Leg levers: suggested exercise variations to drive improvements

As people go through the early phases Freeletics training, the same remarks (and complaints) are often heard:

• Why are burpees so hard?
• These High jumps completely leave me out of breath.
• I can't do a single pull-up!
• Where does the Freeletics inventor lives? Me, my friends and our baseball bats are going to pay him a visit. (There's no need to play innocent. I know you've been thinking something along these lines at some point!)

And the list goes on.

Unless you were already in top physical form upon starting your training, the vast majority of the time these comments will echo your own experience with the program. When someone mentions his/her most disliked workouts the same names tend to show-up (yes, Kentauros, I'm thinking about you). I can relate to pretty much every difficulties that people typically say that they have encountered. With one exception: leg levers.
I mean, I don't claim that I won't feel any sore muscles after 250 reps. But I don't mind them at all. I actually prefer leg levers to regulars abs.

Early in my training, I noticed in forums that a lot of people hated them. At first I didn't pay attention to it. Leg levers are part of the standard boxing training drill, so I just thought that having done them for years I simply had a head start versus people discovering this exercise just now. As time went by (and when the Feed was added to the app), I noticed that even some long time freeathletes grumbled about leg levers. Including some of the guys that I consider in much better shape than me. 
That really started me thinking about why I didn't feel the same way.


One possibility is that my body might be better suited for this exercise. May be. But I doubt that a natural ability (which remains to be proven!) would make much difference versus a well-trained person.
Another explanation could be that I have been doing more leg levers than the typical freeatheletes, and so, became better at it. I don't think that this argument holds either. First some people out there train much more than I do (longer & more frequent sessions). Second, push-ups are also part of the standard boxing training and I don't have stellar results in this exercise. So volume doesn't explain it.
The only explanation must be that I have been doing things slightly differently, and that it helped prepare my body to do the freeletics straight leg levers more efficiently.


In the past I have tried a few times to explain to other athletes, how we perform leg levers during our boxing training. It took a lot of words to describe, but thankfully after searching a while I found a video on Youtube that's fairly similar.

Look at the video from 02:00 to 02:45, to see how it works. 
The first thing, is that we work in tandem with a partner. Notice how the person working out stops his legs before the heels hit the ground (actually, I find that he stops his legs a bit too early, ideally heels should be only a few centimeters above the ground). The partner has an active role: he pushes the legs downward, hence adding velocity to the movement and making it harder to prevent the heels from touching the ground (compared to training alone).

Then you can jump directly to 03:43. 
See how he is doing side leg levers. That is also something that we systematically do.

If you don't have a training buddy, you may want to find something to hold-on to (a bench, a heavy chair, etc.) Given the unstable position when the legs are sideways, it's much better to have a solid hand-grip to perform this leg levers variation (it also helps keeping your back straight).

Note that when we do our leg levers routine, we don't do 30 seconds rounds like in the video. Our routine is 20 straight leg levers, 10 on one side, 10 on the other side and 20 straight leg levers again. All done at fairly high pace (less than 2 seconds per rep).

On top of doing Leg Levers differently, we also do a lot of Rowing Crunch (see the video below). You don't need a bench, just do it directly on the ground.
Keep in mind that the instructor is doing it slowly to explain the movement. When you practice it, it should be done at a much faster pace (same thing: less than 2 seconds per rep). And ideally your hands should not touch the ground (it takes a few attempts to find the right body position to keep your balance  but the abs get a better workout this way).

For Rowing Crunches, you can also alternate regular ones (as on the video) with side movement (knees on one side, while heels come touching your butt on the opposite side). You can use the same routine as for leg levers: 20 straights, 10 one side, 10 the other side and finish with 20 straights.

For variety and to spice things-up you can also:

• change side each rep (1 right, 1 left, 1 right, etc.) - this is tougher than it sounds!
• in between each round (e.g. after the 20 straights) keep your legs straight in front of you (hands not touching the ground) and hold the position for 30 seconds. Then you do the next round. This is a good core exercise.

