I found this week that falling off the wagon is pretty easy. I had thought for sure that I had become so accustomed to going to the gym daily that I would really be struggling with not going all week. Not the case. With the 5 am wake-up calls (from my alarm) and the excitement around a new school year, I didn't end up being at all upset to miss the gym. In fact, it was almost the opposite: I was totally content not going to the gym. I still made it on Thursday evening and then again this morning. This morning I did not have a tonne of energy and I wasn't bouncing around nearly as much. It seems being lazy is more of the addiction than working out. I just don't want to get back to the point where I have to force myself to work out, because that will quickly lead back to the point where I come up with a thousand excuses why I shouldn't go right now, or the most dreaded of all: "I'll do it later." Do you know how many loads of laundry never get done on time because "I'll do it later?" I think that demon phrase is in the process of working its magic on my laundry as we speak...
It's Saturday morning and I had thought I would sleep in. I guess I did a little bit, but I still woke up at 6 instead of 8 or 9. I don't mind; it just makes getting up during the week that much easier.
The class I wanted wasn't until 11, which is also hard because I always seem to feel like I don't want to start anything until after I've gone to the class - which means after lunch. By then, I'd accomplished nothing for so long today that all I wanted to do was nap. I have heard of the theory that when you sleep TOO long, you actually make yourself more tired. I wonder if that applies to sitting around - if you do nothing for long enough, it makes it twice as hard to get up and do something. Playing around on the computer was the compromise of trying to get something done. I do have some lessons to plan... (which is clearly not what I'm doing right now).
I think I've realized this week that the Drumming class instructor is my idol. She's roughly my age, with a very similar body shape, and also a teacher - grade 5 or 6 instead of high school. She's clearly in better shape - more endurance, stronger muscles, but still has a similar physique. And yet I ran into her on Monday, I also passed her on Thursday about to teach yet another class, and then she taught today's class. I guess the plus is that I was also at the gym on those days - but it left me wondering how many days a week is she here? I realize some of that may be substituting for an instructor who seriously injured herself and has been out for over two weeks, but still. I barely made it through my own first week of school and here she is not just going to the gym, but running multiple classes. Plus, she has a big energetic personality, and the booming classroom-teacher voice that I haven't learned yet. She just gets right into whatever we are doing, and I wouldn't be surprised to learn she is a great teacher at school too. I need to get some pointers, and maybe a bit of motivation.
I still haven't lost any weight, and my knees are sore constantly. Instead of seeing all of these wonderful results, I am pretty much right where I started at the beginning, except that now my knees hurt. They haven't really shifted around out of place since I was physically active as a teenager and playing basketball in high school. All that time, I graduated over 15 years ago, and they haven't bothered me. Now, I start doing squats and getting active and my knee-caps are back to shifting. It almost makes me want to say "well obviously I should stop working out". Realistically, I need to fix the injury I never bothered to fully deal with. I don't know why they would start acting up when I start doing exercises, especially when I'm pretty sure doing squats was one of the things I was supposed to do to strengthen the muscles to hold them in place. Go figure. I am tempted to drag out my knee brace and wear that for a while, then sign myself up for some more Physio to get the right stretches. In theory...
And then there's focusing on the weight loss... I'm happy with my results of feeling better, more energized, and being able to make it through a class without getting seriously out of breath. That in itself is a victory of sorts, but I did sign up to lose weight. I started at 200 pounds, and I still weigh 200 pounds. I can't even pretend I lost of few pounds. I am literally the same weight. Even the body type stuff isn't really helping me out; I'm sticking with moderate to low-cardio, I'm not doing any weightlifting, but I am going repeatedly, and many of the exercises do involve repetitions. Then again, I was doing Yoga for a really long time during the month. No more Yoga for me now, the instructors I like both work during the week. I'll only see the one on Holiday Mondays, and the other I might see at Christmas Break but that's it - or some of his workshops if I feel like shelling out $35 for 2 hours. I am tempted...
I think my goal for next week if to try and go to Boot Camp in the morning tomorrow, see how I feel about it after I've gone, and then try to focus more on getting short gym visits in. 1-hour classes just aren't going to work, but going spinning with the other teachers at my school on Mondays and Fridays after school, getting to a Boot Camp in the morning on Wednesdays if I feel up to it, and doing some exercises at home every day or going to the gym to use the equipment should help keep me on track. And I need to incorporate more weights and more repetitive movements like squats and bird-dogs. At least now I know the journey is not going to be as easy as I thought it would be. In my mind, I think I felt like I could have lost 15-20 pounds by now, and it's just not the reality. I'm also back into school time, which mean lunch consists of whatever I can quickly pack in the morning; and dinner consists of whatever I can quickly throw together in a very short amount of time. Except, I'm not a good cook, so a lot of this involved take-out or pre-packaged garbage marketed as food. We must've eaten at fast-food joints or restaurants 2-3 nights a week. It adds up quickly. I'm not surprised I weigh 200 pounds, but I also know it's going to be hard to not fall back on that routine. Just this week I took a microwave dinner one lunch, we had hot dogs at a school BBQ one day, we ate pasta one night, pizza another night, and tonight is going to be hot dogs again. Not off to a good start - and our after school activities haven't even started yet. *eye roll*
We'll see how the Boot Camp going tomorrow. I'm nervous this is going to be way out of my league... but I also want a replacement for the group-training sessions I can't justifiably afford.
Saturday, September 8, 2018
Saturday, September 1, 2018
Dropped the ball...
I gave in and didn't go to the gym yesterday, and I didn't even work out at home to be able to say it was OK because I still got a workout. I made it so close. It was August 31st...
To be fair, I did have a lot to do, and by the time I got around to being able to go, it was evening and there weren't really any classes being offered - I guess going to the gym is not everyone's "go to" fun thing to do on a Friday night.
I do have to say that my knees are feeling a lot better, so maybe taking a day off wasn't such a bad idea. The stiffness is almost entirely gone - whether that was from a day of rest or soaking in a bath I'm not sure, but it feels better. I did set my alarm for 5 am that morning to try and get up and make it to the 6 am class. But then I didn't get to sleep until 1 am and said "not a chance" to getting up that early - not when I had a busy day ahead of me. I also didn't accomplish even half of the things I wanted to get done yesterday either.
So I didn't make it, and yesterday I felt really bad about it (guilty), but now I'm over it. It was yet another day where I just didn't stop. According to my fitness tracker I got in 55 minutes of physical activity - I'm guessing all of that was walking around the school setting things up, and then around WalMart getting some supplies with my oldest daughter.
I had set an alarm to get up this morning to try the suspension workout but didn't get to that either. A small monkey crawled into my bed for snuggle - can't say no to that. And then she promptly fell back asleep on me and I didn't want to move her just to go to the gym.
BUT... I went to the drumming class a little later today. It was pretty good. More and more I am doing an increased number of jumps (instead of bouncing on my heels), and I am picking up the movement patterns faster - I even tried the shoulder shake the instructor does that makes it look like her shoulders are dancing (not successful). I can't seem to separate the movement of my shoulders and my hips to set them doing two different things. She makes it look so easy and natural and I feel like it's totally out of my realm of possibility. I came close a couple of times, I was doing some moves with my shoulders, one of which actually looked kind of good in the mirror before class had even started and I was shocked (no sense of rhythm here at all). I keep meaning to practice at home. I really can't dance. I'm getting a little better at finding the beat at least. Anyway... I wasn't out of breath at all, my throat got dry a couple of times from the heavy breathing (you breath a lot when jumping and bouncing around), but I was able to keep going the whole time. The only times I toned down my bouncing and jumping was when my knees started to hurt. I haven't fully been able to get them back to feeling like they are in the right place after the Aqua classes from last week. Also, with doing all of my squats (I think I mentioned I learned this month that I've been doing them wrong my whole life) the muscles around the knees are getting really tired because of the unfamiliar and new movements. 66 days to form an automatic habit. I have to keep going to get my squats down right and to practice keeping my shoulder blades back instead of rounded forward.
