Tag Archives: bike

Before I get into my workout recap, I want to mention something that I realized this week. Here’s a little behind the scenes with my workout recap posts: I work on writing these throughout the week. After each workout I write the section for that day’s class because I never would be able to remember it otherwise. And because I do that, things might seem a bit disjointed or I repeat things. And when I was working on the recap of last week’s workouts, I realized that I often will give my reason or excuse for why I’m using the bike and not the treadmill. There’s no reason I need to do that, but I feel like I have to explain myself. I might still do that from time to time, but I’m going to be making an effort to not do that as much as I have.

Having that realization was kind of a game changer for me. It happened midway through the week and it really made me think about the reasons I’ve been giving myself for using the bike. This is something I’ve been struggling with for a while and I’ve said before how I’ve been working on my mindset. But even when I was working on my mindset, I didn’t realize that I was putting negative thoughts into it by putting reasons and justifications when I was writing these posts each week.

Now, on to the workout recap.

Monday’s workout was a strength based class. I’ve been working more and more with the resistance levels on the bike so it was exciting to see what I would be able to do this time. We didn’t have that high of inclines/resistance levels to work with this time, so I didn’t do anything too crazy. But I am noticing that the resistance levels that seemed like my legs were pedaling through jello before now seem much easier. It’s really motivating to feel the progress in the resistance levels that I’ve been making because I still struggle to notice the progress a lot with the bike.

On the floor, we had 5 blocks and 4 of them were add on blocks. Everything was timed for us and those 4 blocks started with lateral lunges with shoulder work. The combination of the lunge and shoulder work was a bit tough for me so I split them into 2 different moves instead of one smooth move. Each block we added on another exercise like static over under, sit-ups, and static crunch heel taps. The last block started with a plank and then had all the ab exercises (but not the lunges). With the ab work, I had to modify almost everything. With the weather we’ve been having in LA, my hip has been hurting and I had to make things a little easier on my hip. But I’m working on figuring out how to make things easier on my hip but not easier in general.

Wednesday’s workout was a 3 group class (I think now my Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday workouts will all be 3 group classes) and it was a mix of endurance, strength, power but it did feel much more endurance and power based. For cardio we had 2 different 6 minute distance runs (or bikes). The first one was paced by the coach with different push and base paces and the second one was on our own. For the second one, I used the resistance level between my base and push and I was able to go further on the second attempt than I had on the first.

On the rower, we started with a 5 minute row for distance. I was able to get just over 1000 meters in 5 minutes and then we had squats to shoulder presses with the medicine ball. Then we were supposed to row half the distance we did before and then more squats to shoulder presses. Finally we cut the row in half again with more squats, but I was still working on my row when the block ended. And on the floor triceps with a dumbbell, chest presses on the straps, sumo squats, and single arm chest presses. I did go a bit heavier on my weights than I normally do because the weights I usually use were being used by other people. That is a good motivation to move to heavier weights, but I also was lucky that all the rep counts were really low.

Friday’s workout was another strength based day, but we only had limited hill work. We had 2 blocks for each section of the room and we switched between blocks (there were 6 blocks total). For the cardio blocks, we had similar patterns. We had a push pace, base pace, base pace at incline/higher resistance level, flat base pace, and an all out pace at an incline/higher resistance level. For the first block I did 2 levels higher than my normal all out level for the incline work and the second block I did 3 levels higher. Those levels made my legs work so hard, but it was a really good hard feeling!

For the row blocks, we started with a 400 meter row and then had squats with overhead presses and calf raises using the medicine ball. Every round we went down 50 meters on the rower and did the exercises between each row. They were all pretty short rows which was nice after having cardio blocks but I wasn’t as fast as I would have liked to have been. And on the floor for the first block we had deadlifts, shoulder presses, and leg raises. For the deadlifts and shoulder presses we had drop sets. That means we had a low rep count with a higher weight immediately followed by a higher rep count with a lower weight (we had 4 reps and then 12 reps). I went really heavy for the low rep count and it was a nice relief to have the lower weights after. And the second block was a block where I had to modify everything. What I did was lunges with weights, bench tap squats, and crunches.

Saturday’s workout was probably my favorite workout of the week. My hip pain from the rain was finally done and the class was a really great workout with lots of switching. It was an endurance day, but everything went by quickly so it didn’t really feel like endurance work.

We had a 3 group class and the rower and cardio sections did kind of a run/row format. I started on the bike and I started with a 4 minute bike for distance. Then I was on the rower for a 2 minute row with squat twists with the medicine ball. Then it was back to the bike for another 4 minute distance challenge. When I was on the rower side, I did the 2 minute row with squats for the first and third parts and another 4 minute distance challenge on the bike in the middle. Since the cardio side uses the rower second, those blocks were back to back for me so I got all the cardio work done together.