I am not suggesting that you replace straight leg levers in the regular workouts by some of these variations. Instead I see these exercises as side training that could be useful for those of you having issues with leg levers.
Focus on these for a few weeks and let me know in the comment section if they helped you improve your performance with straight leg levers.

Hell Days & Hell Weeks Schedule

During the cumulated 30 weeks of program that I trained using My Coach, I was assigned twice Hell Days & twice Hell Days:

• Week #7 - Hell Days

• Week #15 - Hell Week

• Week #22 - Hell Days

• Week #28 - Hell Week

Based on these 4 iterations, I couldn't see any standard periodicity. I started to wonder if the coach randomly assigned Hell Days/Weeks, or if there was a hidden logic behind this schedule. So I contacted the Freeletics support and asked them the question directly.

It turns out that there is a fixed schedule, so everyone will get to enjoy their weeks of pain & misery at the same points throughout the program. However there is no fixed periodicity. The first Hell day week is always week 7 and the Hell week is always on week 9, and afterward happen every 5-9 weeks.
The support representative actually listed in her email all the week numbers when these special weeks are assigned. I found that reading a list of numbers made it hard to visualize the frequency, so I have summarized this information in a chart:





While her comment about special weeks coming-up every 5-9 weeks is generally correct, if you look closely there are a few times when the distance between 2 special weeks is 10 or 12 weeks. It also appears that there are not always Hell Days in-between 2 Hell Weeks.

Please keep in mind that I'm sharing the information exactly as it was given to me. It's possible that the support representative forgot to list a couple Hell Days. But may be not.
I'll only know for sure by subscribing to the coach for another 100 weeks in a row. It's going to take two years.

So if you have a subscription running and wonder when the next special week is coming I'd say you can trust the chart above to give you the exact weeks. Just keep an eye open when you see a long stretch of normal training weeks. For example, I wouldn't be surprised if there were Hell Days hidden somewhere in-between week #41 & 52 or #92 & 105.

If you're like me and like to plan things in advance, this schedule isn't perfect but hopefully that will give you a bit more clarity as to what's ahead of you. Enjoy your training!

Review of the new Coach - after completing the program (2014-2015 version of the Coach)

As promised, here is a post summarizing my impressions on these past 15 weeks. 



Since I have already been through the program once, there was not much surprise about the Freeletics method itself, or the workouts. Instead I realized that pretty much all my take-aways from this second program were related to the new version of the app that was released in late 2014. As a result my post turns out to be a nice counterpart to my previous Overview of the updated program.
The original post was written right after the Freeletics app "re-launched" and mostly focused on explaining the new features and the main differences versus the old version. The discussion below will mostly about how useful these features turned out in real life.

I already wrote that starting a program all over again turned out to be a really good experience. So don't be surprised if I'll be mostly saying positive things. But that doesn't mean that I found everything equally good. So before this post turns into a love fest, let's get out of my chest the things that could still be improved.

The things that I liked the least:

• Too many short & partial workouts in the first 2 weeks. I know the Coach algorithm is supposed to adapt difficulty based on actual performance in workouts. And with the upgrade, most of the old workout PBs were not recognized by new app (e.g. "original" Venus PB didn't convert into a "Standard" Venus PB). Which is probably why in the first weeks difficulty was the same whether you were an "experienced" Freeathletes or not. Don't get me wrong, a gentle start is good for beginners as it means less chance to be scared off and quit. But for people looking for more challenge I would have preferred a steeper start. I will sound pompous and arrogant, but being asked to complete 1 round of Endurance Metis after 44 weeks of Freeletics: seriously what's the point? Difficulty improved later on, but I didn't like the underwhelming start of this journey.

• The 15K run assignment without a real preparation. This run was a milestone for me. An eye opener that really changed my perspective on me & running. Since then I have started running much more frequently. I completed another 15K during my free training, and will most likely do a half-marathon or two before year-end. But, I am still convinced that assigning 15K to someone who had never recorded anything greater than 2K in the app is inappropriate. It could even lead to injuries. The coach should have started by assigning at least a couple 5K and a 10K, before moving-on to greater distances (unless the athletes already recorded long distance during its free training, but that wasn't my case anyway). I hope this will get fixed.

