Tag Archives: Mayhem Week

Mayhem Week (or Completing Another Orangetheory Challenge)

Posted on May 29, 2023 | 1 comment

This past week was Mayhem at Orangetheory, a fun and crazy week of workouts. This is a challenge that I’ve done before and I’ve always enjoyed it. It’s similar to Hell Week, with extra tough workouts. And you can officially sign up for the challenge and earn swag like a t-shirt. I don’t always sign up for the challenge as I do for Hell Week, but I always try to complete the challenge. And that’s exactly what I did this past week. You need to complete 4 of the 7 workouts, and I got all 4 done back-to-back.

Monday’s workout was a 3 partner workout and it was divided into 3 separate blocks. In each block, one partner was the leader so each partner was the leader once. And if you weren’t the leader in that block, you did work at whatever station you were in until the leader had everyone rotate.

If you were the leader, when you were on cardio you had a .15 mile (or .6 mile on the bike) distance. When you were on the rower, you rowed 400 meters. And when you were on the floor, you had one round of body weight work with hop-overs, leg raises, sit-ups to squats, and bridge rows on the straps. And as the leader, whenever you finished your work you had your group rotate around the stations.

If you weren’t the leader, when you were on cardio or the rower you just went for distance until the leader had you rotate. And on the floor, you had weighted work with bicep curls, skier swings, and plank rows and repeated those until you rotated.

I think my group was pretty similar with how we all did as the leader and we usually rotated about the same number of times within each block. It wasn’t an easy workout since there was only minimal rest during the entire class. Between each block, we had about 90 seconds to make sure we all knew who the new leader would be and get everything set. But that’s not a lot of time during an hour-long class!

Tuesday’s workout was a switch class, so we had 2 blocks in each section of the room and we rotated between blocks. So we had 2 rotations around the room to complete the workout.

Both cardio blocks were the same with 30-second intervals. We started with an all-out to a walking recovery. Then we had a push pace, all-out, and recovery. Then we added a base to push pace at the beginning before doing the rest. And finally, we added a base pace before everything. So the longest segment we had was about 2 minutes long but since the recovery was limited, it felt like we were working much longer than that.

On the rower, the first block started with a 200-meter row. Then we had lunges and a ground to press with a medicine ball. Each time we did the exercises, we increased the reps by 2. When we got back to the rower for the second block, we still had 200-meter rows and the same exercises. But the reps for the exercises started at whatever number of reps we left off at in the first block and we reduced them by 2 reps each time.

And on the floor, we were timed with cardio with 30-second intervals. In the first block, we started with squat jacks and then had a rest. Then we did push-ups, squat jacks, and had a rest. Then it was toe taps, push-ups, squat jacks, and a rest. And finally, we had pulsing half-squats, toe taps, push-ups, and squat jacks. In the second block, we started with cleans with weights. Then we added arnold presses. Next added reciprocating rows. And the last time we did all the exercises we added in pulsing half squats. Just like with cardio, even though we did have time to rest, it was really quick and didn’t really give us the time to recover.

On Wednesday, I had the added struggle of starting to deal with pain and nausea. It wasn’t too horrible since it just kicked in, but it was something that affected my workouts. But since the workout was going to be extra challenging anyway, I figured this was just adding to what the challenge was all about.

For cardio, we repeated the same pattern throughout the workout. We had a 1-minute base pace, a 1-minute base to push pace, and a 30-second push pace. After the push pace, we were back to the base pace but we increased the incline/resistance level by 1. I started the workout a bit lower than my normal base pace resistance level so I would be able to increase it each time. And at the end of the cardio block, my push pace was a few levels higher than what my normal all-out would be.

On the rower, we had rounds of a 2 1/2-minute segment so we were following cardio. In those segments, we had an exercise and then a 350-meter row. And if you finished the row, you could rest until you had to get up to do the exercise again. We had 2 rounds of the exercise being froggers and 2 rounds of the exercise being lunges. And for the last round, we could choose which exercise we wanted to do and I went with froggers. But I never really got a break because I was always working on the row when we had to get up to do the exercises again.

