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I wasn’t paying a lot of attention to my calendar before this past week of workouts, so I didn’t realize at first that this was going to be the start of my bad week (or weeks). Fortunately, it didn’t hit me right at the beginning of the week so I didn’t have a totally bad week, but it is always frustrating when they do hit because it really affects every part of my workout.

I wasn’t doing too bad on Monday. I did feel a little off, but it wasn’t anything that was too distracting which is probably why I didn’t just assume it was kicking off my bad week. Monday’s workout was one that I did earlier in the month, but it felt different this time.

For cardio, we started with a 2-minute base pace and a 30-second all-out. We had a 1-minute recovery before starting the next part of the block. Again, we started with a 2-minute base pace and ended with a 30-second all-out but we had a 90-second push pace in the middle. We had another 1-minute recovery and then we repeated the second section again but we added a 1-minute push to all-out before the 30-second all-out.

On the rower, we had 3 blocks. Each block had a stroke drill and a medicine ball exercise. The first block had 10 strokes for each row and then we had bicep curls using the medicine ball. The second block had 12 strokes for each row and then squats using the medicine ball. And the last block had 15 strokes for each row and then we were supposed to do isolated squats with bicep curls with the medicine ball, but I split the exercise up so I did the squats and bicep curls separately.

And on the floor, we had 2 blocks. The first block was all about building up to an ultimate burpee. Since I wasn’t feeling so great, I modified each exercise to make it easier on me. For most things, I used the bench for my hands so I wasn’t fully face down. We had plank low rows, push-ups, pop jacks, squats to shoulder presses, and then ultimate burpees. For the ultimate burpees, I didn’t do the low rows since it isn’t easy to grab the weights from the bench and hold on to them. But I did try my best with what I could do. And in the second block, we had plank jacks and high plank kick-throughs. I did the plank jacks using the bench, but the kick-throughs are really tough to do no matter how I feel since my hips don’t like that movement. I did try those from the ground since I was worried about falling, but I mainly did plank side reaches.

Wednesday’s workout was a new one for me. I was feeling a bit worse, but my medications were helping so it wasn’t as bad as I know it could be. For this workout, we had 2 blocks for each section of the room.

For cardio, both blocks had a mix of flat inclines and incline work. The first block started with a 90-second push pace without incline. Then we had a 1-minute base pace. The next push pace was 1-minute long but at an incline followed by a 1-minute base pace without incline. We repeated the pattern with shorter push paces with inclines and the 1-minute base pace without an incline. The second block was a little shorter so we only did 2 rounds with the inclines and then ended with a 30-second all-out with an incline.

On the rower, we started with a 300-meter row, and then we had high knees. We repeated this pattern for the first block and decreased the row by 50-meters each time. For the second block, we started with a 100-meter all-out row. Then we got to rest as much as we needed and we had a 50-meter base row and then a 100-meter all-out row. We repeated this pattern with adding 50-meters to the base row each time. Because we got as much rest as we needed, this wasn’t as bad as it could have been. I didn’t get that far in the second block but I was able to row each time without needing to stop in the middle of the row.

On the floor, each block had one drop set exercise and one regular exercise. The first block started with a drop set for uppercuts. So we did 12 uppercuts with a heavy weight and then did as many reps as we could with a lighter weight right after. After doing both sets, we had lateral lunges with hammer curls. For the second block, the drop set was with sumo squats. So we had 12 sumo squats with a heavy weight and then as many as possible with a lighter weight. And the other exercise after the squats was reciprocating rows. The rows were a bit tough since they were something that should be face down and but I did do my best.

Thursday was a much harder day for me, so I had to do a lot of rest throughout the workout. This was another repeat workout for me, but I feel pretty certain that I did much better the first time I did this one.

For cardio, the first block started with a 75-second push pace followed by a 60-second base pace. Then we had a 60-second push pace and a 60-second base pace. Then we had a 45-second all-out, 30 seconds of recovery, and another 45-second all-out. The second block was very similar to the first, but we had 3 rounds of a 30-second all-out instead of 2 rounds of a 45-second all-out.

On the rower, we started with a 600-meter row. Then we were supposed to do lunges with a tricep extension with a medicine ball. But I split the lunges and the tricep extensions into separate exercises. Then we had 2 rounds of a 300-meter row with the same medicine ball work. And the last part was 4 rounds of a 150-meter row with the same exercises. I didn’t get through all the rows, but I was into the last section when the block ended.

