Week 55: Second Program - week 9 out of 15
Week settings:
- Area of focus: Cardio-Strength
- Number of training days: 4
- Limitations: none
- Last week feedback: "Hard, but ok"
Training:
- Monday: Ares standard x2 (16:46* -First time)
- Tuesday: Kronos standard (48:39*)
- Wednesday-Sunday: sick days
- Monday: Atlas standard (22:12*) +Kentauros strength 4/6 (26:37* -First time)
Statistics:
Week 9 was mostly made-up of strength-focused workouts.
It started fairly lightly with a Ares x2. While x2 or x3 workouts usually represents a steep increase in difficulty compared to the single version, it's not the case for Ares.
So far my best Ares standard time is 07:46*. Multiply it by 2, it gives you the theoretical time of 15:26*. My first attempt at the double version, was done in 16:46*.
My actual time was 01:20 above the theoretical one. Which means that my pace wasn't completely off the mark during the second iteration. The first explanation is it's a short workout with short sets, so there is less of a stamina issue (Hades x2 is another story). But it's not the only factor (Metis is short workout, yet everyone will agree that the x2 or x3 versions are much harder). What makes a world of a difference is the 60s breaks every round. It provides enough time for the body to recover, making the double work load less relevant.
Tuesday, I started getting a bit of a sore throat but decided to train anyway. Again I had to perform Kronos. Again I was far for pre-Summer PB, but at least my time had improved by ~20s versus my last 2 attempts (49:07* & 49:08*).
I don't know if the effort from training made things worse, but my sore throat quickly evolved in a throat infection. The following 4 days I was completely unable to train. This completely ruined my training schedule. I was really eager to re-start training as fast as possible to catch-up with my program (especially since now the coach subscription only last 15 weeks, with no buffer for missed days). Sunday I started feeling better, but preferred to rest in-order to fully recover before restarting training.
To offset the impact of these 5 lost days, I decided to complete my 2 remaining training days on the following Monday. And depending on my physical shape afterward to skip the rest period in-between weeks 9 & 10.
Completing Altas standard & Kentauros strength 4/6 back to back under a pouring rain was a rough session. I just told myself that this was as if I had organized my own little Hell Day. It's a once-in-a-while spike in effort. Just get over it, and you won't think about it once the regular routine comes back.
At the end of the day I was tired, but felt well enough to start directly week 10 on the following day.
Week 54: Second Program - week 8 out of 15
Week settings:
- Area of focus: Cardio-Strength
- Number of training days: 4
- Limitations: none
- Last week feedback: "Hard, but ok"
Training:
- Monday: High Jumps 100 (04:22* -First time) +Kronos standard (49:07*)
- Tuesday: Iris strength (41:10* -First time)
- Wednesday: Kronos standard (49:08*)
- Thursday: boxing training
- Friday: Hera strength (21:59* -First time)
Statistics:
Good thing that I didn't need an easy week, to recover from Hell Days last week. With 2 Kronos and 2 full strength version workouts, the coach was very generous with me...
I was a bit worried that the 100 High jumps would wake-up my tendinitis but since they were followed by a "no-jump" workout, I had no real issue. However, Kronos was a slap in the face. My completion time was more than 10 minutes over my PB...
During the workout it seemed that I would never see the end of these 300 squats, but the real time wasters were pushups and pullups (I spent around 15mn on pullups alone).
I knew that I wasn't back at my peak on these exercises, but I had not expected such a time.
The difficulty of the strength version of Iris took me by surprise. I completed Iris (standard) many times in the past. The only change in the strength version is that climbers are replaced by froggers. And it turns out that, on Metis strength, I actually prefer to do froggers instead of climbers (I guess frogs are a French thing!)
I expected a nice little workout, under 30 minutes. Boy, was I wrong...
In Metis strength, we trade 45 climbers for 45 froggers. In Iris strength, it's 500 froggers. That makes a world of a difference.
They left me completely breathless. It took me 41 painful minutes to complete the workout (nearly 50% more time than the regular version!). Next time I'll know what to expect.
