Hell Week Day 7 and then a two week break

I completely forgot to write about the final day of Hell Week.

Day 7 was a gentle end to the week. Nyx. Just sit-ups, leg raises and stand-ups. Did it in 08:10, which was 1:30 better than my PB.

And then I gave myself a break for a couple of weeks. I had a bit of a cold during Hell Week and then had a mad week at work. And then last week I was away from home and working crazy long hours so didn’t have time to exercise. I know, I know, #noexcuses, but it was either get less than five hours and exercise or sleep an extra hour, and I’m not really any good on less than seven and eight.

Felt nice to have a bit of a break. I left it so long that Freeletics sent me one of those ‘what’s happened?’ emails.

So yesterday I got back into it. Conditioning. Was tough.

3 sets of

10 Assisted Pullups
15 Press-ups
30 sec Superman hold
15 Hanging Leg Raises

I’m getting better at the Assisted Pull-ups, and Press-Ups and Superman hold are no bother, but I find the hanging leg-raises really hard. Partly because my pull-up bar is in a door frame, so it’s hard to really hang and be able to get a good swing. But mainly because I’m not strong enough! Will keep practicing.

Went for a swim today. Also felt a bit tough cos I didn’t go last week.

Going to get back into the swing properly tomorrow.

Might even try to tick off some of those advanced skills…

 

Hell Week Days 5 & 6: Nearly there

Day 5 was a slightly easier day. Hyperion (Endurance).

5 sets of:

5 Pikes
25 HH Squats
5 Pikes
25 High Knees
60 sec rest

Completed that in 11:04. Wasn’t too hard. And I also realised half way through that I was doing normal squats, not HH squats.

So, not much to say about Hyperion really. Apart from that because it was Day 5, my thighs were beginning to hurt.

Day 6 was a real achievement though. Not only was I a little bit hungover (oops), I was dreading it because the app told me that the last time I did Dione it took me 55:05. That was a year ago.

Reading back in this blog though, I see that I quite enjoyed doing that workout. It exercises pretty much your whole body.

3 sets of:

75 Jumping Jacks
25 Burpees
50 Leg Raises
75 Jumping Jacks
50 Situps
25 Burpees

It also feels like a good cardio workout, what with all those jumping jacks.

As soon as I started I realised I was definitely going to beat my PB. I always have half an eye on those little blue bars during the workout – the ones that tell you whether you’re ahead or behind of your PB. And I get competitive with myself.

I was faster on every single thing. Some significantly. It was a real boost to know how far I’ve come in a year. Sometimes I don’t think I’m making progress at all, that I’m just flatlining, but then there are days like today when I can see how much fitter I am.

Even leg-raises, which I hate, weren’t so bad. Although I often think they’re doing damage to the small of my back.

I completed the workout a full TWELVE MINUTES better than my PB. TWELVE MINUTES. I was absolutely dripping with sweat and felt quite light headed, but my god it felt good.

I have one day left to do in Hell Week. I’m not doing it today because I went swimming instead. I’ll do it tomorrow morning. It’s a quick one – Nyx – which shouldn’t take more than ten minutes.

And then Hell Week is done.

I can’t quite believe I’ve been doing Freeletics for nearly two years. And it still hasn’t lost its appeal. Bring on the next two years.

 

#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?