Tag Archives: fitness

This past week of workouts was pretty much like what the last several weeks of workouts were like. I still did the same basic weightlifting routine that I’ve been doing. I’ve been making little tweaks and changes here and there, but I’m following along pretty closely to what the plan says. I’ve said this before, but it’s basic but easy for me to accomplish. And I can make modifications when I need to or when I feel like doing a different exercise.

And like I’ve said several times before, while this isn’t necessarily the best workout plan for me it is one that I am doing. And doing something is much better than doing nothing. And I have been continuing to do 4 workouts a week, which is something that I know I should be proud of. Keeping up a regular workout routine is hard enough at times. Keeping it up when I’m doing workouts at home when nobody is holding me accountable is even harder. But I don’t want to make it seem like I’m doing anything really great. I know that I’m not pushing myself that much. I know that my workouts are a fraction of what I probably should be doing. And I know that when I get back to Orangetheory, it’s going to be a hard adjustment to get back to such tough workouts.

And I’m really hoping I’m going to be back at Orangetheory very soon!

The studio is going to be reopening at the end of this week! This is the news I’ve been waiting on and have been hoping for. When I was writing last week about how I hadn’t started the outdoor workouts, I was hoping I wouldn’t be waiting for that much longer before my studio was open again. I knew that more studios would be opening soon, but there are a lot of studios in LA and there was no way for us to know which locations were going to be the next in line to open. But last week, they announced that the Culver City studio would be opening up this week and I was so excited!

The fears I had about maybe not wanting to go back because of how hard the workouts would be didn’t happen at all. And I was waiting for the schedule to be posted to see when I could figure out the best workout times for me. As I’m writing this post, I know what times I want to work out, but there is some glitch not allowing me to sign up for classes. I’m hoping this will be fixed soon so I can get into class. And I know there is a chance that the times I would prefer to go won’t be available, but I also have some options that I can do even if they aren’t the most ideal time for me.

In a perfect world, as soon as the studio is open I would do all 4 workouts each week there. But I don’t know if that will be possible just yet. Partially due to how I’m going to feel (I might want 1 day a week at home to ease into things), but also partially due to how many others are signing up for class. Even with the flexibility that I have, there is still a possibility that there won’t be options that work for me and I’ll only get into a few classes in the studio. But I know that I can make that work if I have to.

Hopefully, everything works out and I’m able to get into the classes that I want to. And my post next week will be some home workouts (before the studio is open) and then some studio workouts! I have missed my workouts and coaches so much and I can’t believe that I might be back soon! I’ve been waiting on this for over a year now, and it’s so exciting that it’s almost here.

You Might Also Like

Being Forced To Change Up My Workout Routine (or I Thought I’d Have A Little Time To Settle) This Does Feel Like A Normal Routine (or Another Full Workout Week) Another Mixed Motivation Week (or I Might Be Almost Done With At-Home Workouts) Doing More OTF Live (or Easing Back Into More Hard Workouts) Finishing Up My 2020 Workouts (or Kicking Off A New Year With More Home Workouts) Not My Usual Thanksgiving Week Workouts (or Trying To Keep The Tradition Going)

This past week of workouts was a weird one. I did have a little pain and nausea that I had to deal with at the beginning of the week, but that was tolerable and normal enough for me to deal with. But for a good chunk of the past year, I told myself that I would go back to the workouts at Orangetheory (whether they were in the studio or outdoors) once I was considered fully vaccinated. And as of Sunday the 4th, I’m considered fully vaccinated. Yet, I’m still working out at home.

First, a quick recap on my workouts. I’m still doing the same weightlifting/strength plan that I’ve been doing for a while now. I am making some modifications and adding different exercises from time to time. One great thing about my history with Orangetheory is that I know a lot of different exercises that I’ve done in workouts. So while I don’t have a perfect knowledge of all exercises, I have a lot that I can pull from. So if I don’t feel like doing one type of squats, I know a ton of other squats I can do instead. And I’ve been trying to get through this workout routine in about 30 minutes each time. This isn’t to get it over with, but to make sure I’m moving quickly and not taking a lot of breaks. This way, I can get my heart rate up and get a little cardio in with the weightlifting.