And on the floor, each block had a mix of strength exercises and stability exercises. In the first block, the strength exercises were front squats and chest presses. And the stability exercises were lunges to squats on the straps and chest presses on the straps. And in the second block, the strength exercises were single-arm shoulder presses and hammer curls and the stability exercises were lunges and balance bicep curls. I did the bicep curls as regular ones, so I didn’t really get the stability part of that exercise, but I know stability exercises are always the hardest for me with my hips.

Friday was another repeat workout for me and probably the worst I felt all week. And we also found out that the coach we have on Wednesdays and Fridays would be leaving and this class was possibly their last class. I was really sad about this because she’s been my coach since I started going to the Culver City studio and I really love how she coaches and pushes us. I’m really going to miss her and it was sad knowing this might be my last class with her.

I had done this workout toward the middle of the month, but again I know I did better the first time I did this workout. For cardio, we started at no incline and for those on the treadmill, they increased the incline by 1% every .1 miles (I increased it every .4 miles on the bike). We did this for 6 minutes before we had some recovery time. Then for the second block, we started at the highest incline/resistance level and then decreased it by 1% every .1 or .4 miles.

On the rower, both blocks were focused on 150-meter rows. But in the first block, between each row, we had bicep curls and in the second block, we had deadlifts to overhead presses. Doing a 150-meter row is a good distance for me, especially when I don’t feel great. It’s a pretty short row so I’m done quickly and I can push myself a bit more since it is shorter. But because of how I was feeling, it was still tough and I just tried to get through each row and I wasn’t too focused on making improvements each time.

And on the floor, both blocks had timed exercises. In each block, we had one exercise that was for 45-seconds long and we had another exercise that we had 1 minute to complete 12 reps and then we could rest. In the first block, we did lateral lunges for 45-seconds and 12 uppercuts within the minute. And in the second block, we had arnold presses for 45-seconds and 12 lunges within the minute. The arnold presses were harder than I expected and I possibly should have gone lighter with the weights, but considering how few opportunities I had to push myself in this workout, it was probably good to have this challenge.

This week of workouts could go a bunch of different ways. It might be a really bad week, or it might not be as bad as it could be. It’s something that I will just have to see how I feel each day and manage my expectations from there. But hopefully, even if I feel horrible I will have some workout wins this week.

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This past week of workouts was a mix of good and bad. I wasn’t necessarily feeling off, but I was dealing with the effects of having a rough weekend. So I was a little weaker than normal and I had some moments of being lightheaded. It wasn’t as bad as my bad weeks go and I was still able to push myself quite a bit, but there were a few moments in each workout where I just had to stop and take it easy for a bit before I felt normal again.

Monday’s workout was a signature class. This time, it was the Inferno workout. Doing Inferno as a 3 group class is a bit different since it’s not a run/row, but you still get a lot of chances to push yourself.

For cardio, we had 2 blocks. The first block had intervals of base and push paces, but the base paces got longer each time and the push pace was always 1-minute long. And we ended with a 30-second push pace to a 30-second all-out. And the second block was the same idea but this time all the push paces were 30-seconds long. And we ended with the same 1-minute push to all-out.

The rower is the main part of the Inferno workout. We started with a 100-meter row and then we had lateral hops. I had to do them more like skater lunges, but I did get a little hop into them. And every time we went back to the rower, we increased the distance by 100-meters. The goal is to get as many meters as you can in 14 minutes. I didn’t have a real goal in my head since I didn’t have the information from the past 3 group Inferno classes I’ve done, but I felt like I did a pretty decent job.

And on the floor, we had 2 blocks. The first block had chest presses on the straps, chest flys with weights, and overhead tricep extensions. And the second block had low rows on the straps, reverse flys with weights, and hammer curls. And for the last minute, we had burpees and I used the bench as always for my hands.

On Wednesday, we had a repeat template, but I didn’t do this the first time it happened so it was new for me. It was originally before a benchmark run (which I didn’t do), so it was a prep for that benchmark. But even without having the benchmark coming up, it was a good endurance day for me on the bike.

For cardio, we had 2 blocks. The first block was a 6 1/2-minute distance challenge. We were supposed to keep things at one speed/resistance level and just see how far we could go. And in the second block, we did a 6-minute distance challenge with a 30-second all-out at the end. And the goal was to beat the first distance. Both times, I set my resistance level on the bike to be between my normal base and push paces. And I was very happy that I beat my first distance by quite a bit! Usually, it’s really close but this time I had a bigger difference than I can remember from challenges like this.

On the rower, we had 2 blocks and for both blocks it was all about 300-meter rows. We always had a 300-meter row and between each row we had a medicine ball exercise. In the first block, we had shoulder presses. And in the second block, we had tricep extensions. I have been going between the medicine ball I normally use and one that is a little heavier since I haven’t changed that in quite a long time. And while it is harder, that’s how it should be. I need to challenge myself more and push when I can. And that was the perfect way I could do that when I wasn’t feeling my absolute best.

