BBM Connection

Workout: Abs Conditioning: Pilates
Author: chaos

Started the year off with a surprisingly tough abs pilates workout. I’m not sure I was really ready for it… perhaps partly because my stomach was complaining about being empty. Whatever the reason, I found this workout to be somewhat more difficult than others recently. It could just be that my mind wasn’t really in it, or perhaps that I was paying more attention than normal to my form. Sometimes too much attention to detail isn’t such a great thing. Oh well. My body is somewhat sore from my workout yesterday, which is telling me that I’m really not getting enough yoga in lately. Probably not enough nutrition, either, but that’s a slightly separate issue. Anyway, I think I’m going to try and sneak an extra workout (or maybe even two) in during the next day or so, to get a good trend heading back into the working zone.

Workout: Yoga for Strength: session 2
Author: chaos

Another classic session, the most classic, really. I’ve certainly had better editions of this session, although it wasn’t terrible. I was noting during the session that my overall focus has really deteriorated in the last few months. It seems like I’ve largely lost the idea of focus. Obviously, that’s something that I need to start working on, perhaps the first thing that I really need to start working on. Without that focus, I don’t really think that yoga is anything more than another workout, and if I’m just going to do a workout, I could do one with more cardio in it. Obviously, I still think that there’s more to be gained from the yoga experience, but I’ve lost sight of that lately. But it’s certainly not too late to recover, and now that I’ve realized this, I can hopefully start working more awareness back into my workouts. I’m sure that with that, the physical aspects will continue to come.

Workout: Abs Conditioning: Balanceball
Author: chaos

I wanted to get a balanceball workout in before heading back, so I motivated to do so. I was pretty happy with it… it definitely felt like it was working, but it also seemed like I was paying more attention to what I was doing to help it work. And of course, when I’m focusing that much on what my muscles are doing, I’m not as distracted by outside stuff. So overall, it was pretty much a positive experience. Getting ready to take the show on the road again tonight. I’m feeling pretty good about getting in the workouts right now, so there’s a pretty good chance that I’ll do another one tonight. We’ll see if that ends up happening, though. About the only thing that I’m certain of is that I won’t get enough sleep tonight. Hopefully I can work through that and catch up somewhat tomorrow night, though.

Workout: Yoga for Strength: session 1
Author: chaos

Got this workout in slightly later than was probably ideal, considering that I have to go to work in the morning. But I’ve been feeling a bit of a groove the last few days, and I wanted to take advantage of that as much as possible. I also really haven’t been feeling like doing the workouts in the PY:Complete series, perhaps because I don’t feel like they help for focusing on what you’re doing. At any rate, I went back to this workout again. It went decently… I was experimenting a little bit with my positioning in certain poses. The reason I think that’s an improvement is because it means that I’m actually paying attention to the poses, instead of just going through the motions. I’d still like to get and maintain a little more overall awareness and focus, but it’s at least a start. Anyway, I’ll try to get a workout in tomorrow, but given the lack of sleep I’m going to be experiencing, that could be problematic. As usual, I’ll just play it by ear.

Workout: Abs Conditioning: Pilates
Author: chaos

I injured my knee a little bit last night, a little bit of hyperextension. It wasn’t too bad, but then throughout the day today I kept accidentally aggravating the injury, and so I was definitely going to do an abs workout to minimize the chances of further aggravation. I pretty much played workout roulette to determine if I was going to do abs or pilates, and pilates came up. I continued to focus on my movements, which definitely helped some with the isolation. There are still one or two things that don’t seem like they’re working my abs, which makes me wonder if I’m doing them wrong. Anyway, I’m hoping that I’ll manage to stay off my knee enough today that I can do a regular workout tomorrow, but if not, I may end up doing abs again.

Workout: Abs Conditioning: Yoga
Author: chaos

Well, I finally made it to my new temporary headquarters tonight. I think I’m actually going to keep track of how much I stay at one place vs. another, to see if this place really ends up being my true temp headquarters or not. I think it probably will, but not by much.
Anyway, tonight’s workout. Well, I was very excited when I got here to realize that I would finally get the chance to practice on a real hardwood floor. I’ve been wanting to do so for quite a while now, but haven’t really had the chance. I was somewhat wanting to do one of the standard yoga workouts to test out the new surface, but between fatigue and continued soreness in the knee, I decided to just go ahead and do another abs workout. I went for yoga today, just to keep things interesting.
Overall, it was a pretty similar experience, but there were a few definite differences in between practicing on hardwood and carpet. Most notably, the twists seemed to work the obliques a lot more than they do on carpet. Especially the one with the legs fully extended… wow. Other than that, things felt pretty much the same for the most part. The part with the one leg held sideways with the other leg extended felt both easier and more effective being the other truly notable event. Anyway, I should really get to bed, since it looks like the commute tomorrow is going to be a whole lot of fun. Hopefully tomorrow I’ll be ready and able to do a regular workout, but we’ll see what happens.