On the floor, we had 2 blocks. The longer block had weight work with bicep curls, upright rows, and hip hinge low rows. After those we had ab work that added each round that we did. I only made it through the first 2 rounds so I had static crunch scissor kicks and sit-ups. The second block was shorter and it was all work using the straps. We had Y-raises, high rows, and low rows. My arms and shoulders were killing me by the end of the workout!

I’ve been using the bike exclusively for a while and I’m still torn on how to work the treadmill into my workouts again. In another week or so I’ll be back to being nauseous so it’s a weird thing to try to figure out. But maybe this time is exactly what I needed to do so I could keep having these realizations to be happier with using the bike.

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I knew going into this past week of workouts that it wasn’t going to be a great week. I’m trying to be less pessimistic about the issues I have, but it’s not easy all the time to find a positive side to them. But I do try to remind myself that I at least knew this was coming so I could be prepared. I don’t necessarily know which will be ok days and which will be really bad days, but I’m always prepared. And fortunately this past week did have some bright spots for me even with all the issues I had to deal with.

Monday’s workout was an endurance day and we had the 1 mile benchmark run. I knew that there was no way that I could use the treadmill, so I was going to do my first benchmark bike attempt and I was excited to see what would happen. Because I track my distance on the bike each workout, I have an idea about how long a distance would take me, but I had no idea what my PR would be since I never did that benchmark on the bike before.

When you use the bike, it’s 4 times as long as the treadmill. So the treadmill had a 1 mile run and I had a bike ride of 4 trips (there is a debate if 1 trip is really 1 mile or not). On average, that would take me about 10 minutes to do, but I was hoping to do it in under 9:30. I knew that I had my nausea working against me, but I really wanted to try to push through the nausea and keep going instead of taking a break to let it pass. In the end, I did my benchmark in 8:58 which was significantly faster than I thought I could do! And I did manage to not take any breaks during that time, but I paid for doing that in the rest of my workout. I was dealing with so much nausea and each time I had a wave of nausea I had a very intense cramp. It wasn’t fun. The rest of cardio was a run/row, but I didn’t get that far into it. My benchmark took longer than most people and I was slow on the rower. But I got through 3 rows and was working on the next bike distance when cardio was done.

On the floor, we had 2 blocks. The first block had hip hinge low rows with weights, low rows on the straps, plank rows with weights, and straight leg hip raises. I couldn’t do the plank work so I did single arm hip hinge low rows with a weight. And I also couldn’t do the straight leg hip raises so I did regular crunches. The second block was shorter with sumo squats to high rows and leg lifts. Fortunately I was able to do both of those exercises so that was nice to not need modifications for at least a little bit of the workout.

Wednesday’s workout was an interesting one. With cardio we had treadmill/bike work alternating with exercises and for the floor we had exercises alternating with rowing. Every single block was 2 minutes long and we were constantly moving.

I started on the bike where all the 2 minute treadmill/bike blocks were a push pace for 2 minutes. I was able to use my push pace resistance level even though I couldn’t go as fast as I usually can. The 2 minute blocks between the biking was 3 rounds of 30 seconds on and 15 seconds rest of speed skater lunges, squats, lateral lunges, and sit-ups. I was able to do all those exercises with limited modifications and when I was starting to get nauseous that seemed to be when we had our 15 second break.

On the floor, we had the same pattern of 3 rounds of 30 seconds on and 15 seconds of rest with the exercises. We had bench sit-ups to stands, plank jacks, and then one round that had all the ab exercises in it. And when we were on the rower we had a 2 minute push row. Just like with the bike, I was able to get through it but I wasn’t going as hard or as fast as I normally can. I think I really lucked out with this workout having as much rest as we did because I wasn’t doing anything for that long at one time. I was prepared for so much worse with my nausea and it was nice to be pleasantly surprised.

Friday was the hardest day for me. I wasn’t really feeling nauseous anymore, but I was having horrible cramps with intense pain. I don’t know why my painkillers weren’t helping me, but it was some of the most intense cramping I’ve had that I can recall. All I could do when a cramp hit me was to stop and breathe through it. It’s on days like this one that I’m extra grateful for all my amazing coaches because they know what I’m dealing with and they don’t stress out over seeing me take breaks. They will check in on me, but I’m not always feeling like I have to explain or defend myself.

This workout was a 3 group endurance workout and my only focus was to get through it the best that I could. For cardio, we had 2 blocks that were the same. The idea was to increase our base pace so we could get more distance in the second block, but I didn’t worry about that. I didn’t reset the bike so I only know the distance I did over the entire cardio time. They were pretty classic endurance blocks with a long push pace, a base pace, a shorter push pace, a base pace, and an all out. I was happy with the easy to follow plan so I could just focus on trying to do what I was able to do and not having to worry about what part of the block we were in.