I’m happy enough with this workout plan. It’s not great or perfect, but it’s doable. It allows me to not have to think too much each morning. And not having to plan and think about my workout is something I love about Orangetheory. They do all the planning work and I just have to follow along. And I know that I could do different workout videos that I have saved on a playlist, but I also would have to pick which one to do. So not having to make any decisions before I start is working for me. I do feel a bit stuck, but that feeling isn’t too bad and I think it’s worth having that feeling for the ease I feel sticking with this routine.

But I am very ready to get back to Orangetheory. I miss so much about my classes. I miss feeling like I’m working hard and part of a community. I miss my workout friends (although sadly, some have moved away so they won’t be in class with me when we are all back). I miss the transformation I was feeling in my body. I miss feeling like I’m doing something great for my physical and mental health. So that’s why for so long I said that as soon as I was fully vaccinated I would be back.

Then this week happened and I still wasn’t back.

And honestly, the reasons I’m not back are excuses that I could work through. There are 2 locations that are open not too far away from me that are open. One of them is doing outdoor workouts and one is now in the studio. But they aren’t the studios near my house and the times I’d have to work out would be affected by the drive there and back. I don’t feel like I want to work out at 6am to get a workout in before work. And while I might have to accept one day that I need to do afternoon workouts again, doing an afternoon one at the open studios would mean I would have to deal with rush hour traffic going home. The drive to those locations in normal time would probably be about 15 minutes. In rush hour, it can be over an hour. I could deal with that, but I don’t want to. They haven’t announced when the studio by my house will be opening, but I’m hoping it will be later this month. If it isn’t open soon, then I know I will have to figure out a way to make those workout times work for me.

But I’m also a bit scared to go back. I’ve shared several times before that I know I’m not in the same shape that I was a year ago when things shut down. I understand that this is not the worst thing ever and that a lot of people had the same problem. But I’m still embarrassed and ashamed about this. And when I go back to the workouts, I will have to confront this feeling head-on. It’s easier for me to ignore this when I’m doing my workouts at home because they are different from Orangetheory. But when I’m doing what I used to do, I will be comparing myself to myself a year ago.

And I think I also don’t want to deal with another change right now. If my regular studio was open, I would feel like I was getting back something that I didn’t have the past year. Even though the workout is the same, going to a new studio is different and I’m worried that I might still have the feeling that I’m missing my regular studio and routine. I know this one is a bit of a stupid excuse, but there are so many things we’ve all given up this past year and are hoping to get back. I just want to have my regular studio back. I want my old routine back (even though I know it will have to change because of my new work schedule).

So for now, I’m in a bit of a holding pattern with my plan to go back. I could go back whenever I feel ready. Right now, I’m feeling like that will be when the studio near my house is open. But if that one opens and I still have excuses, then I will need to work through this a lot more. That would mean I’m avoiding things and I don’t want that to be true. But I don’t really feel like I’m avoiding Orangetheory, I just want to have things feel normal and what they were like before.

You Might Also Like

Being Emotional At OTF (or It’s Weird Seeing The Studio Like This) Doing More OTF Live (or Easing Back Into More Hard Workouts) An Up and Down Workout Week (or a Weird Week and a Weird Milestone) One Step Closer To My Regular Workouts (or Trying OTF Live) Still Figuring Out My Workouts (or I’m Just Missing OTF More And More) 6 Months Of Home Workouts (or I Still Miss OTF All The Time)

This past week of workouts was a tough one for me. I already mentioned how I got really sick last week. Because I was feeling ok the next day, I’m pretty sure it was a stomach bug or food poisoning. I’m glad it was over quickly because it was brutal. And I was lucky that it didn’t fully hit me until after I did my Monday workout. But I still had my usual pain and nausea to deal with, and that made all my workouts hard.

I did the same weightlifting routine I’ve been doing for a little bit. It’s not the best workout that I could do, but it is one of the more low-pressure workouts for me. And I didn’t want to overdo things and make myself feel worse. I was trying to push myself in the workouts, but in reality, I was really pushing through just to  do the workout and not give up. I would have loved to have pushed myself to go harder and feel stronger, but this past week was not the week for me to do that.

I also had a slightly different schedule for my workouts. I still had my usual Monday, Wednesday, Friday workouts; but I wasn’t able to work out on Saturday (more on that coming in another post). So I did a workout on Thursday afternoon after I was done with work. And having an afternoon workout in there really made me think more about my workout plan moving forward.

