Week #9 out of 15
Last time I suggested that my next post would be an update on the evolution of my body stats. Then I realized that I was already in the middle of week #9. To be consistent with my previous measures, I decided to delay the measures until the week-end. A few days might not make a big difference, but I prefer taking snapshots at clearly identifiable milestones (like "after week #9") than fuzzy ones (like "after 8 and a half weeks").
So first I'm giving an update on my week #9 training, and then the body stats post will follow shortly (measures are already taken, I just need to sit and write them down).
Tuesday: ARES (08:06*) + LUNGE MAX (134*) + POSEIDON (05:55*) + SQUAT MAX (173*)
My training week started Tuesday (impossible to schedule earlier). No easy ramp-up for me this week: my first session was made of 4 workouts, including a new one.
First came Ares, a workout that I consider as relatively easy. As you can see I didn't get a new personal best. This shows that even when a workout is not particularly challenging, you need to be at your max intensity to get these damned PBs. Taking it easy is not an option!
Then came Split Lunge Max. If anyone wants to create the "Lunge Max Haters Club", I will sign-up immediately. This exercise is basically a static version of the Lunge Walk. The strange thing is that I actually don't mind the Lunge Walk. I even wrote that, to me, it felt easier than Squats.
After thinking about it, I think that I understand why Split Lunge is harder than Lunge Walk. When you walk, while your left leg moves forward, your weight is 100% on the right leg. Once the left foot connects with the ground, your body weight progressively shifts from the right leg to the left one. It's the same thing when you do a Lunge Walk: progressive weight shift.
To do a Split Lunge, during a split second both feet are off the ground (see video below). Which means that their is no progressive shift, one leg has to absorb 100% of the body weight at once when you re-connect with the ground. Hence the effort is bigger.
Then I completed a Poseidon workout. No PB either. Generally I expect to have a slightly sub-par performance if I have already completed a few workouts beforehand. In this specific case I was disappointed. The last time that I did Poseidon was on week #2. 7 weeks later it took me 5 additional seconds to complete. This clearly wasn't my best day ever.
I wrapped-up the day with a Squat Max. No need to say I didn't get a PB. On a regular day this exercise is already a weak spot for me, but doing it after the Split Lunge Max was even more difficult. The positive point is that to stay focused I had set as a personal objective to do at least 170 repetitions. Mission accomplished.
This last workout was my 100th Freeletics workout since starting the program! I took a lot of sweat to get there!
Wednesday: DIONE (29:16* -personal best)
Before moving to my daily training, let me share a personal anecdote. As you know I practice boxing, which is a sport that makes the entire body work. Over the year I have gotten sore muscles pretty much all over the place (even jaws muscles!). Sometimes it hurt in places where I didn't thought that I had muscles. But I never had a sore butt like the one I got on Wednesday!
Ladies & Gentlemen, I may hate this workout, but I tell you: if you are looking to get an ass of steel before the Summer, Split Lunge is the exercise that you should be doing!
Only Dione was on the menu today. I'm very familiar with this workout by now, and my last PB was a 9 weeks old. So I expected a massive improvement, around 5 minutes or more.
In the end, if I did get a new PB, the time "only" improved by 02:11. Was my expectation unrealistic? Was my performance sub-optimal?
I don't know. Next time that I have to complete Dione, if my results improve dramatically (or not), I'll get the answer.
Thursday: Boxing training
Friday: KENTAUROS (30:59*)
When starting this program I have decided to spread the training load over the work-week, and use the week-end to get 2 consecutive rest days. Over the past few weeks scheduling constraints have extended my training to include Saturday as well.
To get back to my original setup, if possible I wanted to do my last 2 sessions on Friday. I can't do pull-ups where I train near work, so I decided that I'd train Kentauros during my lunch break and do the last session in the evening.
Kentauros is a workout that is physically demanding, but fairly balanced. To put it in other words: I respect this training, but that I don't really fear it. My confidence & motivation levels were good when I started training.
The workout began with the Lunge Walk, which was completed normally. But when came the time to do the first High Jumps, at first I couldn't do them. My legs didn't provide enough force to lift me off the ground high enough. The strange thing was my legs did not feel sore at all. I had no pain. Simply the muscles did not respond as expected. Eventually, I got the 10 jumps completed. This shook my confidence at bit but I kept going.
Then came the Burpee Frogs . Doing the burpee part was ok, but I couldn't jump forward as far as I usually did. The ironic thing when training over a fixed distance, is that because my difficulties to jump, I was forced to complete more repetitions. The icing on the cake was that the ground was soaking wet, so my gloves & tracksuit were quickly dripping with water.
Afterward doing the high jumps felt normal again, but the burpee frogs remained very difficult. As you can imagine I didn't get a personal best. I actually scored a "personal worst": 49 seconds more than when I first attempted Kentauros in week #7.
While analyzing what happened, I came to the conclusion that my tights had not recovered from the Split Lunge and the Squats on Tuesday. The leg muscles were still strained from the effort, but I had not realized it because they did not feel sore.
Those of you who follow me on the app saw that, I was a bit gloomy after the training and hoped to have better performance in the evening. Ultimately, it didn't train further. It was a bad day and I came home late, so I took a rest in the evening.
Saturday: ARES (08:07*) + LUNGE MAX (143* -personal best) + POSEIDON (05:13* -personal best) + SQUAT MAX (171*)
A new day and a new start. I wanted to score as many personal best as possible to wash off the bad Friday. Session 4 was exactly the same as Session 1.
I felt great while doing Ares. I thought that I was flying.
If anything was flying around it must have been my mind, not my body. Because my completion time was not stellar. 1 second more than on Tuesday, that's an average performance.
Next came Lunge Max. I didn't want this exercise to because a phobia, so despite tired legs I gave it all to improve the number of repetitions. It worked, I got a PB.
For Poseidon I knew that I must be possible to improve. I stayed focused and managed to get a PB, improving by over 30 seconds.
For the Squat Max, just like in Session 1, I knew that the PB was out of reach but I didn't want to let my myself slack-off. So, again I set myself the objective to do over 170 reps. I barely made-it with 171 reps, but I was satisfied.
I was pleased with my last session. It's not my best day ever, I got 2 PB and it cheered me up after the Kentauros failure. It's always nice to finish the week on a positive note!
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