I'm still not 100% confident in this drumming class, but I'm getting closer. There are some moves I get right away, to the point I can even predict what's coming next. I am also adding in some of the "extras" to get a more intense workout (some, not all). I keep moving up closer to the front in each row; I'm no longer hiding out at the back. I'm getting there. The instructor is an elementary school teacher and part of me was daydreaming "hey, maybe I could do this too - get paid to get my workout in once or twice a week", but I'm not even close (probably comes with a free membership too). It's also helpful that she has a build similar to mine and isn't skinny with ripped muscles everywhere. Though she definitely has a stronger base of underlying muscle than I do - and WAY more energy. Distant future day dreams. I'd be far more interested in learning the Yoga Tune Up, but that's going to involve a lot of understanding of the muscles in the body and their interconnectedness. And better balance. And more flexibility. Both male instructors are constantly naming off the muscles, joints, and body parts that our moves are impacting. It's interesting, and way beyond my knowledge zone.
Like I said, distant dreams. I am contemplating the 2-hour leg, muscle and calf workshop in late September just so I don't lose the progress I've made so far. 2 hours on a Saturday, that's not so bad... But it's a body-part I don't wholly care to work on...
We'll see. I will most likely keep up my post-a-day routine for the rest of the weekend, but I think that after this point I will be submitting fewer entries, partly because I won't be going to the gym as much, but also partly because I am noticing I don't have a lot of new and exciting information to share in these posts. I am hitting a plateau in my workouts to some extent. I haven't lost any weight, but I am going to the same classes to work on my flexibility, mobility, balance, and overall fitness. As great as it is for my body, there isn't much to report back on, so my entries are side-tracking. I am going to try to overcome this plateau and continue into workouts with more results, so I will report back on that, but writing that I went to drumming class or Yoga again and it was a good workout isn't horribly exciting.
I think I am either going to try a Hot Yoga class tomorrow morning, or I am really going to push myself and hit up the Boot Camp class - time to get my butt kicked a little more...
There are a few more intense classes I want to try out, I'm just building up the nerve because many of them are way outside my comfort zone. When you are out of shape, it's one thing to show up to an "intro" class, or a class where you are the youngest one in the room because it's easy to get used to the workout. It's another animal entirely to walk into something that involves weight lifting, or interval training, or kickboxing, or boot camp-style stuff. A lot of these are marked as "Intermediate/Advanced" and even the ones that aren't seem a bit intimidating.
I'm working up my confidence, and trying to build a little strength beforehand, so I can go and give those a try. They may be even more effective in my fitness journey than the cardio classes. In looking at my body-type, I am not the type who benefits overly from cardio-based stuff. I am going to need to incorporate more weight-lifting and repetition-style workouts to get results. Joy. At least it's not telling me I need to take up running or cycling on a regular basis - so not my favorites. I guess if I was really bothered by my lack of workout yesterday I could've gone for a swim (I had thought of doing that but gave up), or I could've gone for a run; it was nice out and it totally would've counted as a decent workout...
To be fair, I did have a lot to do, and by the time I got around to being able to go, it was evening and there weren't really any classes being offered - I guess going to the gym is not everyone's "go to" fun thing to do on a Friday night.
I do have to say that my knees are feeling a lot better, so maybe taking a day off wasn't such a bad idea. The stiffness is almost entirely gone - whether that was from a day of rest or soaking in a bath I'm not sure, but it feels better. I did set my alarm for 5 am that morning to try and get up and make it to the 6 am class. But then I didn't get to sleep until 1 am and said "not a chance" to getting up that early - not when I had a busy day ahead of me. I also didn't accomplish even half of the things I wanted to get done yesterday either.
So I didn't make it, and yesterday I felt really bad about it (guilty), but now I'm over it. It was yet another day where I just didn't stop. According to my fitness tracker I got in 55 minutes of physical activity - I'm guessing all of that was walking around the school setting things up, and then around WalMart getting some supplies with my oldest daughter.
I had set an alarm to get up this morning to try the suspension workout but didn't get to that either. A small monkey crawled into my bed for snuggle - can't say no to that. And then she promptly fell back asleep on me and I didn't want to move her just to go to the gym.
BUT... I went to the drumming class a little later today. It was pretty good. More and more I am doing an increased number of jumps (instead of bouncing on my heels), and I am picking up the movement patterns faster - I even tried the shoulder shake the instructor does that makes it look like her shoulders are dancing (not successful). I can't seem to separate the movement of my shoulders and my hips to set them doing two different things. She makes it look so easy and natural and I feel like it's totally out of my realm of possibility. I came close a couple of times, I was doing some moves with my shoulders, one of which actually looked kind of good in the mirror before class had even started and I was shocked (no sense of rhythm here at all). I keep meaning to practice at home. I really can't dance. I'm getting a little better at finding the beat at least. Anyway... I wasn't out of breath at all, my throat got dry a couple of times from the heavy breathing (you breath a lot when jumping and bouncing around), but I was able to keep going the whole time. The only times I toned down my bouncing and jumping was when my knees started to hurt. I haven't fully been able to get them back to feeling like they are in the right place after the Aqua classes from last week. Also, with doing all of my squats (I think I mentioned I learned this month that I've been doing them wrong my whole life) the muscles around the knees are getting really tired because of the unfamiliar and new movements. 66 days to form an automatic habit. I have to keep going to get my squats down right and to practice keeping my shoulder blades back instead of rounded forward.
I'm still not 100% confident in this drumming class, but I'm getting closer. There are some moves I get right away, to the point I can even predict what's coming next. I am also adding in some of the "extras" to get a more intense workout (some, not all). I keep moving up closer to the front in each row; I'm no longer hiding out at the back. I'm getting there. The instructor is an elementary school teacher and part of me was daydreaming "hey, maybe I could do this too - get paid to get my workout in once or twice a week", but I'm not even close (probably comes with a free membership too). It's also helpful that she has a build similar to mine and isn't skinny with ripped muscles everywhere. Though she definitely has a stronger base of underlying muscle than I do - and WAY more energy. Distant future day dreams. I'd be far more interested in learning the Yoga Tune Up, but that's going to involve a lot of understanding of the muscles in the body and their interconnectedness. And better balance. And more flexibility. Both male instructors are constantly naming off the muscles, joints, and body parts that our moves are impacting. It's interesting, and way beyond my knowledge zone.
Like I said, distant dreams. I am contemplating the 2-hour leg, muscle and calf workshop in late September just so I don't lose the progress I've made so far. 2 hours on a Saturday, that's not so bad... But it's a body-part I don't wholly care to work on...
We'll see. I will most likely keep up my post-a-day routine for the rest of the weekend, but I think that after this point I will be submitting fewer entries, partly because I won't be going to the gym as much, but also partly because I am noticing I don't have a lot of new and exciting information to share in these posts. I am hitting a plateau in my workouts to some extent. I haven't lost any weight, but I am going to the same classes to work on my flexibility, mobility, balance, and overall fitness. As great as it is for my body, there isn't much to report back on, so my entries are side-tracking. I am going to try to overcome this plateau and continue into workouts with more results, so I will report back on that, but writing that I went to drumming class or Yoga again and it was a good workout isn't horribly exciting.