Workout: Free Form
Author: chaos

I believe that yesterday marked the second anniversary of starting my yoga practice. It certainly doesn’t seem like it’s been that long, but history would seem to indicate otherwise. I do have some thoughts to share on the past year or so, but I think I’ll save that for another entry.
I was really exhausted last night, so I decided to go to bed and then do my workout in the morning. I wasn’t positive I was going to actually get up for it, but I managed to convince myself to do so. I wasn’t in the mood for abs, and didn’t particularly feel like doing any of the other workouts, so I decided to just do a short free form workout. It started off being roughly based on the total body workout, and then I just started doing my own thing entirely. It pretty much consisted of a lot of standing forward bends and some downward dog, with sun salutation type movements between. The poses I did were triangle, side stretch, and warrior II. Then I cut into some seated forward bends and finished with a short relaxation pose. Not terribly strenuous, but it did stretch me out and I felt a little more awake after it was done, so it was a good thing overall. I’m going to attempt to get a workout in tonight before I go to bed, simply because I suspect I won’t be getting up at all early tomorrow, and would like to continue my current run of workouts. I may just end up taking a day off entirely, though, so we’ll see what happens.

Workout: Abs Conditioning: Pilates
Author: chaos

Well, I was certainly correct about not waking up early today, but then I decided to do a workout after not too long, anyway. Through a random selection process, abs pilates was once again chosen. It was fairly tough… I don’t know if I’m doing things a little better, such that my abs work a little harder, or if my abs were just tired today for some reason, but it definitely seemed a bit harder than usual. It’s a little frustrating that I don’t seem to be increasing much in strength right now, but it’s certainly possible that’s more the fault of my eating habits than anything else. I really need to start balancing my diet, particularly during the week. Anyway, I’ll again try to get a workout in tonight before bed, but who knows if that will happen or not.

Workout: Abs Conditioning: Yoga
Author: chaos

The last few days have been tough for getting non-abs workouts in, although I suspect that’s more a matter of timing than lack of desire. And the fact that I’ve spent most of my time sleeping certainly hasn’t helped. I think I need to get more active on my nutrition… combining the daily workout with insufficient sleep and poor nutrition isn’t working out very well. It definitely seems that the last few abs workouts have been a little tougher than previous ones, presumably in part because my body hasn’t had the resources to recover and build from the previous workouts. So I’ll be looking to pay more attention to some of these other aspects in the next week or so, to see if that helps my ability to heal and progress any.

Workout: Power Yoga: Total Body
Author: chaos

Again, I return to this workout after a long break. I’m not quite sure why I keep letting it go so long between workouts… I guess mostly because the workout is an hour long if I do the full thing, and that always seems like too much time, more than I really have available. Really, I just need to start making more time to do the workout, or just do a short session, like I did tonight. It was actually kind of interesting that I didn’t do the full session tonight… it was primarily because I wasn’t mentally with the workout. Physically, I was having no trouble, and probably could have relatively easily done the entire thing. But I couldn’t seem to quite get into it mentally… something seemed wrong about it. I can’t really explain the feeling, as I haven’t really experienced it before in the context of a workout. Anyway, I decided after the first section to just go ahead and jump to the last section, and that felt better. So perhaps I just wasn’t up for a real workout for some reason. The stretching felt pretty good, actually, and I seemed more flexible than I recall being the last time I did this workout. Whether that was actually the case or not is always hard to say, but that’s definitely my impression.
Well, I completed my second year of yoga practice a few days ago. It’s definitely kind of hard to believe it’s been another year already, but that probably has more to do with my somewhat busy schedule the last couple of months than with anything else. Overall, I’d definitely say I made progress… unquestionably, I’m better at all of the workouts that I do regularly, stronger and more flexible than I was a year ago, and have a better idea of what I’m doing mentally. I’ve maintained a certain level of dedication to the practice, even when I’ve been busy. But I feel that I’m lagging in some critical areas, primarily the mental aspects of the practice. I don’t feel that I’m doing a very good job of centering myself at this time… I think I was doing a better job in mid-summer. I don’t have as much focus right now as I have had at other times in the past, and I’m lacking some of the mind-body connection that I gained when I was practicing more frequently. I don’t think that these are things that I’m lacking by necessity, just that I’ve failed to keep track of them and be mindful of them, and so they’ve escaped from my practice.
So, for the year upcoming, I’m going to try and be more mindful in my practice. To keep in mind that the closest approximation of the physical position is not as important as the mental understanding and the connecting to the body. To stay aware of my body, and how it feels both while doing workouts and throughout the day. I hope that I’ll be able to maintain my recently renewed dedication to having a daily workout, and let this lead me back into a stronger position mentally and physically.

