Cardio-Strength Program: week #10

Week #10 out of 15


This week I was introduced to a new workout: Zeus. And just to make sure that we get to know each other properly, My Coach asked me to do it three times. We'll get to a review of this workout later, but to summarize it's completely strength oriented. With Artemis as my last session, this week was all about muscle building.


There an aspect of the training that I have not discussed so far: "instructions".
When you purchase the program and log on the Freeletics website you can see what sessions have been assigned to you for the week and there is a short paragraph titled "instructions". Each time you click on the "next week" button, you get your sessions for the following weeks and the instructions change as well.

In the first weeks, the instructions are mostly motivational and basic health advises. I don't have the exact quotes, but it's stuff like "Training will be harder than anything you've experience before. Take as long as you need but always try to complete each workout". Sometimes instructions include a special challenge for the week. To be honest, these challenges were so far from my training experience, that up to know I didn't think that they were worth mentioning. May be because of the 5 weeks of pre-training, I was a bit ahead of the game (compared to someone who starts Freeletics on week 1), but they seemed to easy.
For example, a challenge may say: "This week try to complete 2 workouts in their star version". I haven't compiled detailed stats of my results, but my guess is that 80%-90% of my completed workouts have stars. So there was no real "challenge".

So why this long discussion all of a sudden about instructions?

This week, I actually got a challenge that I wasn't 100% sure to complete: "This week’s workouts are well suited to train your capacity to withstand fatigue. Therefore, the goal of the week is to break your PB in two different workouts.".
With 3 Zeus sessions, it was sure that I'd get at least 1 PB (when starting a new workout time improves simply from getting used to the routine and not always looking for what should be done next). However, if I didn't score a good time on my Artemis session, the challenge couldn't be achieved.

So finally I paid more attention to these instructions, and I realized that even the early challenges that I had disregarded so far could be worthwhile for beginners. If you have been out of shape for a few years and follow the program, being asked to get a star, may give you that extra motivation to from "easy" burpees to "normal" burpees.


Monday: ZEUS (25:46)

Tuesday: ZEUS (25:21 -personal best)

Wednesday: ZEUS (24:31 -personal best)

So here is what Zeus looks like:

• 5 HS pushups
• 15 pullups
• 25 pushups
• 35 situps
• 45 squats
• 120 seconds rest
• 4 rounds (no rest at the end of the 4th round, the training is over after the run)

Now I'm gonna say something very paradoxical coming from someone who hasn't got a single star in 3 attempts: it's actually a nice training. I didn't even sweat (which is exceptional enough with Freeletics to be mentioned!).

I don't get the star because of the Hand-stand pushups. Let's face it, I *really* suck at it. I'm so annoyed at wasting time on the normal version, that I prefer doing the easy version to at keep the cardio intensity high. At some point I'll have to take time aside from regular training to learn how to do this exercise properly...
Aside from HS pushups, there is no major difficulty. Of course if you are assigned this training in your first weeks, pullups will be an issue but you'll get over it rapidly.

Here what makes me say that it's a no sweat workout:

• Pure strength exercises only have a few reps (5 to 25 max)
• The routine starts by focusing on arms, but after that the rest of the round is a complete recovery time for your arm muscles.
• There is not a single cardio exercise that will drive you out of breath. The only exercise that made my heart race a bit was when doing squats quickly...
• 120 seconds rest! Three times! Seriously people, how often have you seen Freeletics workouts that allow you to go check your emails during training? Even if your cardio is a bit high after squats, it will be long gone by the time you start the next round.

Not surprisingly after my first attempt, I score 2 personal best as I was learning how to perform the routine more efficiently. I was surprised at how easy the squats seemed to me. I usually hate them, but I didn't have any difficulty in any of the three sessions. I guess that it's partly due to the fact that no other exercise in the routine strains the legs.
I also hope that it means that the heavy leg work that I completed in the past weeks is starting to pay off and that my tights muscles are getting stronger.


Thursday: Boxing training

Sunday: ARTEMIS (26:31* -personal best)

History repeated itself all however again. My kids came back from school sick, and after managing a few days to dodge viruses and germs, I finally got sick as well. The last session had to be postpone to Sunday. There will be no break between Week #10 and #11.

I still wasn't in my best shape, but I was lucky to have only a strength workout to complete. I'm not sure that I would have attempted it if it had been an outdoor cardio workout.
From my personal experience, I think that Cardio is the worse when not feeling well. No matter what condition(s) you have.  It's not recommended to get hot & sweat when feverish; you can't breath properly with a running nose or sore throat; and you don't want to be jumping/running all over the place with stomach ache or when nauseous.

