This past week of workouts wasn’t exactly the same as they normally are, but for the first time in a long time, I think the difference was a positive thing. My classes were during the same times, but I had one that wasn’t what it normally was and a surprise sub coach.
For Monday’s workout, I was glad I was feeling normal. Like I had said before, it’s always tough when I’m expecting to feel awful. It’s so much worse when it’s not expected. But I was ready to work out on Monday and push myself like I know I can.
For cardio, we had 2 blocks and they both had rolling hills. That meant we had 1-minute at an incline and then 1-minute without an incline. And each time we added incline, it went down 1%. Both blocks had 3 1-minute intervals with inclines and the second block was a bit lower than the first. I used the resistance levels I should have been using for both blocks and tried to pedal a bit faster than normal to push myself.
On the rower, we had 1 long block. We started with 1 round of a 600-meter row. After the row, we had high knees. Then we had 2 rounds of a 300-meter row with the same exercise between each row. The last part was 4 rounds of a 150-meter row with the same exercises, but I didn’t get through all those rounds.
And on the floor, the first block was all about tempo and doing the same exercise with different tempos. We had 3 different tempos of a sumo squat and a chest press. And in the second block, we had all single-side alternating work. We had low rows with weights, shoulder presses, and plank reaches. And at the very end of the workout, we had pop jacks as a finisher.
On Wednesday, I had a nice surprise when I showed up for the workout. One of my coaches from the Brentwood studio, Lal, was subbing for that class. I hadn’t seen Lal since before the pandemic and it had been even longer since I was able to take one of his classes. It was so exciting to have him coaching me again and I knew I was going to be pushed hard.
For cardio, we had 2 blocks. The first block started with a 4-minute distance challenge that had a 1-minute all-out at the end. Then we had a minute to recover before a 90-second progressive challenge. And in the second block, the goal was the match or beat the distance from the first block. But this time we started with the 90-second challenge and ended with the 4-minute one.
On the rower, we were timed along with cardio. But for the 4-minute challenge, we had different stroke goals for each minute. And we increased the strokes per minute each time. That was a bit more of a challenge for me since it’s hard for me to be super steady at times with how quickly or slowly I’m rowing. But I tried to stay in the right range each time. I did have to take some breaks for both of the 4-minute challenges, but I tried to keep them quick and get back to rowing.
And on the floor, we had 1 block. I had to make a bunch of modifications because the floor work had a lot of balance exercises in it and I can’t do those properly. We were supposed to do half-kneeling shoulder presses to stands, but I did regular lunges and then shoulder presses separately. We were supposed to have single-leg deadlifts, and I did regular deadlifts. We had balance bicep curls and I modified those to be on my toes on one foot so I did a bit of balance work. And we had bear planks which I did as bird dogs. I didn’t love modifying so much of the floor, but it was the best option for me and I did essentially the same movements, just in slightly different ways.
And of course, I had to get a photo with Lal since it had been so long since we had seen each other.
Thursday had an interesting way to do the cardio work. Normally, after an all-out, we have a walking recovery. This time, we went from an all-out to a low base pace. For block 1, we had rounds of a 45-second push pace into a 15-second all-out. Then we had 90-seconds at the conservative base pace. For me, I kept the resistance level for the base pace at the same level I normally use, I just allowed myself to pedal a bit slower. But since I also use that same level at times for my recovery, I made sure I wasn’t going as slow as I would for a walking recovery. For block 2, it was the same idea but we had 30-second push paces into 30-second all-outs with 2-minutes at a conservative base pace.
On the rower, we always had 200-meter rows. But we had different exercises for blocks 1 and 2 between each row. For block 1, we did lunges and overhead presses with a medicine ball. And for block 2, we had squats with a front press and bicep curls. I’m glad the row wasn’t too long because I have been dealing with so much hip pain lately and the long rows are really hard on me. But I was able to do pretty well with 200-meters.
And on the floor, we had 3 exercises for each block. Block 1 had goblet squats, hip bridges, and sit-ups with rotations. And block 2 had seated low rows, bench pullovers, and mountain climbers. The only modifications I made on the floor were skipping the Bosu ball for the sit-ups and mountain climbers. But I was able to do everything else.
On Friday, we had Lal as our sub again, which was really nice since I didn’t realize I’d see him again after seeing him on Wednesday. I figured this class might be small since a lot of people would be away for the long weekend, and I was right. And since it was a smaller class, we had a 2 group class instead of a 3 group class.
For cardio, we did a lot of work with inclines. For the first block, we started with a 2-minute push pace at an incline with a 90-second base pace at no incline. Then we repeated that pattern by increasing the incline each time and decreasing the time we were in the push pace. The inclines/resistance levels got really high, but fortunately, we weren’t spending too long at the higher inclines. And the first block ended with a 45-second all-out where we could pick which incline we wanted to use. I went with 1 level higher for the resistance level on the bike compared to my normal all-out. And in the second block, we started at the highest incline and worked our way down without the flat road base paces in-between. We did the same thing with keeping the time shorter with the higher inclines and increased the time as the incline went down. But they were base paces instead of push paces. And again, we ended with a 45-second all-out where we could pick the incline.
And on the floor, the first block had 2 mini-blocks. The first mini-block had lunges and deadlifts to low rows. We did that 3 times before moving on to the next mini-block which had hammer curls to bicep curls and Arnold presses. And the second block had squats, lunges, and a 250-meter row.
I’m really happy with how this past week went. Things weren’t what I necessarily expected, but it’s nice to be reminded that this can be a good thing. And I know that this week will be a little different since today is a holiday, but maybe I’ll have some other surprises that make the week really awesome again!
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