Tag Archives: workout

This past week of workouts was pretty tough for me. I knew that my pain and nausea would be returning, but I had not been prepared for it to be so bad or so early in the week. The good thing is that it seemed to be the worst on Monday and got a little better each day. But I was surprised when it hit me on Monday because I was expecting another day or two before I had to deal with it.

Not only was the pain and nausea at their peak on Monday, but it was also one of the really tough signature workouts. This time, it was Orange Inferno. I’ve done this workout before, and I’m pretty certain I’ve done it as a 2 group class. But having a tough signature workout plus my health issues made it harder than any other Inferno I remembered.

The idea of Inferno is that you have a run/row for the entire cardio block. The run (or bike) distance is always the same. And the rowing starts with a 100-meter row and increases by 100-meters every time you are on the rower. You don’t reset the rower the entire 23-minutes, so you are challenging yourself to get as far as you can on the rower in that time. Considering how I felt, I’m happy with how I did on the bike. My time wasn’t great, but it was close to what I would have wanted to do. And on the rower, I did ok with the first few rows since they were shorter. The longer rows were really hard and I took a lot of breaks. But I just tried to go when I could and rest when I needed to. I didn’t get that far by the end, but I’m not too upset about that.

On the floor, we had 3 blocks. The first block had push-ups, chest fly with weights, overhead tricep extensions with weights, and crunches with over unders. The second block had plank low rows with weights, low rows on the straps, hammer curls with weights, and bird dogs. And the last block had hip raises and dead bugs core work. For all the face-down and plank work, I modified it to be using the bench. And for those modified exercises, I took a lot of breaks to let the pain and nausea pass.

Wednesday’s workout was a power day, and while I still felt pretty awful, I was doing better than Monday. This power day had a lot of short intervals, which helped a bit too. But it was still tough work and I pushed when I could.

For cardio, we had 4 blocks. Blocks 1 and 3 were the same and blocks 2 and 4 were the same. Blocks 1 and 3 were run/row blocks. We had a .1 mile run (the bike does 4 times the distance) and then a 100-meter row. We repeated that until the end of the block. I did ok with that since they were all short distances and I was able to take little breaks when switching back and forth. Blocks 2 and 4 were timed and we had rounds of 30-second all-outs followed by 45-second recoveries.

On the floor, we also had 4 blocks. Block 1 had lunges and plank side leg lifts. Block 2 was with the cardio timing and we had rounds of 30-seconds of front squats and 24 foot exchanges in the 45-second part. Our rest was in the 45-second segment for whatever time leftover we had. Block 3 had single-arm hip hinges and thread the needles (which I modified slightly, but still had to be face down a lot). And the last block was again timed with cardio and we had 30-seconds of lunges and 24 high knees in the 45-second segment with a little rest with the extra time.

Friday’s workout was an endurance day, and I really liked the cardio challenge. Even with my pain and nausea, this was a great reminder of what I can do when I push myself and don’t focus too much on anything other than trying.

The cardio was 6 rounds of a 3-minute distance challenge. And after each one, we had 1-minute to recover. The goal wasn’t to increase things each round or to be close to our push pace. It was all about trying to maintain the speed every round because it was naturally going to get tougher each round. I focused on my cadence on the bike and not how hard I was pedaling. And I was able to be within a 6 reps per minute range for every 3-minute challenge.

On the floor, we had 6 blocks and they were all 3-minutes as well. The first block had mini-band work with walkouts and in and outs (I did the walkouts on the bench). The second block was with weights and we had uppercuts, and front bench tap squats. The third block was more mini-bank work with more in and outs and isolated squat walks. The fourth block was TRX work with low rows and bicep curls. The fifth block was mini-bands again with crunch in and outs and toe reaches. And the last block was on the rower for a 3-minute row. Just like the other workouts this week, I took breaks when I needed to but things were continuing to get better so it wasn’t as often as Monday or Wednesday.

By Saturday, I was almost feeling like myself. I was still having some pain and nausea, but it was so different from the beginning of the week. And it allowed me to do more of the workout with fewer breaks. This workout was a strength-based class and it was my only 3 group class for the week.