And on the floor, we also had rounds that were each 2 1/2 minutes long. We had 4 exercises to get done and if we had time remaining we would rest. We had 2 rounds of froggers, bicep curls, high pulls, and reverse grip low rows. And then we had 2 rounds of lunges, sit-ups to stands with shoulder presses, incline chest flys, and chest presses. And for the last round, we got to pick which set we wanted to do and I did the last set. This time, I did have some time to rest at the end of each segment, which helped me not feel too nauseous on the floor even though we were moving a lot.

I was still dealing with pain and nausea on Thursday, but it wasn’t that much worse than Wednesday so that was helpful. I was really expecting it to be a lot worse and I was grateful I didn’t have to work through some of the really high levels of pain I can sometimes be in.

For cardio, the focus of the workout was doing a push pace and then a surge of speed during the push pace. We had a 45-second push pace followed by a 15-second surge 3 times in each block. I kept my push pace resistance level the same as I normally do and just tried to pedal faster during the surge. I thought about trying to add a resistance level during the surge too, but it was enough of a challenge for me just to pedal faster.

On the rower, we also had 3 blocks. Each block started with a row and then we had rounds of a front raise and front press with a medicine ball before rowing for distance until the block ended. The first block had a 250-meter row and each block decreased by 50 meters. And the goal was to match your distance each time since you should have more time to row after the exercises in each block. I was able to increase my distance in each block and got my furthest distance in the last block.

And on the floor, we had similar timing to what cardio had with 45-second and 15-second intervals. In the first block, we had 45 seconds of clean to front squats and 15 seconds of a squat hold with 45 seconds of a v-up at the end. In the second block, we had 45 seconds of a hip bridge and 15 seconds of a bridge hold with 45 seconds of a boat hold at the end. And in the last block, we had 45 seconds of side-to-side push-ups and 15 seconds of a push-up hold with 1 minute of v-up and 15 seconds of a boat hold at the end. I did have to modify a few exercises so I did weight squats instead of clean to press and I just did regular push-ups instead of side-to-side ones. But I did try to use a heavy weight for my hip bridges even though we had the option of doing them without weights. And I used the weight for 2 of the 3 times we had to do a bridge hold as well.

It wasn’t easy to do all the Mayhem workouts in a row, but it was a good challenge! And I am so glad I completed it because I really like to take on the challenges that Orangetheory sets out, even if they do sometimes happen when I’m not feeling my best. I proved to myself I could do it, and that’s a great feeling!

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A Week Of Mayhem (or Completing Another Fitness Challenge)

Posted on May 30, 2022 | Comments Off on A Week Of Mayhem (or Completing Another Fitness Challenge)

This past week’s workouts were a part of Mayhem! I have done Mayhem before, and it’s similar to Hell Week. This year, I knew I’d get enough workouts in to complete it and get the swag, but I didn’t officially sign up for it. They were giving away a water bottle, which I would love, but I also know I don’t need it. If it was a shirt, I probably would have paid just to get it. But this year I just got my 4 workouts in and get the bragging rights.

Monday’s workout was called Distance Distortion. And it was a switch template so we had 2 blocks at each section of the room, but we switched after each block. So I did cardio, rowing, floor, cardio, rowing, and floor. That’s a change from what we normally do with back-to-back blocks within the same section of the room.

For cardio, the first block started with 1 minute between a base and push pace. Because of what was coming up, I kept it at my base resistance level on the bike. Every minute, I was supposed to increase the resistance level by 1. Because this block was over 6 minutes long, I got the resistance higher than what I normally do for my all-out. And when I got back to the bike for the second block, we started at what we ended with in the first block and every minute I decreased the resistance level by 1. We were supposed to track the distance to see if we could beat it in the second block, but I forgot to look after the first so I’m not sure if I did that.

The first block on the rower started with a 500-meter row. Then we had some knees to elbows followed by 3 rounds of a 100-meter row. After completing the last 100-meter row, we had squats until the end of the block. And in the second block, we had 3 rounds of a 100-meter row followed by both exercises and just keep repeating that. I only got to my 4th 100-meter row when the block ended.

And on the floor, the first block started with sumo squats and then we had froggers. For the sumo squats, we had a rep count, but for the froggers, we were supposed to do as many as we could until we needed to rest. And after 2 rounds of the exercises, we had double crunches until the end of the block. And the second block had low rows with weights for a set number of reps and low rows on the straps until we needed a rest. And after 2 rounds of those, we had bicycle crunches for the rest of the block.

