Friday, August 30, 2013

Week 1, Day 4

 Aphrodite: *00:32:31 



Well, today I wanted to get through Aphrodite in 30 minutes or less, trying to top my PB from yesteday. However, since it is my second day in a row doing the workout, I knew I would be more tired than I was yesterday, so I would consider it "OK" if I did it in under 35 minutes. I ended up doing it in 32 min, 31 sec. I wasn't thrilled by that time, but it was around what I expected.

I feel I am slowly improving everyday. Even if I was a minute slower, I felt the excercises rolling much easier. I am able to do the sqat series with minimum pauses and I can do more repetitions in a row without having the need to catch my breath. It is very exciting to see these little changes happening from on eday to the next!

Now, I realized I have soccer matches on saturday, sunday, monday AND tuesday... PHEWWW!!! I guess I will not be doing my workouts in the next four days because I still want to play without being too tired everyday. On sunday it's a league finale and on monday I'll join a new team in a new league so I have to be at my "best".

Nevertheless I did my minimum 4 days of training this week... I guess it'lll have to be enough for now.

Thursday, August 29, 2013

Week 1, Day 3

 Aphrodite: *00:31:55 


After only doing yoga yesterday I considered myself rested. My goal for today was, therefore, to finish the workout in under 35 minutes. During the HIWOD I felt rather good, so I even thought I could do it in around 30 minutes. I wasn't too far off since I managed to do it in 31 min, 55 sec. I therefore lowered my previous time in around 8.5 min, and my previos PB (Personal Best) in a little over 6 min, which I think is A-W-E-S-O-M-E. 

Just like the previous workouts, the killer point for me is when I get to the series of 30 burpees. Yes, getting through the first 50 and 40 repetitions is tough, your muscles are still a bit cold and stiff but on the other hand you are just getting started and have all the energy. Later, when you get to the series of 20 and 10 repetitions, it looks like nothing compared to 50, so those are mentally easy, plus you are so close of the finish line and the series go by so fast that you naturally speed-up. It's in the series of 30 where the trick is, and it is a physical and mental wall that you have to punch through. 

It's no coincidende that it's in the series of 30 where the sweat usually starts running and dripping off my face as I jump! Today I sitll had to slow down a couple of times to catch my breath. I still don't master burpees completely, but they go by so much easier!!! I feel my arms and pecs stronger already, therefore, whitout pain, I can lift myself up faster. I noticed a difference also in the squats and the sit ups, but not as dramatic as the burpees...

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Wednesday = Yoga Day


Well, I had forgotten that wednesday is yoga day. My older sister is training to be a yoga instructor so she practices with me and my girlfriend on wednesdays nights (and we get free yoga lessons, which isn't half bad). 

This wednesday was a special "abs session" and since I had done two Aphrodite days I was  quitte -and ended even more- tired.  At least this week I just couldn't do my HIWOD and take the yoga lesson.  Hopefully when I get in better shape this will not be an issue.

I therefore rescheduled my training week to doing my HIWODs on monday, tuesday, thursday and friday (that's my minimum 4 times a week, and hopefully on sunday night I can squeeze in the 5th), doing yoga on wednesday and playing soccer on saturday and sunday... phew!!!

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Week 1, Day 2

 Aphrodite, * 00:40:26 



I slept around 7.5 hours after yesterday's HIWOD. I woke up feeling very tired, almost as if I had only slept a few hours, but at least I only had mild muscle soreness. I guess my muscles are starting to get used to the workouts.

This week I have a soccer match (League "A") on Saturday and the big finale of League "B" on Sunday. As I do not want to be tired like today for those matches, but I still want to train as many days as possible -even if I know that resting properly is as important for improving as excercising ans eating well-, I decided to train from Monday to Tuesday (4 days), to rest on friday, to play soccer during the weekend and eventually to train again on Sunday night after the finale (that would make the 5th training session of this week).

Today my goal was to lower yesterday's Aphrodite time to around 35 minutes. I tought I could make it but unfortunately, as I was feeling rather tired and low on energy, it took my 40 min 26 sec to finish the HIWOD. I felt a little disappointed by this time, but still proud for finishing the whole series even through adverse conditions. I had to stop for a few seconds a couple of times to catch my breath and to control a nasty incipient dizziness, but overall it was ok.

Monday, August 26, 2013

Week 1, Day 1 / Aphrodite

 Aphrodite, *00:38:11 

Well, finally the e-mail with my first instructions for this week's workouts arrived today. I had to fetch it from my spam folder... Since it was in German, Gmail decided that it was reason enough to put it there.

Surprise, surprise, the content of the e-mail wasn't the workout of week #1 as I expected, but of week #2. What happened with my e-mail from week one? It is a mistery. I cheked the bin and spam folders and it wasn't there. I guess it got lost in cyberspace. Anyhow, on this e-mail was a link where I could revisit the first week's instructions so I think of it as a 2 in 1 sort of thing. As expected, the HIWOD for week one was Aphrodite.

