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Workout: Free Form
Author: chaos

Well, I didn’t get up as early as I intended to today. I guess it’s not particularly surprising… some issues at work have lowered my motivation and enthusiasm about getting in, and that’s bound to have an effect on timely departure from the bed. Anyway, even after I finally managed to drag myself up, I was still feeling fairly unmotivated about being up and doing anything. But once I stumbled around for a bit, I went ahead and started the workout.
I started with just a moment or so of standing in mountain pose, to help calm and center myself. I then went through two very slow sequences of the sun salutation, concentrating on staying focused and grounded as well as stretching my body out. After that I sped up a little bit, going through another two sun salutations and adding in a triangle pose and a warrior II. I then finished it off with a sun salutation into cobbler’s pose, and did some stretching to finish off the workout. Overall, I would have liked to stay a little more centered and focused on the workout, but it was decent. It definitely helped me stretch out, and at least somewhat mentally prepare for the day ahead, so while the lack of focus is a bit disappointing, it’s not absolutely critical.

Workout: Abs Conditioning: Yoga
Author: chaos

I continued to try and work on keeping my abs scooped today. I think that it went pretty well, actually… the only time I completely flubbed it was on the last of the boat poses. Other than that, I had a few catches but overall did really well with keeping the scoop.
I had a number of other observations during the workout as well. First, things definitely seemed a little easier tonight. Whether it was the hardwood floor, the amount of rest, or just increased strength is difficult to say for sure, but I’m definitely thinking some of it is increased strength. Especially in the lower abs, where I barely even noticed some of the things that were not precisely hard, but not exactly easy just a month ago. I was also thinking that as I notice more things to keep track of during the workout, it theoretically becomes easier to stay focused and present during the workout. In practice, I’m not entirely sure that’s true, because my mind is very good at wandering off, but hopefully as I become better I’ll gain a little more mental discipline as well. And finally, I was thinking that I should really learn how to breathe. I don’t think my breathing is terribly efficient right now, and it seems like something that could have a lot of benefits. Of course, there are a good number of things like that that I haven’t gotten to either, so it’s hard to say when that might happen, but it’s a thought, anyway. Well, I should probably try to grab a few more hours of sleep, since I’ve managed to short myself quite a bit again. So until tomorrow…

Workout: Free Form
Author: chaos

Had a really bad mental session today. I couldn’t manage to get focused at all. Unfortunately, and contributing to the matter, I woke up late so I really didn’t have the time I needed to calm my mind and get a proper focus on the practice. It’s pretty amazing how much of a difference that makes… while the physical aspects weren’t bad, I just really felt like it was a terrible workout. Anyway. I’ll be returning home tonight, and hopefully after getting some rest and everything I’ll be in much better shape for my workout tomorrow.

Workout: Yoga Conditioning for Athletes: Mini-workouts
Author: chaos

It was a little difficult to motivate myself for the workout today. Probably largely because of the lack of sleep this week, I was just feeling tired and kind of lazy and not much at all like doing a workout. But I was concerned that given that mental state, if I let myself slide today it might be several days before I recovered. So I managed to proverbially grit my teeth and head into the workout.
I went with the mini-sessions again today. I started off with the tennis session. It was the last of the sessions that I hadn’t done. It was rather strange in that it started the workout in relaxation pose. Then it went through a series of leg bends, a bit of stretching, then over to downward dog, a warrior I, and finished in child’s pose. After that I did the swimming session, and finished with the all sports section. Not too much to say about them… not overly inspired, but not bad, either. I’ll probably manage to get more sleep tonight, and hopefully have a bit more energy to put into the workout tomorrow.

Workout: Power Yoga: Total Body
Author: chaos

Did the full total body workout for the first time in a very long time tonight. It actually went pretty well… my concentration wasn’t as good as I would have liked overall, but I managed to have a good focus during the more challenging sequence, which allowed me to complete it without much difficulty. Even warrior III went pretty decently, which was surprising. I also had some good success with the upward bows, although I feared that my long absence from them might create some trouble. During the stretching, I really managed to fold down for the seated forward bend, more so than any time I can recall in the past. Now that I understand how exactly to fold from the hips, it’s much easier, I think. However, the workout did leave me pretty drained, although that could be more of an effect of insufficient food thus far today. So I’ll have to see how I feel after eating. And I’ll be quite interested in seeing if I’m sore tomorrow, given that this probably took more effort than any workout I’ve done in the last couple of months. Anyway, I’ll most likely go with balanceball tomorrow, and probably get the full yoga for athletes workout in on Monday.

