Tag Archives: Orangetheory

A Very Rough Workout Week (or Taking Things Easy And Slow)

Posted on June 5, 2023 | 1 comment

I knew this past week of workouts might be a tough one for me with pain and nausea, and I was just grateful that it didn’t happen during Mayhem. But even with how prepared I normally am for my bad weeks, I really wasn’t ready for this one. I rarely think about skipping my workouts unless I’m really sick, but there were several times this past week I debated if it was even worth it to try to work out. I know that doing something is better than doing nothing, but I felt like I was close to doing nothing in several of my workouts.

Monday was the best workout for me this past week. I still struggled with pain and nausea, but it wasn’t as bad as it would get later in the week. I also got to sleep in a bit and do a later morning workout since I had the day off work. I think that helped make things a bit better for me. Because I did a different workout time, I was in a 2 group class instead of my usual 3 group class. And I got to have a run/row workout that was themed around choosing your own adventure.

For the first half of class, we had 4 distances for cardio and 4 distances for the rower. We got to pick which distance we wanted to do, but we couldn’t repeat a distance after completing it. I decided to start with the shortest distance for both and work my way up. That seemed to be the best way for me to do it, plus, the longest rowing distance was 1000 meters, and I didn’t want to do that one. I made it through 3 of the 4 cardio distances and was working on my 3rd rowing distance when it was time to switch to the floor.

On the floor, we had 6 blocks. The odd blocks were all the same and the even blocks were all timed blocks with each exercise being 1-minute long. In the odd blocks, we started with 1 rep of a plank jack, a plank pop, and a squat jump. Then we did 2 reps of each exercise and continued working with 1 additional rep each time. I usually got to the 3rd or 4th rep before the block was done. And I did use the bench for my hands which allowed me to do the exercises without getting too nauseous. For the other 3 blocks, they were 4 minutes long and we had 1 minute to do a specific number of reps for each exercise. And there were 2 exercises in each block so we did each one twice. In the 2nd block, we had bridge rows on the straps and side planks. In the 4th block, we had push-ups and lunges and I did chest presses on the straps instead of push-ups which helped me not feel as bad. And in the 6th block, we got to pick which of the previous blocks we wanted to do again and I the chest presses and lunges. It was a lot of work with very little rest, but I was glad I had the day off to rest and recover.

Tuesday’s workout was another signature workout: Everest. The last time I had done Everest was on my birthday and I had gotten a new PR for that workout! But this time, I was feeling really horrible. I almost skipped class that morning because my cramps were so bad I was struggling to sit upright at times. But I wanted to work out with the hopes that it would maybe help me feel a bit better since I know that can sometimes work. But I knew going into the class that I wasn’t going to PR and I wasn’t planning on tracking my distance either.

With Everest, when you have a 3 group class, you increase or decrease the incline on the treadmill by 2% each time. I usually don’t do that on the bike, because the resistance level gets really high even just increasing it by 1 each time. But I normally start the resistance close to my base level to make sure I get it really high for the peak. This time, I started it much lower than my base and the highest the resistance level got was only 2 higher than my normal all-out. Even though the resistance level on the bike was always pretty low compared to what I normally do for Everet, I didn’t get close to even my worst distance in the past. I was pedaling very slowly the entire time and wasn’t trying to do anything too crazy. I knew I wouldn’t have a good attempt, but I was ok with that.

On the rower, we had 2 blocks. In the first block, we started with a 500-meter row and then did lunges before sitting back on the rower and doing a 400-meter row. We continued that pattern by decreasing the rows by 100 meters each time. The second block was similar but we started with a 100-meter row and increased it by 100 meters each time. I did the lunges for the first few times in the first block, but getting on and off the rower was getting painful with my cramps so I spent the rest of the time just rowing and taking breaks when I needed to. It wasn’t exactly what we were supposed to do, but it was something.

And on the floor, we had 1 long block with 2 mini-blocks in it. And as we usually do, we did each mini-block twice before moving on. The first mini-block had plank low rows with weights, tricep extensions, and side plank dips. And the second mini-block had plank single-arm reverse fly, hammer curls, and bicycle crunches. For both of the weighted plank exercises, I did them bent over instead since that wouldn’t make me as nauseous. I was going slowly through the exercises so I didn’t get to the point where you do all the exercises as a single block.

Wednesday was another really horrible day for me with cramps and I debated again about canceling my workout. I spent all day on Tuesday in a lot of pain and it was so much worse than I can remember having in the past. I was staying on top of taking painkillers on a schedule, but that was barely taking the edge off. But I did make it to my workout and just decided that I would do what I could and I told myself I could leave in the middle if things got really horrible. But I know myself and I’m stubborn enough that if I go to class, it’s really unlikely that I will leave.

For cardio, I really tried to do what the workout was supposed to be but I was in a lot of pain when I sat up on the bike. I rarely use the handlebars on the bike and lean over because that makes pedaling much more awkward for me. I like to sit up and bike without holding on. But I couldn’t do that this time and had to lean over and hold on the entire time. The focus of the workout was doing all-outs with recovery after, and I just tried to pedal when I could and took a break when I needed to. I wasn’t exactly following the workout template, but I was trying.

The rowing was timed along with cardio and I did the same thing with just trying to row when I could and resting when I needed to. And on the floor, each block was focused on supersets and doing similar exercises with variations back to back. We had lunges (which I did as the same type of lunges since I couldn’t do the variations), hip bridges, chest presses, and plank taps. I did my best with each exercise and just didn’t go too heavy with my weights which helped me not need as many breaks as I was worried I would need. But for the entire workout, I knew I didn’t do as much as I normally could, even on my bad weeks. I tried to not focus on the negative and just remember that I showed up.

Thursday was still a rough day for me, but it was slightly better than Wednesday so I was happy about that. At least that morning I didn’t debate about canceling my workout so that was nice.

For cardio, we had the same block repeated 3 times. We had a surge cardio challenge, so we were in our push pace for most of the time with a 15-second surge when you were supposed to go just a bit faster twice in each block. I was able to use my normal push pace and was able to pedal a bit faster for those surges. Each block ended with an all-out, and while I didn’t use my normal all-out resistance level, I did use the level between my normal push and all-out.

For rowing and the floor, we had a switch template. When we started the block on the rower, we did rower, floor, rower. And when we started the block on the floor, we did floor, rower, floor. In total, we had 3 segments for each but they were broken up. The rower was the same as cardio with a push row with surges. I tried to make sure my wattage got a bit higher in the surges, but it wasn’t easy with how I was feeling. I did manage to only need very limited breaks in my rowing, so that was something better than earlier in the week. And on the floor, each time we were there we had 2 exercises. We had neutral thrusters and high rows on the straps, single-arm snatches and squats, and hammer curls and skater lunges. The floor went a lot better than expected even though I had to modify a lot of the exercises to make sure I could get them done.

Considering how bad I felt this entire week, I’m honestly just glad I made it to all my workouts and didn’t have to cancel the morning of. It wasn’t an easy week and I know my workouts weren’t that intense or always what we were supposed to do. But showing up is better than nothing and I’m glad that I’m finally starting to feel better. I know this week might still be a bit rough, at least at the beginning of the week. But hopefully, I will be able to challenge myself a bit more and feel like I really am getting in a good workout instead of just showing up and doing something.

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Tagged fitness, Orangetheory, pain, workout

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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Tagged challenge, fitness, Mayhem Week, Orangetheory, workout

A Very Good Workout Week (or I Love When My Good Weeks Match With Good Workouts)

Posted on May 22, 2023 | Comments Off

When I have my good workout weeks, I always try to make the most of them because I know I will struggle during my bad workout weeks. I do whatever I can during those workouts so I can feel good about myself. But sometimes, those good weeks match up with when we have fun workout challenges or benchmarks and it makes the week even better than a normal good week.

