Fat 2 Fit @ 40: Week 0 to 8 of 20

8 Weeks of hard work.

Fat 2 Fit @ 40 Week 0 to 8 of 20.

The journey continues, I started out with the vision of being as fit as possible within a certain time-frame and then maintaining my fitness from that point onward. I am writing this at the close of week 8 and as you can see in the picture to the right, there has been a definite change in myself. At the moment it's all about trimming down the fat (cutting) and in a few weeks it'll all be about the bulking and putting on lean muscle.

Quite a few have now asked for my diet so I thought it best to impart how I got to this point and most importantly debunk any thoughts of this being a "diet". I tried and failed before until I realised that you can't become awesome by following the crowd, with their diet pills and shakes; I had to go back to basics, I needed to learn everything as best as I could in the little amount of time I had. So this is a holistic transformation, I changed everything to get to this point, not just my diet. My mindset, diet, lifestyle, exercise, sleep pattern; even the way I shave!

I'll put all the information on this one page and attempt to link it all together so you can jump around and not get lost. For those of you wanting just the diet then you can get to just that part. Like I say though, that's not what's at work here people.

Why

You have to understand the why, otherwise it just becomes a process of going through the motions, for me it's all about my mindset, I built simple targets, I found out what motivates me and I exploited them.  I'll talk more about that in the mindset section below but my 20 week cut off date is when we go on holiday. I plan on being insanely strict until then, it could have been less but that holiday gives me the focus I need. I also have some other targets, most of all though to take me past that I have one target written down on my wall which is.

I aim to be the best I can be in fitness, focus, drive and kindness so that I and those close to me can live the life we dream of without any limits.

How

So I knew how why but how do I get to that point? Truth be told I studied a lot, looked at what the successful people are doing, took on board advice from trainers and mostly read around the science of it all. It all boils down to one simple thing for this phase:

Eat less calories than you need.

That's it, pretty simple huh? So yes, all the fat ones out there that use weak bitch ass excuses about how their genetics don't allow them to lose weight, or that they are too busy to exercise, not enough hours in the day, not enough energy, old injuries, waiting for the right moment. Bullshit excuses. Wake up and smell the coffee, you're fat because you've eaten more than you burn off and you have no willpower. Plain and simple, lay off the pies and stop feeding yourself lies! That's the point I was at when I started, loved takeaways, made every excuse not to exercise because doing so put me back on my crutches (old bike injury) and didn't have enough hours in the day.

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against being fat as long as those that are fat don't constantly bitch and whine about it. If you're comfortable with the way you are then that's cool.

It all had to change.

Nutrition - Exercise - Mindset - Lifestyle

Mindset

I couldn't get to where I need to be without changing my mindset. 

#1 Imagine yourself and how your life will be.

How can you aim for a goal if you don't have a clear vision of what that goal is?

I wrote it down along with 5 reasons that I deserve it and downloaded some photos which I printed out and made a multi photo frame that I can look at each day. Why? because it's going to be tough, there's times when I want to skip those last 10 pressups because my arms are burning, mornings when I get up and have to use my crutches because it was hard on my legs the previous day, and days where nothing goes right at work and my motivation to exercise wanes. By having a clear vision that I can refer to every morning and night gives me that glimmer of hope in the dark times. Most think I'm a happy go lucky guy, in the main I am but let me tell you, when you're running a 1500 calorie deficit with 20% carbs across a day and getting up at 5am, working out twice a day and stacked out with work, it gets to you. I get exhausted, I get frustrated but then I learn to get angry, tie a knot around myself, double tie it and hold on. 

No point in having a plan B, it only distracts from plan A.

#2 Exploit yourself

Find out what makes you tick! I love to think that somehow in my life I am able to inspire people, make a positive ripple somewhere in the universe. So talking about what I do and showing others that it's possible works for me. I love to feel accountable, publicly if possible, so posting online what I'm aiming for, no matter how many "Ah you'll never get to that point" comments, it proves to spur me on. To dispel the non believers to which I draw great strength from. The fear of failure is there too but in a good way. I've said I am going to look a certain way by a point in time and therefore there is no option but to succeed.

#3 Create your home team

That's right, it's not easy going it alone and equally not as easy if those around you don't buy into it. I spoke to my other half about it, told her how I had planned on getting where I am going and why, I asked for some simple things, such as not asking me if I would like a sweet, never asking me if I would like a bit of her tea no matter how tempted I looked and most of all to be understanding that this is only temporary. The journey will become easier, a lot easier, but in the meantime I have to make sacrifices.

Get rid of the nay sayers! Yes that's right, Unfollow all the "OMG I hate today" posts on your social media accounts. You know the ones, bleeding you dry of life by constantly attention grabbing. If you know the "I'll believe it when I see it" people, don't include them until the end, you don't need that negativity in your life because right now you need to believe it to be able to see it later.

Surround yourself with positive people and build your team, know who you can call on to make you smile, know which friends you can call on to rant, know which ones give good hugs and know which ones will give you that extra kick if you need it. 

#4 Be happy

Smile, face skyward and feel the warm sun on your face, find something positive in the smallest of things. Happiness is always there within us, you just have to know which thoughts to get rid of in order to see true happiness. (I meditate every day)

Lifestyle

 I work for myself and have two spaniels that require walking and I contribute my share of the housework, including ironing, hoovering, washing etc. So my day had to change from my 7.30am wakeup and 10:30 / 11:00pm bedtime to 5am wakeup and 10pm bedtime. 2 hours walking dogs, housework, 8 hours of work, exercise and what was left over is my time of which I usually get around 30 minutes to an hour at the end of a day. You can get a feel of my day by clicking on the image to the right.

Exercise

Now we get down to the nuts and bolts. As I have mentioned, this phase is all about getting rid of the excess fat, so good fat burning exercises were a must, HIIT was my weapon of choice but I have been down this path before and to do what I needed to in the time that I had and without a gym membership I needed something more. So I added in cardio.

