Wrapping Up Orange Theory Hell Week

Well, I did it! I survived Orange Theory Hell Week again. This year I did 7 of the 8 workouts. I guess that makes me strong, but it also makes me tired!

I’m taking liberties for this week’s Weekly Wrap and recapping the Hell Week workouts, even though they started October 24th. I’m sure Holly and Wendy won’t mind.  😉

2018 Orange Theory Hell Week Workouts

There were 8 days of Hell Week workouts, starting Wednesday, October 24 and ending Wednesday, October 31. Each workout had a theme based on a horror movie.

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And, each workout had burpees. Because what exercise could be more hellish than burpees? Even if burpees weren’t one of the floor exercises, every once in a while the floor exercise screen was possessed by the Hell Week Skull of Doom, which meant you had to stop what you were doing and do 13 burpees.

The Skull of Doom was not my friend!

Each morning, I had to be brave and cross the caution tape!

Here’s a rundown of the 3G workouts that waited for me inside:

Day 1: The Burpee Ring  

Lots of burpees. 14 minutes of burpees to be precise. Well, 14 minutes of 90 seconds of burpees interspersed with 45 seconds of various squats as recovery exercises.

I actually liked the rolling burpees–you roll onto you back on the bench with your knees tucked, and then roll up and do a burpee with your feet on the bench. For hand release burpees, you take your push-up all the way to the floor and lift your hands before pushing up to complete the burpee. For bench hop over burpees, you hop over the bench and back in between each burpee.

On the rower, for the first block we did repeats of 90 sec of squat-to-press + 45 sec rowing, for the second block we did repeats of 90 sec rowing + 45 sec squat-to-press, and then finished with 30 sec recovery + 45 sec rowing at “all out” effort.

On the treadmill, we did repeats of 90 sec at “push” pace followed by a 45 sec walking recovery, and finished with 45 sec at “all out” pace.

Day 2: The Final Distance Destination

This was a team workout with the person on the floor setting the pace. Once the person on the floor finished round one, everyone on that team rotated stations. After everyone on a team completed round 1, the team started on round two, etc. Although the floor set the pace, the goal of the workout was maximum distance on the rower.

My partner and I missed that theme, though, because there were only two of us and neither of us wanted to row, so we just alternated between the floor and the treadmill. Oops! We still got in a great workout, though. Look at all those exercise we did two times through!

Day 3: The Haunting Hills  

The hills were on the treadmill and they were scary. We did 0.25 mile repeats starting at 10% incline, with a “break” during which we did 25 squatting calf raises. They weren’t as bad as I feared, probably because the incline was so rough.

On the rower, we started with a 400 M row followed by 25 pulse squats. Each round we decreased the rowing distance by 50 M but still did 25 pulse squats.

On the floor, we did super sets:

• bicep curls with TRX straps + bent over rows with free weights
• hip bridges with TRX straps + seated bicep curls
• tricep extensions with TRX straps + tricep kickbacks with free weights,
• chest flies + chest presses (both with free weights).

Day 4: The Carnival of Burning Souls

This workout was fast-paced with everyone doing an interval ladder of 2 min/90 sec/45 sec and then 45 sec/90 sec/2 min work intervals, all with 45 sec recovery intervals in between.

On the rower, we rowed for the work interval and did 10 frog squats as the recovery exercise, and then could rest in the time remaining.

On the floor we did squat/press thrusters as the main exercise (OMG those 2 min intervals were tough!) and 5 “blast off” push-ups as the recovery exercise. (Again, we could rest in the time remaining.)

On the treadmill, we ran at “push” pace for the work intervals and walked during the recovery intervals.

Day 5: Paranormal Leg Activity

I skipped this workout, but you can read about it here.

Day 6: The Incline Devil

I was afraid of another incline workout after Friday’s hills, but this one was different. For the first block we worked up from 2%  to 4% to 6% incline, spending 1 min at each level, and had a walking recovery before the next block. For the second block, we ran at “push” pace for 3 minutes at 6% incline, and had a walking recovery before the next block. For the last block, we worked down from 4% to 2% to 1%, spending 1 min at each level and going at “all out” pace for the last minute.

On the rower, the first block was a 3 minute row for distance, the second block was repeats of 10 bicep curls + 150 M row, and the third block was another 3 minute row for distance.

On the floor, we cycled through these exercises:

True to make “make it your own” rule, once I did 60 reps of each move,
I dropped down to 20 reps each so I could do them all again. 

Day 7: The Evil Dead Leg

This was a “boomerang” workout with alternating treadmill and rowing segments for the treadmill and rowing blocks (run-row-run; row-run-row). On the treadmill, we did 3 min at “push” pace and 1 min at “all out” pace, and then our row workout was rowing for distance.  On the rower, we did a 200 M row + 2 X (12 alternating jump squats + 12 standing split squats)  + rowing until time was up, and our treadmill workout was 3 min at “push” pace and 1 min at “all out” pace.

On the floor, we worked through these exercises:

The screen is dark because the Skull of Doom is coming!

Day 8: Nightmare From Hell Weeks Past 

They sure did pick some tough ones from Hell Weeks past!

On the rower, the first block was a 5 min row for distance, the second block was repeats of 200 M row + 30 second squat hold, and the third block was a few rounds of intervals of 30 sec “all out” and 30 sec recovery followed by a few minutes for distance.

On the floor we did more burpees:

• bicep curl burpees
• plank jack burpees
• full burpees

and then upright row, front squats, overhead presses, reverse lunges, squat swings, and lateral raises.

On the treadmill, for the first block (5 min) we started at 11% incline (not again!) and worked down 1% every minute to 7% incline. For the second block (3.5 min), we started at incline 7% did 30 seconds at “all out” pace followed by 30 sec walking recovery, working down 2% each time. For the third block (3.5 min) we did an interval ladder of 30 sec/45 sec/1 min, each at “all out pace” with a 45 sec walking recovery in between.

And with that,
I earned my Orange Theory Hell Week t-shirt!

As you can see, although the workouts have a similar format, they each were quite different. We usually spend about 14 minutes at each station, sometimes all at once, sometimes rotating through two or three times. The treadmill workouts may focus on speed, incline, endurance or some combination. The rowing workouts may focus on distance or may incorporate strength exercises off the rower. The floor workouts may include body weight exercises, free weights, fitness bands, TRX straps, and even the Bosu ball.

I thought after Hell Week I’d want to take some time off, but I find I’m even more hooked on those endorphins. I’m not thrilled about November’s rowing theme, but I’m trying to see it as an opportunity to figure out how to suck less at rowing.

How many burpees would you do for a free t-shirt?