Freeletics, diet and progress

I'm sure it's a riveting read (NOT) about the Freeletics sessions, certainly for me it seems each session is now just a case of getting to that sweet spot of doing all exercises without stopping to catch a breath and all in good form.

Progress wise I can tell a huge difference since day 1 where I struggled to do ten burpees without being massively out of breath and yet yesterday the first exercise was to do 25 burpees out of a total of 150 and I did one after the other with no rest or breaking a sweat. Same goes for pressups, at first struggling to get into double figures in the MAX exercises which gives you 100 seconds and now I can reach over 50 in the same time.

I have craved that body which you see Levent and Arne etc on the 15 transformations and it has been a slow burner. My weight has dropped by 5  pounds since the start but the difference is in my clothes. I have lost two inches from my waist and most impressive of all is that my chest is pretty damn firm and my shoulders have rounded out. It's only when you look back at the photo on day one and look at the times that you did first off that you think, WOW how far have I come?! That coupled with the fact that I have another 5 weeks to go makes me even more determined.

Diet

So what about diet? It's OK doing all this exercise but if you aren't putting the correct fuel in then you aren't going to get the most out of it. Before I start I best point out that I am in no way whatsoever a nutritionist and the points here are just what have worked for me.

At the start I pretty much ate normally which for me would be 2500 - 3000 calories a day with little thought put into the makeup of it and maybe a litre of water a day. During that time I did see some improvement, however the real gains came over the past few weeks. My neighbour is getting fit too, except that he is going to the gym and loves biking. However it's nice to have someone to talk to in regards to what you eat and what you are doing, even if it's just to see what food each of us have cheated with.

Stay hydrated

My first change was the amount of water, I went from 1 to 1.5 litres per day to 5 to 6 per day which may sound a lot even to me, especially when I was only drinking a few cups of tea each day. However it's not that hard to drink 5 litres, firstly the water does act as a hunger suppressant and stops me snacking, or at least wanting to snack! Also dehydration causes you to feel tired, another good reason to stay hydrated. Finally your muscles need water during high intensity exercises and after reading an email from Freeletics.com it points out that you should drink a litre of water approx 90 mins before exercising. That is good in two ways for me, firstly I have a good reason to drink a litre and secondly it commits me to exercise, it's as if by drinking that bottle I am committing to doing a session. (Just drinking a litre now)

Eat right

I felt the need for a low carb, high protein diet for the last few weeks of the session in an effort to really burn off the stubborn fat and build muscle and it's surprising how much you can eat yet still be in a calorie deficit.  I currently have 1350 calories per day with 155grams of protein and 67grams of carbs which by the end of the week I do feel a little tired on but with a cheat day consisting of a slab of black chocolate and plenty of fruit for that sugar boost I am back to feeling awesome again the following day.

However as you can imagine, I don't feel hungry in my day to day food.

Breakfast

Beans, mushrooms and two poached eggs. Two pans and ten minutes. Dead easy.

Higher in protein than carbs and very filling. I switched when a friend of mine Paul (paulfightscancer.co.uk) gave me some very welcome pointers. Huge thanks and kudos Paul, it's working! What an awesome guy, his site is a goldmine of information and inspiration.

Lunch
brown rice cooked in veg stock with one chicken breast and 100grams of broccoli and 100grams of cauliflower.
I really should split this up across a couple of meals because it is so filling. The veg stock is to give it plenty of flavor  otherwise it would be a bit lacking.

Tea
Tuna salad consisting of some slices of pepper, tomatoes and spring onions along with lettuce.
Mix of nuts and berries to munch on afterwards.

Nice and light for the evening meal, quick to prepare. The nuts and berries are surprisingly filling too!


So there you have it, that was yesterday's food, pretty much the same today. I'm happy having similar food day to day at the moment because I go into autopilot when making meals. This low carb high protein plan is only for while I am doing Freeletics coach sessions. Once these are over I shall swap it up to have more of a balance on the carbs and protein. For now though it is working great.

Oh yes, nearly forgot, I also have two protein shakes, one before working out and one after to ensure there is excess protein hanging around for my muscles.

Don't forget to sleep well too. I have been known to work well into the night and also do marathon 30+ hour coding sessions at work but it's no good for your body and you do need to rest. So during this 15 weeks I have tried to maintain a good 7 to 8 hours a night.