The main challenge with second Kronos this week, was that my abs were still on fire from the first attempt. The muscles didn't feel particularly painful over the past couple days, but it became noticeable as soon as I started the first set of abs. It resulted in a fairly slow pace, on abs and leg levers. However, I managed to go a (tiny) bit faster on pullups, so the overall time was only a second away from Monday's result.
Last but not least, Hera strength completed my week. Interestingly, this was the opposite of Iris strength. I expected the training to be much more difficult and longer due to the high jumps, but it's not the case. High jumps require a bigger effort and bring more intensity to the training, but the extra effort is mitigated thanks to the 60 seconds breaks. As a result, for my first attempt at the strength version, my time was only 01:30 above my PB in the standard version.
My total training time this week was longer by nearly 40mn compared to the previous week and its Hell Days. Yet the app indicates that I scored less points (3'003 vs 3'184). As you know by now, I'm mostly indifferent points but I understand that they somehow abstractly quantify the efforts of workouts. Which means that it took more time to roughly generate the same output of energy.
Given the amount of time wasted on Kronos starring at a the pullup bar, I'd say that's a pretty good summary of my week. So the point system is probably not that far off the mark afterall.
Week 53: Second Program - week 7 out of 15 (Hell Days)
Week settings:
- Area of focus: Cardio-Strength
- Number of training days: 4
- Limitations: none
- Last week feedback: "Hard, but ok"
Training:
- Monday: Artemis standard (24:20*) +Metis standard x3 (23:43*)
- Tuesday: rest day
- Wednesday: Artemis standard (25:17*) +Apollon standard (21:24* -PB)
- Thursday: boxing training
- Friday: Poseidon standard x2 (13:35*) +Atlas (standard 21:24* -PB) +[bonus 2K run]
Statistics:
For some reason, in Week #5 I was convinced that I would get Hell Days. I thought that the Freeletics guys must have changed the way the program worked. It's only now that I'm sitting to write this post, that I realized that it's actually normal. Hells Days were already in Week #7 during my first program.
So, if timing of Hell Days remains unchanged, is there anything else new?
Well, the first time I was following the program via the website (it wasn't included in the app back then). So the first novelty for me was to see that the usual blue color-code of the app, turned to red. This warns you that your week ain't going to be a walk in the park (most likely you'll be taking a "lunge-walk" in the park instead).
The second thing that I noticed is that on a Hell Days week, the number of training days that you chose is irrelevant. If you have a closer look at the "Week settings" at the begining of this post, you'll notice that I asked to get 4 training days. But the coach only assigned my 3 days (which is the usual number of Hell Days).
Looking at the training content itself, the only real change was that each Hell Day was "only" made-up of 2 workouts. In the past it used to be 3 workouts per day (although 1 of the 3 was usually a very short workout).
On the first day, I was fired-up and slightly improved Artemis versus my previous week attempt (24:20* instead of 24:42*). This is a moderate gain, but it's always feels good to be going in the right direction.
I performed the Metis x3 only a few minutes after Artemis, so I was less juiced up! It felt difficult, but the good thing about these cardio workouts is that even if the pace is slower most of the time you can carry-on (as opposed to pullups, where you just have to just stand there starring at the pullup bar until your arms recover). I didn't score a PB, but that I didn't really expect to.
The second day, I had to split my training. Artemis was done in the morning before breakfast (I had to be home to do the pullups), while Apollon (which requires to be outdoor) was done later in the day. My personal preference is to do workouts back to back, but I have to do with logistical constraints.
The Apollon PB was unexpected. I had assumed that my shoulders would be a bit sore from the early Artemis session, but the burpees were very fluid. It's good to finish a Hell Day on a positive note.
For the last day, I also had to split my day in the same way. Poseidon x2 before breakfast and Atlas at lunch. Once again, I scored a PB. It seems that my running has been improving lately. I had some juice left, so I decided to run back 2 kilometers to my starting point.
Overall it was a good week. The training load was heavier than a regular week, but it remained reasonable. If I could still run after completing the entire week, it means that my muscles were not completely burnt out.
