Coach W15 // HELL WEEK D1 - Helios (S) + Metis (S)

 Helios (S), *01:07:42 (PB) 

 Metis (S), *00:08:02 (PB!) 

This week, you will gain a major Freeletics experience: Hell Week. Every now and then we choose to go through hell to come out even stronger. Freeletics Hell Weeks are all about reaching true exhaustion, reaching our performance limits several times within a short period of time and with little rest and exceeding our own expectations. Hell Weeks made many of our athletes much stronger – both physically and mentally. Hell Week means a lot of training. Seven days, seven times Freeletics. All out: Seven days in a row, high volume and high intensity. As always, try to break your PBs. This week, however, it is even more important to successfully complete every single session. You know the game. Make sure to stay hydrated and to maintain good form, especially as you get weaker. And remember: This is Freeletics. Quitting is not an option. Once more give it your all!

Technically I didn't choose to get Hell Week, but I don't really have a choice and I'm think I'm more up for the challenge than I actually think I am!!! When I finished last week, I thought "I'll tell the coach this week was a bit easy and I'll ask for three training days, I can squeeze three workouts + two soccer matches". Instead of that, the Coach says I get Hell Week. I thought "well, it will probably be like last time, with 4 training days.." but no, it's seven days of training ! I have a relatively tough week at work and soccer matches on Tuesday and Saturday so I'm not really sure how I'll survive, playing and training the same day AND having trained all other days... but we'll see!

The first Workout of Day 1 is Helios, a workout I have never done before. If I had the choice, I wouldn't start with an unknown workout, and I think that's precisely why the Coach did it; to put me to the test mentally. I hate the unknown, and I have to start being more comfortable in uncomfortable scenarios. 

#CoachKnows

Helios is a one "A-B-C-D-C-B-A" series workout of Burpees (A), Lunges (B), Climbers (C) and Sit Ups (D); (and then again Climbers, Lunges and Burpees). The number of reps varies from 100 to 150. I think its very hard on the mind to have to do 100 or 150 times the same thing, repeating the same movements over and over. Workouts with several series of 20 - 50 or even 75 reps are "easier" on the mind. Even if in the end you did the same total number of reps, It's not the same to do them all at once or in several series. It took me absolutely forever to finish, but I did finish, which is a small victory in itself. I started thinking about the week of training ahead of me and I think that pushed me to take it slower than I ought to, "saving energy" for the impending future.

Of course, it wouldn't be Hell Week if I didn't have to do another workout after over 1 h of Helios. Luckily it was good old Metis: I knew it would take me less than 15 minutes to finish it, and then it would all be over. I took a 3 - 5 minute break and I jumped right into it. The tought of finishing Day One fast gave me unexpected energies, and I went all crazy on the first round of 10 Burpees and Climbers. I knew right away I was on track to beat my PB, and that gave me even more energy! I had to slow down during the series of 25 reps, and for a moment I feared I had lost my impulse, but then I pushed and pushed and managed to improve my time by 48 seconds!!! It was really a huge surprise. I didn't think I could go so fast after training for 1 hour. I'm sure being all warmed up and having done all those Burpees before hand played in my favour. Day One of Hell Week ended up the best way possible; with two PBs on my bag (ok... the first one doesn't actually count since it was the first time doing the workout, but still =)

Coach W12D2 - 3x Metis (Standard)

     3x  Metis (S), *:00:32:15 PB!!! 

Second training day of the week, second day of training in a row. Wednesday is Metis day, again! Except this time it's the standard version, three times. After doing the strength version yesterday, standard Metis seems much more friendly. It's just Burpees, Climbers (although Froggers seem more easy to me for some reason), and Jumps - knees at least at hip level, I'm not confused anymore -. I find it amazing to see how mental perception changes completely the way I approach and engage the workout. I was excited and sure I'd perform great. Quite different from what I was feeling the prior week!

I went at it full power. As I always say, when you know well what you're up against, everything seems easier. I guess in a way it's like the saying "practice makes perfect". Having done roughly the same movements the day before helped tremendously. I knew exactly how to tackle Metis. I took short breaks when I absolutely needed them. I pushed hard, both physically and mentally. Again I had some trouble breathing although it seemed a bit less than the day before. I think that's because strength workouts in general are way more metabolic than the standard workouts, so It's only natural I'd have to breathe heavier on a strength workout than on a standard one. My having EIB (Exercise-Induced Bronchospasm) theory is gaining evidence rapidly, so a few more times and I guess I'll have to check with a MD. EIB or no EIB, I had done this exact workout about a month ago, and I improved my time by almost 12,5 minutes! I'm really pleased to have made such a big time jump. Maybe I don't have a sixpack yet, but I'm definitely fitter -numbers don't lie-. I also feel there's plenty of room to improve even more, so my next goal with this one is going to be dropping the time below the 30 min mark. Totally doable, don't you think?

