This Wasn’t Going To Be A 4 Workout Week (or Some Pleasant Surprises)

This past week of workouts didn’t end up being the way I expected them to be. First of all, I was preparing for some bad pain and nausea. While I did have some issues throughout the week, they weren’t as bad as they have been in the past. It seems like the pain and nausea waited until I was home and working to really hit me. So it was nice to be able to do more than I thought I could. Also, this past week was going to be a 3 workout week originally. I wasn’t going to make it to my Saturday workout (more on that tomorrow) and I didn’t plan another day to go. I can do a 3 workout week and still hit my goals, but in the end, guilt took over and I figured out a way to make it 4 workouts.

Monday’s workout was a partner workout and it was a tough one! We had 2 blocks, but the floor work stayed the same for both blocks. And since the person on the floor controlled the switch, it was hard to make sure I didn’t slack off on the floor. The way the partner workout worked was one person was on the floor and the other was on the treadmill. When the switched happened, the treadmill person was on the floor and the floor person was on the rower. That went back and forth until that block ended. And then the other block switched up what we did when we weren’t on the floor. For me, the first block I was doing floor/rower and the second block I was doing bike/floor.

When we were on the floor, we only did 1 exercise before switching. We had 100 running man, 90 over/under crunches, 80 crunches with heel taps, 70 bench hops, 60 bicycles, 50 toe reaches, 40 plank jacks, 30 speed skaters, 20 high rows on the straps, and 10 bench sit-up to stands. I did have to modify a few of the exercises like using the bench for the plank work and separating the sit-up to stands so I did sit-ups and then squats when I was done with those. My biggest motivation to keep going was knowing my partner was waiting on me, but I did have to take some breaks from time to time because my hip was starting to hurt.

The partner that wasn’t on the floor was working at a push pace until they switched. On the rower, I just rowed until my partner was ready to switch and I didn’t worry too much about the wattage. And on the bike, I did use my push pace resistance level. I tried to keep the breaks I needed to catch my breath and drink some water to be while I was on the rower or bike since that wasn’t when someone else depended on me. But I also didn’t want to miss out on time to get my cardio in. Fortunately, the floor work felt like cardio too so I think I did get more cardio than normal.

Wednesday’s workout was a new signature workout: Orange Arc. This workout is very rower focused, but since I had a 3 group class it wasn’t too different from what I’m used to (the 2 group classes had 22 minutes of rowing which almost never happens). I was grateful to have my 3 group class, but just because I had less rowing time didn’t make the workout any easier.

For cardio, we started with a 3-minute push pace. Then we had rounds of push pace to base pace. Each round got a little bit longer, but it was never more than 90 seconds. We ended with a 30 second all out and then after recovery, we had a 1 minute all out. Once that was done, we got off the treadmills/bike and held a squat for a minute while cheering on the rowers.

On the rowers, we started with a 3-minute push just like we did for cardio. Then we had the same intervals that we had on cardio with the push and base paces. And at the end, we had a 3-minute row for distance. This was 14 minutes of rowing with only 2 very short breaks the entire time. I have done longer rowing days before, but those are so rare so this was one of my longest times on the rower. I did have to take breaks throughout the entire block to let some pain pass over me. But I did try to increase my speed and power when we had push paces on the rower compared to when we were in a base pace. It didn’t always work out and happen, but at least I made the effort to try. And I did appreciate during the last minute that we had the people who were on the treadmills in front of our rowers cheering us on. It helped distract me a bit and just finish the row without stopping.

And on the floor, we had 1 long block. Everything started at 10 reps and went up 2 reps each round. We had chest presses and low rows on the straps, hip swings and triceps with weights, side plank hip dips, and sit-ups. I was so tired from working so hard with the rower that I had to go a bit easy on the floor and not use my usual weights. I also was starting to feel a bit nauseous during the hip swings so the lighter weight was needed to help that as well. With most of the exercises, I could at least finish all the reps before resting. The only one I couldn’t do that with was the sit-ups. I really struggled with those and had to break them into sets of 3 or 4 until I finished all the reps. I have known for a while the sit-ups are hard on me because of my hips, but this time they seemed extra hard. I think the rower made me work my hips more than normal so that was the issue, but I wasn’t too worried about it during the workout and my hips were doing ok after I rested at home.

Friday’s workout was a power day and we had 4 blocks at each section of the room. It was a lot of work, but it was also fast-moving so that helped a lot too. With the 4 blocks, blocks 1 and 3 were one way and blocks 2 and 4 were another. Also, blocks 1 and 3 were 4 minutes each and 2 and 4 were 90 seconds.

For cardio, blocks 1 and 3 were 1-minute push to base pace intervals, 45-second push to base pace intervals, and an all out to end the block. And blocks 2 and 4 had 30 seconds of a push, 30 seconds of a base, and 30 seconds of an all out. I was using my normal resistance levels and felt pretty good with those because I could pedal fast and since the blocks were done quickly I wasn’t getting tired.

On the rower, blocks 1 and 3 had a 1-minute row, 45-second row, and 30-second row. And between each row, we had frogger squats. The squats took me a bit longer than normal so I never made it to the last round of them, but I was rowing quick and that was more important to me. And for blocks 2 and 4, we followed the pattern of the treadmills with the 30-second intervals.

And on the floor, blocks 2 and 4 had lateral and forward walks using the mini-bands. Block 1 had chest presses using weights and push-ups and block 3 had skater lunges and ab side twists with weights. I was worried about the push-ups even using the bench because I was starting to get a bit nauseous by the end of the workout, but we only and 4 reps of them and I was able to push through. Fortunately, the rest of the floor work was easier on me.

And to make up for not working out on Saturday, I took a Sunday class! It ended up fitting in my schedule when before I wasn’t sure about that. Plus, one of my friends from my Wednesday/Friday class was going to be in Sunday’s class so I was excited to be in class with a friend. The class was a power day and it had a lot of switching between cardio and rowing which was fun.

If you started on cardio (like I did), the first block was cardio, rowing, cardio. And then the second block was rowing, cardio, rowing. So once you were done with the cardio and rowing block, you were in both sections for 3 mini-blocks. Every time we were on cardio we had a 2-minute push pace, 1-minute base pace, and 1-minute all out. I was using my normal resistance levels for these and worked extra hard on pedaling faster. Every time we were on the rower, we had a row with lunges. We started with a 600-meter row and every round it went down 100 meters. And the lunges were supposed to be with side twists. But I changed those to be squats because I knew those would be easier on my hips. I struggled a bit with nausea during the long rows, but it passed quickly so I could get back to my rowing.

And on the floor, we had one long block that was split into 2 mini-blocks. Each mini-block was supposed to be done without a break (we were supposed to take the breaks in-between the mini-blocks). The first mini-block had tricep extensions with weights, chest flys with weights, chest presses with weights, and chest presses with the straps. And the second mini-block had ab scissor kicks, sit-ups, and toe reaches. I struggled a bit more on the floor that I would have expected, but I think that was partially my fault. I wanted to use 15 lb weights for the arm work, but they were all being used by other people. I had a choice between 12 lb and 20 lb, and I decided to go heavier to push myself. That might have been a bit too much for me. But I’m still glad I did that because I know if I used the lighter weights I would have been disappointed in myself.

I know that I would have been ok doing 3 workouts instead of 4, but I’m so glad I added the extra one in. I was feeling a bit guilty about missing Saturday and felt a bit out of sorts with a change in my routine. Even though doing a Sunday workout is weird for me, that felt a bit more normal than having 3 workouts. And the bonus class ended up being such a great one for me and I am so happy I went! Now, back to my normal routine and hopefully still awesome workouts this week!

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