We had 2 blocks in each section of the room. For both cardio blocks, we had hills with increasing incline/resistance with base pace recoveries between each of the hill intervals. The first block had hill intervals that were 1-minute each and the second block had hill intervals that were 30-seconds each. And the resistance levels on the bike got really high for me. But I took advantage of this challenge and really focused on my cadence during the entire time. I was able to pedal faster when we were doing our base recovery intervals, but I did manage to keep the cadence the same even as we got higher up the hill. I haven’t focused too much on that on strength days before, but it was good to track it and I think I will keep that in mind for the future.

On the rower, both blocks had rowing intervals with medicine ball exercises between each interval. In both blocks, we had overhead presses and front presses with the medicine ball. In the first block, we started with a 200-meter row and we were supposed to count the strokes it took to get there. Then, for each interval after, we reduced 1 from the stroke count. We didn’t reset the rower and we used the total distance rowed for the second block. We did half of the total distance for the first interval in the second block and kept cutting it in half each time.

And on the floor, even though I was feeling better as far as pain and nausea goes, I had to do a few modifications due to my hip. Both blocks started with the same core work with sit-ups (which I did as crunches) and bicycle crunches. Then in the first block, we had lateral lunges and sumo squats. I can do both of those without too many modifications, but I do adjust them a little to make them hurt less. And in the second block, we also had swing lunges and pivot lunges. Neither of those were things I could really do, so I did weighted lunges and then supported lunges with holding on to the wall (I can go lower in my lunges when I’m supported, so it was a good mix). But I was grateful there was nothing face down while on the floor because I knew that would make me feel worse.

Even when I’m prepared for having a week of nausea, it can sometimes still surprise me or hit me in a different way. But I am so grateful that even though it was a bad week, it only started off bad and got better every day after.

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This past week, there were a lot of changes at my Orangetheory studio. Some of these changes were back to things that I was used to before the shutdown and some of them were brand new to me. But for the most part, every single workout this week was different from the week before for me. And I know that things will continue to change for me as things continue to get safer and get back to how they were before, but I think having so many changes at once was a bit shocking.

Monday’s workout was my first 6:30 am class, and it worried me about getting up that early. But I have been slowly adjusting my wakeup time so fortunately, it wasn’t too bad when my alarm went off. I had never worked out that early before, but if I wanted to work out before work, that was the latest time option I had with the new schedule. I still am hoping that the schedule will change again soon so that I don’t have to be up quite as early, but it seems like it will be doable until things change.

The workout was a strength-based class and it was a 3 group class (my last morning 3 group class for a while). For cardio, we had 2 blocks but they had similar patterns. In both blocks, we had a set distance we were supposed to do and the incline/resistance level went up by 1 each round. The first block had a bit longer of a distance for each round, but for both blocks, they were pretty short and it was nice to get to a recovery break quickly. I never got the resistance level up too high, but I did most of my work higher than my normal base resistance level.

For the rower, we had one long block. We started with a 250-meter row and it went down by 50-meters each round until it was a 100-meter row and then it repeated from the top. In the first round, we had high knees between each row, the second round had lunges between each row, and in the last round, we had shuffles between each round.

And on the floor, we had 2 blocks. The first block had deadlifts, side lunges, and step-ups (which I modified to be regular lunges). And the second block had sumo squats, hip bridge tricep extensions, and bridge chest fly. I did try to go a bit heavy with the weights, but I’m still using a little lighter weights than I was using before the shutdown.

Wednesday’s class had even more changes for me. Besides it also being at 6:30 am, t was the first class I had where masks were optional as long as you were fully vaccinated. This was something I hesitated on, but I ended up deciding to go without a mask but keep one with me in case I changed my mind. It also was the first 2 group class I’ve had in a long time. 2 group classes used to be what I had all the time, and they are great for a lot of reasons. But I also knew it would mean less rowing for me.

On both cardio and the floor, we had 5 blocks. For cardio, 3 of those 5 blocks were 2-minute distance challenges. And the goal every time was to beat the distance from the previous time. And the other 2 blocks were similar patterns with 45-seconds of base pace at an incline and 30-seconds of a base pace without incline for 4 rounds plus a 30-second all-out at the end. The first one had increasing inclines and the second had decreasing inclines. And they were high and I had to use very high resistance levels on the bike. It was a really challenging cardio section. Not only because of the resistance levels but because this was the longest time I’ve been on the bike for a very long time.