Coach W12D1 - 2x Metis (Strength)

 2x Metis (X), 00:35:57  

I decided to pull the plug on W11 without completing all the workouts the Coach had assigned for me, and move on to W12. I left pending some loose exercises: 2x 100 burpees, 2x 25 High Jumps and 50 Squats, and also a whole WOD; Apollon. I trained on Sunday, Monday and Wednesday, so I had the whole weekend to complete the missing exercises. The thing is, I went again (see here for the first trip story) on a weekend trip to the countryside, this time with both my parents and my GF. I asked permission from my boss to miss Friday and she said I just had to pay back the missing hours by staying late all week, so that was cool. We left on Friday morning and I drove around 4,5 hours to get to the countryside. We had lunch at my dad's cousin's farm and then went on a quest to buy local honey, which took another couple of hours. My parents stayed at the countryside while me and my GF drove another hour or so to Pichilemu (the beach). I was not going to miss the chance to take my third surfing lesson, being that close, right?! On Friday night I was extremely tired from the trip and all the hours driving, so I was not about to begin training. 

On Saturday morning we went to a beach called Punta de Lobos, which is a 10 minute drive from Pichilemu. That beach is considered one of the best in Chile for surfing, and they often organize championships there. I decided  while I take my lessons I might as well try out different beaches, so I took a 1 h private surfing lesson there with Kotaro-san, a Japanese surfer who's living 2,5 years in Chile. He turned out to be a great teacher and we got along super well. I had a blast in the water and learned quite a bit from him! My surfing skills are improving every time I get on the board, which makes me very happy. The waves and currents at Punta de Lobos are a lot stronger than in any of the other places I've surfed before, so it was much more physically demanding than other times (also a bit scarier). I had some lunch, took a little nap and then went back in the water for another hour or so of solo practice. During my lesson in the morning we were a handful of people in the water. The day was gorgeous and when I got back to the beach around 5 or 6 PM there were surfers everywhere. It turned out to be a not-so-good first solo experience. I had to jump at least 5 times from my board to avoid collisions, mainly with some of the younger surfers out there. There was a group of 4 or 6 kids, around 14 years old, who jumped in at any wave and didn't look much in front of them until they were coming straight at you, full speed... Also the tide was very high so the waves were even bigger than in the morning and the currents stronger. Note to self: until I get really good, only surf in the mornings and avoid the crowds...

After all that time in the water I was of course exhausted, so I didn't train on Saturday either.I woke up on Sunday morning with a few bruises in my hips from the board, and with very sore biceps. We slept in a little bit, packed our bags, and drove 1 h to the countryside to have lunch and pick-up my parents. Then I drove another 4,5 hours back to the city. You can imagine the last thing I wanted to do when I finally got home was to train. Monday came along and to be honest I just didn't want to stay stuck on W11 any longer, so I told the Coach the week had been too hard, and that I just wanted 3 training sessions on W12. I'll try my best to do the missing exercises at some point during the following weeks, but for the time being, it is new week time.

The first training session was 2x Metis, strength version. That meant Burpee Squat Jumps, Froggers and High Jumps, which I did with a smile on my face on Tuesday night, well rested and ready for the action. I've been struggling a lot with my breathing and heart rate lately. I know I should be taking paced, deep breaths, but I can't physically do it for a long period of time. With the higher intensity training sessions, I've been noticing that my lungs get obstructed, just as when you have bronchitis. My airway tightens up and I have to cough several times to "loosen-up" and "make room" for the air to come in. With all the coughing and shallow breathing, my heart rate goes up the roof a that of course slows me down (and is not fun). I've never suffered from asthma, but I've been researching a condition called Exercise-Induced Bronchocospasm (EIB), which fits perfectly with all my symptoms and conditions (you can read for free a short but complete paper on the subject of the American Family Physician's here, remember I'm a Biochemist!). If things continue this way I might be paying a visit to a MD soon and ask for a pulmonary function test coupled with an appropriate exercise challenge to see if maybe I need to take some bronchodialator drug prior working out... We'll see. In the meaning time, I messed up the high jumps again, so no star for me, and I did well but not great time-wise.

