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Workout: Free Form
Author: chaos

Well, I’m starting to be able to work around my injuries again. I did a slightly more complete workout today, incorporating triangle, warrior I, and warrior II into the sun salutation sequences. Actually, not quite a full sun salutation, since I skipped over the pushup and upward dog parts, but it seemed that getting in the other poses would be more beneficial, especially as I was stretching out for ultimate. Things went pretty well on Friday, with the exception of a foolish layout. Fortunately, that seemed to have done minimal damage, so I was pretty lucky there. I’m hoping to avoid even that amount of foolishness this afternoon, though. Anyway, another quick entry, hopefully I’ll start getting back to at least doing a workout every other day, and then back into the daily routine pretty soon.

Workout: Free Form
Author: chaos

Just another quick workout before ultimate. Pretty much the same as last time, heavy on the stretching, light on everything else. Which is fine, for the moment, but I need to get back into the groove sometime soon. Anyway, hopefully I’ll pick it back up in a couple of days.

Workout: Abs Conditioning: Yoga
Author: chaos

Well, the last month has been a nice vacation, at least in some ways, but it’s time for it to end. While my injuries haven’t yet healed fully, particularly my shoulder, I think it’s at least gotten back to the point where I can work around the problems again. So while I’ll probably continue to do more ab work than I’d necessarily find ideal, at least I won’t be getting completely out of the habit.
Tonight’s workout was decent. It started out well, a lot of focus during the breathing. I’ve noticed that my knee seems to have healed some more, so while it’s still not at full strength, the range of motion that it is capable of without pain has increased again. I continued to have pretty decent focus throughout the initial “crunch” section, although I did start to notice my shoulder a little bit. After that, focus was rather iffy… I was spacing out a bit during the reclining twists, I think. I again substituted a bicycle for the legs extended to the side, since I’m quite sure my shoulder isn’t ready for that yet. After that, it was fairly standard, no great focus, but not wandering off much, either. I’m also intending to get back to my meditation practice, although I may wait until the end of the week to start that up again. At any rate, I feel that the time has come to make my return to the daily, or at least quite near daily, routine.

Workout: Free Form
Author: chaos

Another basic free form workout today. Really, it’s mostly the first section of total body, with a bit of modification, followed by a little bit of stretching at the end. The shoulder continues to be a little problematic, although I did discover today that I can do a full sun salutation sequence, I just have to be very slow and careful. It’s probably not actually worth it at this point, but if I change my mind on that, I have options. Anyway, it went reasonably well overall. I did discover that the exact way in which the shoulder is rotated around makes a difference. On my first attempt for triangle pose, my shoulder was objecting quite a bit, but I simply rotated it around differently and it was fine. A little odd, really. Progress is still going to be slow for a while, but it feels good to be getting back into it. Although my body would like it if I managed to get a little more rest while I was at it. That was the only other thing about my “vacation”, I definitely got more sleep during it. Anyway, most likely back to abs tomorrow morning.

Workout: Abs Conditioning: Yoga
Author: chaos

Ahh, the soreness of the legs. It’s been a while since I’ve gotten to experience that. I have to admit that I didn’t really miss it, either. Anyway, another abs workout today. This one went a little bit better than last time in terms of concentration… still well short of perfect, but a little better, anyway. My shoulder felt a little bit better today than last time as well… I didn’t feel like it was right on the raw edge of being strained again, more just that I had to exercise caution in my actions and not do anything drastic. Hopefully that will continue to improve, and I’ll be able to do more complete workouts again fairly soon. I certainly doubt that will happen before next month, but maybe around then. Anyway, nothing much else to say right now, will probably do a stretching workout before ultimate tomorrow.

Workout: Free Form
Author: chaos

Another light stretching day. Today again had a very heavy focus on stretching out the legs, and avoiding doing much of anything else. I’m not entirely certain that my shoulder isn’t to a point that some activity and stretching actually helps the healing process, but I would certainly say that before ultimate isn’t the time to explore that. I’ll probably start to get into that a little more next week, as the outdoor season starts to wind down, and I have fewer “conflicts of interest”, as it were. For now, I’m just trying to make sure and avoid further injury, and hopefully continue the slow healing process.

