Cardio&Strength Coach - W1D2

 Squat Max: *104 (in 300 sec) 

 Push-Up Max: 25 (in 100 sec) 

Oh dear muscle pain, believe it or not, I've missed you! You feel so good (OK, that sounded masochistic, which I'm not). You make me really feel -litteraly- that I'm back in the game, that I'm alive and more importantly, even if it's only by a little bit, that I'm making progress... Yes I'm uncomfortable lifting my arms or going down the stairs, but I know it's for the better!!!

As usual, after the other day's Pull-Ups the worst pain is in my pecs and my Latissimus dorsi, that lovely muscle that goes from my back, across my armpit and connecting with my pecs. It doesn't hurt as bad as the last time (no T-Rex), probably because I only did 12 reps, but pulling off my t-shirt is not a walk in the park either!

Today I had to keep busting my pecs with the Push-Up Max. Since I was already in pain I decided it was wiser not try and do it with a star and I just went for the knee-on-the-ground version. I was right because I barely got to 25 repetitions!!! Well, my upper-body weakness is no surprise to me and I'm guessing the coach will catch on that rather soon.

I felt really good during the Squat Max and I managed to go above the 100 repetitions, which was the threshold I had set for myself before I started. I was surprised to notice I only did one repetition less than my PB, so after two training sessions I'm seeing that, at least in some aspects, my two month (or more?) break did not have as bad an impact in my strength as I expected it.

Next session: Sit Up, Pull Up and Burpee Max. I'm fearing it a bit. I'm also looking forward to it.

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 2, Day 5 / Aphrodite + Push-Up MAX

 Aphrodite: *00:28:39 (PB!) 

 Push-Up MAX: 33  

Yesterday I played soccer so I "rested" from the workouts. Today I had no match so I decided it was a good idea to try and improve my Aphrodite time. Also it is my fifth day of training of week  # 2, which makes me feel quite happy and proud in terms of my commitement to the program. I must confess though, that the MAXs are very tempting compared tot he Aphrodite because they are over so fast!!! So I think this week is also a bit of a mental challenge not to only do MAXs because they are easier. Still, the bigger the challenge (i.e. Aphrodite), the better the reward.

I did the Aphrodite with no modified repetitions in 28 minutes and 39 seconds. I improved my best time in a little less than 2 minutes. Yay me! I think this proves my point; I need to be more "rested" in order to really improve my PBs. I commented about that feeling I had the other day that I could really do thing faster if I weren't that thire. At one point during the series I even thought I could make it in under 27 mins, but the situps held me back this time. As I said yesterday, my quads feel really tired, and today they were better but not great yet. On the brighter side, burpees are each time less of a struggle  =)!

After my new PB, and considering my arms/chest weren't too demanded I thought to myself "there's no need to do BOTH MAXs, you can just do the Push-Up MAX and leave  for another day the Squat MAX" (because I think wouldn't have done even 50 squats in 5 minutes after a full Aphrodite with the way my legs were feeling)... So I did the Push-Up MAX, and I was wrong. I felt really tired and did aroung 10 reps less than the time before. At one point I thought "I already did Aphrodite today, I'll just quit doing this stupid/painfull push-ups"... but then I remembered that 

so I finished my pitifull 33 repetitions and called it a day, exhausted. Even if the workout was lame,  I did it.