So don't be afraid of Hell Days, they won't kill you (but they will try...)
Week 52: Second Program - week 6 out of 15
Week settings:
- Area of focus: Cardio-Strength
- Number of training days: 4
- Limitations: none
- Last week feedback: "Hard, but ok"
Training:
- Monday: Gaia strength 8/10 (41:01* -First time)
- Tuesday: Venus standard (17:26*)
- Wednesday: Artemis standard (24:42*)
- Thursday: boxing training
- Friday:[bonus: 100 jumping jacks (01:09*)] +Ares standard x2 (17:06* -First time) +[bonus: 25 pushups standards (00:35*) +25 pushups diamonds (00:50*) +25 pushups wide (00:46*)]
Statistics:
Last couple weeks felt a bit soft, but I still decided to keep intensity at the same level as before. That was a wise move, as my regular training plan proved to be more challenging this time.
Week #6 begun with a running start. When you get Gaia strength on day #1, no matter what comes afterward you can't call it an easy week!
In my case, I wasn't the full workout but only 8 rounds out of 10. My last encounter with Gaia strength on Week #4 (only 6/10), had left me breathless.
I didn't want to be burnt out before starting rounds 7 & 8, so this time I decided to take a slower start and focus on breathing. Also, while I prefer to remain barefoot when training indoor, I wore running shoes to help cushion the landing on high jumps (and limit the risk of my tendinitis returning).
Despite the slow start this workout was tough. My completion time was 41:01* for 8 rounds, to the 6 rounds in 24:08*, (1 minute more per round; it's a 25% increase).
I can't hide behind the slower start to explain such an important drop in pace. The main reason is that this is a difficult workout. A single round is intensive, but can be done in a burst. However the repetition of rounds grinds down stamina exponentially. While I didn't think much of Gaia in the past, it has become one of my top bogeymen.
The rest of the week was mostly strength focused. Artemis has been improving (25:16* last attempt), but remains tough. For short sets of pushups/pullups (i.e. 15-25), I have almost gotten back to my pre-summer level, but longer sets remain challenging. It will take time and effort before I can do all 50 pullups without being forced to take breaks.
The last point I wanted to highlight, was that during my boxing training I start to feel the impact of doing the Freeletics program in parallel. When I was setting-up my own schedule, the day before my weekly boxing practice was usually a rest day, or at least a light session. Now that I'm following the program, I have less flexibility and there are times when I show-up at practice with sore muscles.
It's not something unbearable, but I want to bring it up as I know that many people use (or plan to use) Freeletics in complement to another sport. Finding the right balance between both is a fine art, and I'm already starting to think on how I should be organizing workouts during the week once I'm done with my current 15 weeks program.
Week 51: Second Program - week 5 out of 15
Week settings:
- Area of focus: Cardio-Strength
- Number of training days: 4
- Limitations: none
- Last week feedback: "Hard, but ok"
Training:
- Monday: [bonus: 2K run (09:12)] +Hera standard 3/5 (12:08*) +[bonus: 2K run (11:04)]
- Tuesday: Venus standard (18:36*)
- Wednesday: Gaia standard (29:54* -PB)
- Thursday: boxing training
- Friday: Lunge standard 100 (03:36* -First time) +Kentauros standard 1/6 (03:49* -First time) +[bonus: 25 pushups standards (00:35*) +25 pushups diamonds (00:47*) +25 pushups wide (00:50*) +25 pullups standards (01:23*)]
Statistics:
No Hells Days. No Hell Week.
Week #5 turned out to be perfectly normal. Even more quiet than usual: with a total training time of 68 minutes, this is the shortest training schedule since re-starting the program.
(Reminder: training time only includes the workouts assigned to me by the Coach. The "bonus" workouts that I decide to add to spice-up things a bit are not counted by the app).
I have a bit of trouble to understand the progressivity of the workouts assigned to me each week. You'd imagine that each week intensity increase a bit, or that the program would alternate tough weeks with recovery ones. But week #4 wasn't particularly difficult, so I don't really see the point of an easy week #5. We'll see what the future holds, but so far I'm moderately impressed by the training generator algorithm.