Put simply it means that I do HIIT (Freeletics) in a morning to make use of the afterburn effect to burn calories off during the morning and then after work I complete an hour of cardio on the exercise bike 110bpm to 120bpm to keep me in the fat burning zone. There are theories debunking this and theories supporting it, all I know is that by doing what I am doing it's working for me.

A typical Freeletics session (yesterday's) was as follows:

50 Burpees

50 Pullups

100 Pressups

150 Squats

50 Burpees

10 Burpees

10 Situps

10 Pullups

25 Burpees

25 Situps

25 Pullups

10 Burpees

10 Situps

10 Pullups

I subscribe to the coach so it takes the thinking out of it for me and I feel more accountable. However you can equally just download the app and choose the exercises yourself.

Nutrition

Tuna, light philadelphia and lemon on sweet potato

Last but not least it's the fuel you need to allow you to do all of the above but still lose weight. So remembering that you need to eat less than you spend in calories you now need to do some calculations, not everyone is the same so you need to find these out for yourself. However this is how I got to my figures.

My Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) 1770 which is based on a scientific equation of which one is the Harris-Benedict equation created nearly 100 years ago. There are many BMR calculators online to make things easier. This needs adjusting as you lose weight.

Then I needed to add in my lifestyle, which is pretty easy, other than walking the dogs I do little else apart from housework and sitting infront of the PC all day. Walking 1 mile is roughly 100 calories for my weight so take an average of 4 miles, that's 400 calories, plus around maybe 300 calories from HIIT and 650 calories from cardio. That's an extra loss of 1350 calories, add that to the 1770 and I have a loss of around 3120 calories which for arguments sake we will round down to 3000 because there is some overlap. There is a lot of science and much more in depth than what I provide here which is a brief overview in comparison and misses out quite a few variables but it's enough to gauge what I need.

Chicken, curry paste & peanut butter.

Bearing in mind that 3500 calories is 1 pound in weight and I am to lose around 2 pounds per week that means I need to be in deficit of 7000 calories a week, that's 1000 calories per day. So I took my 3000 calories and reduced it down to 2000. Then again I drop one day cardio as I only do 6 and I only do 4 to 5 days a week of freeletics. Not to bore you any more with figures i'll cut to the chase and say that I aim for 1500 calories per day.

It doesn't stop there though, so I know I need 1500 calories but how is that made up? Well, eating often (I eat 7 times a day) keeps your metabolic rate up and burns the fuel more efficiently, leading to less fat storage. I reduced my macros down to 20% carbs 25% fat and 55% protein and kept to some rules:

1. No fats 1 hour either side of exercise
2. More carbs in a morning
3. No carbs 3 hours before bed
4. Slow release protein at bedtime

All made possible by pre-preparing my meals. Yes it's boring as hell but it doesn't have to be, it's not forever so I don't mind and I would rather eat boring food for a short time and be more organised than have to think about my meals all the time.

Finally.... Water, I drink a gallon of water a day. It's a lot I hear you say but it's not really. Get a big bottle, fill it up and chug on that all day long.

That my friends is how I got to where I am now.

Sacrifice, hard work, dedication, self-belief and the ever tempting vision of cheat day.

Grillstock for lunch!

Gelato Village for dessert.

Fat 2 Fit @ 40 - Milestone 1 (Week 4)

Milestone 1 (Week 4)

Rather than weekly updates telling you I have been doing the same thing seemed somewhat boring for the readers so here's a summary! This stage of the process for me was all about loosing the fat and getting into a routine. One of my biggest challenges was fitting it all in one day, the only way to do this was to get up earlier, so 5am starts became the norm. It's not forever though, I have detailed the timings of my day at the bottom of this post along with my cheat day!

Statistics:

I'm not sure of my fat % at the start as I realised at week 2 that I had the scales setup incorrectly, fortunately the picture speaks a thousand words. At week 4 I am 24% body fat and 12st 13lb.

Tip:

The biggest change I found was swapping cardio and Freeletics around so that I was doing Freeletics in a morning to make use of the afterburn effect during the day.

Eating:

Eating 6 meals a day certainly kept hunger at bay somewhat and also gave rise to more energy. I kept my macros at 20% carbs, 50% protein, 30% fat roughly and did this by planning food every day and tracking it closely on the shealth app.

Exercise:

30 mins cardio per day at 80% of max heart rate for the first two weeks rising to 1 hour cardio per day at 120bpm in the last two which for me is in zone 2 (fat burning zone). Freeletics days per week were, 7, 5, 4 and 4. Plus two hours walking the dogs.

Schedule:

This is how a day pans out for me in the most intricate detail I can think. My alarm is a smart alarm on the phone so I wake up anywhere between 4:45am and 5:15 am. The meals which are shown as 0 minute intervals are just to highlight that I have a meal. They only involve putting broccoli in the microwave for 2 minutes and taking back to the desk. I drink water constantly through the day, approximately 3 liters plus whatever I get from green tea.

05:15 - 05:30 > Wake up, Soaked oats and hemp, glass of water, get dressed.
05:30 - 06:30 > Walk dogs
06:30 - 07:10 > Stretching (trying to do splits) & Freeletics
07:10 - 07:30 > Shower & Dress for work
07:30 - 07:50 > Meal 1: Omelette (1 yolk, 3 whites)
07:50 - 08:00 > Wash pots & clean kitchen tops.
08:00 - 08:30 > Hoovering, Dusting, Ironing.
08:30 - 08:45 > Meditation
08:45 - 09:00 > Potter around, make a brew, read a book, phone my mum.
09:00 - 10:00 > Work (Writing Software)
10:00 - 10:00 > Meal 2: Chicken & Broccoli
10:00 - 13:00 > Work
13:00 - 13:45 > Break & Meal 3: Tuna, sweet potato.
13:45 - 16:00 > Work
16:00 - 16:00 > Meal 4: Chicken & Broccoli
16:00 - 17:10 > Work & plan following day.
17:10 - 18:20 > Stretching & Cardio (Exercise bike, 120bpm HRZ 2)
18:20 - 18:45 > Shower, change.
18:45 - 19:00 > Meal 5: Chicken & Broccoli, rest.
19:00 - 20:00 > Walk dogs
20:00 - 21:30 > R&R + work on personal projects if needed.
21:30 - 22:00 > Meal 6: 40g Caesein & relax, no work, no checking emails, no watching depressing things like the news.
22:00 - 05:15 > Sleep!

