Coach W12D3 - Atlas (Standard)

 Atlas (S), 00:31:52 

Last training session of Week 12, and it's a workout I've never done before: ATLAS. In Greek mythology, Atlas was one of the Titans that rebelled and fought against the Olympians. After loosing the battle, Zeus punished Atlas by having him stand on the western edge of the Earth (Gaia) and hold up the heavens over his shoulders for eternity. That way he was kept apart from his brother Menoetius who was condemned to the tartarus. Atlas has been long time misrepresented as holding Gaia over his shoulders, when the myth clearly states that he is holding the heavens... The thing is, how do you represent the heavens? It's certainly easier to make a painting or a statue of Atlas holding the Earth!

Did Atlas, the workout, feel like I had to carry the weight of the heavens over my shoulders? Not really, but it is certainly was a complex workout, involving 6 different exercises which pretty much had me doing a bit of everything.

The workout starts off with a 2 km run. On Sundays the large avenue in front of my apartment is closed from 9 AM to 2 PM and everybody goes out to run, ride their bikes, roller skate, walk their dogs etc. I measured the distance online and I managed to run up 1 km and down 1 km the closed street, and finish in around 12 minutes.  I hate running so I think it's a decent time, but it can most certainly be improved. After that, I got back into the apartment and went on with Squats, Burpees, Climbers, Leg Levers (which are supposed to be straight but I had to do Hand Helped so, no star) and finally Jumps. Overall it went smoothly, up until the Leg Levers which put me a bit in a bad mood because I see and feel the limitation of still not being able to do them straight. I'm working on it though, that's what's most important I guess... My psoas suffers tremendously during the Leg Levers  so,  having to jump afterward is a BIG challenge.

Coach W11D3 - 4/6 Kentauros (Strength) + 2x 100 Squats + 100 Burpees

 4/6 Kentauros (X): 00:29:10 

 100 squats: *00:05:23 

100 burpees: *00:14:59 

100 squats : *00:04:29 (PB!)

After training two days in a row, I rested on Tuesday. Wednesday came along and with it, my third training day of week 11. I was determined to face and beat down the mental challenge this week has put me trough, and what better way to do it than with my good old friend Kentauros. I was scared when I saw the programming (Kentauros, strength version + 2x 100 Squats + 2x 100 Burpees), but having learned from the experience of the previous days, I didn't let that get into my head. I decided ahead of time I would, at the very least, do one set of Squats and one set of Burpees after the WOD, and I'd see how to go from there.

Even if it's just 4/6, it's the strength version of Kentauros I'm dealing with. I suffered miserably with the standard version until not too long ago, so I was both excited and scared to see the challenge rise, and to test myself once again. The modifications from standard to strength are subtle but meaningful; Burpee Frogs become Burpee DEEP Frogs (BDFs) and Jumps become HIGH Jumps (HJ). These seemingly little changes mean putting in tons of extra energy to be able to jump from a low squat position, landing accordingly (in case of the Burpee Deep Frogs) and higher, raising the knees to touch the shoulders and not only to hip level (in case of the High Jumps). As you can see from the picture, I was pouring buckets of sweat by the end of it.  I think  this is THE training session I have sweated the most, ever. I had never before seen drops of sweat run down my hair and fall in my shouders, back, neck, floor...

Overall I felt absolutely great. Pumped, motivated, happy to see my mind and body perform at unison. I think it helps tremendously to know the workout well. I know how and when to pace myself, when to speed up, when it's wise to rest a bit, when I can push harder. I'm extremely happy that I finished below the 30 minute mark, and I'm looking forward to repeating this WOD in the near future. I feel I have it in me to drop that time down a bit!. Just waiting for the Coach to give me that chance again. I feel much stronger; the BDFs were not that big of a challenge as I thought they would be. I actually struggled a lot more with raising the knees high enough during the High Jumps! *edition: while writing this, I realized I actually did Jumps and not High Jumps (so I removed the star I had first awarded me) because I started the workout with the confusion of how high the knees had to go in HJ. To be fair, I think if I had "known" (I did know but I was confused) I had to touch my shoulders with my knees, I probably would not have been able to do it in all reps or if I did, my time would have been significantly higher. So there it is. I was all happy about the time with a star, but hey, next time there will be no confusions and I'll hit that workout hard.

