Tag Archives: Orangetheory

I’ve been wanting to have a week of workouts where I wasn’t dealing with any issues like horrible pain or nausea. I will always have hip issues because that is just a part of my life, but I really missed having a week where hip issues were the only thing I was dealing with. But I never seemed to get that. For one reason or another, I was either having an all bad week or a split week. But I finally got the week I had been craving for so long!

Monday’s workout was a 3 group class because it was a holiday (since I always have Mondays off, I didn’t realize it was a holiday until I got to class). Since that class is usually my only 2 group class of the week, I was a bit sad that it was 3 groups, but it ended up being a really great workout that had a lot of things that made me push myself on my own.

For cardio, we had a run/recovery workout that was done on our own. We had 3 different sections that had different distances and recovery times. The first section was 4 rounds of a .1 run (.4 bike) with 30 seconds of recovery after each. The second section was 2 rounds of a .2 run (.8 bike) with 45 seconds after each. And the last round was a .4 run (.8 bike) with a minute of recovery after. We had a run/bike for distance if we completed that, but I was still working on the .8 bike distance when the block was done. I was feeling really good in class so I could go fast and I was loving that!

The rowing block was similar to cardio with different sections that we were on our own with. But instead of recovery, we had ground to press with a medicine ball. I modified those to be squats with overhead raises, but those are pretty similar. The first section was 4 rounds of a 100-meter row with 5 medicine ball exercises after each row. The next section had 2 rounds of a 200-meter row with 10 medicine ball exercises after each row. And the last section was 1 round of a 400-meter row with 20 medicine ball exercises after it. And when those were done, we rowed until the block ended. I made it to rowing until the block ended which was awesome. I usually don’t make it to the end of the workout assignments.

And on the floor, we had all timed work. We had 2 different blocks and each block had 3 exercises. We had 30 seconds of doing an exercise and 15 seconds to recover and get ready for the next one. And we did 3 rounds of those 3 exercises before moving to the next block. The first block had push-ups on the straps, upright rows with weights, and pop jacks. And the second block had full thrusters with weights, squats, and v-ups (which I modified to sit-ups). It’s very different doing timed exercises because you aren’t counting reps and know how much longer you have to go. I tried to not go too quickly, but I was getting very tired at the end of each 30 seconds of work.

Wednesday was a strength-based class and it was one where I wanted to work hard on focusing on the thing that made it a strength class. We had 2 blocks at each part of the room and we switched after each block. However, I was using the bike for cardio and for rowing, so I had a lot of time on the bike.

The first cardio block started with a 2-minute base pace, but it was at an incline. I used 1 resistance level higher than what I used to use for my all out. After that, we had 1-minute at base pace without incline. Then it was a 1-minute push pace without incline and a 30-second all out without incline. After a quick recovery, we had another 30-second all out, but this time it was at the same incline as the push pace we had at the beginning. The second block started with a 2-minute declining hill. I started at the same resistance level that I used before and it decreased 1 level every 30 seconds. We then had a 2-minute base pace, which felt like a nice long recovery. Then we had the same pattern from the end of the first block with a 30-second all out, quick recovery, and another 30-second all out but at an incline.

For the rowing, it was all about doing stroke drills. Since I was on the bike, I put the resistance level to be double what my base level is (which is what I did last week as well). The first block was slow rowing/stroke drills for 100-meters. We were supposed to count the strokes and then use that number for how many reps we had to do squats to overhead press with a medicine ball. I biked for 30-seconds and then did 8 reps since that is probably close to how many strokes it would have taken me. The second block switch the rowing to be 200-meter so I biked at the heavy resistance level for 1-minute. And the exercise was a squat hold while doing front presses with the medicine ball. This time, I did 12 reps since that seemed like a good number.

And on the floor, the exercises were the same for both blocks. We just picked up where we left off when we returned for the second block. We had chest presses, squats with weights, pullovers, half get-ups, and plank pull-throughs. I usually would use 25 pounds for chest presses, but I pushed myself and used 30 pounds instead (it’s a 30-pound weight in each hand, so a total of 60 pounds). It was so much harder for me, and I couldn’t do all the reps without a break in the middle, but that’s almost the point with a strength day. We need to test ourselves to see if we can lift heavier. I used the 30-pound weights for my squats as well and then used one of the weights for the pullovers. For my half get-ups and plank pull-throughs, I used one 20 pound weight. Even though I went down with the weight, it wasn’t easy since that was heavier than I’m used to.

Friday was a mix of endurance, strength, and power. I was having a bit of a bad hip day, but it wasn’t too horrible and I was able to work around a few things to manage it.

For cardio, we had 3 blocks. The first and third blocks were both 3-minute distance challenges with inclines. And the middle block had 5 rounds of 30-second all outs. I was able to use a bit of resistance on the bike to do the incline work. And I used my base pace level for the middle block with all the all outs.

