It bothers me that I had to take the train to town on Friday because I didn’t trust my cycling ability. So today I cycled to the recycling centre in Bromma just to see how it felt. (And to recycle two pairs of outgrown, broken children’s shoes.)

Cycling didn’t cause my back any problems at all, which was a relief.

I still haven’t gotten used to the weather being so warm. It’s February, which should be deepest winter, but outside it’s around 10°C.

Wise from past experience, I wore the thinnest three layers I own. Which was a very good thing, because of course I got hot and had to start shedding layers after a while.

Also I remembered both to take my sunglasses and to pump my tires before leaving, both of which I have forgotten in the past, so I really enjoyed my trip.

I wasn’t going to invest much in workout equipment at home. Costs money, takes up space. And besides, I liked cycling to and from work, and Friskis & Svettis group workouts, so medium term I intended to go back to that. What’s the point in buying stuff I’ll only use for a short time. I’ll just buy a kettlebell.

Fine, a single pair of dumbbells as well, then.

But the short term stretches out longer and longer. I find myself enjoying workout videos more than I expected, and they’re doing wonders for my well-being. I can picture continuing like this – working from home most days of the week, doing a lunchtime workout every day. Plus Ingrid has also started working out, so the equipment gets much more use.

Oh well, let’s get a gym mat, then. And we really need some more dumbbells in lighter weights.

There is still a real shortage of gym equipment. Vinyl dumbbells in suitable sizes are sold out in most places. I finally found a place that had what I wanted. A week later I got an email telling me that the things they let me order were not actually in stock after all and could they perhaps tempt me with some completely different things. No thank you.

I nearly ordered dumbbells from Germany but shipping chunks of iron across half a continent sounds like such a waste that I’d rather do without. After much creative googling I finally found another Swedish shop that had what I wanted.

I ordered my stuff, and waited. Two weeks later I still had nothing. I sent an email, then called and left a message, then called again. The company seems to be totally ignoring me. And now I saw their Trustpilot reviews and they seem to be a bunch of scammers.

It’s not the loss of a few hundred kronor that bothers me most, but the endless waste of time. A month after I decided to buy dumbbells I still don’t have any.

The dumbbells in the photo are our oldest ones. Unlike the newer vinyl-coated ones, the paint on these flakes off and the iron underneath rusts. But if this order also doesn’t go through, I’ll give up on the vinyl and just buy whatever I can get.

While I’m sitting at my desk I wear layers, woollen cardigans, shawls. When I’m working out in the exact same room, five steps from the desk, I am sweating through just a single skimpy layer. I had to buy shorter tights because full-length ones were too hot. It is amazing how much waste heat the body can generate from even moderate exercise.

After two crazy weeks, during which I was skipping both workouts and lunches, my days at work are settling down again. It feels good.

Ingrid is also getting into a workout habit. But whereas I do mine around midday, I can hear her working out near midnight instead. She says it feels nice to wear herself out before she goes to bed. To each her own.

Today’s workout was 40 minutes with dumbbells in the company of Coach Kozak and Claudia over at HASfit.com which is now my go-to place for workout videos.

This is the last day of the tretton37 workout challenge. It’s worked wonders for me. I spent October in a funk and barely exercised at all towards the end of the month. Now I have settled into a stable workout routine that has me doing some kind of exercise every single day. I have more energy and feel better in many ways.

I’m glad we had the challenge, but I’m also glad it is over. The app for reporting the daily workouts was effectively a social media platform and came with all the costs and benefits of such things. Benefits of course include other peoples’ inspirational photos, comments and thumbs-ups. Among the costs: having to put up with other people’s photos fom gyms and padel halls. Apparently some of them still think it is OK to go to the gym or even meet up with colleagues for lunchtime padel sessions – and that this is even something to proudly show off. (For the record: gyms are explicitly mentioned as places to avoid in Stockholm’s local covid-19 restrictions, and Stockholm’s municipal gyms and swimming halls have all been closed. But there is no law that would allow the government to close down private businesses at this time so commercial gyms are still open.) Mind-boggling and really annoying. I’m glad to not have to see any more of that.

I’ll keep the habit but stop the daily posting both here and in the app.

I went out for a half-hour walk to check today’s workout box. Adrian, who hadn’t been out all day, came with me. But he is not very fond of walking so he took his bike. My walking turned into running to more or less keep up with him. He rather enjoyed that, especially when I really wasn’t able to catch up with him, so he added some extra detours for us, preferably hilly ones. Before I knew it my half-hour walk had turned into 50 minutes of jogging up and down hills. I don’t normally enjoy running but this was actually fun.

I did 30 minutes of yoga today, for the first time in about 15 years. I used to go to yoga class regularly before Ingrid was born but haven’t done any since then.

Some parts of me are quite flexible still but my back is much stiffer now. I don’t think I can do a proper shoulder stand, and poses that involve lower back twists are hard.

Today’s video had me trying to touch my toes with a dumbbell.

Had I been on my feet, it wouldn’t even be a challenge. But with my feet pointing towards the ceiling I only succeeded once or twice.

A while ago I moved my workouts from the living room to the bedroom. There are fewer things here that I might knock down or stumble into. Not that I ever did, but it’s even better to not even have to worry about it.

The wool rug feels nice, both when I’m standing up and when I’m down on the floor. Soft but not too soft, and not slippery either. I’ve always liked being barefoot for my workouts – even at Friskis where I was always surrounded entirely by shoe-wearers.

It’s a good thing I don’t drip with sweat like some people. Then I’d need a separate gym area at home.

Cycled to Sundbyberg yet again to donate yet another pile of outgrown clothes to Myrorna. (That’s a very covid-friendly errand to run: I spend less than a minute inside a warehouse, only a few steps from the door.)

There seems to be no end to outgrown children’s clothes in this house. Ingrid at least might soon be done growing; she’s just a hand’s breadth shorter than me now.

More strength training, following a video from FitnessBlender. (That was a good tip!)

I’m getting used to the idea of following a video instead of a live instructor. It has its benefits. The flexible timing, of course. And I can take a break to run to the loo when I need to without missing out. I can skip back 20 seconds to re-watch the instructions so I can get that angle right.