Tag Archives: workout

As I suspected when I wrote my last workout recap, my workouts this past week started off a bit rough but got better throughout the week. I am still dealing with nausea from medication, but it’s slowly getting better. And my monthly nausea ended on Wednesday. So I didn’t have as bad of a time with nausea in my workouts. Of course, my life is never easy and I did something to my hips on Friday so my last workout of the week was a bit tough with not being as flexible as normal. But that was much easier to manage than nausea.

And again, I did only old Orangetheory at Home workouts for my workouts. It’s funny how much work I put into finding other workouts to do and then I ended up not really using them. But I like having options and maybe there will be a day coming up where I just need a big change. But having something familiar and almost comforting to me is what I really need right now.

I’m still struggling with making my workouts hard enough or as difficult as I think they should be. I’m trying to not let that get to me because I know that I’m not in normal circumstances right now. I still would love to have some improvements in my workouts while they are being done alone and at home, but if that doesn’t happen then it doesn’t happen.

But I finally feel like things will be turning around for me somewhat soon. California just announced the next group of people who will be eligible to make appointments for vaccinations. And it turns out, I fit into the high-risk group that will be a part of it. I believe you can start having appointments to be vaccinated in 1 month, but I’m not sure how it will be done since it hasn’t been announced just yet. But I have already talked to my work to make sure that it won’t be an issue to take time off whenever I get an appointment. I’m not going to try to make sure my appointment is after work unless I have a lot of options. But I’m guessing I will just have to take whatever I can get.

Assuming I can get the first vaccine by the first week of April, that means I will be able to get the second vaccine by the end of April. And it takes about 2 weeks after the second vaccination for your body to build up all the antibodies needed to be safe. So if that ends up being the timeline I work with, by mid-May, hopefully I will be fully vaccinated and that will mean I can start trying to go to the outdoor OTF workouts! Or maybe by then, the studios will start to reopen (but I don’t think they will). So I might only have a few more months of home workouts before I can be coached again!

I seriously can’t wait for that. There are so many things I’m looking forward to having in my life again, but my workouts are a big part of it! I will have to work on figuring out a schedule once I have an idea about what timeline I’m working with. I’m guessing I will have to do afternoon workouts because it will be hard to do them before work when I have to drive to a studio that is further than I’m used to. But honestly, I don’t care. Whatever it takes for me to be able to do outdoor workouts, I’ll do it!

Knowing that this time might be coming to an end has been motivating me. I’m still struggling and I’m not going to deny that. But I’m also trying to be a bit grateful for whatever time I have left doing workouts at home. This is something I never thought I’d be able to do, and I’ve made it work. It hasn’t been as good as I would have liked it to be, but it’s better than nothing. And I need to recognize that is an accomplishment and something to be proud of.

But I still can’t wait until I have my coaches kicking my butt and forcing me to feel like I’m an athlete and a badass.

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As I was writing my last workout recap post, I realized in the middle of it that I could add old Orangetheory at Home workouts to my YouTube playlist. I still can’t believe I didn’t think about that until I wrote my blog post, but I’m glad I remembered it at some point so I could do it. And I added a ton of OTF workouts to my list, but I limited it to the special ones. So I added the Dri-Tri, Hell Week, and all the Hometown ones where it features different coaches around the country. I guess at some point I could almost use the workouts that were exactly a year ago because we are coming up on 1 year of home workouts. But I’m still trying to keep some variety in there.

And for this past week of workouts, I only did the OTF workouts. And that was for 2 reasons. First, they do bring me a small sense of familiarity and comfort because they are what I am used to. I know the format and what the different exercises are called. And even though the 4 workouts I did this past week all happened to be ones that I didn’t do before (but that was just how it happened and not something I tried to do), they still felt like what I’m used to. But also, I did it that way because I was feeling really awful and didn’t want to associate any other workouts with a feeling I’m used to pushing through doing OTF workouts.

I had my usual monthly nausea this past week (and will be still dealing with it this week). I’m used to that and while it’s tough, I know I can get through it. But I had a double dose of nausea because the new medication I’m taking causes nausea too. I’m trying to be careful with how and when I take it to limit nausea, but I think it might take a few weeks before my body gets used to it. So I just had to push through like I do when my regular nausea is extremely bad. I had some really hard days where I didn’t know if I’d make it through the workout without throwing up. But I took it easy when I could and didn’t do exercises that I knew would make me feel worse.