Monday’s workout wasn’t anything spectacular, but it was still a good workout and I was feeling really good after celebrating my milestone workout the week before.

For cardio, we focused on long push paces followed by walking recoveries. We usually don’t have recoveries after a push pace, but that just allowed us to go harder on those push paces than we normally could. The push paces started at 3 minutes and went down by 30 seconds each time. And the recoveries were always 1 minute long. The block ended with a 30-second all-out, which was a good way to end a long endurance block.

On the rower, we were kind of timed with cardio. When cardio did their push paces, we had 2 rounds of rowing with 30 seconds to rest between them. So when cardio had a 3-minute push pace, we had 2 rounds of a 75-second row. It was a lot of rowing without a lot of rest, but I did pretty well with limiting taking a break in the middle of it.

And on the floor, we had 3 mini-blocks and we did each one twice before moving on to the next one. The first mini-block had lunges and hip bridges. The second mini-block had kneeling shoulder presses, bridge holds with pullovers, and push-ups. And the last mini-block had knee tucks (which I did as sit-ups) and back extensions. I had to make a few modifications to some of the floor exercises because of my hip, but those were just the normal modifications I make and nothing more than that.

Tuesday’s workout was a pretty typical workout, but I was going to do my best since it was just a good morning for me. I don’t know why I was feeling really great, but it worked in my favor and I went with it.

For cardio, we had 2 blocks. We had rounds of a base pace with an incline and a base pace without an incline. In the first block, the inclines were a bit lower than in the second block. I use the resistance level between my base and push paces for the first block and between my push and all-out for the second block. It wasn’t easy, but I knew that the struggle I was feeling meant I was working and I was happy with that.

On the rower, both blocks were focused on doing a 150-meter row. In the first block, we had either a front press or a shoulder press between each row. And in the second block, we had calf raises between each row. It was a lot of getting on and off the rower, so that slowed me down a bit. But since I didn’t have to rush anything, that was ok.

And on the floor, each block had 3 exercises. The first block had lunges, single-arm clean to press, and hip hinge swing. And the second block had single-arm reach to rotation, single-arm close grip chest press, and a plank punch. I did struggle a little with the hip hinge swings because I started to feel a bit of a pull in my hip, but considering how much I did before I had gotten to that exercise, that seemed pretty normal for me and I just took my time with making sure I kept good form for all the exercises.

Wednesday was a benchmark day. It was the mile challenge, which is one of the benchmarks I have enjoyed in the past. Even though I’m not using the treadmill anymore, I can be very competitive with myself on the bike and I like to see improvement when I can. I had checked my past benchmark times, and I knew my last one was really fast. I didn’t set a goal to PR, but I wanted to be close to my PR to feel like I could still do that.

Even though it’s the mile challenge, things are a bit different on the bike and it’s actually 4 miles instead. That’s how it always is so it’s nothing new to me. For our cardio block, the only thing we had was our benchmark to do. I reset the bike before we started so I could get the most accurate time and I set the resistance level to be one lower than my current base pace. I like feeling like I’m flying when I do challenges like this. I knew to be close to my benchmark, I had to be as close to 2 minutes per mile as possible. I tried to keep my pedaling really fast and every 90 seconds or so I did a little burst of sprinting for about 15 seconds. I wasn’t being too strict about those intervals, but I kept them in mind to make sure I was still doing them somewhat regularly.

Once I got past the halfway mark, I knew I was currently ahead of what my last PR was. I know that sometimes I slow down a bit in the second half, but I was so happy to see I was making good time. I don’t know how I did this, but once I finished the challenge, I managed to get a new PR!

I actually took 13 seconds off of my last time which is a lot! I probably went a bit too hard because I could feel my hip out of place as soon as I got off the bike. But I think I would have felt that no matter what since I’m pushing myself a lot in that benchmark. So at least I got a PR along with my pain.

On the rower, we had endurance rowing starting with a 600-meter row. We were supposed to do jumping jacks after the row and then take 100 meters off of the row every time we did it. I knew I couldn’t do jumping jacks, so I just focused on trying to row through the entire block. I took plenty of breaks, but I tried to be aware of each distance I was supposed to do and limit the breaks within those. And once I completed a distance, I took a bit more of a break before getting back to rowing.

I was feeling a bit better when I got to the floor, but I still was sore so I had to go easy and slow. And a few exercises did need modifications from me to be able to do them. We started with doing low rows with weights and then step-ups on the bench. As always, I lowered the bench to do them but I also made sure I put both feet down instead of trying to just tap my toe during the steps. Then we had chest flys and single-leg deadlifts. For the single-leg deadlifts, I held onto the wall for balance but I was able to do most of the reps without putting my foot down so that felt like an accomplishment.

I was a little sore from the benchmark on Thursday, but not too bad so I was able to finish out my week with another really good workout.

For cardio, we had 2 blocks. The first block had rounds of a 1-minute push pace to a 30-second all-out with a 1-minute recovery after. And the second block had rounds of a 30-second push pace to a 30-second all-out with a 1-minute recovery after. Having short cardio bursts was nice after the benchmark the day before and I did try to pedal quickly. But I realized that the soreness I was experiencing was affecting my speed so I was not able to go quite as quickly as I would have liked.

On the rower, we had one long block. We had a 300-meter row with front presses using a medicine ball in between each row. I’m glad we had shorter rows since Wednesday had longer rows. I wasn’t going too crazy with the rows, but I was happy that I was pretty consistent with how long it took me to do each one and I didn’t slow down too much.

And on the floor, we had 2 blocks. The first block had a squat to press, lunges, a y-raise on the straps, and crab toe taps. I can’t do the crab toe taps, but we were given bicycle crunches as an option so I went with those instead. The second block also had squat to presses and then we had deadlifts, plank low rows, and double crunches. And I was able to do all those exercises without any modifications so I was happy.

I’m so glad that not only did I have a good workout week, I had a huge win with my new PR. And I’m glad I had that last week because this week is going to be a tough one. It’s Mayhem, which is similar to Hell Week. I’m going to do the 4 workouts required to complete Mayhem, but I didn’t sign up for the shirt so I won’t be earning it. I’m ok with that since the most important thing to me is completing the challenge and not always getting the stuff. But it’s going to be a challenging week and I’m feeling ready to get the hard work done!

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Tagged bike, challenge, fitness, Orangetheory, workout

Celebrating My Workouts (or Benchmarks and Milestones)

Posted on May 15, 2023 | 1 comment

I knew this past week of workouts would be better than the week before. I was feeling much better, which always helps me have a good workout week. But this week was unexpectedly good in ways I didn’t plan for, which made things even better!

Monday’s workout had an interesting format. For cardio, we had our blocks back to back. But for the rower and the floor, we switched between blocks. So when we started on the rower, we went rower, floor, rower. And on the floor, we went floor, rower, floor.

I started on cardio, and we had 3 blocks that focused on 30-second intervals. We had 3 30-second intervals before a recovery in each block. Sometimes those were base, push, and then all-out. And sometimes it was a push, push to all-out, and all-out. I used my normal resistance levels for these and when we were supposed to be between a base and push or push and all-out, I used the level between those.

On the rower, we had the same thing each time we were rowing. It was a 3 1/2-minute row with a 30-second all-out at the end. Rowing for 4 minutes isn’t the worst thing, but it’s also tough to do sometimes. I tried to limit my breaks on the rower, but I did have to take a few. And on the floor, we also did the same thing each time we were at that station. We had bicep curls, lunges, tricep extensions, and push-ups.