That's pretty much it, I think that if I had put that schedule infront of me a few months ago I would have said there is no way I could do it. However the constant eating and the exercise does give me more energy and also better sleep. I don't do Freeletics every day so the 06:30 - 07:15 becomes free and admittedly I curl up on the sofa with the boys and read a book or watch some TV.

The weekends are no different, other than I don't usually work, so theres gardening to do and cleaning, cars to wash and places to see.

As I mention before though, as manic as this may sound to some readers, this is only for a pre-determined length of time and although it'll be ingrained into my daily life I won't be needing to do so much cardio in the future for a start, nor will I be needing to eat so little and often or so plainly. Right now it's all about putting the maximum amount of effort and sacrifice in to get to where I need to be, and it's working.

One last bit of information, cheat day!

Cheat day

So at 7lb loss and after 4 weeks I took a cheat day. I still did Freeletics around lunchtime and I still had Omelette and oats for breakfast and then ate 4 pancakes with honey and lemon which left me feeling bloated. At lunch we went to down and I had an Alabama Slammer, bottle of beer, full rack of ribs, coleslaw, two portions of french fries (ate my girlfriends too) pork belly, Giotto cake, large cappuccino, 20 rum balls, 3/4 pack haribo sour mix. We then went back and later on I finished off by eating a thai green curry and a glass of red wine. I felt tired and bloated but nourished. I would definitely do it again but not the sweet stuff.

Fat 2 Fit @ 40 - Freeletics rebooted

Update Links
Comparison & Update 1: (Week 4) 

Weekly vlog: https://goo.gl/Vwtp0p

A new chapter starts again! The past year has been a real roller-coaster, finally selling my dream house due to the breakdown of a relationship, being homeless, dad being diagnosed with Dementia, meeting someone new and then finally moving into our new home some 9 weeks after leaving home with the two dogs and a tent and the clothes on my back.

After some training injuries and finally a pulling a hamstring I feel it has been too much of a pause in my fitness so I've restarted Freeletics and over the past few weeks have been doing some cardio and stretching. In case you haven't seen the transformation video from 2014 you can see it here:  http://youtube.com

I thought it would be a good idea this time to give those reading and watching a bit more information about me and my experience rather than what I have been eating and what exercises I have done to get the gains I have got. All too often I see some awesome transformations and wonder to myself how many hours a day that person works, whether they have children, how they fit the times in etc.

A little about me

I'm 41 and work as a software engineer, so a good 8 hours a day is spent sat in a chair staring at screens. I'm not usually my best in a morning, not only are my energy levels usually low but a bike accident some 15 years ago has left me with only 30% movement in my right ankle; so each morning I spend the first ten minutes in extreme pain whilst it begins to get used to being moved again. I love to cook and love to eat but I can be extremely lazy and will eat out of habit which leads to driving to see clients and eating a large bag of jelly babies just for energy. Not the most healthy of lives. Although that does change somewhat when I am exercising!

What changes have I made?

Available time.

To ensure I didn't try and do too many things all at once and therefore set myself up to fail I decided that I would need to make more time in the day. Just one extra hour early has made a huge difference. I get up anywhere from 5 to half five (using a smart alarm) so it wakes me when I'm not in really deep sleep; and I go to bed around half nine onwards, usually 10 but if I am tired or want some quiet time to read it'll be half nine. That's 3.5 hours every morning to walk the dogs, shower, clean the house, drive to work etc.

Eat more often.

One of my biggest downfall when times get tough is comfort eating or unconscious eating. Cold Christmas nights ended up with me on the sofa with a movie on, fire lit, bottle of red wine and a large bag of chocolate (after eating a meal). Another bad one is driving to clients, some are a few hours away so I'll buy a huge bag of jelly babies and by the time I have got there I have eaten them, 400 calories in one car journey!
Organised and calm.

So I spent a month, every evening for a few hours researching how our bodies break food down, how I can keep my energy levels during the day, how much water I need and so on. I wanted to find a way of being the best I can be this time but not cost a fortune in protein shakes or supplements. So now I have a meal plan I am following which means I eat every 2 to 3 hours a day, just small meals and they are all pre-prepared on the weekend. I just pop one in the microwave for two minutes and they are ready. Which has removed the weekly and daily calorie and macro counting and certainly made things easier.

Calm and focused.

One of the issues I had was that work was busy and I would naturally worry about things and bend over backwards to help clients. Leading to me taking on jobs that were nothing to do with me, or worrying un-necessarily. So rather than worry I started to meditate using an app on the phone called headspace, they have a website too www.headspace.com . I had meditated for a while but not daily so this wasn't a new thing. I do it just before work mainly and it gives me a good calm start to the day. Not every time but most times.

I still stress somewhat over work but I do get to 5 / 6 and shut the computer off until I have done everything I need to at home and maybe revisit some later. Certainly the getting up at 8am on Monday and working through with no sleep until Tuesday night has stopped.

What's to come?

Last time the blog posts become a bit repetitive, I guess the same may be said about it this time round but I figure an easier way would be to do a quick video and post that up. If I have chance to jot some notes down on here I will do too. I've got a busy year and have a holiday booked at the start of November which is the end date for it this time, or at least the end as in being overly strict. Once on holiday and afterwards I figured I would just do freeletics every day and maintain my fitness.

Freeletics - 1 year on, a new start.

Hi all,

Can't begin to thank everyone enough for all the lovely comments on you tube and the emails of support. It has been a year or so now since I started on the road to fitness and after a bump in the proverbial road of life, I am now about to get back on track - so I thought it a good idea to do a quick update.

My motivation for Freeletics became that of a charity photo-shoot to appear in a fieldsport's calendar,

and I am glad to say that although I didn't end up with the six pack I was hoping to display on the day - I did manage to at least look somewhat more toned that previous years! All done in the best possible taste and with some fantastic support from the other models, here is me as June.