I think I am either going to try a Hot Yoga class tomorrow morning, or I am really going to push myself and hit up the Boot Camp class - time to get my butt kicked a little more...
There are a few more intense classes I want to try out, I'm just building up the nerve because many of them are way outside my comfort zone. When you are out of shape, it's one thing to show up to an "intro" class, or a class where you are the youngest one in the room because it's easy to get used to the workout. It's another animal entirely to walk into something that involves weight lifting, or interval training, or kickboxing, or boot camp-style stuff. A lot of these are marked as "Intermediate/Advanced" and even the ones that aren't seem a bit intimidating.
I'm working up my confidence, and trying to build a little strength beforehand, so I can go and give those a try. They may be even more effective in my fitness journey than the cardio classes. In looking at my body-type, I am not the type who benefits overly from cardio-based stuff. I am going to need to incorporate more weight-lifting and repetition-style workouts to get results. Joy. At least it's not telling me I need to take up running or cycling on a regular basis - so not my favorites. I guess if I was really bothered by my lack of workout yesterday I could've gone for a swim (I had thought of doing that but gave up), or I could've gone for a run; it was nice out and it totally would've counted as a decent workout...
Thursday, August 30, 2018
Drumming class and another good workout
They say it takes roughly 20 times (repetitions/days) for something to become a habit, and 66 days before a new behaviour becomes automatic.
I think I am entering that phase where going to the gym is becoming a habit. I started checking my schedule compulsively today trying to figure out exactly when I was going to go and trying to plot my day around that schedule.
Getting to the gym in September may not be my hurdle - trying not to dictate my life around when I go to the gym, and acclimatizing to the fact that I will most likely have to go at night will be my big hurdle - especially with kids in extra-curricular activities 5 nights a week. So far I've been doing almost entirely morning classes, but even with a 9:30 or 10:30 am start time I am not accomplishing much until I get back from the gym - and even then it is debatable if I get much done. I am not going to be able to continue this attitude of "my day can't start until I go to the gym" because it's not feasible to do 6 am classes every day. Maybe on some days, but not all. I am going to try one tomorrow I think, we'll see.
My fitness goal for the summer is going great (in terms of attendance, maybe not "visible" results), the rest of my goals - not so much. I try to do a little bit of cleaning and/or organizing each day, but nowhere near what I had planned out to do. And the activities I wanted to get done are also falling by the wayside.
Having goals is great, but making sure those goals are realistic and attainable is also important. I was patting myself on the back yesterday because I stepped on the scale at 192 (yay! actual weight loss), but typical to my body type, the weight just bounces right back and today I was back at 198. It's kind of funny, because at the start of my fitness journey when I stepped on that scale to measure body fat I was worried I'd be trying to use it monthly to see where I'm at, but since I haven't lost any weight, I'm not really curious to see the results. I mean I suppose it's possible that I've kept the same weight and just built muscle while reducing fat, but with my Yoga-centric workouts I highly doubt it. Maybe once I get some solid results in terms of weight loss I might be more attracted to trying it out.
So I did another drumming class today, this time at 6:30 in the evening, and lucky for me it was my Saturday morning instructor covering for the regular instructor. I got the same great energy and loud booming voice and the same enthusiasm from the weekend. Sweet. It was a good class. I am a little disappointed in my fitness tracker - I know sometimes it's a little slow to sync, but today's results were weird. It registered that I'd done an aerobic workout right away, but wouldn't count it as a workout in terms of my fitness goals (7 days out of 7 days of activity). It said I burned something like 585 calories, and had all the right measurements of the workout and results. So I tried editing the start and end times to make it register. No deal. Then I tried deleting it and entering it in manually. I mean it worked, sort of. I registered it as a "day" in my goal, but then it deleted all of the info. It kept track of my heart rate, but suddenly I dropped from 585 calories burned to 262, and it lost the scatter graph of physical activity it records. Boooo. I shouldn't have deleted it, what difference does it really make if the app says I did six days of activity or 7? Instead I've lost the data that was synced from my workout.
My plan for tomorrow is to try a boot camp style class at 6 am, firstly to see how I like it, and secondly because I have so much I want to get done tomorrow that I think I need to get up early for my workout. It'll be good practice for when I have to start getting up at 5 am next week. It might be a little intense after drumming class tonight, and the plan is to do it on Saturday as well - a boot camp in the morning tomorrow as well will give me three back-to-back higher intensity workouts. And my knees haven't fully recovered from whatever I did to them during training on Tuesday night. They are more mobile, but there is still some tenderness and stiffness. Some movements I just do not want to do, and my knee caps are back to shifting around and grinding up against my leg bones if I'm not careful with my movements. I kind of want to go soak in a hot bath... maybe, but that's not horribly productive.
On the one hand I feel like I am finally taking some time for me by going to the gym, which I need for my mental health and my overall health, but on the other hand I am starting to feel kind of guilty. I am not getting my deep-cleaning around the house done. My 30-day declutter challenge has fallen by the way-side. The girls are always upset when I go to the gym (they claim they want more time with me, but they are always on various technology when I am home, so it's really just a "whining-it-out" excuse because they have other things "planned" and they don't want me to go at that moment). I start school in less than a week and while I have some planning done, it's not even close to all of it. I had a list of activities I wanted to do with the girls this summer, and there's a number of them still left untouched. Some of them are small things like going to feed chickadees at a local hiking trail, some of them are more complex like going to the massive water park just outside the city. I have also been reflecting on whether these are actually things they want to do, or just things I think they should want to do and am trying to impose on them? The biggest "to-do" for them is that they want to do an escape room, but for the price of those things it's just really not in the books [actually I guess it's not that bad, $80 for four people]. Bird seed for a the hiking trail cost me $2.00. Going to the Gatineau hot air balloon festival would be rather inexpensive as well. Another thing they aren't horribly interested in. It's a tough situation trying to balance quality family time together with things they are actually interested in. In this day and age in seems like they all want to suck their brains out through their use of technology. Who needs zombies? Just give them tablets and gaming consoles.
Maybe I'll just go get lost in the gym. Surprisingly I've only been in the steam room once this month, and the hot tub once yesterday (we got kicked out because the chlorine levels were too high). Maybe that can be a goal for tomorrow too...
I think I am entering that phase where going to the gym is becoming a habit. I started checking my schedule compulsively today trying to figure out exactly when I was going to go and trying to plot my day around that schedule.
Getting to the gym in September may not be my hurdle - trying not to dictate my life around when I go to the gym, and acclimatizing to the fact that I will most likely have to go at night will be my big hurdle - especially with kids in extra-curricular activities 5 nights a week. So far I've been doing almost entirely morning classes, but even with a 9:30 or 10:30 am start time I am not accomplishing much until I get back from the gym - and even then it is debatable if I get much done. I am not going to be able to continue this attitude of "my day can't start until I go to the gym" because it's not feasible to do 6 am classes every day. Maybe on some days, but not all. I am going to try one tomorrow I think, we'll see.
My fitness goal for the summer is going great (in terms of attendance, maybe not "visible" results), the rest of my goals - not so much. I try to do a little bit of cleaning and/or organizing each day, but nowhere near what I had planned out to do. And the activities I wanted to get done are also falling by the wayside.
Having goals is great, but making sure those goals are realistic and attainable is also important. I was patting myself on the back yesterday because I stepped on the scale at 192 (yay! actual weight loss), but typical to my body type, the weight just bounces right back and today I was back at 198. It's kind of funny, because at the start of my fitness journey when I stepped on that scale to measure body fat I was worried I'd be trying to use it monthly to see where I'm at, but since I haven't lost any weight, I'm not really curious to see the results. I mean I suppose it's possible that I've kept the same weight and just built muscle while reducing fat, but with my Yoga-centric workouts I highly doubt it. Maybe once I get some solid results in terms of weight loss I might be more attracted to trying it out.