I stated a few times that I'm not a huge fan of partial workout. Unless they are a complement to another workout (e.g. 1/3 Metis to warmup before something else) or a step toward a harder goal (e.g. 6/10 Strength Gaia, as a first step before 8/10 or 10/10 in the following weeks). But just getting 3/5 of standard Hera, (that was already assigned to me in Week #2)
, feels cheap (and it hurts me ego!)
Hence on day #1 I added a bit of running before & after the workout to feel like I had a real training session. And completed day #4 with a few pushups & pullups.
The toughest thing this week was Gaia on day #3. The standard version is definitely less crazy than the strength one, but even without the high jumps it's still an intense workout. I had never performed Gaia during my first program (only tried it afterward). This time, it seems I get it every other week, and I have learnt to respect it!
That's it. Short overall training training, no new workout: there was not much to comment about this time. Next post should follow shortly.
Week 50: Second Program - week 4 out of 15
Week settings:
- Area of focus: Cardio-Strength
- Number of training days: 4
- Limitations: none
- Last week feedback: "Hard, but ok"
Training:
- Monday: Dione standard (29:07*) +[bonus: 10 straights pullups (00:31*) & 10 Toes to bar (00:51*)]
- Tuesday: Gaia strength 6/10 (24:08* -First time)
- Wednesday: Venus standard (17:09* -PB)
- Thursday: boxing training
- Friday: Poseidon standard (04:51*) +Metis strength 1/3 (01:11* -First time)
Statistics:
I setup week #4 so that the difficulty remains similar to the previous week. As the saying goes: "once bitten, twice shy". After the 15K run assigned to me last week, I wasn't going to select "Far too easy" any time soon...
The week turned out to be fairly mild.
It started with Dione. My poor performance (~29 mn vs a ~26mn PB), clearly showed that I'm not back in full-shape yet. It gave me a good sweat, but it remains one of the basic workouts. It not outstandingly difficult.
I added a few extra pullups as I feel that it one of the area where my performance decreased the most. Followed by a few Toes to bar (I wanted to test if I could do this move and unlock it in the "advanced skills" menu). This new exercise is actually not that bad. What surprised me is that I expected this exercise to mostly target abs, but it turned out that it's mostly demanding for the shoulders (and you don't want to lose your grip while head-down!)
The only notable session was on day #2. At first I had just seen that I had to perform Gaia 6/10, assuming it was the standard version. I didn't thought much about it (why worry about a partial standard workout?) As I was ready to perform the workout, I noticed that in my program was the strength version.
My main memories of the 2 Gaia that I had performed a few months back, was that I was soaking wet upon completion. Well, strength Gaia take perspiration to a whole new level...
As usual with the new Freeletics program, the difference between standard and strength workouts is that the climbers are replaced by froggers and jumps by high jumps. Gais is no exception. The only novelty is that Gaia's unique standups are replaced by standup-jumps.
These standup-jumps being new, I wondered how they would go. Well, honestly if you already master the standup technique you shouldn't worry about these. The extra jump require a bit of additional energy from your tired legs but nothing unbearable.
What you should worry about are the 30 reps of high jumps. The full workouts has 10 rounds. That's 300 high jumps.
This time, I didn't complain that I was assigned a partial workout...
Usually I always try to perform workouts at max intensity and each time I get a good sweat. But overall, my cardio recovery is relatively fast (muscle soreness is another story). But this is one of the few workouts, which leaves me laying on the ground for a while to recover my breath.I'd say this is harder stuff than Kentauros.
Anyway, days 3 & 4 were not very hard. I actually was asking myself if the week was intentionally less difficult to recover from week #3 and may be as a rest before week #5. Traditionally week #5 is made of Hell Days.
We'll see...