On the floor, we also have 5 blocks. The first and last blocks were both 2-minute row challenges and the goal was to do better on the second row than the first. I managed to get about 50 meters further the second time, which shocked me since I was so tired at the very end of the workout! We also had 1 more 2-minute block in the middle that was just 2 minutes of squat jacks to burpees (which I had to take very slow and didn’t get a lot of reps in). And for the long blocks, we had 3 exercises each. One block had clean to front squats with weights, lunges with hops, and push-ups. And the other block had weighted lunges, plank jacks, and low rows on the straps.

I was happy to not need to wear a mask anymore. Even though I didn’t struggle too much wearing it in class, it was nice to be able to easily take a drink of water when I needed to. And I’m glad that I didn’t do too bad in my first 2 group class since I knew it was going to be very different from what I have been used to since I started back.

Friday’s class didn’t have any new changes for me, but it was still an early 2 group class that was mask-optional. This workout was a strength-based class and I knew it would still be a challenge with being on the bike for so long. I’m sure I will get used to the longer cardio soon, but for now, it will probably still be tough for me.

For cardio, we started rounds of base paces at inclines followed by base paces with no incline and then an all-out followed by a longer block of just incline work. The incline started at the highest point and then went down and then we started back up the hill again. For the first half, as the incline went down the time we were at an incline went up. And in the last part, as we were going back up the incline, every incline was done for a minute. I was using the higher resistance levels on the bike and I was pedaling really slow for so much of it, but I was really proud of myself for not going easy on myself with the hills.

On the floor, we only had floor work so there was no rowing. The first 3 blocks had a bit of an add-on element and the last block had a takeaway element. The first 3 blocks all started with 1 round of bear steps. The second block added toe reaches and the third block also added on static crunches with scissor kicks. And all 3 of those blocks followed those add-on exercises with rounds of tricep extensions, chest press to reaches, and seated low rows. The last block had all 3 add-on exercises plus plank in and outs and we did 4 rounds with taking away one exercise each round. Then we had the same weighted exercises. My arms were so tired doing all the weight work since I was exercising a lot of the same muscles and the floor was for half the class (instead of a third which is what I’ve been used to), but it was good and I’m proud of what I was able to get done.

Saturday’s class was a 3 group class (for now, that will be my only 3 group class a week until things change up again). But it was at a slightly different time than I’ve been used to. This time change wasn’t as bad as the morning one, I just have a little more time between ending work on Saturdays and when my workout happens so I can get a few things done around my house between the two things.

The workout was a power day and there was a lot of emphasis on making sure we pushed ourselves hard, especially for cardio. There was a lot of recovery time in each block, so if we didn’t push hard then the workout would be much easier than it should be. We had rounds of push paces followed by base paces and then an all-out. The push paces weren’t too long, so I really did focus on getting my pedaling speed up and maintaining it the entire time. And for the all-outs, I really tried to maximize how quickly I could pedal without losing control. When we had the base paces or the recovery time, I was taking little breaks, mainly to drink water, but I was usually ready to pick things up again when we were back to the rest of the block.

On the rower, we had 3 blocks that all had repeats of a certain row distance plus exercises. I actually never made it to the exercises for any block (those exercises were frogger squats and then a squat hold), so I just did all the distance rows. The first block was 5 rounds of 100-meter rows, the second block was 4 rounds of 150-meter rows, and the last block was 3 rounds of 200-meter rows. Between each round, we were supposed to keep rowing but do 5-10 recovery strokes so they could be really slow. I didn’t go too crazy with any of my rowing since I knew I was pretty much going to be rowing for the entire block, but none of my times were that bad or off of what I would want to do.

And on the floor, we also had 3 blocks. The first block had ultimate burpees with half thrusters and lateral crunches on the Bosu. I had to modify the burpees and I broke them down into different parts and did those separately. So I did push-ups, plank rows, and squats. The second block had tripod burpees (which I just modified to be slower and walking in and out) and v-ups. And the last block had hip hinge swings and running man on the Bosu. It wasn’t my best floor block since I had to modify so much of it, but I was grateful it was a 3 group class since that meant I wasn’t on the floor as long.

Overall, considering all the changes I had this past week, I’m proud of how quickly I adapted. I wasn’t too worried about adapting to not wearing a mask, that was more of just feeling ok with it. But getting used to early workouts and going back to 2 group classes worried me. But like so many things I have worried about, I didn’t need to. My body adapted quickly and I’m sure this will feel normal and routine to me in no time. Probably right before things change up again.