Funny thing is, the Coach instructions this week were finger-on my problem: 

Week 12! This week it is time to work on your breathing. With the right breathing you can increase your performance. The higher the intensity, the shallower you will breathe. Make sure to switch smartly from shallow breathing to deep and steady breathing and the other way around depending on the intensity of the exercises. The goal of the week is to set at least one new PB using a smarter breathing technique.

Coach Week 9 - all Standard WODs @ the beach

 Day 1, Kentauros (S): *00:44:40  PB!!! 

 Day 2, Venus (S): 00:27:02 PB!!! 
 Day 3, 2x Metis (S): *00:21:54 

100 m sprint: 00:00:20
100 m sprint: 00:00:19

I took one week vacation at the beach with my GF from the 16 to the 23 of February. I had planned on training three times during that week, and I did! I'm very proud of that because I (we) have a bad record... Usually when we go to the beach, we go into hibernating mode and we just lay around on our PJs, watch TV or series/movies in the computer and cook and eat yummy-but-not-so-healthy foods (and we eat A LOT). This time it was a bit different; it's the first time we've been on vacation since she has started doing CrossFit. It makes a big difference to be with someone who also wants to be healthy and exercise as much as you do. Since she was going to miss her classes that week, we trained together on days 1 and 2, and then she cheered for me on my third training day, which I performed in the sand. It helped a lot, having someone else motivated to train alongside me or push/cheer for me. If she had stay in bed, it would have been so much harder for me to go out and train on my own! We still laid around the other days, but it felt like a much more balanced vacation week.

The first day, I had to do standard Kentauros. In the meaning time my GF did some loose exercises. It was amazing to get a PB on Kentauros, but more importantly, not to suffer throughout the workout as I usually did. The feeling of finally conquering this WOD, that has made me suffer so much in the past, is indescribable. I was genuinely happy and proud. I still remember the first time I did Kentauros, when I couldn't finish it and ended up taking around 40 minutes to do half of the repetitions (and all that went along with me quitting...) and then the second time I did it, when I managed to do all the rounds in over 1h 15 mins!!! Now I'm doing it all, with a star, in under 45 mins... WOoooHOW!!!

The second day I did standard Venus alongside my GF. It was the first time she did the exact same WOD as me, at the same time, and it was a great. I still have a huge lack of upper-body strength (I definitely need to work on that) and therefore I'm still unable to do all the push-ups strict. I also got a PB here, which is nice, but no star. I think I still have a long way to get to the strict push ups. It discourages me sometimes not to be able to do strict pistols or push ups or pull ups, but I see the small improvements after every workout and I have to keep reminding myself things don't happen overnight and to get results, I just have to keep on working hard, consistently.

The third and last day of training we went to a lovely beach that is not suitable for swimming and where, therefore, there's just a few people here and there. It was a nice sunny morning and I did 2x Metis. Let me tell you, doing burpees and high jumps in the sand is NOT easy. Besides the added resistance, the ground is uneven and when you are constantly landing on the same spots you start digging holes that only make things worse. Also the sand sticks to your sweat so... You can imagine. It was a nice challenge and a good change of scenario though #TheWorldIsMyGym. After Metis I had to do two 100 m sprints. This was my first time running with the new coach, and I was worried about how to measure the distance. It turns out, the Coach can use GPS and measure it for you. I just had to sprint holding my phone and I would get an alert when I passed the 100 meters. It is pretty accurate, so I'm very pleased about that. Also, I improved my time by a second from the first to the second repetition, and all this in the sand so I think I'll certainly get a PB when I do this again, on a more even surface. Overall it was a great experience and a nice training day, perfect to end my fitness summer vacation.

Coach W8D2 - Metis (Strength) + loose exercises

 Metis (X), *00:18:48 (PB) 

Loose Exercises (PBs)

The second and last day of training of week #8 was a special feature. Good old Metis –but the strength version, which I’m doing for the first time- plus some loose exercises: 10 pushups, 25 squats, 50 situps and 10 Froggers (also the first time I have to do loose exercises to complement a WOD… if I recall correctly).

