Boost Your Progress
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Solveig Merckoll Berg
The Two-Time World Champion from Norway🇳🇴
With a background in gymnastics, years of training experience, and a strong passion for calisthenics, she has built herself into an elite athlete while balancing high-level training with working as a nurse.
From Gymnastics to Calisthenics
Before discovering calisthenics, Solveig spent ten years doing gymnastics on an international level, from the age of 8 until 18.
Gymnastics gave her a strong foundation, but the strict environment eventually took away some of the joy she had for the sport. With coaches, nutritionists and others constantly telling her how to train, eat and live, the pressure became overwhelming.
Eventually, she quit gymnastics.
After leaving gymnastics, Solveig spent a few years exploring other sports. Then, one day, she came across a group doing handstands in a park - and everything changed.
What attracted her wasn't just the sport itself, but the community surrounding it.
"Here you can just choose. You can choose what you want to do."
For Solveig, calisthenics gave her something different from gymnastics: more independence, more freedom, and the opportunity to choose her own goals.
Training Insights
“Focus on what you can change, and maximize that.”
Programming & Training Structure
Solveig generally follows a Push/Pull/Legs structure.
Her training also changes depending on where she is in her competition cycle.
During competition periods, she focuses more on repetitions and endurance. After competitions, she usually shifts towards more strength-focused sessions and heavier work.
This allows her to work on different qualities throughout the year instead of trying to maximize everything at the same time.
Every athlete has a different capacity for training volume, depending on their experience, training history and recovery.
If you're constantly tired, experiencing small pains, losing energy or no longer making progress, it may be a sign that something needs to change.
That might mean training less, resting more or eating more.
Balancing Work & Training
Solveig works as a nurse, including day, evening and night shifts.
Balancing work and elite-level training can be challenging.
"I can't have a program that I follow strictly because I have to adapt every training depending on how the workload is."
Solveig creates her own plans and adjusts them depending on how her body feels.
For her, having the flexibility to adjust her training is essential.
Nutrition: "You Need Fuel to Progress"
Solveig doesn't believe in obsessively counting everything she eats.
Instead, she focuses on getting enough protein and carbohydrates, particularly around training.
For her, the most important thing is making sure the body has enough fuel to perform and recover.
"If you're going to train and make progress, you have to have even more."
Under-fueling can mean losing muscle, strength and progress, while potentially increasing the risk of problems with recovery and injuries.
Her approach is therefore simple:
Find a balance that allows you to train hard without constantly breaking your body down.
Solveig's philosophy on supplements is similar: everything in moderation, and there isn't one solution that works for everyone.
However, as an athlete with high nutritional demands, she finds supplements useful because getting everything she needs from food every single day can be difficult.
This is one of the reasons she uses PROVITY's Performance Drink, which provides a convenient way to supplement her diet and cover nutrients that can otherwise be difficult to get enough of.
Recovery
When asked about the most underrated recovery strategy, Solveig's answer is simple:
"Sleep."
She typically gets around 7–8 hours per night, although working night shifts can make maintaining a consistent sleep schedule difficult.
This is one of the challenges that comes with combining elite-level training with a full-time job.
Staying Injury-Free
With 10 broken bones, a serious neck injury and several other gymnastics-related injuries, Solveig knows injuries are hard to avoid, but also the importance of staying injury-free.
"Don't ignore your body's signals."
You don't have to stop training completely every time something feels slightly off, but you should be willing to reduce the workload and make adjustments when necessary.
Motivation: "Just Show Up"
Solveig's motivation comes from both wanting to reach new goals herself and from seeing other people inspired by what she does.
She especially enjoys showing that female athletes can perform at the same standards as male athletes.
"I want to do the same form, the same standards. That's the goal."
But she doesn't pretend to be motivated every day.
There are periods when training feels difficult, motivation drops and she simply doesn't have the same energy.
If she doesn't have the energy for a hard workout, she might do handstands, stretching or rehab instead.
Consistency doesn't mean doing everything at 100% every day. It means showing up and doing what you can.
Competition Approach
Solveig's relationship with competition has changed dramatically over the years.
As a young gymnast, she hated competing.
The pressure and expectations eventually contributed to her losing the joy she had for the sport.
Today, competition means something completely different.
She sees it as an opportunity to show what she can do, meet other athletes and be part of the community.
One of her biggest tips for athletes struggling to perform in competitions is simply to gain more competition experience.
The more familiar the environment becomes, the less overwhelming the nerves can feel.
Mental Preparation
Before competing, Solveig likes to visualize her routine.
She visualizes the equipment, movements and transitions beforehand, while using mistakes from previous rounds to improve the next one.
Rather than dwelling on them, she identifies exactly what needs to be improved and uses that information for the next round.
What's your best pre-competition tip for someone wanting to perform at his/her highest level?
"I don't have a very specific routine. I stick to my daily PROVITY routine, make sure I get enough carbohydrates, and gradually reduce my training volume in the weeks before competition. On competition day, I focus on staying fueled and visualizing what I'm going to do beforehand.”
- Solveig Merckoll Berg, 2x Strength Endurance World Champion.
What's Next for Solveig?
For now, Solveig isn't completely sure what her next major competition will be.
She hopes to return to Calisthenics Cup in the future if the timing works out.
Whatever comes next, one thing is clear: Solveig isn't finished improving.