On Monday evening, I went to look at the Orangetheory app because I knew on Tuesday we had a benchmark class. I wanted to see my past times so I would be prepared for the next class. I took a look at that but noticed something else pretty amazing. The app also tracks how many in-studio classes you have taken (it doesn’t could any of the at-home classes done when things were shut down). And I missed noticing this before, but Monday’s class was a milestone one for me!

I knew that this milestone was coming up, but I wasn’t paying that much attention to when it would happen. I couldn’t believe it when I saw it, but I’m proud of myself. When I started going to Orangetheory, I wasn’t sure how long I’d be able to keep things up even though I knew I wanted to. But I was quickly hooked and it’s become a part of my routine now and I’ve missed it when I haven’t been able to go to class. When you could my home workouts, I’m over 1700 workouts, but I also know I didn’t work out as hard when I was at home compared to when I was in the studio.

Tuesday’s class was the 200-meter row benchmark. This is a fun benchmark to do because it’s always very fast. Since I knew my past times for the row, I had a goal in mind for what I wanted to do. I wasn’t going for a PR since I know I can’t PR every time, but I wanted to be close to it so that was the goal I had in mind.

I had my cardio work first, and it wasn’t too intense since we were supposed to save our strength for the benchmark. The first 2 blocks were 4-minute distance challenges. I set my resistance level to be just below my push level so it wasn’t too hard but not too easy either. I think that was a good choice because it did feel challenging, but not impossible. In the last block, we had intervals of a push pace to a base pace with an all-out at the end. I did use my normal resistance levels for those, but I didn’t go too crazy since I was about to row.

On the rower, the first block was more of a warmup and prep for the benchmark. We did have 200-meter rows, but we weren’t supposed to go hard and be closer to a push row. Between each row, we had lunges. I felt pretty ready for the benchmark in the second block. And that’s all we had in the second block to do. I didn’t rush into starting since I had 4 minutes and I knew the row would be less than a minute. And I was very happy with how it went. I was rowing a lot harder than I thought I could do and I was keeping my form to a sprint row form. I didn’t get a PR, which is what I expected, but I was closer to it than I thought I could. Only being .15 seconds off is probably more about a tiny bit of form than anything else so maybe I’ll be able to beat it soon.

The last row block gave us another chance to do the benchmark, but I was exhausted so I just did push rows again instead of going crazy. I also still needed a bit more recovery time from the benchmark, so I was happy I had the time to do that.

And the floor was also a bit easier than normal since the entire workout was designed around the benchmark. Each of the 3 blocks had 2 exercises that were supposed to help people get ready for the benchmark if they did the floor first. We had high lows to low rows on the straps and hip hinge swings, plank pikes and superhero planks, and single-leg deadlifts with the straps and plank pull-throughs. I know I was still a bit sore from the row so I didn’t do anything extraordinary, but I was trying to work harder than I would have if I still had to do the row after.

Wednesday’s workout was a bit of a recovery workout. I might have overdone things on Tuesday or I might have just been having a bad hip day. I wasn’t sure what was causing the pain, but I was hurting so I had to just be cautious. But I was still pushing myself quite a bit.

For cardio, our 3 blocks focused a lot on incline work. We had base, push, and all-out paces with inclines and a lot of base paces without inclines between them. For the resistance levels, I did try to increase them compared to what I would normally use, but I struggled to do exactly what we were supposed to do. So for most of the workout, I did just one level higher than normal when we were supposed to have inclines. It was still harder than normal, but not quite as hard as it could have been if I did what I might have done if I wasn’t hurting.

On the rower, we had one long block. We started with a 600-meter row followed by front presses with a medicine ball. Then we had a 400-meter and 200-meter row also with the front presses. Then we worked our way back up starting with a 200-meter row but we had overhead presses with the medicine ball between each row. I did a lot better with my rowing than I thought I would. Even though I did need some breaks in the long rows, I didn’t need as many as I thought I might have to take.

And on the floor, the focus was on load and explode movements. So we had back-to-back exercises that worked similar muscle groups. We first had goblet squats to regular squats. Then we had lateral raises to uppercuts. And finally, we had bicycle presses to sit-ups. I did have to do a few modifications for some exercises, but they were expected modifications for me and not necessarily because of how my hip was doing.

When I showed up to Thursday’s workout, my coach had set up the brag board to celebrate my milestone. It was set up to say I did 1500 classes, but that class was going to be my 1503rd. So I joked to him that I was going to fix it later, which is exactly what I did before I posted it online.

I really appreciated that because it’s always awesome to be celebrated. But it’s more awesome to be celebrated for something that wasn’t easy to start and could have been very simple to give up on. But I have stuck with it. Even though now it’s something I’m used to, I still make a choice to go early in the morning when I would rather be sleeping in a bit more.

I only celebrated the milestone for a quick moment before the workout started and it was time to get into things. For cardio, we had 3 blocks. The first block was focused on 30-second intervals with a base pace, push pace, and all-out. We did that twice within the block. In the second block, we did bases at inclines, and I was able to use the resistance levels I should have used. And the last block had 90-second base paces with 30-second push paces with the focus being more on the base pace and making sure we could get back to a base without needing to recover.

On the rower, we had 3 blocks that all had 150-meter rows. The first block was just rounds of an all-out 150-meter row. We could take whatever recovery time we needed before doing another all-out row. In the second block, we had 10 step-out squats between each row. And the row was supposed to be a push row instead of an all-out row. And in the last block, the rowing was supposed to be more of the recovery than the focus. We had 10 squats to start and then the 150-meter row was a base row.

And on the floor, we had one long block. In that block, we had skater lunges, cleans with weights, kneeling shoulder presses, lunges, plank taps, and double crunches. I didn’t go extra heavy with the weights I used, but I did try using the heavier weights before going to the normal ones I use. I’m glad it was just one block of work because it allowed me to take my time to work on each exercise and not feel rushed.

When I started this past week of workouts, I knew it would be a benchmark week, but I had no clue it would be a milestone week. I’m so glad I happened to look at the app on Monday so I could see that I hit such a cool milestone the day it happened. Of course, I would have celebrated it even if I didn’t notice until I was past it, but I’m happy I got to celebrate as I did my 1500th class! And based on how many workouts I do on average, I’m about 2 1/2 years away from celebrating my 2000th class!

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My Normal Bad Workout Week (or At Least This Is What I’m Used To)

Posted on May 8, 2023 | Comments Off

I knew this past week of workouts would likely be a bad one for me, but I’ve also had a lot of bad days recently. So to have this week be what I’m used to experiencing was a bit better than the unexpected random bad days. I was able to prepare for how I would feel and fortunately most of the things I did helped to take the edge off.

Monday was a bit worse than I expected but it was what I thought I would feel on Tuesday. Things just happened slightly earlier than I had planned, but I could still take my medications and do all the things I needed to before my workout to try not to feel too bad. And because of that, I think it was one of the better workouts I’ve had during a bad week.

For cardio, we had 2 blocks. They were similar with a base pace, push pace, and all-out with an incline with a base pace without an incline between each effort. The first block had lower inclines but longer intervals than the second block. For the resistance levels, I increased them by 1 for the first block and by 2 for the second block. And I didn’t worry too much about how fast I was pedaling since the effort was more about the added resistance.

On the rower, both blocks were focused on doing a 150-meter row. In the first block, we had either a front press or a shoulder press between each row. And in the second block, we had calf raises between each row. I was worried about how I would do on the rower since that can sometimes make my nausea worse, but I think I was saved by having shorter row distances so I didn’t feel that much worse.

