This past week I tested out a new workout schedule. Because the schedule is changing at the studio and some coaches are changing when they teach, if I kept my old schedule I would miss at least one of the coaches I like to take a class with. But this new schedule also means going 4 days in a row, so I’m not sure if this is going to work for me or not. But I was excited to test it out this past week.
Monday was a holiday, so I got to go to a slightly later class than I normally do. It was still a morning class since I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep in that late, but getting an extra 30 minutes of sleep was nice. And I was surprised to see that it was a 2 group class. Usually, I go to 3 group classes, and they typically do that for holidays. But it was nice to have a 2 group class because we got to do a run/row workout.
For the run/row, the treadmill/bike portion involved working with inclines. And for the row, we always had a 100-meter row. For the treadmill/bike, we started with the shortest segment, but it was also at the highest incline/resistance level. And every time we were back to the treadmills/bike, the distance got longer and the incline went down. Then we had our row and then we were supposed to do a 1-minute recovery on the treadmill/bike to make sure we were ready for the next interval. We don’t always have recovery built into workouts like this, and we were told not to skip it, so I think I was much more ready for each incline segment. My back was still hurting, so getting on and off the bike and rower wasn’t the smoothest, but I was able to do it quickly enough.
On the floor, we had 3 blocks. The first block started with a goblet squat, which I had to do as a regular squat because it was too tough for me to hold a weight while doing it. Then we could rest before doing the next 3 exercises without a break. We had front raises, lateral raises, and reverse flys. Since those were without a break, everyone had to use a lighter weight than we might have used if we did each exercise separately. The second block had lateral hops, shuffle steps, bicep curls, and hip bridges. For the lateral hops and shuffle steps, I just did them slowly and as steps to not aggravate my back. And the last block was timed with neutral thrusters and walkouts to planks. For the walkouts to planks, I did something that looked like a modified burpee by stepping out to a plank and using the bench for my hands.
Tuesday’s workout was a signature class and it was the Infinity workout. This one is a bit of a Dri-Tri prep, and we have the Dri-Tri coming up in a couple of weeks. Normally, I would already be signed up for it, but I’m waiting to see how my back does. I want to challenge myself, but I also don’t want to hurt myself more.
For cardio, we started with a 3-minute push pace followed by a 1-minute base pace. We repeated this pattern and the push paces decreased by 30-seconds each time. And we ended with a 1-minute all-out. I was using my new base pace and I was feeling pretty good about how I did. I did need some breaks when I had some pain in my back, but they were much less often than what it was like the week before.
On the rower, we had rounds of a 100-meter row and medicine ball work. We were supposed to do power jacks, but since I had to be careful I did overhead presses instead. We started with 20 reps for the medicine ball and that decreased by 2 every time. And the goal was to get as far on the rower as we could. I had a goal of getting to at least 1500 meters, and I just made it so I was very happy with that.
And on the floor, we had the same exercises that are a part of the Dri-Tri. We had bench hop-overs, squats, step-ups (which I did as lunges), push-ups, plank jacks, and burpees. And doing these exercises proved to me that if I’m still feeling the same way I feel right now, I won’t be able to do the Dri-Tri. I really did my best with each exercise, but I had to take quite a few breaks and I only made it through the exercises once before the workout was done. The goal was to make it through them all twice to be the same as what would be done during the Dri-Tir. I know there is time for me to feel better and I’ve made a huge improvement since my back was injured last week, but it still was a bit upsetting to realize how difficult doing these exercises was for me. But I tried in the workout and that’s all I could do.
Wednesday was a bit of a tougher day for me. I think because I have been compensating for my back hurting, I woke up on Wednesday with not only back pain but hip pain. So having extra pain meant I had to be even more careful during my workout.
We had 2 blocks for cardio and for both blocks the focus was on intervals of a push pace followed by a base pace. In the first block, the push pace got shorter each time and the base pace stayed the same. And in the second block, the push pace was always the same and the base pace got shorter each time. And both blocks ended with a 1-minute all-out. I did use my new regular resistance levels on the bike, but I just pedaled slower than normal.
On the rower, for the first block, we had decreasing rows with squat jumps between each row. The rows started at 250-meters and went down by 50 meters each time. I did regular squats that weren’t exactly my normal full range of motion since I wasn’t able to bend much more than that. And in the second block, the row was always 150-meters and we were supposed to do squat jacks between each row. And the reps for the squat jacks decreased each time. For this block, I did overhead presses with the medicine ball instead of squat jacks.
On the floor, I just had to manage the best that I could. In the first block, we had step-ups, chest presses, and low rows on the straps. I did lunges instead of step-ups and they weren’t very good lunges. I tried my best, but I couldn’t bend as much as I thought I could. And in the second block, we had chest fly with weights, lateral step-ups, and plank jacks. I did lateral lunges instead of the step-ups and I stepped out for my plank jacks.
And my last workout for the week was on Thursday. I know doing 4 days in a row is more than I normally do, but it was a good test for me to do when I was dealing with pain. And even though it was another tough day, it was a good challenge and I just did the best that I could. The workout had 2 blocks for each section of the room and we switched between each block. So we did 1 block at each section first and then did another round to do the second block.
For cardio, both blocks were the same and I did some modifications to make it easier for me to make it through. Each block had 3 hill challenges in it and a 45-second base pace between each one. Each challenge was 90 seconds long and we were supposed to increase the incline/resistance level every 30 seconds. I did do that increase within each challenge, but we were supposed to continue increasing the incline/resistance level for each challenge and I kept it the same for all 6. So my resistance levels ended up being the level between my push and all-out, my all-out, and 1 above my all-out. I know I should have tried to go higher, but I really didn’t want to push things too much for my back.
On the rower, for both blocks we were timed with cardio. So we had a 30-second base row, 30-second push row, and 30-second all-out row with a 45-second recovery row in between. And we did that pattern a total of 3 times for each block. I surprised myself by being able to row almost the entire time for both blocks. I did have quick breaks, but I only really took a few seconds each time.
And the floor again was the most challenging part of the workout for me. The first block was supposed to have bench tap squats, jump squats, and plank low rows. I did regular squats as far as I could go for the bench tap squats and squats with calf raises for the jump squats. And in the second block, we had chest presses with weights, push-ups, and balance lunges. I was doing ok with the chest presses, but getting up and down with the bench was harder than I expected so that slowed me down. And for the balance lunges, I just tried to do lunges the best that I could.
I’m glad I tested out this new schedule and I’m curious to see how it feels as I try it again. I really think this could be possible, but it just depends on how I feel. Since this past week wasn’t my best week, it could be a good representation of a bad week for me. So I might be able to manage it no matter how I feel. But I also know it’s easy enough for me to switch up my schedule if I feel like this won’t work for me for a week. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see how I feel.
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