After hydrating myself and catching my breath for a little bit (about 3 min rest) I went in for the first 100 Squats. The most squats I've had to do in a row before is 50, during the first round of Aphrodite. I thought twice as many was completely doable, and it was. I had to break into series of 25-ish and rest for a couple of seconds in between sets (rest = kick the air to move around my quads and take deep breaths). I'm hoping to get soon to the point were I don't stop. I thought I'd be under 5 minutes, and I was close. One very interesting thing I noticed is, when I got around the 80th Squat, I felt some sort of smooth warmth expand in my quads, and pressure/pain release. I suddenly felt like I could keep on squatting for a long time. I think it may have been the same thing that happens when you jog; you suffer and suffer and then you reach a certain point, well into your run, when suddenly you feel like you could keep on going for hours. 

I took another break (around 5 minutes) walking around, stretching my quads a bit and drinking some water. Without thinking too much about things, I dropped to the floor to start doing the 100 burpees. If I let myself meditate long enough on what's coming ahead, that's when my mind tricks me into thinking I cannot do it. I didn't give my mind enough time, and it was a good decision. I have calculated before that my current burpee rate is 10 per minute, so I thought It would take me 10 minutes to do the 100 burpees. That calculus did not take into consideration having done 4/6 strength Kentauros and 100 squats before, so of course it took me 50% longer than anticipated to finish! The truth is, I was still thrilled. I had beaten my mind. I had done all 100 burpees, for the first time (just like with the squats, I had never done more than 50 in a row before), even when I was exhausted and pouring and pouring buckets of sweat. I WON. And it was an amazing feeling.

Just when I was doing my last 20 burpees or so, my GF arrived home from her CrossFit class. She saw me struggling a bit and cheered me on. Then, when I finished, she asked if that was my last round and I told her I was supposed to do 100 more squats and 100 more burpees, but that I thought I didn't have it in me to complete that. She said to me "I know you can do it, at least you can do the squats, so come on, I'll squat with you". Getting that support and encouragement from her was the biggest achievement of that training session. I cannot begin to describe how happy it makes me to see these changes in her, wanting to exercise, to get fitter, healthier, to the point where she'll do 100 squats after having done CrossFit, just to accompany me. She pushed me because I needed to be pushed, and it payed off. I got below the 5 minutes, as I had wanted to do in the first attempt. I set a new PB, when I thought I couldn't squat anymore. 

The only thing missing, to have had an absolutely mind blowing successful day, was the last 100 burpees. After the liters and liters of sweat, I really didn't think I could handle another 15 to 20 minutes doing burpees. In total I was already training for around 1 h, and it felt like if I kept pushing that hard, it might have been detrimental. So I made that decision, I don't know if it was 100% honest or if some mental weakness was there too but that was it. My first really real Hell Day, almost done 100%, with great achievements and even a PB. What an amazing day!

Push your limits

Coach W10D2 - Venus (Standard)

 Venus (S), 00:23:57 PB!!! 

Second training day of week 10. I was all pumped with the results of Aphrodite (the first WOD of this week) so I wanted to try and beat my Venus PB. I did this workout while being at the beach a week ago, so I had it fresh in my memory how it was like. I knew the push-ups were (are) my weak point so my strategy was to gain time with the squats and the situps.

I think I wasn't still fully recovered from Aphrodite because I had a bit of a hard time with the squats. My quads felt tired and sort of "lazy" right away and I had to break the first series of 50 into 5 x 10 reps (when I usually can pull a 20 - 15 -15 or a 25 - 25). The sensation got better with each round but it was never completely gone. Sit ups went by with no effort, but as I anticipated, the push ups were the killers. I can do some strict push ups, but certainly not 50 of them... 4 times. I actually suffer doing 50 knee push ups so you can imagine. I set myself the following mental schedule: do 5, take 2 breaths still in push up position, do 5 more and rest my arms (lying on the floor) for 5 breaths (10 breaths max when I'm dying). Its sort of breaking the push ups into 5 x 10 reps. When I write it and read it it sounds lazy as f**k, but its what I have to do in order to finish the WOD. Its a personal goal of mine to improve substantially my upper body strength. 

With all that strategy I did manage to lower my time and get a new PB. Still no star, but I'll #trainforit

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 W8D1 - Aphrodite (Standard)

 Aphrodite (S), *00:36:23 

As I’ve told you on previous posts, I’m on summer holidays these weeks, so besides training and painting the apartment (which finally looks awesome), I’m also taking two short trips to the beach. Knowing I’d be away, I only programmed two training sessions for week #8 of my Cardio&Strength Coach. I did my last session of week #7 on Monday, had a soccer match on Tuesday night, went away from Wednesday morning until Friday night and trained on Saturday and Monday morning (I rested on Sunday, although I swam a bit in my parent’s pool that day…)