Rowing was one long block. We started with a 3-minute row. Then we were supposed to do lunges with medicine ball twists but I modified them to be squats with the medicine ball. Then we were back on the rower and we took the distance we did for the 3 minutes and decreased it by 200-meters. We kept doing that and the medicine ball work until we couldn’t take 200 meters off again. Then we just rowed until the block was done. I guess I didn’t get a lot of rowing done in that first 3-minute challenge because I had almost 4 minutes left in the block when I finished the assignment. I wasn’t able to row for the entire 4 minutes that we had left, so I took breaks to stretch out when I needed to. But I still got a lot of rowing done.

And on the floor, we had 3 blocks just like we did for cardio. The first block had bench sit to stands and bench hop overs. The second block had sit-ups to squats on the bench, mountain climbers, lunges, and full sit-ups. And the last block had alligators on the straps and push-ups (I did these on my knees but I didn’t use the bench to make it easier).

Saturday was another day that my hip was bothering me before I got to class, but it was manageable and something that I was so used to since I have been dealing with it for over a decade. The workout was endurance-based, and it wasn’t done in the order that I’m used to. I normally start with cardio and then do rowing and the floor. But this class, I had to start on the floor and then I did the cardio and ended with rowing.

It’s never easy for me to start on the floor, but I was determined to do my best. It was one long block and everything was 12 reps. We had squats to bicep curls to uppercuts with weights, plank pull-throughs, single-leg v-ups (which I modified to full sit-ups), plank leg raises, high rows on the straps, and sumo squats to upright rows with weights. The first and last exercises were really tough for me, and after the first round, I did have to split up the exercises into the individual parts. And I did go a bit easy because I usually don’t have anything after the floor and this time I had the rest of the workout to go. But I still tried to push myself where I could.

The cardio was 2 blocks and they were both very similar. They had a long push pace to start, then a longish base pace, a 1-minute push pace, and a 1-minute all out. I kept the resistance level on the bike at the same level the entire time but I was very focused on how fast I was pedaling for each segment. I overdid it a bit on the long push paces at the beginning of each block, but nothing that I wasn’t able to recover from.

And the rower was also 2 blocks that were similar. The first block started with a 3-minute row. Then we had squats to front presses with the medicine ball. We continued that pattern and decreased the row by 200 meters each round. I was just finishing that up when the block ended. The second block started with a 90-second row and then we were supposed to do squat jacks with the medicine ball (I modified these to be regular squats with a medicine ball). And each round the row decreased by 100 meters. It was weird to end on the rower and I almost felt like the workout was unfinished, but I was also tired enough to know I did a full class.

I’m cautiously optimistic about this week. It should hopefully be another good week for me and I believe we have a benchmark this week. I’m so competitive when it comes to benchmarks, so I hate when I have a bad day when we have them. I can only hope for the best and know that whatever happens will be. But I still will be hoping it goes exactly how I want it to!

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I had another workout week where I was dealing with a lot of pain and nausea for part of it and felt better for the other part of it. I guess that’s better than a full week of feeling awful. And I did try my best each workout day to see what I could do and to make sure that I was pushing myself but not pushing myself too much.

Monday’s workout was an endurance day. It was also a day that I felt really horrible. I wasn’t as nauseous as I usually am, but I was in a lot more pain than normal. Even after taking 3 different medications that usually help me, I was still feeling awful. The pain was really taking it out of me, but I was determined to do the best that I could. And that’s not always easy with an endurance day.

The cardio was a 23-minute block without a break. It was split up into lots of runs for distance with base pace recoveries after each one. The runs for distance were twice as long as the base paces (for example, 5-minute run for distance with a 2.5-minute base pace). But for me, I wasn’t focused on the different distance challenges. My goal was just to keep going as much as I could and take breaks when I needed them. I didn’t pedal that hard or fast and the breaks were frequent, but I did what I could and tried not to stress out too much about what I was doing and what I felt like I should be doing. I still was comparing my effort to my normal effort, but at least I was constantly reminding myself that I wasn’t slacking off but was managing with the situation I was in.

The floor had 2 blocks. Both blocks started with a row. The first block had a 2-minute row and the second block had a 1-minute row. Then, both blocks were mainly Bosu work. The first block had goblet lunges (these I modified to not use the Bosu), scaptions with weights, sit-ups, hip raises with weights, pullovers with weights, and side plank hip dips. And the second block had lateral raises with weights and back extensions (which I modified to bird dogs which still made me very nauseous). It was a battle with pain during both floor blocks and a lot of nausea hit me at the end, but I got through it and once the workout was done I was able to recover and relax at home.

Unfortunately, I was feeling just as horrible (or worse) on Wednesday. It was a power day and I knew I didn’t really have much in me to push myself. I went to the workout knowing that and tried to remember that doing even a little bit is better than if I stayed home and did nothing.

There were 2 cardio blocks, but I didn’t pay a lot of attention to what we were doing. I had a similar plan to what I did on Monday. I was going to pedal when I could and rest when I needed it. I didn’t focus much on how fast I was pedaling and I kept the resistance level at my base level the entire time. And I didn’t get that much distance done between those 2 blocks because of how often I had to take a break.

