Workout of the week 1 July 2026

Week four new training program

It is week four of my new training program to get myself out of a bit of a funk and regain some of the fitness and strength I’ve lost over the last few months. 

The aim of my new training program is to enable me to:

  1. Exercise every single day.
  2. Rebuild my base fitness level.
  3. Rebuild strength and muscle mass.
  4. Set regular goals to show progress.

This is my fourth week of training and the end of my first cycle of this program. Surprise, I’m not writing this post on a plane! It has been nice not to be flying around the country this week, and I’ve had the chance to catch up on some much-needed sleep and focus on eating well and working out. It is nice to be home and to finish this training cycle strong.

Goal for this training cycle

At the start of this training cycle, I set a goal to increase the weights I used by at least 5%. I am happy to report that I smashed that goal across the board. It may not seem like a big achievement, but it is, especially when you know you have lost strength. That small increase was a huge achievement, and I plan to keep building on it when I start my next training cycle. More on that next week. 

What have I been doing?

Each week, I will share one of the workouts I’ve done here so you can see the program and exercise details.

This week I’ll be sharing the abs focused strength training session, along with my warm-up and cool-down.

Day 5 – Abs focus strength training 

Activations and warm-up

Downward dog to cobra10
T spine rotation 10, 5 each side
Thread the needle 10, 5 each side
Dying bugs 10 each side

2 rounds

  • 10 push ups
  • 10 mountain climbers
  • 10 walking lunges
  • 10 sit-ups
  • 10 pull ups

Workout

Crunch3 sets 10 reps
Leg pull in 3 sets 10 reps 20%
Alternating heel taps 3 sets 10 reps
Landmine rotations 3 sets 10 reps 20%
Treadmill10 rounds 20 second sprint, 20 second rest

Cool down

Childs pose 2 sets, 30 seconds
Child’s pose to cobra2 sets, 30 seconds
Supine twist 2 sets, 30 seconds each side
Cross body shoulder stretch 2 sets, 30 seconds each side
Cat cow stretch 2 sets, 30 seconds
Figure 4 stretch 2 sets, 30 seconds each leg
Pigeon pose 2 sets, 30 seconds each side

Workout disclaimer

I share my workouts to show what I do, not to tell you what to do.  

I post my workouts using percentages of my max lifting capacity rather than stating the weights or speeds I use. Everyone is different and has different levels of fitness and capability. Your body is yours alone. If you want to start working out, I recommend spending some time with a personal trainer to get you on the right path.  

When working out with weights, remember your one-rep max is yours alone; finding the weights that are right for you is important. If you decide to try a workout, find out which weights you should use first. 


Workout of the week 24 June 2026

Week three of my new training program

It is week three of my new training program to help me get out of a bit of a funk and regain some of the fitness and strength I’ve lost over the last few months. 

The aim of my new training program is to enable me to:

  1. Exercise every single day.
  2. Rebuild my base fitness level.
  3. Rebuild strength and muscle mass.
  4. Set regular goals to show progress.

This has been my third week of training, and it’s been another mixed bag, with the work front feeling mentally draining and me feeling exhausted. For the second week in a row, I’m writing this post on a flight home, this time from Blenheim after two days locked in a meeting room, poring over documents for a project. Once again, I’m trying to have fun on the flight home. It’s times like these when I do wish I could sleep on planes.

With this being my second week of travel and sleep deprivation, I’ve been feeling flat and a little grumpy about my training routine being disrupted. While I’m making adjustments where I can, it’s hard to work around fatigue and keep going as planned. Despite this, I’ve managed to stick with my plan to increase the weights I use by 5%, though it wasn’t as easy as I’d expected. I’m hoping that some good-quality rest will help with my fatigue, improve my capacity to lift more in the next few weeks, and mean less muscle soreness.

What have I been doing?

Each week, I will share one of the workouts I’ve done here so you can see the program and exercise details.

This week I’ll be sharing the upper body focused strength training session, along with my warm-up and cool-down.