Along with my older sister and my girlfriend we accompanied my father for three days to Pichilemu and surroundings (about 210 kms South from Santiago).  By “surroundings” I mean the country side around 50 km inland, where the family of my father is originally from and where he likes going a few times a year, to visit some of the relatives he still has in the area and to buy locally harvested beans, lentils, honey and organic olive oil for the year. The thing is, given the reasonable distance to the beach we (or I) took the chance stay at Pichilemu, which is one of the best beaches in Chile to surf. If you’ve read some of my older posts, I took my first surfing lesson in October 2013 while on a trip to Ecuador with my sister, right around when I was starting Freeletics (click here). I had been wanting to surf again, but never did something about it. Thanks to my sister who pushed me on taking this little trip, I took my second lesson on Thursday (with a thicker wetsuit, ad hoc for these latitudes). I was expecting to be cold and/or to have forgotten what I had learned, but everything went smoothly, like riding a bike. It felt amazing to take this opportunity and surf again. It turns out I’m quite good at it and it makes me very happy to be able to catch a wave and stand on that board. I’m really thinking to maybe get into it a bit more seriously… we’ll see what the future holds.

When I got back to the city I quickly left the water behind and traded it for my dear friend Aphrodite.  I feel like I’ve been doing Aphrodite every week... well, #CoachKnows. We all came back quite tired from the trip, but I was expecting to improve my time. I felt right during the first 50 burpees that it was not going to be that easy. Maybe it was all the driving, or the sun and heat, or the surf lesson, but my arms felt heavy and lacking strength to push me up during the burpees. It actually took me 1 min 5 sec more to finish Aphrodite than during Hell Week… I know it’s not that much of a difference, but still it bothers me a bit. This made me think again about my PB of 27+ minutes. I accomplished that time when the Coach was not around and I had to keep track of what series I was doing and how many reps were there etc. Considering I feel similarly fit (if not fitter) than last year, I find it hard to believe that now it takes me more than 8 minutes more to finish Aphrodite compared to that PB. I think it’s very probable that I miscounted the reps or skipped a whole series that day… There’s no way to knowing for sure, so we’ll have to see if I can go down to 27 minutes any time soon to figure this mystery out. Other than the heavy arms, Aphrodite went smoothly. I feel my technique on the burpees is much better; I can jump back and forward with both feet much more lightly than before. I also have a good knowledge on where to break my series of squats to maximize my time. I think one of the weaknesses I should probably work on are situps because no matter how hard I try to speed up, they keep taking way longer than they should…

Coach W6D2 - 4/5 Aphrodite (Standard)

 4/5 Aphrodite (S): *00:30:01 

Second training session of this week, and it is Aphrodite (standard version), but only 4/5, meaning I don't have to do the last series of 10 reps. Well, when you've done the series of 50, 40, 30 and 20 reps, doing the last series of 10 feels like a walk in the park, and I don't really see the point of skipping that... but hey, I'm not about to begin questioning what the #COACH tells me to do, right?! He's probably just saving my strength for the third workout of this week...

I wanted to finish in under 30 minutes and I missed by just 1 second (which is basically the time that it took me to press the "finish workout" button after actually finishing), so I'm pleased I sort-of-met the goal I had set for myself. I had to rush through the last series of 20 reps because I had rested a bit much during the previous series and lost quite a few seconds. At some points I was really gasping for air and sweat was pouring heavily. I don't remember ever sweating as much as I do when I do Aphrodite. I guess we can blame it on having a more active metabolism and on the high intensity training?

Overall I felt good, faster and stronger than the last time I did Aphrodite. The only thing I can point out is that I had a rougher time than expected on the squats. I felt it right away; this time squats were not going to be part of the "active rest"... I really don't know what it was because I wasn't sore at all to begin and I had rested well, but my quads just felt tired and lazy. Usually I can do the 50 reps in two series of 25 but this time I had to break the series into 15 - 15 -10. I can only think that it is because I've been exercising my legs a lot this past couple of weeks and it has accumulated. 

After finishing the workout I stretched long and hard. I must confess I do not always elongate well after training, and I know it is not smart. It's that kind of thing that you know perfectly well that you MUST do, but you still don't do it well (like eating clean all the time or training dirty). The difference that it makes to elongate all your body while still being warm from the exercise is evident. I felt immediately relieved and I woke up the next day in great shape. I wasn't sore at all (and I'm still not sore!). I'm only feeling my hamstrings -surprisingly not my quads- quite tight, and I can only imagine what they would feel like if I hadn't stretched!

Afterwards I fixed myself a quick "dinner"; I ate a slice of turkey breast ham and a hard boiled egg to provide the protein, and then I made this yummy greek yoghurt with chia seeds, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and a little bit of granola. It was super fast and delicious, it also looks great don't you think? It's one of the perks of the #summer!

#ClapClap   Eat clean 

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)