It wasn’t that great of a workout week as far as what I was able to accomplish. But I always try to remind myself during these bad weeks that it’s better to do something instead of nothing. I also try to remember that sometimes it’s more about just keeping my routine up and having a regular schedule and not as much about pushing forward. I still want to improve in my workouts, but between pandemic fatigue and nausea, I knew this past week wasn’t the week to attempt to do that.

I know that this week will still be a bit tough, but at least my regular nausea should be getting better during the week. And maybe the medication won’t affect me as much soon. That one is a little less clear since I haven’t taken this medication at this dosage before. I know when I’ve been on a lower dose and I’m on it for 1-2 weeks, I’m feeling sick the entire time. But who knows what will happen for me this time. I’m just going to keep going and if I’m feeling up to it, I might try another workout besides one of the old OTF ones. But even if I only do the OTF ones, I know I’ll be getting a good workout in and I’ll be happy.

I know I’ve said this so many times in the past 11 months, but I can’t wait until I can be back to the workouts I’m used to. Whether that means in the studio or the outdoor ones. As soon as I’m fully vaccinated, I’m planning on going back. I have no clue when I’ll be vaccinated, but I know that every day that passes is also a day closer to whenever it happens. Maybe I’ll be lucky and I’ll get one of those surprise vaccines like some of my friends have been lucky enough to get. But I know I’ll be vaccinated eventually. I just keep hoping it will be soon so I can get at least one part of my life back.

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I said it last week, but one of the things I love most about Orangetheory is not having to think too much about my workouts. I just have to schedule my workout times, show up, and there is a plan all set for me. I know I still have to work hard, but having everything figured out for me helps me feel more excited to work out.

Almost 11 months ago when I started working out at home, the OTF at Home videos were very similar to what the classes were like. And I understand why they changed the format recently and for so many people it probably makes their workouts better. But for me, I like having things really easy for me. All I had to do was get up, open the app on my iPad, and do the workout. I knew I was getting my full workout in and that was that. And if I wasn’t working or if I was doing workouts after work, having to mix and match things might be fine for me. But not when I’m trying to get a workout done quickly so I can do it before I have to log in for work.

So this past week, I tried to do some planning so I didn’t have to think too much. I knew what things I’d be doing each day and tried to follow that. But it still didn’t feel right to me. I really don’t like having to switch from one workout to another to get my full workout done. I liked it being in a single video so I didn’t have to switch anything in the middle. But I tried this idea and did it for the first 3 workouts of the week. But on Saturday, when I had a bit more time, I decided to change it yet again.

First, I will say that as soon as I can go back to OTF, I will be going there. I still think it’s the best workout for me and just because I’m looking at other options for now doesn’t mean that I won’t be back. I just have to find what works when I can’t do the workout that works best for me. And as soon as I’m vaccinated or things are safe, I will be back at OTF and probably won’t work out at home anymore.

But I had to accept that for now, the OTF at Home videos aren’t going to be the best option for me unless they go back to full workouts in a single video. I had to find workouts online that were the full workout in one thing. So I created a playlist for myself on YouTube and started searching for different workouts online. I found online videos that are similar to OTF and have the full workout in one thing. And I made sure all the videos were long enough too. Some of them were only 20 minutes long, and that’s not enough for me. The shortest ones I found were about 35 minutes long, but most were between 45-60 minutes.

I want to add that as I wrote this blog post, I also realized I was a bit of an idiot and didn’t add any of the old OTF at Home workout videos to my list. They have hundreds on there with the old format on their YouTube channel, so I could just add those too! So I actually took a break in the middle of writing this to go to their channel to add a bunch of those workouts to my playlist.

I found quite a few videos that fit what I was looking for. And I did the first one for my Saturday workout. It was a bit odd trying to get used to some of the flow and language they used (some exercises had different names from what I’m used to), but it went well. I liked feeling like I was doing a full workout and that I didn’t have to think too much about it. I will still need to plan out what video I will do each day, especially on weekdays when my time is a bit more limited. I’m also going to try to only do the shorter 35-minute ones when I have to rush to get my workout done. But hopefully, I can keep waking up early so I don’t have to rush a workout in the morning.