And on the floor, we had one long block with mini-blocks within the big block. We did each mini-block 3 times before moving on. The first mini-block had goblet squats and jumps with back shuffles. I normally wouldn’t do a jump, but I decided to try it. I didn’t get a lot of distance and I stayed close to the ground, but I was able to do a bit of a jump each time. I did have the wall next to me to help with balance and I did need to use it quite a bit. But doing that is better than not trying a jump at all. But because I was doing the jumps and that took longer, I wasn’t able to get through all 3 rounds of the second mini-block. In that one, we had split stance deadlifts and lunges. And to finish the workout, we had plank jacks.

Thursday’s workout was a repeat from the 4th of July, so I had done it before. But I was happy to repeat this one since there were things I would be able to change about it. It was the workout where you could pick which of the options you wanted to do. I knew I would do a lot of it the same as the first time I did it because of some of my restrictions, but I did try to change it up when I could.

For cardio, we started with a .1 mile (.4 for me) distance with a 30-second walking recovery after. Then, we had the choice to either increase the distance by .1 (or .4) each round or increase the incline/resistance level by 1 each time. I picked increasing the distance since I didn’t want to get the resistance levels up too high. I kept my resistance level between my normal base and push paces, so it wasn’t too hard but there was a difference between when I was doing the distance challenge and when I was in the recovery.

For the rower, we had intervals of rowing and squats. And the options were to always do a 200-meter row and start with 6 jump squats and increase the squats each time or to start with a 100-meter row, do 6 regular squats, and then increase the row by 100-meters each time. I picked starting at 100-meters and increasing by 100-meters each time because I knew that adding more squats each round was going to be too tough on my hips.

And on the floor, the options were either a strength or a stability challenge. The first time I did it, I chose strength. But this time, I went with stability and knew I would have to just go slowly. I did have to modify the first exercise in the floor block because it was a lunge using the Bosu. I had to do regular lunges since I knew that there was no way I would be able to balance. Then we had bridge hold chest presses, hip bridges, and sit-ups; all while laying on the Bosu. That does involve stability, but it was more about core stability and not too much on my hips.

And by Friday, while I was still a little bit weak, I was very close to normal and took advantage of that. I still had moments when I needed to rest, but it was much better than the rest of the week.

For cardio, it was all about 30-second intervals. We had rounds of a 30-second push pace, 30-second all-out, and 45-second recovery. Each block had 4 rounds and in the first block the focus was going harder for each push pace and in the second block the focus was going harder for each all-out.

On the rower, we had a pyramid row. So we had a 200-meter, 400-meter, 600-meter, 400-meter, and 200-meter row. And between each row, we had medicine ball exercises. I modified them so they were just upper body work, so I had overhead presses and front presses and skipped the lunges and squats since I knew I would have some lunges and lower body work in the floor block. I did ok with my rows, but not great. I was working on the second 400-meter row when the block was done and I really was hoping to at least be working on the last 200-meter row before it was done.

On the floor, we had one long block with 3 mini-blocks in it. We did each mini-block twice before moving to the next one. We had close grip chest presses and low rows with weights, sumo deadlifts and lunges, and tricep extensions and concentration curls. I was just finishing the last round of the last mini-block before we finished with 30-seconds of lateral lunges to finish the workout.

I didn’t have the great week that I was hoping for, but I really am proud of what I did considering how I was feeling. And knowing that it wasn’t as bad as my bad weeks normally are helped me a lot. All I can hope for is to have a similar feeling this week and to know I did what I could no matter how I might feel.

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After so many bad weeks in a row dealing with pain and nausea, I was really hoping this past week would be much better. I’m so glad that it was and that I could really push myself. I have felt like I wasn’t doing a lot in my workouts lately since I was restricted with how I was feeling. But this past week, I really could see what I could do.

I got off to a good start to the week with Monday’s workout. I was motivated to work harder than normal and I was able to do so as well. My motivation and ability don’t always match up, so when they do I take advantage of that.

The 2 cardio blocks were similar, with a slight difference at the end of each block. We started with a 75-second push pace followed by a 60-second base pace. Then we had a 60-second push pace and a 45-second base pace. In the first block, we had 2 rounds of a 45-second all-out with 30-seconds in between, and in the second block we had 3 rounds of a 30-second all-out with 30-seconds in between. I wasn’t using higher resistance levels, but I could tell I was pedaling faster and I was able to get my heart rate up higher. And I was really tired by the end of the second block.