So I did another drumming class today, this time at 6:30 in the evening, and lucky for me it was my Saturday morning instructor covering for the regular instructor. I got the same great energy and loud booming voice and the same enthusiasm from the weekend. Sweet. It was a good class. I am a little disappointed in my fitness tracker - I know sometimes it's a little slow to sync, but today's results were weird. It registered that I'd done an aerobic workout right away, but wouldn't count it as a workout in terms of my fitness goals (7 days out of 7 days of activity). It said I burned something like 585 calories, and had all the right measurements of the workout and results. So I tried editing the start and end times to make it register. No deal. Then I tried deleting it and entering it in manually. I mean it worked, sort of. I registered it as a "day" in my goal, but then it deleted all of the info. It kept track of my heart rate, but suddenly I dropped from 585 calories burned to 262, and it lost the scatter graph of physical activity it records. Boooo. I shouldn't have deleted it, what difference does it really make if the app says I did six days of activity or 7? Instead I've lost the data that was synced from my workout.
My plan for tomorrow is to try a boot camp style class at 6 am, firstly to see how I like it, and secondly because I have so much I want to get done tomorrow that I think I need to get up early for my workout. It'll be good practice for when I have to start getting up at 5 am next week. It might be a little intense after drumming class tonight, and the plan is to do it on Saturday as well - a boot camp in the morning tomorrow as well will give me three back-to-back higher intensity workouts. And my knees haven't fully recovered from whatever I did to them during training on Tuesday night. They are more mobile, but there is still some tenderness and stiffness. Some movements I just do not want to do, and my knee caps are back to shifting around and grinding up against my leg bones if I'm not careful with my movements. I kind of want to go soak in a hot bath... maybe, but that's not horribly productive.
On the one hand I feel like I am finally taking some time for me by going to the gym, which I need for my mental health and my overall health, but on the other hand I am starting to feel kind of guilty. I am not getting my deep-cleaning around the house done. My 30-day declutter challenge has fallen by the way-side. The girls are always upset when I go to the gym (they claim they want more time with me, but they are always on various technology when I am home, so it's really just a "whining-it-out" excuse because they have other things "planned" and they don't want me to go at that moment). I start school in less than a week and while I have some planning done, it's not even close to all of it. I had a list of activities I wanted to do with the girls this summer, and there's a number of them still left untouched. Some of them are small things like going to feed chickadees at a local hiking trail, some of them are more complex like going to the massive water park just outside the city. I have also been reflecting on whether these are actually things they want to do, or just things I think they should want to do and am trying to impose on them? The biggest "to-do" for them is that they want to do an escape room, but for the price of those things it's just really not in the books [actually I guess it's not that bad, $80 for four people]. Bird seed for a the hiking trail cost me $2.00. Going to the Gatineau hot air balloon festival would be rather inexpensive as well. Another thing they aren't horribly interested in. It's a tough situation trying to balance quality family time together with things they are actually interested in. In this day and age in seems like they all want to suck their brains out through their use of technology. Who needs zombies? Just give them tablets and gaming consoles.
Maybe I'll just go get lost in the gym. Surprisingly I've only been in the steam room once this month, and the hot tub once yesterday (we got kicked out because the chlorine levels were too high). Maybe that can be a goal for tomorrow too...
Wednesday, August 29, 2018
Three in a day!
Three in a day.
I did it. I went to three classes in a day.
None of them were super exciting, but they were all good. After my training last night I felt like my knees were really sore, and they still were this morning. Stiff might be the better word. I had some trouble moving, I could feel it this morning when I tried to get out of bed and move about the house. It wasn't so bad in the Tune Up class; I noticed it, but none of the moves we were doing had much impact. I noticed it a lot in the other two classes. Class two was just straight yoga. I think that may have been my first "just yoga" - no attachments. It was with the same guy as the Tune Up. A little different, he didn't circulate as much to correct moves - although I did get my shoulders put into place and my downward dog fixed. And he did most of the moves with us a lot more than in the tune up class. But definitely no mumbo jumbo.
He led us in the moves and talked a little bit, but very different from many of the other classes. He chats the whole time in Tune Up, not here. I liked the class. My knees, not so much. We did a lot of moves that had me kneeling and rocking back and forth, and shifting the knee caps in various positions. My knees were not happy. You don't realize how much you use them in something until they hurt to move. ☹️
Not fun. I think it may have been from the squats and the way I was doing exercises in the training last night, or maybe I'm just starting to hit my burn-out from all of my fitness. I've noticed the muscle exhaustion in a few of my last classes - I try to hold a move and my legs or arms or whatnot are just shaking like crazy. I have no stability. To be fair - today and yesterday I didn't eat all that much and that might have contributed to my feeling of burn out. I was thinking my muscles may not hold this. But I made it through.
It's funny that just yesterday we were taking about how impatient some of the people at the club are; barging in to get "their spot" before the class ahead of time is even out. I've noticed a few impatient people, but today's took the cake. 15 minutes to spare in yoga, and people are massing outside the door and looking in and seeming to be downright agitated. I even wondered if the class was only supposed to be an hour and he was going over time. Nope, they're just impatient.
So I'm in my space and I'm cleaning up my stuff and the horde storms the room before any of us are done tidying. This woman comes over and puts her stuff down nearly on mine and proceeds to try and inch closer, essentially forcing me to move out of the way. Holy crap lady, how about you let me leave first? It's not even like I had that much stuff to put away and she's forcing me out. I was half tempted to stay for another class in that spot just to annoy her.
It was my last class with this instructor, though he does have a workshop in September that may not be such a bad idea - but it's 2 hours of rolling out feet, shins and calves, with maybe some hip at the end. We'll see. I will miss the Wednesday classes for sure. I can't say I've got any drastic changes super obvious... But there are small ones. When I got on the scale this morning I was down to 192 (and shocked). And when I tried to do a forward fold I realized I can actually touch the floor while standing with my legs straight. I haven't done that since I was a child. And in happy baby (on your back, legs bent and apart so you can grab your toes and look like a baby on their back) I was actually able to grab my toes. Previously, I was lucky if I could get me hands to my shins - ankles or feet were out of the question! Really impressed with my progression in flexibility. The 8 pounds was nice too, but it's entirely possible I'll still be back at 200 tomorrow.
The aqua fit class was good. I got some cardio and some stretching. My knees hurt as well. I went mostly for my mother to accompany her and didn't really have any motivation to be there. Because my knees hurt and I had already done two workouts that day I mostly took it easy, not giving the moves 100% at any point. There were definitely some moments where I felt the knee caps shifting painfully though. I think I may have to see my Physio about working on that again, though I'm almost certain the muscles to strengthen in there revolve around doing moves like squats and bends, which I've been doing in my classes anyway.
We'll see. I have an appointment with him on Friday. And I'm getting my hair done on Friday too! Just in time for back to school.
Tuesday, August 28, 2018
Body Types
There are a lot of different theories on what impacts your workout/your ability to gain or lose weight. There are some key terms that get thrown around like BMI (Body Mass Index), or Metabolism (the chemical transformations within your body that turn the food you eat into energy that can be burned), or Body Type (the natural shape of your body that dictates how your body handles weight).
My Yoga instructor was talking about Body Type at one of the sessions and discussing how he was a certain body type which meant he had a hard time putting on weight - and it made me think of my brother who is a six-foot-seven-inch string bean, except that he had his thyroid removed which accounts for his tiny size, despite the fact that he's in construction and is very clearly very muscular.