Workout: Power Yoga: Flexibility
Author: chaos

Well, my original plan for today was to do some abs work, but when I woke up I realized that my legs were quite stiff from the intense total body workout yesterday. So I changed my plans, and did py:flexibility so that I could hopefully loosen up my hamstrings, and also hopefully prevent them from tightening up back to their previous level of inflexibility. I guess it’s not really so much that they’re inflexible, just that they’re very tight, and require a lot of warming up before they actually reach their true level of flexibility. I probably pushed that a little by folding all the way down so that my forehead touched my shins yesterday, although at the time it really didn’t seem like I was particularly pushing the matter. Still, in a way I don’t mind, just because it shows how far I’ve come since I started. Back then, I was watching a video (P.M. Yoga?) where the instructor told you to touch your forehead to your shins, and I was thinking that I could barely touch my forehead to my knees. Now, at least after a good workout with lots of stretching, I really can touch my forehead to my shins, so that’s cool. I didn’t quite get there with this workout, but I did feel like I got quite a bit of good stretching in, and my hamstrings feel a lot less tight now than they did before the workout. I’ll probably do an abs workout tomorrow, but may just go ahead with yoga for ahtletes, depending on how I feel.

Workout: Yoga Conditioning for Athletes
Author: chaos

I managed to yet once again convince myself to do the workout tonight. I’ve been having more trouble with that lately… I’m not sure why. It could just be an effect of my sleeping schedule being rather erratic, to say the least, or it could be an indication that I really should take a short break. I’m always a little wary of the “short break”, though… it can too easily turn into a long break. It seems unlikely that that would happen, but it’s always hard to be sure.
I had some problems near the beginning of today’s workout… it seemed really difficult for some reason. Not the very first section, but the beginning of the second section. I was really having some trouble for a while with my breathing and everything. Eventually I got it under control, but not after expending a lot more energy than I should have had to, given the poses I was performing. Oh well. I’m still enjoying the workout, and it still makes me think about what I’m doing more than the other workouts… which is sometimes part of the problem, I think. If I start thinking about it too much, I stop reacting in a natural manner, and that can cause some issues. Anyway. I’ll almost definitely go for an abs workout tomorrow night, seeing as it’s been a while since I last did one. So until then.

Workout: Abs Conditioning: Pilates
Author: chaos

Oof. I apparently wasn’t ready for that workout tonight. I knew I was in trouble fairly early on, when I was actually feeling the effects of the earlier exercises. Still, I managed to plug on doing the full version, except for the series of five, which I decided would be best done with the modified version today. Even that wasn’t sufficient… I had to just rest through the last half of the double leg raises. The only good thing about that is it allowed me to really do a complete job with the crisscross, which I almost never can because my abs are in such agony at that particular point in time. So that was good. I then resumed following the full workout version, but just really wasn’t having a good day with it. The rockers all seemed inadequate, and I just didn’t feel like I had proper focus. Oh well. I suppose it’s just another off day… I just hope I can return to having on days again pretty soon, as slogging through the off days can get pretty tiring.

Workout: Cardio Pilates
Author: chaos

I wasn’t too sure about the workout tonight going in to this one. Not feeling too inspired, I was afraid that it was going to be another fairly difficult session. Surprisingly, though, it actually ended up being fairly decent. It was tough going at first, especially through the segments that really used the abs. For whatever reason, my abs seem particularly worn out the last couple of workouts, so I think that I’ll rest them for a couple of days.
Anyway, once I got past the early exercises, things started to get better. I don’t know if I started getting more mentally involved, or just didn’t have to work as hard physically, but it definitely felt like an improvement. I was fairly pleased with the cardio segment… I think that my form is improving, and it definitely felt like a workout. I should probably be hitting this workout more often, or at least be doing some cardio in addition to my regular workouts. Maybe once the weather starts to get a little nicer that will happen a little more. Of course, the way things are going, it doesn’t feel like that will happen until June, but it will probably actually happen in late May. Oh well. I’ll probably try to pick up a good yoga workout tomorrow, possibly total body again.