Workout: Abs Conditioning: Balanceball
Author: chaos

Got in what might come to be my weekly balanceball workout today. It went pretty well… I didn’t feel quite as worn in the abs as I have during the last few abs workouts, and I also felt like I was focusing more on integrating my breathing and motions together. Definitely in the middle of the workout it seemed like I was doing a better job of it. I also felt that I was again getting good focus on the abdominals, and really noticing when they were being used in different movements. So, overall, nothing amazing about the workout, but continuing to work on some of the ideas I’ve been expressing regarding awareness during my workouts. Now if I can manage to get that and centering as well, that would be amazing, but perhaps ambitious at this point. For now, if I can keep the idea of awareness fresh in my mind and as an active part of my workouts, that will be sufficient.

Workout: Yoga for Strength: session 1
Author: chaos

Another late night tonight. I really should have stuck with my original plan of getting my workout in and going to bed. One hopes that someday I’ll learn, but it doesn’t look like it’s going to be too soon. Anyway.
The workout was fairly decent. I feel like I’m getting back into the breath/movement integration that I had going some time ago. Slowly, but I’m aware of it again. I considered skipping the section with the headstand training and jumping directly into the shoulderstand section, but decided to stick out the entire thing. It was probably a good choice overall, since it made the workout feel more complete. I didn’t have quite as much trouble with the two minute downward dog as I had been lately… most notably, my right hip didn’t cramp. My shoulders were definitely getting tired, though. I’m still lacking something from that pose, overall. I felt really good about shoulderstand, though… the positioning just felt right. I was even trying to work on my breathing while in the pose, but that didn’t go quite as well. I did hold the pose for a little bit longer than on the video. It would have been nice to have held it even longer, but I had the strange sensation of the blood draining from my legs, so I decided to stop for the time. Probably just some weird temperature effect or something. Anyway, off to insufficient sleep, and hopefully I’ll get a good workout in tomorrow.

Workout: Free Form
Author: chaos

Another free form workout this morning. I’m growing somewhat fond of doing a light free form workout in the morning, as it feels kind of nice to stretch out before starting the day. Of course, overall, I’m more fond of sleeping in, which makes it difficult to really plan to get this type of a workout in. Nonetheless, I feel pretty good when I do get it in, and will probably try to work it in on a semi-regular basis.
Today’s workout was much the same as the one last week, vaguely following the beginning of total body and then venturing off on my own. The notable poses were triangle, warrior I, and warrior II, similar to last week. I finished off with some seated forward bends and then a bit of leg stretching. I’ve been feeling a bit more inspired to do leg stretches lately, because it seems as if my hamstrings are finally starting to loosen up a bit. I’m certain continued regular practice will help that process as long as I don’t try to push, so I’m just trying to target that a little bit more without overdoing it. Anyway, I’ll quite likely try to do an evening workout tonight, and possibly another morning one tomorrow as well, but that will depend on how tired I am and how much sleep I get.

Workout: Free Form
Author: chaos

I was originally planning on doing an abs workout, but didn’t end up having the motivation to do so last night. I then considered doing it this morning, but ended up deciding that I really wasn’t in the mood. So I did another free form workout. For this one I closely followed the total body workout for the beginning, and then just closed with some forward bends and side stretching. I had a lot of trouble staying focused on the workout today most of the time. The rest of the time I was noting the ways in which hardwood floor is a better surface for the workout. It’s somewhat impressive the difference it makes. I suppose I shouldn’t get too spoiled, or I won’t want to work out on carpet any more. I’ll almost certainly get an abs workout in tonight, and perhaps do something tomorrow morning as well.