Just like with every other attempt I’ve made with doing my workouts at home work for me, this one might not work even though I’m liking the idea for now. Things might change and next week I might have a new idea that I’m excited about. But I’m trying to remind myself that at least I’m trying to make this work and not giving up when things keep getting harder for me. I’m not giving up on my workout routine. I just have to keep going. And maybe it will never really be perfect for me, but that’s ok too. This isn’t the permanent plan for myself, I just have to do it until I can get back to what I know makes me happy.

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I knew that I was going to be doing a lot of mix and match workouts this past week and I had said I wanted to try to make some sort of plan with what I would do each day. But when I said I would make a plan, I was thinking about having lower body days and upper body days. I didn’t think much beyond that.

And that’s what I tried to do this past week but I wasn’t very successful at it. I felt like I was jumping around trying to figure out what workouts to do. And I didn’t necessarily plan what day would be what type of workout. I ended up spending time each day trying to see what I wanted to do and checking out what different videos online had to offer. And that took up a lot of time.

Before last month, taking time to set up my workout for the day wasn’t a big deal because I had all the time I wanted to do my workout. I rarely had anything I had to do in the mornings so if I wasted 30 minutes getting things set up it was fine. But now, I have a pretty tight schedule in the morning. I know I could switch my workout to be after work, but I am really trying to keep my workouts in the morning. But in order for me to work out, shower, and be logged in to all the websites I need to use for work before my shift starts; I don’t have a lot of extra time. I really need to be able to get to my workouts quickly and not have to plan that morning.

Since I didn’t plan well and didn’t have time to waste, I ended up not having a lot of variety in what I did throughout the week. That’s fine, but not what my goal is with my workouts. One of the things I love about Orangetheory is the variety in the workouts and how each day is different. And another thing I love about the workouts at Orangetheory is how I don’t have to think about what I’m doing. I know that isn’t how everyone does their workouts at other places, but not having to plan out my workouts is a luxury that I’ve gotten used to. But now, I have to build the skills to plan out some workouts each week.

I’m struggling a bit with how to do this because this isn’t something I’ve really done before. Even when I belonged to regular gyms, I wasn’t good at planning workouts. At one gym I belonged to, I worked with a personal trainer twice a week and the other days I would just do cardio. At another gym I belonged to, I rarely did anything other than cardio. And if I had cardio machines available for me to use, planning cardio is pretty easy (I am on a waitlist for renting a WaterRower but I won’t know for a while if I get one). But planning the strength part of my workout is something I’ve never really tried to do.

And I know, I don’t really have to plan everything with the strength part of my workout. I can still do the videos online from Orangetheory or other sources. But I do need to plan which videos I want to do or if I find a workout somewhere else that I want to follow. And I’m in the trial and error stage of figuring out how to accomplish this. Right now, I’m trying to look at the videos over the weekend to see what the exercises are and make a list of what I want to try to do for the week. I don’t know if this will work or if I’ll be able to keep it up, but I have to try.

Hopefully, planning my workouts this week will be a bit easier than the past week. And it continues to get easier for me. I’m still excited for when I can start back at Orangetheory (whether that will be for the outdoor workouts or the regular in-studio ones), but I need to find a way to make things work for me right now.

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I just changed up my workout routine. I had to get used to waking up earlier so I could work out before work, and that’s still something new for me. Even though it’s not a huge change, it’s still a change. And I thought I’d have some time to get used to that before I would have another change. I was wrong.

Since the pandemic started about 10 months ago, the Orangetheory at Home workouts has been the same style. It’s a video with the full workout that is posted once a day. The videos are different every day and the length can vary, but they were all about 40-50 minutes long. I loved having a single video to watch and workout with and it’s been a very easy thing to do. When I’ve tried other workout videos online, one of my biggest issues has been having to combine videos to get a full workout in. Either the videos are too short or they only have half of what I want to do. And that’s one of the reasons why I loved the OTF at Home workouts and have stuck with them for so long.

But this past week, OTF changed it up and now they are posting 5 videos at the beginning of the week to mix and match. And they are designed to be combined. The videos were cardio, upper body, lower body, core, and stretching. And all the videos were about 20-25 minutes long. So I had to start combining workouts in order to get the full workout in.