• The in-app Running feature. I realize this is only a beta version. But since running has became such an integral part of the program, it's not too much to ask to have a decent running feature. The big GPS inaccuracies (mentioned in my overview) seemed to have been fixed after a few weeks. But the overall user experience (available stats, split times, elevation, music, etc.) remains largely inferior to dedicated running apps available for free. To this day for any running beyond 2K I still use Mapmyrun, and only manually log the final results in my Freeletics app.

The little things that were nice improvements:

• Statistics on the week's total training time. The weekly totals don't include points/time from extra workouts on top of the program, but at least it's nice to get a quick summary of active training time assigned by the Coach.

• The freedom to manually choose which training day/assignment is being completed. This one is kinda hard to explain to newcomers, but in the old days the coach always automatically matched the workout you just performed with the first workout of that kind in your training plan. That led to weird records when one swapped training days or added a few extra workouts. Anyway, no need to spend hours on this one, this issue has been fixed and it's a good thing.

• Possibility to change training focus at the end of every week. Technically this had already been possible before, but one had to play with some obscure setup parameters. Now it's much easier for people who want to change training focus to do so. But let's face it, how often is this feature used? Switching focus every week, for example from Strength to Cardio, is useless (you might as well leave focus on Cardio-Strength). This is a nice to have, not a game changer.

• Restrictions. I like the idea a lot, but I have never had to use it (fingers crossed that I never will). I remember that once one of my contacts said his training plan didn't really offer relief for the muscle group he restricted. With no first hand experience I can't confirm whether this feature is sucks, or is the best thing since sliced bread. Anyway it's a step in the right direction so I put it in the improvements list.

• Running autocomplete. This feature is particularly useful for short distance runs. When sprinting over 100m, one needs to stay focused and not to worry about watching the phone to know when to stop. I hope this feature will someday be extended to workouts with 400m runs (Hera, etc.)

What I really, really, really, liked:

• In-app training plan. (remember I started in the Stone age, when the program was only on the website!). This is really handy to always have the schedule at your fingertip. But be aware that it requires an internet connection, which can be a problem if you're abroad or in the middle of nowhere with no network coverage.

• Flexible number of training days. This is a huge improvement. It's good for people with irregular schedules, who can then increase/decrease their training load based on real life commitments. But even for me who stuck to my 4 training days routine it was great not to have to worry anymore about getting a 5th session (during the first program it was always a pain to make it fit into my schedule).  Just keep in mind that Hell Days & Hell Weeks, will always be respectively 3 and 7 days long, regardless of the number of training days that you chose.

• The introduction of Running, Endurance/Standard/Strength and Volume. At first this could look like a gimmick but it really added depth to the training. Playing with all these variables can transform a classic workout into something new (try triple strength Metis and you'll see what I mean!) With this additional variety, there is less chances that I'll become bored with the training method. Last but not least, with the extended choice in stand-alone exercises, from time to time you can choose to ignore the gods/goddesses and assemble you own customized session based on your needs.

• The Coach became more progressive. Yes, just above I have been complaining that the program started too slowly. That was annoying but I have to recognize that in most cases gradual difficulty ramp-up worked pretty well. This was largely possible thanks to the new volume feature. For example starting with only 6 rounds of Gaia Strength before moving to 8 rounds and finally the entire 10 rounds is a good way to learn how to tame a challenging workout. It also allows the Coach give challenging workouts even for Freeletics veterans. Hades is probably the workout that I performed the most frequently, yet the day I completed a Double Hades really felt like an achievement. The ability to provide difficulty feedback also helps to make the whole thing more progressive (just be aware that saying training is "Far too easy" has consequences).

• 500/1000 reps. When I first saw that one could choose to do 1'000 reps of whatever exercise, I thought this was aimed at a handful of sport-mutants and never considered it as an option for mere mortals. After finishing my second program, and based on a number of people in my network who attempted 500/1000 reps, my views have changed. Even top athletes don't do 1'000 reps as a standard workout, but more as a punctual challenge. Like for a marathon, the clock matters a bit but the foremost goal is to pass the finish line. For those of you looking to sets ambitious goals or prove their worth to themselves, large reps make a good challenge. 

