Freeletics in a heat wave

It’s been between 25° and 30° here for about two weeks. It’s made working out hard. I’ve managed it though and as it’s the time of year where everyone in vest and shorts, it inspires me to train.

On Friday I did 2/3 Dione, and actually quite enjoyed it. All those sit-ups and jumping jacks.

And then today I did some legs interval training and then Persephone, which I did in 10mins, 1min better than my PB.

As it was so hot, I did the whole thing a bit slower and focused on form. It felt good.

My next coach week includes one of the 37 new god workouts. Coach has chosen 2x Avon, which is looks like this:

Interesting that Coach has selected 2x first off, but hey. Looking forward to trying it out!

Oh, and I’m trying to take more progress pictures.

Here’s where I am currently. Favourable lighting on the ‘after’ picture though…

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…

Hell Week Day 1: Persephone

Morning.

First day of Hell Week today. Haven’t done one for a while. I always have that mixture of dread and excitement when I click that colour scheme changes from blue to red and I see that the following week’s training is Hell Week.

I was going to start yesterday (Sunday), but I went for a swim instead. 30, 32 or 34 lengths (lost count!) in half an hour. Not bad.

So when I woke up this morning (early because of the clock’s going back), I knew that if I didn’t start Hell Week today I wouldn’t do it at all. I always find that if you don’t start out well on a Monday morning, it’s really hard to get the momentum going for the rest of the week.

Day 1 was fairly straightforward – Persephone (Endurance).

30 HH Squats
30 Sprawls
30 HH Leg Raises

20 HH Squats
20 Sprawls
20 HH Leg Raises

10 HH Squats
10 Sprawls
10 HH Leg Raises

I find these days that squats are much easier. I can feel that my legs are much stronger. I used to think that because I cycle everywhere I didn’t need to work on my legs as much. But now I do, I can cycle faster and feel stronger.

I like Persephone. It’s quick, relatively easy, but you still feel like you’ve had a full body workout. I even beat my PB by about 3 minutes. Good start to the week.

It’s Artemis tomorrow, which I’m really not looking forward to.

HELL WEEK #1

I was a bit worried about being able to complete Hell Week. Not only because the workout regime look HORRIFIC, but because I was travelling again and wasn’t sure where I’d be able to exercise. Turns out, apart from the first day, when I needed a pull-up bar, the whole weekend was sans-equipment, so I was able to do everything from the comfort of my hotel room. Only thing was that I didn’t have a mat, so came very close to carpet burn.

So here goes…

DAY 1: HADES and 2x PERSEPHONE

Hades was pretty tough. I hadn’t worked out for a few days, and the burpees nearly killed me. I did slightly duck out of the pull-ups as I didn’t have access to a bar, so I did pull-downs on the machine in the hotel gym. Still, was pretty tough. I also did the running on the spot rather than over a distance. But this workout still wiped me out and I had another one to do that day.

Although when I came to do Persephone towards the end of the day I was more than ready for more. Lunges are pretty straightforward, but then with more bloody burpees and straight leg levers (which are surprisingly difficult), this was pretty difficult. Also I had to do the whole thing twice.

My progress photo after this was very encouraging, albeit it was under generous hotel bathroom lighting. But I can definitely see my body changing now, and it feels great.

DAY 2: PROMETHEUS & HERMES

Really enjoyed Day 2. I was well up for it and smashed two PBs. Felt amazing afterwards.

DAY 3: THANATOS & 3xATHENA

Day 3 on the other hand was a bit of a killer. Got through it though if only to be able to say I’d completed a hell week, and to see what next week had in store. Also, did quite a good time on Thanatos and then realised I was basically doing squats rather than stand-ups as I hadn’t watched the video. So I’m going to remove the star from that one (I’ve got it again next week so will give it a proper go).

3xAthena – wow. That was hard. 225 of each exercise was a killer. Especially the burpees. I am finding myself getting quicker at everything though and that it’s easier to do each exercise properly.

And that was it. Not as taxing as I had feared. And the endorphin rush yesterday was huge.

Next week there’s a day where I’ve got to do 100 pull-ups. There’s no way on god’s earth I can do that.

Also, the warm-ups and stretching have changed to Warm Up Pro and Stretching Pro. Oooooh, exciting!

Oh, and finally, my diet has been shite this week. Not much alcohol (dry January has really had an affect on my overall drinking), but rubbish food as I’ve been away from home. Need to get back on that next week.