Dufisthenics

If I go by doctor’s marching orders, it is supposed to be roughly another 10 days until I return to doing upper body exercise at the gym.  I have already been doing some minor stuff at the gym last week that involved my upper body.  Today I actually did some bench pressing.

I was very cautious about doing it, first starting with bar only and going through the complete range of motion, making sure I did not feel any tension on the shoulder near the incision spot.  I did a number of reps but never went beyond my normal warm up weight of 135 pounds.  It felt good to at least do something with my upper body but that is not saying my actions are what I would recommend to others.

Today’s Workout

5 minutes cardio/stretching

Barbell bench press – 135lbs x 10, 135lbs x 10, 135lbs x 10, 135lbs x 10, 135lbs x 10

Dumbbell chest press neutral hand position – 50lbs x 10, 50lbs x 10, 50lbs x 10

Decline barbell bench press – 135lbs x 10, 135lbs x 10, 135lbs x 10

Like I said yesterday, since my skin cancer surgery I have been doing more cardio and less resistance training.  For a few of those days I have started off by climbing a virtual Space Needle on the stair climber which works out to 910 steps.  Today I once again started this way but I bumped up the speed level one notch going from 60 steps a minute to 70.  I could certainly feel those extra SPMs in my effort level.

Doing pretty strenuous cardio before weight training is something I rarely if ever have done much of in the past.  If anything I have done the opposite, hitting some cardio after weights.  Doing cardio first changes things a bit.  My strength feels diminished but my body feels nice and warmed up.

The bicep and tricep work I did afterward was very tame.  The main goal was to get at least some muscle work in without feeling any stretch or pain in the incision area.

Today’s Workout

Stair climber – 920 steps

Seated bicep curls – 25lbs x 10, 35lbs x 10, 35lbs x 10

Standing one arm overhead dumbbell tricep extension – 20lbs x 10, 25lbs x 10, 25lbs x 10

Concentration curls – 30lbs x 10

Standing cable tricep push downs rope attachment – 80lbs x 10

Standing one arm cable curl – 30lbs x 8

Standing cable tricep push downs rope attachment – 80lbs x 10

Standing one arm cable curl – 30lbs x 8

Standing cable tricep push downs rope attachment – 80lbs x 10

So today is my last day at the gym before I have a mohs surgery on my left deltoid to have some basal cell skin cancer removed.  I have had this procedure several times on different spots of my upper body but the end result is always similar, pain and exercise restrictions.

They basically cut out a sizeable border around the cancerous skin and then test the perimeter cells to make sure they got it all.  If not they have to go back in and cut out more until the test comes back clear.  The amount of post operative pain coincides with how deep and wide they had to cut.

I also am only nine days deep in the 22 Kill push up challenge where you do 22 push ups per day for 22 consecutive days to help raise awareness regarding PTSD and the resulting high suicide rates among US veterans.  Without a doubt push ups will be off the menu after tomorrow so I see little choice but to complete my remaining 286 reps tonight, despite very sore chest muscles from yesterday.

There was some good news at the gym as I saw three AC technicians in the gym, hopefully to finally fix the HVAC system which can not currently keep up with the heat and humidity of South Florida summer weather.  The bad news was the back door of the gym was propped open so the techs could go in and out as needed.  The door is a few feet from the squat rack so I was blasted with a steady hot and humid breeze during my squat session.  The sweat was rolling off my back.

Today’s Workout

5 minutes cardio/stretching

Barbell squat – 135lbs x 10, 185lbs x8, 185lbs x 8, 185lbs x 8, 185lbs x 8

Seated leg extension – 115lbs x 10, 145lbs x 8

Seated leg curl – 115lbs x 10, 145lbs x 8

Standing calf raise – 250lbs x 10, 295lbs x 10