Quite a few people have asked if I kept doing Freeletics or tried anything else. I'll be quite frank, I slipped back into finding every excuse not to. Everything always seems worse when you are in the thick of it. My relationship of 4 years hit the rocks last year which was a tough decision for us, after Christmas business became unbelievably busy and before I knew it I had slipped back into working late, waking up tired and battling through a day full of distractions at work. Meals would get missed, I'd take  endless calls, trying to do everything at once to satisfy everyone else and all the time neglecting the one thing in life that needed to be taken care of first, me.

December was the peak of my stress, I had virtually stopped doing any exercise and from late December up to present day I suffered bouts of cold, two chest infections and in May I began to black out for no apparent reason, the last time was at my best friend's stag party - just one hour into the night I felt cold and sweaty and then passed out with little warning. Even work started to suffer as I felt sleepy half way through the day.

After numerous tests at the doctors and an ambulance it was pointed out that I had suddenly stopped exercising, eating unhealthy foods and most importantly, not drinking enough water. So the following month has been a one of drinking plenty of water, attempting to watch what I eat and finishing the antibiotics for the last chest infection. The doctors say I have an issue with my liver but the readings aren't very high. I have tried a couple of exercises and felt better but with the wheezing of the chest infection it wasn't the easiest.

I've struggled getting back to Freeletics because I thought I had no motivation and every time I logged onto the coach I'd see that I was on hell days and I would switch the app off and do some work instead.

Life has changed massively just lately, the doctors have given me OK about the blackouts, I have become more organised at work, finished some large projects off and met the most wonderful girl. Life is good and I have just finished my first day of Freeletics. I decided to follow my first 15 weeks to ease me back in gently. Here's to a bright and healthy future!

A day's meals.

I have been asked a few times now what I have been eating whilst training. It was something I wondered about others doing Freeletics too but not many seem to divulge what they are eating.

I outlined some basic thoughts on food on this page: http://digitalunity.blogspot.com/2014/08/my-diet.html

I mainly aim for higher protein and as low as possible carbs, sometimes towards the target date lowering it under 100grams. So here is a typical day for me (yesterday).

Calories 2021.82

Carbs 183.516

Protein 199.986

Fat 66.284

Liquids:

espresso coffee x 1
Green tea x 3
Litre water x 4

7am Breakfast:

Two poached eggs, 4 mushrooms, half a tin of beans. I switched to this from porridge due to it's higher content of protein.

11am Snack:

Juice made of 4 carrots, 4 apples,  banana, 4 apples.

1pm Lunch:

Tuna (in spring water) salad.
lettuce, peppers, 1/2 avocado, cucumber, tomatoes and a sprinkle of Olive oil.

3pm Snack:

Protein shake (Whey Isolate)
Grapefruit

6pm Dinner:

Hot chicken salad.

salad same as lunch but no avocado and for the chicken  a couple of breasts cut unto good sized chunks or strips. Works just as well with thighs (I prefer thighs). Pop the oven on as if you were going to roast them and with a small dish put the following in: 

• half a bottle of soy sauce
• 2 cloves garlic
• heaped teaspoon harissa paste
• 4 tablespoons of sweet chilli sauce.

Pop it in the oven until cooked, I like to wait until I can see it starting to go nice and brown like it does on a BBQ and then serve hot!

I don't always eat salad but it is quite hot at the moment. One of my favorites is bolognaise, but without the spaghetti.

My Diet

Firstly I'd just like to state that this worked for me but I am no nutritionist nor do I think I have the most optimum diet I could get. So feel free to take what you will from it.

My usual diet pre-freeletics consisted of porridge for breakfast, some form of sandwich for lunch and for tea, anything goes. Usually something partly healthy though and a few pieces of fruit throughout the day. A Typical day is like this: http://digitalunity.blogspot.com/2014/08/a-days-meals.html

However, I am an absolute sod for finding good excuses to eat other things, such as on a Thursday when I go shooting in the evening with a friend. I'll justify buying a packet of three eccles cakes, convincing myself that i will only have one. Yet by the time I am home I have eaten all three. So partly a secret eater too!

During the 15 weeks training it has been, for me, all about gaining muscle whilst loosing fat. I decided the best way to formulate healthy eating was to get the basics right first.

If you want to see a typical day you can skip straight to it here.

The basics

Portion size

It's amazing how big crockery sets have become, my mum has said for years "change the size of your plates" and then I read somewhere that years ago plates used to be far smaller. So we threw the old set out and got a set of china plates, bowls etc new from ebay. Instantly I can see the difference, the old bowl used to hold nearly 5 times as much. Now the new breakfast bowls fill me up just as much but only a 5th of the amount. Same goes for the plates, Sunday is treat breakfast for me, 2 slices of wholemeal bread, 6 slices of bacon and 3 burford brown eggs (try them, they are beautiful). On the old plates they would take half the plate up. This time though, the plate is full to the edges.

So it just goes to show how easy it is to get misled simply by the size of your plates and bowls.

Snacks

Had to get rid of all the stuff which would usually be an instant diet killer, just until I got in the swing of things.
White Bread
Muffins
Nutella and Crumpets
Chocolate
Haribo sour mix

Water / Tea

Your body needs water, a lot more than you might think. I currently drink 3 liters as a minimum per day. Not only will it keep you hydrated but it helps to keep you alert and fends off hunger. The best way to consume water is constantly through the day, do not wait until you feel thirsty as that is a sign of dehydration. Try and keep having some, even if it's a good couple of mouthfuls every half hour or so.

If you are anything like I was then it also means more trips to the toilet at first, but that dies down, or at least did for me!

I also swapped normal tea (I love good strong Yorkshire tea, like you could stand your spoon in it) I swapped that for green tea during the day and chamomile tea in the evening as that seems to do the trick for me getting me to sleep easier.

Apart from the photo shoot weekend I haven't had a drop of alcohol either.

Eating times

There's the age old saying that you shouldn't skip breakfast and that is quite true, it kickstarts your day. I also spaced my meals out making sure that breakfast was first thing after getting ready and letting the dogs out (6:30am for me), lunch is now set in my calendar to remind me at 1pm every day and finally tea which is never later than 7pm. Ideally I would like it earlier but sometimes work does not permit.