When we switched to the rowers, even though the rower at my station was still being fixed I was able to use a rower at another station so I didn’t have to stay on the bike. For the first block, the rowing was always 150-meters and we were supposed to do lunges between each row. The lunges were supposed to start at 12 and go down 2 reps each round. I did squats instead of lunges and got pretty far with the rounds. And the second block, we matched the cardio with all outs and recoveries. I wasn’t too worried about timing things since all of my rowing was close to what recovery would be. So I just rowed when I could and rested when I needed to. After both blocks, I will say I was surprised by the distance I managed to get done on the rower because I thought it would have been a fraction of that.

And the floor was one long block that was split into 2 mini-blocks. The first mini-block was all mini-band work. We had side steps and we were supposed to do plank toe touches. I did the side steps, but I switched the plank work to be stand side leg lifts since that was working the same muscles and wouldn’t make me nauseous. But I did have a small win during that mini-block. I usually have to wear the mini-bands around my ankles instead of calves because they were too tight around my calves. But this time, they fit fine! So maybe I’ve lost some weight in my calves or something. The second mini-block had lunges, lunges with hops (which I did holding on to the straps), and plank with arm in and outs. I did front raises using a mini-band instead of the plank work for that block.

Friday I was doing much better, but still not completely better. And instead of having a Valentine’s Day-themed workout (which I would assume would be a partner workout), we had a Singles Awareness Day workout with a lot of single arm or single leg work.

We had 2 blocks at each section of the room and we switched after each block. The first block for cardio was a 3-minute distance challenge and we were supposed to remember our distance. Then for the second block, we started with that same distance that we did in the first block. We had a minute of recovery after that and then we cut the distance in half. We repeated that pattern until the block ended.

I was using the bike again for the rower (the rower will hopefully be fixed soon, but I don’t mind doubling up on the bike) and it was a similar plan to what we did for cardio. The first block was a 3-minute challenge. And the second block started with that distance again and then we had lunges after we completed that. Then we cut the distance in half and repeated the pattern. I was able to do lunges instead of having to modify them to be squats since I was next to the bike and could hold on to it for support.

On the floor, the first block had single-arm thrusters, lunges, and step-ups (which I modified to be weighted lunges). The second block had single-arm split stance high rows, single-arm chest presses, single-arm low rows on the straps (I modified these to be using both straps), and single-leg v-ups (I modified these to be regular full sit-ups). I had a little bit of nausea during the floor work, but nothing unbearable. I just had to take a break to let it pass and I was able to get back to the work quickly. It was so much nicer than how I had been feeling the rest of the week and it was a good boost for me mentally.

Saturday’s workout was a strength day and it was when I finally felt like myself. I was able to work on the resistance levels on the bike and I really needed to do that this time. We had 2 blocks at each section of the room and the cardio and rowing blocks stayed the same.

For cardio, we started with a 4-minute progressive hill. We increased the incline/resistance level each minute before going back to a flat base pace. I was able to increase the resistance level for each minute and it felt really good. And each block ended with a 30-second all out.

And I was on the bike for the rower again. The rower at the station I use should hopefully be fixed this week, but I guess it was a good thing to have extra practice on the bike. And this was really good practice because it required me to use a resistance level that I never use on the bike. The rower was supposed to be stroke drills, and there isn’t a great equivalent on the bike. So what I did was use double my base resistance level and my coach helped me figure out how long to bike each time. I don’t think I have ever used that resistance level before and it was hard. But every interval was 30 seconds or under, so that was good. And between each one, we had front raises and presses with the medicine ball.

And on the floor, each block was a bit different. The first block had tricep extensions, squats, and toe reaches. And the second block had uppercuts, front weighted squats, and toe reaches. I did need to take a few breaks on the floor, but nothing like I had been doing the rest of the week.

I’m cautiously optimistic that this week will be a good workout week for me. And we have a benchmark coming up soon so I want to get some practice in for that. But I also know that I can have an unexpected thing happen that will make the week harder for me. Hopefully, that doesn’t happen because I really want a good workout week this time!

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I knew this past week of workouts would be a mix of good days and not so good days. I was prepared for that this time and went into my workouts expecting that. Even though I’ve had a few tough weeks recently, I always do so much better when I am prepared for them. And this past week was one of those weeks that I did better because I went into the workout expecting it.

Monday’s workout was a strength-based class and we were supposed to be challenging ourselves by using a new base pace. I wasn’t quite ready to add to my base resistance level on the bike (and this entire month is going to be about adding to base so I have plenty of opportunities), but I did want to make sure I did the hill work the way we were supposed to.

We had 3 cardio blocks with the same pattern. We had 2 rounds of 90-second hills with base paces after them and we ended with an all out. The base paces got shorter and the all out got longer each block. And we also had higher hills each block for the hill work. Doing the hills was definitely challenging because I don’t use the resistance levels as often as I used to and this was a lot of hill work. But it was a good challenge and I’m glad I went for it.

We also had 3 floor blocks and each floor block started with a rowing challenge. The rowing challenge was to see how far we could get in just 15 strokes. Stroke challenges are tough because you have to go slowly and take your time, which seems to be the opposite of what you feel like you should do on the rower. After each stroke challenge, we had regular floor work for the rest of each block. The first block had squats with calf raises and plank leg raises. The second block had goblet squats and Y raises on the straps. And the last block had sumo squats, hip raises, and plank punches. For the squats to calf raises, goblet squats, sumo squats, and hip raises; I tried to go heavy with the weights I used. I didn’t go as heavy as I could for the hip raises, but for everything else, I feel like I was using heavier weights than I normally would grab.