Body Type is usually divided into three distinct categories, but no one is entirely one category or the other, we are typically a blend of the three. I realized I wasn't sure what my Body Type was, so I decided to take this convenient online quiz to find out:
https://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/becker3.htm
It seems I am 38% endomorph, 38% ectomorph, and 25% mesomorph. Almost an even mix of all. Joy. The second time I took the quiz the numbers had flipped so endomorph was 25%, but it was still 38, 38, and 25. My math isn't fantastic, but I don't think those numbers add up to 100%...
This article goes into a little more depth on what the different types mean, how we are all really a combination of the three - there is no "set in stone" definition, and what are some strategies you can use to eat and workout according to your body type.
http://www.coachmag.co.uk/lifestyle/4511/ectomorph-endomorph-or-mesomorph-what-is-your-body-type
I'm going to go with the basis that I am primarily an ectomorph, because for the majority of my life, that has been my body type: tall, lean, doesn't really put on muscle. (It's also the category that stayed in the top both times I did the test). I have started becoming a little pear-shaped in my later life, but I wouldn't say I have a high body fat percentage. 39% is only slightly above the desired 15-25% range.
So, as an Ectomorph I should be doing lots of compound movements in sets of repetitions, rather than focusing on isolation movements. I should avoid high-cardio workouts as that tends to speed up my metabolism too much (perfect! bring it on!). I need a diet that is high in calories, carbs, protein, and fat (i.e. eat whatever you like, as long as it's healthy?). The dead-lift and the leg press are my best friend. When I was younger, this might have described me perfectly. Now, not so much. If doing too much cardio is going to speed up my metabolism too much, then I should have been shedding pounds like crazy this past month with the classes I was going to.
Well... maybe not. Now that I think about it, I only did cardio workouts once or twice a week, and none of them were super high-cardio. I did lots of bouncing around and got a good sweat going, but my fitness tracker (with a heart rate monitor) showed that I never hit the higher ranges of the cardio workouts. Maybe I could increase my cardio workouts to try and boost my metabolism...
As an endomorph I am good at storing fat and muscle in my lower body (i.e. hard to lose weight). I need a low-calorie diet and cardio workouts are good for me. The site recommends doing 4 to 5 days of heavy weightlifting as well as cardio. I should focus on my shoulders, watch what I eat, and do intensity training. I guess those interval training classes should be ideal for me in this body-type.
I could maybe see that working for me. Both endomorph and ectomorph seem to emphasize the weightlifting and complex movements rather than isolation. Although one promotes cardio workouts while the other says to stay away...
As a mesomorph I look well built without setting foot in a gym. I pack on muscle easily but tend to scatter my approach to training which makes it hard to get solid results. I respond well to power moves, and things like sprints are well-suited to what I need.
This one probably sounds the least like me. I've never really been muscular, although my legs have always been pretty built. So I think I'm looking at a combination of the first two. I won't fully discount the advice for this one, but I'm also not thrilled at the idea of doing sprints and training like an athlete, so I'll stick with the weightlifting and cardio. I guess that means I should strike up some nerve and get going on the more advanced classes that focus on strength and cardio instead of my beginner classes I've been enjoying.
This sounds way too complicated for me, but we can give it a shot. If this thing suggests weight lifting and more intense workouts as an option to lose weight and build muscle, I can give it a try. Who knows, it might work. Worst case, I try some classes I was interested in anyway and I don't get a lot of results.
My Yoga instructor was talking about Body Type at one of the sessions and discussing how he was a certain body type which meant he had a hard time putting on weight - and it made me think of my brother who is a six-foot-seven-inch string bean, except that he had his thyroid removed which accounts for his tiny size, despite the fact that he's in construction and is very clearly very muscular.
Body Type is usually divided into three distinct categories, but no one is entirely one category or the other, we are typically a blend of the three. I realized I wasn't sure what my Body Type was, so I decided to take this convenient online quiz to find out:
https://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/becker3.htm
It seems I am 38% endomorph, 38% ectomorph, and 25% mesomorph. Almost an even mix of all. Joy. The second time I took the quiz the numbers had flipped so endomorph was 25%, but it was still 38, 38, and 25. My math isn't fantastic, but I don't think those numbers add up to 100%...
This article goes into a little more depth on what the different types mean, how we are all really a combination of the three - there is no "set in stone" definition, and what are some strategies you can use to eat and workout according to your body type.
http://www.coachmag.co.uk/lifestyle/4511/ectomorph-endomorph-or-mesomorph-what-is-your-body-type
I'm going to go with the basis that I am primarily an ectomorph, because for the majority of my life, that has been my body type: tall, lean, doesn't really put on muscle. (It's also the category that stayed in the top both times I did the test). I have started becoming a little pear-shaped in my later life, but I wouldn't say I have a high body fat percentage. 39% is only slightly above the desired 15-25% range.
So, as an Ectomorph I should be doing lots of compound movements in sets of repetitions, rather than focusing on isolation movements. I should avoid high-cardio workouts as that tends to speed up my metabolism too much (perfect! bring it on!). I need a diet that is high in calories, carbs, protein, and fat (i.e. eat whatever you like, as long as it's healthy?). The dead-lift and the leg press are my best friend. When I was younger, this might have described me perfectly. Now, not so much. If doing too much cardio is going to speed up my metabolism too much, then I should have been shedding pounds like crazy this past month with the classes I was going to.
Well... maybe not. Now that I think about it, I only did cardio workouts once or twice a week, and none of them were super high-cardio. I did lots of bouncing around and got a good sweat going, but my fitness tracker (with a heart rate monitor) showed that I never hit the higher ranges of the cardio workouts. Maybe I could increase my cardio workouts to try and boost my metabolism...
As an endomorph I am good at storing fat and muscle in my lower body (i.e. hard to lose weight). I need a low-calorie diet and cardio workouts are good for me. The site recommends doing 4 to 5 days of heavy weightlifting as well as cardio. I should focus on my shoulders, watch what I eat, and do intensity training. I guess those interval training classes should be ideal for me in this body-type.
I could maybe see that working for me. Both endomorph and ectomorph seem to emphasize the weightlifting and complex movements rather than isolation. Although one promotes cardio workouts while the other says to stay away...
As a mesomorph I look well built without setting foot in a gym. I pack on muscle easily but tend to scatter my approach to training which makes it hard to get solid results. I respond well to power moves, and things like sprints are well-suited to what I need.
This one probably sounds the least like me. I've never really been muscular, although my legs have always been pretty built. So I think I'm looking at a combination of the first two. I won't fully discount the advice for this one, but I'm also not thrilled at the idea of doing sprints and training like an athlete, so I'll stick with the weightlifting and cardio. I guess that means I should strike up some nerve and get going on the more advanced classes that focus on strength and cardio instead of my beginner classes I've been enjoying.
This sounds way too complicated for me, but we can give it a shot. If this thing suggests weight lifting and more intense workouts as an option to lose weight and build muscle, I can give it a try. Who knows, it might work. Worst case, I try some classes I was interested in anyway and I don't get a lot of results.
Make New Friends...
Today's training session was awesome! There were three of us instead of two, and we all had a great chat while we were working out.