Workout: Free Form
Author: chaos

I can barely call what I did this morning a workout, really. I just ran through a fairly short and relatively fast paced workout routine in order to limber up and help wake up a bit. This was true free form, as I really made up the entire sequencing. Notable poses were triangle, half moon, warriors I & II. I ended with some leg stretches (no forward bends today) as well as the standard relaxation pose. I’m somewhat dubious about getting in a workout tonight since I really didn’t get much sleep at all, and I have to drive home through conditions that are looking like they might be considerably less than ideal. So I’m guessing that by the end of that, I’m not going to be inclined to get a workout in. I should be able to pick up a bit over the weekend, I think, and maybe get an extra workout in somewhere.

Workout: Abs Conditioning: Yoga
Author: Kristi

Last week, I didn’t post about the two workouts I did, and I don’t feel like doing postdated ones, because they’ll end up lost at this point. Suffice it to say that doing yoga for strength with Rodney as you’re starting to feel sick may not be the best idea as every time you cough you will remember that you did yoga for strength as sooooo many muscles hurt. How was that for a run-on sentence?

Anyway, I’m back to really making a serious effort at doing more yoga, now that I’m feeling better. Today I did the abs yoga, as it seemed least likely to cause major problems with the sinuses, etc. Although now that it’s over, and I’m back to coughing, I’m not convinced that it was the best idea. It takes abs to cough. Ah well. The workout went fine. I was able to hold the full boat pose for the full time, and didn’t want to just give up as I brought my legs up and down. So overall, a good workout.

Workout: Abs Conditioning: Yoga
Author: chaos

This was certainly not one of my top abs workouts. For some reason I was just having a hard time really getting into it tonight. I did notice that being on carpet seemed a little bit less effective than being on hardwood, but that’s just something I’m going to have to deal with. It’s not like it’s not still effective, just perhaps not as effective as it could be. Whatever. I might get another workout in tonight, but I suspect doing two tomorrow is somewhat more likely. So until then…

Workout: Yoga for Strength: session 1
Author: chaos

Still having some problems with a lack of motivation. I was going to get this workout in much earlier in the day, but I really didn’t feel like it. I still didn’t particularly feel like it now, but I at least managed to push myself through it. Somewhat frustrating that I’ve been so uninspired the last few days. Hopefully I can snap out of it sometime soon.
The workout itself was okay. Shoulderstand felt good, and I held it for some extra time. Two minute downward dog wasn’t all that bad, I could have held that for a little while longer, but I didn’t. Most everything else was pretty much normal, I’d say. Something like that. I may try to get an abs workout in a little later, but then again, I might not. I’ll most likely try to get an abs balanceball workout in at some point in the afternoon tomorrow, whatever else I end up doing.

Workout: Abs Conditioning: Balanceball
Author: chaos

Got my regularly scheduled weekly balanceball workout in today. It was a little bit easier to motivate for this one than some of the others lately, perhaps partly because it’s on a regular schedule. Not entirely sure. It was fairly tough, actually. I still haven’t figured out what the deal is with abs workouts… sometimes they seem pretty easy, sometimes they seem harder than they should. Regardless, I really felt like I was getting a good workout in today. Which, in the absence of getting in solid full body workouts is better than nothing, I suppose. My abs should be pretty solid by the time I start getting into regular yoga workouts more consistently again. Anyway. Most likely I’ll either get a more full workout in tonight, or probably another free form if I end up doing it in the morning.

Workout: Power Yoga: Stamina
Author: chaos

Wow. The difference really is amazing. Balancing is so much easier when it’s not done on carpet. At least, for things like tree pose and backbend lunge. When I get a chance to do half moon and warrior III, we’ll see if those are really any easier. The overall experience just seems like it’s easier to do, though.
Tonight’s workout was a self directed stamina session. I actually had to review the workout before doing it, because I didn’t really remember how this one went. I think I ended up getting most of it, although I missed at least one minor part. The greater part of the workout was there, though, which is what’s important. I felt… perhaps a little more focused today. Not really as much as I’d like to be, although doing a self directed session makes focusing on the other stuff a little bit harder, at least when I’m trying to follow an actual workout. I suppose it doesn’t really make it harder if I’m doing free form, and it may even make it a little easier. Anyway, I’ll probably try and get a pilates workout in tomorrow night, since it’s been a while since I’ve done one.