Wednesday’s workout was a mix of endurance, strength, and power and it was also supposed to help us get ready for the 12-minute run benchmark later this month. I was feeling fine when I got to class, but unfortunately, my nausea kicked in during the warmup. I wasn’t feeling too horrible, but it still affected things and forced me to take it a bit easier than I was hoping to.

For cardio, the entire focus was preparing for the benchmark. We had 2 rounds of 5.5-minute runs/bikes for distance with a 90-second recovery between them. This is a bit longer than the benchmark will be, but it also had the recovery time which the benchmark won’t. There were no intervals or specific paces to do during those 5.5 minutes, but the goal was to push ourselves. I tried my best to push myself and take a break when nausea kicked in. I know I didn’t do nearly as well as I could, but I did my best and I’m hoping that when we have the benchmark that I will feel better and can really go for it.

The rowing started with a 90-second row for distance. Then we had rotation presses with a medicine ball. We continued the rowing and medicine ball work for the rest of the block, doing 50 meters less each time on the rower. I did that for the first few rounds, but then the rotation presses were making me more nauseous so I just rowed until the block was done. I had to take a lot of breaks, so even though I didn’t stop rowing to do the other work, I didn’t get a lot of rowing done.

On the floor, we had a lot of core focus. We started with 3 rounds of lateral crunches and toe touches. Then we moved on to the other exercises which all had weights. We had suitcase squats, plank pull-throughs, hollow hold chest presses, and single-leg bicep curls. I didn’t go too heavy with the weights and actually went a bit lighter than normal for the bicep curls. But I was able to do the plank work normally instead of using the bench, which surprised me considering how I was feeling. But plank pull-throughs are tough to do on the bench so I’m glad I could do them on the floor.

Friday’s workout was a strength day. And even though I wasn’t feeling nauseous when I went to class, I knew that there was a good chance I would feel that way during the workout so I took some anti-nausea medications that morning. It did help, but I still struggled with feeling off.

We had 2 cardio blocks. Both blocks had a mix of push paces and base paces at inclines. I was using the resistance levels on the bike for the incline work, but I kept them a bit lower than I would have if I was feeling ok. I didn’t have a lot of nausea on the bike, but it was still affecting me from time to time and I had to take some breaks to let it pass.

And unfortunately, the rower at my station broke so I wasn’t able to row. Thinking about it later, it might have been better for me to use the bike instead of the rower. So I did the rowing work on the bike. It was all distance rows so I used the time it would take me to row that distance if I was averaging 200 meters every minute. The first block had a 400, 200, and 100-meter row (so 2-minute, 1-minute, and 30-second bike). And the second block had a 300, 200, and 100-meter row (90-second, 1-minute, and 30-second row). Between each row, we had front raises with the mini-band. And one bonus I found on the bike was that I could do the front raises without having to get off the bike.

And on the floor, every round started with a cluster set. This cluster set was 15 shoulder presses split into 3 rounds of 5 with 10 seconds between each round. After the cluster set, the rest of the exercises were done normally. We had bicep curls, front squats with dumbells, bird dogs, and low rows on the straps. I struggled a bit with the bird dogs because I did them normally even though I felt nauseous, but besides those, I did pretty decently on the floor.

Saturday’s workout was a mix of endurance, strength, and power. I was feeling a bit worse than I was on Friday, but still not as bad as I know I could feel. Everything was done in 4-minute blocks and the floor and the rower switched every 4 minutes.

For cardio, every 4-minute block had a push pace, a base pace, a push pace, a base pace, and an all out. The first push pace got shorter each block and the second push pace and the second base pace got longer each block. The blocks were short but some of the intervals felt long. I’m glad they were only 4 minutes long because I don’t know how I would have done if it was longer.

Because we switched back and forth between the floor and the rower, we had a total of 3 blocks on each. Every block on the rower was the same every time and every block on the floor was the same every time. We just picked up where we left off.

I was using the bike for the rower since the rower was still down. Every row was supposed to be a 200-meter row, so I biked for 1-minute. Then we were supposed to do lunges with overhead triceps using the medicine ball after each row. We started with 12 reps and every time we went down 2 reps. And on the floor, we had hip hinge low rows with weights, plank work, pull-ups on the straps (I modified these to be rows on the straps), hip hinge triceps, hip hinge fly, and plank punches. I was able to get through one round on the floor every time I was there so it was easy to pick up each time I was back there.

Overall, considering how I thought I might feel this week I did pretty great. I was worried I’d feel a lot worse, but it wasn’t as bad as expected. Of course, I’m aware that this week might be miserable, but at least I’m ready for that. And hopefully, I can still push myself when I can even if I feel like I am struggling a lot.

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I had 2 weeks in a row that were pretty tough workout weeks for me. First, was a week dealing with pain and nausea. Then it was a week dealing with the same issues that were caused by antibiotics. I usually don’t have 2 bad workout weeks in a row like that, so I wasn’t sure what to expect from my workouts last week. I knew I was going to be a bit weaker than normal, but I honestly didn’t realize it was going to be as bad as it was.