For the rower, we started with a 600 meter row and then we had squat front raises using a medicine ball. The idea was to decrease the row 100 meters each round. I only made it through 3 rounds before the rowing was done, but just like my feeling with cardio I knew I did the best I could with having to take as many breaks as I had to.

And on the floor, I needed a lot of modifications due to the exercises we had. We first had bench toe taps and plank work. I can’t do bench work like that due to my hips, so I did lunges instead. And I did my plank work using the bench so I wasn’t totally facing the ground. Then we had squats and crunches, which I could do just fine. And we ended with bench crossovers and mountain climbers, which I couldn’t do. I did skater lunges and used the bench for my mountain climbers so I was able to do something.

I was finally feeling more like myself by Saturday’s workout. I still wasn’t totally back to normal, but it was the best of the days that week. We had an endurance, strength, and power day and it was a good but hard workout!

For cardio, we started with endurance work with push paces to base paces that kept getting longer. Then we started doing hill work and we finished with a bunch of all out paces that were both on flat incline and hills. I was going almost my normal speed on the bike and I was using all of my resistance levels. I even was able to increase my resistance levels to do the hill work although I wasn’t doing the highest levels I know I could do. I had to take very few breaks during the cardio work and most of those breaks were me needing to drink water (I can’t drink water and pedal at the same time yet).

On the floor, we had 2 blocks. The first block had full thrusters with weights, single arm snatches with weights, and plank jacks. I know I went too light with my weights, but I was feeling a bit off doing them. It was almost like a light nausea feeling mixed with seasickness. So I went a little easy on myself. And I was able to do the plank jacks normally so I knew that was a sign I was doing much better! The second block was rowing and work using the Bosu. We started with a 400 meter row and then did kneeling shoulder work and hip bridges with the Bosu. Then a 200 meter row and back extensions and sit-ups on the Bosu. We were supposed to do a 100 meter row after that, but I didn’t make it to that point in the workout.

Considering I had a goal to be more enthusiastic about being on the bike, I think I did really well this week. I did have some negative feelings about how I was feeling, but that was more about how I felt and not thoughts about being on the bike. I even had moments that I was excited to be using the bike like figuring out my benchmark time for it. I’m still trying to figure out how to use the bike more often than the treadmill and the main idea I keep coming back to is to just use only the bike. I know it might not be the best plan for me, but I think it might be what I need to do while I keep figuring out my options. But whether I use the bike all week this week or do the treadmill a bit, I know it will be a good week of hard work!

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This past week was my last full week of workouts for 2018, and I have to say I think they went pretty well! I had some random issues, but I also had some victories over issues that I have been dealing with for a while. And as always, I enjoyed having a bit of holiday fun during my workouts too.

Monday’s workout was the traditional Christmas Eve workout with the Present and Coal cards. We drew cards out of a Santa hat that had different workout assignments. Some were easy (the Presents) and some were hard (the Coal). I’ve had a mixed bag with what workouts I’ve gotten in the past and I figured I’d have the same this time.

I started on cardio with the bike. I’m still trying to figure out what I want to do with enjoying the bike more often, but I was glad I used it for this workout.  I did 3 different cards and they were all Presents. The first and third cards that I drew were 3 rounds of .15 miles (which was .6 on the bike) with 30 seconds of recovery in between each round. Each round took me about 90 seconds to complete so it was a 90 second push pace for me. I forgot what the second card said exactly, but it was shorter than the other card. I think it might have been 3 rounds of .1 miles (.4 on the bike) but I’m not totally sure. But again, I did it as a push pace and I was using my new push pace resistance level on the bike.

I was on the rower next and I only drew one card, and it was a Coal card. I had 2 rounds of an 800 meter row with 50 squats using a medicine ball between the rows. The first row wasn’t too bad and I was able to do it in a decent time without stopping. But the 50 squats were a killer! I thought I could do them with only 1 break in the middle, but I had to rest every 5-10 squats. I was so happy to be back on the rower for my second 800 meter row even though I did it slowly and needed breaks. I was just finishing it when that block was done and I went to the floor.

I’m not sure if I was just normal tired or tired from the workout, but I got really confused when reading the card. We had 6 different exercises on the floor (low rows on the straps, sumo squats to presses, crunches, burpees, squats, and plank work) and the first card I drew said Exercise 4 x 25. I thought that meant 4 rounds of 25 reps of everything and started working on them. But after the second exercise, I realized that had to be wrong and I checked with my coach. The card meant I only had to do the 4th exercise (which was the burpees) for 25 reps. All the cards I got on the floor only had been doing some of the exercises, but by the end of the block I had done all 6 of them pretty equally.