I could “hear” the Coach saying: “You’ve got Burpees under control? That’s cute; let’s try Burpee Squat Jumps (BSJs) then!” The strength version of Metis has BSJs instead of regular Burpees, Froggers instead of Climbers and High Jumps instead of Jumps; all nice little changes to push you a bit further –and you can feel those little things add up and matter a ton!  BSJs start like regular burpees but when you go from the ground forward and up you have to first get in a squatting position with the hips below the knees and from there perform a high jump (knees above hip line) instead of the usual small jump forward and up. It was a bit challenging to modify the movement pattern I’m already used to, but once I did a few reps and got the hang of it was good.  I got tired a lot faster than with regular burpees though because, let’s face it, during regular burpees I jump just high enough to make both feet lift the ground but not any higher to save as much energy as possible.  I liked the strength version of Metis. Doing Froggers is easier for me than Climbers. I always struggle with the Climbers, keeping the hips below the knees and the shoulders, hips and knees aligned while moving one feet forzard, then the other…  I think the problem there is that I’m still short on strength in my upper body and core so I can’t keep everything tight. Jumping forward with both feet made things simpler. Also I was already doing pretty high jumps during standard Metis, so nothing much changed there. The only thing I can point out is that I think I performed particularly slowly. The adjustment to the BSJs was very noticeable and I stopped to catch my breath probably more often and for longer periods of time than I really needed to. Lately I’ve been feeling this a lot, like I’m giving in to what my mind says more than what my body says. I felt it during Aphrodite (the previous WOD) too, like physically I could have gone faster but for some (mental) reason I just didn’t. I’m going to pay more attention to that in the next WODs, to make sure I’m pushing myself into giving my all at every rep.

I did this WOD at 8 AM on a Monday, during my holidays, while my GF went to her CrossFit class because we were leaving –just the two of us- for 7 days to the beach afterwards. A lot of people train early in the morning on empty stomachs and I think that’s a terrible idea. I’m in the process of writing a post about nutrition on morning  training sessions, so there will be more explanations on why I think it’s a bad idea there. I’ve been wanting to try one of the recipes of the Nutrition Guide to make high protein snacks for these type of situations, because if you eat a whole breakfast you’d have to wait a couple of hours to digest before dropping to the floor.  In the meaning time, we bought commercial protein bars that provide 15 g of protein a piece. We ate those (they tasted a bit funny so we do not think on eating these regularly) with a small cup of coffee and then trained about a half an hour later. The coffee decided to pay me a little visit during the first round of burpees, but other than that it was all good. I didn’t feel hungry or fatigued, so it was a good call to eat that prior to the workout. After training my GF came back to the apartment and we ate a proper breakfast with fruits, a bit of bread with turkey breast and tea with milk.  Then OFF TO THE BEACH we were!

Coach W6D3 - 3x Metis (Standard)

 3x Metis (S): *00:44:38 

February is here! Sunday = last training session of this week! I had done a fraction of Aphrodite on Thursday and now it was time for Metis... the standard version, three times! Yep, the "nice feature" of the coach that allows you to do partial workouts, also can make you do three times the same workout!!! Not liking the nice feature so much now, are we? 

I remembered Metis as a friendly and fast workout. My previous PB was around 9 minutes so I multiplied that by 3 + a couple of extra minutes because of the added reps, and I thought I should finish up in around 30 minutes. Well, I'm certainly still not in good shape considering how far I was from that estimate. I finished the first Metis in 12 minutes, which was decent, but from then on, I suffered big time. I think I'm not breathing properly because with all that jumping up and down during the burpees and high jumps I started feeling really dizzy, like there was not enough oxygen going to my brain, and a couple of times I really felt like fainting. I had to stop, put my head between  my legs and take deep breaths to recover. I started noticing I was holing my breath a lot during the heavier "strength parts" of the movements, so I guess I was functioning anaerobically, which totally explains my dizziness... From now on I'm making more of a conscious effort to breathe a lot better throughout the workout so that this does not happen again.



My girlfriend did some exercises next to me and then decided to coach me a little. All this time I've trained alone and I never really get to see with perspective if I'm doing the exercises right, nor do I get somebody else's input on how my form is. She corrected my climbers saying my hips were not below my shoulder line at all times. She even put her hands at shoulder height to prevent me from raising the hips. I felt the climbers become harder immediately with that pointer! And I could have sworn I was doing them right... She also had some comments on my burpees, particularly on the landing of the jump forward. With all that, plus the hell I went through during the final series, she sort of forced me to tell the coach that this week's intensity was "far too high". I guess I think it was a little high (not "far too high") but the argument that  finally sold me into accepting that it was too high is that by the end I was so exhausted that I was loosing the form of the exercises... and we all know that form is more important than time so there's that. I'll be starting a new week with adjusted intensity!

PS: Before training my girlfriend and I did her CrossFit warm up, which included some crunches that looked easy but actually really hurt! After training we stretched out real good and then we went to my parent's house were swam a bit in the pool, which was at the lovely temperature of 28°C. OK, to be honest I didn't swam as much as I floated around, and it was awesome #SUMMER IS HERE!

