There’s no stopping me…

I’ve got the day off today. As it’s Friday it was tempting to lounge around, drink coffee, maybe go to the pub late afternoon. BUT NOT ME. Now I can do pullups I feel INVINCIBLE. I’m like a new man. There’s no stopping me.

After my pullup breakthrough on Wednesday I also worked out yesterday.

5 Strict Pullups

6 Straight Bar Dips

2/3 Dione

I’m pleased to say that it wasn’t a fluke. I did the 5 strict pullups pretty easily. Well, not easily, but easily enough.

The straight bar dips though. Erm, I simply couldn’t do them. I rigged up my Freeletics bar in a door way and between worrying that it would collapse and worrying that I’d bang my head on the door frame, once I actually got onto the bar I couldn’t really do the dip – just didn’t have a strength. So maybe these need a bit of work…

And then 2/3 Dione, which was absolutely disgusting. I don’t know why I once wrote on this blog that it was FUN. It’s really not. It doesn’t help that it was pretty humid here yesterday. I don’t think I’ve sweated so much. I hate burpees. Absolutely hate them. I didn’t beat my PB and I was delighted when it was over.

Yesterday I worked out early evening, so I wasn’t sure whether I’d do my third and final workout of the week this morning or later in the day. But when I woke up this morning I actually wanted to, so I did. Today was:

5 pullups

8 Jackknives

Interval – Legs, Lower Back
4 sets of:
8 x Cossack Squats
10 x Single Leg Hip Raises Right
10 x Single Leg Hip Raises Left
10 xSquat Jumps
60 secs rest

2/5 Aphrodite (Endurance)

Sheesh. This felt like quite a lot. The whole thing took me nearly an hour. I wasn’t particularly in a rush though and was trying to concentrate on form.

But I got through it, and then after a bowl of porridge and dried fruit and a coffee, I went for a swim and did 30 lengths.

I think that’s quite enough exercise for one day.  I’m now having a little afternoon lie down…

Aphrodite (again)

Finally felt back on form today, so pushed myself to train, even after a really long day at work.

I’ve been stuck in the same coach week for three weeks, and the final day was the full Aphrodite (Standard). To be honest, I probably could have picked the week back up sooner, but I was finding the prospect of today’s training pretty daunting.

I last did Aphrodite (Standard) 8 months ago. All those Burpees, all those squats and sit ups. Ouch.

But actually once I got into it, I kind of found my groove. I think my arms are stronger than they used to be, so the Burpees are a bit easier. I was ahead on the PB by about 2 minutes half way through and managed to maintain that until the end.

And blimey, it felt good to get through it. The thing I like about that workout is the declines repetitions in each set. So the difficulty decreases and it feels more possible the further through the workout.

Anyway, week completed at last. Onto the next week, which looks a bit more manageable.

Under the weather

Just as I was getting back into my Freeletics groove, I’ve been struck down by some weird virus/bug. It’s one of those woolly headed, sore throat, headache kind of bugs. I’m lethargic and tired and have been sleeping a lot. And not exercising beyond cycling to work and trying to keep to my daily pull-ups.

It’s annoying because I want to be doing my training, but don’t have the energy. And I feel like if I push myself to do it (the next workout being Aphrodite again btw), I’d be using up vital energy that I need to get back on form.

So for now, it’s laying low for me. Hoping it’ll be gone by the weekend…

Aphrodite after two weeks off…

I wrote recently about how hard I’m finding it to find the time to train when I’m so busy at work. Since then, I’ve only trained once. And then I had two weeks when I didn’t train at all. I even stopped doing assisted pull-ups until I decided to leave the band hung on the pull-up bar so there was one less thing to stop me doing them (hanging the band up… yes, I know). Since I did that, I’ve been doing them every day.

But it’s Monday today and I’m trying to start the week right, so after a long day at work, I came home and did Aphrodite (Endurance). Jeez. It really works your legs out, that one. All those sprawls and squats. Ouchy.

But I did it. And took 2:30 off my PB. And felt great afterwards. I must remember that training helps clear my mind after a long day.

And now I have to do it again this week. But this time Standard, not Endurance.