I’m now considered fully vaccinated. This has been a benchmark I’ve been waiting for and I had said that this would be when I went back to Orangetheory. And that technically is still my plan, but it’s not happening exactly how I thought it would.

Right now, there are 2 locations for outdoor workouts. One of them is a bit too far for me to consider going to, and the other isn’t that far but it’s further than I’m used to going. And later this week, there will be 2 studios open for in-studio classes! Just like with the outdoor locations, there is one location a bit too far for me to go to and another that is closer. But the closer studio is still not either of the studios I normally go to. So I have to figure out what is going to work for me with my schedule.

I know I could get used to afternoon workouts again if I had to, but I really don’t like them. And I really like the idea that when I’m done with work that the rest of my day is free time for me. But my new work schedule also makes morning workouts harder for me, especially if I have to drive a bit further. I was looking at the workout schedule and there is a morning workout at 6:30 am, which is much earlier than I’m used to. But even a workout that early might be tough for me to do and still drive home and be ready to log in for work on time. I would hope that there wouldn’t be too much traffic, but that’s a big risk. If it was a 6:30 am class at my normal studio, I would be a bit annoyed that it’s so early, but I wouldn’t question if I could make things work for me.

So I have to decide if it’s worth restarting my membership (which has been frozen since the pandemic started) to do afternoon workouts further from my house or if I should wait a little longer since they hopefully will be opening more studios soon. I might wait it out a week or two and try to do more home workouts in the afternoon to make sure I enjoy them enough. In a way, having a choice to go back makes it a little harder. Before, it was an easy decision for me to do the workouts at home and it was easy to work out at a time that worked for me. But now, I really have to take a look at my schedule and what my options are and see what really is the best option for me now.

I might not be going back to Orangetheory exactly as quickly as I hoped to be, but I know I’ll be there soon enough. It might be another week or two or it might be a month. But that is my big goal to work toward right now. I just have to do a little more planning and then I can make it happen!

You Might Also Like

Doing More OTF Live (or Easing Back Into More Hard Workouts) An Improving Workout Week (or I Finally Feel Like I Am Seeing The End Of Home Workouts) Finishing Up My 2020 Workouts (or Kicking Off A New Year With More Home Workouts) More Proof I Need To Plan My Workouts (or Wasting More Workout Time Than I’d Like) I Guess I’ll Be Working Out At Home A Bit Longer (or Working Out Hard Is Always A Good Thing) Working Through The Workouts (Modifications Are Harder At Home)

This past week of workouts wasn’t that great for me. I have had plenty of off weeks in the past, but I feel like lately, it has mainly been a mental struggle. It’s not often a physical struggle outside of the normal physical issues I have. But this past week was almost all of a physical struggle, but I’m ok with it.

I had gotten my second vaccine last Sunday. I have had some friends have no reaction to the second vaccine and some friends have reactions that lasted a day or two. I had expected I would likely need Monday off, and I was right. I was so exhausted and couldn’t imagine trying to work out. And I started to have some swelling in my arm (a totally normal reaction). It wasn’t until a bit later on Monday that my arm started to hurt.

And the pain and swelling in my arm lasted the entire week. The pain was pretty bad through Thursday but I wasn’t out of pain until Sunday (7 days after my vaccine). While the swelling was annoying, it was the pain that really prevented me from doing the workouts I was hoping to do.

The free OTF Live classes continued this past week and I had hoped to do at least one of them. But I just wasn’t able to do that. I did do some workouts on my own on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday; and I know that is ok. But it wasn’t my plan and I had to remind myself that it’s ok if things aren’t the way I hoped them to go. I mean, the entire past year has been a lesson in things not going as planned.

I’m hoping that this week I will be able to get back to more normal workouts. I will have to switch up my workout schedule a little due to some things happening in my life, but that’s fine. And as far as I know, the free OTF Live classes have ended so I will need to do my own workout plan. And this week could potentially be the last week of all home workouts. But I think that it might go a little longer than I originally thought.

Next week, I will be considered fully vaccinated. And for a while, my plan has been to start the OTF Outdoor workouts when that happens. But there’s also the chance that the studios are going to be reopening in a week or two because of how things have been going in LA. And if I’m being honest, if it’s looking like it’s only another week or two I’d have to wait, it might be worth the wait. The Outdoor class isn’t that far from me, but it’s not super close. And I have to see what my schedule is like and how that compares to the Outdoor class schedule.