Workout: Yoga Conditioning for Athletes: Mini-workouts
Author: chaos

Yet another day of being unmotivated and just dragging myself into the workout. Today wasn’t too bad… at least I realized that I’d probably feel better after I had done the workout. The problem isn’t so much the yoga, I think, but just my mood in general the last week or so has been rather despondent, which has been seeping into my other activities. That’s the bit that I really need to snap out of, and hopefully that will happen pretty soon.
I just went with a light workout today, more of a stretch than anything else. Warmed up with the swimming mini-workout… it’s a nice short warm up and stretch, without getting into some of the long downward dog holds that some of the other similar workouts do. Cooled off and stretched with the all sports mini-workout, as always. The whole thing felt a little short… I definitely think my overall preference is to do three of the workouts… now I just have to decide which one should be my usual third. Probably running, I’m guessing, but I’ll probably have to watch them all again to really be sure. Anyway, hopefully a little activity tonight will help me pick up a bit, and I’ll be a little more ready for the workout tomorrow.

Workout: Power Yoga: Strength
Author: chaos

Had more motivation today than I have in a while. Well, I’m not certain that’s entirely true, but I didn’t feel as much like the workout was just something I had to do, at any rate. No speculation as to the difference right now, as until it becomes a little more consistent, it seems a bit premature.
Anyway, it was a fairly solid workout. Definitely not spectacular, as I was feeling a bit too much of the physical aspects of the workout, but not bad. Other than getting a little tired near the end, it was pretty routine. I did have a bit of potential insight into my problems with pendulum pose… I think that I’m not engaging my abdominals enough. So that’s something I’ll have to try practicing at some point, see if I can get a better idea for how to actually execute. I was quite happy with simple arm balance, not quite as much with crane pose, although that wasn’t bad. Just not quite up to the level I’d like to be with it. All in all, it was a pretty decent workout, and hopefully I’ll get another good one in tomorrow.

Workout: Power Yoga: Flexibility
Author: chaos

Another tough day for motivation. That’s the main reason that I’ve been holding to my schedule so strictly… because it allows me to really make myself do the workout on these days when I’m not feeling the pull very strongly. If I had let it slide earlier this week, I probably would have ended up taking the entire week off. And with the exception of one workout a week or so ago, none of them have been bad, and I’ve been satisfied to have done them, so it’s definitely been a good thing overall.
Not much to say about today’s workout… it continues to be good for really stretching out. I may have learned something about the forward bends, but I’m not quite sure. Just a matter of the angle of the bend from the waist. I do feel like some of the forward bends are getting better, like the cobbler’s pose forward bend and the wide angle seated forward bend. Anyway, I’ll just keep working on my form as best I can, and try to get the other aspects back in line.

Workout: Abs Conditioning: Balanceball
Author: chaos

Changed up my workout routine a little to do the workout earlier in the day. That was more due to my schedule for the rest of the day than a particular strategy on my part, although I thought that a change might be helpful. I spent some time since yesterday’s workout reviewing some of my old entries and watching a different video, so that helped renew some of my memories of things to pay attention to, like focus and breathing. I’ve been doing okay with the breathing lately, but my focus has been absolutely terrible. It was a little bit better today… while I want to get to the point where my focus is on the particular thing I’m doing at that moment, having my focus stay within the workout (for the most part) is a definite improvement over my normal focus lately. This was mainly due to my strong focus on breathing… I was really trying to make sure I inhaled into my lower ribcage and chest, and exhaled by pulling my abdomen up and in. I think this is what eventually creates that nice “scooped” abs look, as well as ensuring that you don’t get caught looking like you have a huge gut because you were inhaling into your stomach. That’s part of my theory, anyway. Although I suppose it’s more likely that this is a better way of breathing, and looking better while you’re doing it is just a bonus. Anyway, my schedule for the next day and a half or so might end up being kind of wacky, but I’m sure I’ll manage to get a workout in there at some point.

