Staying consistent, but stuck in a rut

Yesterday’s workout was horrible. Took ages and just felt unsatisfying. Mainly down to this:

5 sets of…
2x 10m Bear Walk
24 Sprawls
2x 20m Crab Walk
12x left and right hip raises

All of that puts a fair bit of pressure on the wrists, and just feels a little ungainly. And then I also had to do 16x pistol squats, 50x Climbers and 20x Burpee Squat Jumps. Gross.

I’ve only been doing Freeletics twice a week for the past few weeks. I always seem to skip Fridays. But I have been running at least twice a week so I’m still exercising four out of seven days. But I think Coach might be loading a lot onto those two days. Now the days are getting brighter and the weather a bit better maybe I need to push myself to train on Fridays too. But probably in the morning rather than the evening as it just never seems to happen at the end of a working week.

I also set myself a goal at the beginning of the year to lose a bit of weight. I’m not really seeing that happen yet. A mix of lockdown (less moving about, maybe eating and drinking a little too much) and not feeling like I’m particularly pushing myself when I run or do Freeletics. It all feels a bit sluggish.

But I am pleased that I’ve been consistent. Usually at this time of year there are a couple of weeks where I don’t exercise at all, but I’ve been making sure I stick to it even if I don’t want to.

Also I noticed that since I’ve stopped practicing pull-ups I’ve pretty much lost all the ability to do them. Need to get back on that.

I am enjoying Freeletics’ new features though. Good to be using foam rollers for example as part of warm-ups and cool-downs. It feels like they’re really investing into the app. And that keeps it interesting.

I reached week 10 of Freeletics, and I feel great

 

I’ve been really getting into my groove again with Freeletics in the past few days. I’m going on holiday tomorrow and I’m almost disappointed I won’t be in routine. Might have to do a couple of work-outs over the weekend.

But anyway, I’ve done three days back-to-back and I feel absolutely fucking great.

First up was Venus. Venus is a pretty simple workout – just pushups, squats and sit-ups. I beat my PB, but my skinny arms were struggling with the pushups towards the end. I really need to work on my arms to master pushups and pull-ups. When I was in the gym at the weekend, this toned guy came in and did about 25 pushups really quickly. He made it look so easy – I make it look like a big old sweaty mess. However, I do always notice a difference in my physique when I do push-ups. Particularly my chest and shoulders.

The next day was Apollon. I did this in the wrong order because I was at the gym and couldn’t switch between burpees, squats and running easily. So I did all the burpees and squats first (skipping through the running on the app) and then did the full 2.4km on the treadmill at the end. Slightly cheating maybe,  but I actually really enjoyed the running. Had a massive endorphin rush at the end. And then I went and bought loads of healthy food. Was a good day.

Then finally I had to do 2xAthena, 100 Burpees, 50 Squats, 50 Squats and another 50 burpees in one day. Usually I cheat a bit and split these over a couple of days, but yesterday I got up early on a Monday morning, did the 2xAthena, which was quite nice (when I say ‘nice’ I mean it didn’t completely destroy me). Then when I got home from work I did the burpees and squats.

I really tried to pace myself with the burpees – not rushing at the beginning and trying to keep a steady pace and not collapsing for 30 seconds half way through. It feels much better to go slowly and not break.

And now I feel pumped. My legs are noticeably more muscular, my arms feel great and I’m feeling simultaneously energetic and tired (but in a good way).

And in stats, I’ve done

525 Squats
225 Burpees
200 Pushups
155 Situps
75 Climbers
2.4km run

I think I deserve a holiday!

Oh, and I promised you a progress photo, so here you go. (And yeah, I know the lighting is more favourable in the right hand photo, but still…)

Freeletics in winter is really hard

RAIN. Photo: dichohecho on Flickr

The combination of a massively hectic period at work, when all I want to do at the end of the day is eat comfort food and lie on the sofa, and the kind of desperately miserable winter weather is making exercise very difficult.

