Stupid human tricks: 90-lb dumbbell hike

You might recall that I’ve been carrying rocks around my neighborhood. I don’t have much patience for indoor exercise, and I enjoy working everything — strength, stability, endurance — at once. I’ve been rocking this workout for the past three weeks.

– Carry a pair of 45-lb dumbbells to my mailbox and back. It’s 850 steep paces each way.

– Every 100 paces, do a set of pushups, bent rows or upright-rows-to-presses. Pick up the ‘bells and continue.

– The heart rate floats in the mid-high aerobic range. It feels like most muscles get worked (and in a real-world, integrated way). As far as I can tell, this adventure develops: overall strength, stability, cardiovascular endurance, muscular endurance, grip strength/endurance and stupidness.

– I’m fascinated by the way our bodies adapt to stresses. I’ve done this workout three times in three weeks, and each time was much easier:

Day 1 – 40 minutes – very hard; could barely hold on at the end

Day 2 – 37 minutes – medium hard; struggled at the end but no big deal

Day 3 – 35 minutes – totally doable

Pretty fun. Time to change it up.