 

Aphrodite strikes again…

I’ve cut myself some slack after that last post. I’m so busy with work that training is taking a back seat.

Last week I trained once. This was my work out:

10 x Side Lunges
8 x HH Standups
Interval (Legs, Lower Back), 3 sets of:
— 8 Cossack Squats
— 10 Single Leg Hip Raises Right and Left
— 10 Squat Jumps
— Rest (60 Secs)
2/3 Persephone

Wasn’t too bad. Although I’m out of practice on Burpees, so Persephone took a little longer than I wanted it too.

Also this week, I’ve been trying to do 10 Assisted Pull-ups a day to try and build strength in my arms and shoulders. Still hoping to be able to do Strict Pull-ups one day.

Today I went for a swim; a Sunday tradition these days. I’m not a particularly strong swimmer – always in the medium lane – but it’s a great head-clearer for me and it makes me feel good if I’ve been out drinking on Saturday night; it’s a kind of low intensity exercise that gets the blood flowing again.

My Coach week next week is Hell Days (if they’re still called that). I’ve chosen three work out days instead of the usual four, with the hope of being able to easily do that by Saturday. My week looks like this:

Venus (Standard)
Aphrodite (Endurance)
Aphrodite (Standard)

I quite like Venus (no burpees!), but always feel it in my legs after all those squats. And then there’s Aphrodite, which I really hate. And Coach has given it to me TWICE this week. How kind.

See you on the other side…

Ouch

Last week, my workout included the following:

6 Squats, 10 Lunges,

Interval: 3 rounds of – 10x Incline Rows, Side Plank Twist, Plank Switches

Poseidon

I did jumping pullups in Poseidon rather than actual pullups. Still not quite there.

And five days later, my arms still hurt. Specifically my biceps. Ouch.

I worked out again the next day, including 3/5 Aphrodite. Took me 27 minutes. Absolutely exhausting.

I’m hoping that the achey arms will subside. A lot of blogs and articles say you should just work through it. But if they’re still achey in another week, I might get it checked out.

On another note, I’ve noticed the workouts getting a bit longer/harder. I wonder if that’s Coach listening to my feedback on workouts and upping the ante. I must have been saying “I can do more”. I’m quite enjoying being pushed a bit harder.

Making progress…

This week I’ve being reflecting a bit on how far I’ve come since starting Freeletics nearly two years ago. Sometimes when you’re faced with Aphrodite again, it’s hard to step back. When I started I could barely get through the warm-up without getting sweaty.

Here are the things I’ve noticed this week

1. When I’m cycling now I notice I have more power in my legs. I can go faster for longer and I find hills much easier
2. I feel more flexible
3. I actually look forward to working out most days
4. I drink more water
5. I eat better – less sugar, more vegetables, less saturated fats and processed food
6. My body shape is more in proportion. I feel more attractive.
7. I have stronger arms and can carry heavier weights
8. I can almost 
9. I have more defined abs and pecs
10. I have more energy
11. I am able to apply the stamina developed through Freeletics workouts to other parts of my life

And here’s a progress photo to show how I’m doing…

Entering the final week of #CoachChallenge

Tomorrow I start the final week of #CoachChallenge.

I have to say, I’ve found the promise of a voucher and the Week 3 40% discount has encouraged me to not break my routine. So often with Freeletics, I’ve had breaks or a week where I haven’t exercised once. Hence why, even though I’ve been doing Freeletics for nearly 2 years, I’m still only on Week 47. But now I’m in more of a regular routine, exercising in the mornings rather than evenings, I find it much easier to stick to the plan.

I used the Week 3 40% discount to buy a new pull-up bar, which I can adjust to do the exercises that require a lower bar (incline rows, negative bar dips etc), and an a resistance band which I’m going to use to try and finally crack pull-ups. Annoyingly they arrived yesterday when I was out, and tomorrow is Monday, so I hope I’m not going to carry on missing the delivery every day this week.

Last night I went to my friends house for a cheese and wine party. Four of us. Twelve cheeses. Bread. Meats. Lots of wine. Not good for that six-pack. So today I ate loads of vegetables and healthy carbs, went swimming and did about half an hour cycling around town. And I’m going to try and have a good week sticking to all my habits.

