Tag Archives: fitness

For the most part, this past week of workouts was pretty routine for me. Even though this isn’t the routine I was doing before the shutdown or right after things reopened, I’ve been getting used to this workout time and having only a little time after my workouts to be ready for work. I’ve even started getting used to working out in a mask. But this was the last week that things were like that. Starting this week, the workout times change again. And starting on Tuesday, masks are optional for those who are vaccinated.

What this means for me is that my workouts will be earlier than I’ve ever done them and I will need to adjust to that. I know that this is likely temporary and things will change again, and I think the goal is to have the workout times be back to where they were before. Also, I will be bringing a mask to class in case I feel like I need it, but I’m not sure I will be wearing it. That may be something I have to decide each day. And with the workout times changing and things continuing to move into a safer situation, the workouts are also changing a bit. Until this week, all the workouts were 3G, where you have a group on cardio, a group on the rowers, and a group on the floor. There will still be some 3G classes, but they are also returning to 2G classes this week. My schedule will be a mix of both, so that will be interesting.

But besides being prepared for the changes coming up, my workouts on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday were close to what I’ve been used to. I’ll be writing about my Saturday workout in tomorrow’s post because that was something special!

Monday’s workout was a power day. It felt a bit like an endurance day to me, but we were warned that it might feel that way and told to be aware of that. There is a difference with how to do things when it’s an endurance day versus power day, and I tried to be mindful of that and pushing myself more even with the longer workout intervals.

For cardio, we started with a 3-minute distance challenge. This is usually something we do for endurance days, but because we were going to have a 2-minute recovery after it, we were told to push ourselves harder than we normally would do. I had my bike resistance level up 1 from the level I have been working with, and I finally feel pretty good about keeping it there. After the 3-minute challenge, we had a 90-second challenge with the extra challenge of trying to match or beat half the distance from the 3-minute one. I was very happy that I was able to beat it. After those, we had intervals that felt more like a power day. We had 2 rounds of 1-minute all-outs and 2 rounds of 30-second all-outs with a 1-minute recovery between all of them. I was pedaling really fast at the end and it felt amazing to be able to do that again with no issues.

For rowing, we started on the same plan as cardio. We had the 3-minute row and 90-second row. I was able to row the entire time for both of those with the exception of a brief moment in the 3-minute row when my foot slipped and I had to fix the foot straps. But I had to do that in order to keep rowing and it wasn’t really a break, so I don’t feel too bad about it. After those 2 challenges, we had rounds of 300-meter rows and single-arm full thrusters with weights between each row. I only got through 2 rounds before the block was done, but I felt like I was doing pretty good with my pacing.

And on the floor, we had 2 blocks. The first block was my first block with the mini-bands since returning after the closure. With the mini-bands we had in and outs (which I modified to be regular squats), foot exchanges (which I modified to be front and back steps), and walkouts. Then we had a longer block with more power exercises. We had push-ups using the bench, step-ups (which I modified to be lunges), bench plank single-arm fly, and hip hinge swings. I felt much better about the second block than I did for the first and was able to use some weights closer to what I was using before the closure.

Wednesday was an endurance day, and it really felt like one! I thought Monday felt like endurance, but Wednesday proved me wrong.

For cardio, we had one long block. We started with a 30-second push pace and then a 30-second base pace. Then the push and base paces increased by 15-seconds each round until we got to a 75-second push pace and 75-second base pace. Then they decreased by 15-seconds each round and we ended with a 30-second all-out. I was using my new resistance level on the bike and it was tough to not have a recovery break during the entire block. I did have breaks to drink water, but that isn’t exactly the same because I rush to do those.

On the rower, it was all about 300-meter rows. And between each row, we had either high knees or butt kicks. 300-meters isn’t a crazy distance to do, but it’s also not exactly a sprint. I know that sometimes I have been able to do it quickly, but lately, it’s around 90 seconds of hard rowing to get it done. And I was trying to work on maintaining my stroke rate and increasing my wattage, but it’s hard. But when the block was almost done, I decided to give it everything I had knowing I wouldn’t do the row again. And it was the hardest I’ve rowed in a long time. Even before the pandemic, I rarely rowed this hard. The goal in my head was to get it done in 1:15 (even though that’s not close to my PR) and I was shocked I was able to get it done in 1:06.9. I was really burnt out after completing that row, but I was really proud of myself. And I took the last bit of that block as time to get my breathing back under control and to get ready for the floor.

And on the floor, we had 1 long block with 2 mini-blocks in them. And we were supposed to do each mini-block twice before moving on. The first mini-block had pullovers with an isolated hip bridge, chest presses with weights, and bear to downward dog poses. And the second mini-block had hip hinge low rows, shoulder presses, and bear steps. I was slower than I would have liked during the floor, and I struggled to fully catch my breath after the row block. But I was working on my second round of the second mini-block when the workout ended.