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For the most part, this past week of workouts was pretty routine for me. Even though this isn’t the routine I was doing before the shutdown or right after things reopened, I’ve been getting used to this workout time and having only a little time after my workouts to be ready for work. I’ve even started getting used to working out in a mask. But this was the last week that things were like that. Starting this week, the workout times change again. And starting on Tuesday, masks are optional for those who are vaccinated.

What this means for me is that my workouts will be earlier than I’ve ever done them and I will need to adjust to that. I know that this is likely temporary and things will change again, and I think the goal is to have the workout times be back to where they were before. Also, I will be bringing a mask to class in case I feel like I need it, but I’m not sure I will be wearing it. That may be something I have to decide each day. And with the workout times changing and things continuing to move into a safer situation, the workouts are also changing a bit. Until this week, all the workouts were 3G, where you have a group on cardio, a group on the rowers, and a group on the floor. There will still be some 3G classes, but they are also returning to 2G classes this week. My schedule will be a mix of both, so that will be interesting.

But besides being prepared for the changes coming up, my workouts on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday were close to what I’ve been used to. I’ll be writing about my Saturday workout in tomorrow’s post because that was something special!

Monday’s workout was a power day. It felt a bit like an endurance day to me, but we were warned that it might feel that way and told to be aware of that. There is a difference with how to do things when it’s an endurance day versus power day, and I tried to be mindful of that and pushing myself more even with the longer workout intervals.

For cardio, we started with a 3-minute distance challenge. This is usually something we do for endurance days, but because we were going to have a 2-minute recovery after it, we were told to push ourselves harder than we normally would do. I had my bike resistance level up 1 from the level I have been working with, and I finally feel pretty good about keeping it there. After the 3-minute challenge, we had a 90-second challenge with the extra challenge of trying to match or beat half the distance from the 3-minute one. I was very happy that I was able to beat it. After those, we had intervals that felt more like a power day. We had 2 rounds of 1-minute all-outs and 2 rounds of 30-second all-outs with a 1-minute recovery between all of them. I was pedaling really fast at the end and it felt amazing to be able to do that again with no issues.

For rowing, we started on the same plan as cardio. We had the 3-minute row and 90-second row. I was able to row the entire time for both of those with the exception of a brief moment in the 3-minute row when my foot slipped and I had to fix the foot straps. But I had to do that in order to keep rowing and it wasn’t really a break, so I don’t feel too bad about it. After those 2 challenges, we had rounds of 300-meter rows and single-arm full thrusters with weights between each row. I only got through 2 rounds before the block was done, but I felt like I was doing pretty good with my pacing.

And on the floor, we had 2 blocks. The first block was my first block with the mini-bands since returning after the closure. With the mini-bands we had in and outs (which I modified to be regular squats), foot exchanges (which I modified to be front and back steps), and walkouts. Then we had a longer block with more power exercises. We had push-ups using the bench, step-ups (which I modified to be lunges), bench plank single-arm fly, and hip hinge swings. I felt much better about the second block than I did for the first and was able to use some weights closer to what I was using before the closure.

Wednesday was an endurance day, and it really felt like one! I thought Monday felt like endurance, but Wednesday proved me wrong.

For cardio, we had one long block. We started with a 30-second push pace and then a 30-second base pace. Then the push and base paces increased by 15-seconds each round until we got to a 75-second push pace and 75-second base pace. Then they decreased by 15-seconds each round and we ended with a 30-second all-out. I was using my new resistance level on the bike and it was tough to not have a recovery break during the entire block. I did have breaks to drink water, but that isn’t exactly the same because I rush to do those.

On the rower, it was all about 300-meter rows. And between each row, we had either high knees or butt kicks. 300-meters isn’t a crazy distance to do, but it’s also not exactly a sprint. I know that sometimes I have been able to do it quickly, but lately, it’s around 90 seconds of hard rowing to get it done. And I was trying to work on maintaining my stroke rate and increasing my wattage, but it’s hard. But when the block was almost done, I decided to give it everything I had knowing I wouldn’t do the row again. And it was the hardest I’ve rowed in a long time. Even before the pandemic, I rarely rowed this hard. The goal in my head was to get it done in 1:15 (even though that’s not close to my PR) and I was shocked I was able to get it done in 1:06.9. I was really burnt out after completing that row, but I was really proud of myself. And I took the last bit of that block as time to get my breathing back under control and to get ready for the floor.