Then there's the snacks too, but wait.... I just got rid of them! Not that type of snack, something far more healthy and for good reason. Eating more often boots your metabolism and provides a more constant and even source of nutrients to the body. So I have smaller meals and some snacks in-between  usually brunch at 10am and afternoon tea at 3pm.

So now we have all the basics down, what about what I have been shovelling down me during the 15 weeks training. For me it was all about piling the muscle on and reducing the fat, so I ended up going down the high protein route.

My Diet

Breakfast

Thanks to paul from paulfightscancer.co.uk I looked further into my usual breakfast which was porridge with a big spoon of sugar made with hot water. Which I soon swapped out for eggs, 1/2 tin beans and 4 good sized mushrooms. Packed with protein, less carbs and just as warming. Fair enough it takes me a few mins longer to make but I do love poached eggs!

If I am in a massive rush or really don't feel like eating in a morning then I generally have porridge with a good couple of pinches of nutmeg and a teaspoon of maple syrup and a teaspoon of sugar made really stodgy with water and then a tablespoon of milk to water it down. By which time it is lovely and creamy and tastes great.

Snacks

I could eat snacks all day long which is why I guess I drink so much water! I started to stock up on some nuts and berries for one type of snack and some houmous and celery for another. If I fancy something sweet I reach for an ol favourite of mums and as strange as this sounds it does taste great.
Ryvita with a thin layer of jam (just enough to go into the holes) and a good heaped tablespoon of cottage cheese. Again, it is packed with protein and with the sweetness of the jam it satisfies that sugary craving when I fancy something sweet.
Finally merangues made with sweetner, no surprise, packed with protein and very sweet to taste. This is the only really sugary thing I have during a day and I probably have a couple each week along with a low fat yoghurt.

Lunch / Dinner

Now this isn't an easy one for some as it comes in the middle of a work day. So I like to go simple and easy by either having a mackrel fillet or some tuna in spring water mixed into a salad. A good source of Omega 3 for the ol joints. Either that or if I have time to cook I will get one chicken breast, butterfly it, dry fry it and drizzle some soy sauce on just before it finishes and eat as is. Or if it's a particulary busy day exercise wise I will put it in a slice of seeded batch loaf and a little bit of grated cheese.

Another light dinner I love which is pretty quick is salmon and broccli. Sliced salmon from any good shop and some broccli, pref the long stemmed purple type but standard is good. Boil or steam so they are still a little crunchy and then whip them onto a dry cloth and into a bowl, drizzle with honey while hot and some balsamic glaze and then top with sesame seeds and finally mix in a good handful of sliced salmon straight from the packet.

Tea

Tea comes in a multitude of forms, my favorite at the moment has to be bolognaise but without the pasta. 500g of lean beef and a couple of ground cloves of garlic in one pan and another pan sweating down some peppers, onions and mushrooms. When both have cooked, slap them into the one pan, add in 1/4 pint of beef stock, 100g passata, 1 tin diced tomatoes and then do what you will with the sauce. Personally I season it with salt and pepper, tobasco sauce, worcester sauce, mushroom sauce and some thyme from the garden. Let it reduce down until it is like a thick stew and serve that up for a tasty tea.

So to sum up, eat often, eat little and eat healthy. It all adds up to a great way of living.

Nutrition is a vast subject which I mearly scrape at the surface, for those wanting to look further into the right amounts of nutrients and how each of my meals are made up, I use a protein/carb/fat macro of 50/45/5 at the moment and if pushed will settle on 100 grams of carbs per day. Yes I know you need carbs to build muscle but I only do this for a short period of time before going back to the usual macros when exercising.

My last point on the matter.... do I cheat? Hell yes! For me it has to be enjoyable so a cheat day here and there is a must, even if it is to shock my system. Next weekend will be beer and a madras with the neighbours.

Freeletics Week 15 HELL WEEK!

This week proved to be another false start, in a way though I am quite glad. Hell week started on a Friday for me and the following day was the photo shoot. I had intentions to do the sessions while I was away but had such a good and relaxing time that I ended up having a few days off which then rolled into a week and so have started again today (Mon 14th)

Session 1

Venus 29:45 PB
Nice start to the week thankfully as I had to go get the axle fixed on the mower today so by the time I had got in it was already 7pm. Venus is one of my favourites, I love burpees because I feel like I have had a good all over workout and pressups because my arms really burn. 

Session 2

Poseidon 

Squat Max 220 * PB

Situp Max 116 * PB

Metis 5:51 * PB
Looks like a week off has done me good, PB's across the board and feeling great to be back at it.

Session 3

Metis 05:48 * PB

Hades 27:39

Artemis 28:47
I'm not sure why it's not marked me as a PB as that's the fastest I have done so far! 8:37am and quite a hot sunny day today (23C) Fortunately apart from the pullup bar everything else I did in the shade of the garage.

It took some willpower to get up this morning early enough to have breakfast at 6am so I could do the first set before work, I did Artemis first, plan being to use the one that my arms fail on first then packing in plenty of protein. Then a small session for lunch and another large one before tea. It's worked so far.

Just done Metis in my lunch break and another PB, I wasn't aiming for a time this time around, just going as steady as I could and it has paid off. Quick snack, shower and back to work!

Session 4

Hades 21:50 PB
Happy with this one at over a minute faster. I really had to push myself as the day was slipping by, busy at work and didn't get started until 6pm. I could murder a big tea but it's too late now. 

Session 5

Hades 22:23

Session 6 

Pushup Max 56 * PB

Pushup Max 45 *

Leg Lever Max 120 * PB

Jacknife 31 * PB

Pushup Max 46 *

I managed to split this down through the day by doing a set of pushups and the Leg lever in the morning, then some pushups at lunch and the Jacknifes and pushups at tea time.Maintaining a PB across the entire day was pretty hard, my arms never seemed to recover after the first set.

