Hey, how are you? February is over and we’re finally heading into spring, St Patrick’s day will soon be upon us, and at least around here the daffodils are in bloom. I’ve had a good week in the gym, and some decent weather for walking too.
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!
Monday – gym
Today we celebrated my 3-year anniversary since I first started training in this gym! And the celebration wasn’t bad – a new program with fewer reps and heavier weights. How awesome is that?
4 sets x 8 reps
- Back squats, barbell 60 kgs
- Romanian deadlifts, barbell 55 kg
- Bench press, barbell 37,5 kgs
- Flyes, 8 kg dumbbells
- Straight arm pullovers, one 17,5 kg dumbbell
- Bilateral dumbbell row, 15 kg dumbbells
- Bent-over lateral raise, 7 kg dumbbells
- Forward raise, 7 kg dumbbells
I did 60 kg squats in December as part of my last period of heavier lifting but I didn’t feel confident with them, my foot didn’t feel 100% back on track and I simply wasn’t in good form. Now it’s completely different. I’ve come back to where I’m supposed to be and felt fairly confident lifting that bar. It was a very good session altogether. My performance (mixed with jävlaranamma) mostly held up throughout.
Tuesday
I was tired and almost felt like I was getting a cold, so I postponed walking or rowing to another day. In the evening I even felt like I was coming down with the flu! At the beginning of a new strength program? Not ok.
Wednesday – gym
After some good sleep I actually felt much better but was still quite tired. I decided to wait until lunchtime to possibly cancel the gym session. But after lunch I felt back to normal, so I went to have coffee with a friend and then went to the gym.
4 sets x 8 reps
- Sumo squats, barbell 55 kgs
- Lunges, barbell 35 kg
- Good mornings, barbell 35 kgs
- Dumbbell row, 17,5 kgs
- Bench press, 15 kg dumbbells
- Renegade row, 9 kg dumbbells
- Upright row, barbell 20 kgs
- Shoulder press, barbell 15 kgs
Whether or not I was coming down with something, that disappeared with these wonderful sumo squats. I managed to do another good session and after not feeling great in the morning, I crushed my own (fairly low) expectations.
The big highlight was the dumbbell bench press. I did this weight in December but then I got assistance to get the dumbbells up to start position. Now I did them unassisted for the most part.
Thursday – walking
Busy day but the weather was good so I went out for a walk. After less than a km it started raining. But it didn’t rain for long and further along the road it was sunny and nice, even VERY nice. There’s been some warmer weather recently, and I’m totally here for it.
I walked about 4 km. On the way back it started raining again, in the exact same location!
Friday – gym
Busy day again! But I did dorsiflexed heel raises and a few other foot exercises, and in the afternoon it was time for the gym.
4 sets x 8 reps
- Deadlifts, barbell 55 kgs
- Lunges, barbell 30 kgs
- Barbell row, 35 kgs
- Straight arm pullovers, 9 kg dumbbells
- Cross-bench flyes, 8 kg dumbbells
- Bench press, barbell 37,5 kgs
- Lateral raise, 7 kg dumbbells
- Cuban press, 4 kg dumbbells
The deadlifts went exceptionally badly. I did RDLs with this weight earlier in the week and did ok, with quite a poor range of motion but the weight itself was manageable. Not so much with today’s deadlifts. The big bruise on my shin is the evidence. Is it too heavy? Possibly. Or is it about more insecurity? Very likely. I suspect he’ll drop some weight for the next time.
The cross-bench fly is when you put your shoulders on a bench in a hip thrust-like position and do your usual flyes from there. It’s a wonderful core exercise – you should try it!
My highlight in this session was probably the bench press. I simply felt great and got in some good reps throughout.
In the evening we watched a YouTube video about the Guinness world record in planking. Some guy did a 9 hour 38 minute plank. Can you imagine??! What’s your plank PB? I was inspired to do some planking again.
Saturday – walking
My hip flexors were quite upset ,so a nice recovery walk was very much needed. I walked about 6,6 km, to one of the smaller beaches nearby, and back. The beach wasn’t its prettiest after several bad weather events, but it’s always a nice walk.
It was fairly cloudy and with some dark clouds but it remained a nice day without rain.
Sunday
The first Sunday of March is special for Swedish people (or it should be!) because it’s the day of the world’s largest cross-country skiing race (in terms of number of participants), Vasaloppet. It takes place in in Sweden, in the region where I grew up, so watching this race on TV (in my case, streaming on my computer) is a must for me! I love seeing the areas that somehow are like home and especially as the skiers approach the finish line. I forgot about it this year but remembered when I woke up, so I was only one hour late.
It was a very fast race. Both winners were Swedish and in the women’s race the winner did her debut in racing at this distance which is 90 km, and she crushed it, from very early on she was far ahead of the other women, despite a fall. And the winner of the men’s race is only 18 years old, the youngest ever to win this race. It was a good, positive start of the day!
For me, it was a soft day. I did some light foot TLC and some doming. Otherwise I made this a day of recovery to get ready for a new week in the gym (and elsewhere). I’ve also done some boring tech stuff and joined a concertina session on Zoom. Good fun, but an abrupt awakening to how bad my concertina playing really is. Haha! We may have some exciting music plans for the summer and there’s concertina playing involved, so I need to get my **** together.
Next week will be super busy. We have some interesting events coming up but I also hope to be able to make some time for photography. I’ve had a complete brain block with it recently. Bummer.
How was your week? What was your highlight, in fitness or else?
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