Monday’s workout was a power day. While I was finally feeling better after taking antibiotics, I also was still feeling a bit weak. I know that having so many days where I couldn’t push myself caused that, but having a power day was helpful with working back to my normal self.

For cardio, the first part was all about 2-minute blocks. These 2 minutes were split between push pace and all out. We started with a 90-second push and 30-second all out. Then it was a 75-second push and 45-second all out. Then it was a 1-minute push and 1-minute all out. Then we repeated that again but worked in reverse. We did have recovery time after every all out, but I did have to take a few little breaks during some of the push paces. Then we finished the cardio workout with a 1-minute, 45-second, and 30-second all out. We had 9 all outs during the entire cardio time, which is a lot.

On the floor, we had 3 blocks that mainly focused on upper body. The first block had pull-ups on the straps (I modified these to be high rows on the straps), single-arm low rows on the straps (I modified these to not be single-arm), and side plank rotations. The second block had pullovers with a dumbbell, bench plank reverse flys, and plank pull-throughs (which I modified to be bench plank pull-throughs).

And the final block was a core blast. This workout was the day after Kobe Bryant passed away, and most of the people in class were affected by his death. So the core blast was themed around 8 and 24 (Kobe’s jersey numbers). We had 3 exercises that had 8 reps each (so a total of 24 reps). We had hip bridge toe touches (I modified these to be regular toe touches), sit-ups with rotations, and atomic plank work. While I wasn’t a basketball fan, I know how much Kobe meant to the city of LA. And I could feel the mood in the room being different from a normal workout day. I think dedicating the core blast block was a good choice and the mood of the room was much closer to normal when the workout was done.

Wednesday’s workout was a mix of endurance and power. I was continuing to feel a bit more like myself, but I still could tell I wasn’t 100% back. But I was almost there so I was able to push myself more and worked a lot closer to what I normally do.

Cardio had 2 blocks. The first block started with a 2-minute push pace, then a 90-second base pace, a 90-second push pace, a 30-second base pace, and a 30-second all out. The 2-minute push pace was a bit long but everything else felt like it went by really quickly, especially with having such a short base pace at the end to recover. The second block was a similar pattern but in reverse. So we started with a 30-second push pace and ended with a 2-minute distance challenge.

On the rower, we started with a 600-meter row. Then we had 12 ground to presses with a medicine ball. Each round the row went down by 100 meters and we did 2 fewer squats. I didn’t get that far in the rowing, but I was also using a different rower than I normally do and there was a difference with how that rower felt. It’s weird how I’ve gotten so used to the rower I usually use, but I guess it was an added challenge for me to try a different rower and see how I could do on that one.

On the floor, we had 2 blocks. The first block had a lower body focus and the second block had an upper body focus. And for both blocks, we were supposed to do all the exercises on one side first and then switch to the other. But for the lower body side, I did each exercise on both sides first since my hips would hurt too much otherwise. The first block had single-leg squats (which I did as regular squats), toe taps on the bench, power step-ups on the bench, and plank kicks. For the benchwork, I did use the bench but held on to the straps to keep my balance. And the second block had hip hinge low rows, low rows with a split stance, low rows on the bench, and plank punches. For all the low rows, we used the same weights and I did use my normal weight even though my arms were so fatigued by the time I switched arms.

Friday’s workout was a power day and it was also a switch day. Both of those things helped me get much closer to my normal workout ability and I was finally feeling like I might not be as weak as I was earlier in the week. It was crazy how quickly I felt weak, but I’m glad that it was almost as quick for me feeling back to my normal strength again.

The first cardio block started with push pace to base pace intervals. The push and base paces were the same amounts of time. We had a 1-minute, 45-second, and 30-second round. Then we did similar intervals but with all outs and recoveries. Again, we had a 1-minute, 45-second, and 30-second round. The second cardio block was just all outs with 30-seconds of recovery between them. We had a 1-minute, 45-second, and 30-second all out.

On the rower, the first block started with a 300-meter row. After the row, we were supposed to do lunges, but I did squats instead. Then it was a 200-meter and 100-meter row, both that were supposed to have lunges. Then we repeated all 3 rows but did squats between each row instead of the lunges. And the second block was the same pattern as cardio with all outs and recoveries.

On the floor, the first block had burpees to reverse lunges (I did the burpees on the bench and did the lunges separately), neutral full thrusters with weights, and sit-ups. And the second block had hip hinge swings with weights and skater lunges. I thought that we should have had another exercise in that second block because I felt like I did a million rounds of those 2 exercises, but at least I was able to get them done!

Saturday’s workout was a mix of endurance, strength, and power and it was also a switch day. And just like with Friday’s workout, the combination of workout type and it being a switch day worked for me and I felt the best I had felt in a long time in class.

The first cardio block was a 2-minute push, 1-minute base, 1-minute push, 1-minute base, and 30-second all out. Nothing fancy, but it gave me a lot of time to work on getting back to my normal push pace pedaling speed. I know I haven’t been doing that for a little bit and it felt good to get back to what I usually do. The second cardio block was all all outs, but no matter how long the all out was we only had 30 seconds to recover. We had 1 round of a 1-minute all out, 2 rounds of a 45-second all out, and 3 rounds of a 30-second all out. This second block was much harder because of the limited recovery time, but I loved having so many all outs to work on my pedaling speed.