Workout: Yoga Conditioning for Athletes: Mini-workouts
Author: chaos

Well, after a very long day at work, I was feeling pretty well beat by the time I got to this workout. I was originally thinking I might go for something a little more complete, so to speak, but by the time I actually got to this I just wanted to get a fairly decent workout in and then crash. So I decided to run through a few of the mini-workouts and hopefully get some decent work from that.
I started off with the running workout. This one was a little bit tougher, because I had only done it once before, so doing it off of voice cues alone was a bit more of a challenge. I didn’t feel like it was as much of a stretching workout as I did last time, but I’m not sure that my overall form was as good, either. After that I went into the swimming and all sports sections, like normal. That was pretty good, because I’m fairly familiar with both of those workouts now, and I was able to really focus on my breathing for them. I think my breathing still needs some work, especially for more active workouts… the action timing is right, but the form could use a little work, I think. But hopefully that’s something that I’ll be continuing to work on in the near future, until I get it down (or forget it, whichever comes first).

Workout: Yoga for Strength: session 1
Author: chaos

I woke up today after only 7 hours of sleep and felt surprisingly well rested. I also felt quite in the mood for a good yoga workout. I thought for a little while about what I wanted to do, and decided that yfs:s1 best suited my mood. I was really quite pleased with it, overall. I was focusing on my breath really well for the most part, and managing to stay with my new technique. Well, not so much a new technique as a more consistently applied one. My recent video viewings and research suggest that it’s optimal (at least in terms of the fairly narrow pilates/yoga context) to breath wide into the ribcage, and exhale by pulling the abdomen up and in. This is a little more difficult than it may seem at first, especially when trying to integrate it into a workout. But I was able to stay focused today, and was rewarded with some decent success in that regard.
The other slight adjustment that I was working on was to my downward dog. I need to have another viewing of the video I watched the other day, but I believe it was suggesting that the shoulderblades should be extended out from the neck, leaving the neck long and the shoulders wide. That certainly seems like a valid possibility from my experiments today, but I’ll need a little more practice and at least another viewing to see if my adjustments are more correct. On the plus side, it doesn’t seem to involve really any extra or different shoulder muscles, just a different way of holding the existing ones. The exception might be a little more buildup necessary in the muscles on the side of the chest, but that shouldn’t be a large concern. So, overall, a pretty good morning workout, and not even one that I was time pressured for.

Workout: Yoga Conditioning for Athletes
Author: chaos

Another morning workout. This one also went pretty well. I was in the mood for a good long workout today, so I was pretty much choosing between this and total body. Both had their points, but I felt that this one would be slightly more beneficial overall, so I went with that. I’m still underestimating the overall difficulty of the workout, though… sometime in the middle I’m always getting to the point where it requires real effort to keep going. I’m not entirely certain why that is… maybe the workout just really is harder than my mental impression of it. Whatever the case, it is really good for stretching, and it gives me more of a workout than I’m expecting, too.
So last night I did something kind of stupid. I was sitting around in simple cross-legged pose, and decided to see how my half lotus position was doing. And it was actually surprisingly good. I could only hold it for a few seconds, but it looked like a legitimate half lotus. Then I tried to do it with my left leg on top. As I lifted the leg up, I got a fairly loud “pop” from the outside part of the knee. It didn’t really hurt at the time or anything, but it seemed overall not very good. And sure enough, when I woke up this morning it was distinctly painful. I didn’t really notice until one of the earliest exercises, when I put my left leg over my right. I knew better than to push on it, but it was still definitely a noticable pain. I avoided doing anything much to it for the rest of the workout, being careful to support it a little better than normal. I’m hoping that I’ve just inflamed the area slightly, and it will heal in a few days, but I’m not too sure that’s the case. At least this time I should be a lot better about not pushing it, so it should heal relatively quickly, regardless. At least as compared to the last knee problem. Anyway, hopefully I won’t pay for my testing my limits with a regression, but I suppose if I have I’ll at least know better next time.

Workout: Abs Conditioning: Yoga
Author: chaos

While the knee definitely does feel better today, I certainly wanted to give it as much rest as I possibly could. And since I hadn’t done an abs workout in a while anyway, it seemed like a good thing to get in. So I very carefully got into the abs workout. I was a little bit concerned about the initial sitting section, but I discovered that if I tucked my left leg inside, it wasn’t a problem. So that’s good. The workout progressed pretty well… I was trying to concentrate on not doing anything more to the knee, and on keeping up with my breathing technique. I had pretty good success with both, overall. The only thing I really had to modify was the hip flexor with one ankle over the other knee, which you then pull in to the chest. I wasn’t about to try that one with the left knee bent to the side, so I managed to figure out a slight modification that was okay. Other than that, I avoided doing a few things I would have normally, like rolling forward from simple cross-legged pose into all fours, but that’s pretty incidental. So hopefully I can continue to be very mindful of my knee, and keep it from sustaining any more damage before it heals.