And on the floor, each block had 3 exercises. The first block had lunges, single-arm clean to press, and hip hinge swing. And the second block had single-arm reach to rotation, single-arm close grip chest press, and a plank punch. I did have to go a little lighter for the weights than I would have liked to, but I was happy that I didn’t have to do that many modifications on the floor.

Tuesday was the toughest day for me with pain, but fortunately, the nausea wasn’t as bad as it could have been. And I think this was the hardest workout of the week, based on what other people in the class were saying too. So I just tried my best but I know I didn’t do everything I normally could.

For cardio, we started with a 1-minute distance challenge with a 30-second recovery after. Then we had a 2 1/2-minute distance challenge with a 30-second recovery and then a 5 1/2-minute distance challenge. Then we worked our way back down with another 2 1/2-minute challenge and ended with a 1-minute challenge. With only 30 seconds to recover after each one, it felt like we didn’t really have any recovery time and it was just a very long distance challenge. I put the resistance level between my base and push pace levels for all the challenges since I didn’t want to overdo anything.

We were similarly timed on the rower with 1-minute, 2 1/2-minute, and 5 1/2-minute segments. For the 1-minute segments, we had pulsing half squats for a minute with no rowing. For the 2 1/2-minute segments, we did a distance row with no exercise. And for the 5 1/2-minute segment, we started with a 100-meter row with lateral hops after. And the row went up by 50 meters each time we got back on the rower. I think for me, the 2 1/2-minute segments were the hardest since they felt like a long row with how bad I was feeling. But I was happy with how I did even with having to take some breaks.

And on the floor, we had some of the same timing as the other sections of the room. We had a 1-minute block to start and a 1-minute block to end and then a long block in the middle. For each of the 1-minute blocks, we had burpees, which I did using the bench for my hands. And for the long block, we had high rows, uppercuts, sit-ups to standing, and squats. I think the burpees were the worst for me overall, but I did have to just go slowly with the other floor exercises as well.

While I wasn’t feeling better by Wednesday, I was able to manage my symptoms a bit better which made the workout better for me. Plus, I think it was an easier day than the day before.

For cardio, we had 2 blocks. The first block had rounds of a 1-minute push pace to a 30-second all-out with a 1-minute recovery after. And the second block had rounds of a 30-second push pace to a 30-second all-out with a 1-minute recovery after. I was happy that the cardio intervals were short since that made it easier for me. And I did try to focus on deep breathing during the recovery so I wouldn’t need to take breaks during the short intervals.

On the rower, we had one long block. We had a 300-meter row with front presses using a medicine ball in between each row. A 300-meter row isn’t super long, but it was just long enough that sometimes my nausea would kick in during the row and I would need to stop in the middle of it to let that pass. But I was usually able to get back to the row pretty quickly.

The floor was probably the hardest for me that day. The first block had a squat to press, lunges, a y-raise on the straps, and we were supposed to do crab toe taps. I can’t do those because of my hips, so I normally do mountain climbers as my modification. But mountain climbers make me nauseous, so that modification was harder for me. But that’s what I had to do so I did it. The second block also had squat to presses and then we had deadlifts, plank low rows, and double crunches. The plank low rows were hard with my nausea, but I think they were better than my mountain climbers for some reason.

By Thursday, I finally was starting to have some relief from the pain and nausea. Even though I was still experiencing it, I felt like I was on the other side of things and they were starting to get better. And I’m glad because this workout had a lot of things that would have been hard if I was feeling worse.

For cardio and rowing, we worked together and switched back and forth every 2-minutes. It’s similar to how a run/row workout would be. Each block had 5 intervals with just a minute to switch between equipment. Every time we were on cardio, it was a 2-minute distance challenge. And every time we were on the rower, we had 12 lunges and then rowed for however long we had left. It wasn’t a lot of actual work, but it was a lot of movement which made it harder.

And on the floor, we had 1 long block with 3 mini-blocks in it. We did each mini-block twice before moving on to the next one. We had step-ups and step-downs (which I was able to do with the bench at the lower setting), single-arm high rows and single-arm reverse flys, and woodchoppers and plank rotations. I took longer with the floor exercises than most people in the class, probably because of how long it takes me to do step-ups and step-downs. So I actually never made it to the plank exercise in the last mini-block.

With all the issues I know I could have had this past week, I’m pretty happy with how my workouts went. And I’m so glad that all the pain and nausea that I experienced was what I’m normally used to so I didn’t have to leave class or do anything else to get through it. I just did what I always do and modified things as needed. And hopefully, this week I won’t have to do quite as many modifications and I’ll feel much more like my normal self.

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Another Week Of Some Struggles In My Workouts (or I Probably Should Have Been More Prepared)

Posted on May 1, 2023 | Comments Off

Going into this past week of workouts, I knew it could be a tough one for me. The beginning of the week should have been good, but as the week went on I knew that I might be dealing with a lot of pain and nausea. And I thought I was prepared to deal with that, but this past week really took me by surprise and made things even harder than I planned.

Monday wasn’t a bad day and probably the best workout of the week for me. I’m glad I was feeling ok since I struggled the rest of the week.

For cardio, we had rounds of a 1-minute push pace and a 1-minute recovery. Even though we were at a push pace, we were supposed to work on increasing the push pace each time. There were too many intervals for me to increase my resistance level every time, so I came up with a slightly different plan. I alternated between increasing the resistance level on the bike and increasing my speed. So I would do each level twice and try to be faster the second time. I think it worked pretty well for a plan until the end when the resistance level was pretty high.

On the rower, we also had 1-minute intervals. We alternated between a 1-minute row and 1 minute to do an exercise. The exercise alternated between 2 types of lunges, but I did lunges for one and squats for the other. We had to do 12 reps of the exercise and whatever extra time we had we could rest. But usually, I was getting back on the rower with maybe 15 seconds before the next 1-minute row.

And on the floor, we had a single block with 2 mini-blocks. The first mini-block had squats, high rows to low rows with weights, and plank kicks. And the second mini-block had deadlifts, push-ups, and ab rockers. I couldn’t exactly do the plank kicks, so I did plank taps instead. But the modifications for the floor were pretty minimal.

Tuesday was the toughest day for me. It started fine, but things went downhill pretty early on and I struggled for the rest of the class.

We had 2 blocks for each section of the room. For cardio, the first block was mainly 30-second intervals. We had some push paces to all-outs and some push paces that went into a base pace before an all-out. And after each all-out in the block, we had a 30-second recovery. The second block had the same intervals as the first block, but everything was at an incline instead. During that second block, I started to feel a bit of nausea. This wasn’t unexpected, but it hit me a lot harder than it normally would which took me by surprise. And toward the end of that second block, I could tell the nausea wasn’t going away like it normally does and I needed to leave class. I’ve only had to leave class to be sick a few times before, so it’s rare for this to happen to me. And this was the worst it’s ever been. I was in the bathroom sick for a few minutes and I started to wonder if I would need to leave class. Eventually, I was able to keep down some water and some of the nausea passed, so I returned to class. I know that probably sounds crazy, but I figured I could just go easy for the rest of the workout and see what happened.

Because I was in the bathroom, I missed the very beginning of the rowing work. But I tried to get into it as quickly as I could. The first block was timed with the cardio with 30-second intervals. I was grateful the intervals were short because that helped me continue with the workout. I also didn’t row as hard as I know I can with the all-outs, so that probably helped too. The second block was rounds of a 30-second all-out row with lunges between each row. This was a little harder since I didn’t have as much time to recover, but again I was grateful the intervals were short.