On the rower, we had one long block. We started with a 600-meter row and then we were supposed to do lunges with tricep extensions using the medicine ball. But because my hips were already a bit off, I skipped the lunges and just did the medicine ball work. Then we had 2 rounds of a 300-meter row with the same exercise in between. And at the end, we were supposed to do 4 rounds of a 150-meter row, but I was only able to complete 2 of them.

On the floor, we had two blocks and they each had some strength moves and some stability moves. I knew I would have to modify the stability moves, but I tried my best. In the first block, the strength moves were front squats and floor chest presses. And the stability moves both used the straps with lunges to squats and chest presses. I couldn’t do the lunges to squats as a single move, so I split them up but still did them with the straps instead of balancing against the wall like I normally do. The second block had single-arm shoulder presses and hammer curls for the strength moves and split squat shoulder presses and balance bicep curls for the balance moves. Unfortunately, by the end of the workout, I was really struggling to balance so I did the shoulder presses without the split squat and did the bicep curls as normal ones. But I did feel the burn in my arms at the end of the workout.

I was still feeling pretty great on Wednesday and continued to push myself in the workout. Although I might have pushed myself a little too hard since I was really feeling it after this workout.

For cardio, we had 2 blocks that were both timed on our own. The first block was a 6-minute distance challenge and we increased the incline/resistance level every .1 miles (or .4 miles for me on the bike). I was getting pretty high up in the resistance levels and was above my typically all-out, but since I was feeling good I wasn’t going too slowly for most of the challenge. And in the second block, we started at the level we ended the first block on and then decreased by 1 level at the same distance interval. And at the end of the second block, we had a 30-second all-out.

On the rower, we had one long block. Every row was 150-meters and we had different exercises between each row with a medicine ball. We had squats to bicep curls and deadlifts to overhead presses. I did have to split up the exercises so I did them separately, but that’s pretty normal for me now.

And on the floor, we had 2 blocks that were timed for us. In the first block, we had 45-seconds of lunges followed by 1-minute to do 12 uppercuts. Any time we had after the uppercuts, we could rest. But that usually was only about 15-seconds. In the second block, we had 45-seconds of alternating arnold presses and 1-minute to do 12 lunges and then we could rest. It was a lot of lunges for me and my hips were really feeling it at the end, but I also know I pushed myself quite a bit.

Because of how hard I pushed on Monday and Wednesday, I was definitely sore on Thursday. So I went a little easier while still pushing myself. I just was being mindful of how I was feeling so I didn’t make things any worse.

For cardio, we had 2 blocks and they were almost the same. For both blocks, they started with a 2 1/2 minute progressive challenge where we started at a base pace and ended with an all-out. Then after that all-out, we had 30-second all-outs. The difference was that in the first block we had 1-minute between the last 2 all-outs and in the second block we had 75-seconds between them.

On the rower, we had one long block and one short block. For the long block, it was all about doing stroke drills for 15 strokes. Then, we had different medicine ball exercises between each row. We had front raises, tricep extensions, and rainbows. The goal with the stroke drills was to keep the strokes per minute down but the wattage up. And I was able to keep the wattage above what I do when I’m rowing regularly. And for the second short block, we were times with cardio for the 2 30-second all-outs with the 75-seconds to recover in between.

On the floor, we had 2 blocks that had some power moves and some strength moves. In the first block, we had shoulder presses, high rows, lunges, and sumo squats to high rows. And in the second block, we had regular chest presses and chest presses with explosive tempo. And we ended the workout with 30-seconds of sit-ups.

I was so happy that I was still feeling good on Friday. I was still a bit sore, but compared to the past few weeks this past entire week was a good week for me. So I continued to be mindful while pushing myself.

For cardio, we had 2 blocks and the first block was similar to Thursday. We had a 6-minute distance challenge and started between a base and push pace and increased every 2 minutes. Then we looked at that distance to use in the second block. For the second block, we also had a 6-minute challenge, but we were supposed to stay at the same pace the entire time. For the second block, I keep the resistance level between my base and push pace and I was able to go further in the second block than I had in the first.

On the rower, the first block started with a 250-meter row. Then we were supposed to do side hops and high knees. I was only able to do the high knees, but I did more than we were supposed to do to make up for skipping the side hops. Then we had a 200-meter row and continued the pattern, decreasing the row by 50 meters each time. And in the second block, we started with a 1-minute all-out row. Then we had a recovery row before a 45-second all-out row. We ended the row block with 3 sets of a 30-second all-out row. I was getting a little sloppy toward the end of my rowing because of my hips, but when I could feel my form being off, I made sure to make corrections as quickly as possible.

