Tag Archives: Orangetheory

I had 2 weeks of not so great workouts back to back. This past week of workouts wasn’t a week of amazing workouts, but it was the week that things finally turned around for me. I am so glad things were getting better because I was really tired of having tough days. I still struggled this past week, but on those bad days, I at least knew it was finally starting to get better.

Monday’s workout was an endurance day, but we also switched between blocks so that helped make it a little easier. I was still dealing with some nausea and pain, but it was finally starting to get a little bit better. I was tired of feeling so horrible and it was nice to finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

All of the cardio blocks were the same thing. We started with a 2-minute push pace with a 30-second base pace after that. Each push pace went down by 30 seconds followed by a 30-second base pace. And we ended with a 30-second all out. I probably could have worked with the resistance levels on the bike for the push paces, but I decided to continue doing what I had been doing for 2 weeks with keeping it at the base level and working on pedaling harder. It’s been a different feeling for me in the workouts and it’s been interesting to mix things up a bit.

Between each block for cardio, we had floor work. The first block on the floor had chest presses with weights, push-ups, tricep work on the straps, and crunches. I had to modify the push-ups to be chest presses on the straps due to my nausea, but that wasn’t too bad of a modification. The second block had shoulder presses with weights, lateral raises with weights, plank work, and sit-ups. And the last block was all core work and I had to modify all of them because they were all face down things. It wasn’t the best block for me, but I made it work and it was the best workout I had been able to do in about 2 weeks.

Wednesday’s workout was a mix of endurance, strength, and power. I was finally feeling more like myself, but I was also dealing with being nervous because that was the day we were getting the results from the union elections. Having an early morning workout was a good distraction from that plus a way to get some of that nervous energy out.

I continued doing what I have been doing with the bike lately with keeping the resistance level at the base level I’ve been working with and just focusing on increasing my pedaling speed. The cardio was a mix of push to all outs and push to base to all outs. And in the end, we just had all out on their own. After all the all outs, we had recovery, but it was still one long block of work. I think because things were changing up a lot it did work out well to keep the resistance level the same the entire time. It took away one thing that I had to think about and I could put more attention on my workout.

On the rower, we started with a 600-meter row and then we were supposed to do power jacks and squat jacks with a medicine ball. I modified that to be squats with an overhead raise and regular squats using a medicine ball. Then we had 2 rounds of a 300-meter row with the squats work. Then, 4 rounds of a 150-meter row with the squat work. I was working on the 150-meter rows when the block was done.

And on the floor, we had 2 blocks. The first block had to be modified a lot for me. A lot of the work was lower body work on the bench and I just didn’t have the balance to work on the bench that morning. So I modified it to be reverse lateral lunges using the straps for balance, regular lunges, crunches, and bird dogs (which is plank work). Since I was not dealing with nausea, the plank work was finally easier on me. The second block had lunges, skater lunges, and heel tap crunches.

Friday’s workout was a mix of endurance and power. I was finally feeling normal and I was done with nerves since the election was done. I missed feeling like me and it was so nice to have a workout that didn’t feel like I was only able to do a fraction of what I know I can normally do.

For cardio, we started with rounds of push to all outs. All of the all outs were 1 minute long but the push paces decreased. We started at 90 seconds and then went down to 1 minute, 45 seconds, and 30 seconds. After all the all outs, we had recovery. And in the end we had a standalone 1 minute all out and 30 second all out. I did the same as I had for a while with the resistance level staying at my base level. But I made sure to make this workout hard because I could finally do it. And it wasn’t easy to do so many all outs.

When I got to the rower, it was the same pattern as the cardio work. We had the push to all outs with the recovery and then the standalone all outs at the end. I tried to take advantage of the recovery on the rower because that was a lot of rowing time. I don’t remember having that much rowing without another exercise mixed in there for a while and I needed that break. But I also did feel great knowing I was able to do all that work.

And the floor was 1 long block with 2 mini-blocks in it. The first mini-block was all mini-band work. We had front walks, side toe taps, and static crunches with leg work using the mini-bands. And the second mini-block had upright rows using weights, single-arm chest fly using weights, and plank reaches. This was a great floor block for me and I was so happy that I was finally able to work hard and feel like I was putting in the effort and not just sweating because I was feeling so horrible.