Final thoughts

For this second iteration, the Coach ramped-up the intensity (as illustrated by the number of Kronos iterations I was assigned or by the Hell Week). I pushed my limits even further and I liked it. A lot. One of my take-aways was that during the months when I trained alone I had probably been a bit too soft with myself. So when I return to free training I will pay attention to not to make this same mistake. Partly due to scheduling constraints I had been doing only 3 sessions per week (+1 boxing evening). This time, I have decided to keep the 4 days routine used during the program, one of which will be a running session over lunch (hence freeing and evening and ensuring I still work on my stamina). But I will have to be careful not to only assign myself short/easy workouts.


If there was added difficulty for repeat athletes, in the contrary beginners may have it easier.
A number of readers of this blog have started training in the past few months and joined my in-app network. Looking at their schedule in the first weeks, I have noticed that many of them began their journey with partial workouts.
In my view, lowering the difficulty at the very beginning (before gradually increasing it) is a deliberate effort to make Freeletics more accessible to a wider audience. A number of real-life friends around me had tried the method before and just gave-up, scared-off by Aphrodite. The guys at Freeletics must also have noticed this and tried to come-up with a solution to retain these people.
There the ones who find that the method is not what they need, or who don't have the discipline/will to stick to the program. But actually it's not a bad thing, if it helps more unfit people gain self-confidence and gradually start enjoying sport.
The only downside I could see is if someone abuses the feedback mechanisms to keep intensity low (3 days per week only, feedback always "too hard"), then this person will likely be disappointed when their is no noticeable physical improvements after a few months.


Aside from the new features, the new program is clearly a paradigm change. Freeletics is recasting itself from a 15 weeks transformational method to a "digital personal trainer".
This new orientation first appeared when they launched "My Coach", but honestly when I went through my first program the make-over wasn't complete. The program was still 15 weeks long, one had to choose 1 training focus (strength, etc.), the program's content was very similar to the old PDF. 
Now Freeletics is trying to lock users in a long term relationship. The 15 weeks concept is becoming outdated, as illustrated by the new pricing schemes which offer sign-up for as long as 1 year. Which is also why Hell Days & Hell Weeks are not assigned in weeks 7 and 15 anymore. When everyone signed-up for 15 weeks it made sense to do them in the middle and at the end of the program. Now that the program length varies, they are assigned based on a different frequency.
This change is perfectly understandable on a number of levels. First of all, physical transformation goes 2 ways. One can lose weight and gain muscles by training hard, but will need to stay active to remain fit. Hence a coach going beyond 15 weeks makes sense. But there is also clearly a financial incentive: these people are running a business. It's better for them to have long-term subscribers rather than one-time customers. This doesn't shock me, but I can't help but wonder to which extend free training will remain possible in the future. The Pro App (i.e. 5 EUR one-time purchase to unlock all trainings but with no Coach) is no longer offered for sale. Existing Pro App customers (like myself), can still enjoy access to the entire workouts catalog even with no active subscription. But apparently, for newcomers as soon as the subscription ends the access to workouts catalog becomes restricted. I find this a bit harsh. I'm sure there are many people out there who, like me, prefer to only subscribe once in a while and the remaining time want to freely set-up their schedule. Hopefully, some kind of option similar to the Pro App will again become possible in the future.

Overview of the upgraded program (released Aug 26, 2014)

In the last post I mentioned that I had signed-up again for a 15 weeks program.

Upon completing my first program, I knew I wanted to continue to train using Freeletics but not always with the program. My idea was that I might subscribe to the program once per year, just to make to force me out my comfort zone and challenge my training habits for a few months. 

It was a loose idea, but during the summer I realized that the first week of September would be perfect to sign-up:

• The 15 weeks would be over just before Christmas (it's a bit of a headache for me to follow a tight schedule during the holidys season)
• Most of my training would take place during late-summer and fall, so no worries about where to run when it snows.