Freeletics send those emails that start ‘Athlete’, which feels very generous when really I’ve been eating pasta and watching TV.

But it’s Sunday and I’ve been on at my sisters – sitting down – and then sitting down on a long train journey, and even though it was 8pm when I got home, I rolled out the mat in the living room and did Day 2 of Week 8.

But first, let’s back track a bit…

At the start of week 8, I’ve been moved onto Dynamic Warm-up Pro and Static Stretching Pro. To be honest, I don’t really like them. I don’t find either of them much more difficult in strength terms, but I do find them more complicated to perform, and not as intuitive. But I am getting better at the one where you have to put your legs over your head.

I’ve also done Thanatos in the past week. Beat my PB which was pretty cool. And then today I had 2x Metis. I think I’m getting better at burpees, but I can’t really do more than about 10 in a row without a pause. I do like doing jumps though, and I’m pretty good at climbers.

Tomorrow its 3/5 Nemesis, 50 Pullups, 50 Pullups, 50 Burpees, 50 Burpees. OUCH. I won’t be able to do the pull-ups correctly, so I know I won’t have a star. That’s not me being defeatist, it’s just fact.

I am seeing a real difference in my physique though. And I’ve planned a very lean diet this week, so I’ll post a progress photo tomorrow.

In other news, my boyfriend has lost a stone. He’s not doing freeletics, but he’s been struggling with his weight, and this has given him a real boost. Kind of spurred me on to get back on it after being a bit slack over the past week or so.

Over and out.

Week 2: Day 4

Had to really gear up for this one. I’d been working the day before in São Paulo and went out for a late meal (spaghetti bolognaise and a couple of glasses of red wine), so wasn’t feeling massively up for it when I woke up about 7.30am. And it’s Sunday.

But I headed down to the hotel’s weird empty gym, which mercifully has great air con (it’s 30° outside) and buckled down.

Today was 4/5 Prometheus, and while it was hard, it wasn’t quite as hard as I thought it would be.

The climbers I actually quite enjoy and can usually do them really quickly. 

The knee push-ups are quite easy too, especially after doing the normal ones.

The crunches were hard but not too hard.

It was actually the HH squats that hurt (after doing them last week, my muscles were still sore), and the jumping jacks gave me a bit of a headache, but perhaps that was the red wine).

I was dead pleased I completed it, and before breakfast. I think I need to watch the impulse to stop towards the end, out of laziness rather than exhaustion. It’s tempting to stop because, well, I’ve basically done it so what difference will ten more jumping jacks make?

So that’s week 2 finished.

I can already see a slight improvement in my abs and arms and chest. And my legs feel really strong. 

I definitely need to improve my diet. It seems that 70% of success on Freeletics is about nutrition, and at the moment I’m drinking too much alcohol. I’m noticing the desire to eat less shit food/sugar. But then again, I’m on holiday and it’s Christmas next week, so maybe I should cut myself some slack…

In January I’m going to start a clean diet, based on recipes I’ve pinned on Pinterest. I’m not going to buy the nutrition guide because from what I’ve seen of it, the recipes are a bit depressing, and I really like cooking so I’m going to do my own low-carb, high-protein diet. And crucially, I’m going to do Dry January. But I’m not going to tell anyone, I’m just going to do it. Otherwise I’m bound to fail…

Next Week

I’m leaving São Paulo and heading to Rio tomorrow. Staying in an AirBnB, so no hotel gym. Not quite sure where I’m going to be able to workout, as Coach has scheduled both Ares and Hades which require 40m run space (or 2x 20m) and a pull-up bar. 

I’ve been told to be careful where I go in Rio, so need to ideally find a basketball court or similar near Santa Theresa, or a gym. 

OR… I postpone week three and do some of the other workouts that don’t need that equipment and which I can do in my room.

Guess I’ll see what happens when I get there…

Until then. Ciao!