Friday’s workout was a power day. I was dealing with a bit of hip pain, but nothing too bad. I just knew that I would have to be a bit careful during the workout.

We had 2 blocks in each section of the room. For cardio, the first block started with a 30-second push pace followed by a 45-second base pace. Then we had a 45-second push, 60-second base, 60-second push, and 30-second all out. It was a good, short block to get us ready for the second block. The second block was 6 rounds of 30-second all-outs. After the first all-out, we had 30 seconds to recover and the recovery time went up by 15-seconds each round. I tried to pedal hard since we had a decent amount of recovery time, but my hip issues were limiting me a bit.

On the rower, the first block started with a 200-meter row and then 20 speed squats. Then we had a 150-meter row and 15 speed squats. I was working on the 100-meter row when the first block ended. And the second block went along with cardio. We had the same 30-second all-out rows, but instead of recovery, we had squat jumps (which I modified to be squat calf raises). There was a little time after finishing the squats before the next row, but not a lot. And just like I had done on Wednesday, I decided to push myself really hard for the last 30-second row. I was able to get to a higher wattage than I have seen in years and about 50% more distance than most of my 30-second rows!

And on the floor, the first block was a bit easier to warm us up for the rest of the floor. I appreciated that after rowing so hard. The first block had walk out to plank jacks, hand-release pushups, and sit-ups. And the second block had single-arm snatches, triceps on the straps, single-arm clean to presses, and bicep curls on the straps. And for the last 30 seconds of the workout, we had to pick one of the weight exercises to do for the entire time. I picked clean to presses since those are a little easier on me. I’m glad it was a lot more upper body than lower body work, but I still was being very cautious with my hip. And being cautious paid off because I wasn’t hurting too bad after the workout.

I was so proud of myself after getting through all these workouts. I had some great moments where I know I pushed myself and I saw results I wasn’t expecting. I don’t need to always see progress to be motivated, but it helps a lot. And I needed that amazing feeling going into my workout on Saturday. Because my Saturday workout was my first 90-minute class! But I’ll be writing about that tomorrow!

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Considering the things I was worried about regarding this past week of workouts, I’m pretty happy with how things went. I knew that my pain and nausea might be kicking in, which is always a challenge. I also was going to work with a new workout schedule and had no clue if I’d be able to manage that. But even with those challenges, I think this past week was a real win!

Monday’s workout was a strength-based class. It was also the first class with the new class schedule. While I like that the class I attend is a bit later so I could sleep a little longer each morning if I wanted to (but I haven’t done that yet), it does make it a bit close for having time to get ready before work. My new class time ends 30 minutes before I have to log in for work. So I decided that if I left before stretching, I could test out if the new time worked or if I had to find a new time for a bit.

The cardio had 2 blocks, both with hills. The blocks were almost identical starting with a push pace, going to a hull, and ending with an all-out. The difference was that the inclines/resistance levels in the first block increased during the hill and in the second block they decreased. I did use the correct resistance levels for the hills, even though it was really hard for me to pedal at the highest levels.

On the rower, we also had 2 blocks. The first block started with a 1-minute row followed by lunges with overhead triceps using a medicine ball. Then the row decreased by 15 seconds each round. And the second block started with a 15-second row followed by lunges with rainbows using a medicine ball. Then the row increased by 15-seconds each round. This was a good challenge for me to work on my rowing endurance, but it was still tough to do the longer rows. But I can feel like I’m getting back there.

And the floor also had 2 blocks, with a focus using the Bosu. The first block had shoulder presses, pullovers, and bicycle crunches all on the Bosu. I was struggling to balance for the shoulder presses, so I kneeled on the floor for them. The second block had single-arm presses on the Bosu, standing upright rows, and Spiderman planks.

And like I planned, I rushed out of class before the stretching and did have just enough time to shower and get dressed before logging in for work. It did cut it close, but I think this will work until the next time the class times change.

Wednesday’s workout was extra special because it was my first post-pandemic workout with one of my pre-pandemic workout buddies! My friend Erin, who has been doing my hair for a little over a year, was returning to OTF and was in the same class as me. I’ve already shared how happy I am to have some of my normal routine back in my life, and having a friend in class is an added bonus and makes things feel even more like they used to!

The workout was a mix of endurance, strength, and power and everything was about 45-second intervals.

For cardio, we started with a 45-second push, 45-second base at an incline, 45-second all-out, 45-second recovery, and a 45-second all-out. We repeated this a total of 3 times but the incline went down each round. And all the end we had one more 45-second all-out. I liked the short intervals because I felt like I could really push myself with the resistance levels and go fast for the all-outs. But the recovery times were short and I was really tired at the end.

