What am I really here for?

Coach is really pushing me at the moment. Even my warm-ups are tough. Lots of sprawls and shoulder/arm warmups.

Today I was given Arachne. Those Spider Push-ups. Jeez they’re tough. I can kind of bend my arms a little, but there’s no way it looks like the guy in the video. No way. And then at the end of the session I had to do 25 clapping push-ups which again I can’t really do with correct form.

So while I can feel and see my upper body getting stronger I still don’t have the kind of strength that makes those exercises easy.

Maybe they’re never easy though, eh?

I’ve also been thinking a bit about what my fitness goals are. What am I really doing here? Am I trying to get completely ripped? Am I trying to lose weight? Or am I just trying to keep fit, make some time for myself, away from the computer. Headspace. Raising the heartbeat.

Occasionally I get caught up in wanting to look ripped. I follow people on Instagram or see people on the Freeletics app and I want to look like them. But really I won’t ever have that. I enjoy myself too much. I’m not really up for putting all the restrictions on my diet and my day in order to get ripped. I just want to keep fit and be happy. And that feels okay 🙂

Reaching a plateau?

Earlier in the summer I tripped over about two minutes into a run. I was trying to get out of the way of someone and tripped over a bollard. Landed funnily and alongside gashing my knee, I did something weird to my arm. Thought I might have fractured my elbow, but my doctor said it was probably muscular. Ever since then I’ve had weird painful twinges in my arm around the bicep/elbow.

It makes doing Freeletics a bit difficult sometimes. Especially when I have to do upper body stuff like pullups and pushups. But I’ve been just kind of carrying on, and also the yoga has helped build back a bit of strength I think.

Anyway, did a couple of coach sessions this week. I have to say that I’m still finding some exercises as difficult as I did when I first started Freeletics five years ago – pullups, clapping pushups, for example. I feel like I’m missing something somewhere. It might be lack of consistency, but I feel like I’m reaching a plateau, that maybe you can only get over by doing gym workouts with weights. And I really hate gyms.

In other news, did a 5k run this week and really enjoyed it. Those new running shoes are a revelation. Going to do a 6k today. Will report back.

PS. None of the images I use are me. This one is by Isaac Wendland on Unsplash

4 things I’ve noticed about Freeletics recently and some BIG NEWS

Gosh, how is my last post January? I promise I have been doing Freeletics, just not writing about it very regularly. I did have bit of a break as I was dealing with a recurring shoulder pain and had a few weeks of sports massages to sort it out.

But I’m back on it now and as the weather is improving, I’ve been training outside a few times. It’s been nice.

I’m really enjoying how the updated bodyweight app has options for only having 15 minutes, no space to run, no equipment etc so that you can tweak your coach week during the week rather than just at the beginning. Much better and really useful for me if I don’t leave enough time in the morning but still want to work out.

But the BIG NEWS is that I finally caved in to Freeletics’ constant promotion of the nutrition app on their emails and took advantage of a 50% off offer.

I think I’ve been feeling like I can only make real progress if I actually change the way I eat rather than just rely on exercise. And so far I’m impressed. I think I’ll write a proper review post in the coming week, but I’ve enjoyed some of the recipes, especially those using ingredients i don’t usually cook with, and as I’m a sucker for habit trackers/streaks, I enjoy trying to get my star/perfect day.

I’ve also largely replaced beer with wine / G&T when I’m drinking, and thanks to the app, massively reduced my bread and pasta consumption. I think those three things are definitely what stops me from being leaner.

Some things I’ve noticed:

1. I find pullups easier these days – those assisted pullups I’ve been doing have paid off, so if you’re struggling with pullups, don’t lose faith, keep going
2. Clapping pushups – never once managed to actually clap my hands. Feel like I need more power in my arms to be able to really push high enough
3. Do burpees ever get any easier? I know they’re good for me, but my god I hate doing them
4. When I don’t train I am much stiffer and less flexible. I find that when I’ve had a break I find touching my toes difficult, but when I’m training regularly it’s much easier.

Next time, I’ll write a full review of the Freeletics Nutrition app.

Freeletics Bodyweight Coach 4.0: Week 1 review

Today was – finally – my first day of the new Coach.

Here’s what was in store:

10 Pushups

Strength, Interval: Upper Body: 
4 Rounds of:
Commando Pullups Left x3
Commando Pullups Right x3
Straight Bar Dips x8
Clapping Pushups x8
Strict Pullups x4
Rest 60

It feels like this first week is about Coach figuring out what I can and can’t do. Almost like redoing the fitness test again.

But the first thing I notice is that whereas before, all you needed to do Freeletics Bodyweight was a pull-up bar, now it’s a bit more complicated. I don’t have an adjustable bar at home. I have a fixed pull-up bar. So Straight Bar Dips are impossible. I really want to carry on doing Freeletics at home, rather than at a gym or elsewhere, so I might have to invest in one of their portable bars. This is a bit annoying as they’re not cheap. But hey. Today I improvised by doing the Straight Bar Dips on a work surface – far from perfect form though.

So, taking each exercise one-by-one:

Push-ups

10 push-ups are no problem. Did them in 00:14, correct form. I was reminded, after not having done Freeletics for a week or so, how easy I now find push-ups. I have a much stronger upper body and find doing 10 no problem at all. Now onto the interval training.

Commando Pull-ups Left / Right

These were easier than I thought they would be, at least in the first couple of rounds. I was surprised by my strength. They got much harder in the latter half of the workout though and by the end I wasn’t really doing them correct form.

Straight Bar Dips

So yeah, I was doing these on a table basically. I started doing them between two chairs, but the chairs really hurt my hands, and actually once I used the table, I could do much better form. These were quite hard. Although I kind of think I might be able to get good at them relatively quickly.

Clapping Pushups

Ha. So I could just about do these on the first round, but the 2nd, 3rd and 4th rounds I couldn’t really do them, so just ended up doing normal pushups. Blimey these are hard!

Strict Pullups

Those of you who have read this blog before will know my struggle with the pull-up. But I have to say that not doing them against the clock and concentrating on form not speed meant that I pretty much did them perfectly on the first round. The later rounds were more tricky and I had to give myself a bit of a jump-start, but I felt like I was making progress.

Overall, I was easily as knackered and sweaty as I usually am at the end of a Freeletics workout. I’ve read elsewhere, mainly on Reddit, that some people find the new coach too easy, but I certainly found it as challenging, if not more so, than the old coach. It was hard to get my head out of wanting to do everything really quickly, as speed has been such a part of the mentality of Freeletics for so long, but once I got my head around concentrating on technique, I found it really enjoyable, and quite difficult.

Next up this week, I have:

Day 2
10 Jumps
Poseidon

Day 3
Conditioning: Interval: Core, Upper Body