Not always done especially last night when the two dogs woke me up at 4am to go to the toilet and I couldn't get back to sleep, so only 5 hours last night.

Stay healthy people, much love.
x

Freeletics Week 10

Feeling the burn this week! Just looking at what I had to do filled me with a sense of dread and I managed to find a weak excuse not to train yesterday but not today!

Session 1
Uranos 39:25 PB
Happy about the PB again and still no star as there are pullups in there which I still can only do 8 before I have to start doing the modified easier ones. Although I've just bought a pullup bar so i'll see how I do with that next time. For the moment I have been doing towel pullups from the top of a door.

Always a killer is Uranos for me due to the run at the start but feeling great and a great start to the week.

I decided to weigh in this week and monitor my food, it seems I weigh two pounds lighter than when I started but I have lost two inches off my waist and have much more muscle definition than before. Mind you, muscle weighs heavier than fat so no guesses where the weight is going.

Happy happy happy!

Session 2
Hyperion 30:10  PB

How hard?!! Surprisingly the one handed push ups I could actually manage, although they are not easy and towards the last set I really struggled and had to do the last set as the simpler version. Although by the end of the week I found out the effects of not having good form!

Pullups are still as hard as ever, although my pullup bar came today so at last I have managed to do them on the proper equipment. I do manage to do the first 3 to 5 pullups in proper form though which is a major improvement over week 1 where I struggled for ages to just about do one!

HS pushups are still a no no for me, the strict ones anyhow but I did the modified versions with no problem.

Finally the Pistols, sadly my right ankle will not flex enough to do them so I have done 6 on the left in proper form and on my right I have just gone down as far as I can and held it for a second or two.

All in all a great session and looking forward to getting in the bath as I'm pouring with sweat.

Session 3
Ares 10:00 PB
Love this one, short and sweet but really makes me sweat!

Session 4
Hyperion 25:24 PB
Absolute killer, a better time but after watching the video on how to do one handed pushups I realise that I had bad form last time and subsequently have pulled something in my groin area on my left leg as it hurts like hell. You are supposed to keep your shoulders horizontal and not let your chest leave the ground before anything else. Needless to say in session 2 y chest left the ground first and my shoulders were not horizontal which put a lot of strain on my groin and thigh area. So this time around I did the modified version and made sure that my core was nice and tight and done in good form. Still hurts quite a bit but managed to push through it.

Now for some r&r as it's the bank holiday this weekend, looking forward to the next Freeletics session!

Freeletics Week 9

As promised, it's Monday and I have just finished the first set. This week it is 4 sessions, two of which are 6 max exercises! I'll update the page as the week goes on.

But before I break it all down, here's the lowdown on the new motivation. For those of you who have been with me from the start will know that the beard is a reminder to exercise, because when I have completed the 15 weeks it's coming off.

However this weekend I was talking to a photographer whilst out training the dogs and told her all about the whole transformation thing and how I was looking forward to it and I was asked to do a naked photo shoot for a calendar for fieldsports! At first I was a bit dubious, "What if i'm not quite there", "What if my top looks great but I can't loose my belly" and the thoughts just kept on coming. Then I thought to myself, you know what, it's about time you stopped worrying about it and just did it. It's a charity event for a start and I owe it to myself and to others to be awesome and push myself as hard as I can.

That following night I came back and did my Kentauros session, then ran around the house a few times and finished off with a set of Push-ups MAX. I am more determined than ever to get to the end of the 15 weeks in the best condition I can. Especially as the photo shoot is the weekend I finish the coach sessions!

So day one, Monday, done, BOOM..

Session 1:
Leg Lever Max 90 *PB
Squat Max 182 *PB
Pushup Max 4 *PB

Leg Lever Max 65*
Squat Max 108* (injury)
Pushup Max 36*

Pushed as much as I could on all and by the time I had finished the first set of pushup max's my arms were burning, really burning.

Second set of each hurt, the Levers just because my muscles were tired but the squats mainly because of the breaks in my right ankle. As I started the second set I felt a searing pain in my ankle and had to prop myself up on a desk. It was too painful to put any weight on it so I tried to roll my foot around in it's socket and put a plank of wood under my heel and then began very slowly to do squats. Eventually the pain reduced to a bearable level. Pretty glad when that finished lemme tell you!

