Fitness this week, #10 2026

I've needed some quiet time lately and haven't been up to writing much recently, and haven't done much either, except working and going to the gym. The weather has been quite nice but I've mostly done garden walks instead of proper walks but that's not bad! I mentioned them in my previous post, about how relaxing it is to just stroll in the garden with the camera, and how I need to make that a habit again.
This week I got in two proper walks, a bike ride, and of course strength training. I forgot about the plyometrics, but I'll be back to that next week.

Monday - gym

It was Easter Monday and the gym was closed. But I still went to the gym - another gym! My husband has started going to a gym where you can pay for one day, because he wants to use some machines, and I had decided to go with him to see what it was like. Exploring new gyms is fun! I wanted to try some machines and do lat pulldowns, but guess what? My biggest enjoyment was still the free weight section. Ha!

I feel so awkward with machines because I have to figure out how they work, how to set them up for my size (not always obvious that short people can even use them), and I mostly feel it's annoying becauase I just want to train. Dumbbells and barbells fit any body size and you always know how to use them. Win-win!

Having said that, I had a very enjoyable session and used a few machine as well as free weights. I didn't make a program in advance but had decided to do whatever caught my interest, and dumbbell shoulder exercises. I ended up with this:

• Lunges,. 10 kg dumbbells, 3 x 12
• Seated leg press, 74 kgs 3 x 12 + 83 kgs12 reps
• Bulgarian split squats, 10 kg dumbbells, 4 x 10
• Cable tricep press, 25 .. kgs? Pounds? Who knows? 3 x 12
• Lat pulldown, unknown heavy weight, 3 x 12
• Seated cable row, 25 kgs, 3 x 10
• Tried a seated cable fly machine but it was too weird
• Chest press, 12,5 kg dumbbells, 3 x 12
• Lateral raise, 7,5 kg dumbbells, 3 x 10
• Shoulder press, 7,5 kg dumbbells, 3 x 10
• Bent-over lateral raise, 7,5 kg dumbbells, 3 x 10
• Bicep curls, 6 kg dumbbells, 3 x 10

This looks like a massive session, but I took much longer breaks than usual since I took some time to look at machines and making decisions (the gym was almost empty). I felt most productive with the dumbbells, and did quite well with the 7,5 kg shoulder exercises. The Bulgarians also felt really good. Of the out-of-ordinary exercises, I enjoyed the cable row machine and the lat pulldown. For the latter - there was no real explanation about the weight plates, just a number that apparently wasn't about neither kgs nor pounds. I tried my way up to a weight that felt heavy enough but I have no idea what weight that was. It was quite tough though!

With the leg press I could have done a heavier weight. It makes a HUGE difference when you don't have to worry about stability.
Also, I really enjoyed training with my husband!

Tuesday - bike

I finally got onto the Zwift bike again and did a good ride with some hills. I felt good, but I do need some distraction for the bike, and watched a murder case on YouTube.

Wednesday - gym

I started the day with single leg heel raises, glute/lower back stretches and hip rotations.
It was good to be back to the usual gym, with more peace and quiet and just a barbell and weights! I did deadlifts, reverse lunges, flyes, Renegade rows, dumbbell rows, wide grip upright rows, lateral raises and bent-over lateral raises.
I did quite well with the Renegade rows today - I managed 10-8-7-9 and really tried hard to push through when exhaustion set in. Probably my most decent sets of Renegade rows in recent times.

Thursday - Elsa's big day! And a walk.

Today was a big day for Elsa! She was going outdoors for the first time. She walked in and out a few times, looked at birds at the back, enjoyed the front garden where she chased bumblebees and explored the shrub area in front of the hedge, and we did some cat flap training. She probably enjoyed the outdoors because as soon as she came in, she wanted to go out again. When she finally came inside, she was exhausted and slept for the rest of the day.

In the afternoon I went for a walk and it was quite nice! Windy, with storm-like conditions coming over the weekend, but still sunny and quite warm so definitely good enough for a walk. I went down to the sea and back, about 5,5 km. It was lovely to see all the flowers coming back, and the sea was so beautifully turquoise.

Friday - gym

Back to the gym. I wasn't in great mood but hoped I'd pick up some oomph once I came to the gym, and I did. Except I started with Bulgarian split squats, haha. I didn't do great with them today but I got through them without too much trouble. After that I did Romanian deadlifts, barbell chest presses, inclined flyes, one-dumbbell pullovers, good mornings and upright rows.

Saturday

Today we expected wind gusts up to 80 km/h. Not even Elsa was interested in going out! I had some sore hamstrings and calves and took the time to indulge in some music.

In the evening we didn't see Elsa for a while and all of a sudden she came from nowhere, with wet, ice-cold paws. She didn't seem to have much success with the cat flap on Thursday, but did she still manage to go out on her own and then get back in?

Sunday - walking

This morning we definitely understood that Elsa has actually learned to use the cat flap, just like that! My husband let her out at 5 am and later went to look for her but then she was already inside. Finally we can relax, knowing she can get back in on her own - although we dread the little "gifts" she will be giving us sooner or later.

The weather was ok-ish so I went out for a walk. It was colder and windier than I expected so instead of doing a longer loop to the bay, I just walked a few km down the road and back, about 5 km in total. I kept a decent pace, and parts of the route were quite pleasant with the sun warming. I loved seeing bluebells along the road, and some colourful views.

Next week's weather forecast is quite depressing so I suspect there will be a lot of indoor things going on, but we'll see. At least we finally have more daylight (and flowers)!

Thanks to Kim and Deborah for hosting the Weekly rundown!