Cardio&Strength - W4D3

 Metis: *00:09:58 

 Metis: *00:10:25 

Today is a double feature of Metis, all cardio, all sweat. I had a soccer match (baby soccer actually, a little different from what I'm used to) so I trained afterwards. As usual, not the best idea because I come into the workout already feeling a bit tired but hey, that's life when you are NOT sedentary, right?!

I was confident I could top my PB on the first run, and I was quite shocked to see it took me a minute longer to finish up! I would like to blame the soccer but I don't really know. I was expecting to perform worse on the second run, but to my surprise it wasn't much of a difference, just under 30 seconds. I think that's good, not taking that much longer, but I worry for not  topping my PB... I guess there are many factors to take into consideration and I shouldn't worry too much while I'm giving my best at each rep.

Cardio&Strength - W2D4

 Metis: *00:10:45 

 Metis: *00:09:57 

FINALLY, my last session of week #2: Metis, two times in a row.

Today is day 1 after Artemis -and my Dad's birthday-. I have some soreness in my pecs, shoulders and triceps from the push ups and pull ups. I also feel my quads tight (and getting tighter by the hour) from the sit ups. However, since it's only day 1, I'm still very functional; last week it was on day 3 were I couldn't take off my sports bra by myself... Hopefully, today's exercise will help me to feel less pain tomorrow, and specially on Saturday (the dreaded day 3) because I have a soccer semi-final, so I have to be at my best to get to the final, specially after loosing the other two semi-finals we've played these past two weeks... 

I did Metis without any modified repetitions (yay!), but I couldn't top my last PB. I was slown down because of the pain and stiffness in my muscles, but I still managed to get through the thing quite decently. I took a couple of minutes break in between the two Metises, and as I was warmer, the second time my muscles hurted a less so I managed to improve my time in almost a full minute. By the end of the whole thing I was pouring sweat like crazy; always a good sign. I feel like I could have pushed myself a bit harder tough... Next time I'll really strive to top my PB.

Tomorrow I'll rest, on Saturday I'll play soccer and on Sunday (election day here in Chile), I'll get started with week #3!. See you then!

Week #5 - HELL WEEK - Day 7 / Dione + Metis + Squat Max

 Dione: 00:   Metis: 00:  Squat Max: 

I was supposed to finish the workouts yesterday. The problem is, I had a soccer match and having done Aphrodite the day before, I ended up with a contracted quadriceps. Therefore, I didn't want to push it because I was afraid to get injured. I decided then not to do Day 7 right away. Also I had another match today so I couldn't risk it. With this, I've had two delays on Hell Week, so I don't really know if I should still call it that because the whole idea is to train everyday for 7 days straight. I'm pretty sure though that Hell Week does not consider that one would also be playing 3 soccer matches during those 7 days so... I sort of think soccer makes up for my skipped days (wishful thinking). 

Today the match was really easy (we won 10 - 0!). Before and after the game I warmed up and stretched a bit, but my quad still feels stiff. Of course, in the heat of the moment it does not hurt a bit, but it's after when the tightness kicks in. WIth all that in mind I still managed to score 3 goals =P. Since I have no more matches until Saturday, I can go for it today. I'm not expecting great results but it will still be a done workout.

Day 7 of Hell Week is actually supposed to be the  climax of Hell  with 3 workouts at once. First Dione, then Metis and finally Squat Max.

Week #5 - HELL WEEK - Day 2 / Squat Max, Push Up Max & Metis

 Squat Max: *104  Push Up Max: 24  Metis:*00:11:59 

OMG.

I really don't recommend training two days in a row having soccer matches on those same days. My legs are really shaking and I already feel like tomorrow I'll wake up all stiff and sore...

Day two of Hell Week. I went and played soccer for an hour (we won, 3-2... I scored 2 goals and assisted on the other one, so I'm stoked!). Then we celebrated the win for a little while, while I was thinking "it's Hell Week, I have to get home and do the workout".  I came home and started with the Squat Max and, to my surprise, I performed quite decently (104 squats in 300 seconds); only one repetition down from my PB. I think I've gained leg strength because after chasing the ball for a whole hour (and having played yesterday and the day before that) I thought I wouldn't have the strength to pull it off, or at least not that well.  