And on the floor, we had 2 blocks and each block had only 2 exercises. So we were supposed to focus on going slowly and using heavy weights. The first block had single-arm low rows and step-ups. I did the step-ups as lunges. And the second block had single-arm chest presses and split stance deadlifts.

I have no clue how this week will be for me. It should be another good week, but I’m feeling a little uncertain since you never know when things might decide to change up on me again. But hopefully, I will continue to push myself and have hard workouts by choice.

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Well, I went into this past week of workouts thinking it was going to be a good week for me, but my body decided that I didn’t need a good week. It wasn’t as bad as some of my bad weeks, but my cycle got messed up so I ended up having another bad week (but maybe I’ll get my normal 28 days between them this time). So I ended up dealing with quite a bit of pain and nausea during this past week’s workouts, but I was grateful that it was a bit easier than what it was like 2 weeks ago.

Monday’s workout was a bit of a choose your own adventure type of workout. We had 2 options for what we wanted to do for each section of the room.

For cardio, we got to choose if we wanted to do a strength or endurance block. I picked the endurance block. For those on the treadmills, they started with a .1 mile run with a 30-second recovery and then increased the distance by .1 miles each time. For the bike, that meant I started with .4 miles and increased by .4 miles each time. The recovery time was never very long, but because the distances weren’t too bad either it was a good cardio block for me even with how I was feeling.

On the rower, both of the options had a row and squats. But the options were either to increase the row each time or increase the number of squats. I chose to increase the row each time. So I started with a 100-meter row and 6 squats and increased the row by 100 meters each time.

And on the floor, we could choose either a strength or balance workout. Considering all my balance issues, I knew immediately I would be doing the strength workout. So I had lunges, chest presses, hip bridges, and double crunches. I did try to go heavy with the weights when I could, but I wasn’t able to do quite as heavy as I know I can do when I’m feeling my best. But I still tried to challenge myself as that was the point of picking that workout.

I was probably feeling the worst of the week on Wednesday, so I had a bit of a struggle getting through the workout. But fortunately, the workout seemed to work with how I was feeling and had an easier format than a lot of recent classes.

For cardio, we started with a 2 1/2-minute push pace. Then after that was done, we had 3-minutes to recover at a lower base pace (but not at our regular recovery) and then get back to our regular base pace. For me, I did my recovery at my base pace resistance level but just pedaled slower than normal. We repeated this pattern 3 times with an all-out at the end. Because of the extended base recovery time, I really did get a chance to take it easy and not push myself too hard.

On the rower, we started with a 400-meter row where we were supposed to do the first 300-meters at a push pace and the last 100-meters at an all-out pace. Then we had lunges after doing the row. We decreased the row by 50-meters each round but always tried to do the last 100-meters as an all-out. I went a bit slower than normal on the rower, but I was happy with how I did and how I didn’t need that many breaks during the block.

And on the floor, we had 2 blocks. The first block was focused on work and active recovery with back-to-back exercises. We had push presses which were like shoulder presses with a little squat to help followed by lateral and front raises. And then we had single-arm hip hinge swings followed by cossack squats. And in the second block, we had back-to-back exercises to work on tempo. So we had squats with explosive tempo (which meant going slow down and fast back up) and then squats at regular tempo (which meant going down slow and back up slow). We also did explosive and regular tempo push-ups which I did as chest presses on the straps instead.

I’m glad I was feeling better by Thursday’s workout because it was a really tough one! For all sections of the room, it didn’t seem like we got much rest time, but I think it was the hardest on the floor.

For cardio, the first block started at a .2-mile push pace (.8 miles for me on the bike) followed by a 1-minute base pace. We decreased the distance each round. And the second block was the inverse starting the distance at .1 miles (or .4 miles for me) with a 1-minute base pace after and increasing the distance each time.

The rower was a similar idea to cardio. The first block started with a 250-meter row and then 12 shuffles after. We decreased the row by 50-meters each time. And the second block started with a 100-meter row with shuffles after and we increased the row by 50-meters each time.

And on the floor, we were timed by our coach, and almost everything was done in 30-second intervals. The first block had tricep extensions, chest flys, and shoulder presses for 30-seconds each. Then we had reverse grip low rows and had to do 6 of them and whatever time was left in the 30-seconds we could rest. But that only was maybe 10 seconds for me. We repeated this 3 times and ended the block with 45-seconds of high knees to mountain climbers. The second block was the same idea with lunges, deadlifts, and squats for 30-seconds each and then 6 plank taps and we could use the rest of the 30-seconds to rest. And again, we ended with high knees and mountain climbers.

