Hey, we’re into the month of June! How lovely is that? Except the fact that almost every day gives us winds up to 50 km/h or more but I can’t fix that. I’ve had a very in-routine, normal kind of week with mixed weather, good gym workouts and some good walks. This was also a good week for music – we got some new inspiration on the weekend when listening to a bluegrass band near Cork on Friday night.
In these posts I join a weekly link-up to share my weekly fitness routine and the ups and downs during the week with barbells, walking shoes or else. This is good for accountability, for my own documentation, the fitness/running blogger community is lovely, and I hope these posts might inspire someone to start lifting weights and generally getting more active. I usually also add in some bits from everyday life as well as some photos. Let’s get into it!
If the outdoors shows me something close to decent, I go out walking and I’ve become a fan of walking in the morning lately – there’s less traffic, more peace and quiet, and often nicer light for photography. For the best morning light, ideally I should go out fairly soon after sunrise, but in the summer this is… well, definitely a bit too early for my liking, so 9 am will have to be good enough.
Here’s a summary of the week:
Monday – gym
Tuesday – walking, 3,5 km
Wednesday – walking 3,5 km + gym
Thursday – rest
Friday – walking 3,5 km + gym
Saturday
Sunday
Monday
With insane winds, it was a good day to only go outside to get to the gym.
4 sets x 10 reps
- Sumo deadlifts, barbell 35 kgs
- Bulgarian split squats, barbell 35 kgs
- Dumbbell row, 17,5 kgs
- Cross-bench pullovers, one 15 kg dumbbell
- Chest press, barbell 35 kgs
- Flyes, 8 kg dumbbells
- Forward raise, 6 kg dumbbells
- Shoulder press, barbell 15 kgs
My highlights today were the chest press and the cross-bench pullover, the latter a great exercise for core as well as upper back. And I decided to solve the logistics with getting into position while holding a heavy dumbbell… haha.
I’m doing consistently not-too-badly with the Bulgarians these days. I follow the strategy of the left leg first, get the back foot up asap and get on to squatting before the brain knows what I’m doing, and that’s it. It usually works quite well.
Tuesday – walking, 3,5 km
It was a lovely morning for a walk, very mild and nice. According to my photo library I didn’t take any photos? I can’t remember why.
Wednesday – walking + gym
Another good morning for a walk! I went out after breakfast to do parts of the “cow route”, but didn’t want to overdo any hills since I was going to the gym later. I walked about 3,5 km again.
In the afternoon I went to the gym.
4 sets x 10 reps
- Back squats, barbell 55 kgs
- Split squats, barbell 40 kgs
- Renegade row, 9 kg dumbbells
- Chest press, 12,5 kg dumbbells
- Good mornings, barbell 30 kgs
- Bilateral dumbbell row, 12,5 kg dumbbells
- Lateral raise, 8 kg dumbbells
- Bent-over lateral raise, 6 kg dumbbells
I was still a bit sore since Monday, but this still was a very good session. I managed to push it quite well and today was also the first time in ages that I managed to do some decent sets of Renegade rows – I did 10-10-7-6 and that’s a good improvement for me compared to most times lately.
Thursday – indoor weather
We had 50 km/h winds with rain, and I made it a TLC day with rest and some gentle movements for my hips and lower back.
Friday – walking + gym
I went for a morning walk, I didn’t get my watch started (probably pressed the wrong button) but it was probably 3-3,5 km down towards the sea. I would have enjoyed walking all the way down but again, I wanted to save my legs for the gym.
But it was a fabulous walk! Very mild, very little wind, very little traffic – it was me with nature, the landscape, and I mainly heard birds and the occasional dog. This kind of walk is good for the soul.
Then in the afternoon it was gym time.
4 sets x 10 reps
- Hexbar deadlifts, barbell 53 kgs
- Reverse lunges, barbell 30 kgs
- Barbell row, 25 kgs
- Swimmers
- Inclined flyes, 8 kg dumbbells
- T press-ups, 4 kg dumbbells
- Cuban press, 3 kg dumbbells
- Upright row, barbell 22,5 kgs
It seems like those deadlifts were meant to be lighter… oops. But I loved it and my body felt good. After some standard exercises then there was time for a new challenge, the T press-up. This was another “I’ve found a new way to crush you” kind of exercise! I loved the challenge and I knew it would be excellent for my tight back muscles. I did it as shown in the link above but after the outward raise I also did a twist in the other direction with the arm underneath my body. You need to try this if you want to work on your core muscles!
In the evening we went to see a bluegrass band. I really looked forward to that. On the way there, the road was busy:
The show was great! We’ve both slipped into a lack of practice habits with music and none of us are happy with it but we also find it hard to recreate the good habits that we used to have. But after the concert we had some big new inspiration and talked about how to put more effort into music again, and made a plan that should work. We’ve had a good thing going with our music and should do something more with it than to just play the occasional tune here and there.
Saturday
A bad weather day, and I spent some time inside with my guitar while my husband “enjoyed” a good number of hours on the (indoor) bike.
In the evening we had a good jam session in the kitchen! Yes, we’re getting back to good music habits. I suspect there will be a blog post coming soon about this.
Sunday
My legs were itching to go for a good long walk, one of those 8-10 km walks, but I reluctantly stayed at home after seeing the amount of farming traffic on the road. I also had photo editing to do since Friday night, and general pottering around at home both inside and outside. Quite a relaxing day and I needed that.
The garden is in action.
Right now I mostly go with the flow, enjoy my gym sessions, navigate the weather and try to get outdoors as often as possible. Next week will be awfully windy and for now, looking at the forecast, I’m mostly preparing to go to Italy!
How are you? How was your week of training and else? Is there any decent weather where you are?
Thanks to Kim and Deborah for hosting the Weekly rundown link-up!
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