Workout: Abs Conditioning: Yoga
Author: chaos

Got in my first directed workout on the hardwood floor tonight. I suppose it isn’t all that different, except that I don’t have to concentrate on remembering everything myself. Also, I started in on my plan to get mlee addicted to yoga. I don’t know whether or not it will take, but I’ll certainly make an attempt. I certainly have a better chance now than at any other point in time, I’m thinking.
Anyway, tonight’s workout was pretty solid. I wasn’t quite as focused as I’d like to be, but on the other hand, it did relax me somewhat. I admit that I was feeling a bit in need of relaxation tonight, so that was nice. Overall, it was a well paced workout, if not outstanding. I may try to get a short free form workout in tomorrow morning, if I wake up and am inspired to do so. Otherwise, I’ll probably try to get a full workout in tomorrow night, either something from the PY:Complete series or the Yoga for Strength disc, I’m guessing.

Workout: Free Form
Author: chaos

Another free form workout this morning. I decided at the beginning of this one to really concentrate on my breathing as the focus of the workout. I was trying to get back into the state where breath and motion were pretty much a single item. I didn’t really do all that well with it, but it felt good just to be making the conscious effort to do so. Part of the problem was that I was feeling rather fatigued, and so was having some trouble with the concentration aspects. Things went fairly well when I was able to stay focused, but I noticed my breathing being… less effective when I lost track of it. I think I’ll try to use this in a number of upcoming workouts, to see if I can really get myself used to the whole breathing and motion as one idea. I think that would really help in terms of being able to do more difficult workouts and the like. Anyway. Poses today were pretty basic, a bit of sun salutation, a triangle pose, and a tree pose. Oh, and I noticed that one disadvantage to the hardwood is that one legged forward bends really dig my ankle bone into the floor. To try and compensate for that, I experimented with putting my foot on my other leg instead. It doesn’t really work that well for forward bend, but I then tried doing a half lotus, and it was actually okay. Not good, by any means, but probably better than any one that I’ve been able to do before. So the does seem to be slow improvement in flexibility as well. I’ll probably try to get an abs workout in tonight, but may just end up doing another free form style workout tomorrow morning.

Workout: Abs Conditioning: Pilates
Author: chaos

Went in for the pilates workout that I’ve been hoping to get in for a little while now. And amazingly, it went pretty well. Really well, actually. I decided to really concentrate on my breathing for this session, and that seems to have worked out really well. Most of the time I focus on trying to get the motion correct, and the breathing is usually there, but it isn’t the primary focus. This time I focused on getting the breathing correct, and let the motion mostly just be there. I find that I breathe much more fully when I’m actually focusing on it… I have caught myself a number of times in just the last week breathing more shallowly when I lose track of the breath.
So tonight’s workout was fairly successful in keeping track of the breathing, but it was also successful in performing the motions. Perhaps because I’m breathing more deeply, I get more oxygen into my system and my muscles correspondingly work better. That’s my current theory, anyway. Regardless, the only trouble I really had at all was during the series of five, and that was only the last two double leg raises and of course the bicycle. Even the bicycle felt like it was better, though… I had the strength to really get into it, and felt those abs work. Oh boy, did they work. It seems like if I can start doing that exercise more fully, it’ll really help with toning and defining the obliques in particular, but the entire abdominal region in general, as well. One thing to note about this workout that may also be a factor is that I was on a much firmer surface tonight than I normally do it on. Not hardwood, but a carpet with a relatively low amount of give. So it’s entirely possible that some of the relative easyness and ability should be attributed to that. Anyway, I really should have been in bed hours ago, so I think I’ll head off and get what sleep I still can.

Workout: Power Yoga: Flexibility
Author: chaos

Got in my workout today. It took a bit of motivating, because I was so tired from the previous day, but I really didn’t want to go to sleep that early anyway, so it worked out. I again tried to focus on my breathing, with a limited amount of success. Keeping that in mind was kind of difficult, but I did okay. I also was starting to slip into that more ideal state of relaxed movement where everything just seems to flow, but that was near the end of the workout. But it was a good short reminder of that state, which I had once again pretty much forgotten about. Effortless effort, really. Very zen in its way. Regardless, I’ll try and pick up another extra workout over the weekend, since that seems to be the only time I manage to really have the opportunity to do so.