The rowing started with a 45-second row followed by another 45-second row where we were supposed to keep the wattage the same but slow down our rowing speed (focusing more on power from our legs). Then we had 45-seconds to recover followed by 45-seconds of squat jacks. The squat jacks were tough for me. My hip popped out, which isn’t that unusual. But I couldn’t get it popped back in again which was frustrating. We repeated this pattern for a total of 3 rounds.

And on the floor, it wasn’t exactly 45-second intervals but it was a mix of 45-second intervals with 2 1/4 minute intervals. For the 2 1/4 minute parts, we had lateral lunges, deadlifts, and plank low rows. When that time was done, we stopped wherever we were and had 45-seconds of speed skaters. Then we had another 2 1/4 section where we picked up where we had left off. My hip continued to bug me while I was on the floor, but this is something I have dealt with for so many years, so I know how to work around it.

Friday’s workout wasn’t a bad hip day, but I started to have to deal with nausea. I did take my medications before the workout, but they weren’t really kicking in. The workout was strength-based, so I knew there would be a lot of work with the resistance levels for the bike. So I focused more on that than anything else.

The first cardio block was on our own. We had a distance to do on a hill and then repeated it with a bigger hill. I only made it through 3 rounds before that block ended. The second block was similar, but we were timed instead of doing the distance on our own. We had 3 hills and they went down each round.

The two row blocks were similar, with a focus on doing 100-meter rows. The first block had the rows with squat to presses, front raises, and regular squats using a medicine ball. The second block had the rows with bicep curls, tricep extensions. and calf raises with a medicine ball. My rows weren’t that great, but I tried to use as much power as I could. And for my last row of the second block, I went all out and got my wattage to be higher than it’s been since I started back and close to one of my highest numbers ever!

And on the floor, we had a focus on the upper body. The first block had single-arm chest presses, pullovers, and plank pull-throughs. The second block had single-arm low rows, push-ups, and shoulder presses. For any of the face down exercises, I used the bench so that I wasn’t feeling extra nauseous. It helped, but it was still tough getting through the floor blocks.

I was feeling a little better on Saturday, but I was still pretty nauseous. I knew that it would be another workout where I had to use a bunch of modifications and take it easier than I would like to. But I still managed to find ways to challenge myself a bit.

The cardio work had 3 blocks that were all 4 minutes long. Each block had a push pace, base, all-out, recovery, and all-out. But the push got shorter with each block and the base and recovery got longer with each block. I tried to pedal faster for the push and all-out segments, but I think I was really pedaling about the same speed the entire time. I tried to be ok with that and told myself that it was important to just keep moving, but it’s hard when I know I want to keep improving.

The rowing was also 3 blocks that were 4 minutes each. Each block started with a row and then had squats and lunges. The first block was a 400-meter row with 16 squats and lunges. The second block was a 300-meter row and had 2 rounds of 8 squats and lunges. And the last block had a 200-meter row with 3 rounds of 6 squats and lunges. And after the squats and lunges, we were supposed to row for distance. I only made it to the row for distance part in the first block, but I am proud of myself for rowing every distance without needing a break. And for the 200-meter row, I decided to fully go for it and was able to do the row only 7 seconds longer than my PR! I think that was the closest I’ve had to my old rowing ability since I started back!

And the floor was one long block. We had single-arm snatches, pullups on the straps, plank jacks, sit-ups, hammer curls, and bridge rows on the straps. I didn’t go super heavy on the weights because the 200-meter row from the row block really took it out of me. But I did try. And for the plank jacks, I used the bench for my hands so I wasn’t face down. I had to modify both of the strap exercises, both for nausea reasons and because my hip was starting to bug me again. But considering what I thought I’d have to do, I didn’t do that many modifications and that was a nice feeling!

This week will probably be another week with pain and nausea and I’m trying to see if I can do anything to make it easier on me. I am working on taking my meds before class and seeing if the timing of the medications might change anything. And I’m going to continue going to the class time that is a little later, even though I have to rush to get home and logged in for work. I’ll probably keep that time until they change the schedule again (and I hope they make the class either back to the other time or split the difference). I can make it work even though it’s not ideal. But even with any changes I have to make to make that time work, it’s completely worth it because I’m still so happy every time I get to go into the studio to work out.

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I’m really feeling like I’m back in my routine and groove with my workouts. Most of my fears about being back at Orangetheory are gone. I do still struggle with feeling like I should be doing more or better, but I’m getting used to my current abilities and finding ways to challenge myself to get back to where I was a year ago. And like I’ve said so many times, having this routine has been so good for me both physically and mentally. Even with having a tough workout week this past week, I still feel so accomplished with what I did.