Saturday’s workout was definitely the best workout of the week for me. I was feeling totally normal and was able to do what I normally know I can do in class. It was a feeling I had been missing and it was so great to have it back and to have that confidence again. The class was strength-based and we switched between blocks so we had a little recovery from one section of the room to another.

The 2 cardio blocks were the same. We had rounds of doing .1 miles (.4 for the bike) and every time we increased the incline or resistance level. I hadn’t been playing with the resistance levels for a while, but this was the perfect class to work that back into my cardio. I was increasing it to higher than my normal all out level both blocks which was really hard considering I hadn’t used the resistance levels for a few weeks. But it also reminded me that I could do it so I don’t keep skipping it in the workouts this week.

The rower had 2 similar blocks. The first block started with a 30-second row and each row increased 15 seconds. Between the rowing, we had squats with a medicine ball and tricep work with a medicine ball. The second block started with a 1-minute row and they decreased 15 seconds each row. We had the same medicine ball work between the rows.

And on the floor, we had 2 different blocks. The first block had single-arm clean to press with weights, rollouts on the straps, and half get ups (sit-ups while holding a weight overhead in one hand). The second block had ground to press with weights, high rows on the straps, and plank pull throughs. I was using heavy weights for the weight work to challenge myself so I didn’t get as many rounds in as I would have if I used lighter weights.

I’m really hoping this week of workouts will be a really good one. I’m finally past the nausea so I know that shouldn’t be affecting my workouts. I do have a little bit of random body pain that might affect things, but I feel like I deal with that better than nausea. I’m just glad that I made it through the nausea and have a bit of a break before I have to expect that again. I’m going to try to take advantage of the good weeks and work as hard as possible.

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Another Week Of Pushing Through (or Feeling Strong Before Feeling Sick) Making It Through The Week (or Going From Feeling Horrible To Feeling Normal) My Short Workout Week (or 6 Years Of Family Workouts) Thank Goodness For Feeling Great! (or I Finally Had An All Amazing Week Of Workouts) Finally A Normal Workout Week (or I Love Having Nothing Crazy) Finally A Good Workout Week (or Continuing To Build My Home Gym)

I knew this week of workouts wouldn’t be my best, but I ended up having a few surprises as well. Some of the things I was concerned about weren’t as bad as expected. And then some unexpected issues came up. But I worked through most of the issues and had a pretty successful workout week.

Monday’s workout was a 2 group workout and it was similar to a run/row. Since most of my classes are 3 groups, run/row workouts are a rarity for me and I was excited to get to do one. The run/row was more planned and timed than most, but it was still fun.

For cardio, every block started with rowing. The first block was a 600-meter row, the second block was a 300-meter row, and the last block was a 150-meter row. We had a little more time than necessary to do each row so we had time to get back to the treadmills and bike and ready to go for the rest of the block. The first block was more endurance-focused with a 3-minute push pace to a 1 minute all out. I used my normal push and all out resistance levels for these. The second block was more strength-focused with hill work. I tried to do all my resistance levels higher than my normal push level, but I was starting to deal with a little bit of nausea so I had to bring things down a bit and go easy. And the last block was more power focused and we had rounds of 30 second all outs. I didn’t change my resistance level for these all outs but instead kept it at my base level and just focused on pedaling harder.

The floor was split into 2 blocks. The first block had lunges with shoulder presses and goblet lateral lunges. The second block was a tough one for me and I decided to challenge myself a lot with it. We had a lot of lower body exercises that used the bench, and those are exercises that I struggle with. I’ve slowly been working on doing them while using the straps for balance instead of modifying them a lot, but this block had a lot in a row. We were supposed to do bench toe taps, bench crossovers, and single-leg bench hops. And after all that we had sit-ups. I was able to do the sit-ups just fine, but all the bench work was changed a bit for me. I did almost a single leg squat using the bench instead of the toe taps, I did modified crossovers with just reaching back with my leg, and instead of the bench hops, I did almost a swinging lunge so I could get some of the same movement. All of the bench work was done while holding the straps so I could keep my balance and I did have to stop from time to time to have both feel down before continuing. But I still managed to do it when it wasn’t that long ago that I couldn’t do any of it.