Session 7

Hyperion 16:28 PB

Aphrodite 23:16 * PB

Split Lunge Max 120 * PB

Last day, and so glad to have got this far. I did the split lunge first thing in the morning, the thought being that I could get the easy one out of the way before breakfast. Lunchtime was Aphrodite which I managed to be over a minute faster for my PB, It took me 5 minutes or so to recover as I sat outside int he pouring rain cooling off.
Finally Hyperion which I am happy to say I managed to do all the handstand pressups as they should be done and the first 24 pullups as they should be done too.

Looking back at the first few sessions and the video I made of my first day I am so glad that I took the decision to start, it's not been easy and there are so many times when I have felt like giving up. 

Freeletics week 14

One week rolls straight into the next at the moment. Due to being ill I have to do the following two weeks back to back to ensure I finish within the subscription. Fortunately the weather is good and I have the time available to do it all with, so time to push on!

This weekend I had been out collecting more logs for the fires and had needed to split some down. I figured it would be a good idea to try to do it after Hyperion but after only two wheelbarrows of logs I had to call it a day. However with help at hand I manged to get a snap of where I currently am and I have dug out where I was when I started. Bit of a difference so far!

BTW the strap around my ankle is a magnetic one for the pain, not a tag that you get instead of jail haha.

Session 1:
Hyperion 22:07 PB
Not a bad start to the week, I was quite a bit faster this time around simply because I didn't take the entire 60 second rest breaks between each set. Some of them I had ten seconds or so and started the next set as I was itching for more!

Session 2:
Ares 07:56 PB
Split Lunge 127*PB
I'm not so sure looking at the numbers here that I was counting right last time but the difference is massive on the Split Lunge. Really enjoyed this session, quick and love the pullups these days. I can remember at the start struggling to get even one pullup, today I managed the first set in Ares, seven pullups and then had to resort to the modified ones after the 11th pullup. A huge improvement from the start.

Session 3:
Hyperion 21:19
Love this one too, I still can't do HS Pushups and the strict pullups are mainly modified ones but the entire session is great. My legs really burn after this one.

Session 4:
Ares 09:43
Split Lunge 132*PB
The Ares set does look like a huge drop, nearly two minutes slower, however in session 2 I didn't rest for the full 60 seconds each time and this time I took time to rest and felt better for it at the end.

Onto the final week, which I have gotta do straight away as I only have 7 days left on my subscription and it is hell week this next week which means a full 7 days training.

I did manage to take some progress pictures which I will upload during this week and share some awesome sites I found in regards of Freeletics.

Freeletics Week 13

Feeeeeling Great! I can't wait to start back this week. It feels like forever since I last did a session.

Session 1
Hades 25:58
The failed week 13 I remember that my time was nearly 10 minutes more than my PB. My stamina had been kicked so hard that I remember feeling so defeated and thought that it would be a long climb back to the 23 minutes of my PB.

Needless to say I feel pretty awesome that I managed to do 25 minutes, only 2 minutes off my PB. Considering my lack of carbs in my diet now as I only have two weeks until the photo shoot I think that's not a bad time.

Although I have re-done session 1 the coach has not overwrote my time so anyone looking at the coach will see it's a bit out of whack as this shows on session 4.

Session 2
Kentauros 41:02 *
Not a PB but still not bad considering it was in the rain on slippery grass. Not the most enjoyable session this week!

Session 3
Metis 06:32*PB
Metis 06:29*PB
Metis 06:28*PB
That is a surprise! I did one set just before lunch and set off like a whippet, by the time I had done ten burpees in a matter of seconds I was out of breath and having to take a breather later on in the set. Certainly the 25 Burpees in the middle I had to break down into 10/10/5 and have a few seconds rest inbetween. Still managed to get a PB out of it though which was impressive.

This afternoon (5pm) I did my second set, this time more structured, every repetition of every exercise was the same. No rushing at the start and then dying half way through. I guess the old story of the turtle and the hare really shows here as I managed to get yet another PB.

Third set I did at 5:40 as I was curious as to how my stamina would be after only a short rest period.

Freeletics Week 13... False start

Last week was pretty much a false start. I Completed the first session Hades in 31:05, nearly ten minutes slower than previously. The majority of my week consisted of falling asleep at work and spending most nights being ill. Being a big believer in the fact that I still have to arms and legs, I thought I should push through. Even during sessions in week 12 and the session named here, Hades, I had moments when I was literally sick.

For me, my stubborn side got in the way and I never gave myself chance to recover, resulting later in the week in a very touch-and-go night where I was running a high temperature, vomiting and waking up drenched in sweat. At that point I had enough, not only was it affecting my progress with Freeletics but my home life and work too. Time to look after myself I thought and I decided to take a week off, drink plenty of water and get some good rest.

It's over a week now and I have felt great these past couple of days, my appetite is back and I have been itching to get back to Freeletics. Time to start again this afternoon and push through to week 15, which I am really looking forward to now.

Freeletics Week 12

This week has been a major struggle. After a week of being sick and eating hardly anything (approx 500 cals or less a day) I finally gave in and spoke to the Doctor. Turns out I have had food poisoning and I still have something, of which I forget the name of it which I need to take some medicine for to settle my stomache and stop the nausea.

I started the week on Thursday because I only finished last week on Tuesday evening and I was back to feeling like death warmed up on Wednesday which is when I spoke to the Doc.

I figured that I would go weigh myself, only to find that I weigh more now than when I started! I guess it's the amount of muscle mass because I am visually different, bigger muscles, dropped three inches from my waist and a drastic reduction in the ol' love handles. I even got out of the bath the other day and was surprised to see my abs poking through when I bent forward to sit up.

So the week went like this.....

Session 1 (Thursday)
Artemis ... Fail
This session started well, 50 burpees were not a problem and then onto 50 pullups which although hard work I did manage to push through. 100 pushups were hard but splitting them down to sets of ten and having a small break meant I could get through them in good time. Then onto 150 squats, at which point I was really struggling for energy. Finally the last 50 burpees were too much, I managed 15 by doing 5 at a time, at which point I felt sick, really sick, cold and clammy and dizzy. I had some water and laid on the floor for a few minutes and tried again but my body wasn't having it. So I called it a day and hoped that it was the lack of fuel in my body and not the sickness that was stopping me going the distance.