It was funny hearing the two other ladies talk about how aggressive some of the members at the gym are. They were talking about how some of them shove past other people to get to "their spot". The one lady was saying she was setting up for a class and someone came up and demanded she move because she was in "her spot", and another instance where she was taking down her equipment and the woman came and told her to get out of the way. Pretty sure it's a blank floor with a first-come, first-served policy. My contribution to this was that it kind of bothers me when one class ends and another is about to start and the new class is always trying to shove into the room. Like come on, let us out first. Ever heard of etiquette? How about courtesy? No, I guess not. I can't imagine someone being that juvenile that they would come and demand you move from their "spot". Like grow up a bit. The other side of it is that I can see a number of them feeling like they are entitled to a certain location because they are there every week and then feeling disgruntled when a newcomer occupies that space - but then they don't say anything and sit there simmering the whole class. Honestly, get over it. It reminds me of Nasty Lady #1 from the gardening club when our Girl Guide meetings are held - she is always trying to barge in before our meeting is over demanding we leave because they need to set up. You rent the space - you get the time you pay for, not your time plus a chunk of ours. It wasn't worth the fight, so we always tried to vacate on nights they were there, but man she was nasty, and persistent.
Chatting with the ladies was pretty fun, and I was thinking to myself "I could enjoy doing this every week", and then realized this was the last week I'd paid for this program. It's roughly $100 a month, and while that doesn't seem like a lot, it's just not something I can justify doing on top of the $80 I already pay for my monthly membership. Maybe later on in the year I will come back to it, but not for now. Too bad, I was enjoying those sessions. I am curious to try the Boot Camp class she teaches on the weekend to see if it is similar. If it's in the same genre then I don't really need to purchase the personalized time - although it is helpful to have a trainer circling you and correcting your position during the moves. I've mentioned it before: you can do a lot of damage when you are doing exercise the wrong way. It's better to have someone who knows what they are doing watch over you and correct you when you are doing it wrong. 66 days for something to become automatic. 66 days doing it wrong and you will set yourself to automatically doing it wrong - I know, I have years of learning to undo so I can relearn how to do a squat properly. For some of my classes we are doing these varying moves that involve squats and I am focusing so much of my attention on trying to make sure I am doing the squat right - because what feels natural is wrong. I have to get it just right so I can train myself to continue doing it right. I never realized working out required so much concentration to make sure you have the correct posture/position. I imagine once you get pretty familiar with it it just becomes routine, but this first month is taking a lot of focus on the position of my entire body. Is my abdomen tucked in the right way? Is my butt tucked under me? Have I stacked my joints (hips over knees, knees over ankles, shoulders over elbows, etc)? Are my shoulders back? Am I bending from the hips/knees or bending my back? Is my airway open? Am I putting my weight back through my heels (also learned about doing that this month)? I just learned this week that when I do the drumming class I am not actually supposed to be gripping the drum sticks in fists because I could injure my wrists that way; they are supposed to be loosely held between my fingers and rocked back and forth. Cool.
Still working on those squats. I can't get used to sticking my butt out behind me and bending through the hips more than the knees. It just feels like I am sticking my butt out and asking to be spanked (or something else). I'll get there eventually with more practice.
You could tell as the three of us progressed through the workout that we were getting more involved with what we were doing (or at least it required more effort) because the chat got less and less. By the end no one was talking. The workout was really good too. My knees were still a little sore, so movements like the "bird dog" where you balance on one knee and the opposing hand were not my favorite, but I did well. The first time I did this session with the instructor, I couldn't even make it through two rounds during our conditioning portion (5 exercises, 10 reps each, then repeat). This time I made it through three and was partway into four. And the other two didn't get so thoroughly far ahead of me in our different activities. Make no mistake, they still did things faster and got ahead of me, but I wasn't too far behind. Not like that first night where she lapped me and kept going. It may be that the exercises were easier than the first time - that's a possibility, but it could also be that my endurance and fitness are improving (I'm going to go with option B because it sounds more optimistic and aligns better with my goals).
It was funny hearing the two other ladies talk about how aggressive some of the members at the gym are. They were talking about how some of them shove past other people to get to "their spot". The one lady was saying she was setting up for a class and someone came up and demanded she move because she was in "her spot", and another instance where she was taking down her equipment and the woman came and told her to get out of the way. Pretty sure it's a blank floor with a first-come, first-served policy. My contribution to this was that it kind of bothers me when one class ends and another is about to start and the new class is always trying to shove into the room. Like come on, let us out first. Ever heard of etiquette? How about courtesy? No, I guess not. I can't imagine someone being that juvenile that they would come and demand you move from their "spot". Like grow up a bit. The other side of it is that I can see a number of them feeling like they are entitled to a certain location because they are there every week and then feeling disgruntled when a newcomer occupies that space - but then they don't say anything and sit there simmering the whole class. Honestly, get over it. It reminds me of Nasty Lady #1 from the gardening club when our Girl Guide meetings are held - she is always trying to barge in before our meeting is over demanding we leave because they need to set up. You rent the space - you get the time you pay for, not your time plus a chunk of ours. It wasn't worth the fight, so we always tried to vacate on nights they were there, but man she was nasty, and persistent.
Chatting with the ladies was pretty fun, and I was thinking to myself "I could enjoy doing this every week", and then realized this was the last week I'd paid for this program. It's roughly $100 a month, and while that doesn't seem like a lot, it's just not something I can justify doing on top of the $80 I already pay for my monthly membership. Maybe later on in the year I will come back to it, but not for now. Too bad, I was enjoying those sessions. I am curious to try the Boot Camp class she teaches on the weekend to see if it is similar. If it's in the same genre then I don't really need to purchase the personalized time - although it is helpful to have a trainer circling you and correcting your position during the moves. I've mentioned it before: you can do a lot of damage when you are doing exercise the wrong way. It's better to have someone who knows what they are doing watch over you and correct you when you are doing it wrong. 66 days for something to become automatic. 66 days doing it wrong and you will set yourself to automatically doing it wrong - I know, I have years of learning to undo so I can relearn how to do a squat properly. For some of my classes we are doing these varying moves that involve squats and I am focusing so much of my attention on trying to make sure I am doing the squat right - because what feels natural is wrong. I have to get it just right so I can train myself to continue doing it right. I never realized working out required so much concentration to make sure you have the correct posture/position. I imagine once you get pretty familiar with it it just becomes routine, but this first month is taking a lot of focus on the position of my entire body. Is my abdomen tucked in the right way? Is my butt tucked under me? Have I stacked my joints (hips over knees, knees over ankles, shoulders over elbows, etc)? Are my shoulders back? Am I bending from the hips/knees or bending my back? Is my airway open? Am I putting my weight back through my heels (also learned about doing that this month)? I just learned this week that when I do the drumming class I am not actually supposed to be gripping the drum sticks in fists because I could injure my wrists that way; they are supposed to be loosely held between my fingers and rocked back and forth. Cool.
Still working on those squats. I can't get used to sticking my butt out behind me and bending through the hips more than the knees. It just feels like I am sticking my butt out and asking to be spanked (or something else). I'll get there eventually with more practice.
You could tell as the three of us progressed through the workout that we were getting more involved with what we were doing (or at least it required more effort) because the chat got less and less. By the end no one was talking. The workout was really good too. My knees were still a little sore, so movements like the "bird dog" where you balance on one knee and the opposing hand were not my favorite, but I did well. The first time I did this session with the instructor, I couldn't even make it through two rounds during our conditioning portion (5 exercises, 10 reps each, then repeat). This time I made it through three and was partway into four. And the other two didn't get so thoroughly far ahead of me in our different activities. Make no mistake, they still did things faster and got ahead of me, but I wasn't too far behind. Not like that first night where she lapped me and kept going. It may be that the exercises were easier than the first time - that's a possibility, but it could also be that my endurance and fitness are improving (I'm going to go with option B because it sounds more optimistic and aligns better with my goals).