And on the floor, the first block was timed with the rest of the room for the first block. We had 30-second intervals of exercises with rests when cardio and rowing had their recoveries. We had lunges, shoulder presses, hammer curls, and bicep curls. We repeated the exercises throughout the block and I was glad that none of the exercises were things that could make my nausea worse. The second block was timed on our own. We had marching in place with weight overhead, step-ups, and bird dogs with toe taps. I put the bench lower so I could do the step-ups since I do try to do those whenever I can. Again, I was grateful that none of those exercises made me feel worse but I wasn’t feeling great for the entire floor block and just tried to get through it.

Whatever nausea issue I had on Tuesday eventually went away, but by Wednesday I was dealing with the normal nausea that I was expecting to have. But I was prepared and took all my anti-nausea medications before class which helped to take a bit of the edge off.

We had 2 blocks for cardio. The first block was really tough for me on the bike. We had 1-minute intervals and the incline/resistance level went up every minute. I didn’t start quite as high as I should have, but I knew that I was going to be working my way up. The second block was a little easier but still tough. We had 30-second all-outs at an incline with recoveries between each one. And the recovery got longer each time. Because I was dealing with nausea, I only increased the resistance for some of the all-outs. If I knew I was in the middle of a nausea wave, I just used my normal all-out resistance level.

On the rower, we had one long block and the row focus was doing 500-meter rows. This is usually a really tough distance for me to do since there is a lot of endurance necessary with it, and being nauseous didn’t make it any easier. But I just tried to not take breaks unless I really needed to and I was able to only take a few for nausea and none for endurance issues.

And on the floor, we had one long block which focused on 2 back-to-back exercises that were about strength for one and power for the other. We had woodchoppers and plank pull-throughs, skier swings and deadlifts, and uppercuts and arm raises. The woodchoppers were supposed to be with lunges, but I did them as regular ones. Those as well as the skier swings were adding to my nausea, so I had to rest in the middle of those exercises a few times. But considering how I was feeling, I was very happy with how I did.

Thursday was what I expected for a bad day for me with pain and nausea. It wasn’t unbearable, but it made everything a lot harder for me.

Cardio and rowing worked together for this workout. Every interval was 4 minutes long. If you started the block on cardio you did 1 cardio interval, 1 rowing interval, and 1 cardio interval. And if you started the block on the rower you did rowing for the first and last interval and cardio for the middle one. So in the end, you had 3 intervals for each. Each cardio block was the same, we had a 4-minute distance challenge. And on the rower, we always started with a 10-stroke drill and then rested before increasing the stroke drill by 5 strokes each time. I struggled a lot with the longer stroke drills, so I pretty much kept it to 10 or 15 each time and just alternated between those.

On the floor, we focused on cluster sets with the exercises. So we did a set number of reps first and then go heavier with the weight and do as many reps as possible. The goal is to try to get usually between 6-10 reps with the heavier weight. We had cluster sets of a squat to calf raise, low rows, and bicep curls. And between each exercise, we had either mountain climbers or skater lunges. I used 15-pound weights for my lighter sets and 20-pound weights for my heavier sets for all exercises. I know I probably could have done better, but I was just really nauseous on the floor and didn’t want to risk getting sick as I did on Tuesday again.

This really wasn’t my best week for workouts, but I think considering everything I was dealing with, I did pretty decently. And I know that this week is probably going to be another rough one, I just hope that I don’t have the bad extremes like this past week had.

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Some Fun Workouts For The Week (or Having A Really Good Week)

Posted on April 24, 2023 | Comments Off

I had a really good workout week this past week, which made me so happy. I had a bit of a challenging week with stress and other things weighing on me, but my workouts helped me have something positive throughout the week. And even though I still hate waking up so early, I know that starting off my day with someone good really did help me manage everything else I dealt with in my day.

Monday’s workout was a signature workout. We had the Inferno class, which I’ve done several times. This is a rowing challenge so the other sections of the room aren’t as tough to maximize what you can do on the rower. I almost always start with cardio, so I had my rowing section second.

For cardio, we had 2 blocks. The first block had rounds of a push pace to a base pace. The push pace started at 30 seconds and went up by 15 seconds and the base pace stayed at 30 seconds each time. And that block ended with a 1-minute all-out. The second block was similar, but the push paces stayed at 30 seconds and the base pace increased by 15 seconds each time. And again, we had a 1-minute all-out to end the block. I wasn’t going too easy on cardio, but I also tried to not go too hard since I wanted to do really well on the rower.

For the 3 group class, the Inferno workout is a mix of rowing and a floor exercise. We start with a 100-meter row and then we have 20 lateral hops. I did the hops and side steps, but I think that was a good modification. We increase the row by 100 meters each time and the lateral hops stay the same. And the goal is to get as many meters on the rower as possible. I looked at my past Inferno results before this class, so I knew I wanted to just get close to 2000 meters since that was similar to my past attempts. But at the end of the rowing block, I really went hard so I could get all the meters possible. And when the 14 minutes were up, I had a new PR!

I was very happy with that result and I didn’t really expect to PR. But considering all the work I’ve been putting into my rowing form and endurance, it makes sense that I would be able to accomplish that.

And on the floor, we also had 2 blocks that were designed to not be too difficult for people who had the floor before rowing. The first block had chest flys, lateral arm raises, and step-downs. And the second block had standing rotations on the straps, reverse flys, and push-ups. Since I had already completed my rowing, I did go harder and heavier on the floor. But I was also a bit tired after pushing myself so I didn’t have any crazy increases in what I could do.

Tuesday’s workout was a good mix of endurance, strength, and power. And I was pretty happy with which section of the room had each type of workout because I think it fit what my abilities were that day.

Each section of the room had 2 blocks. Both of the cardio blocks were focused on doing incline work at 45-second intervals. For the first block, we started by increasing the incline/resistance level every 45 seconds for 4 intervals and then we decreased the incline/resistance level to get back to a flat incline before doing an all-out. In the second block, we started at the top of the hill and worked our way down before working back up and then going back to a flat road for our all-out. The resistance levels didn’t have to get too high, but I made sure that I did them so I was working above my usual all-out level for the 2 highest levels. That meant I was pedaling very slowly, but I enjoyed the challenge.

Both of the rowing blocks focused on an endurance row. We started and ended each block with a 30-second exercise and we rowed for distance the rest of the time. In the first block, the exercise was squats and in the second block, the exercise was in and out steps. It was about 5 minutes of rowing in each block, and I was hoping to not need to take any breaks during the row since I proved to myself during the Dri-Tri that I could do that. But I think the cardio blocks tired me out a bit so I did take a little break in the middle of each row. But I still did better than expected.

And on the floor, we had 2 exercises for each block. In the first block, we had single-arm high rows and step-ups. And in the second block, we had single-arm chest presses and step-downs. The step-ups and step-downs were supposed to be done with weights, but just doing the exercises instead of doing lunges is a challenge for me and I knew I couldn’t add weights to either one. I just took my time with those exercises since I do still lose my balance from time to time. But even without a weight and going slowly, I felt how tough both exercises were for me.

Wednesday wasn’t anything unique or crazy, but it was still a good workout and I was pushing myself since I was having a good week.

We had 3 blocks for cardio. The first block had 2 rounds of a 1-minute push pace and a 30-second base pace with a 1-minute all-out at the end. The second block had 1-minute intervals with increasing speed for a total of 4 minutes. And the last block had a 3-minute push pace with a 1-minute all-out at the end. The goal was to match or beat your distance from the first block in the last block. I didn’t track my distance since that’s not very easy to do from block to block on the bike, but I felt like I was doing a lot more in the last block so I think I was very close to my first distance if I didn’t beat it.

