I knew this week of workouts wouldn’t be my best, but I ended up having a few surprises as well. Some of the things I was concerned about weren’t as bad as expected. And then some unexpected issues came up. But I worked through most of the issues and had a pretty successful workout week.
Monday’s workout was a 2 group workout and it was similar to a run/row. Since most of my classes are 3 groups, run/row workouts are a rarity for me and I was excited to get to do one. The run/row was more planned and timed than most, but it was still fun.
For cardio, every block started with rowing. The first block was a 600-meter row, the second block was a 300-meter row, and the last block was a 150-meter row. We had a little more time than necessary to do each row so we had time to get back to the treadmills and bike and ready to go for the rest of the block. The first block was more endurance-focused with a 3-minute push pace to a 1 minute all out. I used my normal push and all out resistance levels for these. The second block was more strength-focused with hill work. I tried to do all my resistance levels higher than my normal push level, but I was starting to deal with a little bit of nausea so I had to bring things down a bit and go easy. And the last block was more power focused and we had rounds of 30 second all outs. I didn’t change my resistance level for these all outs but instead kept it at my base level and just focused on pedaling harder.
The floor was split into 2 blocks. The first block had lunges with shoulder presses and goblet lateral lunges. The second block was a tough one for me and I decided to challenge myself a lot with it. We had a lot of lower body exercises that used the bench, and those are exercises that I struggle with. I’ve slowly been working on doing them while using the straps for balance instead of modifying them a lot, but this block had a lot in a row. We were supposed to do bench toe taps, bench crossovers, and single-leg bench hops. And after all that we had sit-ups. I was able to do the sit-ups just fine, but all the bench work was changed a bit for me. I did almost a single leg squat using the bench instead of the toe taps, I did modified crossovers with just reaching back with my leg, and instead of the bench hops, I did almost a swinging lunge so I could get some of the same movement. All of the bench work was done while holding the straps so I could keep my balance and I did have to stop from time to time to have both feel down before continuing. But I still managed to do it when it wasn’t that long ago that I couldn’t do any of it.
Wednesday’s workout was a strength-based class and it ended up being very tough for me. I was already dealing with nausea, but I also had some side effects from my new medication as well. Plus, I think because of some of my nerves with the new medication I didn’t sleep well the night before. All of that made things rough for me, and the workout was a tough one even if I was having a good day.
The cardio and rowers worked together and switched back and forth. When you were on cardio, you did cardio, rowing, cardio. And when you were on the rower you did row, cardio, row. When you were doing cardio as a part of cardio (not in the middle of rowing), it was all incline work. I tried to work with the resistance levels a bit, but I ended up keeping things around my push and all out levels for the entire time. None of the incline segments were that long, but they were back to back so that made them harder. The cardio work in the middle of the rowing was a 90 second run for distance so that wasn’t as bad. I did use my push resistance level and did ok for that part.
On the rower, when it was a part of the rowing block we had different distance rows with overhead presses with the medicine ball between each row. We started with increasing distances (150, 250, 350 meters) and when we were back on the rower for the last part of the block we did them as decreasing distances. And the rowing in the middle of the cardio block was a 90-second row for distance.
The floor had 3 blocks, but block 2 was a really quick one. Block 1 had bicep curls and leg raises to hip raises. Block 3 had split stance low rows with weights and plank work. Block 2 was done when cardio and rowers had their 90-second distance challenges. The floor had 90 seconds of doing hollow hold chest presses. Normally I’m great at those, but doing them for 90 seconds it a long time and my arms were getting so tired. But I was grateful for feeling tired because it was a good tired and not due to feeling off.
Friday’s workout was called the Obstacle Course, and it was a really hard class. It felt like we had no breaks and that we worked even harder when we had moments between the main exercises. I also had to deal with my nausea and the side effects from my new medication which ended up making some funny moments for me. All sections of the room were one long block, but they were broken up a little bit.
For cardio, we started with a 4 minute run for distance. Then we had a recovery but the treadmills had to do it at 15% incline. Then we had a 3-minute run, 15% incline recovery, 2-minute run, 15% incline recovery, and 30 second all out. I used my push pace resistance level for all the distance runs and my normal all out level for the all out. And I went 2 levels higher than my all out for the recovery time since I knew it should be tough. The recovery did not feel like recovery and I had to take breaks from time to time to get through my nausea and drink water. I didn’t do as much distance as I would have liked to have done on the bike, but I think the high resistance level recovery affected that more than I thought.
The rower had a similar pattern to cardio. We had the distance rows and then when we had recovery time we had squats. I struggled on the rower. Not only was my nausea hitting me hard while I was trying to row, but I also ended up having to deal with feeling pins and needles in my feet when they were in the rower. I know that feeling is a side effect from the medication and is hopefully temporary, but it was really hard to row when I wasn’t able to feel my feet like I normally can. I couldn’t push back as hard as normal and I think I had a bit too much focus on how I was feeling and not on my rowing. I knew that the feeling was fine and I was ok, but it was distracting.
And on the floor, we had 1 long block but whenever the cardio and rowers had their recovery segments we had burpees. The floor work had thrusters with weights, high rows on the straps, double crunches, skater lunges, and running men. Each time we got through the exercises we got rid of the one on the end. But I never made it through the second time. I was pretty slow and I struggled with a lot. I modified the burpees and running men so I used the bench, but I still had to take breaks to let the nausea pass. Fortunately, by the time I was on the floor the pins and needles feeling was gone so I didn’t have to think about that.
Saturday’s class was much better with the nausea, but I had some of the same side effects with my medication to deal with. But overall it was a better workout and I was happy with that.
For cardio, we had 5 rounds of 1-minute push paces, 30-second base paces, and 30-second all outs. I used my normal resistance level for the push and base paces, but I decided to play around with what an all out would be like and did it at my normal base level but with increasing how fast I was pedaling. I’ve been doing that more often and I like having that as an alternative to higher resistance levels.
The rowing block was almost more like a squat block with a bit of rowing in it. It was hard, especially considering that I was dealing with the pins and needles feeling in my feet when I was rowing. We started with a 300-meter row and then 10 squat presses and 10 regular squats with a medicine ball. Then it was a 250-meter row and 2 rounds of 10 reps of each type of squats. I was able to do the 200 meters and was working on the 3 rounds of the 10 reps of each type of squats when the block was done. The squats took much longer than normal because of the pins and needles feeling, plus my hips were starting to hurt so I had to take a lot of breaks. That meant I didn’t make it back onto the rower as quickly as I would have liked and didn’t do as many rowing round.
And on the floor, we had 1 block that was split into 2 mini-blocks. The first mini-block had push-ups and pop jacks and the second mini-block had bridge chest fly, bridge tricep extensions, and leg raises. We started working through everything once. Then we had 2 rounds of the push-ups and pop jacks before moving onto 2 rounds of the other exercises. Then it was 3 rounds. I modified the push-ups and pop jacks by using the bench, but other than that I was able to do the floor work normally which I was happy about.
I will be increasing the dosage of my medication this week so I’m hoping that either the side effects go away or don’t increase. But if they do, I might email my doctor and discuss it with her because I can see it becoming an issue if it doesn’t stop. But I’m staying optimistic that it will go away and my rowing will be normal again this week, just as my nausea ends. So maybe I will be having an epically amazing week this week. At least that’s what I’m hoping for.
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