Anyway, in the end I decreased my personal best by about 3 minutes. This may seems like a big improvement but keep in mind that my last Artemis was 8 weeks ago. Given all the pushups & pullups that I have completed over this period, it's normal that my body is now better prepared to handle the long repetitions (50 pullups and 100 pushups).


That's all folks. Let's hope that week #11 will be virus free!

Body stats: after 14 weeks

   
As promised, it's time to give a status update on my body stats to see if any change is taking place. I have been training with Freeletics for 14 weeks (5 weeks of pre-program + 9 weeks of the actual program).

Height: 178 cm (5.84ft) 

Weight: 77.5 kg (170.5 lbs) - starting point: 82.5 kg (181.8 lbs)

Waist size: 86 cm (34.6 in) - starting point: 90 cm (33.9 in)

As you know, I always take weight measures with a grain of salt. So many factors can make the body gain or lose a kilo that it's meaningless to try to interpret short-term variations. But after 14 weeks, I start to have enough perspective to make this metric meaningful. During this period I have lost around 5 kilos (~6% of my starting weight). This was very progressive. Week after week small losses added-up.

The waist measure also dropped by 4 cm. The change was subtle the first 5 weeks (1cm less), but the trend has accelerated in the last weeks. I'm now roughly losing 1 cm every 2 weeks.

These 2 indicators clearly show that my metabolism has been getting rid of some fat tissues over the past weeks. Since I didn't change my diet, it can only be the result of the intense training that I have been going through.

And now the pics:

Comparing the picture above to the photo taken after week #8, the abs continue to get more carved out.The sides are more clearly drawn and now the upper abs (just below the pectorals) are starting to stand out.

As it's harder to see depth on a fully frontal picture, have a look at the side picture below. It's a shame that I didn't think to have pictures taken from this angle previously. It would have been nice to be able to see the evolution.

Anyway, on this picture it's clear that my belly is now almost flat. The side abs carving is also more visible from this angle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you read this blog to find out if this method can work for you, one key take away is that during the first weeks no matter what, you need to push yourself mentally to absolutely stick to the program. You will be more likely to quit during the first weeks for a simple reason: at the beginning the training is an act of faith. You sweat, you suffer, but you won't see any change in the mirror.

Once you reach this  stage in the training where physical changes just keep getting more visible, it's fun and it's easy to find the motivation to continue training. If you're not there yet, keep going and it will come too!

And by the way, I have to confess that I don't have a choice: my wife as also noticed the changes and she told me that I have to continue, quitting is not allowed anymore ! :-)

Cardio-Strength Program: week #9

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!

Cardio-Strength Program: week #8

Week #8 out of 15

This week I'm back on a more normal routine. No Hell Days, and I have returned to the boxing gym after the year-end break. Aside for 1 new workout, my training is based on familiar exercises.
The only challenge was that I have been assigned 5 sessions. To fit them all in my schedule, I decided to start the week with 2 sessions in a row.


Monday:

• Session 1: HADES (19:29* -personal best)
• Session 2: BURPEES MAX (64*) +METIS (05:30 -personal best*)

I wanted to start the week with a personal best. Hades had not improved over the past 2 weeks. Last week, I actually scored longer time than usual  due to the Hell Days. So that's the workout that I wanted to improve today.
My pace was good, but I quickly felt that my arms were still a bit strained from my last training on Saturday. In the end my time improved by 6 seconds. It's not much, but it's a step in the right direction. And it's good to start the week on a positive note.

Then I tackled the second session. For a while now I have been wondering when I would break the 70 rep ceiling in Burpees Max. This time I finished in the mid-sixties. Again.

And finally, I did Metis. As I mentioned, my arm muscles were a bit tired and I felt good from my new PB. This was the perfect receipt for slacking-off on the last workout: I had a justification to take-it easy (sore arms) + a good reason not to feel bad about it (already scored a PB). But that didn't happen.
Before training I didn't even bother checking what my personal best was exactly. I just started training. But when I saw that round 1 was cleared in under a minute, I knew that I was on track with my best pace. Personal Best, whatever the exact figure, was reachable. I kept going as fast as possible. Despite my efforts, in round 2 my pace had slowed down. The PB was getting away. But human mind works in strange ways: I became furious that my efforts in round 2 did not materialize in better performance. The last round was just an insane rush. Breathing had become secondary. At this stage, I had no idea if the PB was still possible. I just wanted to give it all to have no regret.
When the counter stopped, I laid on the ground for a good while trying to catch-up my breath. I had improved my PB by 1 second! It's a ridiculously low improvement compared to the effort, but it felt great nonetheless.