Workout: Abs Conditioning: Yoga
Author: chaos

Decided to take it easy for another day, and did another abs yoga workout. Primarily in order to avoid any chance of tweaking the knee, but also just to relax a bit. Pretty basic workout… just continued working on the fundamentals, trying to breath properly. My knee definitely felt better today, although it is definitely still a little injured. But as long as I continue to be careful with it, I should be able to get back into other workouts, possibly with some light modifications where necessary.

Workout: Yoga Conditioning for Athletes: Mini-workouts
Author: chaos

Had a really hard time getting to this workout today. Was just feeling extremely lethargic and tired for some reason. Not to the point of being able to nap, but just enough to make me not want to do much more than just lie around. I eventually managed to get up, at least enough to get in a workout. Went with a collection of mini-workouts again today. Tried out the cycling, swimming, all sports combo. I liked it… perhaps my favorite of all the combinations I’ve tried so far. Better yet, it doesn’t really have much that would require torquing my knee in any way. The closest thing was a twist in the final workout, but I was careful not to go too far. The range of motion that can be done safely is definitely improving, but it still has a ways to go. Hopefully in another week or so it will be pretty much back to normal. Anyway, it was a reasonable workout, if not quite where I would like to be. Hopefully I can get this fatigue out of my system, and back into some good workouts.

Workout: Power Yoga: Total Body
Author: chaos

Had a slightly more vigorous workout today. I’m trying to learn some new habits, both with breathing and with a modified downward dog technique, where I draw my shoulders wide and back. It’s not so much that it’s particularly hard, it just takes a bit of getting used to. I’m also trying to do a better job of planting my hands… I think I’m doing okay with downward dog, but still need some work with my upward dog. I’m not pressing down with my index finger and thumb as much, which causes there to be more strain on the wrists. Since my wrists are in pretty good condition, I’ve never really noticed, but if I’m actively paying attention to them, I do notice a little bit. So really, it’s just more about refining technique.
Only did a partial workout today. I was actually feeling pretty good, but I didn’t want to create any soreness related to refining the downward dog pose. I’m also still being quite cautious with my knee, perhaps overly so. I did discover today that I could do cobbler’s pose and ever one-legged forward bend without trouble. It doesn’t like to be the leg on the inside in simple cross-legged pose, though. I’m somewhat uncertain as to why that is, although I suspect it’s because the outside leg then puts pressure on it. Anyway, a respectable workout, and hopefully a precursor for more good workouts to come.

Workout: Power Yoga: Stamina
Author: chaos

I really should start organizing my day a little differently, I think. I’m just not ready for a good workout at the times I’ve been doing my workouts lately. Strangely enough, I think that the early morning workouts were a lot better, at least last week. The problem being, of course, that I can’t really expect to keep that kind of schedule up, knowing myself. Still, it might be beneficial to try and get a workout in earlier in the day, and then perhaps do a light workout later in the evening.
Today’s workout was okay… felt a small twinge in my knee at a few points. I think I should have been a little more careful, although I don’t think it was anything serious. Still, it’s not the best way to heal the knee most quickly, so I should really avoid even twinging it. Other than that, not much to say… fairly average workout, okay but not great breathing. Maybe I’ll implement the idea of an earlier workout tomorrow to get things really going again.

Workout: Yoga for Strength: session 1
Author: chaos

Another YFS:s1 session today. I seem to be going back to this session a lot lately… probably because it covers so many of the basics. And also probably because it’s the only practice I have that includes shoulderstand, which is one of my overall favorite poses. Which actually makes me wonder why I don’t incorporate it into my free form workouts more often. I’ll have to consider that when I get back to doing free form workouts.
Anyway, today’s workout went pretty well. I continued practicing all the things I’ve been working on recently, particularly the downward dog modifications. It did feel like it was starting to wear a little by the end of the two minute downward dog, but I think once I get the appropriate muscles fully built up, downward dog will become much easier overall. It may even finally hit the point of being a resting pose, but I could be getting carried away here. There will probably be some other as yet unknown modification that I need to make to truly get there. Oh well. At least I’m pretty much continually learning something new, or at least remembering something that I had forgotten. Anyway, a satisfying workout for today.

