and I didn’t really expect to PR. But considering all the work I’ve been putting into my rowing form and endurance, it makes sense that I would be able to accomplish that.
And on the floor, we also had 2 blocks that were designed to not be too difficult for people who had the floor before rowing. The first block had chest flys, lateral arm raises, and step-downs. And the second block had standing rotations on the straps, reverse flys, and push-ups. Since I had already completed my rowing, I did go harder and heavier on the floor. But I was also a bit tired after pushing myself so I didn’t have any crazy increases in what I could do.
Tuesday’s workout was a good mix of endurance, strength, and power. And I was pretty happy with which section of the room had each type of workout because I think it fit what my abilities were that day.
Each section of the room had 2 blocks. Both of the cardio blocks were focused on doing incline work at 45-second intervals. For the first block, we started by increasing the incline/resistance level every 45 seconds for 4 intervals and then we decreased the incline/resistance level to get back to a flat incline before doing an all-out. In the second block, we started at the top of the hill and worked our way down before working back up and then going back to a flat road for our all-out. The resistance levels didn’t have to get too high, but I made sure that I did them so I was working above my usual all-out level for the 2 highest levels. That meant I was pedaling very slowly, but I enjoyed the challenge.
Both of the rowing blocks focused on an endurance row. We started and ended each block with a 30-second exercise and we rowed for distance the rest of the time. In the first block, the exercise was squats and in the second block, the exercise was in and out steps. It was about 5 minutes of rowing in each block, and I was hoping to not need to take any breaks during the row since I proved to myself during the Dri-Tri that I could do that. But I think the cardio blocks tired me out a bit so I did take a little break in the middle of each row. But I still did better than expected.
And on the floor, we had 2 exercises for each block. In the first block, we had single-arm high rows and step-ups. And in the second block, we had single-arm chest presses and step-downs. The step-ups and step-downs were supposed to be done with weights, but just doing the exercises instead of doing lunges is a challenge for me and I knew I couldn’t add weights to either one. I just took my time with those exercises since I do still lose my balance from time to time. But even without a weight and going slowly, I felt how tough both exercises were for me.
Wednesday wasn’t anything unique or crazy, but it was still a good workout and I was pushing myself since I was having a good week.
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. The goal was to match or beat your distance from the first block in the last block. I didn’t track my distance since that’s not very easy to do from block to block on the bike, but I felt like I was doing a lot more in the last block so I think I was very close to my first distance if I didn’t beat it.
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 pogo hops. I did my best with the hops, but they were a bit more like calf raises with a little bounce. 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. Since it takes me a bit of time to get on and off the rower, I didn’t get in a lot of rounds each block, but I did my best.
And on the floor, each of the 3 blocks had 2 exercises. The first block had lunges to hops and plank taps. The second block had single-arm clean-to-press and plank jacks. And the last block had single-arm snatches and hip bridges. I went very heavy with my hip bridges since I know I can do a lot of weight for those. And for the lunges to hops, I balanced against the wall and did my best with getting the full exercise done.
Thursday’s workout was a themed workout because it was National Squat Day. So of course, the workout had a ton of squats in it. As much as I know squats are a good exercise, they are tough for me to do with my hip issues. So I knew I’d have to take some breaks throughout the workout to not hurt myself too much.
Fortunately, for cardio, we had no squats and it was just cardio work. The first and the last blocks were the same. We started with a 1-minute all-out followed by a 30-second recovery. We continued that pattern with the all-outs decreasing by 15 seconds each time. And we ended each of those blocks with a 15-second all-out, which we never really do. I didn’t change my resistance levels for the shorter all-outs, but I did really try to pedal faster as they got shorter. And for the second block, we spent most of the time at a push pace. But every 30 seconds, we had a 15-second surge where we were supposed to go faster. The idea we were given was if we were in a race and trying to overtake a competitor. That was something different and I liked trying to do short bursts of faster pedaling since that is close to what I like to do during the Dri-Tri.
On the rower, blocks 1 and 3 were similar. We started with an exercise for 6 reps and then did a 100-meter row. Then we did the exercise for 8 reps and another 100-meter row. That pattern continued through the block with the exercise increasing each time and the row staying the same. In the first block, the exercise was goblet squats. And in the third block, the exercise was sumo squats. And the second block matched cardio with the push pace and surges. I did have to take a few breaks in that row, but I was happy that I was able to do the surge rows each time with increased wattage on the rower.
On the floor, again blocks 1 and 3 were the same. We were timed with cardio for those blocks and it was all different types of squats. When cardio was in recovery, we had those 30 seconds to get 10 squats to calf raises done and if there was any time left we could rest. And when cardio was in an all-out, we had different exercises. For the 1-minute intervals, we had step-out squats. For the 45-second intervals, we had sumo squats with weights. For the 30-second intervals, we had kneeling squats to stands which I did as a squat hold. And for the 15-second intervals, we had speed squats so we just did as many squats as we could as quickly as possible. Those floor blocks were really hard on my hips and I just had to listen to my body and rest if I knew I couldn’t keep going. I tried not to be too frustrated when I took breaks since I knew those breaks allowed me to do more than if I hurt myself. And in the middle block, we were on our own timing with side-to-side step-out squats and bicycle crunches. This block was a little easier since we could rest more, but those side-to-side squats were a lot harder than they looked!
I really feel like this past week of workouts represented what I wish each week could be for me. I did push myself hard, even though I had moments when I couldn’t quite accomplish everything. But I left each workout feeling like I had some really great moments and I didn’t think I held myself back too much. If only every week for me was this great!
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