Day 254: More Progress with Pull-Ups

It was great waking up at 1:30a and feeling as though I had slept all night. That meant the other 4.5 hours felt like “extra” sleep, even though that wasn’t the case. 

Today was a busy day with meetings unevenly spaced so that I didn’t have real time to do any work until 2:30p, thus only giving me about 1.5 hours before having to leave to head home. 

On one of my first calls I had a minor freak out when I started to stutter repeatedly and couldn’t stop it. 

Stuttering was the initial sign before each of my previous 3 seizures. When the stuttering started as the third seizure began, I knew what was happening but couldn’t do anything to stop it.  

Therefore, when the stuttering started and I couldn’t stop it this morning it scared me. But, after a few seconds I was able to gather my thoughts and continue on with the meeting. 

Today’s Spartan workout was a new combination of body movements that was hard and left me, as usual, drenched in sweat: 

Warm-up:

• 5 minute jog 

Main set – Repeat 1-5 times: 

• 10 push-ups
• 10 burpees
• 5 pull-ups
• 30-second sprint
• 1-minute rest  

Then with a sandbag (substituted with a medicine ball), repeat this set 2-4 times: 

• 15 squats
• 50 yard lunge walk
• 10 chest passes
• 10 underhand tosses
• 1 minute rest between sets  

I thought that I would only be able to accomplish 1-2 rounds for the first set but was able to complete 3 full rounds before moving on to the second set which I completed 2 full rounds. 

One of the areas that I felt the best about was that I was able to accomplish 15 full pull-ups using a Monster band for assistance. All of the pull-ups were completed with strict form. There were only 1-2 pull-ups where I didn’t get my chin above the bar 

This is the most progress that I have made in a long time. And it proves that, though I haven’t been focused on pull-ups lately, that my other workouts have helped to rebuild muscles in my upper back and shoulders.  

Progress comes slower these days than it did a few months ago but it is still happening. 

In addition to a great workout, by the end of the day I will have logged another 24 flights of stairs. 

Living on the third floor and taking the stairs up to the fifth floor of my office a few times per day is helping to rack up more stairs than I ever have before, besides when I would use the StairMaster. 

I’m looking forward to another strong workout tomorrow, though tomorrow will be focused on hill sprints, before my follow-up with our orthopedic surgeon on Wednesday afternoon.