I did have one small incident on the floor. I have had a lot of klutzy moments over the years at Orangetheory, but I always seem to have more. And this time, I dropped the weight I was using for my double crunches on my head because it slipped. It was totally my fault and I’m fine, but I did get a nice bruise from it. I’ve always worried about dropping a weight, and now I know to make sure I have a better grip on my weights when I’m starting to get tired.

Wednesday’s workout was called Base-ically Upside Down. For this workout, each section of the room had 3 blocks that were 4 minutes each.

For cardio, each block had the same pattern. We had a 90-second base pace at an incline, a 1-minute push pace at the same incline, a 45-second walking recovery, and a 45-second all-out. Each block the incline went up. The way it was set for me with the resistance levels, the first block I was at my push pace level the entire time, the second block was between my push and all-out, and the last was at my all-out. And I really made an effort to increase how fast I was pedaling between the base and push paces at the incline. It was really tough in the last block because that was a long time to be at what is normally my all-out level, but I feel like I did a pretty good job with it.

On the rower, we also had a similar pattern for all the blocks. Each block had a row for a specific distance. then we had front jacks and power jacks with a medicine ball, which I modified to be front presses and overhead presses. And then we rowed until the block was done. The goal was to try to get the same distance for each block. In the first block, the first row was 400-meters. The second block was 300-meters. And the last block was 200-meters. I tried to match my distance each time, but I didn’t quite make it for the second block.

And on the floor, each block had 3 exercises that had a load and explode format. The first block had bench tap squats, bench tap front squats, and bench tap jump squats. I did calf raises instead of the jump for the jump squats. The second block had push-ups, chest presses with weights, and power push-ups. This was one of the first times in a long time that I really tried to do the power push-ups. It wasn’t easy and I had to go slow, but I managed to do most of them as power push-ups each time. And the last block had mountain climbers, plank pull-throughs, and plank jacks. Overall, I think I did a pretty good job with the exercises and making sure I really tried to make the last exercise in each block an explosive move.

Thursday’s workout was called (De)construct Your Reality. I was a bit tired from not sleeping well plus I was a bit sore from Wednesday, but I knew I could at least do better than how I do when I’m dealing with nausea. Just like on Wednesday, each section of the room had 3 blocks that were 4 minutes each.

For cardio, every block we had a push pace to an all-out. That was the entire block. The first block had a 3-minute push pace to a 1-minute all-out. The second block had a 3.25-minute push pace to a 45-second all-out. And the last block had a 3.5-minute push pace to a 30-second all-out. We normally don’t have a push pace that is more than 3-minutes, so that added to how tough each block was. Plus, not having a break during the entire 4 minutes was a challenge. But it was a good challenge and I really enjoyed it.

On the rower, for the first block, we started with a 45-second push row followed by a 30-second all-out row. Then we had 30 seconds to rest before we had a 45-second all-out row. And we ended that block with another 30 seconds to rest and then a 1-minute all-out row. After finishing that block, we looked at our distance on the rower because we would use that for the next block. For the second block, we did half the distance we did in the first block. Then we took 30 seconds to rest and did a base pace row until we did a 45-second all-out row at the end of that block. And for the last block, we did a similar pattern as the first block. But we had the 1-minute all-out row first and we ended with the 30-second all-out row.

And on the floor, each block had 3 exercises that either constructed or deconstructed an exercise. For the first block, we had squats, alternating shoulder presses, and neutral full thrusters. For the second block, we had straight leg raise to crunches (which I did as double crunches), weighted crunches, and straight leg raises. And for the last block, we had high rows on the straps, triceps on the straps, and pull-ups on the straps (which I did as low rows instead). Even though it wasn’t a ton of different exercises and not a lot of work with weights, I really felt the floor work when we were done with the workout.

Friday’s workout was called All Out Darkness. And as it sounds, it was all about all-outs or feeling like you are in an all-out in the workout. Each section of the room was one long block, so we didn’t have a lot of rest time during the workout.

For cardio, we repeated the same pattern for the entire block. We had a 90-second push pace, a 30-second push pace at an incline, and then a recovery. Doing a push pace at an incline is basically the same as doing an all-out. But because the incline/resistance level increased each time, that got harder and harder each time. That’s different from a regular all-out where it can feel the same the entire time. And because of how many times we repeated the pattern, I was using resistance levels much higher than I normally use in the workout. I felt like my legs weren’t moving at the end, but I was also using a level that I think I’ve only used once or twice before.