Workout: Power Yoga: Flexibility
Author: chaos

I had no sense of what workout I wanted to do today. Usually I have some notion of what I might want to do, an inclination towards a certain type of workout, but today… no idea. I was pretty sure that I didn’t want to do abs. That’s about the closest I was coming to any sort of idea about the workout. So I asked my partner what she felt like doing, and PY:Flexibility was one of the options she mentioned. It seemed reasonable, so I decided to go with it.
I was a little concerned that I wouldn’t be able to do a few of the exercises because of my knee, but that really wasn’t the case. Other than not folding forward all the way during one-legged forward bend with the left knee bent, I really didn’t have to modify the workout at all. I was pretty careful about going into pigeon lunge, but that turned out to be fine as well. I felt pretty good about my breathing today, not nearly as good about my focus. I’ll eventually get there, I hope, even if it requires a monumental effort on my part to start on the path. I’m determined that I shall eventually manage. Anyway, hopefully I’ll get an abs workout in tomorrow, since it’s been a number of days now since the last one.

Workout: Yoga for Strength: session 2
Author: chaos

I spent most of today suffering from a fairly bad headache. I think it was primarily caused by some muscle tightness in my neck, probably a result of sleeping in various less than ideal postures. I’ve been having that problem quite a bit this week, but it usually goes away after being up for a little while. Today it didn’t, and ended up taking nearly 8 hours, some painkillers, and a few small naps before it finally disappeared.
Considering all that, I was pretty surprised to have a very good workout tonight. Maybe because my head was hurting all day long, I was able to really focus on the workout tonight once my head was clear. Whatever the case, I was quite pleased with the result. I felt much more in touch with my body during the workout than I have in a long time, and really had the feeling of being part of the motions. Really, it felt as though I was doing a completely different type of workout, one that I was intimately familiar with, and yet also still in the process of learning. It seemed as though I gained insights into many of the poses, almost all of them, really. The workout wasn’t quite to the level of an epiphany, but it was definitely on a higher order than most of the workouts I’ve done in the last few months. While the price I paid to get there today wouldn’t be acceptable in general, hopefully I can take something from the experience and get there more easily in the future.

Workout: Cardio Pilates
Author: chaos

Had another pretty good workout today. It was kind of funny, because my head has just been… running in circles today, not very clear at all. Okay, despairing is probably more accurate. I really didn’t have a particular sense for the workout tonight, and my partner chose this one. I had been thinking that it had been a while since I had done any pilates, and getting some in wouldn’t be a bad thing. So it seemed a reasonable thing to do.
It ended up going surprisingly well. For whatever reason, I was very focused on my breathing and movement tonight. This was true during the pilates segment, but strangely it was even more true for the cardio segment. The cardio segment really clicked for the first time for me tonight. I understood the proper breathing and the way to keep my abdomen firm and supporting my back. I really got into the rhythm of the workout tonight as well. I don’t know… can’t really explain it any further, I guess. Suffice it to say that it was a good workout, and hopefully I’ll be able to keep up this trend of being very present and aware for the workouts.

Workout: Power Yoga: Total Body
Author: chaos

Had another good workout tonight. I have to say that I’m rather enjoying the trend of having good workouts in the last couple of days. I’m rather hoping that it will last. Although it seems fairly likely that I’ll be doing some morning work during the next week, that actually worked out fairly well for me the last time I was doing that, so I’m looking to try and continue that trend.
I’m not certain that tonight’s workout had any real highlights to it. It was just a very solid workout with a good amount of focus and attention to detail. I think that was reflected in the fact that I was doing a pretty good job of hitting the poses, even if not perfect. But even the misses were more informative today, because of my awareness. I also felt like I was doing a much better job of extending myself today than I typically do. Strangely, when I got to the end I didn’t feel quite as flexible as I often do, or maybe I was just being smarter about not trying to push into the stretches. Hard to say right now. My knee is still sore, although it does seem to be improving still. Hopefully another week or so of care will have it back to normal. Anyway, I’ll probably go ahead and go with a balanceball workout tomorrow, unless I’m really struck by something else.