The rower had the same workout for both blocks, we just picked up where we left off when we went back to the rower the second time. The rowing started with 1 round of a 300-meter row with frogger squats. Then it was 2 rounds of a 250-meter row with frogger squats. 3 rounds of a 200-meter row with frogger squats. And I only did the first round of the 150-meter row when the second block ended.

On the floor, it was a lot of upper body and core work. The first block had pullovers with weights, side plank rotations, and single-arm snatches with weights. And the second block had pull-ups on the straps (I modified this to be high and low rows on the straps), plank pull-throughs, and squats. I thought I’d feel a bit more tired at the end of the workout, but I was feeling good. So I think that was a sign that I was finally better and I might have gone a bit easy on myself.

I want to say that I’m back to my normal self and normal strength now, but I also know that this week is the week that my nausea may be coming back. I’m hoping that doesn’t affect too many of my workouts. And I’m really hoping that I won’t lose as much momentum as I did this last time. I really want to be moving things forward, and it’s hard to do that when I take 1 step forward and 2 steps back.

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I feel like I must have cursed myself when I posted last week that I was hoping this past week of workouts would be a good week for me. I really thought I was going to have no health issues and it would help me do some of my better workouts. I wasn’t expecting to have to deal with a bladder infection and the side effects of antibiotics. But that’s what happened and it affected my workouts quite a bit.

Monday’s workout was before I was able to get antibiotics so I was feeling really awful. I was in a lot of pain and was very uncomfortable during the entire workout. I didn’t think about not showing up because I knew I would still be able to do something, but I knew I also had to take it very gentle on myself. Unfortunately, it also was partially a partner workout so I had to work with someone else and I did feel a bit guilty that they were partnered with me.

The first half of the class wasn’t partnered. The cardio block was rounds of push paces to base paces and ending with an all out. I felt very similar to how I feel when I’m dealing with pain and nausea so I adjusting what I did on the bike to be what I had done the week prior. And the floor block had bicep curls on the straps, squats, plank work, and sit-ups. These all were able to be done normally, but I took a lot of breaks. I don’t think there was one exercise that I could do without taking a break in the middle of the reps.

Then it was time for the Capture The Flag partner workout. The goal of Capture The Flag was to hit certain targets on the rower. You and your partner switch off who is rowing and you don’t reset the rower for the entire 23-minute block. The person on the rower is rowing until they are tagged. And the other person does floor and cardio work before going to the rower.

The floor work was all medicine ball work. We had squats to overhead presses, push-ups with one hand on the medicine ball, and double crunches. There was also a sprint run/bike after those exercises and all those sprints took 2 minutes or under. I really tried to not take breaks when I was on the floor or bike since I knew my partner was waiting on me, but I also know that I took a lot longer than my partner did. I warned my partner that I was not doing well and that I was sorry about things, and they seemed to understand. But I was partnered with someone I didn’t know so I have no idea if they were upset with me or not. But I did my best and that’s all I could do.

By Wednesday, I was taking antibiotics but I was dealing with the side effects from them. And those side effects were very similar to the pain and nausea that I’m used to each month. It wasn’t exactly the same and the pain affected me a different way, but I guess I should be grateful that I’m used to working through it and having modifications so I wasn’t too thrown off.

Even though it was a 3 group workout, it was a run/row format. Cardio and rowing were 4-minute blocks and we switched where we were each block. So when I started on cardio I did cardio, rowing, cardio. And when I started on the rower I did rowing, cardio, rowing. Every time I was on cardio it was a sprint run/bike, then 10 squats, and then running/biking for distance with an incline. I always made it to the incline work and I did adjust the resistance level on the bike a bit. But I didn’t go as high as I would have if I was feeling ok. And every time on the rower we started with a 100-meter row and then we had 10 squats. Then it was a 150-meter row and 15 squats and 200-meter row. I didn’t get to the 20 squats after the 200-meter row for any of the 3 times I was rowing, but I was very close to finishing that last row.

And the floor was one long block. We started with ground to press with weights. When it was supposed to be hamstring curls which I modified to be weighted hip bridges. Next was supposed to be bench sit-ups to sumo squats, but I had to split those exercises up and do them separately. Then it was ab dolly work. And finally, it was suitcase squats and we were supposed to do step-ups. But I did suitcase squats as its own exercise and then did lateral lunges with weights instead of the step-ups. I was glad when the workout was done because I really wasn’t feeling ok. And the usual things I do to help with pain and nausea like waiting for it to go away since it comes in waves didn’t help me this time. I guess pain and nausea from medications are different from when it’s from hormonal fluctuations so I can’t manage it the same way. But I tried.

Friday had similar issues as Wednesday. I was on my last day of antibiotics, but I was having the same side effects that I had every day on them. I was trying to do better than I had earlier in the week, but I also knew not to push too hard because the symptoms I was experiencing wouldn’t go away the way that I was used to. But it was also a strength day so I knew I wanted to try at least a bit to see what I could do.

