First glimpses of spring and a perfect week

Photo by Simon Berger on Pexels.com

Spring is beginning to make itself known, and this week was my first full week after Covid. Three workouts – Metis, a bodyweight interval session and a 4km run. I’m just back from the run and it felt good, despite choosing a route that included quite a lot of uphill running and having to cross a main road. Side note – it would be good to be able to pause Freeletics runs, in the same way you can do on Strava, so that when you’re waiting for traffic your clock isn’t still ticking.

Other highlights this week included being able to do perfect form assisted pistol squats, which I haven’t done for ages and thought I’d be rubbish at, and finding Metis way more difficult than I remember. I did it much slower than I’ve been used to, but I’m not beating myself up about that.

I find that Covid has meant that I have a bit less lung capacity than I before. Trying not to let that worry me, but I do notice I am more out of breath more quickly, so I’m building back up more slowly.

Next week I have a 4.5km run and some interval stuff, including some sprints which I’m looking forward to and will be a good test of recovery.

Cardio Burn turns up the heat

This is the Georgian Square in Bristol where I’m going to train today. They filmed Sherlock here and everything. Photo by Ben Garratt on Unsplash

Week 2 of 2021 flew by in a flash. It was Friday before I knew it.

I managed to stick to my routine, just about. I ran three times (once as my Freeletics Coach workout for the day – a quick 1.5km run around the block again), and did Freeletics workouts twice. I was hoping to do a longer run on Sunday but I was, ahem, a bit hungover so I didn’t.

The Cardio Burn journey continues to exhaust me. This week more burpees and jumps and pushups. I enjoy it, but I’m not sure I’m as flexible or agile as I was when I started Freeletics five years ago. That also might be Christmas weight still there and a general winter lethargy.

But there’s something more satisfying about finishing a workout very out of breath and very sweaty. You feel like you’ve achieved. Some of the strength workouts I was doing on my last journey just didn’t make me feel the same way – I guess that’s the point though.

Freeletics have also updated a lot of the workouts – especially interval training – so it feels nicely varied and I’m doing some new exercises.

Tonight, for example I’m doing:

20x Sphinx Pushups
20x Box Jump Overs

Full Body interval training, which is 5x sets of:
2x 10m Crab Walk
20x Climbers
24x Speed Skaters
10x Squat Reverse Lunges
20s Rest

2 x 200m Sprint

I think I’m going to go and do this in a different local park to the one I usually use – It’s a big Georgian Square and I can do the sprints properly rather than as back and forth on a basketball court.

Week 3: Day 1

I’ve had a few days off. Mostly because I’m on holiday, and also because it’s fucking hot in Rio. Like 34° hot.

I joined the Freeletics Rio de Janeiro group and asked where I should work out. Some people suggested using the free gyms on the beach, but seeing the guys who were using them the other day made me think twice. Jeez – people really look after themselves here! Sculpted is the word…

I’m staying up the hill at Santa Teresa. And after a few days here, watching how much people exercise and work out, I thought I’d better get myself together. There seems to be a very body-conscious mentality here which is both a bit intimidating and also quite inspiring. People also don’t seem to give a shit about other people’s bodies. There’s no sneering or pointing!

Anyway, I found this little park. Perfect for Freeletics!  And apart from the old ladies’ aerobics that was there at 8am when I turned up, it was pretty much deserted.

 Time for my first Ares.

It was pretty straightforward. Although it was very hot outside, so I sweated a lot. Was nice to do some sprinting and I reckon I can do much faster next time. 

I really need to work on pull-ups. I’m not doing them properly, so no star, but even so they’re really hard. Still 35 in total is pretty good! I even did a few extra sit-ups at the end. 

There was a small baby running around towards the end, and she kept getting in my way, so some of the times were a little slower than I think I can do them. So I’m expecting to beat my PB next time.

Felt really energised afterwards, and ready for the next workout.

Now, I’m off to look at men on Ipanema beach.