Wednesday’s workout was a strength-based class and it ended up being very tough for me. I was already dealing with nausea, but I also had some side effects from my new medication as well. Plus, I think because of some of my nerves with the new medication I didn’t sleep well the night before. All of that made things rough for me, and the workout was a tough one even if I was having a good day.

The cardio and rowers worked together and switched back and forth. When you were on cardio, you did cardio, rowing, cardio. And when you were on the rower you did row, cardio, row. When you were doing cardio as a part of cardio (not in the middle of rowing), it was all incline work. I tried to work with the resistance levels a bit, but I ended up keeping things around my push and all out levels for the entire time. None of the incline segments were that long, but they were back to back so that made them harder. The cardio work in the middle of the rowing was a 90 second run for distance so that wasn’t as bad. I did use my push resistance level and did ok for that part.

On the rower, when it was a part of the rowing block we had different distance rows with overhead presses with the medicine ball between each row. We started with increasing distances (150, 250, 350 meters) and when we were back on the rower for the last part of the block we did them as decreasing distances. And the rowing in the middle of the cardio block was a 90-second row for distance.

The floor had 3 blocks, but block 2 was a really quick one. Block 1 had bicep curls and leg raises to hip raises. Block 3 had split stance low rows with weights and plank work. Block 2 was done when cardio and rowers had their 90-second distance challenges. The floor had 90 seconds of doing hollow hold chest presses. Normally I’m great at those, but doing them for 90 seconds it a long time and my arms were getting so tired. But I was grateful for feeling tired because it was a good tired and not due to feeling off.

Friday’s workout was called the Obstacle Course, and it was a really hard class. It felt like we had no breaks and that we worked even harder when we had moments between the main exercises. I also had to deal with my nausea and the side effects from my new medication which ended up making some funny moments for me. All sections of the room were one long block, but they were broken up a little bit.

For cardio, we started with a 4 minute run for distance. Then we had a recovery but the treadmills had to do it at 15% incline. Then we had a 3-minute run, 15% incline recovery, 2-minute run, 15% incline recovery, and 30 second all out. I used my push pace resistance level for all the distance runs and my normal all out level for the all out. And I went 2 levels higher than my all out for the recovery time since I knew it should be tough. The recovery did not feel like recovery and I had to take breaks from time to time to get through my nausea and drink water. I didn’t do as much distance as I would have liked to have done on the bike, but I think the high resistance level recovery affected that more than I thought.

The rower had a similar pattern to cardio. We had the distance rows and then when we had recovery time we had squats. I struggled on the rower. Not only was my nausea hitting me hard while I was trying to row, but I also ended up having to deal with feeling pins and needles in my feet when they were in the rower. I know that feeling is a side effect from the medication and is hopefully temporary, but it was really hard to row when I wasn’t able to feel my feet like I normally can. I couldn’t push back as hard as normal and I think I had a bit too much focus on how I was feeling and not on my rowing. I knew that the feeling was fine and I was ok, but it was distracting.

And on the floor, we had 1 long block but whenever the cardio and rowers had their recovery segments we had burpees. The floor work had thrusters with weights, high rows on the straps, double crunches, skater lunges, and running men. Each time we got through the exercises we got rid of the one on the end. But I never made it through the second time. I was pretty slow and I struggled with a lot. I modified the burpees and running men so I used the bench, but I still had to take breaks to let the nausea pass. Fortunately, by the time I was on the floor the pins and needles feeling was gone so I didn’t have to think about that.

Saturday’s class was much better with the nausea, but I had some of the same side effects with my medication to deal with. But overall it was a better workout and I was happy with that.

For cardio, we had 5 rounds of 1-minute push paces, 30-second base paces, and 30-second all outs. I used my normal resistance level for the push and base paces, but I decided to play around with what an all out would be like and did it at my normal base level but with increasing how fast I was pedaling. I’ve been doing that more often and I like having that as an alternative to higher resistance levels.

