I had not reported on my training since completing the program. It's only now that I'm writing this post that I realize that 6 weeks have already passed. Time flies.
While I kept training every single week, overall the past weeks felt much more relaxed. Partly because there were more relaxed (less workouts), but also because peace of mind came from adjusting my training around my schedule.
My training was the following:
Week 21:
- Tuesday: Aphrodite (19:43* -PB) + Leg Levers Max (196* -PB) + Ares (08:16*)
- Thursday: boxing training
- Friday: Venus (21:24*) + Leg Levers Max (192*)
Week 22:
- Monday: boxing training
- Tuesday: Hades (16:04* -PB) + Sit up Max (133*)
- Wednesday: Venus (20:58* -PB)
- Thursday: boxing training
- Saturday: Venus (19:23* -PB) + Leg Levers Max (187*)
Week 23:
- Monday: Venus (20:14*) + Pullup Max (32*) + Pushup Max (41*)
- Tuesday: Pullup Max (34* -PB) + Pushup Max (47*) +Leg Levers Max (186*) + Lunge Max (173* -PB) + Aphrodite (20:09*)
- Thursday: boxing training
- Saturday: Venus (21:05*) + Pullup Max (28*)
- Sunday: Pushup Max (49*) + Pullup Max (29*) + Pushup Max (41*)
Week 24:
- Monday: Venus (21:13*) + Leg Levers Max (188*) + Pullup Max (30*)
- Tuesday: Venus (21:38*)
- Thursday: boxing training
- Saturday: Aphrodite (20:00*) + Pushup Max (42*) + Leg Levers Max (183*) + Pushup Max (53*) + Pullup Max (31*)
- Sunday: Pullup Max (30*)
Week 25:
- Tuesday: Hades (17:42*) + Situp Max (145*)
- Wednesday: Aphrodite (19:38*)
- Thursday: boxing training
Week 26:
- Monday: Venus (24:24*)
- Tuesday: Hades (17:35*)
- Thursday: boxing training
- Friday: Venus (19:38*)
If I exclude, the Sunday were I just did a single MAX session for fun, over 6 weeks I performed 17 sessions for a total training time for ~339 minutes. That's 3 sessions per week on average, each of approximately 20 minutes.
True, the average is slightly lowered by Week #21, which was very light on purpose to recover from the preceding Hell Week. But figures don't lie. As outlined in a previous post, I intended to reduce the number of session and focus on strength workouts (which tend to be shorter than cardio).
Free training is new to me, so I'm still experimenting and trying to find the best balance between personal life & training. I will do a separate post for body stats after these 6 weeks, but there are already a few take-away:
- Adjusting training on the spot to fit unexpected schedule changes is great. That's the kind of flexibility I was looking for before starting Freeletics...
- ...but, I will probably need to fix myself a few strict guidelines. An absolute minimum number of 3 sessions per week is probably a good rule to put in place. As you can see on week 25, one schedule constraint after another led to only 2 sessions being done. It's not dramatic once, but it should not become a habit. Another rule that I'm contemplating is to do each workout at least once every 3 months. Just to avoid becoming too comfy by never doing the messy workouts that require you to crawl in the dirt (like Kentauros).
- Performance gains in Strength workouts have been slower than anticipated. As you can see, I have scored very few personal best lately. With the amount of push-ups that I have performed, I would have though that each new Venus would be easier than the previous one. But it wasn't so. I will need to be more patient to see progress, but also add a bit more Cardio sessions in my training mix (more time for muscles to recover and to keep good stamina).
I still continue in the coach, actually I think that coach continues unlit the end of subscription, next week I will get an answer :) I was also thinking to start free training, but after thinking twice and also discussing with my wife, I decided to apply for Strength coach. I'm afraid, just a little bit, not to be under pressure of coach :)
ReplyDeleteHi Yury,
DeleteJust to clarify, you buy a 15 weeks program but the subscription ends may be 20 or 25 weeks after you sign-ed up. The few extra weeks are there in case you can't complete the program in exactly 15 weeks, but need a bit more time.
However, once you have completed the program, the training is over. I did everything in exactly 15 weeks, but My Coach didn't give me any additional workouts to do even if my subscription was ending late April.
So basically your wife told you that you couldn't stop training until she sees you with a six pack :-)
I agree with your comment about pressure, old habits die hard so there is a risk to slack-off on training after the program. Some people will be disciplined enough to maintain their effort, other may be better off if they follow the Coach all the time. Time will tell, to which category I belong...