I spent this past week trying things and testing them out. I did a day with the cardio and upper body videos and that was good. Another day was with the lower body video and a jump rope workout (which I need to get back into doing more because I noticed a decrease in my endurance). I still wish the videos were a full workout each day because that’s easier for me to do, but these were still good. And because I’m being forced into doing a mix and match workout, I also added in some workouts from other videos too. If I have to find different components, then I might as well give myself as much variety as possible.

I’m still experimenting with all this and I know that it will change over the next few weeks, but I know I’ll figure out something eventually. And I know, because this is how life goes, as soon as I figure it out things will change again. Hopefully they don’t change before that, but it’s very possible to happen that way again. I hope that the next big change for me will be switching from home workouts to the outdoor classes. But for me, I think I won’t be switching to those classes until I am fully vaccinated. And the way that vaccinations are doing, that probably won’t be until late spring.

There’s also a chance that in-studios workouts will open by the time I’m fully vaccinated, but I don’t think that will happen until more of the population is vaccinated in the summer. I know there is no real way to know this information. I mean, I thought that when the studios had to close that it would only be for maybe a month. Now, I’m pretty sure that they will be closed past the 1-year mark.

The only other possible change in my workouts that could happen is if I get some new workout equipment. I put myself on the waitlist for renting a rowing machine, but there is no guarantee that I will get one to rent. I looked at buying one, but they aren’t the cheapest things if I get the one I want (about $800) and while I did find a way to make space for it in my house, I know that once I’m back to the studio workouts that I won’t be using it as much. So renting one would be ideal for me, I just have to hope that I get one.

I’m going to spend this week continuing to experiment with mixing and matching my workouts and maybe figuring out some sort of routine (like having set days for upper and lower body). But even if I don’t figure it out, at least I’m doing some workout for those 4 days a week and as I have said so many times, something is better than nothing.

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I know I’ve already covered that I completed my goal for my 2020 workouts, but I think hitting that goal was a bigger deal than it normally is. In 2020, I had to find a way to motivate myself to do workouts at home. I know I don’t like working out at home. I know that it’s easy to slack off and not do what I know I should be doing. But somehow, I found a way to make it work and I got through 2020 and completed 204 workouts!

Originally, my plan for this past week was to test out doing my workouts early to see what I can do when I have work in the mornings. Unfortunately, that didn’t end up happening. I didn’t really sleep in, but I wasn’t up and ready to go early enough to test that out. I know that this week, that means I will have to either get up super early to test things out or I’ll have to do my workouts after work. But I’m ok with that plan for now since I’m doing the workouts on my own. When I will have to work around a workout schedule, then I’ll have to think about things more.

Last week’s workouts were a slightly different schedule than normal. Because it’s a tradition for me to work out on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, I wanted to keep that up. So I worked out on Monday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Doing 3 days in a row is tough, even when they are workouts at home and I know they aren’t as hard as workouts in the studio. But it was worth having something be tough for me to keep up a tradition that I’ve had for so long.

I tried to do my best with every workout that I had, but as it’s been for a while now, it’s also hard to motivate myself as much as I wish I could. I did try to go a bit heavier with my weights, but I couldn’t do it. And I know the weights that I’m using are lower than I normally do. I want to get back to where I was in March, but it’s hard when it feels so far away. That’s something I want to work on for this year.

2020 was over 75% home workouts. I don’t know if 2021 will be the same way, but I’m trying to be hopeful that it won’t be. Even if the studios can’t open until the fall, there are outdoor workouts that I could do. I’m just waiting for things to be a bit better here before I do them. I might wait until I’m vaccinated to be extra safe. But I’m hoping that I’ll be vaccinated no later than the summer. So if that’s how it goes, then maybe only 50% of my workouts will have to be at home by myself.

I have tried for so long to figure out what will get me going with my home workouts, but I’ve been more and more accepting of the idea that maybe it just won’t connect with me. If home workouts were easy for me, I would have done them way before the pandemic. There’s a reason I connected with Orangetheory and there’s nothing wrong with me needing that environment to do my best. It’s an unfortunate reality for me right now, but I think it’s just the way it is.

But that doesn’t mean I’m giving up. I’m still planning on doing 4 workouts a week at home for now. I’m still going to try and hope that something clicks with me. I will still try to improve and do better. And I’ve already started off this year with 2 workouts (on Friday and Saturday), so that’s a great start! I’m just going to keep going and be excited that every week of home workouts brings me a week closer to workouts back in the studio.

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