Day 4 – Upper body focus strength training 

Activations and warm-up

Band pull-aparts 10 
Downward dog to cobra 10
T spine rotation 10, 5 each side
Thread the needle 10, 5 each side

2 rounds

  • 10 push ups
  • 10 mountain climbers
  • 10 walking lunges
  • 10 sit-ups
  • 10 pull ups

Workout

Barbell bench press 3 sets 8 reps 50%
Pull ups 3 sets 8 reps 50%
Seated dumbell press 3 sets 12 reps 50%
Lat pull down 3 sets 12 reps 50%
Treadmill 30 minutes 50 -70% of max heart rate

Cool down

Childs pose 2 sets, 30 seconds
Supine twist 2 sets, 30 seconds each side
Cross body shoulder stretch 2 sets, 30 seconds each side
Cat cow stretch 2 sets, 30 seconds
Figure 4 stretch2 sets, 30 seconds each leg
Pigeon pose2 sets, 30 seconds each side

Workout disclaimer

I share my workouts to show what I do, not to tell you what to do.  

I post my workouts using percentages of my max lifting capacity rather than stating the weights or speeds I use. Everyone is different and has different levels of fitness and capability. Your body is yours alone. If you want to start working out, I recommend spending some time with a personal trainer to get you on the right path.  

When working out with weights, remember your one-rep max is yours alone; finding the weights that are right for you is important. If you decide to try a workout, find out which weights you should use first. 


Workout of the week 17 June 2026

Week two of my new training program

It is week two of my new training program to help me get out of a bit of a funk and regain some of the fitness and strength I’ve lost over the last few months. 

The aim of my new training program is to enable me to:

  1. Exercise every single day.
  2. Rebuild my base fitness level.
  3. Rebuild strength and muscle mass.
  4. Set regular goals to show progress.

This has been my second week of training, and it’s been a mixed bag. The work front has been full-on, leaving me feeling very time-poor on the life front. I’m writing this post on a flight home from a day in Wellington for work. At least I’m doing something fun on the way home, right?

Despite work being crazy, I’ve been moving forward with my training, and I’m enjoying a program that’s easy to follow and doesn’t take up a huge chunk of my time. I know the next few days are likely to be challenging because of today’s lack of sleep. I will do what I can to stay on track and sneak in some naps to keep me going. 

While my energy levels have been good over the last week, which has helped keep my inner bitch in check, I know fatigue will make her even more influential and harder to put in her box. Wish me luck with her. I will probably need it.

What have I been doing?

Each week, I will share one of the workouts I’ve done here so you can see the program and exercise details.

This week I’ll be sharing the glute and posterior-chain focused strength training session, along with my warm-up and cool-down.

Day 2 – Glutes and posterior chain focus strength training 

Activations and warm-up

Banded standing clams 10 each side, foot forward and foot backward
Banded lateral walks 10 each side
Banded monster walks 10 each side forward and backward
Band pull-aparts 10 

2 rounds

  • 10 push ups
  • 10 mountain climbers
  • 10 walking lunges
  • 10 sit-ups
  • 10 pull ups

Workout

Barbell hip thrust 3 sets 6 reps 50%
Romanian deadlift3 sets 8 reps 50%
Glute kickbacks 3 sets 12 reps 60%
Kettlebell swings3 sets 15 reps 60%
Treadmill 30 minutes 50 -70% of max heart rate

Cool down

Standing quad stretch2 sets, 30 seconds each leg
Straight leg calf stretch2 sets, 30 seconds each leg
Kneeling hip flexor stretch 2 sets, 30 seconds each leg
Hamstring stretch 2 sets, 30 seconds each leg
Figure 4 stretch2 sets, 30 seconds each leg
Pigeon pose2 sets, 30 seconds each side

Workout disclaimer

I share my workouts to show what I do, not to tell you what to do.  

I post my workouts using percentages of my max lifting capacity rather than stating the weights or speeds I use. Everyone is different and has different levels of fitness and capability. Your body is yours alone. If you want to start working out, I recommend spending some time with a personal trainer to get you on the right path.  

When working out with weights, remember your one-rep max is yours alone; finding the weights that are right for you is important. If you decide to try a workout, find out which weights you should use first. 


2018 goals

Happy New Year!!!!

Another year over and a new one underway. I hope you had a great break and enjoyed time with friends and family.  We had a year with lots of ups and downs, so it was nice to finish the year with a positive experience.  We took a lovely family holiday in Northland, the kids went camping for the first time, and we all enjoyed a lovely time in the sunshine.