Friday was pretty much a normal day for me. I’m glad that even though I wasn’t expecting a bad week, this unexpected one was much shorter than what I’m used to. And it allowed me to do a pretty decent workout for Friday.

For cardio, we started with a 2-minute base pace into a 30-second all-out. We had a minute to recover and then we repeated the pattern but added a 90-second push pace in the middle. And then we repeated it again but instead of just a 30-second all-out at the end, we had a 30-second push to all-out and then a 30-second all-out. It was a good challenge to make sure that I could maintain my base pace for extended periods of time and to still have a bit left to push myself to go harder.

On the rower, we had 3 blocks. Each block had a stroke drill with a medicine ball exercise. The first block had a 10-stroke drill with bicep curls with the medicine ball. The second had a 12-stroke drill with 12 squats holding the medicine ball. And the last block had a 15-stroke drill with isolated squats with bicep curls with the medicine ball. For the last block, I did have to split up the exercises so I did squats and curls separately. But I was able to get a lot of power behind each stroke on the rower and a lot of distance each time.

And on the floor, we had 2 blocks. I was glad I was feeling better because so many of the exercises would have made me feel very nauseous. The first block was all about ultimate burpees and breaking down the individual moves. I did still use the bench for my hands, but that was more due to my hip than nausea. So we had plank low rows, push-ups, pop jacks, squats to shoulder presses, and then ultimate burpees. It wasn’t easy for sure, but it was a good challenge for me. And the second block had plank jacks and plank kick-throughs with sit-ups at the very end.

I’m really hoping that this week is better for me. I don’t want to jinx it, but I should have a good week at least as far as my nausea goes. And then I can do a lot better than I did this past week. And I’m hoping that I get more of a break this time between bad weeks and my cycle is back to normal.

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I was looking forward to this past week of workouts because I knew I would be feeling better again. I always am happy when I get past the pain and nausea and can feel normal again. But as it has happened so many times, I was expecting a better week and then things took a twist.

Monday’s workout is normally a 3 group class, but it was a smaller class size for some reason so it ended up being a 2 group class. But because the cardio workout moved back and forth between cardio and the rowers, it still felt a bit like a 3 group class.

For cardio, we 3 blocks on the treadmills or bike and 2 blocks on the rower. The first block on the treadmill and bike was all about 30-second intervals going between a push pace and a base pace with an all-out at the end. Blocks 3 and 5 were all about the all-outs and had 30-second all-outs and either a 1-minute or 45-second recovery after. For the 2 row blocks, we had a 2-minute row for distance both times, but we were supposed to keep the strokes between 22-24 per minute the first time and 24-26 the second time. I was feeling pretty good on Monday, so all the cardio work went well for me. I didn’t do anything crazy, but it was so much better than the week before.

On the floor, we had some timed blocks and some regular blocks. For the first timed block, everything was 30-second intervals. We had single-arm low rows for one interval that were supposed to be on the straps but I used weights instead. And for the other, we had 8 squats and then we could rest for the rest of the 30 seconds. Blocks 2 and 4 were the same with core work. It was supposed to be on the Bosu, but I did them on the floor. We had bicycle crunches, alternating superman, and single-leg v-ups. Blocks 3 and 5 were also timed blocks. For block 3, we had close-grip chest presses for 30-seconds, and then for 1-minute, we had to do 12 lunges and then got the rest of the time to rest. And for block 5, we had step back low rows for 30-seconds and 45-seconds to do 10 skier swings and rest. The floor block felt like you never really had rest, but just like with cardio it was a good challenge.

Wednesday was not a good day for me. I was feeling better from the food poisoning I had, but I was still very weak and dehydrated. I debated about taking the day off and made my decision that morning. But I was feeling ok and knew I could do the workout at a lower intensity.

For cardio, we had 2 blocks that were similar. For the first block, we had a 2 1/2-minute hill climb where we increased the incline/resistance level every 30-seconds. The resistance level I ended on was 1 higher than what I normally use for my all-out, so it wasn’t too bad. Then after the hill, we had 1-minute intervals with a base pace, push pace, base pace, and all-out. The second block had a hill as well, but it was for 2-minutes instead. But since we started 1 level higher than the other hill, we ended at the same level. Then the intervals after that were 75-seconds each except for the all-out which was 45-seconds.

On the rower, we were timed with cardio and started the first block with a 2 1/2-minute row. Then we had either squats or a 1-minute row for the 1-minute intervals. We followed that same pattern for the second block with the 2-minute row to start and then either squats or a row for the 75-second intervals. I did my best with the rowing, but I took quite a few breaks because I was just feeling so weak.