On the rower, we followed the same timed pattern as cardio. For the 90-second segment, we had squats and then a 150-meter row. The squats started at 25 reps and went down each round. Any time in the 90-seconds we had left after the row we could rest. But I didn’t have extra time until the 4th round. Then in the 30-second segment, we had an all-out row. And we also had the 45-second recovery.

And on the floor, we had drop set work. For the drop sets, we had deadlifts, double crunches, lunges, and tricep extensions. And we also had regular reps with skater lunges, running man, and lunges. I did have to skip the drop sets for the lunges and just did regular lunges for both lunge reps. But I was able to do all the rest of the exercises, even though I was exhausted at the end of the workout.

These workouts were definitely hard, but they were such a good challenge. And even though I didn’t get the water bottle for completing the challenge, I still completed it and I’m proud of myself! And I’m so grateful that this week happened on a good week for me because it would have been so frustrating to be limited with what I could do. So I’m glad I really could push myself and feel so accomplished!

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A Week Of Mayhem (or Continuing To Try To Make My Workouts Harder)

Posted on May 31, 2021 | Comments Off on A Week Of Mayhem (or Continuing To Try To Make My Workouts Harder)

This past week at Orangetheory was Mayhem Week. Mayhem is similar to Hell Week where there are harder workouts and you can earn swag for completing a specific number of workouts. As much as I love earning shirts and hats (and this time it was a hat), I knew I wouldn’t be able to hit the number of workouts I needed to do to earn it this time. So I just focused on doing the workouts and didn’t go crazy with trying to fit in extra days (plus, I’m still getting used to being back).

Besides having the extra hard workouts from Mayhem, I also spent this past week dealing with lots of pain and nausea. I’m still working on figuring out if there is a way to make things easier, but this is how things have been for the past few years and I know there isn’t much more that I can do. So I just have to try my best and manage things the most that I can. And I know that if I have to go easier on a workout, that doesn’t reflect on where I’m at right now. This is just always a tough time for me.

Monday’s workout was called “Clock Won’t Stop” and was all about longer efforts and building endurance. And this was my first Mayhem workout in 2 years (since we didn’t have Mayhem in 2020), so I think it was even harder on me than they normally are.

For cardio, we had decreasing runs/bikes for distance with recovery between each effort. We started with a 3-minute distance and it decreased by 30-seconds each round. And at the end, we had a 1-minute push followed by a 30 second all-out. I tried to keep pedaling the entire effort each time, but there were times I needed a break to breathe through a cramp or let the nausea pass. But I still did a lot of time on the bike and got a lot of distance in during the entire block.

On the rower, we were working toward 2000-meters, but it wasn’t being done at one time. We were on the clock with cardio and we rowed whenever they were in an effort. And when they had their recovery, we had 20 squats before returning to the rower. I tried to take little breaks after the squats before rowing again because it wasn’t easy. There were things to do after completing the 2000 meters, but since we had so many times we stopped to do squats, I never got to that point. I was close to 2000-meters by the end, but I missed it by a bit.

And on the floor, it was all about burpees and core work. I wasn’t too happy about this since burpees are so hard on me when I’m nauseous. I did modify them by using the bench for my hands and we only had to do 5 at a time, but they were still really hard. And after each set of 5 burpees, we had 1 core exercise. The exercises were toe reaches, bicycles, in and out static crunches, and sit-ups. At least for the core work, I wasn’t in too much pain and the nausea was a little better.

Wednesday’s workout was called “The Wicked 90” and the theme was all about 90-second efforts. And our coach also made a special playlist that was all 90s music, so that improved my mood when I was having a really bad nausea day.

For cardio, we started with a 1-minute push on a hill and then a 30-second all-out without an incline. After a recovery, we switched it so it was a 30-second push on a hill and then a 1-minute all-out without an incline. After that, we had a 90-second distance challenge at the same incline. We repeated that again but the incline/resistance level was increased by 1.