Tuesday: ATLAS (24:39*)

Atlas is a new workout for me. It includes running and had to be performed outdoor.
Lately you have seen me complaining a lot about bad weather. So, to be fair, I need to report that today while training during my lunch break, I had perfect conditions. 
Sunny but not too much. Mildly cold, but just enough to cool me down during the workout. Days like this, make me look forward to outdoor training in the spring.


Anyway, back to business. Here is what I had to complete today:

• 2km run
• 50 deep squats
• 50 burpees
• 50 froggers
• 50 leg levers
• 100 jumps

My first reaction was that it didn't look too good. But as you can see from my completion time, it didn't take me much longer than other workouts. Sure most exercises have 50 to 100 repetitions, but there is only 1 round.

The novelty for me were the froggers (like in the video below, but I had to bring my feet at the same level as my hands). It's demanding on the Cardio side, but nothing crazy. In term of difficulty, I put it on the same level as climbers.

Wednesday: BURPEES MAX (70* -personal best) +METIS (05:12* -personal best)

Same session as on Monday but this time I did have to complete another session beforehand. It clearly shows in the final results, with 2 personal best.
My favorite PB today, is Burpees Max. I had chased that PB for weeks now, and finally reached 70 repetitions. Ideally I want to go beyond but it's still out f reach.
I have done so many burpees since starting Freeletics, that honestly I don't really mind anymore. But when I have to complete many repetitions per round (50 or above), it remains a bit challenging. At this stage I don't know if it will improve as I keep training, or if I need to fix something in my execution (breathing, may be?)
If I get stuck at 70 for a while, I'll need to look at this more closely.

The Metis completion time is much better than on Monday, but this time no mad rush to finish, the effort was fairly balanced throughout the workout.



Thursday: Boxing training

First boxing training in 3 weeks, but without any major difficulty. Thanks to all the workouts these past weeks, my physical condition was good. I actually found that my execution of Jackknives had improved.



Saturday: APOLLON (23:32* -personal best)

I didn't get the chance to train outdoors on Friday and so I completed my last training over the week-end. This time I paid attention not to lose too much time during the 400 meters runs. All along the workout I was on track to score a PB. Unconsciously, I started to slow down in the third round (which is why it's sometimes preferable not to know exactly what is the reference time to to beat). I had to sprint over the last 80 meters to catch-up this delay. My PB improved by about 17 seconds. Next time if I stay focused during all 3 rounds I should be able to improve it further.


That's all for this week. I have now officially completed more than half of my program. Only 7 weeks left to go. Wow, time is flying. You can expect another post later this week, it's time to give an update on my body-stats.

Cardio-Strength Program: week #7 (Hell days)

Week #7 out of 15


First of all, I wish a Happy New Year to all my readers. For me the New Year started with sweat & physical efforts: my "coach" had decided that I should start 2014 in Hell.

For the newcomers, in Freeletics-speak from time to time the program requires you to go through "Hell". A week during which you have to train much more than usual.

The last time that I went through Hell was at the end of the pre-program. It was called "Hell Week", with workouts every day for 7 days. Followed by 3 days of rest.
This time the training structure changed. My goal for the week was to complete 3 "Hell days", each of them made of 3 workouts.
The 3 workouts don't have to be completed back-to-back, but they have to take place within the same day. So, athletes are free to do the first in the morning, the second at lunch and the third in the evening. After each Hell Day you should take at least 1 day of rest.

I chose to do all my Hell Days in one go. The last workouts seemed more difficult to complete, but at least I got rid of my daily training once and for all.



Tuesday: APOLLON (24:23*) + JUMP MAX (185*) + KENTAUROS  (30:10*)

This was my most difficult day of the week physically & mentally.

Due to scheduling constraints the best time for me to train was early morning before breakfast. I can tell you that when I went outside half-awake, only to realize that I had to do burpees on frozen ground my motivation wasn't very high. While doing the Apollon workout, part of my brain was trying to convince me that I should do the other 2 workouts later in the day. I didn't improve my completion time, partially due to this lack of focus.

Still debating with myself, I decided to do the second workout right away. It made more sense to do Jump Max, while my legs were still warm. This was my first attempt at this workout. I had not fully recovered, so at times I had to pause to catch my breath. I completed as many as I could, but still felt like my results were not optimal. Next time that I do this training, I'm aiming to do much better than 185 repetitions in 5 minutes (>200).

Luckily, as the sun rose higher the temperature improved. I couldn't use the cold as an excuse to stop training, so I kept going and tackled my my last assignment for the day: Kentauros.

