For the newcomers who didn't read my last post, due to scheduling constraints the training of week#3 overlapped on the Monday of week #4. This means that not only did week #5 start on a Tuesday, but I didn't get any rest day between these two weeks. I do not advise skipping the recovery period in program. Not giving enough rest time to your body is the surest way to injure yourself, and leads to mediocre completion times.
So why didn't I follow my own advice?
- First of all, you have to know that next week (#5) is kindly known as "Hell Week". It will require training everyday, so I will need a few rest days at the end of week #4.
- Secondly, this week is focused on a very short exercise called Metis (my targeted completion time: 5 to 8 minutes). Because it is such a light training, I was able to reduce rest time to catch-up with the overall training schedule.
The Metis training routine is the following:
- 10 Burpees
- 10 Climbers (each time that you bring one leg up, it counts as a repetition)
- 10 High Jumps (from standing position, jump vertically. Try to touch shoulders with knees)
- 25 Burpees
- 25 Climbers
- 25 High Jumps
- 10 Burpees
- 10 Climbers
- 10 High Jumps
Tuesday: METIS 06:41*
My first completion of Metis reminded me very much of my first encounter with Aphrodite.
Because the training is so short, I went after it headfirst, without any pacing. Within 2 minutes, I was out of breath and it felt like I completed the rest of the exercise under apnea. A good reminder that with Freeletics, just like with boxing, your physical condition doesn't amount to much if you can't get your breathing under control.
Let's have a look at the Metis workload:
Burpees: by now they have become the bread & butter of my training. I'm still not very fond of them, but I know what to expect. In this particular session, the difficulty is low: only a max of 25 reps; for a total of 45 reps.
Climbers: not very difficult physically. Like Jumping Jacks, they are treacherous because fast completion gets your heart racing and it's easy to lose breath if you are not careful.
High Jumps: the real difficulty of Metis lies in this simple exercise. I haven't fully understood why (intensity of the effort?), but from a breathing stands-point, these high jumps are the most demanding exercise that I have encountered so far. The challenge with Burpees was learn when to breath-in/breath-out. With high-jumps this is all very plain & easy: empty your lungs while you bring knees to your shoulders. Despite this simplicity, when I finish the second high jump I'm already short-winded. Completing 25 of them in a row basically required my mind to tell my body to ignore the lack of oxygen. This wasn't a pretty scene...
Wednesday: METIS 06:27* (personal best)
Because the training is so short, I went after it headfirst, without any pacing. Within 2 minutes, I was out of breath and it felt like I completed the rest of the exercise under apnea. A good reminder that with Freeletics, just like with boxing, your physical condition doesn't amount to much if you can't get your breathing under control.
Let's have a look at the Metis workload:
Burpees: by now they have become the bread & butter of my training. I'm still not very fond of them, but I know what to expect. In this particular session, the difficulty is low: only a max of 25 reps; for a total of 45 reps.
Climbers: not very difficult physically. Like Jumping Jacks, they are treacherous because fast completion gets your heart racing and it's easy to lose breath if you are not careful.
High Jumps: the real difficulty of Metis lies in this simple exercise. I haven't fully understood why (intensity of the effort?), but from a breathing stands-point, these high jumps are the most demanding exercise that I have encountered so far. The challenge with Burpees was learn when to breath-in/breath-out. With high-jumps this is all very plain & easy: empty your lungs while you bring knees to your shoulders. Despite this simplicity, when I finish the second high jump I'm already short-winded. Completing 25 of them in a row basically required my mind to tell my body to ignore the lack of oxygen. This wasn't a pretty scene...
Wednesday: METIS 06:27* (personal best)
This time, I was careful not too start too fast. It paid-off as I improved my overall time. However high jumps still leave me gasping for air.
Thursday: Boxing training + METIS 06:05* (personal best)
Due to the tight schedule this week (and because Metis is so short), I decided to do this session just after my boxing training. I took a couple minutes of rest, just enough time to drink some water. With the tired muscles and diminished stamina, going through this session was a tedious process. At the end I was shocked to learn that I had improved my time by 22 seconds, scoring a new personal best. Lesson of the day: don't underestimate training capabilities when your metabolism is already running high.
Saturday: METIS 06:09*
For the last training of the week, I trained early morning, just before breakfast. Usually due to time constraints I have to train after dinner (which is far from optimal). The overall time was close to my personal best. An encouraging performance, but I wasn't fully awake. Next week I'm expecting at least one morning session. I will try to improve my morning routine. I guess I should be awake for at least half-an-hour before training.
We will see. Anyway, I'm sure that HELL WEEK will be full of lessons!
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