Monday, August 27, 2018
Back 2 Back Yoga Tune-Up classes - just in time for Back 2 School
First up: Yoga Tune-Up concentrating on the Hips. I went to this one last week. A lot of what he says makes sense and I can totally see the correlation between my legs, my feet and my spine, which basically means my overall posture. The first time we rolled out the soles of our feet in the Wednesday class, there were so many tight and sore spots I thought I would snap something, now I barely feel anything when I do it. I know there are a couple of spots that could use a little TLC, but nothing really hurts. Same with the hip movements; it seems like I am doing preventative maintenance (certainly not a bad thing) as opposed to anything really hurting. Which is great. I am not in any major discomfort. Some of the stretches I can feel are working muscles that aren't used to moving in that direction/way, and it's possibly helping with flexibility and/of mobility.
I really like the hip movement one where you lie flat on your back, put a band or a belt around your foot while it's raised straight up in the air, and then slowly lower it out to the side, using your hip muscles to make the unnatural movement. You have to try and keep your hips flat on the floor and your spine straight/neutral so you aren't twisting. I would have described myself as being fairly mobile, but I am rapidly discovering that my limbs are not as limber as I would have thought. I have a lot of difficulty raising my leg straight up with a straight knee and the other leg also straight and flat on the floor with toes pointed straight skyward. I cannot get very high and I feel it stretching all along the back of my leg (also a good thing). It doesn't "hurt", I can just feel it stretching and know that it's a good thing. Not so fond of using the foam roller to roll out the groin area (which really just tells me that I have a lot of tight muscles in there to the point that it's really not comfortable, i.e. I need to do this more!). I know why they say it is important to be aware of your body and your own limitations when doing Yoga - there are a million ways you could really hurt yourself by trying to push something farther than your body wants to let it go. Know your limits and respect them - work on them to increase your flexibility gradually. For instance with that stretch: I had a band around my foot helping me to raise my leg while keeping them both straight, I could've used brute force and hauled back on my leg, damaging something as I forced it past it's point of mobility. You cannot go from couch potato to marathon runner in a couple of weeks - these things take time with gradual progressions. When I see stories of people who do just that - sloth to superstar in a short period of time - I often wonder what details of the story we are not getting? Maybe they're really young? Maybe they used to be a marathon runner and they've just returned to a previous "fit" so it's not as hard? Who knows, but couch potato to marathon runner is way too ambitious. Foolhardy, even.
Overall, it was good. I am really going to be sad to not be able to come to the two male instructors' classes anymore once I go back to school next week. I can get in one more Monday on the holiday with this instructor (and can probably continue to go to his classes on any holidays/vacation) but I am probably done with the other instructor until next summer (and maybe Christmas Break - but I doubt it since Boxing Day is on the Wednesday). I really don't want to be sexist at all, but I find I really enjoy the classes with the two male instructors more than the women, and it's not because I'm checking them out. They are doing the activity with us to demonstrate, usually in the middle of the room so everyone can see, and they are taking the time to circulate and watch how each (or at least most) of us are doing the stretches and making little tweaks here and there. Today, he kept checking in on my mom and modifying what she should do so she didn't strain herself. Like when we all stood up to test our balance after one leg stretch, he told her to just stay on the ground because we'd be right back (it takes her a lot of effort to get up off the floor), and on another he told her not to try and do the stretch with the block under her back, just stay flat on the ground to simplify. They are just little things, but he took the time to let her know in advance, instead of watching her struggle to then say 'oh here, try this'. She may even be impressed enough to get a membership just to come and see him. He also came over and scolded me (jokingly) for having my shoulder blade off the ground on a stretch we were doing. I find the female instructors don't circulate the room in the same manner at all. There is no individual "tweaking" going on. It's not as personalized. And you know, I know they don't have to do it, but it really makes a difference. I worry less that I am going to do something wrong or hurt myself.
Next up, was the class the focused on shoulders. Holy Wow that was rough!
Lots of good points; I've mentioned that grinding feeling in my shoulder previously on here and we did a rolling exercise with the ball that completely hit where that feeling was - and I wasn't moving my arm, so I know it's not bone-on-bone. Basically, you take the Alpha ball (you could use the regular balls) and put it against the wall, and then you roll it over the upper tip of the shoulder blade near the neck (on your back, obviously). You are going across the muscle. He described it as the "rice krispies" area, which totally nailed that "popping/grinding" feeling. Yay me! It's not going to be pretty tonight. I worked the heck out of that area, knowing it was super tight and super irritated. I may even do some more later tonight just to work on that. Then they progressed to rolling it up the neck (a.k.a. along the muscle instead of across it) but I found this awkward and just stuck with my rice krispies.
He had us lay down on the ground and roll out our spines by doing back bends (neck supported!) over the roller and stretching out our spine. I feel like I've done this before with not much problem, but today was brutal. It was intensely painful, and I had a hard time getting my back to relax enough that I could do any sort of bends. I felt like I was really trying to force myself to bend back even a little bit. I'm not sure why it was so painful/stiff, and if that was just temporary, or something I'd never tried/realized that has been there all along? I am really tempted to go and get a roller and do that one more at home. It hurt. I was definitely aware that I could not do that stretch, today I just did not have the mobility to make it happen.
After that we were going to use the roller on the muscle under our armpit working it back and forth, but he suggested that anyone who found it too painful could do another activity standing up which he would show us. I didn't even hesitate, I was up on my feet in an instant. Which ended up being a good thing, because once two or three people saw me standing up and being explained what to do, they joined me. We raised our arm and put the Alpha ball just under the armpit and rolled the ball along that muscle down the side. I didn't even try the roller, my back had hurt way too much. When I do any and all of these stretches my face is usually pretty neutral (I worry I may even look bored - at least it's not my usual Resting Bitch Face); I've had people comment that I look so relaxed (again, high pain tolerance - I can feel it working and hurting, but not enough that it's causing me any serious grief). And anytime the instructors comment about how they can see people scrunching up their faces and reminding us to relax our jaw muscles, it's never me that's tense. My face must've shown a dozen-different pain-stricken visages with the roll on my spine, because when he suggested the standing up option he was looking right at me. He knew. There was no way I was trying this laying down. And this wasn't like the typical elderly folks groaning and grunting as they work muscles that are stiff, this was borderline agony. The next stretch would be far, far worse. With this one under the armpit, I think I want to compare it to labour during child-birthing. Labour might have been easier (no major drugs). I don't think I've ever experienced this before: you know that white-hot pain where you see white at the edges of your vision? I felt like I was going to throw up. I contemplated making a comment like "This hurts so much I feel like I want to throw up", but I knew he would just tell me to stop, and I could tell I was in the right spot. Apparently, I've never tried to work that muscle before. The left side was a million times better than the right; the right I wanted to pass out, vomit, or both. The black started creeping in around the edges of my vision and replacing the white at one point. We only rolled it for 2, maybe 3 minutes before changing sides. The left just a "normal" this hurts.
Strangely enough, it is not that muscle that I can still feel throbbing this afternoon; it's the rice krispie one over/under my shoulder blade. I should probably try to roll both of them out again today.
It was a really good class. He teaches three back to back classes on Mondays; YTU Hips, what was listed as just "Yoga Tune-Up", and YTU Core. I did not realize that the second class focused on Shoulders, or I probably would've been there from Day 1, especially knowing that's what I need to work on. And especially with all of my forays into "hey, you all want to work on neck and shoulders? Perfect! Let's do Feet!" (yes, I realize they are all connected and your feet impact your back etc., but it felt like I was doing feet every time and I really wanted to work on neck/shoulders). I am certainly going back to the Shoulders class next Monday. I may try to do Shoulders and then Core afterwards. I've been to the Core and the Hips both before, but this was my first Shoulders.