Week 49: Second Program - week 3 out of 15
Week settings:
- Area of focus: Cardio-Strength
- Number of training days: 4
- Limitations: none
- Last week feedback: "Far too easy"
Training:
- Monday: Metis standard x3 (21:33* -PB) +Apollon standard (27:30*)
- Tuesday: Artemis standard (25:16*)
- Wednesday: Poseidon standard (04:26*) +Metis endurance 1/3 (00:41*)
- Thursday: boxing training
- Friday: 15K run (01:31:30 -PB)
Statistics:
Last week I was disappointed with he partial workouts that were assigned to me. It felt cheap. I wanted a real training plan, something more challenging. And I wanted it now.
So when setting-up the parameters for week 3, I indicated that week 2 had been "Far too easy". A distant voice in my head. told me that it was a bad idea.
But hey, I'm no Joan of Arc. I don't believe in inner voices. I'm a "tough guy". Tough guys believe in sweat, testosterone and Chuck Norris.
Once you have tried the various workouts available, it doesn't take long to assess the difficulty of a training plan. A minute after clicking on the "Next week" button, my testosterone levels dropped, and instead of Chuck Norris I could hear Al Pacino in the Devil's Advocate saying: "Vanity, definitely my favorite sin."
[After proof-reading this post, I'm starting to think that auditory hallucinations may be a side-effect of Freeletics!]
Reviewing the training plan:
For the first time in a very long time, I wondered if I would be able to complete my week's training program. I'm not speaking metaphorically, I really wasn't sure if I could do it.
The beginning of the week was clearly more challenging, but nothing insane. Actually that's exactly the kind of extra intensity that I had been looking for in the first place. On Day 1, Metis standard x3 would certainly give me a good sweat, making the subsequent Apollon harder than usual. Tough session, but less than a Hell Day. Artemis on day 2 and its pullups would certainly give my arms a run for their money. But I have completed Artemis 5 times in the past. Been there, done that. No concern.
What really worried me was the 15K run on Day 4.
I'm sure that for the runners out there this seems like a piece of cake. Well not for me. I run a bit as part of my cardio training, but I don't train to run. The last and only time that I ran a long distance was a half-marathon (21K), 10 years ago. And that was done without proper training beforehand. A painful experience/mistake that I didn't forget. Over the past few years, I ran 5.5K at once, at most. Since training with Freeletics, my running activity was pretty much limited to Iris, Hera & Apollon (~2K per session).
My cardio has benefited for that past year of intense training. So I was pretty confident that I could bear a 1h30-2h00 effort without getting any muscle cramps. My top concern was purely mechanical. Repetitive tendinitis forced me to stop rope jumping. Would my joints, tendons & ligaments hold-up to this sudden increase in distance?
Actual performance:
The week passed by as planned.
Day 1: Metis standard x3 lived-up to my expectations (definitely one of the toughest cardio workout out there). I was glad that in this new version jumps replaced the high jumps! Legs were heavy during Apollon, but overall a good session.
Day 2: My pullups are still not back to my pre-vacations level, so I wasted some time on Artemis.
Day 3: The short session (2 workouts: only 5 minutes!) provided a welcomed recovery day.
Thursday, I went to my usual Thursday boxing training but was careful not to ask too much out my legs. The perspective of the 15K haunted me all week, the last thing that I wanted was to have sore muscles before the run.
Day 4: Finally, 15K-Friday came. Given the short-notice I couldn't do a proper body preparation for this run, but at least I tried to stack the odds in my favor by:
- getting a decent night of sleep (undersleep is a bad habit of mine).
- organizing a longer lunch break to have enough time to complete the workout.
- avoiding to run on an empty stomach (well-sized breakfast +cereal bar 1 hr before the run).
- putting some band-aids to prevent blisters.
- bringing a bottle of water along with me.
I completed the 15K run in 1:31:30 (I had targeted 1h30). I'm glad to report that I also fulfilled my 2 secondary objectives: no break, no walking.
On the positive-side, it turned out that my cardio was even better than expected. I was barely out of breath at the end of the run, and didn't get any cramp.
On the "not-so-positive"side, as I had feared all my issues were mechanical.