I have a tradition of getting a photo with my coach Bruce before Christmas with him wearing a Santa hat, but I knew this year it might not happen. I don’t take his class anymore and I rarely see him. So I had to do some creative photo editing to make it happen this year.

Wednesday’s workout was a strength day, and I was on the bike again. We had 3 blocks with cardio and 3 blocks on the floor, but the cardio work seemed extra tough to me that morning.

The cardio was a similar pattern with a regular push pace, a hill, and ending with an all out with base paces in between everything. The push pace and hill work were 2 minutes each for the first block, 90 seconds each for the second block, and 1 minute each for the last block. And the hill work was 2 different inclines/resistance levels each time so we went higher and harder halfway through each hill. I was using my new base and push resistance levels and kept my hill work around what my all out resistance level is at now. I had Chinese food the night before and I think having that the night before an early workout did affect me because it felt so much harder than it had felt in a long time. I struggled a bit with the hill work, but I tried to not think about keeping my cadence the same and just focused on moving. The one really good thing was that my new base pace resistance level is feeling much easier and such a relief when I get to come back to it after higher resistance levels.

On the floor, we got to pick our own work for each block. We had 3 different row distances and 6 different exercises. For each block we picked 1 row distance and 2 exercises and by the end of 3 blocks we did them all. The rows were 200, 300, and 400 meters and the exercises were hip hinge low rows, double crunches, shoulder presses, single arm fly, pullovers, and toe reaches. I decided to do the longest row first and go down with each block. And I didn’t have a plan with the exercises more than I was going to do 1 and 3 for the first block, 2 and 4 for the second, and 5 and 6 for the last. We were told not to do the double crunches and pullovers in the same block since they were the same movement, and for some reason the way I split things up made the most sense to me. I wasn’t using the heaviest weights I could because there is a small chance I have a pinched nerve in my right arm (I’ve got some recurring pain and weakness in my hand) so I wanted to be careful. But using light weights really did help me see my progress since those weights were ones I would have used for those exercises toward the beginning of the year and they felt very easy to me in this workout.

Friday’s workout was a mix of endurance, strength, and power and it was a workout that made me happy to be on the bike. For cardio, we had a mix of progressive pushes and incline work. And neither of those are things that are easy to do on the treadmill. So being on the bike really was the best option and it made me appreciate knowing I can do some good work on there.

We had 2 blocks and each block started with a 4 minute progressive push and ended with 4 all outs using different inclines. For the progressive pushes, I increased my bike resistance by 1 level each time starting at the resistance level between my base and push. And for the incline work I did high resistance levels starting at my all out level and going higher from there. As it’s been since I increased my base, push, and all out resistance levels; it was really tough but felt really great. The base resistance level is feeling so much more normal even if the other levels are feeling much tougher than I’m used to.

On the floor, we had 2 blocks as well and they all had rowing plus regular floor work. The first block started with a 100 meter row and then we had 1 round of lateral raises, single arm snatches, and bench hop overs. Then we had a 200 meter row and 2 rounds of the exercises. The block ended with a 400 meter row and doing the exercises again. The second block was a similar pattern but started with the highest row and moved down. And the exercises were Y raises on the straps, plank rows, and sit-ups.

Saturday’s workout was a power day and it would have been a perfect day for me to work on my running. But I’m working on being happier with the bike so I tried to reframe my thinking and look at it as the perfect day to work on being faster on the bike.

There were 5 blocks for cardio and 5 blocks for the floor. The first and last blocks were 2 minutes, the second and fourth blocks were 3.5 minutes, and the third block was 5.5 minutes. For cardio, it was a run/row format. The first and last blocks were a .1 mile run (.4 on the bike) and then row until time was done. The second and fourth blocks were .2 miles (.8 on the bike) and then row until time was done. And the third block was .3 miles (1.2 on the bike) and then row until the block was done. I was able to get through the bike work pretty quickly and had a decent amount of time on the rower each block. But I was never on the rower more than 2.5 minutes which was nice. I felt pretty great about my biking speed and my rowing for all of the blocks and also felt like I had worked harder on the bike than I would have on the treadmill.

The floor blocks were the same amount of time as the cardio blocks. The first and fifth blocks had push-ups and sit-ups, the second and fourth blocks had tricep extensions with weights and chest presses with weights, and the third block had tricep extensions on the straps, plank shoulder touches, and toe touch sit-ups. I tried to not go too quickly with the exercises so I could keep my form the best I could, so I didn’t do too many rounds each block. But that’s ok.

Overall, I’m happy with how my feelings about the bike were at the end of this past week. I was looking at it more positively and started to think of ideas of challenges for 2019 for the bike (more on that soon). I’ve got just today’s workout left for 2018 and then it’s time to start working on my 2019 fitness goals!

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