Since I got the second week's e-mail, my instinct was to follow the instructions and do the second week's HIWODs. However I thought it through and realized I can still do a proper week one and save the instructions for next week. Let's face it, my "pre-Freeletics week" was lacking a bit of the high intensity part of the workouts... I know, I'll be recieving e-mails one week ahead everytime, which annoys me and my *slight* OCD, but I think it's best if I really do every week properly rather than jumping forward to week #2 without having done a full and decent Aphrodite HIWOD.

This being said, and to have proof of my progress, this is me at Week 1, day 1:


You'll notice my lower left rib is protruding... well, that's just the way it's always been. It's more notorious on the side picture (on which I don't know why I closed my eyes). 

Height: 1,70 mt
Weight: 63 kg
BMI: 21,8 (normal weight)

Gluts: 98,5 cm
Hips: 86 cm
Waist: 75 cm
Bust (more like back but well...): 90 cm
Bicep contour (left and right): 29 cm


I was surprised to see a "share" button on the page with the instructions so I guess it's ok for me to share the link to detailed Aphrodite instructions here.

To sum up, Aphrodite is, with no breaks and against the clock:

WORKOUT STRUCTURE
5 RoundsRound 1Round 2Round 3Round 4Round 5
Burpees5040302010
Squats5040302010
Situps5040302010

I like that the e-mail contains detailed instructions as to how to perform each exercise. I realized I was doing burpees "wrong" since I tought they implied doing a strict push-up and it specifically says "Get back up (however you want to, not necessarily a strict push-up) "  The modified version of the burpee is also not as I was doing it (girly style push-ups with knees).

I said to myself I had to finish the HIWOD in under 40 minutes, and I did: 38 min 11 sec. I'm so proud of myself today and the seweat dripped like never before =)!

Day 0

Sunday, August 25, 2013


I had a soccer match at 8 PM. It was the semi-finals  we won 4-2 (I scored 2 goals!). That means next week we're going to the finals!!! I'm really happy, even if I got beaten down quite hard.

I got home around 10 PM and what did I do? I did my HIWOD. Today, I felt like I had it in me so I did a 3/4 APHRODITE getting ready for my email tomorrow, meaning a serie of 40 burpees, 40 squats and 40 sit ups, then a serie of 30, a serie of 20 and finally a serie of 10. 

The first 40 burpees were hard (specially after the 25th), and my legs were burning by the 30th squat. Sit ups, at any number continue to be my resting time. Then the series of 30 reps was a struggle, but the worst came at the series of 20: by the 13th burpee I started to get a cramp on my right hamstring (Bicep femoris) so I had to stop and stretch a bit before I could go on (didn't stop the clock). With all this, it took me 29 mis, 29 seconds to finish my 3/4 APHRODITE and I'm sort of proud for pushing through, finishing up what I had intended to do and even more so by the large amount of sweat that dripped off my face. My leg didn't get seroiusly cramped, I ate 2 bananas afterward and stetched for like 30 minutes every single muscle in my body.

I feel great and I can't wait for my real training to begin tomorrow with my first official HIWOD by email!


Days -2 and -1 / (Pre)Soccer

Friday, August 23, 2013
Saturday, August 24, 2013




I hadn't decided if I was going to train on days where I have soccer matches (and/or the day before a match) but the decision was kinda made for me. I had matches on Saturday and Sunday, and on Friday I just didn't have a minute to do my HIWOD, so the days -2 and -1 were Freeletic-less.

I felt a little bad because I wanted to train on Friday and "rest" on Saturday and Sunday (meaning just playing soccer), but well, I guess I'll have to learn to make time, everyday, to be able to train as I want. 


I really think I shouldn't train (at least at the beginning) right before a match because my performance will be diminished due to the fatigue. However I'm up to training right after a match ;).

By the way, on Saturday we won 9-0 and I scored 2 goals =D.

Sunday, August 25, 2013

Day -3 / Sweat

Thursday, August 22, 2013



I felt brave today. The soreness of the past days is practically gone and I decided that I just couldn't be such a baby; I had to take it up a notch! Therefore I did a pseudo APHRODITE of two series on 30 reps and a serie of 20 reps of burpees, sqats and sit ups. It took me 18 min, 04 sec to finish and I felt awesome afterwards. My burpees are much much better and I practically didn't feel any pain. Endorphines are amazing molecules for my brain =).

This is the first time with Freeletics that drops of sweat are running down my face (as you can see on the picture). Somehow the sweat made me aware that the hard work is paying off, and I just have to give my all every workout and keep pushing harder and harder to get better and better. 

 


Friday, August 23, 2013

Day -4 / Yoga Mat

Wednesday, August 21, 2013


I have 2 general exercise premises:

1. when I do a hard workout or have a tough soccer match, the next day I may be sore, but the second day after the exercise is     always the worst
2. the only way to prevent premise n°1 to be fulfilled is by exercising through the soreness

Well, today is the second day after my first "HIWOD" and I woke up with much less muscle soreness than I expected. As my pecs and triceps were burning yesteday I tought today they would ache a lot worse, however since I pushed trough the exercises yesterday, the second premise was fullfiled ☺.