Wow.
Just Wow.
It's really too bad he doesn't teach evenings. I am a major fan.
I'll let you know how I feel tomorrow and whether I'm still a #1 fan, or just a crying baby. And tomorrow's my last training session. Yikes.
I really like the hip movement one where you lie flat on your back, put a band or a belt around your foot while it's raised straight up in the air, and then slowly lower it out to the side, using your hip muscles to make the unnatural movement. You have to try and keep your hips flat on the floor and your spine straight/neutral so you aren't twisting. I would have described myself as being fairly mobile, but I am rapidly discovering that my limbs are not as limber as I would have thought. I have a lot of difficulty raising my leg straight up with a straight knee and the other leg also straight and flat on the floor with toes pointed straight skyward. I cannot get very high and I feel it stretching all along the back of my leg (also a good thing). It doesn't "hurt", I can just feel it stretching and know that it's a good thing. Not so fond of using the foam roller to roll out the groin area (which really just tells me that I have a lot of tight muscles in there to the point that it's really not comfortable, i.e. I need to do this more!). I know why they say it is important to be aware of your body and your own limitations when doing Yoga - there are a million ways you could really hurt yourself by trying to push something farther than your body wants to let it go. Know your limits and respect them - work on them to increase your flexibility gradually. For instance with that stretch: I had a band around my foot helping me to raise my leg while keeping them both straight, I could've used brute force and hauled back on my leg, damaging something as I forced it past it's point of mobility. You cannot go from couch potato to marathon runner in a couple of weeks - these things take time with gradual progressions. When I see stories of people who do just that - sloth to superstar in a short period of time - I often wonder what details of the story we are not getting? Maybe they're really young? Maybe they used to be a marathon runner and they've just returned to a previous "fit" so it's not as hard? Who knows, but couch potato to marathon runner is way too ambitious. Foolhardy, even.
Overall, it was good. I am really going to be sad to not be able to come to the two male instructors' classes anymore once I go back to school next week. I can get in one more Monday on the holiday with this instructor (and can probably continue to go to his classes on any holidays/vacation) but I am probably done with the other instructor until next summer (and maybe Christmas Break - but I doubt it since Boxing Day is on the Wednesday). I really don't want to be sexist at all, but I find I really enjoy the classes with the two male instructors more than the women, and it's not because I'm checking them out. They are doing the activity with us to demonstrate, usually in the middle of the room so everyone can see, and they are taking the time to circulate and watch how each (or at least most) of us are doing the stretches and making little tweaks here and there. Today, he kept checking in on my mom and modifying what she should do so she didn't strain herself. Like when we all stood up to test our balance after one leg stretch, he told her to just stay on the ground because we'd be right back (it takes her a lot of effort to get up off the floor), and on another he told her not to try and do the stretch with the block under her back, just stay flat on the ground to simplify. They are just little things, but he took the time to let her know in advance, instead of watching her struggle to then say 'oh here, try this'. She may even be impressed enough to get a membership just to come and see him. He also came over and scolded me (jokingly) for having my shoulder blade off the ground on a stretch we were doing. I find the female instructors don't circulate the room in the same manner at all. There is no individual "tweaking" going on. It's not as personalized. And you know, I know they don't have to do it, but it really makes a difference. I worry less that I am going to do something wrong or hurt myself.
Next up, was the class the focused on shoulders. Holy Wow that was rough!
Lots of good points; I've mentioned that grinding feeling in my shoulder previously on here and we did a rolling exercise with the ball that completely hit where that feeling was - and I wasn't moving my arm, so I know it's not bone-on-bone. Basically, you take the Alpha ball (you could use the regular balls) and put it against the wall, and then you roll it over the upper tip of the shoulder blade near the neck (on your back, obviously). You are going across the muscle. He described it as the "rice krispies" area, which totally nailed that "popping/grinding" feeling. Yay me! It's not going to be pretty tonight. I worked the heck out of that area, knowing it was super tight and super irritated. I may even do some more later tonight just to work on that. Then they progressed to rolling it up the neck (a.k.a. along the muscle instead of across it) but I found this awkward and just stuck with my rice krispies.
He had us lay down on the ground and roll out our spines by doing back bends (neck supported!) over the roller and stretching out our spine. I feel like I've done this before with not much problem, but today was brutal. It was intensely painful, and I had a hard time getting my back to relax enough that I could do any sort of bends. I felt like I was really trying to force myself to bend back even a little bit. I'm not sure why it was so painful/stiff, and if that was just temporary, or something I'd never tried/realized that has been there all along? I am really tempted to go and get a roller and do that one more at home. It hurt. I was definitely aware that I could not do that stretch, today I just did not have the mobility to make it happen.
After that we were going to use the roller on the muscle under our armpit working it back and forth, but he suggested that anyone who found it too painful could do another activity standing up which he would show us. I didn't even hesitate, I was up on my feet in an instant. Which ended up being a good thing, because once two or three people saw me standing up and being explained what to do, they joined me. We raised our arm and put the Alpha ball just under the armpit and rolled the ball along that muscle down the side. I didn't even try the roller, my back had hurt way too much. When I do any and all of these stretches my face is usually pretty neutral (I worry I may even look bored - at least it's not my usual Resting Bitch Face); I've had people comment that I look so relaxed (again, high pain tolerance - I can feel it working and hurting, but not enough that it's causing me any serious grief). And anytime the instructors comment about how they can see people scrunching up their faces and reminding us to relax our jaw muscles, it's never me that's tense. My face must've shown a dozen-different pain-stricken visages with the roll on my spine, because when he suggested the standing up option he was looking right at me. He knew. There was no way I was trying this laying down. And this wasn't like the typical elderly folks groaning and grunting as they work muscles that are stiff, this was borderline agony. The next stretch would be far, far worse. With this one under the armpit, I think I want to compare it to labour during child-birthing. Labour might have been easier (no major drugs). I don't think I've ever experienced this before: you know that white-hot pain where you see white at the edges of your vision? I felt like I was going to throw up. I contemplated making a comment like "This hurts so much I feel like I want to throw up", but I knew he would just tell me to stop, and I could tell I was in the right spot. Apparently, I've never tried to work that muscle before. The left side was a million times better than the right; the right I wanted to pass out, vomit, or both. The black started creeping in around the edges of my vision and replacing the white at one point. We only rolled it for 2, maybe 3 minutes before changing sides. The left just a "normal" this hurts.
Strangely enough, it is not that muscle that I can still feel throbbing this afternoon; it's the rice krispie one over/under my shoulder blade. I should probably try to roll both of them out again today.
It was a really good class. He teaches three back to back classes on Mondays; YTU Hips, what was listed as just "Yoga Tune-Up", and YTU Core. I did not realize that the second class focused on Shoulders, or I probably would've been there from Day 1, especially knowing that's what I need to work on. And especially with all of my forays into "hey, you all want to work on neck and shoulders? Perfect! Let's do Feet!" (yes, I realize they are all connected and your feet impact your back etc., but it felt like I was doing feet every time and I really wanted to work on neck/shoulders). I am certainly going back to the Shoulders class next Monday. I may try to do Shoulders and then Core afterwards. I've been to the Core and the Hips both before, but this was my first Shoulders.
Wow.
Just Wow.
It's really too bad he doesn't teach evenings. I am a major fan.
I'll let you know how I feel tomorrow and whether I'm still a #1 fan, or just a crying baby. And tomorrow's my last training session. Yikes.
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