Recently I wrote about how I was working on increasing my resistance levels on the bike for my cardio work. I know I need to do that every so often because as I get stronger I need heavier resistance to get the same workout. But it’s a hard balance to find and that’s something that I ended up playing with this past week in my workouts.
Monday’s workout was a power day and we had a bunch of 4 minute blocks. After each block we switched stations so we were constantly switching. That can be a good thing since I don’t usually get too tired and can go a lot harder each time I’m on the bike, rower, or floor. Every block at each section was the same which also helped with not thinking too much and just putting my energy into working hard.
For cardio, every block was 2 rounds of 1 minute push paces with base paces after and ending with an all out. I know that last week I worked on increasing my resistance levels on the bike, but I mixed up what I had worked on. So for the first 2 times I was on the bike I had an increased base pace but used my old push and all out paces. I realized my error after 2 rounds and finished using my regular base pace and new push and all out paces. To be honest, I’m not sure which one was better and I’m going to be checking with some of my coaches about if I should focus on increasing my base pace or my push and all out paces. But both ways I did the resistance levels, it felt harder than normal and that was exactly what I wanted.
On the rower, we had 2 rounds of a 45 second all out row with squats after. We kept doing squats until the last 45 seconds when we had another 45 second all out row. The first time I was on the rower I was getting really frustrated because I couldn’t get my wattage up. I only discovered the second time that my rower was not set to wattage but MPH. I’m not as familiar with what MPH I should be doing on the rower so I had to listen to my body more and feel what felt like an all out to me.
And on the floor, we had 1 long plan and we just continued working on it each time we were on the floor. The plan had 3 mini-blocks and each mini-block had 2 exercises that we were supposed to do for 3 rounds. We had pop jacks, push-ups, hip hinge swings with weights, tricep work with weights, squats, and high rows on the straps. After each mini-block we also had sit-ups. I did a little more than 2 full rounds of everything when I finished the last time I was on the floor and I was lucky that I usually ended at the end of a mini-block so it was easy to come back to exactly where I was when I got back to the floor.
Wednesday’s workout was an endurance day and I decided to do the higher base pace and lower push and all out paces. I feel like I’ll be playing around with the resistance levels on the bike for a while to figure things out, but this past week ended up being more of an experiment than anything else.
The cardio was rounds of push paces to base paces with the push pace getting longer each round. Using my old push pace level was really the right choice for this because of how long some of the push paces got. But since my base pace was higher than before, it kept it a challenging workout. I definitely had moments of struggling with the longer push paces, but I allowed myself to take a moment to breathe and get some water and not forced myself to just work through it.
On the rower, we started with 100 meter rows and went up 100 meters each round. And after each row we had squats with the medicine ball that started at 50 reps and went down 10 reps each round. The rows were fine, especially because I never got that high in how far I had to go. But the squats were tough for me. My hip was not having the best day so the squats were starting to hurt me. Just like on the bike, I had to allow myself to take a break and not force myself to go through every rep without stopping. I don’t like doing that, but it’s necessary for me to do it sometimes.
And on the floor, we had 2 blocks. The first block had burpees, low rows on the straps, chest presses on the straps, and sit ups. I was very grateful for using the bench for my burpees because it allowed me to get through them quicker than if I was on the floor and having to step back instead of jump back. The second block was a core focused block. We had leg raises, bicycle crunches, hip bridges, straight leg hip raises, and v ups. I actually didn’t make it all the way down to the v ups but I was able to get all the other core work done.
Friday’s workout was a mix of power and endurance which is a pretty interesting mix to have. I played around a bit more with the resistance levels on the bike, but I ended up being more comfortable using my old base pace level and my new push and all out levels.
Cardio had 3 blocks but they all had a similar format. We had rounds of push paces to base paces with an all out at the end. What changed was how long the push and base paces were. The first block was 4 rounds of 30 second intervals. The second block was 3 rounds of 30 second push paces and 1 minute base paces. And the third block was 1 round of a 1 minute push pace and 90 second base pace. Every block had a 30 second all out at the end. The new push paces were tough at times, but it felt much better when I was able to go back to my old base pace which was much easier. And since the intervals were on the shorter side, it helped make the blocks go by faster.
On the rower, we started with a 700 meter row. We were supposed to see what our time was on that row to use for the rest of the rows. I just went with the idea that I did it in 3 1/2 minutes (which was close to what time I finished in). After that first row we had squats with medicine ball front presses and then we were back on the rower for another round. Each time we were on the rower, we were supposed to do 30 seconds less than the round before. Using round numbers make that so much easier which is why I don’t mind using a slightly longer time as my 700 meter row time.
And on the floor, we had 3 blocks. The first block was high rows using weights and skater lunges. The second block was weighted pull overs and sit-up to stand and squats on the bench. I had to split that last one up and did my sit-ups at one time and then did squats at one time since it’s hard for me to get up from the bench. And the last block was a core blast with straight leg raises, bicycle crunches, hip dips, and ending with a plank hold. My core was on fire at the end of that workout, but at least I was able to relax while working after I was done.
Saturday’s workout was a strength day and it felt like another good chance to play around with the resistance levels on the bike. I knew that we were going to have hill work for cardio, but I saw it more as a way to test out a few different resistance levels to see how they feel.
For cardio, we had 2 blocks that were the same. Each block started with a 1 minute push pace and 1 minute base pace. I used my new push level and old base level. Then we had a 4 minute hill climb where we increased the incline/resistance level each minute. I started at 1 level above my old base pace (which is my new base pace) and it ended at my new old all out pace. It really gave me a chance to see how my body felt at all those levels and I focused on that much more than how far I was going each block.
For the rower, the two blocks were the same and very similar to cardio. We started with 1 minute of squats and then we got onto the rowers for a 4 minute progressive row. Our rowers were set to display our mph and the idea was to increase it a bit every minute. I struggled to increase it but I tried to do my best. I wasn’t really able to do it every minute like we were supposed to, but it did go up over the 4 minutes and I was able to go very hard for the last 30 seconds and got the mph up pretty hi
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