Monday’s workout had a bit of a surprise for me. One of my coaches from before the pandemic, Tyler, was back! I had no idea that he was back and coaching that morning, so it was a great surprise for me and I loved that it made the workout even more familiar to me. It seems like each week I have something else that makes the workouts feel more like they did before and having a familiar coach did that on Monday.

The workout was power based and we had 3 blocks at each section of the room. For cardio, we had a lot of all-outs with each block that were either 1-minute or 30-seconds. I didn’t do too much with the resistance levels because I wanted to work on getting my cadence up more, and I felt like I was really close to my old speed at some moments.

On the rower, the first two blocks had rows with medicine ball exercises. The first block started at a 100-meter row and increased 50 meters each round. And the second block started at a 250-meter row and decreased 50 meters each round. And between each row, we had squats with medicine ball front presses. And the last block matched the treadmills with a 30-second all-out, 30-second recovery, and 30-second all-out. And for that last 30-second all-out, I was finally able to get my wattage above 100. That’s been a challenge for me and I was so happy that I had a few moments when I was able to make that happen.

And on the floor, it was a lot of burpee work. The first block had burpees with hop overs, step-ups with weights (which I did as lunges with weights), and mountain climbers. The second block had rolling burpees (which I split into sit-ups and regular burpees), full thrusters with weights, and power sit-ups. And the last block, which was 90-seconds, was just all burpees. I did all the burpees using the bench, which helped a bit, but there were a lot and they were tough!

Wednesday’s workout was a benchmark workout: the 2,000-meter row. This is probably the hardest benchmark for me to do and I knew that I was going to struggle a lot. I didn’t look at my past times for the benchmark and I knew that there was no chance I would randomly PR. I just wanted to do what I could and take it from there.

Before the benchmark, I had cardio. But they kept the cardio a bit easier to make sure we weren’t too tired by the time we were on the rower. It was a single block where the treadmills had .25 mile runs (for me on the bike, it was 1 mile each time). And then we had a minute to recover after each time. I know I could have gone harder or faster, but I also didn’t want to burn out before the rower.

When I got to the rower, I had a few goals in mind. My biggest goal was to see if I could do the entire row without taking a break. My slightly easier goal was to only take breaks every 500-meters. And my easiest goal was to complete the row before the block ended (but I knew I could keep going if I wasn’t finished in time). I knew that doing the entire row without a break was going to be close to impossible, but I was proud of myself that I waited until I passed the 500-meter mark before taking my first break. But after that, I couldn’t maintain only taking breaks every 500-meters. I honestly took more breaks than I would have liked. But I was struggling so much and I needed to get myself together before rowing some more. In the end, I did finish before the block was done, so at least I met that goal. I was about 2 1/2 minutes off of my PR, which I don’t think is that bad. I was away from the rower for over a year and only back for a few weeks. I don’t know if I could have expected much more than what I did.

And on the floor, things weren’t too crazy (since some people had the floor block before rowing). We had lunges with weights, alligators on the straps, plank taps, sit-ups, and side lunges with upright rows. I was really tired after the benchmark, so I was taking a lot of breaks on the floor too. But I tried to take breaks only after I finished all the reps for one exercise. And I was able to do that so I consider that a win too.

Friday’s workout was a struggle. I was feeling really lightheaded and had a stomach ache. I wasn’t sick, but I wondered if maybe I had eaten something the night before that didn’t agree with me. But between that and feeling like I still needed to recover from the 2,000-meter row, I took the workout a bit easier than normal. Each section of the room had 4 blocks. 2 blocks were 4 1/2 minutes, 1 block was 1-minute, and 1 block was 30-seconds.

For cardio, the longer blocks had push paces with base paces after. And we had an all-out to end the block. The first 4 1/2 minute block had a 1-minute all out and the second had a 30-second all-out. I didn’t do too much with the resistance levels, but I did increase for the push paces in the first block. The 1-minute block was a 1-minute all out and the 30-second block was a 30-second all-out.

On the rower, the longer blocks were a mix of rowing and squats. The first longer block had timed rows and we did either a 1-minute or 30-second row. And the second longer block had distance rows with either 300-meter or 150-meters. Between each time or distance row, we had squat jacks, which I modified to be regular squats. And just like with cardio, the 1-minute block was a 1-minute all-out row and the 30-second block was a 30-second all-out row. I was having a lot of trouble catching my breath on the rower. I was coughing a lot (something I’ve dealt with for several years now) and I took breaks when needed when I was feeling a bit more light-headed. I also made sure to drink more water than I normally do in a workout in case I was dehydrated.