Of course, after the squats I felt brave enough to think I could do the Push Up Max properly and finally get a star... Luckily I over think things so I ended up deciding to take it easy and do the push ups girly style (knees on the ground). It was pitiful! I don't have a reasonable explanation to my lame 24 push ups in 100 seconds -and without a star!!!!-. All I know is that my triceps were burning and I just couldn't speed up. I'll have to work a loOoOot harder on my push ups to get to a decent place...

Finally came Metis. I have a hate/love thing going on with this workout. I like it because it's quick, but at the same time I think it is way harder than it looks. The thing is, by that time, with all the squats and the soccer, my legs were a bit shaky and loose, so it took me 11 min 59 secs to finish the workout, which is far from my PB. At least I managed to do the high jumps properly, a thing that I thought would be impossible with my floppy legs!

Overall I'm glad it's over, I'm happy that my mind won over my body again and that I pushed myself to do the workout even after being tired from all the soccer! Hell week is, so far, living up to it's name!

Week 4, Day 4 / Metis

 Metis: *00:09:37 

Damn, this workout is intense! Today I trained after a soccer match and I could barely breathe. I finished, though, but I was far from my PB. It's a little disappointing but I'm trying not to focus on that so much, but more on the great achievement that is doing the whole workout without any modified repetition. Baby steps to reach my goal... baby steps.

Week 4, Day 3 / Metis

 Metis: *00:09:23 

No PB today. I am very tired and I had a hard time lifting my knees up to my chest. I thought I started well but as you can see, it took me more than 30 seconds extra (compared to yesterday) to finish the workout. Today the star was way harder to get.

As they say, one cannot always have great days!

I realized today I wasn't lowering enough my hips during the climbers. In the speed of trying to beat my PBs I think I do not always pay too much attention to the way I'm doing the exercises. To keep inmind for next time!

Week 4, Day 2 / Metis

 Metis: *00:08:50 

I DID IT! I GOT MY METIS STAR ★ !!!

I realized my  problem was I wasn't visualizing the movements right... Of course, with practice, and a little more thinking about Metis before jumping head first to doing it, the movements became clearer in my mind and easier for my body. I'm sure they'll continue to get easier during this week.

Today I managed to jump forward enough on the climbers so my feet got to my hand level rather easily. It was, I think, a matter of believing that just with a bit more impulse I could get it done. 

Also I realized that during the high jumps I was jumping with my legs too separated and that it was physically impossible for my knees to touch my shoulders that way. As soon as I pulled my knees together, and jumped a little harder than I was,  the high jumps became way easier and I got to touch my shoulders (or chest, not quite sure which it was).

And so, I got my star... Of course I didn't beat my previous starless time, but It only took me a few seconds more to do the workout properly so I'm super happy and damn proud. I feel this week I'll beat my PBs rather often (hopefully) Yay! Metis is quite intense, I was out of breath rather fast, and I ended up sweating a lot for having worked out only nine minutes. Go Freeletics!

Week 4, Day 1 / Metis

 Metis: 00:08:31 

New week, new workout!

This week is the turn of the Titaness of wisdom Metis, the first great spouse of Zeus and -very confusingly to me- the mother of Athenea (last week I red it was Dione...). Anyhow, this workout is very short, full on cardio, consisting of burpees and two new exercises: climbers and high jumps. 

WORKOUT STRUCTURE

3 Rounds	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3
Burpees	10	25	10
Climbers	10	25	10
High Jumps	10	25	10

Climbers should look like this:

basically starting in a push up position and alternating the feet and getting them right up to the hand level.

High Jumps should look like this:

in words; jumping so high that the knees touch the shoulders.

Today I had a soccer match that SUCKED. My new team (Monday's league) is very bad -we barely know eachother, have never played together + many of the girls are out of shape-; we were so overpowered by the other team that I barely had to run or do anything (just because I couldn't do anything!). On top of everything I had to play midfield when I'm a forward so, everything was out of place. I came home and decided to do my workout to shake it off. Of course I thought I would have no problems in doing the climbers and high jumps without modifications, and of course, I was wrong... 

The climbers were a lot harder than I imagined to do... getting the feet that forward isn't evident, but I managed to do them quite decently. The high jumps were another story. I looked my reflection in the mirror as I did them, and I barely dare to call them "high" jumps. Of course my knees never touched my shoulders and even if I felt I was pushing up with all my strength I could not get my knees higher than they wanted to go. The whole thing was quite intense and I was fast out of breath quickly... good cardio! It took me 8 min. 31 sec. to finish Metis today. This week I think I'll focus more on trying to get to do the high jumps really high rather than obsessing over improving the workout time.