I was already 90% convinced I would start, the only drawback for me was that whenever I get assigned 5 sessions per week it starts to conflict with my regular boxing training. And that's when Freeletics released on August 26th an upgraded program with several new features (including the possibility to choose the number of sessions in the week).

The timing couldn't have been better! This will also give me the opportunity to test the new program and see how it works.


On Sunday evening, I bought the program to be ready to start the following Monday. The first surprise was that upon sign-up I was requested to take a physical test!

I had not planned at all to be jumping around for ~12 minutes, but did it anyway as I wanted to complete the sign-up process. As you can see from the screenshot below, I had to take 3 MAX tests. For newcomers, it means doing the maximum number of repetitions of a specific exercise in a given time. Pullup MAX lasts 1:40, Burpees MAX and Lunge MAX 5:00 each.

Optionally, on top-of the Fitness Test you can connect on the website to indicate why "advanced skills" (understand "difficult exercises") you are able to perform (respecting exactly the correct movement).
Supposedly the more of them you master the most likely that the Coach will assign them to you. Note that even if you don't master one of these skills, you may still be asked to try to do it (for example I can't do Strict HS Pushups, but it didn't prevent the Coach to assign me Zeus, a workout that includes HS Pushups).

Note: except the "advanced skills" picture above, all the screenshots below have been taken via the smartphone app. Layout can be slightly different if you connect via the website.



Once the test has been completed, you can choose your area of focus. As before, there are 3 options: Strength and Cardio, Strength only and Cardio only. And, the key feature for me, the number of training days that you want to have (minium 2, maximum 5).
This choice is NOT definitive. It only applies to the current week. At the end of each week, you can decide to change your focus or the number of training days.

Once you click on "Start your Coach", your training for the week is generated and there is no way to change its content. For me the first novelty was that I could see my Training plan directly on my smartphone (that feature was already implemented a few months ago, but since I took my first program almost a year ago, I had never seen the interface up to now).

On the screenshot there are a few things we can notice:

• I have been training for ~11 months but it says "Week 16" at the the top. The reason is that this week counter only takes into account the weeks when one actually followed the premium program.
• The guys at Freeletics have replaced the old term of "Session 1" by "Training Day 1". This is smart, because the old expression confused a lot of people. Beginners didn't knew if they were supposed to do all the sessions in the same day. Now it's much clearer what should be done when.
• Below "METIS" it says: "Endurance 1/3". 

This last bullet point actually includes two of the most fundamental novelty from the upgraded coach.


First of all, the coach can now assign partial or multiple workouts. If we take Metis as and example, you may know that this work out is composed of 3 rounds:

• Round 1: 10 burpees, 10 climbers, 10 jumps
• Round 2: 25 burpees, 25 climbers, 25 jumps
• Round 3: 10 burpees, 10 climbers, 10 jumps

When the coach assigns me "Metis 1/3", it means that I only have to complete 1 round out of 3. So as soon as I have finished my 10 burpees, 10 climbers and 10 jumps, the workout is over and I can stop the timer.
On contrary, if I am given "Metis x 2", it means that I will have to do the workout 2 times in a row (i.e. 6 rounds in total: 10/25/10/10/25/10).
Of course fractions and multiplications are taken into account when tracking Personal Bests. So your PB in "Metis x2" will be tracked separately from the the PB in the regular Metis.

Note that this feature of partial/multiple workouts is only available via the paying program. This means that the Training Plan algorithm can assign you a partial Metis, butr



The second major change is that Freeletics updated its workouts & exercises portfolio:


Workouts


There is the same number of workouts as before (no new god or goddess), but now each workout can be done in 3 different degrees of difficulty. Whichever difficulty you choose, you still have to perform the same number of rounds, only the difficulty of the movements vary:

• Standard (in most cases workout is identical to original routine)
• Endurance (easier movements)
• Strength (harder movements)

While the names of the variants ("Endurance", "Strength") may suggest that the different versions of a given workout have been created to focusing on different training objectives (cardio vs muscles), I believe that these are just politically correct way to describe difficulty level. After all, who wants to say "I am doing the easy Aphrodite, and you?"