Despite my precautions, I felt a blister appearing after a 5-6 kilometers. In the evening I couldn't believe the size of this thing (I'll spare you the graphic pictures). Luckily during the run, it was mildly annoying and didn't slow me down.
The real challenge came from the joints. Around 5K I started to feel a slight stiffness in my left knee. Past 7K, a similar sensation appeared in the right hip. First it was just a tingle, but it grew more painful and my articulations were losing amplitude (esp. the knee).
Progressively my pace decreased. A few times I tried to re-focus and accelerate, but the stiffness crept back. The last 2 kilometers were really tough.
My overall pace was 06:05 per kilometer. When analyzing the split times, it's clear that while my pace progressively dropped, the run can be divided into 2 chapters.
The first 7K, was "running as usual". Split times per kilometer all remained within a reasonable range. In this section, average pace was 05:30/km, versus 05:00/km-05:10/km per kilometer when I run 2K-3K. Not too far off.
In the last 8K, the pace was sluggish. Stats don't lie: best split time at 06:14, worse split time at 7:09 in the last kilometer. 06:35 on average.
Note: 1st K contains a steep flight of stairs hence I always lose a few seconds there. 2nd K is partially downhill hence I usually go faster there. 15th K is partially uphill. The rest of the run was performed on flat grounds.
In the following days, to my surprise I barely had any sore muscles. However, it took a few days for my knee to recover. From what I can tell, the pain didn't came from the articulation itself (i.e. bones friction), but from a ligament.
I was limping on Friday afternoon, and things progressively came back to normal over the week-end. The next Monday pain was gone, but I felt it would have come back rapidly if I had run again. Thankfully I didn't have any running planned the entire week.
I'm not sure if this was a warning of a knee problem that could become more serious in the future (I'm not getting any younger!) or if it was simply caused because my body is not used to such distances. Based on limited evidence, I'll settle for a symptom of "over-running".
As I look back at week 3, I'm proud that I was able to meet this challenge. I pushed my limits and accomplished something that I would never have tried on my own. But I won't lie, I don't think that I could have endured a much longer distance without walking. I will need much serious preparation before attempting longer distances.
The running is a nice addition to the Freeletics routine. But I can't help to wonder how the coach can go from assigning 3/5th of Hera (i.e. 1.2K aggregated) and then a full 15K the next week. Honestly, this feels a overkill and actually bit risky.
There are so many great workouts to choose, I hope that next time that I request more difficulty, I'll be assigned more difficult workouts, not simply asked to to run a marathon...
Week 48: Second Program - week 2 out of 15
Week settings:
- Area of focus: Cardio-Strength
- Number of training days: 4
- Limitations: none
- Last week feedback: "Hard, but OK"
Note: there are 3 status available to give weekly feedback to the Coach "Hard, but OK", "Far too hard" or "Far too easy".
Training:
- Monday: [bonus: 2k run in 09:58] +Hera standard 3/5 (12:02* -PB) +[bonus: 2k run in 10:47]
- Tuesday: Hades standard (19:04*)
- Wednesday: Zeus standard 3/4 (20:06 -PB)
- Thursday: boxing training
- Friday: Hades standard (18:56*)
Statistics:
I had been relatively sparred in week 1, while a number of freeathletes in my network using the Coach had been assigned a few tough workouts. Despite the starless Zeus, I had completed all my workouts with decent times. So, when I clicked on the "Next week"button, I expected the coach to progressively ramp-up difficulty.
Then I had a WTF moment.
Out of the 4 training days, 2 were made of partial workouts. That may have made sense, if it was intended to compensate for the remaining 2 days. But these other 2 days, were far from being tough enough to justify rest days.
On the Monday, I couldn't imagine only do a 3/5 standard Hera. So I ended-up running 2 km before & after training, to feel like I had really done something. That worked. The runs provided good complementary exercise and it turned out that the Hera session was very intensive. Due to its shortness, I didn't worry about pacing my efforts so I ran the 400m faster than I usually do.