For cardio, we started with a push pace without incline before starting with incline work. We had a few different push paces with incline and I did work on increasing my resistance levels on the bike. We finished that section with an all out at a flat incline before moving on to the next part. We then had rounds of all outs, and some of them had inclines and some of them didn’t. I really did try my best to do the resistance levels the way I knew I should, but it was tough. I ended up taking a lot of breaks to recover a bit, even in the middle of the short all outs.

On the rower, we started with a 400-meter row and then we had squats with a medicine ball. Each round, we went down 50 meters and had the same squats. It was a bit repetitive, but that’s what I liked about it. Even though I struggled a lot with the rowing, it allowed me to focus a lot on my power and speed. I could see what I was able to do for different amounts of time and it really did help me with figuring out what some good strategies could be for future rowing challenges.

And on the floor, we had a really unique workout. We had 3 main exercises that each had 2 parts to it. The first part we always did once and the second part started with 1 rep and went up to 6. For example, the first exercise was a lunge to a neutral half thruster. First, it was 1 lunge with 1 neutral half thruster. Then it was 1 lunge and 2 neutral half thrusters, and so on until we did 6 neutral half thrusters. After completing all of those, we had burpees to a bicep curl. But I had to split up the burpees and bicep curls. Then we had push-ups (always 1 rep) to plank jacks (1-6 reps) and then more burpees and bicep curls. And the last exercise was bench sit-ups (always 1 rep) to squats (1-6 reps). And then more burpees to bicep curls. It was a lot of work but it felt like it went really quickly because we were always switching what we were doing.

And on Saturday I was finally starting to feel a bit more like myself. I was done with antibiotics, but I noticed I was feeling a bit weak. I think that was due to having to take it easy for such a long time so pushing myself was harder than normal. But I tried and it was a good workout to be able to push myself on.

Cardio and rowing had the same pattern for both blocks. For the first block, we were coached with 1-minute intervals for push pace and base pace and ended with a 1-minute all out. Then we were supposed to look at our distance for cardio or rowing and the second block was a 6-minute distance challenge. The goal was to go further in the distance challenge. For both the bike and the rower, I tried to do my actual base and push pace during the coached block. And for the distance challenge, I tried to find a pace in the middle to stay at the entire time. I did have to take breaks during all the blocks, but I feel like the distance challenges went a bit better because I didn’t have any time where I was pushing myself super hard.

And on the floor, we had 2 blocks. The first block had to be modified a lot for me because it was a lot of lunges with exercises and I have a lot of issues with balance. We had swing lunges which I did holding on to the straps or the wall for balance. Then we were supposed to do lunges with hammer curls or with shoulder presses. I did the lunges and the exercises separately. And the last exercise for that block was side plank raises, which I modified to do on my knees. The last block was all work using the dumbells. We had tricep presses, reverse flys, hip raises, and bridge flys. For that block, I was able to do all the exercises normally.

I don’t want to say again that I’m hoping this week will go better than the past few weeks. But hopefully, I will get a bit of a break now from the pain and nausea. I know it will be kicking back in again soon, and I want to have some good workouts before that happens. But at least I know that I can get through those bad workouts weeks, no matter what the cause of the bad workout is.

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I was finally back to my normal workout schedule this past week. While I love holiday workouts and it can be fun to switch things up, it’s also really nice to be back to what I’m used to. I think having the regularity of my workout schedule has a positive impact on my mental health and I really needed it this past week with everything else feeling a bit tough. I knew that at some point I’d probably have to deal with nausea, but I wasn’t going to let that get me down.

Monday’s workout was a strength day, but it wasn’t as bad as it could be because it was also a day that we switched between blocks. We had 3 blocks at each section of the room so there were a total of 6 blocks of work.

For cardio, all the blocks had the same pattern. We had a 1-minute base with incline, a 1-minute base without incline, 90-seconds with inclines that decreased after 45-seconds, a 1-minute base with no incline, and 2 minutes with inclines that decreased every 30-seconds. Each block the inclines were supposed to get a bit lower, but I kept mine the same since I don’t have a lot of different resistance levels I can use. But I did follow the pattern with the decreasing inclines for the 90-second and 2-minute segments. Since I don’t use inclines every workout, I really feel it when I do use them. But this wasn’t as bad as some workouts because they were quick segments. But they still made me work hard!

On the floor, we had 3 exercises each block. And the first and second exercises used the same muscles so it was extra hard. The first exercise used weights and the second one used the TRX straps. The first block had chest presses with weights, chest presses on the straps, and upright rows with weights. The second block had hip hinge reverse rows with weights, bridge rows on the straps, and plank work. And the last block had triceps with weights, triceps on the straps, and double crunches using a weight. There was also rowing if you completed all the exercises, but I never made it to that point.

Wednesday’s workout had a mix of endurance, strength, and power and everything we did was timed for 1-minute intervals and they were 4-minute blocks. And every 4-minute block at each section was the same. It was a lot of switching too. For cardio, we were there for the entire time. But the rower and floor switched after every 4 minutes of work.