Session 2:
Aphrodite 24:34 *PB
Phew! really sweating this time and no surprise either. That's two minutes shaved off the last PB. I still had to stop and take a breather during the sets of 50's. I get to 30 and I need to stop for ten seconds and then do them in sets of tens with a 5 to 10 second break between each.

Really pleased with today. It's a pretty muggy day, sunny but pouring with rain which will make me sweat more. May take tomorrow (Wednesday) as a break day. We shall see.

.. Ended up being a break day Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday! Did both the following on Sunday.

Session 3:
Kentauros 40:30 * PB
More than happy with the time seems as I beat the first time which is when I was doing a shorter distance by mistake. Quite hard this morning as it's quite warm today (22C as I write this). Then had a couple of hours break before doing the following session. Simply because it's such a nice day that I feel a BBQ coming on and maybe a few beers, the last thing I want to be doing is finding an excuse later that I can't finish today's sessions off because I'm half asleep.

Session 4:

Leg Lever Max 95 * PB
Squat Max 184 * PB
Pushup Max 45 *

Leg Lever Max * 64
Squat Max * PB 201
Pushup Max 38

So far so good, another week done and feeling great. Leg Levers still have a way to go as I am still needing to rest during the set, same goes for pushups. As for the squats, they are just a matter of getting faster because I don't take a break now and they are all in strict form so the only way is to get faster with them.

Surprisingly I managed to apply that thought to the second set doing one breath in as I sunk down and one inhale as i reached the top but just slightly faster and hey presto, pushed the 200 mark even after doing 184 only ten mins earlier!

Now to slap some chicken breasts on the BBQ and prep some tasty salad.

Freeletics Week 8

Back to normal this week thankfully! The trainer's tip is to get as many * workouts as possible. A star being completing all the exercises in correct non-modified form. The only exercises that I currently do which I have to modify now are HS pressups and pullups.

Leg Lever MAX 61* PB
Ares 10:26

The leg lever exercise works your abs and by adding weight to your feet you can in turn increase the difficulty of this one as I found out when I left my walking boots on. Little did I realise at the time that they weigh 1Kilo per boot! Still managed to get a PB and push through the burning sensation in my abs.

Hades 26:36 PB
This was a hard one, felt quite de-motivated this morning. I can see the changes but I still suck completely at organising my week, it's currently Friday and I still have two more sessions to go which means I will have to do one each day of the weekend. It's not the fact I have to do them, it's the being lazy and not starting each weeks sessions until I absolutely have to. Unfortunately this means that because of my laziness I will have to do Kentauros (the outdoor one) in what looks like will be a heavy rain storm.

Still don't understand why I leave it until the last minute, because I feel great when I have worked out.

Anyhow, enough of the moaning, managed to smash another PB out on this one thankfully and in a sadistic way am looking forward to doing tomorrow's session even though it will be in the rain.

Kentauros 45:10 PB
What a relief to get this one done in time and not surprised I didn't get a PB. I got the tape measure out to see how far 20meters was, as previously I had gone with one large stride is one meter. Nope, one large stride is nothing like a meter and I was 2 meters short last time. So have altered the length of the strip I've been doing this on which in turn meant that I was 4m short on each exercise last time. So that's 10% more. Considering that the time isn't 10% more I don't think I've done too bad.

Although the incoming rain storm did push me harder! Plus I had extra motivation which I will explain next week which led me to run a few times around the house and then do a push-up MAX at the end of this session!

Poseidon 5:49 PB
Metis 08:51 * PB

Poseidon went well, still having to do the modified versions of the pull-ups but doing better each time.
Metis.... tiring as usual but got through it and managed to pull off another PB.

Feeling absolutely awesome this week and glad it's over again. I also have good motivator for finishing the 15 weeks with as much gains as I can, other than my beard which I found out this weekend, I'll fill you in over the coming week!

Closing thought... This week I have prob been the worst for procrastinating both at work and with freeletics so I will make sure that this coming week I will have my first exercise done on Monday. Just to make me feel accountable i'll also post that day's exercise to the blog.