I’m grateful that I will have some options soon with my workouts. This past year has been a journey with me realizing what I crave with my workouts. And I want to find something that gives me a sense of normalcy again, and I know getting back to a regular workout routine will do that.

And in a weird way, having this off workout week that felt so odd was the biggest step I took toward getting my normal workouts back. So I guess I have to be grateful for the struggles I had.

You Might Also Like

An Improving Workout Week (or I Finally Feel Like I Am Seeing The End Of Home Workouts) Going Back To Some Basics (or A Double Nausea Workout Week) I Hate Having A Hard Workout Week (or Not My Usual Workout Recap) This Does Feel Like A Normal Routine (or Another Full Workout Week) Just A Bad Workout Week (or I Need To End The Year Better Than This) Doing More OTF Live (or Easing Back Into More Hard Workouts)

As I suspected when I wrote my last workout recap, my workouts this past week started off a bit rough but got better throughout the week. I am still dealing with nausea from medication, but it’s slowly getting better. And my monthly nausea ended on Wednesday. So I didn’t have as bad of a time with nausea in my workouts. Of course, my life is never easy and I did something to my hips on Friday so my last workout of the week was a bit tough with not being as flexible as normal. But that was much easier to manage than nausea.

And again, I did only old Orangetheory at Home workouts for my workouts. It’s funny how much work I put into finding other workouts to do and then I ended up not really using them. But I like having options and maybe there will be a day coming up where I just need a big change. But having something familiar and almost comforting to me is what I really need right now.

I’m still struggling with making my workouts hard enough or as difficult as I think they should be. I’m trying to not let that get to me because I know that I’m not in normal circumstances right now. I still would love to have some improvements in my workouts while they are being done alone and at home, but if that doesn’t happen then it doesn’t happen.

But I finally feel like things will be turning around for me somewhat soon. California just announced the next group of people who will be eligible to make appointments for vaccinations. And it turns out, I fit into the high-risk group that will be a part of it. I believe you can start having appointments to be vaccinated in 1 month, but I’m not sure how it will be done since it hasn’t been announced just yet. But I have already talked to my work to make sure that it won’t be an issue to take time off whenever I get an appointment. I’m not going to try to make sure my appointment is after work unless I have a lot of options. But I’m guessing I will just have to take whatever I can get.

Assuming I can get the first vaccine by the first week of April, that means I will be able to get the second vaccine by the end of April. And it takes about 2 weeks after the second vaccination for your body to build up all the antibodies needed to be safe. So if that ends up being the timeline I work with, by mid-May, hopefully I will be fully vaccinated and that will mean I can start trying to go to the outdoor OTF workouts! Or maybe by then, the studios will start to reopen (but I don’t think they will). So I might only have a few more months of home workouts before I can be coached again!

I seriously can’t wait for that. There are so many things I’m looking forward to having in my life again, but my workouts are a big part of it! I will have to work on figuring out a schedule once I have an idea about what timeline I’m working with. I’m guessing I will have to do afternoon workouts because it will be hard to do them before work when I have to drive to a studio that is further than I’m used to. But honestly, I don’t care. Whatever it takes for me to be able to do outdoor workouts, I’ll do it!

Knowing that this time might be coming to an end has been motivating me. I’m still struggling and I’m not going to deny that. But I’m also trying to be a bit grateful for whatever time I have left doing workouts at home. This is something I never thought I’d be able to do, and I’ve made it work. It hasn’t been as good as I would have liked it to be, but it’s better than nothing. And I need to recognize that is an accomplishment and something to be proud of.

But I still can’t wait until I have my coaches kicking my butt and forcing me to feel like I’m an athlete and a badass.

You Might Also Like

Finally A Good Workout Week (or Continuing To Build My Home Gym) Another Week Of Home Workouts (or Still Trying My Best) Just A Bad Workout Week (or I Need To End The Year Better Than This) This Does Feel Like A Normal Routine (or Another Full Workout Week) A New Year Of Workouts (or Finally Starting To Feel Like Myself Again) Finishing Up My 2020 Workouts (or Kicking Off A New Year With More Home Workouts)