On the rower, we also had 3 blocks. Each block had a specific distance to row and an exercise to do between each row. The first block was a 200-meter row and pogo hops. I did my best with the hops, but they were a bit more like calf raises with a little bounce. The second block was a 150-meter row and side-to-side steps. And the last block was a 100-meter row and twisting hops, which I did as squats. Since it takes me a bit of time to get on and off the rower, I didn’t get in a lot of rounds each block, but I did my best.

And on the floor, each of the 3 blocks had 2 exercises. The first block had lunges to hops and plank taps. The second block had single-arm clean-to-press and plank jacks. And the last block had single-arm snatches and hip bridges. I went very heavy with my hip bridges since I know I can do a lot of weight for those. And for the lunges to hops, I balanced against the wall and did my best with getting the full exercise done.

Thursday’s workout was a themed workout because it was National Squat Day. So of course, the workout had a ton of squats in it. As much as I know squats are a good exercise, they are tough for me to do with my hip issues. So I knew I’d have to take some breaks throughout the workout to not hurt myself too much.

Fortunately, for cardio, we had no squats and it was just cardio work. The first and the last blocks were the same. We started with a 1-minute all-out followed by a 30-second recovery. We continued that pattern with the all-outs decreasing by 15 seconds each time. And we ended each of those blocks with a 15-second all-out, which we never really do. I didn’t change my resistance levels for the shorter all-outs, but I did really try to pedal faster as they got shorter. And for the second block, we spent most of the time at a push pace. But every 30 seconds, we had a 15-second surge where we were supposed to go faster. The idea we were given was if we were in a race and trying to overtake a competitor. That was something different and I liked trying to do short bursts of faster pedaling since that is close to what I like to do during the Dri-Tri.

On the rower, blocks 1 and 3 were similar. We started with an exercise for 6 reps and then did a 100-meter row. Then we did the exercise for 8 reps and another 100-meter row. That pattern continued through the block with the exercise increasing each time and the row staying the same. In the first block, the exercise was goblet squats. And in the third block, the exercise was sumo squats. And the second block matched cardio with the push pace and surges. I did have to take a few breaks in that row, but I was happy that I was able to do the surge rows each time with increased wattage on the rower.

On the floor, again blocks 1 and 3 were the same. We were timed with cardio for those blocks and it was all different types of squats. When cardio was in recovery, we had those 30 seconds to get 10 squats to calf raises done and if there was any time left we could rest. And when cardio was in an all-out, we had different exercises. For the 1-minute intervals, we had step-out squats. For the 45-second intervals, we had sumo squats with weights. For the 30-second intervals, we had kneeling squats to stands which I did as a squat hold. And for the 15-second intervals, we had speed squats so we just did as many squats as we could as quickly as possible. Those floor blocks were really hard on my hips and I just had to listen to my body and rest if I knew I couldn’t keep going. I tried not to be too frustrated when I took breaks since I knew those breaks allowed me to do more than if I hurt myself. And in the middle block, we were on our own timing with side-to-side step-out squats and bicycle crunches. This block was a little easier since we could rest more, but those side-to-side squats were a lot harder than they looked!

I really feel like this past week of workouts represented what I wish each week could be for me. I did push myself hard, even though I had moments when I couldn’t quite accomplish everything. But I left each workout feeling like I had some really great moments and I didn’t think I held myself back too much. If only every week for me was this great!

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Another Mixed Workout Week (or Going Easy And Pushing Hard)

Posted on April 17, 2023 | Comments Off

This past week of workouts was kind of odd for me. I knew that I might have a little bit of pain and nausea at the beginning of the week, but I expected that things would be getting better throughout the week and each day would be better than the day before. And most of the week did go that way, but I also had a bit of a weird day in the middle of things too.

I was only feeling a little off on Monday, which was a nice change from the week before. And I was ready to get back into my workouts and hopefully have some good days in the week. I wasn’t able to push myself as much as I can on my best days, but I definitely did better than how I do on my bad days.

On the rower, the first block was timed with the rowers with 30-second intervals. I did better than I expected on the rower, but I think that was because we did have recoveries throughout the block. I also didn’t row as hard as I know I can with the all-outs, so that probably helped too. The second block was rounds of a 30-second all-out row with lunges between each row. That block also went well, but again it was short bursts of rowing so that helped.

And on the floor, the first block was timed with the rest of the room for the first block. We had 30-second intervals of exercises with rests when cardio and rowing had their recoveries. We had lunges, shoulder presses, hammer curls, and bicep curls. We repeated the exercises throughout the block and at the end of the first block I was really tired. The second block was timed on our own. We had marching in place with weight overhead, step-ups, and bird dogs with toe taps. I put the bench lower so I could do the step-ups since I do try to do those whenever I can.

Tuesday’s workout was a bit more strength-focused compared to other workouts that usually are a mix of endurance, strength, and power. But I was happy to challenge myself since I was feeling a lot better that morning and wanted to get back to some of my better work.

We had 2 blocks for cardio. The first block was really tough for me on the bike. We had 1-minute intervals and the incline/resistance level went up every minute. I didn’t start quite as high as I should have, but I knew I needed to do that so I could keep increasing the level every minute. And by the end of the block, I was at one of the highest resistance levels I’ve used. The second block was a little easier but still tough. We had 30-second all-outs at an incline with recoveries between each one. And the recovery got longer each time. I did use a higher resistance level than my normal all-out, but it was only 1 higher than I normally use so it wasn’t as bad as how high they got in the first block. But it was still much more difficult than what a normal all-out feels for me.

On the rower, we had one long block and the row focus was doing 500-meter rows. This is usually a really tough distance for me to do since there is a lot of endurance necessary with it, but I used a lot of the same technique I used for the Dri-Tri and didn’t try to rush anything. I think focusing more on staying steady with my rowing has really helped and I did get through a few rounds without having to take any breaks. And between each row, we had overhead presses with a medicine ball.

And on the floor, we had one long block which focused on 2 back-to-back exercises that were about strength for one and power for the other. We had woodchoppers and plank pull-throughs, skier swings and deadlifts, and uppercuts and arm raises. I didn’t use heavier weights than normal, but because the exercises were back-to-back, they felt heavier than they really were.

Wednesday’s workout was a very odd day for me. There were a few things that made the day weird, starting with I wasn’t feeling great that morning. It wasn’t like normal nausea I can have, so I just decided to do the workout and see what would happen.

I thought I was doing ok, even though I felt weird that morning. But when I was doing one of the last rowing intervals, I had some of the worst nausea that I had experienced in class. I have only had to leave class once before because I knew I was going to be sick, so I didn’t think that would happen again. But unfortunately, it did. But I felt immediately better after that, so I knew for sure this wasn’t my normal nausea since that doesn’t get better after being sick. I was a little shaky after that happened, but I think that was more mental than physical since I was shocked I had to leave class to be sick. So I knew I had to go a bit easier on the floor because of that.

On the floor, we focused on cluster sets with the exercises. So we did a set number of reps first and then go heavier with the weight and do as many reps as possible. The goal is to try to get usually between 6-10 reps with the heavier weight. In the first block, we had cluster sets of a squat to calf raise and a low row. And between each exercise, we had either mountain climbers or skater lunges. In the second block, we had bicep curls and hip bridges for the cluster sets and squats and high knees between the exercises. I did make an effort to make sure I had the right weights at my station so I could use heavier weights for the second part of each cluster set. And fortunately, whatever issue I was experiencing that made me sick on the rower didn’t happen again so I didn’t have to leave class a second time.