And on the floor, the first long block had lateral lunges with either a single-arm thruster or a hop plus plank punches. And the second long block had goblet squats, regular squats, and plank rotations. The goblet squats were probably my favorite because I know I can use a heavy weight for those. It wasn’t my best weight for those squats, but I did get to pull the weight from the heavy weight rack. And the 1-minute block had frogger squats and the 30-second block had jump squats. I modified both of those to be calf raises instead of the jumps.

Saturday’s workout was a mix of power and strength. Whatever issues I had on Friday were gone so I was able to push myself a lot. And I had multiple opportunities to do that for cardio.

The cardio block was pretty much on our own. We were supposed to start at an incline/resistance level and then bring it down each round. And each round was a mix of all-outs and recoveries. We started with a 30-second all-out and 30-second recovery. Then we had an all-out for as long as we could hold it before another 30-second recovery. Then one more all-out for as long as we could go before having a 1-minute recovery and then bringing down the incline/resistance. I did start the resistance level higher than I normally do for my all-outs when I use the resistance for them. And when I did the all-outs for as long as I could go, I typically went about 45-seconds before needing to recover. I think that’s pretty good and it was nice testing out a lot of different resistance levels on the bike.

For the rower, it was all about sprints and recovery. We had rounds of 10 all-out pulls on the rower before having 5 pulls of a recovery. After doing that a few times, we had either overhead presses or front presses with the medicine ball. I really tried to go hard with my all-outs rows since I knew they were going to be over really quickly. I didn’t go as hard as I would have liked to, but I was getting better at making sure I focus on pushing back with my legs and not using my back as much.

And on the floor, we had 2 blocks that each had 2 exercises. The first block had rows with weights and then chest presses on the straps. And the second block had chest presses with weight and rows on the straps. And for both blocks, the exercise with the weights was done until we couldn’t do them anymore. We were supposed to push ourselves and then take a little break before pushing some more. I was trying to go a bit heavy with the weights, so I usually had to stop after 5 or 6 reps. But I felt really good about what I did because I pushed myself with the weights.

Even though I feel like I’m in a good routine again with my workouts, just like it always happens, my routine is going to have to change. The workout times are shifting a bit at the studio, and right now I’m not sure which morning class I’ll be taking. As you all are reading this, I’m trying to see if the morning class that is closest to what I was doing will work for me to get home and shower before work. It’s going to be really close. If that doesn’t work, I may have to start going to workouts at 6am! I’m hoping I don’t have to do that because I don’t want to get up that early. But I will do it if that’s what it takes. I guess I’ll report back next week on how this week goes!

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I’m very happy with how this past week of workouts went. Not all of my workouts were great, but I had some really great moments. And I honestly thought it would take a lot longer before I felt like I had some accomplishments or that I was feeling more like my old self. There are still a lot of moments when I feel my lack of strength or endurance, but it was wonderful to also have some moments when I felt very powerful.

I was finally starting to feel a bit better for Monday’s workout. I still was dealing with some pain and nausea, but I was over the worst of it. And I’m glad I was starting to get better because this workout was a tough one! It was considered an endurance/strength/power workout, but for me, it felt like it was a lot of endurance.

For cardio and rowing, we had 4 blocks that had similar ideas but they were each a little different. For cardio, we started with a 3-minute distance challenge. I was actually impressed with myself with how far I could get in 3 minutes. I know that it’s not my best, but it’s very close! The second block was 5-minutes long and the goal was to beat our 3-minute distance. But the challenge was that we had all incline work. I think I might have set the resistance level a bit too high to start, but I lowered it a bit. And every minute of the 5 minutes, we decreased a bit more. I was able to tie my original distance. The third block was a 90-second distance challenge and the goal was to beat half of what the 3-minute distance was. And the last block was a 45-second distance challenge, and we were supposed to beat half of the 90-second challenge. I managed to beat my distance goals for both of the last distance challenges.

On the rower, we also started with a 3-minute distance challenge. This was the longest I’ve rowed since I have come back, and I wasn’t able to make it the entire time. I did make it for about half of it before I needed my first break, but once I took that first break I felt like I lost a lot of my endurance. I didn’t get as far on the rower as I hoped. The second block was 5-minutes and we were supposed to be our distance, just like we had on cardio. But this time, we rowed for 30-seconds and then had jump squats between each row. I did squats with calf raises instead. And just like with cardio, we had a 90-second and 45-second challenge. But for those last two, I was able to beat my distance goals.