Workout: Abs Conditioning: Balanceball
Author: chaos

Another decent workout today. It really amazes me sometimes the way that new things can be learned from a workout repeated so many times. For some reason, this workout in particular seems to constantly reveal ways that I can improve, making it more effective. Perhaps it’s merely because as my abs have grown stronger, I’ve become better at recognizing how I’m using them, and more able to execute on that throughout the length of a workout. Whatever the case, it’s fairly pleasing, and I think this workout will continue to be a fairly regular occurrence in my regimen.

Workout: Free Form
Author: chaos

Well, the original plan was to go to bed relatively early, wake up early, and get into work. To say that this plan was a failure would be a rather large understatement. Instead I ended up staying up very late, and then doing my workout. I was thinking about going directly in to work anyway, but I’m now thinking that that would probably be a very foolish plan. So instead I think I’ll grab a couple hours of sleep, and then head in.
The workout itself wasn’t all that good… I wasn’t able to let go of the fact that I was annoyed with myself for staying up so late. Not that I didn’t try to go to sleep, at least somewhat… I just wasn’t tired enough to easily fall asleep. Anyway, this left me rather distracted through the workout. I went through some different stuff, much like the beginning of py:total body but in a random order. Eventually I gave up on that and moved in to stretching and relaxation poses, then gave up on that as well and just called it a workout. So a rather poor showing overall, but a learning experience nonetheless. Hopefully I’ll learn more in the future with a somewhat less painful method of going about it.

Workout: Free Form
Author: chaos

Managed to get an okay amount of sleep last night. I could have lived with getting more, but that’s the way it goes sometimes. Anyway, woke up reasonably refreshed and went for another free form workout. I started it off pretty much following the py:total body workout, and then broke it up a little to get into some of the poses. Did a few triangles, a few warrior IIs, and a half moon pose. I was pretty pleased with that… I think I’ve started really getting the idea in the last couple of times I’ve tried it. Today I experimented with leaning more of my weight forward during the pose, and that went pretty well. I think most of my trouble in the past has been not putting enough weight onto the hand, and having problems with balancing because of that. I finished off with some stretches to loosen up a bit more, and of course relaxation pose. So, altogether it was a pretty satisfactory workout, and I’ll probably go for a structured workout of some type late tonight or tomorrow.

Workout: Abs Conditioning: Yoga
Author: chaos

I really didn’t feel like getting out of bed this morning. Not that I was particularly unmotivated, just that I was still quite tired. I really would have liked to sleep for another hour or two, but unfortunately, it was not to be. So I managed to drag myself up and get into the abs yoga workout. I was reasonably happy with it… I sacrificed a bit of my attention to making sure everything was relaxed in order to make sure that I was keeping my abs tight and breathing out by pushing in and up. That went pretty well… I didn’t really manage to do it for the very last of the boat poses, but other than that I was able to maintain it fairly aggressively. So my abs felt like they got somewhat more of a workout than they usually do with this routine. Abs yoga is also more ideal for this, I think, because of the slow pace, so it’s easier to really concentrate on each inhalation and exhalation. Anyway, that was all for today… I’ll probably try to get something with a little more stretching in tomorrow.

Workout: Free Form
Author: chaos

Had a lot of difficulty getting out of bed again this morning. I’m just not getting to sleep early enough in the past few days, and it’s definitely tiring me out. Fortunately, that should improve with the weekend and everything. Hopefully I can start getting a little bit better about things during the week, though.
Anyway, another free form workout today. Started off by doing the same stuff as begins the Yoga Conditioning for Atheletes: Swimming mini-workout, just a few quick sequences through the sun salutation and then a triangle pose. At that point I slowed it down somewhat for the triangle pose and a warrior II sequence. Since I took too long to get out of bed, I didn’t really have time for much more, so I finished off with some stretching and a bit of quiet meditation to clear my head. I think I might be getting a little better at it, but it’s hard to say for sure. Anyway, I should be able to get a slightly more full workout in tomorrow, although perhaps something will come up. Until then…