On the floor, we had rep ranges for the exercises. For the first block, we had lateral steps, which I did as lateral lunges and single-arm bicycle presses. And in the second block, we had lunges and bird dog low rows. I did have to go much lighter with the weights I used for all the exercises, but I was able to do them.

Fortunately, while I was still a little weak on Thursday, I was doing significantly better than I was on Wednesday so I was able to do a bit more. The only downside was due to the very muggy weather we have been having, my hip was feeling really sore. But that’s much more manageable for me.

For cardio, we had a run/exercise block. We had a distance to do and then after each distance, we had 10 step-out squats. The distances weren’t too long, so most of them took me under 2-minutes for each one. And at the end of the cardio block, we had 3 all-outs that were 30-seconds each.

For the rower, we started with a 4 1/2-minute distance challenge. That would be a long challenge for me no matter how I was feeling, but when my hip is bothering me I know I can’t row for that long without breaks. But I didn’t need too many breaks, so I considered that to be a win. The second block was the same length, but instead of a distance challenge, we had rounds of a 45-second all-out row and 30-seconds of a recovery row. The goal was to match the distance from the first block, and I was surprised to see that I actually did about 50-meters more in the second block. I guess that recovery time really helped me. And the last block matched cardio with the 30-second all-outs.

And for cardio, all the blocks were timed. The first block had front squats for 45-seconds and bicep curls for 30-seconds. The second block had deadlifts for 45-seconds and shoulder presses for 30-seconds. And the last block had hand-release push-ups for 30-seconds and shoulder taps for 30-seconds. None of the blocks were super easy, but I think the hardest one was the last block because my arms felt like jello at that point.

By Friday, I was finally feeling like I had gotten past feeling a bit weak, but I did still have a bit of hip pain. But since that’s something that is a part of my everyday life, I was ready to try to push myself. And this workout had a lot of repeating blocks so I did get a chance to work on improving what I was doing throughout the workout. It was a 3 group class and each section of the room had 3 blocks. But we were switching between blocks so we were not in any part of the room for too long.

For cardio, all 3 blocks were the same. Everything was a 30-second interval including the recovery within the block. We had a push pace, a push/all-out pace, an all-out, and a walking recovery. And then we repeated that within the block. So every block had 2 push paces, 2 push/all-out paces, and 2 all-outs. That doesn’t sound like a lot, but when you only have 30-seconds to recover during the block it feels a lot harder.

For the rower, all 3 blocks were also the same. And we were timed with the cardio so again everything was a 30-second interval. We started with medicine ball work with good mornings, ground to presses, and squats to front presses. Then we had 30-seconds to get on the rower and we followed the same idea as cardio with the push, push/all-out, and all-out row. The medicine ball exercises were good and I only made minor modifications. But on the rower, even though we were only rowing for 90-seconds at a time, my hip was bugging me so I did have to take a few quick breaks.

And on the floor, each of the 3 blocks had 2 exercises. For one exercise, we had a rep range to work toward and for the other exercise, we had a set number of reps. In the first block, we had a range for uppercuts with power and we had a set number for walkouts to plank shoulder taps. In the second block, we had a range for clean to front squats and a set number for squats to high rows on the straps. And in the last block, we had a range for sumo squats with upright rows and a set number for cossack squats. I did a few random modifications on the floor when my hip was bothering me more, but nothing had to always be modified. It just depended on how I was feeling.

Considering that I had a weird setback during the week, I think I did pretty good with my workouts. I didn’t have quite the week I was hoping for, but I still was doing much better than I had the week before. And all I can hope for is that this coming week will be even better for me.

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As expected, this past week of workouts was not that easy on me. I was lucky that  I didn’t feel horrible for the entire week, but it was most of the week. And as always, when I feel very nauseous or in a lot of pain, I just have to do what I can and not be too upset that it’s less than I know I can do when I feel fine.

Monday’s workout had a lot of timed work, so it felt like we didn’t have a lot of rest. But I was still feeling ok that day, so it was a good workout.

For cardio, we started without being timed with everyone else. We had different distances to get to and squats between each distance. None of the distances were that long, so I was on and off the bike quite a bit. And in the second block for cardio, we were timed with 30-second all-outs and walking recoveries in between.

On the rower, we started with a 4 1/2-minute row. That’s a pretty long row to do, and I just tried to focus on not going too fast and getting burnt out. I think I was pretty good at being steady with my rowing. The second block had 45-second all-out rows and 30-second recovery rows. And the last block was the same timing as cardio with 30-second all-outs.