On the floor, we had 1 long block that was split into 3 different mini-blocks. We were supposed to do each mini-block for 3 rounds before moving on to the next one. The first mini-block had squat jacks and push-ups to plank jacks. The second mini-block had ground to press and burpees. And the last mini-block had triceps with weights and pull-ups on the straps. I did struggle a bit with the exercises that had me face down, so I got the bench out to use so I wasn’t all the way to the ground and that helped a bit. But I think some of the struggling was also because this was a really tough workout! I loved how tough it was, but it also was a reminder of where I want to be able to get back to.

I was finally feeling better in time for Wednesday’s workout. It’s always a relief when I get past when I feel nauseous and can focus on the workout again. And for this workout, I knew I wanted to work hard because I was going to have a tough class on Friday.

Wednesday’s workout had the same timing for cardio and the rowers. Everything was in a 2-minute chunk. For cardio, we had push to all-outs that changed in length (but always equaling 2 minutes) with different inclines/resistance levels. And the rower was also the idea of a push to all-out on the rower for 2 minutes and while cardio was doing a walking recovery the rowers had medicine ball work. The medicine ball work was bicep curls, shoulder presses, and overhead triceps. I did pretty decently on the cardio. I’m noticing that I’m getting back to what I was able to do before on the bike a lot faster than everywhere else. But on the rower, I really struggled to row for 2 minutes without stopping. I know I’ll get there eventually, but it’s hard when it seems so far to be where I was.

On the floor, we had one long block that was split into 3 mini-blocks. And we were supposed to do each mini-block for 5 rounds before moving on (it was a Cinco de Mayo theme). The first mini-block had deadlifts and plank Spidermans. The second mini-block had chest presses and squats. And the last mini-block had low rows with weights and plank shoulder taps. I didn’t make it through it all and never really got to complete a round of the shoulder taps. But that was ok because for all the weight work, I was trying to go heavier than what I was using before. I sometimes could only do half the reps and then had to switch weights, but it still is progress!

Friday’s workout was my first signature workout back. And this time, we had Orange Everest! I have done this a few times and I think I’m having a better time doing it on the bike than I did on the treadmill, but it’s still a tough one. And since I only started back a few weeks ago, I wasn’t going to look at what I was able to do before and try to beat it. I only wanted to be able to finish it.

For Orange Everest, every minute the incline or resistance level goes up for the first 7 minutes. And for the last 7 minutes, we bring it back down one minute at a time. I knew the resistance levels were going to get really heavy for me on the bike and it would feel like I was biking in Jello or concrete. And it did feel that way for some of the highest resistance levels. But I managed to make it through with minimal breaks (I have to stop in order to sip water). And I did take a photo to remember what I did because we weren’t able to enter things into the tracker during class. But when I had a bit of a break, I looked at the app to see what I had done with Everest in the past and I realized that I PRed! The one below in my photo that says PR is my old PR. The distance I got done in this workout is the screen of the bike.

I wasn’t expecting this at all considering how far it seems I have to go before I’m as strong as I was. I was so shocked that I managed to do this and I asked my coach if there was a way to add it into the tracker because I want my PR there, so he was going to work on doing that for me.

On the rower, we had decreasing rows. We started with a 500-meter row and it was going to go down by 100 meters each time. And between each row, we had lunges with a medicine ball. I knew that rowing for 500-meters without stopping was a big challenge for me. I struggled to row for more than 90-seconds and I knew a 500-meter row would take at least 2 1/2 minutes. But I decided to go for it and not focus on the wattage on the rower or how long it took me. And I was able to row the entire thing without a break! This gave me a huge confidence boost because I’ve been worried a lot about the 2,000-meter row challenge coming up. I know that will still be really hard, but to know I can row for 500-meters without stopping is a great sign that I am making progress. I only got to work on the 300-meter row when the block ended, but I did also do the 400-meter row without stopping too!

And on the floor, we had a focus on upper body (since a lot of people were going to be doing the floor before Everest). We had low rows with weights, tricep extensions with weights, leg raises, chest presses, hammer curls, and bicycle crunches. I wasn’t lifting anything super heavy, but they were close to what I used to use for all the exercises. I was a little tired from Everest and my rowing to test out using heavier weights for a bit, but I figured that was ok. I was still able to do a lot of good work on the floor and I left this workout feeling so amazing!

Saturday’s workout ended up being a bit of a recovery day for me. I didn’t want to take the day off, but I was a bit sore from Friday and the work I had done in that workout. So I went a little easier on myself while still pushing a bit.

The cardio was one long block with no recovery time in it. We started with a 3-minute push pace to a 3-minute base pace. Then we had a 2-minute push and 2-minute base. And we ended with a 4-minute distance challenge. I went a bit easier for the 2 push paces than I did for the distance challenge. But for those last 4 minutes, I really tried to go hard and see how far I could bet. I set my goal based on doing a little less than I knew I was able to do before in that time. And I was able to beat that distance! I really felt like that this completed an amazing week on the bike. The bike has been the place I have felt like I have come back the quickest, and I think this workout proved me right.