Just a side note, I have had a couple of people say "must be nice to work for yourself so you can train during the day if you need to" To put this into context, it's not as straight forward as that. Today for instance it's 10am, by the time I have had a shower and started work it will be 11am. I'll either have to forfeit 2 hours of time paid or work another 2 hours into the evening. So, yes, it is good in one way but don't forget, I'll still have to either be short on money or work into the evening to catch up. No excuses for not doing exercises people :-)

Freeletics Week 7 : Hell Day?!!!

I've heard of hell week but not hell day! I just clicked next week and was presented with the following set of sessions. I had to re-read the trainers advice part because I read it like I was supposed to do the first group in a morning, second group later and third group at the end of the day and figured I'd need an ambulance on call!

After reading it again Hell Day, not hell week, is three days long but has three sessions per day. When I think about it I plan on doing one in a morning, one mid-day and one at the end of the day. The Max one's would fit nicely into a lunch break and the morning session I figured would just be a case of getting up half an hour earlier and skip my "cuppa tea and ponder about life" 15 mins before I start work. Which should give me enough time to fit in a 30 min session and a quick shower afterwards.

One of my all time favorite sayings is "If you want to be successful at work just get up a little earlier and work a little harder, it all adds up" I'll be living testament to that this week!

Session 1 (Tuesday)
Hades 33:50
HS Max 11 PB
Zeus 35:20 PB

Decided to start this weeks on a Tuesday, mainly because my chest hurt quite a bit after the correct pull-ups in Sunday's session. That and a bad night sleep on Sunday night. Mind you, I planned on getting up an hour earlier and doing this mornings session before breakfast but that never happened. It's now ten past nine so I had better get a wriggle on so i'm not too late starting work today!

No surprise that I was about 4 minutes over on Hades this morning considering that I have been doing pull-ups properly this time. Still having to jump up to the bar and lower myself down but the first few of a session are proper pull-ups so I am feeling the change.

HS Pushup max and Zeus are all evening ones. I have done the Max session half an hour before the Zeus session because Zeus has HS Push-ups in it and I figured I would not be able to do them if I had already done a full session of them to the point of failure.

Session 2 (Thursday)
Aphrodite 28:52*PB
Pull-up Max 6*PB
Artemis 36:08 PB

Feeling pretty sore from the last session so wasn't expecting what I just managed to push out! It's currently 8:52am, still not quite organised enough in a morning but I couldn't risk leaving it all until later as Artemis I guess would be a total fail later.

I'm now doing everything in Aphrodite in the un-modified form and not stopping to catch my breath between exercises or reps so it's all down to keeping in good form and getting faster on the reps now. I feel like I have come a very long way in a short space of time!

Pull-up MAX I managed to do 6 proper ones, again very surprised, and I did do some modified ones too but didn't count them as I wanted to put a star against at least one Pull-up exercise!

Artemis... now that's a real test right there!
50 Burpees, slow and controlled, no problem. 50 Pullup's, 3 slow and controlled in proper form and the rest were towel pullup's from a door in a very slow motion. By the end of these my forearms were burning! Onto 100 push-ups which I had to do in sets of around 10 a time with a few seconds break because my muscles would just fail. 150 squats, slow and controlled but with another small breather after each 50. However by the time I got to the second set of 50 Burpees I was well and truly shattered, I struggled getting through them. Kinda reminded me of the first time I had tried them.

Looking forward to a bath and a rest tomorrow too!

Session 3 (Monday)
Artemis 31:30 PB
Aphrodite 26:10 * PB
Squat MAX

This morning's Artemis was not a pleasant exercise, really felt out of synch and just not with it at all. Last night I had a doner kebab for tea and a slab of chocolate cake, which considering how good I have eaten all week I didn't think would affect me but I didn't feel as alert and on-the-ball as usual when I started.

I have decided to do Aphrodite and Squat MAX one after the other as I quite like the squats and I think I could smash through those pretty easily (or that's how it feels at the moment).

Aphrodite done in a PB and also beat a client's time, 20 years younger than me so am feeling pretty damn good right now, albeit very very out of breath and sweaty.

Squat done and managed to get a PB too. Glad this week is over, I don't mind doing a workout every day but fitting three into a day in separate intervals was not an easy task.