And on the floor, we had 1 long block with 2 mini-blocks in them. And we were supposed to do each mini-block twice before moving on. The first mini-block had pullovers with an isolated hip bridge, chest presses with weights, and bear to downward dog poses. And the second mini-block had hip hinge low rows, shoulder presses, and bear steps. I was slower than I would have liked during the floor, and I struggled to fully catch my breath after the row block. But I was working on my second round of the second mini-block when the workout ended.

Friday’s workout was a power day. I was dealing with a bit of hip pain, but nothing too bad. I just knew that I would have to be a bit careful during the workout.

We had 2 blocks in each section of the room. For cardio, the first block started with a 30-second push pace followed by a 45-second base pace. Then we had a 45-second push, 60-second base, 60-second push, and 30-second all out. It was a good, short block to get us ready for the second block. The second block was 6 rounds of 30-second all-outs. After the first all-out, we had 30 seconds to recover and the recovery time went up by 15-seconds each round. I tried to pedal hard since we had a decent amount of recovery time, but my hip issues were limiting me a bit.

On the rower, the first block started with a 200-meter row and then 20 speed squats. Then we had a 150-meter row and 15 speed squats. I was working on the 100-meter row when the first block ended. And the second block went along with cardio. We had the same 30-second all-out rows, but instead of recovery, we had squat jumps (which I modified to be squat calf raises). There was a little time after finishing the squats before the next row, but not a lot. And just like I had done on Wednesday, I decided to push myself really hard for the last 30-second row. I was able to get to a higher wattage than I have seen in years and about 50% more distance than most of my 30-second rows!

And on the floor, the first block was a bit easier to warm us up for the rest of the floor. I appreciated that after rowing so hard. The first block had walk out to plank jacks, hand-release pushups, and sit-ups. And the second block had single-arm snatches, triceps on the straps, single-arm clean to presses, and bicep curls on the straps. And for the last 30 seconds of the workout, we had to pick one of the weight exercises to do for the entire time. I picked clean to presses since those are a little easier on me. I’m glad it was a lot more upper body than lower body work, but I still was being very cautious with my hip. And being cautious paid off because I wasn’t hurting too bad after the workout.

I was so proud of myself after getting through all these workouts. I had some great moments where I know I pushed myself and I saw results I wasn’t expecting. I don’t need to always see progress to be motivated, but it helps a lot. And I needed that amazing feeling going into my workout on Saturday. Because my Saturday workout was my first 90-minute class! But I’ll be writing about that tomorrow!

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Considering the things I was worried about regarding this past week of workouts, I’m pretty happy with how things went. I knew that my pain and nausea might be kicking in, which is always a challenge. I also was going to work with a new workout schedule and had no clue if I’d be able to manage that. But even with those challenges, I think this past week was a real win!

Monday’s workout was a strength-based class. It was also the first class with the new class schedule. While I like that the class I attend is a bit later so I could sleep a little longer each morning if I wanted to (but I haven’t done that yet), it does make it a bit close for having time to get ready before work. My new class time ends 30 minutes before I have to log in for work. So I decided that if I left before stretching, I could test out if the new time worked or if I had to find a new time for a bit.

The cardio had 2 blocks, both with hills. The blocks were almost identical starting with a push pace, going to a hull, and ending with an all-out. The difference was that the inclines/resistance levels in the first block increased during the hill and in the second block they decreased. I did use the correct resistance levels for the hills, even though it was really hard for me to pedal at the highest levels.

On the rower, we also had 2 blocks. The first block started with a 1-minute row followed by lunges with overhead triceps using a medicine ball. Then the row decreased by 15 seconds each round. And the second block started with a 15-second row followed by lunges with rainbows using a medicine ball. Then the row increased by 15-seconds each round. This was a good challenge for me to work on my rowing endurance, but it was still tough to do the longer rows. But I can feel like I’m getting back there.

And the floor also had 2 blocks, with a focus using the Bosu. The first block had shoulder presses, pullovers, and bicycle crunches all on the Bosu. I was struggling to balance for the shoulder presses, so I kneeled on the floor for them. The second block had single-arm presses on the Bosu, standing upright rows, and Spiderman planks.

