Fitness this week, #8 2026

Hi there! This was a good, normal week, almost to the point of boring when it comes to having something to write about. I went to the gym, and activity-wise outside of the gym I did mostly mobility and TLC exercises because of an irritated hip (or rather, a sore muscle in the pelvic area). It's nothing bad and nothing that disrupts my lifting so all is good, it's just an annoying soreness. My top 1 theory is that I sat in with a bad posture without thinking of it last Saturday when I played the guitar. This wouldn't be the first time guitar playing causes trouble! Deadlifting, lunges et al actually make it feel better.

This is the rally weekend which means roads are closed here and there and there's a general chaos in the area so the best thing is to either go away for the weekend or stay100% at home. We opted for the latter, mostly since one stage of the rally passes by our house and the quite intense noise might cause Elsa to go into panic mode and she could need some support.

Monday - hip TLC and gym

My hips felt stiff and awkward when I got up, and I needed to do some movement to get them back to life. I actually forgot to do any heel raises or plyometric exercises but I did hip rotations, 4-point stretches and hip flexor stretches. It made a big difference! When I got to the gym I felt quite good.

Today I did sumo deadlifts, lunges, barbell chest presses, inclined flyes, one-dumbbell pullovers, good mornings, lateral raises and upright rows. Considering what I mentioned last week about possibly eating too little, today I hade brought both added carbs and electrolytes to my water. I don't know how much it made a difference, but at least I knew I was topped up with energy throughout the session.

After my experience with pushing range of motion on heavier chest presses some week ago, now with the lower weight I try to get to a good depth and it's going quite well - in the third set I started slacking a bit but I was so satisfied with the first two sets that it didn't matter.

I did ok but 3 x 12 reps with decent weights is just...oof.

Tuesday - hip TLC

I kept giving my hips some TLC in the form of various types of hip rotations, 4-point stretches, and hip flexor stretches. Hip TLC also includes using the stand-up desk instead of sitting. It was otherwise a quite uneventful day.

After a long time of preferring my husband, Elsa has started a nice streak of wanting to sleep on my lap in the evening. As soon as I sit down in the armchair, she's there. No complaints from me!

Wednesday - hip TLC, heel raises and gym

I did single leg heel raises, hip exercises, and later I went to the gym. I did squats, reverse lunges, inclined dumbbell chest presses, Renegade rows, barbell shoulder presses and shoulder shrugs. Everything was quite good. With Renegade rows I've decided to stop stressing over the fact that I rarely manage to get to a proper number of reps because my head gets in the way, but to just keep going and focus on doing good reps and be sure that I don't stop until my muscles (not cardio fitness or the lack thereof) give up. I'm not sure that happened today but I still felt it was a good strategy.

The weather was beautiful today but I was busy with work. I should have gone out anyway! Elsa found herself a good place for sunbathing.

Thursday

Another day with mostly hip TLC. I planned to maybe do a bike ride, but got into the flow with work.

Friday - heel raises, plyometrics, gym, and shoes!

I don't need more shoes. But also, who doesn't "need" another pair of shoes?
My husband was going to order another type of Altra trail running shoe, and I took the opportunity to try a different Altra shoe I've been looking at for a while. They label it as walking shoe or cross-training shoe, and is described as a gym shoe mostly. I looked at these a year ago when I needed walking shoes, but the previous version had such mixed reviews, particularly when it comes to durability of the outsole. This new version was supposed to be improved, and now I was looking at it mostly as an everyday sneaker and/or a possible alternative to my gym shoes, so my requirements were a bit lower.

I also need simpler walking shoes that don't scream running shoes, that I can use when we travel, for looking casual and still being able to walk decent distances like for strolling in Pescara or Göteborg where the Lone Peaks don't really fit in. The Bahé shoes I bought last year are perfect for lifting and everyday life in dry weather, but my feet don't like walking longer distances in them (my theory is it's because they don't have arch support), and the outsole gets slippy when it's rainy and wet. Not a good fit with the typical Irish weather! They are also quite expensive. These Altras are cheaper, have better outsoles, and I was hoping they could be useful for both the gym and some walking.

The bad reviews were true about them being too low around the heel, but switching to thinner insoles solved that problem. After some walking around with them at home, I'm a fan. My first impression was they seemed flimsier around the heel than the Bahés, but when I put on one shoe of each to compare, I felt differently.

Other than enjoying new shoes, I did hip TLC exercises, single leg heel raises and two sets of 25 pogo hops.

Then it was time to bring the new shoes to the gym to try them in action!
I did Bulgarian split squats, Romanian deadlifts, flyes, barbell chest press, two-dumbbell pullovers, dumbbell row, forward raises and bent-over lateral raises. The Bulgarians were the ultimate test for the shoes! They performed well - I felt good and stable (as much as I can with Bulgarians, haha) and I did some decent sets.

I'm still in a period when I rep out more than usual. I'm trying to stop hyping over it, I've had these before. There are a lot of variables and I'm still working on ways to optimise nutrition and a few other things. Today my attitude was to not worry about whether or not I repped out, just push to failure with everything and be sure I did my best. I did ok but also know I should be able to do better. So frustrating! But my trainer reminded me of the weights I lifted when I first started and how far I've come -which I should be aware of especially after writing this post a few days ago. And yes, of course I'm aware, and grateful, but I was still frustrated over this performance dip. His very healthy, down-to-earth advice is to simply keep doing what I'm doing.

Saturday - locked in

Today my hip pain was gone! Perhaps Bulgarians and RDLs are the magic cure?
It's the weekend of the West Cork Rally and the road that passes by our house was closed most of the day. Going for a walk was out of question. My sleep had been very poor and I was tired and sore so I decided to have a very slow day and do some good things on the computer and maybe on the guitar. I thought Elsa would be stressed by all the noise from the rally cars, but she couldn't care less.

As usual I went out to take some photos of the rally cars but waited until round 2 because in the morning we had 4C (39F) degrees. There's a limit to what I endure for the sake of photography! Later it had warmed up a lot and I was almost overdressed. I put the camera in burst mode and started shooting. When I got back inside I realised I had taken, UGH, 906 images. 906 to upload to the computer and sort! Why am I doing this to myself? LOL! Most of them were quite uninteresting too but it's always fun to watch the rally and play with camera settings.

Sunday - mixed movements

Today I really wanted to go for a walk! The rally is happening elsewhere today so it should be ok, but I needed to wait for the vegetable delivery, and in the meantime the wind picked up really bad and later the rain started too. Sigh. Wind can be manageable... rain too.. but not together.

Some plyometrics followed by a bike ride will happen later today and I might add some piriformis exercises along with all the other hip movements I've been doing this week.

Next week it's St Patrick's day, and since it's on a Tuesday it will include a LOT of music (trad session most of the afternoon and until late), and also won't disrupt my gym routine. It should be a good week!

Thanks to Kim and Deborah for hosting the Weekly rundown!