Workout: Abs Conditioning: Yoga
Author: chaos

I seem to be cycling through my abs workouts more often lately. I think I’m doing them just often enough that for the most part I’ll do all three in a given cycle. Not necessarily in the same order, but I’ll do them all. So, since I did pilates last and predict doing balanceball next, today was for yoga. I continued my breath focus during the workout, with the usual limited success. The difference is between that of moving and happening to be breathing in a certain way at that time, and having the breath be an integral part of the movement. The latter is what I seek to achieve on a regular basis. Really, I think I need to spend some time just working on my breathing. I notice it sometimes now when I’m not working out, and it seems rather inefficient. Too shallow, most of the time. So hopefully I’ll start working on that, at least periodically, even when I’m not working out, and it should cross over to a certain extent. At least that’s the current theory. I may try and get another workout in later tonight, but if not, it’ll probably be balanceball abs tomorrow afternoon some time.

Workout: Abs Conditioning: Balanceball
Author: chaos

Actually managed to follow my plan today, for once. Well, as far as the yoga went, in any case. Although I suppose it technically isn’t even yoga. Whatever. Had a pretty decent balanceball workout. Continued to try and focus on my breathing. It’s a lot harder than it seems, or so I’m finding out. Although I do think that I’m getting better at it. I guess that’s one of the things about these kinds of workouts… getting better is often a fairly slow process. There’s an initial period where you get better at the poses in the broad sense, but after that it’s largely a lengthy process to make the small improvements that really get you where you’re trying to go. Or something like that. Really, I’m just babbling at this point. I’ll probably try and get a workout in tonight before bed, or perhaps in the morning before work. I’m also going to attempt to actually get a decent amount of sleep this week… we’ll see how that goes. It hasn’t gone well the first three weeks since the new year, so I’ll just have to see if it goes any better this week.

Workout: Yoga for Strength: session 2
Author: chaos

Another directed hardwood workout tonight. This time I went for one of my classic workouts, yoga for strength session 2. It was definitely a learning experience to do it on hardwood. For instance, some things are a little more painful to do, because little bones protrude into the floor in a painful manner. Other things seem much easier to do, like half moon pose and warrior III. Really, I think any of the poses involving balance on a single foot benefit greatly, those are just two of the more obvious ones. The only real downside to this workout was that I had a very difficult time with my breathing work. It was all about action plus breath, no real union of the two. Alas. As long as I can keep it in mind, I can continue to work on it, so it’s definitely not a total loss. Anyway, I was hoping to get some more sleep than usual in tonight, but clearly that won’t be happening at this point, so I’m just going to head off and get what I can in. I may go for a pilates workout tomorrow night, depending on how I feel.

Workout: Abs Conditioning: Pilates
Author: chaos

Another hardwood workout. This time I went for the pilates workout. It went fairly well, although it probably wasn’t quite my best pilates workout. I had some trouble with holding the rockers today… they seem to be very hit or miss. Certainly more of a hit lately than not, but still not really to a steady state. I felt a little more solid during some of the other stuff, though. I’d definitely say it’s the strongest I’ve felt after the double leg raise followed by the bicycle sequence, anyway.
The breathing aspects were okay, probably a little bit better than last night. I started out the workout reasonably well, maintaining focus on trying to breathe well. As is fairly usual, I lost track of it in the middle somewhere, and don’t know that I really recovered until the end. Still, I can’t feel too badly about it, since even slight progress is progress. Anyway, I did this workout with mlee, and he’s suggesting that he’s actually going to post about it, so I’m certainly not going to stand in the way of that.

Workout: Abs Conditioning: Pilates
Author: mlee

So, it may not have been obvious, but I have returned (however marginally) to the world of yoga — chaos has coaxed a few workouts out of me, though never quite to the point of also doing the post-workout blog. Today, however, I felt I should make a couple notes.

The basics first: I did the pilates abs workout today, which I believe is my second time through it. Unsurprisingly, I died in about the same place as last time, and some things were easier/harder than I remember from the first time. I was more tired starting off this time (I felt the burn right from the first exercise), but the most salient part was that my back started hurting on the second exercise or so (more below). On the whole, I’d say I did a better job persevering through the workout, though I ended up doing wimpy versions of some of the exercises just to keep the momentum. I think as I get more comfortable with the mechanics, this will be less of an issue.