When putting side by side the different versions of any workout (see below with Metis), it's clear that difficulty goes crescendo (High knees vs. Jumps vs. High Jumps).

Speaking of Metis, while I mentioned that Standard is almost always identical to the origianl workouts, there are some exceptions and Metis is one of them. As you can see, the High Jumps from the "old" Metis (see screenshot below), have now been replaced by regular jumps. I'm pointing this out because this is something to keep in mind when comparing your results with someone else or with your old results (i.e. comparing "old" Metis to Standard Metis, is not really comparing apples to apples).

Exercises

In complement to workouts (i.e. God names) you can still choose to perform repetitions of a single exercise. But here there are greater changes. First of all, the old "MAX" have disappeared. Instead of doing the maximum of repetitions in a given time, you now much do a given number of repetitions as fast as possible. And we now can choose the number of repetitions.
For example, while the old "Burpees MAX" had to be performed in 5:00, now you can select from various options (don't count on me to test a 1'000 burpees for you!)

Additionally the choice of exercise has been greatly improved. While in the past there were 10 MAX we could choose from, now there are 39 single exercises available (13 endurance, 14 standard and 12 strength).
This brings more diversity to the training. Personally, I'm a fan of Jumping Jacks (great warm-up exercise), so I like the fact that I can now track my time when I perform them.

Runs

Last but not least, Freeletics is now integrating running more deeply in its training routine. The original workouts did include some short/medium distance runs, but it didn't go further than 2 kilometers and only as part of an existing workout.

Now you can record runs separately (several fixed distances available or as well as a free run mode), and for those of you planning to buy the program, the training algorithm can now also integrate running to your training plan (e.g. Training day 4: 5K run).

The running feature is still in Beta mode. Like many fitness app out there, it can use your smartphone's GPS to calculate distances but as I write these lines, this feature is still bugged. When testing it on a familiar route, the GPS gave me some strange results (it calculated a 6K route instead of roughly 2K!!!)
So for the moment my advice is to keep using alternative apps (Nike Running, MapMyRun, etc.) to track your runs via GPS. Once your run is over you can log the result manually into the Freeltics app. It creates an additional step but until they fix the issue it's the only way to be sure that the distance & speeds are correct.

Star rating (how to put a star) and how to correct an incorrect result submission

In my previous post explaining when to attribute a Star to a workout, I had assumed that readers knew what I meant by "getting a star". But it turns out that it's not so clear to everybody how to record it. So this short post will try to explain how the software works.

With Freeletics, your training results are self-reported. At the end of the workout either you stop the timer yourself, or for MAX workouts you input the number of repetitions. That's also when you indicate if the workout was completed in the most difficult version.

• If you use the Freeletics website to record results:

just select "yes" or "no" on the same screen where you submitting your training results.

 

• If you use the app to record results:

just before submitting your result you can write a comment (for your network friends to see), but also that's on this screen that you can record the star (or not).
As an illustration look at the 2 screenshots below. Left is the "no star" version (= modified pushups), right the "star" version (=all pushups done regularly).

 

•  If you record results on paper/computer:

 simply write down your results like I do on the blog "21" or "21*".

• If you want to correct a submitted workout (add/remove a star):

 On the app, recent updates have made correcting wrong submission less visible.. You need to know where to look, but it's possible to add/remove a star.

First go on the screen where all your recent results are listed. For the sake of the example let's assume that I want to correct my latest Pushup MAX to remove the star. I just click on the workout.

On the next screen with the graph with my recent results in Pushup Max, again I click on the workout that I want to correct.

 

Click on EDIT (top-left corner)

 

Then simply Tab/Untab the Star and save the correction.

 

On the website, it's even easier. Simply go under the "recent" section, click on the workout that you want to correct. In the top-right corner, click on "EDIT". Re-submit the workout. Note that on the website you can correct not only the star, but as well the time/repetitions and date when the workout was done.