Now it’s September, I’m a bit annoyed with myself that I didn’t push myself harder to exercise outdoors more this summer. I only did it a handful of times, mainly because it’s so easy to do it in my living room and I still feel a little self-conscious doing it. But when I do, it feels so good.

Just in case you’re interested, here’s my final #CoachChallenge week:

Day 1
10 Straight Bar Dips
Conditioning (Legs, Core): 3 x rounds 30 Squats, 15 Arm & Leg Lifts (L&R), 15 Standups
Krios

Day 2
8 Crunches
Conditioning (Upper Body, Abs): 3x rounds 15 Pushups, 20 Bicycle Crunches, 15 Plank Switches, 10 Leg Raises
4/5 Hyperion

Day 3
10 Split Lunges
12 Pushups
4/5 Aphrodite
400m Sprint
400m Sprint

Day 4
6 Jumps
10 Strict Pullups
Conditioning (Legs, Abs): Split lunges, Calf Raises, Leg Raises, High Knees). 3 rounds x 20 each

I still don’t really have anywhere to do sprints. I need to find a big flat place. All the parks near me are on hills and all the quiet roads are hills too. Hmm.

I’ll let you know how I get on. Have a great week.

#CoachChallenge

I had a really good week last week. Exercised five days straight. Four days of Freeletics and one day swimming.  I ate well. Loads of vegetables. Lots of water. Felt amazing.

I was partly working so hard because I knew I was going to a festival at the weekend. And that it would very much be a weekend off.

And a weekend off it was. Loads of beer. Burgers. Pizza. Late nights. Sleeping in a tent. I suppose dancing is basically cardio, right?!

And as I did my last Freeletics session on Thursday, I checked next week’s coach and low and behold, it’s HELL WEEK. Seven days. Seven workouts. I do notice that Hell Weeks aren’t as intense as they used to be. Sometimes you had at least two workouts on quite a few of the days. This time it’s just one complete Bodyweight workout each day. Mine looks like this:

Nemesis
Venus
Aphrodite
Poseidon
Nyx
Aphrodite
Athena

I’ve done days one and two so far. Managed to just about push myself through Nemesis on Monday. It’s now Wednesday and I skipped working out yesterday because I slept terribly the night before and now I’m in my mid-30s I basically get three-day hangovers.

And then yesterday I got the email from Freeletics about #CoachChallenge. I’m really up for this. Completing 6 weeks of bodyweight coach for a fifty euro voucher. Just need to not break for five days on the trot.

I’m going away twice over the next 6 weeks, so I’ll have to be pretty strict about working out when I’m away. But why would I not do this. It’s basically free money for working out. And I’ll probably use the voucher to buy an adjustable pull-up bar.

Are you doing #CoachChallenge?

First week back after re-doing the fitness test

I completed my first week of Freeletics after retaking the fitness test. For those of you arriving at this blog via this post, I’ve been doing Freeletics for about a year, but had some time off, due to a hectic work schedule and an injury.
So my first week back was

Poseidon

3/4 Venus

3/5 Aphrodite, 50 pushups, 50 squats

Poseidon wasn’t pretty straightforward. Did it in 04:40, but with no star because I still can’t do bloody pull-ups. 

It’s a great workout if you want to feel (and see) and immediate difference in your shoulders, arms and chest. It’s quick and powerful, even with jumping pull-ups.

Next up was 3/4 Venus, which I also really enjoyed (mainly because there are no burpees!). But by god did my thighs hurt for the rest of the week after not having done squats for ages. Oof.

Finally it was 3/5 Aphrodite which I absolutely hated. So out of practice on the burpees! And then I had to do another 50 push-ups and 50 squats. 

I did that workout after a particularly stressful day at work and it really helped reduce my anxiety. Excercise rules!

In other news, I’m trying to cut down on snacking and am still trying to drink less. One step at a time.

It’s pretty simple though right? Eat well, sleep well, excercise loads and drink lots of water. 

Have a great week athletes!

Image from freeletics.com