One major realization throughout this workout was just how weak my back is — something I’ve known for a long time, and tried in vain to do things about in the past (usually ending up giving up in frustration) but with no real progress. Chaos mentioned how the pilates chick used to have a bad back (worse than mine), but how pilates fixed that. This is definitely some good motivation to work on this further. I do sense that these exercises may help, and the philosophy that she goes into on the interview on the dvd further backs that up. What this comes down to is that I may put more emphasis on this workout going into the future — previously I was not too concerned about abs (mine are not astounding, but reasonably good I felt), but with this new angle in mind I think it’s definitely something to see how well it helps. Man my back hurts right now (typing this entry)…

Workout: Abs Conditioning: Yoga
Author: Your Insatiable One

Although I purchased the triple threat abs DVD back in December, I didn’t get around to actually cracking it open until this year. So far, it’s been the workout I’ve been doing the most this year - it’s just a lot easier to commit to it vs. other workouts when I’m feeling dead.

This morning’s workout was a bit on the interesting side - I’ve been suffering from a cold that’s left me rather congested in my right nostril. That made synchronizing the breathing with the poses that much more difficult. In spite of it, I thought the workout went pretty well. I’ve grown accustomed to the various exercises so that I’m not as fatigued by them. I do feel like I need to work on getting the my legs tucked closer into my body, but I recognize that I am not Rodney. The other problem I have is that my workspace is carpet (bad) and a bit poorly laid out for the straight legs to the side poses.

Anyway, I’m pretty sure I’ve asked this question before, but does any one have any suggestions on an “intermediate” level workout? Total Body is probably a bit too rough to do very regularly, the Yoga Journal Yoga for Beginners is too slow + low level and I’m not sure if 4 sun salutations is necessarily the best of workouts for me at this stage.

Workout: Yoga for Strength: session 1
Author: chaos

This was another fairly decent workout. I’m still getting through my workouts and exploring the differences between hardwood and carpet… overall, I’d say that pretty much every one is easier on hardwood, but there are certainly some annoyances. Having bones trying to dig into the floor really isn’t terribly pleasant being the most notable one. I might be doing one or two of the exercises slightly incorrectly, though, because it seems that I’m exerting undue pressure on my hands or something when I do them. I’ll have to perhaps make a few adjustments.
I feel like I’m starting to demand a little more out of my workouts again, instead of just being happy to get the workout in at all. I was a little more satisfied with tonight’s workout because I kept better focus on my breathing, at least for parts of the workout. The most impressive part was perhaps during shoulderstand, where I really felt confident enough in the pose to not focus as much on being balanced and to instead focus on my breathing. The difference is amazing. The two shouldn’t be (and aren’t) mutually exclusive, of course, but certainly at this point I have a hard time actually paying more than cursory attention to one of them. But that should progress in time, I imagine. It was a little interesting in that when I set up for shoulderstand I was understanding why people might want a small towel, but then once I was actually in the pose it seemed completely unnecessary, presumably because a bit of the weight actually gets pulled toward my arms and body and off of my head. Anyway, I’m getting really tired here, so if I had any other particularly interesting observations, I’ve lost them at this point. So for now I’ll go try and get a little sleep, perhaps even be able to make up a little bit tonight.

Workout: Power Yoga: Stamina
Author: chaos

I once again convinced mlee to do a workout. I was a little bit disappointed that I hadn’t managed to talk him into the previous workout, but I suppose that’s the way it goes sometimes. I chose this workout primarily so as not to strain him too much in the morning, since I’m familiar with how stiff one can be in the morning, especially if you’re not used to morning workouts. Surprisingly, I wasn’t feeling overly stiff today, or really at all. The workout was a bit of a mixed bag… I felt very physically in touch with myself today, but didn’t have a very good time with remembering to practice breath integration. That seems to be more of a problem for me in the morning, probably largely because I’m not really awake. But whatever. Something I’ll either learn from practice or forget from lack of usage, since I seem to be getting more evening workouts in lately. I might get a workout in tonight before bed, but wouldn’t want to be placing bets on it. So it may well be another “morning” workout tomorrow to start off the weekend.

Workout: Abs Conditioning: Yoga
Author: chaos

Wow. My lower abs were surprisingly tired today. Strange as it may sound, I think that it can occasionally be helpful for the part of the body that you’re exercising to be a little sore or tired, because it makes it easier to really feel how the exercises are affecting that area. Certainly I noticed quite well today how raising and lowering my legs affects the lower abs. Among other things. I have to admit that I was pretty distracted today, and so probably didn’t get as good of a workout in as I could have. Still, it was a pretty decent workout. I feel that having done it once or twice on hardwood has helped my form for doing it on carpet. Which isn’t terribly surprising, really… having done something “right” once makes it easier to realize what you’re doing “wrong” and make adjustments. Of course, since it’s all still interpretation, it could be that I’m just doing things more incorrectly, but I don’t really think so. At least at this point, I feel that I have enough body sense to feel when something is working more effectively than something else. Anyway, who knows if I’ll get another workout in tonight or not. I’m not even sure I’ll make an effort to do so. If not, I’m sure I’ll be back tomorrow with a non-abs workout of some sort, possibly even a completely new one.

