Like a car running out of petrol… working out when you’re hungry is hard!

Image from unsplash.com (Gabriel Jiminez)

Tonight when I came to do 3xMetis, I thought it would be a breeze. A PB of 23mins to beat? Piece of cake! 

But then when I came to do it, I found the first set completely exhausting. I had no energy. I couldn’t work it out. Then I realised… 

I didn’t very much today. Not out of choice, it was entirely by accident. It was purely down to a busy day at work and slightly too much coffee, which kind of ruins my appetite. I had yoghurt, granola and banana for breakfast and then baked beans on sourdough for lunch. Nowhere near enough energy for a workout!

It was the first time that had happened to me, which is kind of weird in itself. It’s sometimes strange to think of your body in such a basic way. Like a car running out of petrol.

On another note, I’ve changed my next training week to Cardio+Strength, just to mix it up a bit, and to encourage me to get out of the house to do the running exercises.

I’m also trying to work out in the morning rather than the evening, but it’s so bloody hard to get out of bed at the moment!

Sunday Swimming

Image from unsplash.com (Artem Verbo)

Had a big night out last night with some friends. Cutting back on drinking is often hard on the weekends when you want to socialise, and when the social norm is to get absolutely shitfaced.

But what’s been really helping me cut back isn’t so much the obvious health benefits, but the thought of having a nice Sunday with a clear head.

So last night I had friends over to my place for pizza and pre-drinks, and then we headed out. I had a few glasses of white wine at home but then once we were out I just stopped drinking. It helped that the club was the packed and only seemed to serve Red Stripe in cans and tiny G&Ts in flimsy plastic cups.

I hung out for a bit and watched some of the live performances that were on, chatted to some friends and then headed home about 2am. By that time the effects of the wine were wearing off, and I slept soundly for a full eight hours. Bliss.

And then today has been about good food, relaxing, doing washing and my weekly swim. 

I’ve blogged about this before, but I find swimming a real head clearer, and it uses my body in a very different way to Freeletics. I’m not a very strong swimmer so a quick 20 lengths is about all I do, and then I go to my new favourite coffee shop and watch the world go by. So much better than lying on the sofa nursing a hangover and eating junk food.

Check out these articles:

Being teetotal is intoxicating
8 reasons you should be in the pool

Also, I’ve recently discovered The Greatist, which has really good articles on health, fitness and nutrition.

Exercising with a cold…

My first week setting Coach at five workouts ground to a halt on Day 2. 

I’ve come down with a stinking cold and have been in bed for the last 24 hours. Lots of fluids, sleep and warm blankets and I think I’m on the mend, but I am not exercising.

There are plenty of websites that recommend working out even when you’ve got a cold (here’s one), but I just can’t see it as being sensible. I really believe in cancelling everything and laying as low as possible in order to shift it in as short a time as possible.

The good news though is that the muscle pain I was feeling after correct form pull-ups didn’t appear after doing Artemis the other day. Must be building strength 🙂

Hermes: a quick workout for a chilly Monday

Image: Freeletics.com

I had to do the old trick of changing into my workout gear as soon as I got home from work before I accidentally sat on the sofa. The temperature has dropped and it’s dark early. Hard to muster the motivation.

I swapped my days around because my biceps are hurting a little from doing correct-form jumping pull-ups. I was scheduled to do Artemis, but it has 50 pull-ups and I really don’t want to do some serious damage, so I decided to do Day 2 – Hermes.

Aaaaah, Hermes. How lovely it is to see it as the only thing you have to do for the day. It takes me about 12 minutes, and 8 of those are resting! The rest is pushups and sprints. It gets the heart pumping and you don’t have to think too much.

10 pushups; 30 sec rest; 2x20m run; 10 pushups; 30 sec rest, 2×20 run; 60 second rest. Repeat four times.

I worked out in my local park. First time I’ve worked out there after dark – it’s pretty much pitch black – but I quite like that, as you can just crack on without worrying about people watching.

And finally, my foam roller arrived. Already feeling the benefit of it – it’s been great using it while watching TV.

 

Back in the gym

To be honest it’s fucking freezing outside. Sudden temperature drop for bonfire night. And so it was either do 2×2 Kentauros inside (and I keep getting paranoid that my jumps are pissing off my landlord who lives downstairs) or head to the gym. Gym it was. Also, as I’ve mentioned before, I find 2×2 Kentauros much harder).

I’ve been cycling a lot this week, so I wasn’t feeling like I particularly needed to exercise my legs, also I was a bit tired, so I only did 20m of lunge walks and burpee frogs instead of 40m. I was still exhausted.

After it was done, I did loads of stretching which felt really good. Especially since I did 50 correct-form jumping pull-ups earlier this week so I was acheing a bit.

And then the week was complete. I selected 5 workout days next week and confirmed my suspicion that coach is a bit kinder on you if you work out every day. This is what next week looks like…

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A quick observation from being in the gym. Freeletics really does work out your whole body. You can tell people who go to the gym lots and lift weights… their bodies are all out of proportion. Freeletics gives you an overall level of fitness and tone that I just don’t think you can get in the gym.

The times when you almost give up one minute after you started

After my productive Sunday morning, I then went for a swim and did 20 lengths. I’m not that strong a swimmer (medium lane for me all the way), so doing five lengths without stopping was an achievement! 

So then yesterday it was back to work and I was tired. But I still made myself do a Freeletics work out while the curry was as simmering on the hob last night.

It was 3x Metis. I’ve done it before in 23 minutes. Yesterday I was pushing 26. For some reason it was really hard work. I almost gave up after the first set. I gave up trying to beat my PB very early on and concentrated on good form.

I have noticed that the desire to work out is becoming habit. I find myself trying to figure out how to fit it into my day. I’m much less likely to put it off. In particular at the moment I have in my mind that working hard through the autumn/winter will pay off in the summer.

Also – protein porridge. New favourite thing.