The rowing block was almost more like a squat block with a bit of rowing in it. It was hard, especially considering that I was dealing with the pins and needles feeling in my feet when I was rowing. We started with a 300-meter row and then 10 squat presses and 10 regular squats with a medicine ball. Then it was a 250-meter row and 2 rounds of 10 reps of each type of squats. I was able to do the 200 meters and was working on the 3 rounds of the 10 reps of each type of squats when the block was done. The squats took much longer than normal because of the pins and needles feeling, plus my hips were starting to hurt so I had to take a lot of breaks. That meant I didn’t make it back onto the rower as quickly as I would have liked and didn’t do as many rowing round.

And on the floor, we had 1 block that was split into 2 mini-blocks. The first mini-block had push-ups and pop jacks and the second mini-block had bridge chest fly, bridge tricep extensions, and leg raises. We started working through everything once. Then we had 2 rounds of the push-ups and pop jacks before moving onto 2 rounds of the other exercises. Then it was 3 rounds. I modified the push-ups and pop jacks by using the bench, but other than that I was able to do the floor work normally which I was happy about.

I will be increasing the dosage of my medication this week so I’m hoping that either the side effects go away or don’t increase. But if they do, I might email my doctor and discuss it with her because I can see it becoming an issue if it doesn’t stop. But I’m staying optimistic that it will go away and my rowing will be normal again this week, just as my nausea ends. So maybe I will be having an epically amazing week this week. At least that’s what I’m hoping for.

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I had debated about changing up my workouts this past week. I do like to work out on holidays when I can, and fortunately, that usually works well with my normal schedule. But with the 4th of July being on a Thursday, I couldn’t figure out what to change up to add that workout in (and I didn’t want to have 4 workout days in a row). So I kept my usual 4 workout schedule and it was a good variety of classes.

Monday’s workout was a partner workout for Canada Day. We were all in groups of 3 and technically everyone had the potential to be the pacer. Whoever finished their work first was the one who started the rotation, and the group I was in seemed to be very equally paced and most of the time we all finished around the same time.

There were two blocks for the partner part of the workout plus a third block that wasn’t partnered. For the first partner one, the person on the treadmill worked on .4 miles (for me on the bike, it was 1.6), the rower had 4 rounds of 100 meter rows with squat jacks, and the person on the floor had 1 round of exercises (pop jacks, hip bridges, v-ups, and plank jacks). Even if you didn’t finish when one of your partners was done, you switched. For the second partner block, the treadmill person had 4 rounds of .1 miles and squat jacks (I had .4 on the bike), the rower had an 800-meter row, and the floor person had the same exercises but the reps were cut in half and you had to do 2 rounds. We switched often enough to not get too tired, but not too quickly that I didn’t feel like I was getting my workout in.

And for the last block that wasn’t partnered, we had 3 1/2 minutes at each section of the room. The treadmill/bike had 4 rounds of 30 second all outs with 30 seconds of recovery in between. The rower was the same pattern but we could either use the recovery time to rest or just row very lightly. And on the floor, we had the same exercises as the partner workout but the reps were down to 6.

Wednesday’s workout was a power day and it was a great class for me. Everything was fast and powerful and I love how those types of workouts make me feel. I feel invincible and like I’m flying and it’s a feeling I try to find other places in my life. But it seems like they really only happen the way I like them to in power based workouts.

For cardio, we had 2 blocks. Both blocks started with a 90-second push pace. Then we had a walking recovery in both blocks. For the first block, we then had a push to an all out pace before another recovery and for the second block, we had a base pace to an all out. The 90-second interval was the longest one we had and everything else was so quick. I was using my usual resistance levels on the bike even though they were short intervals. When the resistance is higher, I’m not able to pedal as fast. And as I’ve mentioned before I’m playing with the idea of having different resistance levels for push and all outs based on the workout. So for this one, I was a bit lighter on the resistance to help myself fly on the bike.

On the rower, we had 1 long block that had 200-meter rows and medicine ball work. We started with 1 round of a 200-meter row and then the exercises. Then we did 2 rounds of the row before the exercises. And the pattern continued with adding more rounds of the 200-meter row before the exercises. We were supposed to be doing lunges with medicine ball twists for the exercise, but I changed them to be squats with medicine ball twists.