Not much to say about the rest of the week. Training felt definitely too light, and the statistics confirmed it. Overall training time had decreased by 22 minutes (90 vs 112 in week 1) and points dropped from 4'150 to 1'366! (I'm not a big fan of points but they do give a rough sense of training intensity).
At the end of week 2, I was pretty upset about partial workouts. The idea is not bad, but I see them as complements to regular workouts, not replacements. I really hope that training will step-up a notch SOON...
Foreword: for newcomers, let me clarify how I'm counting the weeks in my posts. The typical program that Freeletics sells lasts 15 weeks. However I have already completed a program once, and I have trained on my own for many weeks. Hence below is week #47 since I first started training, but as I have just re-signed up for 15 weeks, it's the first week of this new program. Hence the 1/15.
Week 47: Second Program - week 1 out of 15
Week settings:
- Area of focus: Cardio-Strength
- Number of training days: 4
- Limitations: none
- Last week feedback: n/a - it's the first week remember? ;-)
As mentioned when I reviewed the new program, now users have the possibility to input several variables before the training plan for the week is automatically generated. Above are the parameters that I have used for week 1.
Training:
- Monday: Metis Endurance 1/3 (00:41* -PB) + Zeus Standard (28:13 -PB)
- Tuesday: Kentauros (25:54* -PB)
- Wednesday: Apollon Standard (22:11* -PB)
- Thursday: boxing training
- Friday: Apollon (22:11*) + Poseidon standard X2 (13:02*)
Statistics:
The statistics above are generated by the app at the end of the week (convenient, I like it!), I noticed that it only counts the points for the points for assigned workouts. To test the GPS feature, I walked a short distance. Nothing big, but it still credited me a few points. However these "extra-points" and "extra-training time" are not captured in the total of the week.
A few weeks before starting over with the program, I was wondering what my training plan would look like. Would it be similar to the first one (i.e. beginner ramp-up), or would the algorithm take into account my improved performance over these months of training and force me to hit the ground running.
It turned out that the implementation of the new program (endurance/standard/strength) and the modifications of several workout routines severed the link between old and new program. If many of the old PB have been reset, the Coach simply can't take into account past performance. The only unknown was how/if would the Coach would integrate my results on preliminary test to setup difficulty.
Note: this also means that in the first few weeks I'll be scoring tons of PB. Not only most first completion of a standard workouts, but all the alternate versions (strength/endurance and partial/multiple), will be considered first attempts (hence PBs).
When I saw that my week's training would start with 1 round of Endurance Metis. I was a bit upset. True, it wasn't the only workout on Day 1. But I took the program to challenge myself, and it started by asking me to do 20% of the easy version of a less than 5 minutes workout. 41 seconds: not even enough to warm-up.
This was followed by Zeus, a workout completed without star, since I still can't do handstand pushups. Which as a side note, I have not unlocked as an "advanced skill". I wonder what this advanced skills function is all about. Either the Coach is programmed to avoid giving workouts using these skills (in which case it failed miserably), or on contrary to help you unlock these skills (but if you ask people do things they can't do, what's the point of asking them in the first place?)
Aside from this underwhelming first impression, the rest of the week was fine. Kentauros remains a respected/dreaded workout for many freeathletes, so you can't complain about having it too easy when it's assigned to you.
The real novelty was that I tried for the first time one of these multiple workouts. Well I can tell you that it significantly increases difficulty.
My Poseidon personal best is at 04:20*, on a bad day it's around 05:00*. Even when doing 2 separate Poseidon in a row in week 12/15 of my first program, the aggregated time was 10:12*. Yet it took me 13:02* to complete the Poseidon X2.
Taking no break makes a huge difference for the muscles. The second iteration becomes much harder. And it's also more challenging mentally. My brain was fully aware that I was doubling-up on difficulty, and telling me to pace myself. Not a bad advice, but I really had to stay focused to keep the pace as intense as I could.
Overall the first week was fine. With 1 Kentauros & 2 Apollon, it was definitely a legs-focused week, but nothing insane. Far from being my most challenging week but it was well-balanced for someone coming back from a break.
Week #2 will follow shortly.
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.