And on the floor, we were timed for every block. We had intervals of 45-seconds and 30-seconds. For the first block, we did squats for 45-seconds and then had 30-seconds to do 6 bicep curls and we could rest for whatever time was left (which was only a few seconds for me). The second block was 45-seconds of deadlifts and 30-seconds to do 6 shoulder presses and rest. And the last block had 30-seconds of hand-release push-ups and either 30-seconds or 45-seconds to do shoulder taps.

Wednesday’s workout was really hard on me. I was really nauseous that morning and was having some really extreme cramps. But as I always do when I feel like that, I just tried my best.

For cardio, we had one long block. We started with a 90-second push pace followed by a 90-second base pace. We then had 2-minute and 2 1/2-minute push paces with a base pace after each one. And we ended with a 3-minute push pace. We didn’t have any all-outs and the goal of this part of the workout was to not let our heart rates get too high. I couldn’t really judge my heart rate since pain makes it weird, plus I was just trying to keep pedaling and didn’t stress about too much else.

On the rower, we started with 3 rounds of a 200-meter row with high knees between each row. Then it was 3 rounds of a 150-meter row with high knees. I didn’t make it to the rounds of the 100-meter rows because I was really slow with my rowing.

And on the floor, we had 2 blocks. The first block had lunges and burpees with bicep curls and shoulder presses. I did the burpees using the bench for my hands, and that helped to make them a bit more tolerable for me. The second block had single-arm hip hinge swings and chest presses. And we had a 1-minute finisher of the burpees again.

Thursday’s workout was a signature workout. We had Catch Me If You Can, which I’ve done a few times. And I knew that it wasn’t going to be a great attempt at this workout. I wasn’t feeling as horrible as I was on Wednesday, but I was still pretty miserable. I’m always caught during the workout, but I just wanted to see how far I could get this time.

For cardio, we have different checkpoints we have to get to. If our distance is less than the checkpoint, then you are caught and you aren’t continuing the challenge. It starts off much easier so the idea is to get as ahead of the checkpoint as you can because it gets much harder as you go on. I had a feeling I would get caught at the 9-minute checkpoint because that’s when the checkpoints are 1 minute apart and not 2 minutes apart, and I was right. I wasn’t that close to the distance we needed to be at, so there was no way I would have been able to just pedal faster and get there. Once you were caught, if you were on the treadmills you were power walking at a high incline so I just put the bike on a higher resistance level.

On the rower, we started with a 600-meter row. Then we had 24 lunges. Next was 2 rounds of a 300-meter row and 12 lunges each. And the last section had 4 rounds of a 150-meter row and 6 lunges. And on the floor, we had 2 mini-blocks. The first mini-block had sumo deadlifts and bicep curls on the straps. And the second mini-block had single-arm low rows with weights and curtsy lunges. I did much better on the floor than in the other sections of the room, so at least I ended on a good note.

And on Friday’s workout, I think it was the worst day of the week for me with how I was feeling. I was truly miserable and wished I was still in bed. But I was awake and in class and I was going to try.

For cardio, we started with a progressive block where we started at a base pace, and every 30-seconds we increased to work toward an all-out. I was able to increase the resistance level every 30-seconds and it put me at the exact right spots for when we were supposed to be at a push pace or all-out. And the second block was all about 30-second all-outs. But the walking recoveries changed each time. We started with a 30-second recovery and it went up each time to a 90-second recovery before it started to decrease again.

On the rower, we started with the same progressive block that we had for cardio. But I knew I couldn’t really row that hard so I just tried to row for the entire time. I did need to take quite a few breaks, but I tried. And in the second block, we were with cardio again but instead of always doing an all-out row, during the all-outs we alternated between rowing or doing squats. And during the recovery time, we had our recovery and used that time to get on or off the rower.

And on the floor, we had a long block but it started with a mini-block that we did twice. That mini-block had lateral lunges, squats to bicep curls (which I did as separate movements), and push-ups to superman holds. Despite how nauseous I was feeling, I was able to do the superman holds. After doing 2 rounds of those exercises, we moved on to the rest of the workout. We had lateral lungs to upright rows (I did these as separate moves), bicep curls, and Arnold presses. I did take a lot of breaks on the floor because of how I was feeling, but I still surprised myself with how well I did when I thought it was going to be such a horrible workout.

And this week, I’m prepared again for another rough week. I never know ahead of time how bad I will feel or how many days it will affect me, but I know it’s got the potential to be a really bad week. And just like this past week, I will have to do what I can and not stress too much about it.

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