And on the floor, we had 2 blocks. The first block was single arm clean to press using weights, push-ups, sit-ups to squats, and bicycle crunches. I did split up the sit-up to squats to be separate moves since I can’t usually do them together, but other than that I was able to do everything normally. And in the second block, we had ground to press with weights, triceps on the straps, and straight leg lifts. The straight leg lifts were a bit tough for my hip, so I changed them to leg raises which are still a challenge for me. But at least it’s a challenge I know I can do and not a challenge I spend a ton of time trying to do and not getting it done.

Friday’s workout was a struggle for me. I didn’t sleep well the night before (not because I was out late, I just had a rough night of trying to sleep) and both my hips were hurting. I knew I would need to be easy on myself to not do any more damage to my hips, but fortunately, most of the things I had to modify were easy enough to figure out a good alternative.

We had 2 blocks at each section of the room and for cardio and the rower we had a similar plan. The first block was the workout in one order and the second block was doing it in reverse. For cardio, we had rounds of push to base pace (30-second intervals, 45-second intervals, and 1-minute intervals) with a 90-second distance challenge at the end. For the first block, we started at 30 seconds and ended at 1 minute with the distance challenge after. The second block started with 1 minute and went down with the distance challenge at the end. I was using my normal push paces and did the distance challenges at the level between my base and push. I had to take lots of breaks for my hips, but I got it done.

The first block on the rower had a 150-meter row, 300-meter row, and 450-meter row with squat twists using a medicine ball between the rows. The second block started at the 450-meter row and went down. I took so many breaks on the rower. I think my hips were just not happy with how I have to sit on the rower and they kept feeling like they were going to lock up and occasionally I had the nerve pain that I don’t get that often. It did scare me a bit how much it hurt, but I took it easy and fortunately it wasn’t hurting me the entire time.

And on the floor the first block had bear steps, y raises on the straps, and plank rows using weights. I tried the bear steps but my hips were not ok with them at all. The option we were given to do instead were bicycle crunches so I did those and was just careful with how far I straightened my legs. I also did the plank work on my knees instead of toes because I wasn’t feeling stable. The second block was supposed to be all ab dolly work, but I modified a lot. We were supposed to do hamstring curls, knee tucks, and roll outs. I always replace hamstring curls with hip bridges so that wasn’t too odd for me. I did the roll outs on the straps instead of the ab dolly. And I tried to do the knee tucks but my body just wasn’t working how I wanted it to. So I did a few reps of those before just doing the other 2 exercises until the block was done.

Saturday’s workout was a mix of endurance, strength, and power and it was a tough day! It felt like we were doing work with no breaks and it really pushed me as well.

For cardio, we started with a 4 minute distance challenge. Then we were supposed to do rounds of half the distance from that challenge and 10 squats. I was able to get in 2 1/2 rounds of the half distance and squats before time was done. It was really hard to get in and out of the bike, but I still was happy that I was using that instead of the treadmill.

On the rower, we started with 4 rounds of 100-meter rows with 10 medicine ball squats. Then we started a really challenging row block. First, we had a 500-meter row with 30 seconds to recover after. Then we went down to 400 meters with the same recovery. This pattern continued until the block ended. 30 seconds of recovery isn’t much, especially when you are trying to get out of the foot straps to drink some water. I know a lot of my recovery times were a bit longer, but I did manage to do each row without stopping which I think made up for it.

And on the floor, we had one long block. We had 6 exercises, but it worked 3 major muscle groups with back to back exercises working the same muscles. We had high rows and pull-ups on the straps to work the back muscles, sumo squats and single arm snatches with weights to work the legs, and bicycles and situps to work the core. It was hard to do 2 exercises that worked the same thing back to back and I was taking breaks a bit more often than normal. But I also know that needing to take those breaks could be a sign of working harder and not me being weak.

Overall, it was a great workout week. I didn’t mind missing a workout on the 4th of July when I did get a lot of great classes in with my normal schedule. Hopefully this week will be similar and I’ll have another week that makes me feel amazing!

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