And like I planned, I rushed out of class before the stretching and did have just enough time to shower and get dressed before logging in for work. It did cut it close, but I think this will work until the next time the class times change.

Wednesday’s workout was extra special because it was my first post-pandemic workout with one of my pre-pandemic workout buddies! My friend Erin, who has been doing my hair for a little over a year, was returning to OTF and was in the same class as me. I’ve already shared how happy I am to have some of my normal routine back in my life, and having a friend in class is an added bonus and makes things feel even more like they used to!

The workout was a mix of endurance, strength, and power and everything was about 45-second intervals.

For cardio, we started with a 45-second push, 45-second base at an incline, 45-second all-out, 45-second recovery, and a 45-second all-out. We repeated this a total of 3 times but the incline went down each round. And all the end we had one more 45-second all-out. I liked the short intervals because I felt like I could really push myself with the resistance levels and go fast for the all-outs. But the recovery times were short and I was really tired at the end.

The rowing started with a 45-second row followed by another 45-second row where we were supposed to keep the wattage the same but slow down our rowing speed (focusing more on power from our legs). Then we had 45-seconds to recover followed by 45-seconds of squat jacks. The squat jacks were tough for me. My hip popped out, which isn’t that unusual. But I couldn’t get it popped back in again which was frustrating. We repeated this pattern for a total of 3 rounds.

And on the floor, it wasn’t exactly 45-second intervals but it was a mix of 45-second intervals with 2 1/4 minute intervals. For the 2 1/4 minute parts, we had lateral lunges, deadlifts, and plank low rows. When that time was done, we stopped wherever we were and had 45-seconds of speed skaters. Then we had another 2 1/4 section where we picked up where we had left off. My hip continued to bug me while I was on the floor, but this is something I have dealt with for so many years, so I know how to work around it.

Friday’s workout wasn’t a bad hip day, but I started to have to deal with nausea. I did take my medications before the workout, but they weren’t really kicking in. The workout was strength-based, so I knew there would be a lot of work with the resistance levels for the bike. So I focused more on that than anything else.

The first cardio block was on our own. We had a distance to do on a hill and then repeated it with a bigger hill. I only made it through 3 rounds before that block ended. The second block was similar, but we were timed instead of doing the distance on our own. We had 3 hills and they went down each round.

The two row blocks were similar, with a focus on doing 100-meter rows. The first block had the rows with squat to presses, front raises, and regular squats using a medicine ball. The second block had the rows with bicep curls, tricep extensions. and calf raises with a medicine ball. My rows weren’t that great, but I tried to use as much power as I could. And for my last row of the second block, I went all out and got my wattage to be higher than it’s been since I started back and close to one of my highest numbers ever!

And on the floor, we had a focus on the upper body. The first block had single-arm chest presses, pullovers, and plank pull-throughs. The second block had single-arm low rows, push-ups, and shoulder presses. For any of the face down exercises, I used the bench so that I wasn’t feeling extra nauseous. It helped, but it was still tough getting through the floor blocks.

I was feeling a little better on Saturday, but I was still pretty nauseous. I knew that it would be another workout where I had to use a bunch of modifications and take it easier than I would like to. But I still managed to find ways to challenge myself a bit.

The cardio work had 3 blocks that were all 4 minutes long. Each block had a push pace, base, all-out, recovery, and all-out. But the push got shorter with each block and the base and recovery got longer with each block. I tried to pedal faster for the push and all-out segments, but I think I was really pedaling about the same speed the entire time. I tried to be ok with that and told myself that it was important to just keep moving, but it’s hard when I know I want to keep improving.

The rowing was also 3 blocks that were 4 minutes each. Each block started with a row and then had squats and lunges. The first block was a 400-meter row with 16 squats and lunges. The second block was a 300-meter row and had 2 rounds of 8 squats and lunges. And the last block had a 200-meter row with 3 rounds of 6 squats and lunges. And after the squats and lunges, we were supposed to row for distance. I only made it to the row for distance part in the first block, but I am proud of myself for rowing every distance without needing a break. And for the 200-meter row, I decided to fully go for it and was able to do the row only 7 seconds longer than my PR! I think that was the closest I’ve had to my old rowing ability since I started back!