I decided therefore to increase my exercise to 3 series of 15 burpees, 15 sqats and 15 sit ups. It took me 11 mis 15 sec to finish this "HIWOD". Overall my burpees are still quite bad but I felt somewhat better at doing them. Again the squats and sit ups were relatively easy to acomplish. Today I included something very important I had forgotten to do the first two days: a good stretch after completing the series!


Well, I was using an old camping sleeping pad as my exercise base (for protecting my knees during the burpees and my lower back during the sit ups). The thing kept rolling on itself and sliding over my hardwood floor so I needed something more appropiate.

I found an old yoga mat in my garage (which I tought belonged to my sister but apparently not...), and of course it was perfect... if only it was clean! I took it as a part of my training then to give it a proper wash.





As you can see, it was absolutely disgusting, the water came out black and I had to scrub quite hard to take the heavy stains off. These things are like sponges, they take in a lot of water (also a lot of dirt) so by the time I finished soaking and scrubing the thing weighed a tonne! In the end, I strenghtened my triceps by "gently" sqeezing it dry (with help of couse, I barely could lift the thing on my own!).

Then I hung it to air dry overnight...

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Day -5 / Pain

Tuesday, August 20, 2013


I woke up after my pathetic fist pseudo-HIWOD feeling sore. I recieved the note from my pecs who were being "seriously" exercised for the first time ever. My triceps were also aching quite a bit, and all I did was 30 lazy-unproperly-done-burpees!!! That goes to say what a great exercise the burpee is; even if you do just a few (and halfway), you're puting your muscles to the test.

I also felt a lot of pain on my lower back area. I've had general on and off back pain all my life. I corrected the higher back pain strenghtening a bit my muscles and wearing prescribed insoles. During the last 6 months I started having on and off lower back pain for no apparent reason, so I got a little concerned that maybe I didn't do the exercises with an appropiate technique and I might have injured my back again. However I know my body, and I felt this pain was more "after work out" than "injury".

As I was so sore, I decided to continue with my baby steps and repeat the 3 series of 10 burpees, 10 squats and 10 sit ups. Because of the soreness, this time around it took me 10 min 51 sec to complete the series. 

This is definitely harder than I tought.

Day -6 / getting to know the burpees

Monday, August 19, 2013


This was the day I tought I would get an email with my fist HIWOD (High Intensity Workout Of the Day). Since that didn't happen as I explained on the previous post, I looked up some YouTube videos and realized that APHRODITE was most likely going to be my first week HIWODs.

APHRODITE consists in doing a round of 50 Burpees, 50 Squats and 50 Sit Ups, then rounds of 40, 30, 20 and 10 of each. As in general in Freeletics, the idea is for you to do the series as fast as you can, and "compete" with yourself, always trying to improve your record.

If you are not familiar with the term, burpees look something like this:





I tought it couldn't be so hard to do... its only bending, jumping back, doing a push up, juping foward, standing up and jumping. Well, I was wrong. Burpees are hard. Really hard.


I play soccer at least 2 times a week and in general I tought I was "ok" in the fitness department. Push ups have never been my thing (I simply lack muscles in my pectoral area) so I decided to take it easy and do the push up part of the burpee girly style (aka. with my knees on the ground).

With total honesty, as this journal is intended to be, I can say I am not able to do a single full burpee decently. The knee part only made the whole movement slower and more complicated, and overall it didn't help me to feel the exercise easier. However there was no way I could do the push up with my legs extended; I would just crumble and then get up. S
ince this was only my "getting ready for Freeletics week" and I failed miserably at my attempt to do the burpees, I decided halfway through to take things slow and just do 3 series of 10 burpees, 10 squats and 10 sit ups.

It took me 8 min 56 sec to complete the 3 series. I was sewating, my heart pumping and my last burpees, with modification and all, were not pretty (not to say ugly as hell). I had a really hard time with the push ups. The squats and sit ups felt easy, as I am used to such exercises. Overall I felt disappointed at myself since my intention was to get to 50 repetitions, but then again I found a comforting message:


I just never thought I'd be taking such tiny tiny baby steps!!!!



.

Day -7

I ran into a Freeletics before/after video on YouToube this weekend by chance. As I was intreagued, I did some research and was amazed by what I found. For those of you who don't know what Freeletics is I encourage you to visit their website, to check some of their YouTube before/after videos and their Facebook page.


On Sunday night (Aug. 18) I requested the Freeletics Basic Package on the Freeletics website. They said I woud get an email with my first workout "next Monday", which of course wasn't Monday the 19th as I expected. Since they're based in Germany and I'm from Chile, by the time I requested the package (23:28 PM) it was already the 19th there...

However, since one of the mottos of Freeletics is



I decided to take this week to prepare myself for what's comming, hence my numbering of Day -7 (the minus referring to my first real Freeletics workout, coming next monday).