Cardio&Strength Coach - W1D3

 Sit Up Max: *137 (in 300 secs) PB! 

 Pull Up Max: 11 (in 100 secs) 

 Burpee Max: *41 (in 300 secs)

Day 3. I'm definitely back!!! Its a little weird because I feel, at the same time, that I'm starting fresh and like I never left. I guess it's like coming back home. Once you become a Free Athlete, there's no going back. 

In my last post, I said I was fearing yet looking forward to this session. I guess the idea of doing Pull Ups "scares me" because I know I will struggle and that I will do a ridiculously little number of ridiculously shaped Pull Ups. However I'm glad to be already seeing some improvements, maybe not in the number of repetitions (I did one less than the other day), but in the way I do the exercise -with more controlled movements-. That has always fascinated me about Freeletics. Even from one session to the next, you can feel and see subtle differences that add up and add up tho that great big goal of the 15 weeks. 

Today I was a little sore from yesterday's training, but mostly on my legs. The Push Ups helped ease the pain of the Pull Ups from the first training session, so it was great. Its my quads however that hurt quite a bit from all the squats. That, of course, has nothing to do with the abs that allowed me to beat my PB with 137 Sit Ups in 300 seconds...  Yay me! I'm almost getting to my 150 bar, which will mean a sit up every two seconds. Woohoow!!!

When I got to the burpees I was a bit tired, so I was doing them slowly. I'm still not able to jump backwards as fast as I'd like. I think I still have a long way to go to perfect this movement, but I'm making progress and slowly getting there. I guess I'd like to get soon around the 75 burpees in 300 seconds.

Tomorrow night I have a Friend's bachelorette party (I fear for my physical integrity LOL) so I'll be doing Aphrodite, my last session of this first week, probably on saturday. Wish me luck, and remember:

we may take breaks... but we NEVER QUIT!

Cardio&Strength Coach: W1D1

 Burpee MAX: *48 (in 300 sec) PB! 

 Pull-Up MAX: 12 (in 100 sec) 

Well, I got back on the horse! Cheers for the beginning of my new ending!
I'm very glad I did. It was a "soft" training to start. Almost all week I just have to do MAXes, except the last day where I shall meet again my beloved Aphrodite ♥. The coach is supposedly learning about me and my performance through these exercises. I suppose if you can do a certain amount of reps you fall in a certain category and so on. Well, you don't have to be a genius to know Pull-Ups are one of my lowest points so, I expect quite a few of those bad boys in my training for the next 15 weeks... I won't say I'm happy about that, but I know it'll only make me better.

I'm glad we started soft though. Mentally it empowers you to "do well" right away, even if I consider my performance not that great... I beat my PB in the burpees?! I'm not sure how is that possible, but I'm still glad I did. Maybe my 5 extra kilos aren't that much of a setback... My knee still hurts when I jump forward and backwards during the burpees but I decided to power through it because it doesn't seem to get any better with rest anyways. I sucked at the Pull-Ups, as usual but the little 12 I did (girly style of course, jumping up) I did them well.

I'm really looking forward to getting on the training/sweating/improving zone again. I can't wait to feel stronger, as I did before. Soccer starts in three weeks so I hope it will be enough time for me to go back at least 90% to my pre-job/injury/trip self. The rest will come on its own time.

I'll try to upload a new set of pictures ASAP.

Cardio&Strength - W5D1

 Hades: 00:37:12 

Starting week #5, I realize I'm about to get to the "same" point as with the Free Guide... I was fearing I would get a "Hell Week" for week #5, but lucky me that didn't happen. In total I've been training (well, at the end of this week I will have trained) for 10 weeks. It sounds like quite a long time. There's been ups and downs, PBs beaten and struggles, a lot of sweat and almost tears... I feel I've come a long way from where I started (not even able to do a strict burpee... not even imagining myself doing a Pull Up etc.) and I'm very happy about that.

Yesterday I started at a new job. I will definitely miss being home and having tons of time to do whatever pleases me, whenever it pleases me. Of course that also means my training window has been dramatically reduced, I can't train at 1 AM anymore and, very important, I'm overall more tired. Today I got home late and exhausted. I had to do Hades again so I struggled quite a bit with finding the strength within me to train at 11 PM. I feel I have changed because, even with all that, I went out and trained, because WE REALLY NEVER QUIT, and that seems to have stuck with me for good. I did not beat my PB but today I don't care about that because for the first time I was able to do the modified Pull Ups the right way, i.e. getting down in a controlled manner, in (almost) every single repetition. It may have taken me almost 4 minutes more to finish the whole workout, but It's so worth it when I think that last week I was dropping down from the bar like a heavy potato while this week I'm lowering my body slowly!!! On top of that, I realized I'm getting quite good at the Push Ups; my struggles are a thing of the past, and so are the modified repetitions. I had no problem with doing all 15 repetitions the strict way!!!

So, there you have it. New job, new found strength, and soon new PB.
 Always remember: we are Free Athletes, and we NEVER quit.

Cardio&Strength - W4D1

 Hades: 00:37:55 

Starting week n° 4! It feels great to be moving yet another step closer to the 15 week goal. 

I woke up feeling a little bit sore and tired after yesterday's work out full of Pull Ups. Today I had to do Hades for the second time. As you may remember, this workout includes doing MORE Pull Ups. So you can imagine I wasn't thrilled by the thought of it. I absolutely dread doing Pull Ups. I suck so much at them that I even feel sorry for myself. It will take so much work for me to get decent at them... but that's the idea, right? To work your a*s off -specially at your weaknesses- to improve and be the best you can be. 

On the bright side, Hades also includes Push Ups and today I decided I was done being a baby and doing them girly style. I did all my Push Ups without any modified repetitions!!! (i.e. with my knees off the floor). I am super proud of this, and yes, I did not top my PB, and I went down almost 4 minutes, but finishing the Pull Ups series the proper way is so worth it! In no time I hope I'll be saying the same thing about the Pull Ups...

Cardio&Strength - W3D4

 Ares: 00:14:16 (PB!) 
 Sit Up Max: *123 

 Ares: 00:15:31 

 Sit Up Max: *125 (PB!) 

Last workout of the week!!! Or should I say workoutS... Four at once, to be more precise; this is a first! With soccer (I'll tell you about the finale on my next post) it took me a while to get to this last session (time and energy issues), but today I came in well rested, ready to kick some ass.

Ares includes 5 series with Pull Ups, and I seem to be getting worse and worse at doing them instead of better. I still get the tingling sensation in my left forearm after a few repetitions, and I loose strength quickly to the point where I can barely hold myself with the chin over the bar, let alone lower myself in a controlled manner. I sometimes feel like I'm "cheating" because I'm not even doing every modified repetition correctly, but this is something that is truly beyond my abilities right now. I'm working on it, and I can't wait to see the day were I can do 10 full pull ups straight, but until then I'll just have to keep on working and trying to do my best at each repetition. 

I'm starting to get calluses on my hands because of the Pull Ups (they hurt a little). I've been seeing several videos in YouTube and reading posts that address this issue. The best explanation on how to prevent the calluses all can be found here. I've been very carefull at gripping the bar correctly from the start (i.e. centering the bar at the base of my fingers >"the gorilla grip" rather than in the center of my palm), and I'm convinced that if I hadn't, my hands would be ripped by now. But still, I'm hanging from a metal bar, when I usually don't so I think it is only normal to have calluses developing. I don't like it though! Still, it's a little price to pay for getting stronger and better!.

Today I beat two PBs so I'm pleased about that, but I'm hungry for more...