For the first time in several weeks I was able to sleep throughout the night without waking up a single time. It helped me to get 5 minutes shy of 8 hours of sleep. 

When I woke up my traps were already very sore from yesterday’s kettle bell swings. Waking up tomorrow will be interesting once delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) has set in. 

I headed to the gym for my first free weight chest and triceps lifting session since August of last year. 

I have lifted over the last year but it was all machines that were available to me at our community gym beyond the dumbbells that went only go up to 15 lbs. 

Like many of my workouts this coming week, I wanted to use this workout to baseline my lifts. 

While I didn’t do one rep maxes, I did want to find out how heavy of weight I could push and how my grip was. 

After warming up, here is what my workout was: 

• Barbell Bench Press - 1 x 12 reps (95 lbs), 1 x 5 reps (135 lbs), 1 x 5 reps (155 lbs), 1 x 5 reps (175 lbs)
• Incline Barbell Press - 3 x 5 reps (135 lbs)
• Decline Barbell Press - 1 x 5 reps (95 lbs), 1 x 5 reps (115 lbs), 1 x 5 reps (135 lbs)
• Alternating Dumbbell Press - 1 x 8 reps (40 lb dumbbells), 2 x 8 reps (50 lb dumbbells)
• Dumbbell Flyes - 3 x 8 reps (35 lb dumbbells)
• Seated Tricep Extension - 3 x 10 reps (50 lb dumbbell)
• Tricep Pushdown - 1 x 10 reps (60 lbs), 1 x 7 reps (80 lbs)

I was stronger than I thought I would be on several of the lifts. The thousands of pushups, burpees and other exercises that I have done over the last year have certainly helped. 

I will be curious to see how sore I feel over the next couple of days and will make adjustments based on that. 

The only issue that I had was that I could feel a strain when my elbows came past my back during the different lifts. I couldn’t tell if it was due to the scars being put under stress or range of motion issues with my shoulders. 

It will be something that I will have to monitor as I lift in the coming weeks while paying close attention to how my shoulders respond. 

When I came home I used my TriggerPoint GRID on my back and upper shoulders while using the Gemini on my triceps and forearms. 

As usual for a Sunday, we spent the day running errands and watching football. I’ve also been watching as my fantasy team has gotten slaughtered. 

Tonight Laura is making ground turkey zoodle bolognese. It’s a healthy way to make a hearty meal.