On the rower, we had rowing with dumbbell exercises between each row. The first set had 300, 200, and 100-meter rows with single arm deadlifts with a weight. And the second set was also 300, 200, and 100-meter rows but we had split stance low rows with the weights. I got through all of the first set and completed the 300 and 200-meter rows for the second set before time was done with rowing.

And on the floor, we had 2 blocks. The first block had squat to reaches on the straps, squats to I-raises on the straps, and low rows with a medicine ball. And the second block was a core blast. We had crunches, plank punches, and mountain climbers. And for the last minute, we were supposed to hold a plank. I wasn’t able to hold my plank for the full minute, but I tried to stay up as long as I could before taking a bit of a break.

Even though I didn’t get amazing things done in every workout, I feel like I’m really seeing progress. I was so worried it would take a long time for me to feel like I’m getting back to the old me, and I’m glad I was wrong. I do still think it will take at least a few months to be back to where I was before the pandemic, but I’m happy to see that I will notice progress as I get there. I can still celebrate the accomplishments even if it’s not quite what I was able to do in the past.

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This past week of workouts was my first full week back at Orangetheory in the studio! After having 2 workouts in the studio the week before, I was excited to be back for all 4 workouts. I had some moments I was worried that doing 4 would be too tough (for a while in the beginning, I was only doing 3 workouts a week at Orangetheory before bumping it up), but I also knew that I had been doing 4 workouts a week at home. So I wasn’t starting over and couldn’t really compare things to how I felt before I took my first Orangetheory class ever. I did have a little bit of soreness from the week before, and I knew this week would also be the week I would be starting to deal with pain and nausea. But I was ready for it and jumped into the week full force!

Going in for my workout on Monday was such a great way to start my week. Even though I’ve been working out at home on Mondays, going into the studio is a different feeling. And this time, I also got to work out with a coach that I used to work out with before the studios shut down! There’s something awesome about having a coach I knew and having the class be even more like what I was used to before.

The workout was an endurance-based class and it was a real challenge for me. I know that building up my endurance is so important, but I’m just not where I wish I was during the workout. The cardio and rower did the same plan. We had 2 blocks and each block had 3 rounds of 90-second endurance challenges. On cardio, the last 90-second challenge of each block was actually a 60-second push and 30-second all-out. The rower didn’t have the all-outs.

I’m still getting used to being back on the bike, so I had to take breaks to stand on the bike and not have some of the pain I feel sitting on it. I did try to increase the resistance for some of the pushes, but I focused more on my cadence than the resistance. And on the rower, I really just tried to row as long as I could each time. I wasn’t always able to do the full 90-seconds each time, but that was the goal. I tried to work on my form a bit more too since I know that wasn’t something I have been able to do in a while. I think that my form was a bit better than the week before, and I expect that it will just continue to get better as I have more classes back.

And on the floor, it was also 2 blocks. Things were pretty focused on lower body work. We had a lot of lunges and deadlifts of different styles. I had to test out a bunch of different weights to see what felt right to me. I also want to make sure that I’m pushing myself too. It’s a tough balance to figure out what is heavy because it’s pushing me and what is heavy because it’s too heavy and my form will be bad. But I was better at not judging myself as much for not being able to use the weights that I’m used to.

Wednesday’s workout was interesting for a few different reasons. First, it was my first workout back where I had to deal with pain and nausea. Even though I have been dealing with it for my home workouts, it’s different dealing with it when I’m in the studio. And also, I bought some mask brackets to see if it would make working out in a mask a bit easier. It hadn’t been hard to work out in a mask, but there were plenty of times that I felt like I was eating my mask and I didn’t like that feeling.

The workout was a power day and there were 3 blocks for cardio and rowing and 2 blocks on the floor. For cardio, we had 2 blocks that started with a push to an all-out pace and then 2 more all-outs after that. And the last block was 3 all-outs that decreased in length each time. I focused mainly on cadence and pedaling fast and didn’t worry about using the resistance on the bike. I’m slowly getting more and more comfortable on the bike, so I think it won’t be that much longer before I’m back to working with the resistance more often. And overall, I felt really great about the work I did on the bike. I know I pushed myself more than I had in the past few workouts and I lucked out that my pain and nausea didn’t really affect that part of the workout too much.

On the rower, the first block was increasing rows with jumping jacks between each row. We started with a 100-meter row and increased by 50 meters each time. And my 100-meter row went really well! I wasn’t as fast as I was pre-pandemic, but I wasn’t that far off. I impressed myself quite a bit! The jumping jacks had to be modified because my nausea really was hitting me during the row. The second block was decreasing rows and I didn’t do as well as I did in the first block because I still don’t have rowing endurance. But I tried. And the last block was working with the treadmills and again, my lack of endurance on the rower affected what I could do. But I still noticed that I was doing better than I over the past week, so that was good.