The following morning (Friday) I made myself eat a proper breakfast, eggs, beans, mushrooms and then for lunch a mackerel salad along with 5 litres of water. One of the litres exactly 90 mins before my exercise.

Session 2 (Friday)
Venus 37:07
Started to feel better in waves so gave it my all today, although my heart feels like it's about to burst through my chest.

Session 3 (Sunday)
Situp MAX 115*PB
Leg Lever MAX 48
Lesson learnt today, always best to split these up, I had only left ten minutes between exercises so there was no way I could have gotten a decent number of Leg Levers done. That and still feeling mighty sorry for myself.

Session 4 (Tuesday)
Artemis 32:33
I feel much better now all the pills have kicked in, no more sickness and my appetite is back. Fingers crossed I haven't lost too much strength for the last few weeks. Apart from the pullups I do like this one and with the sun shining and a breeze in the air it was a great workout and a fantastic feeling being back to my usual self even if my stamina is down. Two minutes more than last time.

Freeletics Week 11 (sickness strikes)

I can't believe how quick it has gone! 11th week and a pretty easy one at that. Which can't be said for the weather, it's now session 2 and it's absolutely pounding it down with rain outside. Unfortunately my pullup bar is out side and it's the 2 x 40m runs today!

Not much to report other than the usual getting better with times each session, although I have found my enthusiasm has grown now to the point where I look forward to the sessions somewhat and have started slotting in some other exercises from time to time. Not a lot but just something to quench my thirst for that feelgood factor.

Session 1 (Monday)
Hades 24:27 PB
Not a bad time and very sweaty though. Managed to do 25 burpees without a break each time which is a huge improvement! The only exercise in this set that i had to modify was the pullups.

Session 2 (Tuesday)
Hades 23:17 PB
Really looking forward to this one, so much so that it's pouring down outside so it will be a wet session!

Unfortunately the following day (Wednesday) I was struck down with some strange sickness bug which drained the life out of me so I never managed to do any more exercises this week and completed the two following sessions on Monday evening and Tuesday morning. The whole time willing hell week not to be the following week!

Session 3 (Monday)
Aphrodite 29:10 *
That was hell! I started off with all the gusto in the world, smashing out 50 burpees and only starting to flag on the last 5. After that it was an uphill struggle. I feel like I had the strength but the stamina had completely gone. I really had to will myself through the last couple of sets. I shall definitely do the next session tomorrow rather than later this evening.

Session 4 (Tuesday)
Situp MAX 114 * PB
Metis 07:44 * PB
Really didn't feel like starting this session. My stomach is so sore from the sickness, not that I have been vomiting the past few days but just so tender. Still managed to do 114 situps though in the first exercise and managed to get a PB in Metis which was a surprise!

Just clicked through to this week's sessions and I have never been so happy to see 4 sessions! Artemis, Venus, SitupMAX LegLeverMAX and finally another Artemis.

I think powering through these I shall have Saturday off, which will set me back on track!

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.

Freeletics week 6

I do believe I have turned a corner this week and started to enjoy the exercises.  I was running a bath earlier today and rather than sit and watch it fill, check messages on the phone etc. I actually reached for the freeletics app, picked out push ups and did a push up max to kill some time.  That's not the usual me at all.  Plus I smashed the last one and got 40 as opposed to 30 last time.

Still not hell week,  this week I only have for sessions again.  Although if today is anything to judge by then I will probably do some extra.

Session 1
Aphrodite 31:42*PB

Another PB surprisingly, I didn't feel as if I did it faster apart from at the start. Really enjoyed it tonight and am very very sweaty!

Session 2
Aphrodite 30:47 *PB
Getting stronger and faster every time! That's another minute off yesterdays time. I could feel myself pushing harder as the clock reached 30 minutes but just couldn't quite get the burpees done quick enough. They are a real killer in this one. All in all very sweaty, tired and ready for a brew.

It's right what they say on some of the videos, after a while you do start to enjoy it!! Especially when you can see the changes. It's week 6 now and I can already see a change to my upper body.

Session 3
Kentauros 42:44*PB
Good god this one kills your legs! I felt pretty awkward as I always to when I started this one. The frogger jumps were either too short or a bit wonky and as for the walking lunges.... talk about burning thighs!

I did smile half way through it thinking to myself, I'm going to spend 3 hours stood up in the back of a landrover later going down bumpy roads, if i'd of known it was as killer on the legs I would of left it to another day..... Excuses excuses.

Session 4
Posideon 13:39
Last day and kinda regretting the last thing which was to move 100 rather large and heavy fence posts from one place to another just before doing the session, shall see how this one goes! Also made a better pullup bar to use which I'll post a photo of when i'm done.

First thought's are that I wish I had not done such modified pull-ups in previous sessions. I had read up

on all the different suggestions on doing a pull-up without a pull-up bar. One of them was to put a broom handle between two chairs, lay on your back underneath it and pull-up from there.Little did I think that the weight would be a lot less than a normal standing pull up and I definitely felt it today.

As you can see from the photo I put a metal ladder between the roof of the Landrover and one of the outbuildings which worked perfectly well. I nearly got three normal pull-ups before my arms gave way and I had to revert to the suggested simpler one whereby you spring up on your feet first.

Push ups were not an issue but pull ups... killer.

Freeletics Week 5

I can't tell you how relieved I am to see that this isn't hell week! As you will know from week 4 I was pretty weak willed and am starting week 5 on a Wednesday, so the thought of a 5 or more session week was haunting me. So I'm happy to say I have 4 sessions this week.

Session 1
Aphrodite 39:02* PB
Absolutely over the moon today. This is the First Aphrodite that I have done all on the hardest form, previously I have been doing modified burpees. Which in the video shows that you don't go all the way to the floor on your chest. This time however I did and I can feel my shoulders burning.

I forgot to make a mental note of my previous PB so I thought it best just to push as hard as I could because I doubted that I could get one by doing the hardest forms of each exercise but I've just finished and I've not only got a PB but proudly got a star against it finally! Actually, looking back I am ten mins slower, but I guess the PB is because it's the best time whilst doing the hardest version. Either way round I can certainly tell!

