Day 1: Workout and a Check Under the Hood

In the challenge I have to do as many bench presses, dips, pull ups, chin ups and shoulder presses as possible in one set each. Then there is a 3 mile run. So tonight I wanted to see where I was at in several of the strength events as I plan my workout for the next 3 months.

I did dips last night in and did pretty well getting in 20, 15 and 23 in three sets.

Tonight I did a single arm dumbbell press to see where my bench press is right now. I don’t have a bench so the single arm dumbbell is my best exercise. I need to be able to lift my body weight at the competition so each arm needs to be able to lift about 75 pounds.

The good news is that I did 45 pounds at three sets each of 12, 15 and 15 reps. It’s still far from the 75, but the high reps mean I can add some weight on my next day of lifting.

My shoulder press tonight was pretty good. I need to lift 75 pounds and I did 60 tonight, but only 3 sets of 6 reps each.

I’ll hit the park later this week and get an idea of my limits at the chin up and pull ups. Overall, I’ve got a good foundation for the challenge. I plan to be ready to lift!

On another side, the running worries me. I grew up a runner and five years ago began training for a half marathon when  I discovered I have a pronation in my right foot that pretty much took me out of the game. I have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow to get fitted for orthotics that should fix it. We’ll see.

Check back on Thursday for the rules of the challenge and my personal goals.

Friday I’ll have a review of Cloverfield.