And on the floor, I really struggled because my pain and nausea really kicked in. I didn’t take any medication before my workout and I really should have done that. But I still tried my best. The first block was upper body work with single-arm presses and bicep curls, which went ok for me. The second block had push-ups, bench sit-ups to squats, mountain climbers, and triceps on the straps (my first time using the TRX straps in over a year!). I had to take a lot of breaks to deal with the pain and nausea, but I still got 2 full rounds in and a bit of a 3rd round done before time was called and the workout was over.

Even though my pain and nausea were worse on Friday, I remembered to take my meds before my workout. They didn’t kick in right away, so my workout started feeling really rough but it did get a little better throughout class.

The workout was a strength workout with lots of incline work for cardio. We had no walking recovery during the entire cardio time, which also made things a bit harder. We did have some flat incline work, but that’s not the same as recovery. We had 3 rounds of hills. The first round was 1-minute at each incline, the second round was 45-seconds at each incline, and the last round was 30-seconds at each incline. So it did get a little easier each round even though the inclines went up a bit each time. And I did work with the resistance levels on the bike. It made it tough with the nausea, but I’m glad I did it because it was a good challenge for me.

On the rower, it was all about stroke drills. We always had 15 strokes every time on the rower with a medicine ball exercise between each round. The medicine ball exercises were supposed to be done while balancing on one leg, but I wasn’t able to do that so I did them with both feet down. We had tricep extensions and front presses. For the stroke drills, I was pretty good at doing these before the pandemic and I was glad to see that I’m still pretty decent at them now. It can be tough to make sure I go slow enough to fully take advantage of the exercise, and while I wasn’t as slow as I know I can go I was doing ok.

And on the floor, it was also one long block but broken into 2 sections. The first section had chest presses on the bench, chest presses on the straps, and bird dogs on the floor. And the second section had regular squats, single-leg squats on the straps, and alternating leg lifts. I did have a little bit of trouble with the bird dogs since those aren’t as easy to modify, but I was able to modify the leg lifts so I did them on the bench and they didn’t make my nausea that much worse. And while I wasn’t using the same weights I used to use before the pandemic, they are getting closer to what I used to do!

And on Saturday, we had another strength workout. And I was feeling a bit better than I was on Wednesday and Friday, so that was good. I still took meds before my workout just in case, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be that day.

For cardio, we had 2 pretty similar blocks. They both had 3 different inclines for 1-minute each. But the first block was increasing inclines and the second block was decreasing inclines. And again, just like on Friday, I did work with the resistance levels on the bike. They were getting a bit easier the more I use them, but I also am noticing more soreness as I use them. So I’m still finding the best way to get back to what I used to do on the bike. But it’s really nice that I’m seeing a lot of progress after just a week back!

The rower also had 2 similar blocks. The first block was rounds of a 300-meter row at specific stoke rates with 2 medicine ball exercises between each row. We had ground to presses and isolated squat raises. I was using a lighter medicine ball than I’m used to, but that wasn’t something I planned. I didn’t notice how light the medicine ball was until I was almost done with the second block. And the second block was just like the first except the rowing was for 1-minute instead. I’m slowly noticing my endurance on the rower getting better. I still struggle at times when I know I used to be able to row longer, but it’s getting better each class. I know we have a 2,000-meter row benchmark coming up (although I don’t know if I’ll be at class that day) and I would love to be able to do that with minimal breaks if I could.

And the floor was also 2 blocks. Both blocks were all weight work. The first block was uppercuts, chest flys, and pullovers. And the second block was bent over rows (which I modified to use the bench for my weights), scaptions, and tricep extensions. My arms were definitely sore after this workout, but I really am proud of being sore without hurting. It’s a sign that I’m working hard and pushing myself but not overdoing it. And that was something I was worried about before I was back to the studio.

For being my first week back in the studio, I think I did a great job! And considering that I spent most of the week dealing with pain and nausea, I’m even more proud of myself! I had what could have been a really tough week and I didn’t let that hold me back. I still pushed myself and I know I worked hard. And seeing my progress in such a short time is such great motivation for me. I will still possibly be dealing with some pain and nausea this week, but I’m already looking forward to what I will be able to do. Each class is making me feel more and more like my old self, and it’s a feeling that I’ve needed for so long. And I’m so grateful to be back. Every time I see my name on the heart rate board, it makes me smile because I know I’m doing something amazing for myself and it gets me ready to work hard!

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