Happy Sunday and for all my American readers, I hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving with your friends and/or families!

We don’t celebrate Thanksgiving here but I’m grateful that I feel much better, and I’ve had a good week in the gym. Sadly I can’t say the same about cardio (facepalm here). I was out for a walk one day this week, and will need to do better than that! But at least I’ve been feeling good and I’m mostly back to normal now.

Monday

It was leg and shoulder day in the gym. I still didn’t feel my best, but much better than in recent weeks.

I don’t have much to complain about! The lunges were still very challenging but I felt much better with it than the last time so I thought the weight was lower, but I was wrong. We’re still on 45 kgs and I’m happy to see some progress. It generally was a good, straightforward session and the biggest highlight was the barbell shoulder press – I managed four full sets with some partial reps only at the very end, and with this heavier weight I was very happy with that.

Tuesday

I finally got myself outdoors! The weather was fantastic with 10 degrees and no wind. I went 2 km towards the beach and then turned back. It was a beautiful sunny day!

Wednesday

Today was the first day since two weeks that I went to the gym feeling energetic and confident, and even with some oomph. About time! And I had a great time lifting today.

Yes, my trainer is hanging on to the 47,5 kg chest press. But do you know what? It actually worked today! The first set felt very manageable, so much that he pushed me to try a better range of motion. I did the best I could. It was hard but I think I did a bit better with each set, and in the 4th set I got to a decent depth. Even with a spotter I think I have trust issues! Full ROM chest press would be a great goal – I do it quite well with dumbbells but I’m not there yet with the bar. Still, being able to lift this weight like I did today was a fantastic feeling! That would have been unthinkable a few years ago. Me, benchpressing 47,5 kgs? Absolutely insane!

The Renegade row is so hard because of my sore left elbow but with only 6 reps in each set I knew I could do it and decided to just push it. After the pullovers, my lats didn’t really want to lift anything else but I brought out some more oomph and managed to get through the dumbbell rows. The good mornings were a relief after that (I was expecting barbell rows) and I felt more confident with the heavier weight today.

It was such a great, uplifting (lol) session! I felt so much back to my normal self.

Thursday

I’m not being lazy (I think), but during periods of lifting heavier weights I take it very easy on my non-gym days. Of course I can/should still go walking for a bit but was very windy today so I stayed indoors and instead did some stretches and another exercise for the lower back. I also realised I’ve slipped out of my foot training habit… oops. I need my feet to be in shape for the Abruzzo trails! I’ll create a new routine now.

Every year at this time we get a new batch of olive oil from our friends in Italy (who also own the agriturismo where we always stay). This year I was late with ordering, and we only had a half bottle left so receiveing this was a joy (as always)! Have you ever tasted fresh olive oil? I mean, really fresh? It’s green and very spicy… and so tasty.

Friday

Today, again I got a lighter program with more reps. Almost a bit of a rest day! But today I somehow felt low in energy, so it still was quite a tough session. My strength was definitely there but I just felt sluggish.

Finding stability with the Bulgarians was a struggle, and the weight was increased too for this rep range but I did ok after all. I didn’t have the oomph as on Wednesday but made it through all reps, and some weights felt a bit too light today, which is a good sign! I loved how full ROM flyes didn’t cause any pain in the arm/shoulder whatsoever. Perhaps finally that’s a thing of the past.

When I checked my macro tracker in the evening, although I don’t weigh everything 100%, I realised I may have eaten way too little carbs. I get all my protein and a bit more too but will need to up my game with carbs, totally the opposite to most other people!

Saturday

We started the day with going to Cork, primarily to visit the Midleton distillery (FYI this is where they make the Jameson, Redbreast et al). I’ve become an unofficial whiskey consultant for my personal trainer – he always asks me to help get a nice whiskey for his dad for Christmas and birthdays. I enjoy doing this, and this year I had suggested a distillery exclusive that you can bottle from a cask in the distillery shop, with a name of your choice on the label. We got a bottle for ourselves as well, and another top class whiskey to enjoy over Christmas.

The rest of the day was about taking it easy and get some coding and other tech geekery done. My homemade app is more or less ready for testing live! I’m excited! And if anyone wondered… yes I’m building this with the help of an AI coding tool. But OMG how much I need to learn to actually be able to use the thing. The last few days my poor husband has been helping me to understand the ins and outs of Docker and Git. I had a rough understanding of how Git works, but there’s so much more to learn. I’ve come a long way, and I’m enjoying it! So when it comes to using AI tools – not all of them destroy the brain.

Sunday

Today it’s the first Sunday of Advent. This is a big holiday for Swedish people, and we’re supposed to light candles in a special candleholder, as well as putting up our electric lights, and enjoy glögg (Swedish style mulled wine) and pepparkakor (ginger biscuits). But for some reason, it always comes as a surprise to me that “oops is it already the first of Advent?”, and I have nothing prepped.

Mixed with working on my tech project I’ve done my best to decorate here and there, and my husband had bought mince pies (the local seasonal sweet) but we’ll have a sip of that nice Christmas whiskey instead and make glögg and biscuits for the next weekend. Perhaps I should set a reminder in the calendar for next year to have everything ready like true Swedes!

The performance of the Friday afternoon Bulgarians may have been mostly ok-ish, but they still seemed capable of causing the DOMS effect on my glutes and hips. I’ve had some satisfying soreness this weekend!

Other than that, I need to get moving more on the days when I don’t lift weights. I managed to get out walking almost every day in October and should manage now but it’s so hard when it’s cold and unpleasant outside. Or maybe I’ll feel differently as soon as I get out? Let’s try it this coming week.

I hope you had a good week! Let me know your highlights in the comments.

Thanks to Kim and Deborah for hosting the Weekly rundown!