I expected the worse. I had never attempted Kentauros before, a workout that also includes 2 new exercises for me: Lunge walk & Burpee Frogs.

Lunge Walk looks like this (on leg after the other):

While Burpee Frogs are like on this video (except that you only jump forward):

:

The Kentauros routine is the following:

• 2x20 meters Lunge Walk
• 10 High Jumps
• 2x20 meters Burpee Frogs
• 10 High Jumps
• 6 rounds

Given that the people that I follow on the app completed this workout in 25mn to 42mn (25 minutes being the completion time of guys that you see on Freeletics promotional videos...)
I expected to train around 35mn to 40mn. Closer to 40 given that it was my third workout for the day.

To my great surprise, I was done in 30 minutes. Including the several occasions when I was literally sitting on the ground while catching my breath! Which means that next time I should be able to do much better than this.
Honestly, my first impression was that I had made a mistake somewhere. Either by not completing the movements properly or by wrongly measuring the distance. Afterward I watched again the Freeletics video, but it confirmed that I did the exercises correctly.

I have thought of 2 reasons to explain the "good" results:

1. Top athletes don't do this workout often. Their 25mn personal best is several months old, and probably not very representative of their current performances
2. When doing the Burpee Frogs, from the start I always jumped forward as far as I could. In this exercise you have to cover a fixed distance: the longer your forward jump is, the less repetitions you need to do. Therefore, by making an effort on the jump, you actually save time & energy.

To summarize, Burpee Frogs didn't seem much more difficult than regular ones. Lunge Walk was not too difficult either, I actually prefer it to Squats. Just be careful if you train on concrete, not to hit the ground too hard with your knee.
High jumps remain demanding on the cardio side, but I have noticed some improvements over time. At times I still need to catch my breath for a few seconds after the exercise, but completing the 10 repetitions is done in one-go in less than 30 seconds.
Overall I liked this workout. Like a number of outdoor sessions, it can be annoying to complete if you have to do it in the mud or wet sandy ground (my case). Especially burpee frogs, which a bit harder on shallow ground. But physically it's not as bad as I expected. 


Wednesday: Mandatory rest day.

Thursday: KENTAUROS  (27:04* -personal best) + HERA (22:14*) + ARES (08:35*)

Upon waking-up I still had sore legs from the Tuesday workouts. I wondered if that would affect my performance today. However it gradually went away over the morning. I had no discomfort when I trained in the middle of the afternoon. This time I could go to a park where both the running exercises and the pullups can be done.

My second Hell Day started with Kentauros. I knew what to expect and I had fresh legs, so without any surprise I scored a personal best, improving the time by 3 minutes. I didn't need to sit this time, but did pause a few times. So I still have a lot of room to improve my time. Once in better physical shape, going under 25mn should not be a big issue.
For the records, I trained at a different location this time and there were marks on the ground that measured exactly 20 meters. So it confirmed to me that I have been training on the correct distance, and that therefore my time is perfectly legit.

I continued the training with Hera. Not much to report here. I didn't improve my time, as I ran slower than usual on the 400m exercises. On the contrary, I had a good pace or the Jumps. Even if I must have looked crazy jumping like that, given the looks I got from a few dog-walkers...

My last session was Ares. For the anecdote, that's actually the first time that I complete it outdoor. When training indoor I have always replaced the running exercise by some high-knee static running. The first time that I attempted this workout, I estimated based on 100m run-time that to have representative completion time I should hold the high-knee static run during 15 seconds. Later in a forum discussion an athlete pointed out that 15 seconds might be too short, as just running 80m is not the same thing as running 80m after pullups and jackknives. Based on his input, in later sessions I have increased the static run to 20 seconds.
Today I got to test this time in real conditions. Each time, it took me about 20 seconds to run the 80m distance. Okay, it was the end of Hell Day so may be on a regular day I would do slightly better, but my point is that the other guy's comment was perfectly valid. I'm definitely sticking to 20 seconds for the moment. I don't want to get new Hades PB, just by artificially decreasing static run. May be in a few months I'll test it again and see if I should decrease the time. 

Friday: Mandatory rest day.


Saturday: VENUS (25:06*) + BURPEE MAX (54*) + HADES (23:31)

Another week, another new workout: Venus. Let's have a look at its content:

• 50 pushups
• 20 Jackknives
• 50 Deep Squats
• 4 rounds

As you can see the guys at Freeletics chose the wrong name for this workout. Venus is not just an alternate Aphrodite. Forget Cardio, it's all about muscle building.
In my opinion the challenge here is the number of Pushups. 200 repetitions in total and 50 per round is also fairly long. The Jackknives are no problem, and 50 Deep Squat is the standard number of repetitions in most workouts.
For the pushups, I paced myself to avoid starting too fast and then have no arms left to finish the exercise. My method is  to  do 10 reps, breath a few seconds while laying on the ground, and repeat until 50. The key is to keep the breaks as short as possible.

