First week into a new Freeletics Journey

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I’m one week into a new Freeletics Journey. It’s the start of the year and I have a renewed motivation to stick to my fitness plan this year.

And the first week went well. I’ve decided to do Freeletics on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, with a bonus weekend workout that could be a swim, a run or a Freeletics workout. Last week I had two runs – a 3km interval run and a 2.5km run. Both pretty straightforward. It was good to be out in the morning before work and to get them out of the way.

Friday’s workout was 2x Athena, which is lots of climbers, sit-ups and squats. My PB is 14mins, but last week it took me almost 20 minutes. I felt pretty out of practice. And I had sore quads for a couple of days.

I’m liking the mix of bodyweight and running. My weekend workout was a swim – first time doing lane-swimming since well before the pandemic. It was more tiring than I remember, but I liked the feeling of stretching my arms and chest.

And then this morning was another interval run which took longer than I thought it would (was a bit laete for work – oops).

So far, so consistent…

From Hell Week to Run and Burn

Pretty pleased with myself. I powered through Hell Week at the end of my last Coach Journey. Almost missed a day but forced myself to do it. And when I finished I had a real sense of achievement. Lots of squats, and lots of burpees. Tough but worthwhile.

And now I’m in Week 1 of Run and Burn. I had about a month off running because I was focusing on Freeletics Bodyweight workouts. So I’ve been easing in gently.

So far I’ve had a 2.5km run, and today 3km split into two 1.5km. It’s been nice to run within my comfort zone, not pushing too hard. Getting back into my stride. I’ve got some interval runs coming up next, but nothing too strenuous.

And I’m liking some of the new(ish) features on the app — particularly the streak badges. They’re good motivation to keep consistent.

And I’m also enjoying how the warm ups for run and burn are thorough. You do genuinely feel like you’ve warmed up – heart beating a bit faster.

Looking forward to building distance and speed over the next few weeks of runs.

Half way through Hell Week

I’m just over half way through Hell Week.

This morning I had to check that I didn’t have a setting that was excluding upper body exercises, because I’ve been so many squats, jumps and burpees.

I’m noticing a difference in my legs though. They might be aching a lot, but they feel stronger and they look bigger.

It’s also been nice to bring back a bit of discipline. I’m determined to do this week consistently. And this morning’s workout was with a slight hangover 😳

I’d kind of forgotten how much regular exercise lifts my mood and makes me feel more energized. It’s great. I’m even kind of looking forward to the next three days’ sessions.

I’ve also been out and about a bit more on my bike, so getting some extra cardio exercise in.

Once this week is over I’m going to have a day off and then start a new running journey. Can’t wait.

Aphrodite (again)

Finally felt back on form today, so pushed myself to train, even after a really long day at work.

I’ve been stuck in the same coach week for three weeks, and the final day was the full Aphrodite (Standard). To be honest, I probably could have picked the week back up sooner, but I was finding the prospect of today’s training pretty daunting.

I last did Aphrodite (Standard) 8 months ago. All those Burpees, all those squats and sit ups. Ouch.

But actually once I got into it, I kind of found my groove. I think my arms are stronger than they used to be, so the Burpees are a bit easier. I was ahead on the PB by about 2 minutes half way through and managed to maintain that until the end.

And blimey, it felt good to get through it. The thing I like about that workout is the declines repetitions in each set. So the difficulty decreases and it feels more possible the further through the workout.

Anyway, week completed at last. Onto the next week, which looks a bit more manageable.

Aphrodite after two weeks off…

I wrote recently about how hard I’m finding it to find the time to train when I’m so busy at work. Since then, I’ve only trained once. And then I had two weeks when I didn’t train at all. I even stopped doing assisted pull-ups until I decided to leave the band hung on the pull-up bar so there was one less thing to stop me doing them (hanging the band up… yes, I know). Since I did that, I’ve been doing them every day.

But it’s Monday today and I’m trying to start the week right, so after a long day at work, I came home and did Aphrodite (Endurance). Jeez. It really works your legs out, that one. All those sprawls and squats. Ouchy.

But I did it. And took 2:30 off my PB. And felt great afterwards. I must remember that training helps clear my mind after a long day.

And now I have to do it again this week. But this time Standard, not Endurance.

 

Hell Week Day 2: Artemis

Aaah, I’d forgotten about Artemis. Definitely one of my least favourite Freeletics workouts. Each exercise is done all at once. And there are lots of repetitions.

50 Burpees

50 Pullups

100 Sit-ups

150 Squats

50 Burpees

Horrible. I almost gave up twice. There’s something horrible about having to do so many reps back to back. Somehow splitting them up like most workouts do feels more manageable.

I didn’t do the pullups properly, obvs. I did jumping pullups. But everything else I did with correct form. No star, but I beat my PB.

I was pretty sweaty at the end. Also – and I think this happened on Hell Week once before – I have a cold. Came on yesterday. I had to summon up the energy to workout, but it made me feel better. Going to see how I feel tomorrow, but hoping I can push through. It’s GAIA tomorrow, which is a bit easier.