Workout: Cardio Pilates
Author: chaos

Woo. Tried out my new cardio pilates workout today. It’s a bit different than I was imagining… it’s really a pilates workout followed by a cardio segment. I was envisioning more of an integrated workout. I’m not entirely certain how that would work, but then again, I’m not a pilates instructor or anything. Anyway, I think it’ll be a decent workout. Many of the pilates exercises are the same as the ones on the abs conditioning video, but with some new ones thrown in. The side kicks in particular really challenge my flexibility, which is good… maybe if I keep with them they’ll help increase my flexibility. The cardio segment is fairly basic overall, largely repeating the same four movement types a bunch of times, until near the end. But, it does get the heart rate up, and it would probably do an even better job of that if I weren’t rather awkward while doing the moves. I was definitely getting better as I did them, except for the lunges to the side. Those seem to be completely outside the realm of my traditional movement types, though people used to cardio style workouts would probably laugh. Anyway, I practiced those a little bit more after the workout, and hopefully I’ll do slightly better with them next time. For tomorrow, probably a balanceball workout, and then perhaps something tomorrow night as well.

Workout: Abs Conditioning: Balanceball
Author: chaos

And once again, my regularly scheduled workout. It seems kind of weird to have a workout that I do on the same day every week, but it’s not necessarily a bad thing. At least I don’t have to try and decide what I’m going to do on a Sunday afternoon. Which, really, is probably the only real advantage, but still.
Today’s workout went pretty well, I think. I felt that I was breathing a little too heavily at one point, but perhaps not. It was solid inhalation and exhalation, at any rate. My lower abs continue to feel like they’ve been working fairly hard. I may actually take a day or two off from abs and rest them up a bit… I’ve been spending a lot of time working on them the last few weeks. I’d like to get back into the habit of having more than one workout a day as well, but it may still be a little while before I really get to that. We’ll see, I suppose. Anyway, I’ll probably try to slip another workout in later tonight, unless I’m really tired and just crash.

Workout: Power Yoga: Strength
Author: chaos

Returned to the py:strength workout tonight. I really haven’t been doing this workout much in the last couple of months. I don’t know that I’d say it’s become obsolete, but I don’t feel that it is as useful in approaching my current goals as some, or perhaps most, of the other ones. While I was doing a better job of keeping with the breath work today than some times in the past, I still find the pace to be a little too hasty for good solid integration of breath and movement.
However, the workout still has some merits. I did find that my shoulders had gotten somewhat tired by the end. At least, I think they were tired… that’s what it felt like, although I had a really good basic arm balance, and a nice float when jumping back into push-up pose. Crane pose was okay, although I briefly touched down in the middle. I’m not quite certain what the problem is there… it seems as though I’ve lost some of my confidence in the pose, perhaps through not doing it as often. I may have to get back to it more often in the future. Pendulum was also a flop, which was rather disappointing, as while doing some minor positional practice last week, I thought I had some inspiration on how to do it. Of course, that was on hardwood and this was on carpet, so perhaps that was part of the problem. I also noted that I seemed shorter on breath at points during the workout than I should have been, but I already realize that I need to start getting more cardio work in, which will hopefully help take care of that problem. Anyway, many things need to be done now, so I’ll finish this off and hopefully get a good workout in sometime tomorrow night.

Workout: Power Yoga: Strength
Author: Kristi

My flexibility is definitely increasing, as I am now able to do standing forward bend almost like a normal person. My legs are straight and my hands are almost touching the ground! Trust me, this is progress. Also, my downward dog is getting better, as I’m almost able to put my heels on the ground again.

As for this workout, I feel like it went better than last time, but we’ll see how sore I am tomorrow. Right now, my arms feel a bit shaky but otherwise I don’t feel the pain in the same places … yet. I’m trying to figure out what a reasonable goal/schedule for yoga should be for me this quarter. What’s special about this quarter is that my days start much later, leaving an opening for yoga in the morning. Now I just need to figure out what I want to do with that!