Strangely, after 200 pushups the last 2 workouts (Burpees Max & Hades) were more difficult to complete than usual... I could feel that achieving a personal best on any of the two would be mission impossible. However, I focused on keeping intensity as high as possible, to avoid slacking-off.

And that was my last Hell Day. All week long I had been looking forward for this last day. Somehow I had assumed that it would be a nice indoor session. It was definitely doable, but more difficult than expected. I had underestimated the soreness from the previous days and how focused on the arms session 3 was.

Sunday: Mandatory rest day.


I have mixed feelings about these Hell Days. I think that I preferred the Hell Week.

Both make you train much harder than usual. Which is painful on the short term, but in the end brings us closer to our self-improvement goal(s).

Both are annoying to schedule. Hell Week, because training everyday (even for 25mn) is not always possible due to personal constraints. Hell Days because longer sessions (1h00-1h30) are harder to fit within the day, especially outdoor training in the winter when daylight is short. And mandatory rest days mean that you have little opportunity to choose which day to schedule these longer training sessions.

One thing that I really liked about my Hell Week, is that after training  7 days in a row, in the middle of the rest period, I was actually missing training. I wanted more. Sitting in my couch doing nothing felt strange.

This time I was really glad to get a rest on Sunday! But that day didn't last long, as I write these lines I'm already well into week #8 training.
To be continued next week...

Cardio-Strength Program: week #6

Week #6 out of 15


Kids do all kind of unexpected things. But one thing that you can be sure of, is that they'll always share their germs & viruses with you. My kids are no exception. So this week I was sick in bed Wednesday & Thursday. That wasn't fun, but the good news is that it didn't really impact my training schedule.
I was assigned 5 sessions this week. Thankfully, I had loaded Monday & Tuesday with 3 sessions, to get as much training out of the way before Christmas day. Once recovered from illness, I had only 2 sessions left to complete week #6.


Monday:

• Session 1: HADES (19:35* -personal best)
• Session 2: SITUPS MAX (87*) +SITUPS MAX (93*)

The week started very well with a nice personal best in Hades. Just like my last attempt in week #5, I started the workout at a high pace. But this time I managed to keep a good rhythm during the third round. My overall completion time decreased by 2 minutes.

The big surprise came from the situps. After the Hades PB, I was fired-up and ready to blow away my situps record. That never happened. After only 40 situps I could feel pain in my abs muscles, as if I had done 150 or 200 repetitions. I completed the workout with difficulties, but decided to follow-up immediately with the second Situps Max.
During the second workout pain my abs were still sore, but was gone. I completed more repetitions than in the first attempt, but didn't improve my personal best (102).

At first I couldn't understand how I got sore abs, when my last abs focused exercise was more than 10 days ago. Then I realized where it came from: pullups!

My pullup bar is installed within a door frame. I can't pull myself perfectly vertically without banging my head against the frame. So my upward movement is slightly diagonal. To keep my body completely straight, all my core muscles are contracted.
Until today, I had not realized how straining this exercise was for my abs muscles.


Tuesday: BURPEES MAX (68* -personal best) + ARES (07:44* -personal best)

Not much to say today. The PB in Burpees Max was expected, this time I started with fresh arms while last attempt was done after another workout.

With about 2 weeks since the last Ares training, I also expected new PB. A 1 minute improvement on such a short workout was pleasing.


Friday: HADES (22:38*)

Yesterday I had toyed with the idea of doing session #4 on despite still being not well. I'm glad that I ruled out this unwise option. My body was still tired from the illness.Training today was more difficult than usual. I did my best to keep a high intensity but honestly scoring a PB was not going to happen.


Saturday: APOLLON (23:49* -personal best)

The week-end is dedicated to a family gathering. The only time available to do my last session was early morning before breakfast. If you don't like burpees, wait until you try burpees on frosted ground... :-)

Physically, I wasn't in top shape, but clearly felt better than yesterday. The training was alright. I scored a new personal best, improving the Apollon completion time by about 2:30.


It has been another challenging week. I'm glad that I'm done with it. Usually, as soon as I have completed my weekly program, I move on to the next week so that I can start scheduling my workouts. This time, I have decided to take a complete rest during the next few days. I will only discover the week #7 program on Monday night.