Onwards!

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.

Kronos, Hell Days, Pull-ups and thoughts on frequency of training

Always trying to beat that PB!

The clocks go back in the UK next week, which means it’ll be darker earlier. Winter is coming. Time to really get stuck into training, so I can be ready for spring when it finally arrives!

Coach has given me Hell Days this week. I selected three work-out days, and this is what he gave me:

Day 1: Kronos, Uranos

Day 2: Kronos, Nemesis

Day 3: Kentauros, 3x Metis

He (and yes, I’ve decided my coach is a man) has selected a smorgasbord of my worst workouts. You can read about the last time I did Kronos here.

I still feel like I need a kick up the bum with Freeletics at the moment, I’m seeing results, but not the ‘insane’ results the app promises when you first sat up (this is mostly about diet though rather than workouts). So actually I was kind of grateful for Hell Days. Means I really have to push myself again.

I started the week yesterday and fully intended to do Kronos and Uranos. Ha. I’d forgotten the pain the Kronos puts you through. I have knocked a full 13 minutes off my first time trying it though, which is progress.

Before I was half way through I knew that there was no way I would be able to Uranos after this. Mainly because the 300 squats mean that I can hardly move my legs, let alone jump while doing burpees.

Today I ache all over and can hardly walk. It’s a good kind of ache, and I felt AMAZING after I had finished the workout. But I know I will struggle this week to do both workouts on the same day. Might have to split them across every day this week instead.

Which brings me on to a thought I had yesterday about frequency of training. I currently select three days each week. I think this leads me to eating badly and drinking alcohol, as there are more days in the week when I’m not working out than when I am.

So I’m going to up it to five days from now and on and see how that goes. Might also see how that changes what Coach assigns me.

Pull-ups

A quick note on what my regular readers will know is my nemesis – the pull-up. I re-watched the video for the jumping pull-up and realised that my 0:15 PB wasn’t quite true. I haven’t really been doing them properly. Seems that the trick is to fully extend and then let yourself fall. I hadn’t really been doing that, and so I don’t think I’ve been building up enough strength.

 

First week back after re-doing the fitness test

I completed my first week of Freeletics after retaking the fitness test. For those of you arriving at this blog via this post, I’ve been doing Freeletics for about a year, but had some time off, due to a hectic work schedule and an injury.
So my first week back was

Poseidon

3/4 Venus

3/5 Aphrodite, 50 pushups, 50 squats

Poseidon wasn’t pretty straightforward. Did it in 04:40, but with no star because I still can’t do bloody pull-ups. 

It’s a great workout if you want to feel (and see) and immediate difference in your shoulders, arms and chest. It’s quick and powerful, even with jumping pull-ups.

Next up was 3/4 Venus, which I also really enjoyed (mainly because there are no burpees!). But by god did my thighs hurt for the rest of the week after not having done squats for ages. Oof.

Finally it was 3/5 Aphrodite which I absolutely hated. So out of practice on the burpees! And then I had to do another 50 push-ups and 50 squats. 

I did that workout after a particularly stressful day at work and it really helped reduce my anxiety. Excercise rules!

In other news, I’m trying to cut down on snacking and am still trying to drink less. One step at a time.

It’s pretty simple though right? Eat well, sleep well, excercise loads and drink lots of water. 

Have a great week athletes!

Image from freeletics.com

Kronos: OUCH

I did my first Kronos almost a week ago and I still hurt. Jeez, that work-out is surely one of the toughest of the lot.

There’s something about having to do the full number of each exercise in one go rather than it being split into reps. It really pushes you.

Here’s the breakdown of what Kronos puts you through:

100 Pushups
200 Situps
300 Squats
200 Straight Leg Lever
100 Pullups

I completed it in 01:03:48. The sense of achievement when I finished was amazing.

The thing is, it’s not too unpleasant (there are no burpees for a start!) and once you get into the swing of each exercise it’s not too bad. I found the sit-ups the easiest, followed by Pushups, Squats, Straight Leg Lever and then the pull-ups the hardest.

I didn’t do the pull-ups with correct form. I still can’t (although the daily jumping pull-ups are making them feel a little more possible at some point in the future).

What’s great about Kronos is that it works out your arms, chest, legs and abs all at the same time. And damn, I could feel it for the next couple of days. Walking down stairs after 300 squats was pretty painful.

And then yesterday, after a few days off and a swim on Saturday (which was really tough as my legs and arms were so tired!) I did the horror that is 3x Metis (Strength). Ugh. Was hard and I was a bit hungover and tired, so didn’t come close to beating my PB.

About half way through, when I knew I wasn’t going to beat my PB, I almost gave up, but there’s something that switches in my brain when I’m over 50% done – it suddenly seems so much more manageable, and I think about how I’d feel if I stopped, so I manage to power through.

All of this, combined with a load of cycling around town meant that I slept very well last night!

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Meanwhile, friends I haven’t seen for a while are regularly commenting on the change in my physique. And I’m feeling stronger than I ever have.

GO FREELETICS.