Day 190: Climbing 220 Stairs & A Lot More

Though I slept for 8 hours last night, I only got approximately 2.5 hours of deep sleep. It was one of those nights where I woke up to every little sound. A passing ambulance. A car door. The cat jumping on the bed. Sasha moving around. Everything seemed to wake me up.

When I woke up I went to the gym for a chest workout. After finishing the same shoulder mobilizations exercises that I have been doing all week, I tried the same chest workout from Scott Herman that I have completed for the last few weeks.

My goal was to increase either the number of push-ups or the weight that I’m able to lift with every set.

This week I was able to add in a couple of extra pushups during the pre-exhaust and increase the weight on almost every exercise.

When I was doing the pre-exhaust push-ups I started feeling a clicking in my left shoulder so I  had to be careful for the remainder of the workout.

Here is the workout that I completed along with the changes over last week:

Pre-exhaust: 

- Push-ups w/bars: 16 reps (+1), 11 reps (-1), 7 reps (+3) = net +3

- Seated Bench Press: 4 sets: 30 reps (+1 plate = 46 lbs), 25 reps (+1 plate = 55 lbs), 20 reps (+1 plate = 64 lbs), 15 reps (+1 plate = 73 lbs)

- Incline Dumbbell Bench Press 4 sets: 30 reps (no increase = 10 lb dumbbells), 25 reps (+2.5 lb increase = 15 lb dumbbells), 20 reps (no increase = 15 lb dumbbells), 15 reps (no increase = 15 lb dumbbells)

Superset

- Dumbbell Chest Fly 4 sets: 10 reps (no increase = 15 lb dumbbells per set) 
- Dumbbell Low Chest Fly 4 sets: 10 reps (+1 plate = 6 lbs to 8 lbs) 


- Rest 60 seconds MAX between sets & supersets

It is a bit frustrating because the dumbbells only go up to 15 lbs so that can be limiting.

For almost every other body part I can use my resistance bands if I want more weight or use the pulley machine but any work involving dumbbells is limited to 15 lbs.

When Laura woke up we hung some of the artwork that we purchased for our apartment.

We haven’t been good about decorating our previous apartments so we’re trying to change that with this place especially as we eye buying a home within the next couple of years.

We then headed out to run errands including stopping by a lamp store to pick out a couple of lamps. 

One of the problems when we moved in was that our old apartment had several ceiling fans with lights however here we don’t have any.

Once we got back from running errands we went for our first Sunday walk together in almost 2 months due to bad weather, travel and moving.

We walked to Communications Hill and climbed the “Grand Staircase” which is approximately 220 stairs.

After taking a brief break at the top to catch our breath we walked the path at the top of Communications Hill before coming back home.

At some point this week I’m looking forward to a torturous cardio session on those stairs.

This evening we tackled mounting the bedroom TV on the wall. Gaining the experience last weekend certainly helped this TV go much better. Now we just have to pray that all holds up well.

Tonight Laura made here amazing healthy spicy chipotle chicken burritos while we watch the SNL40 special.

I’m fortunate to have a 3-day weekend so will get an extra day to relax and tackle other projects tomorrow. Laura has to work but will be working from home since her office building is closed.