The rower went along with the cardio a bit. We did the same push and all-out rows along with the treadmills. But when they were doing their distance challenge, we had agility exercises with side to sides and in and outs. Both of the agility challenges involved jumping, so I just stepped out to do them. And just like the cardio, we repeated this all again. I tried to row for all of the 90-second efforts, but there were a few times my nausea was overwhelming and I had to stop to let it pass.

And on the floor, we had 3 different blocks with 2 exercises each. We first had 1 minute of burpees and then 30-seconds of squats. Then we had 30-seconds of neutral full thrusters with 1 minute of clean to squats. And then it was 10 plank jacks with 5 pop jacks for the full 90-seconds. And just like with everything else, we did all of these twice. For all the face-down exercises, I used the bench to help. But I think between everything else I had done plus my nausea seeming to be at its worst, I took so many breaks on the floor. I was so exhausted at the end of the class, but it was a good exhaustion.

Friday was the last day of Mayhem and the workout that day was called “Hard Core Floor”. I was feeling a bit better than I had earlier in the week, but still struggling. But I was glad that it was going to be a slightly better day for me and I needed it in this workout!

For cardio, we had a mix of 1-minute all-outs and 3.5-minute distance challenges.  I did try to pedal faster for the 1-minute all-outs since those should be able to be done that way, but I wasn’t always able to maintain that. But I made the effort and that’s important to me when I’m not feeling my best. And for the distance challenges, I feel like I did a good job staying consistent with my speed and not pushing myself too much at the beginning (which is something I often do).

On the rower, we rowed the entire block without a break. We did have recovery time, but technically no breaks. We had some 1-minute all-out rows and some 30-second push rows followed by 30-second all-out rows. When we had recovery time, it usually was only 15 or 30 seconds each. But we were supposed to keep rowing during that time so I tried my best to do a very slow row and not stop completely. I did occasionally have to stop to let the nausea pass or to drink some water. But I did fewer breaks than I was worried I’d have to do.

And the floor block was where the name “Hard Core Floor” came from. It was a lot and intense. But it did have a few moments of 15 seconds of rest, which was needed for sure. We started with a 1-minute plank. Then we had 3 rounds of overhead triceps and tricep push-ups. Each exercise was done for 30-seconds. Then it was another 1-minute plank followed by pop jacks for 30-seconds and another 1-minute plank. Then it was 3 rounds of uppercuts and shoulder presses with each exercise for 30-seconds. And we ended with another 1-minute plank. It was so much on the floor and I was exhausted. Even with using much lighter weights than I normally do, the 30-seconds of work felt like they took a long time. And while I did have to modify all the planks to be using the bench, I’m glad that for most of the exercises I didn’t have to change much about them.

Saturday’s workout was not a Mayhem workout, but it was still a tough one. And I continued to be feeling a bit better so I could push myself a little more. The nausea is tricky because it can feel like I’m fine one moment and then extreme nausea hits the next, but the intensity of each episode was a little easier to push through than the rest of the week. This workout was a strength-based class and even without it feeling like Mayhem it wasn’t easy.

For cardio, we had 2 very similar blocks. The first block was rounds of 1-minute pushes at an incline and 1-minute bases. And the incline/resistance level went up each round. And we ended at an all-out at the highest incline of the day. The second block was a similar pattern, but we started at the highest incline and went down each round. I was increasing the resistance on the bike and did a bit more than I have been doing since starting back. It was a good challenge for me to test the resistance levels a bit more as I try to get my base level a bit higher as I am more used to the workouts again.

The rower was also 2 similar. Each block had a focus on a 300-meter row. The first row was supposed to be around 24-26 strokes per minute and each row after that was supposed to be at a lower stroke per minute (so focusing more on the power of each stroke and not the overall speed). In the first block, between each row we had bicep curls with a medicine ball. And in the second block we had tricep extensions between each row. While I did have to take a lot of breaks during both blocks, I never had to take a break during the rowing. I always was able to complete the full 300-meters without stopping. Before the shutdown, this wouldn’t necessarily be something I would be celebrating this much. But considering how hard it’s been for me to get back my endurance on the rower, this was a huge accomplishment!

And on the floor, we had 2 blocks of exercises with low reps so we could focus on the weights more. The first block had single-arm low rows, single-arm lateral step-ups (which I modified to be single-arm and regular lunges), and plank twists (which I modified to use the bench for my hands). And the second block had shoulder presses, single-arm deadlifts, and supermans (which I was surprised to be able to do since it’s face-down on the floor). After the floor block and we were done with the workout, I was able to stay for stretching since I didn’t have to rush home to get to work. That’s something I really like about my Saturday workouts right now.

