Coach W6D1 - Venus (Standard)

 Venus (S): 00:29:39 

A new week of training has started. I absolutely LOVE that after finishing each week the coach asks how it was: 1) too easy; 2) hard, but ok or 3) too hard. With that feedback, the training volume for the following week can be adjusted. It also asks if you want to change your training focus (endurance, strength or both), how many days are you planning to train and if you have any muscular limitation, to prevent injury by letting particularly sore muscles rest.

I thought last week was OK for me as a comeback to regular training. I really could not have fitted in another workout so it was overall good. I don't want to be burned out too quickly, specially at the beginning, so I'll keep the same intensity this week but I'll train 3 times instead of two (I have no soccer). I'm a bit sore but I have no real limitations, and as usual I want to keep on training endurance and strength at the same time.

The first workout this week is one I had never done before: VENUS. Named after the Roman goddess of love, beauty and fertility (equivalent to the Greek Aphrodite), this workout consists of four rounds of 50 Push Ups, 20 Sit Ups and 50 Squats. I feel like Venus is the most basic workout you can do since it only involves three of the "fundamental" (if you can call them that) body-weight exercises that exist. Nonetheless, workouts don't need to be fancy and elaborate to make you sweat!

Knowing myself and my absolute lack of push/pull up strength, I decided right away not to go for the star version and do Knee Push Ups. There's a saying here in Chile that goes something like "starting off like an English pure-blood horse, finishing up like a donkey". What that means is that you start with full strength, super fast but midway you burn out and fall back and can barely get through the finish line. That happened to me on the first round of Push Ups; I did around 15 super fast because they felt easy with my knees and all, and I had already started thinking I would finish up Venus in the blink of an eye when it hit me... I really really have low push up strength, and it shows! I struggled to finish that first round of 50 and the following 4 rounds I had to break the 50 into sets of 10 to be able to complete it. The sit ups were a walk in the park and the squats very manageable, so overall I think I must have spent around 18 minutes of the 30 doing my 200 push ups, BUT I DID IT! #ClapClap 

I got extra points for PB which I think is "wrong" because it's the very first time I do the workout! But hey, If you want to give me some extra points for that... To my surprise, I'm not even that sore today. Usually pain kicks in the day before and hits the highest note after 48h. Maybe tomorrow I'll say something different, but for now, I'm more than OK. I can raise both my arms and have mild chest soreness. After training I ate a piece of fish with veggies (bell pepper, zucchini and mushrooms) and a little bit of chick pea puree. It was super healthy (high on proteins and veggies, low on carbs) and super delicious. I'm ready to take on the next training session!

The Birth of Venus - Sandro Botticelli (1486)