And I had another good day on Thursday, which I was very happy about. I think it was probably one of my better days as far as how I was feeling, and it was a nice way to end the week.

For cardio, we had 2 blocks that were very similar. The first block started with a 2-minute push pace followed by a 45-second base pace. Then we had 2 rounds of a 1-minute push pace at an incline with a 45-second base pace without an incline after with an all-out at the end of the block. The second block started with a 1-minute push pace instead of a 2-minute push and the inclines were 1% lower than what they were in the first block. But they were the same intervals other than that first push pace. Even with the higher resistance levels for the push paces, I felt pretty good about what I was able to do.

On the rower, we also had 2 blocks and each block started with a timed row that matched the first push pace for cardio. After that timed row, we had rounds of a 20-stroke all-out row with exercises between each row. In the first block, we had squats between each row and in the second block, we had high knees between each row. Doing those row drills wasn’t easy since we have to go slowly with them, but I was happy that I was pretty consistent with each of my rows and didn’t tire out during the block too much.

And on the floor, we had supersets which are back-t0-back exercises for each block with one additional exercise. In the first block, we had chest presses and chest flys with cross back lunges. And in the second block, we had upright rows and high rows back to back with sit-ups to standing shoulder presses. We were supposed to use the same weight for the supersets, so I had to go a little lighter with my chest press weight to be able to do it for my chest flys as well. But that allowed me to focus on form and go slowly, so it wasn’t easier than normal.

Overall, I think this was a pretty good week considering I was coming back from a bad week. It wasn’t perfect and the issues I had on Wednesday really caught me off guard, but I think that I was able to work pretty hard for most of the week and I feel really positive about what I accomplished. I always worry that something will happen when I’m supposed to have a good week that will make it hard, but hopefully, this week that doesn’t happen and I have a strong week of workouts ahead!

Comments Off on Another Mixed Workout Week (or Going Easy And Pushing Hard)

Posted in Fitness

Tagged fitness, Orangetheory, workout

An Expected Bad Week (or Just Trying To Stay Motivated)

Posted on April 10, 2023 | Comments Off

I knew going into this past week of workouts that it was going to be a hard week for me. I sometimes am grateful that I know when pain and nausea are going to affect me, but it doesn’t make it easier to deal with. And sometimes when I take all the medications I have, it doesn’t help so it’s just frustrating. I had some mornings when my medications helped a bit and some when there was no difference in how I felt. And for the entire week, I just had to push myself to keep going and not give up.

Monday was probably the worst morning of the week for me. We had a sub coaching our class and I think I worried him a bit because he asked me how I was doing and then he sent in the front desk staff to see if I needed help. I probably should have explained that I’m used to feeling this horrible in class and it’s unfortunately normal for me. But I did appreciate the concern.

We had 3 blocks for cardio. The first block had 2 rounds of a 1-minute push pace and a 30-second base pace with a 1-minute all-out at the end. The second block had 1-minute intervals with increasing speed for a total of 4 minutes. And the last block had a 3-minute push pace with a 1-minute all-out at the end. Even with how bad I was feeling, I was happy with what I did on the bike, especially in the last block. I did my normal push pace resistance level for the 3 minutes and didn’t feel that much worse than normal.

On the rower, we also had 3 blocks. Each block had a specific distance to row and an exercise to do between each row. The first block was a 200-meter row and back-and-forth hops, which I did as quick steps. The second block was a 150-meter row and side-to-side steps. And the last block was a 100-meter row and twisting hops, which I did as squats. The nausea was really hitting me hard on the rower so I had to take a lot of breaks during each block and a few times in the middle of a row.

And on the floor, each of the 3 blocks had 2 exercises. We had lunges, plank jacks, single-arm clean-to-press, plank shoulder taps, single-arm snatches, and hip bridges. It wasn’t the worst set of floor blocks for me, but it wasn’t that great either. I did a lot of modifications, mainly for the plank work. And fortunately, there wasn’t a lot of work that needed to use weights so I didn’t have to worry too much about trying to go heavy.

I wasn’t feeling that much better on Tuesday, but it wasn’t as bad as Monday was. The medication I took did take the edge off of things for me, but I still struggled. But I was glad that at least things were a little easier for me.

We had 4 cardio blocks. The first and last blocks were the same with 30-second push paces and 45-second base paces with a 30-second all-out at the end. The second block had rounds of a 30-second all-out and a 45-second recovery. And the third block had rounds of a 30-second all-out and a 1-minute recovery. The shorter intervals helped me not feel as horrible on the bike and I was able to take fewer breaks.

On the rower, we had 3 blocks. The first and third blocks were timed with cardio so we had push rows and base rows. And for the second block, we had stroke drills for 15 strokes on the rower with halos using a medicine ball between each row. I felt a lot better about the second block than the other blocks since the rowing was a lot shorter, but I tried my best with the longer blocks knowing that I do have more rowing endurance than I think I do.

And on the floor, we had one long block. We had 4 exercises on the straps and 2 using weights. On the straps, we had chest presses, high rows, tricep extensions, and y-raises. And with weights, we had lateral lunges and regular lunges. I did skip using weights for the lunges since it’s always a balance issue for me, but I was very happy that I didn’t have to modify anything else for the floor.

Wednesday’s workout was a new themed workout. This one was a playlist designed by a woman who posts treadmill playlists on TikTok. The idea of her playlists is that you want to match the beat of the music to your steps for each song. I had seen her playlists before on TikTok, so I was curious to see how it worked for class.

For cardio, we had one long block with 45-second intervals. There were 20 intervals total and every 45 seconds you were supposed to increase the incline on the treadmill for the first half and decrease the incline for the second half. And everyone on the treadmill was a power walker instead of having some people running. For the bike, it was the same idea but with changing the resistance level. I tried to match my pedaling cadence to the beat of the music, but there were times when we were at the top of the hill when I was using resistance levels I almost never use that had me pedaling very slowly.

On the rower, it was also one block. We started with a 100-meter row with high knees after the row. We went up 100 meters each time until we got to a 500-meter row and then we went down by 100 meters each time. I did the high knees as marching steps as I normally do, but between those taking longer than normal high knees and the breaks I had to take in the rowing, I didn’t get past the 500-meter row to start working down again. I wasn’t expecting to do much better than that, so I was ok with only getting half the row distances completed.

And we also had one block on the floor. Almost everything was with weights, and I used the normal weights I use instead of trying to go heavier. But considering how I was feeling, that was ok with me. We had reverse grip low rows, squats, arnold presses, deadlifts, and bicycle crunches. Only the bicycle crunches were without weights. And for the last minute of class, we had squats to arnold presses, which was not an easy combination for me.

Thursday was the day I felt the best and mainly just felt a bit off instead of feeling super sick. The nausea wasn’t too bad, but I did have some pretty extreme cramps that hit me throughout the workout. But I just took a break when I had cramps and waited them out before continuing on with the workout.

For cardio, we had 3 blocks that were identical. We did a 3-minute push pace and a 1-minute all-out. I did my new normal resistance levels for the bike for every block. It was a bit hard in the last block to keep going and I debated lowering the resistance level a bit, but I’m glad that I didn’t do that and pushed through.

On the rower, we also had 3 identical blocks. And the goal was to get further in each block. We had a 200-meter row followed by foot exchanges and squats before getting back on the rower and rowing until the end of the block. I was surprised to see that I did get further every block and I had a pretty significant increase between the first and third blocks. I think it was more about getting the exercises done quickly and less about my rowing, but I was happy no matter what the reason.