Considering that I haven’t been back at Orangetheory for that long and I was dealing with some of the worst pain and nausea I’ve had, I’m really proud of what I did during Mayhem. I didn’t complete enough to earn the hat, but I did complete the classes I went to. And that’s something that I should be happy about. I had a lot of reasons I could make excuses, and I didn’t. I might have had to change up some things to make them work for me, but I tried my best and worked hard. And to me, that makes me feel like I took on Mayhem and won.

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Modifying Mayhem (or A Good But Challenge Week Of Workouts)

Posted on June 1, 2020 | Comments Off on Modifying Mayhem (or A Good But Challenge Week Of Workouts)

With all of the at-home workouts, Orangetheory is trying really hard to make them as fun and unique as the regular in-studio workouts are. I really appreciate the effort that they are making and I feel like they are doing a great job considering that they didn’t have this plan in place before the pandemic started. The workouts aren’t necessarily as hard as they are when we have someone coaching us, but I think that also has something to do with what efforts I put in when I’m home alone compared to when I’m in class.

But this past week of workouts was made extra hard. One of the things that Orangetheory does is have a challenging week called Mayhem. It’s similar to Hell Week, but during May. These workouts are very tough and they usually push you to try to do more than normal. I love having these challenging weeks because it does help me believe that I can do more than I normally do in workouts. And since almost all the studios around the world are still closed (very few are open, but more are getting ready to open), they made Mayhem part of the at-home workouts this time.

You can usually get something for completing Mayhem in-studio. I think it’s always a hat (Hell Week is always a shirt). This time, you could pre-order the hat to have it after completing Mayhem. I think you were supposed to do 4 of the 6 workouts, but because of the timing of when the workouts were I only got 3 done. But I still pre-ordered the hat and used it for motivation during each of the workouts.

The first part of the week of workouts was much better than the second part of the week. I didn’t have too many issues with pain and nausea on Monday or Wednesday. But Friday and Saturday were really bad. I had to make so many modifications in my workouts to be able to get through things. But I still tried to make the workouts harder for me in my own way. I did focus as much as I could on working on strength/weight-lifting exercises since those don’t always make me feel worse.

What I did notice while doing that was that I do feel weaker than I did before. I have known that this would be a possibility as I’m not able to work as hard at home as I do in class, but it was hard when I really thought I was trying. But I just have to keep going because that’s the only way I can limit how much of a set-back I have. I know when I get back to class (hopefully at some point this summer they can reopen safely) I will have to not have any expectations of what I will be able to do. I might struggle in the workouts the way I did when I start. But I also know that I might have a faster time getting back to where I was since I had already been there once. I honestly don’t know what it will be like when I get back to class, but having few expectations will probably be best for me.

Even though I know that this Mayhem wasn’t as hard as past ones were, I still am proud of what I did. I tried my best. I worked as hard as I could. I pushed through pain and nausea when I could. And I did have harder workouts than the other workouts have been.

I know this week is likely to be a struggle, mainly due to pain and nausea, but I’m still figuring out how to do workouts the best that I can. It’s not as easy to modify things at home, so I’m still figuring out what options work for me. I’m doing a lot of completely different exercises instead of modifications due to what equipment is available at my house. So I’ll have another week of practicing how to modify things for myself this week.

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A Week Of Mayhem (or 2 Perspectives On A Crazy Week)

Posted on May 27, 2019 | 2 comments

This post is going to be a little different from my usual workout recap, but it’s for an awesome reason. First, this past week of workouts was Mayhem Week, which is similar to Hell Week. All of the workouts were extra hard and if you completed 4 out of the 6 workouts you got a hat. I was totally excited to get the hat, but even more excited when my friend Andrew asked me if I wanted to collaborate again. He and I worked together in the beginning of the year when we discussed our Orangetheory goals for the year. This time, he was planning on doing all 6 days of Mayhem and a vlog for each day. He asked me to be a guest on one vlog, and since he was going to do all 6 workouts I asked if he could do some recaps for me!

