This past week of workouts was so tough. I wasn’t the only one who said that, so many people felt like this past week was getting us prepared for Hell Week. And I went into the workouts planning on working hard anyway so they felt even harder for me. But they were great workouts and I had some reasons to have even more fun with them.
Monday’s class was endurance based and it was a weird one for me. Not because the class was weird, but I went earlier than I would normally go. I originally had a meeting on Monday that would have prevented me from going to my normal class at the Brentwood studio, and even my early class in Culver would have been too late. So I went to an even earlier class and went at 6:20 am! I’m not used to working out that early so I think it felt harder because of that.
For cardio, we had push to base pace intervals. Half of them were 90-second intervals and half of them were 30-second intervals. But the push and base paces always matched. I was using the different resistance levels for the 90-second intervals, but for the 30-second ones, it was hard to switch back and forth. So I just kept the resistance level at my base and increased my speed.
On the rower, we started with a 3-minute row for distance. Then we had medicine ball lunges which I modified to be medicine ball squats. Then we took 200 meters off of our 3-minute row and did the medicine ball work again. We repeated that for the first half. Then, we followed the pattern of the treadmill with the 30 second intervals of push and base paces. The rowing for the second half was a lot, but it was good.
And on the floor, we had a lot of lower body work. We had goblet lunges (I modified them because we were supposed to use the Bosu), swing lunges (which I modified by using the straps for stability), sit-ups on the Bosu, lateral lunges into bicep curls with weights, and crunches on the Bosu. My legs were so tired after the workout and I was actually glad the meeting I was supposed to have was canceled so I could recover a bit at home before I had to go out to do other things that day.
Wednesday’s workout was a power day, but it almost felt more like an endurance day. Another hard class that felt like a Hell Week class to me.
For cardio, we had 2 blocks. The first block had a 90-second push pace, 90-second base pace, and 1 minute all out. Then we repeated that but with 30-second intervals. The second block was almost the day, but when we were doing the 30-second intervals we took out the base pace. I was working with the resistance levels when we had 90-second intervals, but I skipped them for the 30-second intervals. It’s just too hard to reach down to adjust the resistance level when there is so little time to work.
On the rower, we started with 3 rounds of 100-meter rows. Then we had 2 rounds of 150 meters and 1 round of 300 meters. Between the rowing, we were supposed to do lunges but I did squats instead. The second block had the same rowing plan but with squats instead of lunges so I guess I got double squats. On the floor, we had sumo squats to high rows with weights, sit-ups, plank work, toe reaches with weights, and rollouts on the straps. It was a lot of work work and a lot of getting up and down.
Friday’s workout was a power day and also Friday the 13th themed. But it was a workout I had been looking forward to for a while because my dad was joining me for it! My dad doesn’t go to Orangetheory that often. Normally it’s just for the family Thanksgiving workout. He’s also been to the Brentwood studio for 2 classes (once when I started at OTF and once when I didn’t need my liver surgery). But this would be his first time at the Culver studio and also the earliest workout he’s done with me.
I warned my dad it would be a hard workout and I was right! For cardio, we had 13 rounds of all outs to walking recoveries. All of the all outs were 30 seconds and the first 6 recoveries were 30 seconds before increasing to 45 seconds. My dad kicked butt doing the all outs on the treadmill and he was increasing his speed throughout the block. I was on the bike and skipped increasing the resistance but worked even harder than normal with trying to pedal faster. I think having my dad there motivated me to try more.
On the rower, we had rounds of 130-meter rows. We started with 13 squats to overhead reaches with the medicine ball between the rowing and decreased the number of squats each round. My dad and I raced for the first 130-meter row, and I think I beat him by a fraction of a second. But we didn’t race for the other rowing since we were both going at our own pace.
And on the floor, the theme of 13 continued. All the exercises were reps of 13. And a few times during the floor work, the screen went black and white and we were supposed to do 13 burpees. The regular floor work had ground to presses with weights, calf raises with weights, Y raises on the straps, crunches, and knee tucks and hamstring curls on the ab dolly (I modified the hamstring curls to be weighted hip bridges). It was a lot of work and really hard, but I was having so much fun having my dad in class with me. Having family in class is a real treat for me, and of course, my dad and I had to take a sweaty post-OTF photo with my Friday coach.
On Saturday, we had a strength day. I was a bit sore from Friday’s workout (and from doing other things on Friday), but I knew I had to finish the week strong. And I had been taking it easy with the resistance levels on the bike, so a strength day was the perfect thing.
For cardio, we had 2 blocks. Both blocks started with a 3-minute hill. The resistance level for the first block was between my push and all out and for the second block was my push level. After the hills, we had base pace with no incline/added resistance before a push and all out. And the all out was supposed to be on a hill so I set the resistance higher than normal for me. It was hard and I was moving slowly, but it felt good to do it.
On the rower, we had slow pulls only. That means that we count for a specific number of strokes but the goal is to go super slow on the rower. We were told to try to wait until the water tank wasn’t moving as much before pulling the handle again. Doing slow pulls is hard and takes patience, but it really helps with rowing form. The first set was 4 rounds of 20 slow pulls with squats between each round. The second set was 15 slow pulls with squats between, but I only got 1 round of those in before the block was done. I focused a lot of going as slow as I could and I think I did much better with my form than normal.
And on the floor, we had a lot of upper body work. We had bicep curls, pullovers, uppercuts, chest fly, and hip hinge upright rows. All of the work was with weights and I tried to go heavy since it was a strength day. I was glad it wasn’t lower body work because my lower body really did need that break.
Even though these workouts were really hard, I really loved them. I was also having a good week without pain or nausea affecting the workouts which helped. This week might be a bit tougher for me, but I’m ready for it.
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