And on the floor, we had one block with 2 mini-blocks in it. We were supposed to do each mini-block twice before moving on to the other one. The first mini-block had close-grip chest presses, leg raises on the bench, and hip hinge swings. And the second mini-block had sumo squats to upright rows, rollouts on the straps, and step-ups (which I did as lunges). I had to modify the leg raises to be single-leg because they were hurting my hips too much. And when I was starting with the second mini-block, I didn’t have a lot of time so I didn’t do the sumo squats to upright rows to get through the other exercises first. The floor might not have been as great as the other sections of the room, but it was still pretty good considering how the rest of the week had gone for me.

I am glad that I probably am done with the worst of the pain and nausea for this month. I might have a little bit more for the first few days of this week, but it shouldn’t be as bad as what I dealt with last week. And before I know it, I should be feeling normal again so I can try to push myself without having issues stopping me from really going for it.

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Posted in Fitness

Tagged fitness, Orangetheory, workout

A Bit Of A Recovery Week (or Easier Workouts To Deal With Pain)

Posted on April 3, 2023 | Comments Off

After completing the Dri-Tri, I knew this past week of workouts might be a bit tough for me. I’m usually a bit sore after a Dri-Tri, but I also pushed myself more than normal so I knew I might be sorer than expected. I also had a few other things working against me this past week. I knew my pain and nausea could kick in and the weather predicted some rain. All of those can affect my workouts, and the result was that the entire week was a bit of a recovery week where I had to go easier than I would have liked to.

I knew Monday could be one of the toughest days for me, so I didn’t really push myself at all. I went easy from the beginning of the workout, and I think that was the smartest move for me to make because it helped me not get too sore during the workout.

For cardio, the first 3 blocks were all the same. We had a 3-minute push pace with a 45-second recovery after each one. The last block was a 2 1/2-minute push pace and a 30-second all-out which was a bit harder. I used my new normal resistance levels for all the blocks, I just pedaled slower than normal to make it easier.

On the rower, for blocks 1 and 3 we had a 3-minute push row. And in blocks 2 and 4, we did rounds of 150-meter rows with foot exchanges between each row. Even though I just did a much longer row for the Dri-Tri, those 3-minute rows felt really hard. I think it was just being tired and sore, but I did need to take breaks during those rows. I did better on the short rows, but I didn’t really row as quickly as I normally do for sprint rows even though I tried.

And on the floor, in blocks 1 and 3 we had timed exercises. We did 1 minute of lunges, 1 minute of bicep curls to upper cuts, and 1 minute of squat jumps. And in blocks 2 and 4, we had plank punches and scissor kicks. The timed exercises were really hard, but I modified things when necessary and tried to keep those to a minimum. But even with the modifications, I think the floor was the best for me in this workout.

I was less sore from the Dri-Tri on Tuesday, but I also wasn’t fully recovered so I still went easy but tried to go a bit harder than I did the day before. There were a few moments I worried I was doing too much, but I was happy with what I was able to get done.

For cardio, we had 3 blocks and they all had the same format. We had 2 rounds of a 30-second base pace at an incline followed by a 75-second base pace with no incline with a 30-second all-out with an incline at the end. The incline/resistance level went down each block, so that helped me to go a bit harder as the workout went on. And I did increase my resistance level above my all-out level for the highest incline to make it a bit harder for me.

On the rower, we also had 3 blocks that all had stroke drills followed by exercises. The first block had 15 stroke drills, the second block had 12 stroke drills, and the last block had 10 stroke drills. The exercise for the first block was lunges, the second block had deadlifts to low rows with a mini-band, and the last block had low rows to hammer curls with a mini-band. Since all the rows were pretty short, I did a lot better than Monday. And I feel like stroke drills are some of my strongest rows since I have a lot of patience, so I was happy to work on them.

And on the floor, we focused on doing work on one side at a time. We had lunges, single-arm low rows, single-arm cleans, single-arm shoulder presses, and side plank crunches. It wasn’t easy doing one side at a time since I know that I can tire out quickly, but I allowed myself to go a little lighter with the weights I used so I was better than expected and didn’t have a sloppy form for any of the exercises.

On Wednesday, I was mainly dealing with pain in my hips due to the rain, so that was what was affecting my workouts instead of soreness from the Dri-Tri. But that is a bit easier to manage, so I was able to do a bit more again.

For cardio, we had 2 blocks. The first block started with a 1-minute push pace followed by a 30-second base pace. We did 3 rounds of this pattern but the push pace got 15 seconds shorter and the base pace got 15 seconds longer each time. And in the second block, we had rounds of a 45-second all-out with increasing recoveries between each one. I was able to go a bit harder in the second block compared to the first, but I was doing better than I had for the first two workouts of the week.

On the rower, we started with a 1000-meter row. After the row, we had halos, tricep extensions, and presses with a medicine ball. Then we had 2 rounds doing 500-meter rows with the same exercises. Just like earlier in the week, I knew I had done a longer row over the weekend for the Dri-Tri, but this row was just challenging for me. I was going slower than I would have liked and I took breaks. Maybe the adrenaline from the Dri-Tri allows me to do more with my rowing than I normally can do, but I want to keep getting better with my endurance rows. This workout just wasn’t a great example of that for me.

And on the floor, we had one long block. We had skater lunges, pop jacks, upright rows on the straps, single-arm snatches, woodchoppers, and plank shoulder taps. It was a lot of work, and I think by the time I got to the floor I was getting a bit burnt out. I was going slowly, but I tried. And toward the end of the floor time, I just focused on the exercises that weren’t hurting me as much so I skipped the lunges and pop jacks.

Thursday was a similar day to Wednesday as far as pain goes. It was mainly in my hips due to the rain. I was a bit shocked that I hadn’t really experienced any pain or nausea during the week, but that might have been masked by the other things affecting me during the week.

For cardio, we had 2 blocks. The first block was rounds of a push pace followed by a base pace with an all-out at the end. And the second block was about the same length as the first one, but we went at our own pace and just tried to beat the distance from the first block. For that second block, I set my resistance level a little higher than my base pace but lower than my old push pace. I just tried to keep my cadence steady for the entire time and I was very happy with how well I did. When I did the Dri-Tri, I was worried about setting the resistance level too high, but this proved to me that I might have underestimated myself.

On the rower, we also had 2 blocks. The first block started with a 20 stroke drill. Then we looked at the distance and tried to get to that distance in fewer strokes. After those rows, we had lunges and then repeated the pattern. The second block was similar but we had a 15 stroke drill and bicep curls with the medicine ball between the rows. I was very happy that I was always able to beat the number of strokes for the distance in both blocks.

And we also had 2 blocks on the floor. In the first block, we started with neutral grip thrusters to rotations and squat jumps (which I did as squats to calf raises). After 3 rounds of those, we had sit-ups and back extensions but because I was moving a bit slowly I only got to the sit-ups. For the second block, we had skier swings, push-ups (which I did as chest presses on the straps), and balance bicep curls. And after 3 rounds of those we had crunches and leg lifts. I got more done in the second block, but I think that was a bit random because I was still moving slowly.

I wasn’t really expecting the entire week to be a bit of a recovery week for me, but I guess that’s what my body needed to do. And this week might be similar since it’s very likely that my pain and nausea will kick in, especially since it didn’t happen this past week. But maybe I’ll surprise myself and things will be better than I expect since this past week was a bit worse than I expected.

Comments Off on A Bit Of A Recovery Week (or Easier Workouts To Deal With Pain)

Posted in Fitness, Fun Stuff

Tagged dri-tri, fitness, Orangetheory, workout

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An Expected Bad Week (or Just Trying To Stay Motivated)

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A Bit Of A Recovery Week (or Easier Workouts To Deal With Pain)

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