For cardio, the 4-minute block had a 1-minute push, 1-minute base, 1-minute walking at a high incline (or just pedaling slowly at a high resistance level), and a 1-minute all out. Technically, the high incline was supposed to increase each time we did it, but I used the same high resistance level on the bike. Since we didn’t switch between each block for cardio, we also had a bit of recovery time while the floor and rowers switched. But the recovery felt short considering how hard we worked in those 4 minutes.

On the rower we started with a 1-minute all out row then we had 1 minute to complete 15 pulsing half squats. Then it was another 1-minute all out row and we finished with 1-minute of either pulsing half squats or holding a low squat. That repeated every time we were on the rower and I know my rowing got slower each time I did a 1-minute row.

And on the floor the first minute was a hip hinge swing with weights, the second minute was triceps with weights, the third minute was chest presses with weights, and the last minute was bench sit-ups to squats. I wasn’t feeling nauseous when I got to class, but the hip hinge swings were starting to make me feel a bit sick so I changed those to sumo squats with weights to not have as much back and forth motion. The swings are supposed to work your hamstrings and I made sure that I could feel my hamstrings working with the sumo squats.

Friday was a strength day and it was the start of my nausea being an issue from the beginning of the workout. I decided to go a bit easier on myself instead of pushing through to see if it would make my nausea not as bad throughout the workout or later in the day (I’m still testing this idea and I’m not sure if it will make a difference). It was also a switch class and each block was about 6 minutes long.

For cardio, the first block had 1-minute intervals between incline and flat base paces. I did use the resistance levels for the bike and decreased them as the inclines for the treadmills were going down. And we ended with a 30-second all out without incline. The second block was a similar pattern but we had a 1-minute push pace to replace one of the incline intervals. Again, I did work with the intervals on the bike even though it was making my pedaling speed extremely slow. But even with the slow speed, I was still feeling my leg muscles working so that’s the most important thing.

On the rower, the first block started with a 400-meter row and then we were supposed to do lunges. I did squats instead of lunges because getting on and off the rower is tough for me sometimes and I can do squats over the rowing instead of on the side. Then we had a 300-meter row and more lunges/squats. I was working on the 200-meter row when that block ended. The second block was the same work but in reverse order. So we started with the lunges/squats, then the 200-meter row, and so on. My rowing wasn’t great, but it also wasn’t as bad as it sometimes gets when I’m nauseous.

And on the floor, the first block had single-leg squats to stands (I did one round as single-leg and then switched to regular ones), step-ups (I modified these to be lunges), and weighted hip bridges. The second block was all mini-band work. We had squat walks, static crunch in and outs, and heel taps. Even though I had to modify several floor exercises, these blocks were pretty good for me and not too bad with my nausea.

Saturday’s workout was a power day and it was also a switch day. That really worked for me because I was really feeling nauseous going into the workout. But knowing that every block was 4 minutes or under and that I’d be constantly switching helped me feel better. But the switching was different.

We had a 4-minute block, a 3-minute block, a 2-minute block, and a 90-second block. Normally, we would do the 4-minute block at all sections of the room before moving on to the 3-minute block. Not this time. As an example, this is how things worked for me when I started on the bike: a 4-minute block on the bike, a 3-minute block on the rower, a 2-minute block on the floor, and a 90-second block on the bike. Then we went back to the rower to start on the 4-minute block there. That pattern continued until we did all 4 blocks at all 3 seconds of the room.

For cardio, 3 of the blocks were a push pace, a base pace, and a 30-second all out. Each block the push pace got shorter and for the 2-minute block, the base pace was shorter too. The 90-second block was 30-second intervals with 2 all outs and a recovery in the middle. I didn’t really have a lot of difference between my base, push, and all outs. I was just feeling horrible and just like on Friday was trying to not push through it too much. I went a little less than I probably could because I didn’t want to be completely sick on the rower or the floor.

On the rower, every block had 100-meter rows. The 4-minute block had 4 of them, the 3-minute block had 3, the 2-minute block had 2, and the 90-second block had 1. There were exercises that were different between each row in each block, but I actually don’t remember what those were because every block I just did regular squats between each row. We were also supposed to get through all the rows and exercises and hold a squat to end each block, but my rowing was a lot slower than normal. I only made it to the static squat in the 90-second block.

On the floor, all of the exercises for each block were Bosu exercises. But I didn’t use the Bosu at all. I modified everything that would have used it, but I think I had some good modifications that weren’t that different from what we were supposed to do. The 4-minute block had crunches (I just did them on the bench) and plank jacks (again, I used the bench for my hands). The 3-minute block had burpees and plank Spiderman (just used the bench for my hands for both). The 2-minute block had side hip dips (I was on the floor). And the 90-second block had lateral crunches (I did bicycle crunches instead).

This week, I’m going to keep playing around with the idea of not going as hard as I can when I’m nauseous to see if that helps me get through the workouts. I’m still not sure if it’s helping or not and I need to test it out more before I decide if it’s worth it. I know there are so few things I can do to manage my pain and nausea in my workouts (and in my everyday life), but if this idea helps it would be amazing! But at least I know I can continue doing my normal workout schedule no matter how I feel and I’m so happy to be back to the routine that I’m used to.

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