That's all the IT support that you'll get today! ;-)

Breaking the push-up max ceiling

I have been training for over half a year now, and step by step my performance has been improving. Cumulated small gains, ended-up being big gains.
To illustrate my point, let's compare my current Personal Bests for a few workouts versus my first attempts (Oct/Nov 2013). In bracket I'm showing Alexander Villena's PB as benchmarks of top performance (I still have lots of work to do):

• Aphrodite: 30:49* → 18:59* (AV PB = 13:27*)
• Dione: 37:03* → 23:17* (AV PB = 19:51)
• Hades: 25:17 (no star) → 16:04* (AV PB = 13:43*)
• Pull-up MAX: 14* → 34* (AV PB = 59*)

Not surprisingly, enhanced physical activity has been leading to better results across the board. However, lately I have been growing disappointed with my (lack of) progress in push-ups. It that one specific exercise I felt like I had plateaued.
 
Below is a chart showing all my Push-ups max results since the beginning (PB are highlighted in blue).

While following the program, my PB went from 42 to 53. An improvement, but nothing spectacular. At first I didn't worry about it, thinking that I would probably get better results after completing my Cardio-Strength program simply by increasing the ratio of Strength-oriented workouts to my routine. In March-April I started making my own schedule, so I included a lot of Venus, Hades and Pushup MAX.

But nothing happened.

I once equaled my PB, but most of the time I was far below. Of course, often I had been performing the Pushup MAX toward the end of a session, when my arm muscles were already tired. So poor performance on any single day didn't mean much. But looking at the trend, it confirmed what my guts had been telling me: my performance stalled around 50.

By mid-May I was convinced that to progress further I needed a special training for push-ups. So I started looking for a method. The good news is that the Internet is full of advises on how to improve push-ups. The bad news is that there is no consensus: everyone makes different recommendations. Also, a lot of the suggested methods did not really fit with my schedule or my regular training. Many programs had very heavy training days followed by 48 hours of rest. I wanted to focus on push-ups, but not do only push-ups.

I wanted something that I could do in complement to my other Freeletics workouts. In the end, I took some ideas from 3 coaches' opinions on the matter and mixed them with a former Navy seal's 10 days program to come-up with a custom training plan. Using 50 reps as my baseline max, I setup the following rules:

• 10 consecutive of days push-ups training, followed by 48 hours of rest
• Total push-ups per day: 4 times my max (=200 push-ups per day).
• 25 repetitions per set (half my max).
• First 100 reps before breakfast, the last 100 in the evening with my regular training.
• I didn't want to risk injury from over-training, so if my evening workout already included push-ups, that would count toward my daily goal of 200.

Each set of 25 would be performed consecutively (no break) and recorded in the Freeletics app as a Push-up MAX. The idea was to keep track of my count, but also to force me to take breaks. Because a MAX lasts 1:40 and I only need half this time to do 25 push-ups, hence I would get ~1 minute of rest between each set.

I was wondering if that regimen would be too hard on my muscles. But 25 repetitions turned out to be a good number. It was exactly the number of reps that I could perform before getting into the grinding zone. The first few days my arms would be tired rapidly. In the first 2 sets I would do all the repetitions in 40-45 seconds. The 4th set was harder, my paced dropped to 55-60 seconds. After a 5-6 days my speed improved (35-40 seconds) and was constant during all 4 sets.

After a few days when I saw that my arms handled the effort well, for added difficulty, from time to time one of my kid would lay on my back while I performed the push-ups. The extra weight was respectively 15kg (33 lbs) or 11kg (24 lbs). It's cheaper than buying a weighted vest, but the downside is that for them it's like a merry-go-round ride. Once they try it, they want to get a ride every time...
 
After the 10 days of training and the 48 hours of rest, I took a new Push-up Max  to measure improvements. I ended-up doing 60 repetitions, largely breaking my 3 months-old PB. 


However, when completing this test, my shoulders still felt a bit stiff. I wasn't sure if I was in peak condition. I decided to do a second test after an additional 2 days of rest. Tonight I started my training with a Pushup MAX and completed 60 reps again. A few workouts later, I completed a second Pushup MAX ending at 55 reps.