And the floor was one long block. We had single-arm snatches, pullups on the straps, plank jacks, sit-ups, hammer curls, and bridge rows on the straps. I didn’t go super heavy on the weights because the 200-meter row from the row block really took it out of me. But I did try. And for the plank jacks, I used the bench for my hands so I wasn’t face down. I had to modify both of the strap exercises, both for nausea reasons and because my hip was starting to bug me again. But considering what I thought I’d have to do, I didn’t do that many modifications and that was a nice feeling!

This week will probably be another week with pain and nausea and I’m trying to see if I can do anything to make it easier on me. I am working on taking my meds before class and seeing if the timing of the medications might change anything. And I’m going to continue going to the class time that is a little later, even though I have to rush to get home and logged in for work. I’ll probably keep that time until they change the schedule again (and I hope they make the class either back to the other time or split the difference). I can make it work even though it’s not ideal. But even with any changes I have to make to make that time work, it’s completely worth it because I’m still so happy every time I get to go into the studio to work out.

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I’m really feeling like I’m back in my routine and groove with my workouts. Most of my fears about being back at Orangetheory are gone. I do still struggle with feeling like I should be doing more or better, but I’m getting used to my current abilities and finding ways to challenge myself to get back to where I was a year ago. And like I’ve said so many times, having this routine has been so good for me both physically and mentally. Even with having a tough workout week this past week, I still feel so accomplished with what I did.

Monday’s workout had a bit of a surprise for me. One of my coaches from before the pandemic, Tyler, was back! I had no idea that he was back and coaching that morning, so it was a great surprise for me and I loved that it made the workout even more familiar to me. It seems like each week I have something else that makes the workouts feel more like they did before and having a familiar coach did that on Monday.

The workout was power based and we had 3 blocks at each section of the room. For cardio, we had a lot of all-outs with each block that were either 1-minute or 30-seconds. I didn’t do too much with the resistance levels because I wanted to work on getting my cadence up more, and I felt like I was really close to my old speed at some moments.

On the rower, the first two blocks had rows with medicine ball exercises. The first block started at a 100-meter row and increased 50 meters each round. And the second block started at a 250-meter row and decreased 50 meters each round. And between each row, we had squats with medicine ball front presses. And the last block matched the treadmills with a 30-second all-out, 30-second recovery, and 30-second all-out. And for that last 30-second all-out, I was finally able to get my wattage above 100. That’s been a challenge for me and I was so happy that I had a few moments when I was able to make that happen.

And on the floor, it was a lot of burpee work. The first block had burpees with hop overs, step-ups with weights (which I did as lunges with weights), and mountain climbers. The second block had rolling burpees (which I split into sit-ups and regular burpees), full thrusters with weights, and power sit-ups. And the last block, which was 90-seconds, was just all burpees. I did all the burpees using the bench, which helped a bit, but there were a lot and they were tough!

Wednesday’s workout was a benchmark workout: the 2,000-meter row. This is probably the hardest benchmark for me to do and I knew that I was going to struggle a lot. I didn’t look at my past times for the benchmark and I knew that there was no chance I would randomly PR. I just wanted to do what I could and take it from there.

Before the benchmark, I had cardio. But they kept the cardio a bit easier to make sure we weren’t too tired by the time we were on the rower. It was a single block where the treadmills had .25 mile runs (for me on the bike, it was 1 mile each time). And then we had a minute to recover after each time. I know I could have gone harder or faster, but I also didn’t want to burn out before the rower.

When I got to the rower, I had a few goals in mind. My biggest goal was to see if I could do the entire row without taking a break. My slightly easier goal was to only take breaks every 500-meters. And my easiest goal was to complete the row before the block ended (but I knew I could keep going if I wasn’t finished in time). I knew that doing the entire row without a break was going to be close to impossible, but I was proud of myself that I waited until I passed the 500-meter mark before taking my first break. But after that, I couldn’t maintain only taking breaks every 500-meters. I honestly took more breaks than I would have liked. But I was struggling so much and I needed to get myself together before rowing some more. In the end, I did finish before the block was done, so at least I met that goal. I was about 2 1/2 minutes off of my PR, which I don’t think is that bad. I was away from the rower for over a year and only back for a few weeks. I don’t know if I could have expected much more than what I did.