I’m not one for making New Year’s resolutions as they usually get broken by the end of January. Instead each year I prefer to set myself goals for the year, I like having something to work towards, and the start of a new year brings the time to set my goals.

2017 goals and achievements

Here is my usual check back on how I did against the goals I set last year, 

  • Stay injury free for the year – Achieved
  • Set a personal record for back squat – aiming for 80kg – Achieved – smashed this out the park as I managed a PR of 90kg!!!
  • Set a personal record for deadlift – aiming for 100kg – Failed – unfortunately, the best I could do was 90kg 
  • Set a personal record for plank – aim for 2 minutes- Failed – my PR was only 1 minute 30 seconds
  • Set a personal record for pull-ups – aim for unassisted pull-ups- Failed –  some inconsistencies in my training mean this was not a 2017 achievement
  • Attend one yoga class a week to improve flexibility – 50/50 – I managed to do this for eight months before the wheels fell off and other things in life took priority
  • Reduce my resting heart rate to 40 bpm- Failed – again this failure was down to inconsistencies in my training, the best I managed was 45 bpm
  • Reduce my body fat to 16%- Failed – epic fail would be a more accurate description of this goal. Lesson learned for the year; you can not work 10 hour days, work out each night and drop body fat when you only eat once and drink lots of coffee.
  • Work out at least once a day- Failed –  I managed to do this for eight months before the wheels fell off and other things in life took priority

So on reflection 2017 was not the best year, some failures were outside of my control, some of them were because of choices I made (usually food choices).  I believe that even when we fail, it isn’t a failure because you have an opportunity to learn from the experience and make success possible next time around. 

With that in mind, I have taken care setting my goals for the coming year.  I am breaking my goals out so that I have some big goals for the year and some interim goals 

2018 goal

Big goals

  • Stay injury free for the year 
  • Do something active or work out at least once a day
  • Reduce my body fat to 18%
  • Complete personal training qualification

Mid-year goals

  • Set a personal record for back squat – aiming for 95kg
  • Set a personal record for deadlift – aiming for 100kg
  • Set a personal record for pull-ups – aiming for unassisted pull-ups 

Workout disclaimer   

I share my workouts to show what I do, not to tell you what to do.  

I post my workouts with a percentage of my max rather than stating what weights or speeds I use. Everyone is different and has different levels of fitness and capability. Your body is yours alone if you want to start working out, I recommend spending some time with a personal trainer who can put you on the right path.  

When working out with weights, remember your one-rep max is yours alone, finding the weights that are right for you is important. If you decide to try out a workout, find out what weights you should be using first. 


2016 goals

Happy New Year!!!!

Hopefully, you all had a great break and enjoyed time with friends and family.
I am not one for making New Year’s resolutions. I prefer to set myself goals for the year, have something to work towards and start a new year by setting my goals.

2015 the year that was

Last year, I set myself many goals; I achieved all of the important ones but never accomplished the physical goals I set thanks to injuring my Achilles in August. I spent a total of two months rocking around with a cast and then had a moon boot on. Sadly that means that all of my hard work from the year that would have seen me reach my goals was mostly undone, and I spent the remainder of the year focusing on physiotherapy and regaining my strength and flexibility.
I’m still not fully recovered from my Achilles adventure (apparently, it’s a long road to recovery), so with that long layoff still fresh in my mind, I’m setting my goals and making sure I’m kinder to my body in the process.

2016 goals

Over the next 12 months, I want to:

  • Stay injury-free for the year, continue to recover from my injury and avoid surgery.
  • Improve my back squat aim to squat 80kg
  • Attend one yoga class a week to improve flexibility
  • Reduce my resting heart rate to 60bpm
  • Reduce my body fat to 20%
  • Work out at least once a day.

To make these goals achievable, I am going to break them down and give myself some milestones through the year to keep myself on track. Any goals that I reach before the end of the year will be ticked off, and I will set a new goal for myself. I want to make myself accountable for my progress, so I’ll check in each month and share my progress.

Starting point

Here are the January starting points

  • Starting weight on back squat 20kg
  • Starting resting heart rate 74bpm
  • Starting body fat percentage 29%

My first update will be February 5th 2016