The last 3 attempts have clearly been a notch above historical performance. So the special focus definitely paid-off. I will probably re-do a similar program in the future to keep driving improvements (may be pull-ups?). But this will remain occasional, in order to give my body enough rest.

Unexpectedly, I really enjoyed the quick push-ups session prior to breakfast. I'm thinking to do this more regularly. Total reps (100?), format (4 sets? 3 sets) and periodicity (daily? every 2 days?) are still to be determined. I will see in the next few weeks what routine feels the most natural.

Choosing gloves for cold weather training

The following post was inspired by a comment to my previous post where I listed the necessary equipment to train. Long time reader and fellow blogger Yury (@freeleticsslovakia.blogspot.com) asked me what gloves I used. After answering, I realized that this question concerns pretty much anyone training during cold winters. So it made more sense to give it proper visibility in a dedicated post, rather than leave it buried in the comment section.

It feels a bit awkward for me to bring this topic now. Summer is around the corner, I'm more in the mood to discuss sun lotion or compare the thirst-quenching benefits of piña colada vs ice-cold beer. But there are many readers who live in the southern hemisphere for whom this topic could prove useful in a few weeks from now. So let's talk about cold rainy days and gloves...
Last December, during week #3, I had my first outdoor training session with temperature just below 0°C (32°F). For the records all temperatures that I mention do not take into account the wind-chill factor.

I thought it would be training as usual, as long as it didn't rain or snow. May be even better, since low temperatures (i.e. cold but not very cold) help cool the body during effort, and while running over such short distances hands should remain comfortably warm.
What I had completely overlooked, was the heat loss from keeping my bare hands on the ground during burpees (for science-lovers out there, concrete has greater thermal conductivity not only than air but even snow!) After a few minutes my hands were numb. A bearable, but very distracting feeling.

I usually like to do research & compare product features before buying something. But in this case I wanted gloves. Fast. So I went to the nearest sports store and bought one of the few models available on shelf. It bought a pair of Nike Lightweight Tech Running Gloves:

 I chose these particular gloves were because:

• they are made of synthetic fabric (won't be ruined by dirt & water like leather or cotton)
• tip of the thumb is touchscreen compatible (important for smartphone users)
• designed for sports (let the hands breath)
• they happened to be on shelf when I walked-in

Are they the most perfect gloves for our sport? No.

But now that I have used these gloves all winter and most of spring, I start to have a reasonable idea of which characteristics were helpful or not. And hopefully this will give you ideas what to look for when shopping for your own gloves.

• Cold protection: under dry conditions these light gloves got the job done. I never had cold hands while running. During ground exercises, I could feel the cold concrete through the fabric, but it was infinitely better than bare hands. Bear in mind that where I live winter temperatures typically range from -5°C to 5°C (23°F to 41°F). So if you live near the arctic circle or any other "hospitable" location, you should probably look for thicker/multi-layered fabrics.
• Water protection: this type of gloves is not water proof. If you run under  rains the gloves will still offer a good protection. But for ground exercises, the best is to perform them somewhere where you are sheltered from rain. I performed a Kentauros workout under pouring rain and once the gloves were soaking wet my hands got cold quickly and it became a nuisance to perform the exercise with heavy hands. And you can't handle your phone with dripping wet gloves. If you are the hardcore type who will train in snow or rain, consider using water-proof gloves (but it will cost you more).
• Touchscreen compatibility: very useful. Sometimes it took a few repeated pressures for the app to register the touchscreen signals. This issue seemed to be partly driven by the app itself (it became less frequent after recent software upgrades). This touchscreen compatible feature works even if you wear the gloves and your phone is in a plastic armband.
• Durability:  I used a lightweight model intended for runners. Logically it wasn't designed to be resistant to friction with the ground. I don't think that they will last many years. I only trained outdoor once per week, and yet abrasions are clearly visible (esp. the touchscreen-compatible fabric):

I will probably keep using my gloves next winter until they are worn out. For the next pair, I will either for a similar but more resistant model, or try one of the alternatives below (not these specific models/brands, but same style):