And on the floor, things weren’t too crazy (since some people had the floor block before rowing). We had lunges with weights, alligators on the straps, plank taps, sit-ups, and side lunges with upright rows. I was really tired after the benchmark, so I was taking a lot of breaks on the floor too. But I tried to take breaks only after I finished all the reps for one exercise. And I was able to do that so I consider that a win too.

Friday’s workout was a struggle. I was feeling really lightheaded and had a stomach ache. I wasn’t sick, but I wondered if maybe I had eaten something the night before that didn’t agree with me. But between that and feeling like I still needed to recover from the 2,000-meter row, I took the workout a bit easier than normal. Each section of the room had 4 blocks. 2 blocks were 4 1/2 minutes, 1 block was 1-minute, and 1 block was 30-seconds.

For cardio, the longer blocks had push paces with base paces after. And we had an all-out to end the block. The first 4 1/2 minute block had a 1-minute all out and the second had a 30-second all-out. I didn’t do too much with the resistance levels, but I did increase for the push paces in the first block. The 1-minute block was a 1-minute all out and the 30-second block was a 30-second all-out.

On the rower, the longer blocks were a mix of rowing and squats. The first longer block had timed rows and we did either a 1-minute or 30-second row. And the second longer block had distance rows with either 300-meter or 150-meters. Between each time or distance row, we had squat jacks, which I modified to be regular squats. And just like with cardio, the 1-minute block was a 1-minute all-out row and the 30-second block was a 30-second all-out row. I was having a lot of trouble catching my breath on the rower. I was coughing a lot (something I’ve dealt with for several years now) and I took breaks when needed when I was feeling a bit more light-headed. I also made sure to drink more water than I normally do in a workout in case I was dehydrated.

And on the floor, the first long block had lateral lunges with either a single-arm thruster or a hop plus plank punches. And the second long block had goblet squats, regular squats, and plank rotations. The goblet squats were probably my favorite because I know I can use a heavy weight for those. It wasn’t my best weight for those squats, but I did get to pull the weight from the heavy weight rack. And the 1-minute block had frogger squats and the 30-second block had jump squats. I modified both of those to be calf raises instead of the jumps.

Saturday’s workout was a mix of power and strength. Whatever issues I had on Friday were gone so I was able to push myself a lot. And I had multiple opportunities to do that for cardio.

The cardio block was pretty much on our own. We were supposed to start at an incline/resistance level and then bring it down each round. And each round was a mix of all-outs and recoveries. We started with a 30-second all-out and 30-second recovery. Then we had an all-out for as long as we could hold it before another 30-second recovery. Then one more all-out for as long as we could go before having a 1-minute recovery and then bringing down the incline/resistance. I did start the resistance level higher than I normally do for my all-outs when I use the resistance for them. And when I did the all-outs for as long as I could go, I typically went about 45-seconds before needing to recover. I think that’s pretty good and it was nice testing out a lot of different resistance levels on the bike.

For the rower, it was all about sprints and recovery. We had rounds of 10 all-out pulls on the rower before having 5 pulls of a recovery. After doing that a few times, we had either overhead presses or front presses with the medicine ball. I really tried to go hard with my all-outs rows since I knew they were going to be over really quickly. I didn’t go as hard as I would have liked to, but I was getting better at making sure I focus on pushing back with my legs and not using my back as much.

And on the floor, we had 2 blocks that each had 2 exercises. The first block had rows with weights and then chest presses on the straps. And the second block had chest presses with weight and rows on the straps. And for both blocks, the exercise with the weights was done until we couldn’t do them anymore. We were supposed to push ourselves and then take a little break before pushing some more. I was trying to go a bit heavy with the weights, so I usually had to stop after 5 or 6 reps. But I felt really good about what I did because I pushed myself with the weights.

Even though I feel like I’m in a good routine again with my workouts, just like it always happens, my routine is going to have to change. The workout times are shifting a bit at the studio, and right now I’m not sure which morning class I’ll be taking. As you all are reading this, I’m trying to see if the morning class that is closest to what I was doing will work for me to get home and shower before work. It’s going to be really close. If that doesn’t work, I may have to start going to workouts at 6am! I’m hoping I don’t have to do that because I don’t want to get up that early. But I will do it if that’s what it takes. I guess I’ll report back next week on how this week goes!

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