So this post is all quick recaps of the workouts from both of us. Andrew (which will be the italics text) has something to say every day. I had a lot of rest days (which I will discuss at the end of this post) so I don’t have as much to say. But before I get into our recaps, Andrew wanted to share a little bit about his plan:

This year was my second All Out Mayhem at Orangetheory (kind of strange to write that) and, unlike last year, I decided to go beyond the minimum amount of classes to ‘complete’ the challenge and aim for all SIX days…

Those six days came and went and since I’m still alive, I thought I would give a quick review of each class (written RevRun-style, soaking in a tub of Epsom salt).

Sunday (Unrest)

Me: Rest Day

Andrew: To Paraphrase Maya Angelo, “people won’t remember what you said or did, but how you made them feel”. That’s me with this workout. I don’t remember what the format was exactly, but I do remember during it I began to question my plan of doing this 5 more days in a row…

Monday (Bedlam)

Me: This was the day that I appeared on Andrew’s vlog, so you can see a little bit about my experience on there. I was happy to have a 3 group class because we didn’t have nearly as many all outs as the 2 group class. I had to go a bit lower on my resistance level on the bike because all of the all outs were at inclines/high resistance levels, but even going lower than normal made it hard for me. I didn’t get as far on the rower as I would have but I still had a great time with this workout and felt amazing after completing it!

Andrew: This was the day with the 20 (Yes, TWENTY) All Outs on the treadmill. While it did have a “sticker shock” effect upon hearing it presented by your coach, it really wasn’t that bad -Although I might have preferred to start my Monday morning with the 3G version (only 12 All Outs). Spoiler: in hindsight this day ended up being my favorite. 

Tuesday (Epocalypse)

Me: Rest Day

Andrew: This is when my body started to get a little mad at me. With this being my 3rd day in a row, my legs and arms really started to hurt. After class, I actually had to foam roll the backs of my arms (you can laugh) to relieve the pain. 

Wednesday (Commotion)

Me: This workout was a bit weird for me because the rower at my station wasn’t working. So instead of having 15 minutes at each section of the room, I had 30 minutes on the bike and 15 minutes on the floor. But it turned out that the rowing blocks actually were almost no rowing but instead 30 seconds of rowing and then we finished the block with sumo squats and tricep extensions. The floor was all squats, sit-ups, and push ups. Everything was very repetitive and I was so glad to have work after my workout so I could sit and be lazy.

Andrew: I hated this one. Moving on. 

Thursday (Disturbance)

Me: Rest Day

Andrew: At this point in the week, my body was giving up. I powered through however and made modifications to both the floor and the tread blocks to not make matters worse for my lower legs & feet (I threw the burpees away). 

Friday (Pandemonium)

Me: This was the first workout of the week that I had my horrible nausea. I am so glad it started toward the end of the week because I honestly was expecting it all week. We had a ton of squats in this workout and they were unfortunately making me nauseous (which I don’t think has ever happened with squats before), but I just took my time and did them at my own pace. The floor was all upper body and went much better than I thought I could do with how I was feeling.

Andrew: I remember telling the staff at the front desk before that I was jealous they got to sit there while I had to go workout (I swear I like Orangetheory y’all, I’m just dramatic lol). By the end of class I decided I had put in way too much hard work & dedication to end the week with a less than average effort. So I spent the last 30 seconds at a 10.2 on the treadmill -super high for me! 

Overall, I’m really proud of myself for sticking with my goal of going all 6 days. The point of Mayhem for me was to get myself back on track with my consistency and I think it truly worked.

*drains tub* 

As you can see, I only did 3 days of Mayhem. I don’t know what I was thinking but I thought it ended on Saturday so my Saturday workout would have been the 4th day. I only realized my mistake when I was in class on Friday so it was too late to do anything about it. I had a moment of real disappointment and feeling mad at myself, but I got that thought out of my head quickly. I still did 3 days of Mayhem and 4 workouts that week since I did still go on Saturday. That’s not something that everyone can do.

And what Andrew did with doing all 6 workouts is even more incredible! I’m so lucky to have friends like him who inspire me to do more and work harder. Hopefully I will be able to do better with the planning for Hell Week and Mayhem next year.

Make sure you go to Andrew’s channel to subscribe so you can see all of his vlogs about his fitness journey! And you can see my appearance regarding Monday’s workout below!

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