Now to walk the dogs, grab some soup and have a soak in the bath :-)

Session 2
Metis 8:52*PB
Metis 10:50*
Not surprisingly the second set was no where near as quick as the first! I feel quite proud I have managed to get a PB on the first set because I have been chopping logs since 1pm this afternoon (now just after 7pm) so I was pretty tired to start with and was trying to justify to myself as I tidied up the remaining wood that I didn't really need to do a session today.

Glad I did now and off inside for a nice hot bath and a brew!

Session 3
Uranos
I did session 3 after session 4, for the simple reason that the day I planned doing session 3 on which was a Saturday, I had spent all day walking and my ankle was giving me quite a bit of pain. That and it was late at night before I got chance to start so I thought I would set myself up for failure trying to run in pain in the dark.

So Uranos 44:06PB ... my Achilles heel, literally. Hate running with a passion, after having my ankle reconstructed years ago I get nothing but pain in it daily and running is pretty damn painful so it's on with the pain killers and I'm ready to go....

That was pre-workout and this is after.... shattered haha.

Really happy with how that went, I am not sure on the length of my run at the moment. I am using Google tracks on the phone to keep a record of how far the run (more like a jog) is. This time I was at the 500m mark on the first run and the phone only showed 36m. Either way I ran more than I walked this time. The distraction of having two spaniels with me helped too, especially after Wilfred decided that he would roll onto his back for a rub every 100m or so!

The burpees I now have down to a tee, all 50 in good form one after the other. Pull ups I am still doing using some ladders hanging out the back of the land rover so i'm pretty sure they aren't as hard as doing it with a pull-up bar, must make a note to see if I can put one somewhere outside.

Climbers I still find have me out of breath every ten or so but again, all in good form. Pushups, I managed to do 30 straight off and had to stop to catch breath every ten after that.

Finally High Jumps. I can tell there is a huge improvement in the way I do these. I seem to remember in the first few weeks I was not getting my knees very high and I was landing on my left foot first which ended up looking more like on the spot skipping than a high jump. Now I can feel my knees coming all the way up and I am landing both feet together. However after about 70 I was starting to feel some serious pain in my right ankle so I adjusted the way that I landed to make it a little easier.

All in all a great session!

Session 4
Aphrodite 31:44 * PB
That was a huge uptake on the the last PB of 39 minutes. I'm surprised again that I managed to get a PB  today as I have been at Harewood Estate on an advanced Gundog day, so I have walked pretty far and my legs were tired. That and I had to take some pain killers before I started as my foot was really hurting.

I did alter a few things along the way and noticed a difference. Firstly breathing correctly in the sit ups, yes it's breathe out when sitting up and in when going back to the laid down position but I did breathe deeper and put my arms right back, therefore filling my lungs more. I was able to do more reps straight up then.

The other thing was the "rests". Now I know that you shouldn't be resting as such between each exercise but I have been finishing the situps and standing for half a minute to catch my breath. However this time I took all of them steadier and rather than resting I took two deep breaths after the situps and went straight into the burpees. My core felt tighter and I did more reps as a result. All in all a great session.

Freeletics Week 4 - Epic FAIL

It's quite true about not giving up and I am determined not to but I seem to be awesome at thinking up excuses for not doing the sessions leading to me being two sessions behind this week. Needless to say I will be two days late starting next weeks so even if it isn't hell week it sure is going to feel like it!

I even started this session (Day 4) with the thought, "I'll skip the run because my foot hurts after spending 11 hours chopping wood on Saturday still" but managed to muster the willpower to start the session and have just finished!

It is so easy to find an excuse not to do something, this week was easier than most, with the OpenSSL (Heartbleed) Vulnerability in the news I spent quite a while patching servers and talking to clients about security. In fact I spent the entire week dealing with that subject and getting no scheduled work done so have had to work today in an attempt to catch up. All those long days led to more excuses as to how tired I was, "I'll do it tomorrow" seemed to be my favorite.

Day 1
Hades 32:55PB
Another PB and glad to have finished this time. The sprints really do take the wind out of your sails so to speak. I am feeling much better about the burpees too, shame I still struggle to do the pullups but they are getting there slowly.

Day 2
Squat MAX 162*PB
Split Lunge MAX 80*PB
The results speak for themselves, I feel much stronger than I did at the start, probably because my technique is better and therefore I am able to do more reps and so they feel easier. Either way I feel great but shattered after this session!

Day 3
Uranos 52:41 PB
Absolutely shattered! The run was an absolute killer as I've not ran for a long time, ten years or more! I spent the first 50 yards at a sprint, slowed to a jog and did the last leg in a cross between a one legged drunken sloth attempting to speedwalk whilst wheezing for breath. I just couldn't seem to get enough oxygen in my lungs, I seem to remember from school that it was in for two paces and out for two paces but that just didn't seem to cut it.

Then came another bout of internal justification as I attempted to talk myself out of any pullups
Too late to be getting the steps out
Landrover needs moving
Table is too heavy to move
I'll do them tomorrow instead
However, I managed to muster up the willpower to push through and finished off 50 burpees in good form, 50 pullups of sorts, 50 climbers in good form, 50 pushups 80% in good form and the other 20% from the knee. Finally 100 jumps.


I'll not be making any excuse over the next two days! I'll be posting the results of these on Tuesday night, you can count on it!

Day 4
Split Lunge MAX 82*PB
Ares 13:52
The split lunges really do work your thighs! A slightly disappointing day, shame I didn't get another PB on the Ares but one of the dogs decided to take itself out of the gates so there was a bit of a chase in the middle of that one.

Day 5
Hades 29:57 PB
Warmest day of the year, not a cloud in the sky and don't I know it. Feeling great today, can't wait to see what is on the following week. I've managed to get a PB this time and it feels even better because all my burpees are not the modified version any more. I am managing to do the harder versions and I feel better for it and more drained which is always a good feeling.

Glad this week is over and I feel back on track!!