For the moment I'll stick with free training, and may be once per year I'll do the program as a challenge. But next time I'll be smarter and avoid winter! ;-)
That's strange as I also completed every single workout from my coach, not all in a row, with one week rest. My subscription end by the 25th of April, so I will wait and will see what wil happen.
DeleteTo gain six pack I need to change my food intake completelly :) And maybe my wife would me more happy if I wouln't train at all, as we are waiting for the second baybe very soon :)
I want to try Strength coach now and than I will probably will continue with free program. But it is futere and maybe I will take another decision. Main point is that I want to continue as now I really know that I can do it :)
Congratulations... and good luck training while being sleep deprived! :-)
DeleteWhen the kids are sick I "only" lose a few nights of sleep. But with a baby that's going to be quite a challenge. I was following Mads when his wife had his second baby, he disappeared for 2-3 months before starting training again.
I guess the only thing that you can do (aside praying for a sleeping baby!) is try to train a minimum (1-2/week), just to make things easier when you re-start.
Hi there! You are inspiring. I am on week 3 of coach, but struggling with clean eating. I also went for the nutrition plan, but not exactly following the suggested recipes (if I did, I'd end up with way too much calories). So just trying to apply the principles where I can.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I don't recall seeing this elsewhere, but I'm curious. How much warm-up do you do before starting the workouts? I've started following you on the app and am impressed with improvements in timings. I can't even complete 25 proper burpees!
Hi May,
DeleteI haven't tried the nutrition guide. I'd be interested to hear from you if a few weeks dozn the road you notice results (stamina or just well-being), from the principles they give.
Regarding warm-ups, I'm a pretty bad example to follow! As weeks went by I did less and less warm-up. I pretty much do no/little warm-up anymore.
Most cardio workouts start with burpees (or jumping jacks for Dione), and I treat these as my warm-up. If it includes running (400m or more), then I walk a while and warm-up the articulations (ankles & knees rotations).
For strength workouts, I like to warm-up the arms & shoulders (wide circles; arms lifted 90 degrees on side and throwing elbows backward and then hands backward) and the neck. I only warm-up legs if it's a leg intensive workout like Kentauros. It rarely last more than 2-3 minutes.
As I said I'm a bad example, so I definitely don't advice people doing the same thing...
Don't worry for the burpees, soon you'll do 25 proper ones and then 50. And one day you'll realize than 10 burpees take you 30s to complete... I have looked at your time on the app, you are improving. Just be patient and never doubt about your capacity.
My times look good to you because you just started, while I have practiced for months already. But keep in mind that I'm still far from top performance. My Aphrodite dropped from 30mn (week 1) to just under 20mn (now), but there are guys and girls (check out Vanessa Gebhardt on the app) that do Aphrodite in 15mn or less!) Most of them have been training for over a year.
So we are both on a journey to try to reach this top-performance. If we train hard and regularly, one day we'll get there too! :-)
I'll let you know about the nutrition impact--once I get more disciplined. I'm sure it should be positive if I actually follow. They also focus on one thing every week, for example:
Delete- all meals should be high in protein
- only eat high quality carbs
- vegetables are your meals side dish, not carbs
But I can't completely give up bread. And cheat days end up becoming cheat weekends, week, you get the picture.
But people like you give me hope. I just need to keep my focus. It's Easter so I'm starting anew. :)
Happy Easter!
Hi,
ReplyDeleteThis is certainly a very interesting and detailed account of your experiences with Freeletics. I was wondering if you have made any observations of how much your cardiovascular level has improved since you started working out with the Freeletics program?
Sincerely,
Freddy
Hi Freddy,
DeleteThank you. Did my cardiovascular level improve? I'm convinced that it did. The improved performance in Freeletics workouts can't be only due to better technique and muscle gain. I recover my breath faster as well. Unfortunately this is only anecdotal evidence, as I don't have any objective way to measure this improvement.
Ideally before starting freeletics one should do a heart rate stress test, and measure the recovery rate. By doing the same test after completing the program and comparing the 2 curves would give a clear measure of cardiovascular efficacy gains. This could be done in a fitness center or with a decent HRM watch/phone app. Too bad my HRM watch is a bit old, it could have been something interesting to look at.