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

Did a video workout that wasn’t an abs workout for the first time in a month or so today. I’ve been very wary of doing the videos for the most part, since sun salutation is an integral part of most of the workouts, and my shoulder really isn’t ready for that yet. So I’ve been largely avoiding the videos, and just working at my own pace. But today I felt like I could do a few of the mini-workouts, and discovered that the ones I chose actually have no sun salutation sequences in them. So that worked well.
Went with the running and all sports workouts today. My legs have been feeling a bit stiff in the past couple of days, and so I was really hoping to get some good stretching in, to work out some of the stiffness. I think the running workout did a pretty good job of that, although it felt a bit short. A little more stretching might not have been a bad thing. But I did follow it up with the all sports workout, which features some more stretching. Still probably not as much as I could have done, but better than not having done any. I took the day off yesterday, mostly just to rest up as I was feeling as though I were potentially coming down with a cold. I’ve felt that way on and off for the last two weeks or so, but nothing has yet come of it, so I’m not quite sure what to make of it. Anyway, spent most of the last couple of days sleeping, and that seems to have helped, at least for now. I’ll probably get in another abs workout tomorrow, and another stretching workout before ultimate on Tuesday, I imagine.

Workout: Abs Conditioning: Yoga
Author: chaos

Today was fairly rough on the abs for some reason. I’ve been noticing that I often have more trouble with the abs work after I’ve had a rest, rather than when I’ve been working them fairly consistently. Although that isn’t always the case, it does seem to hold more often than not. Anyway, the off day on Saturday apparently wasn’t particularly beneficial, at least in terms of the workout. Really, I just felt a little bit out of sorts during the workout. Like my body wasn’t quite ready for it. My stomach felt a little bit heavy, maybe. Nothing to keep me from doing the workout, just enough to throw me out of my rhythm a bit. Anyway. Another short stretching workout before ultimate tomorrow, and then it’ll be time to start getting serious about rehabilitation and more complete workouts. Although I did notice today that my shoulder was feeling a little better, overall. In a strange way, really… it seemed a bit more evident today that it was sore, and yet the soreness was less of a sharp pain, and more of a minor annoyance. So I think that’s a sign of healing, but I need to be careful not to push too quickly. If I can get through tomorrow without further injury, though, I think I have a good shot at fully rehabilitating myself relatively soon, and getting back into more advanced workouts again.

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

Another light workout, but using the videos again. I went for the same combo of running and all sports, but added in a few extra leg stretches at the end to loosen myself up a bit more. It’s been a little bit frustrating, since my quad doesn’t bother me most of the time, and yet I know it’s not fully healed. However, since I’ll have significantly fewer opportunities to play ultimate after tonight, I’m confident that I’ll be able to fully heal fairly quickly. Actually, I’m not even sure it’s that relevant to yoga, since playing ultimate is the only time that the incomplete healing really comes up. I’m wondering if I pushed my shoulder a little too hard today, though… it feels a little more tender than it has in the past week or so. I might have to skip the next non-abs workout, or do something with no danger of further strain. I suppose that I could probably do a free form workout without too much trouble. Something I’ll have to think about, anyway. Well, off to ultimate soon, and then time to rehab after that.

Workout: Abs Conditioning: Yoga
Author: chaos

Yet another abs yoga workout. I took yesterday off because I pushed a little bit harder at ultimate the previous day, since it’s possibly the last outdoor game of the year. I was strongly considering doing the pilates workout today, but decided once again that it just has a few too many activities that might strain the shoulder. So I sighed and went with the safe option. Hopefully I won’t have to much longer… my shoulder felt much better today, and I didn’t have to substitute the bicycle for the legs extended to the side, which is a definite improvement. I’ve been noticing that I can sleep on that side without problems as well, so progress is being made. I’ll probably continue to be cautious with it for the next week or so, but I should at least be as healthy as I was before landing on it after that. Then I just need to finish healing the rotation problem, finish healing the right knee, and finish healing the right quad, and I should be back to 100%. Easier said than done, undoubtedly, but maybe I can make it in the next month. Anyway, I’ll probably pick up a light workout tomorrow with limited shoulder movement, try and get some activity in without retarding the healing process.

Workout: Power Yoga: Stamina
Author: chaos

I ended up taking yesterday off as well, since my shoulder was feeling a little bit strained, and I didn’t feel like pushing it. Today, though, I decided to take a chance on a slightly more challenging workout. I have to laugh a bit at that, actually, because I usually consider this workout to be about the least challenging of my workouts. But I knew that it would push the limits of my recovery and hopefully not exceed them, so I gave it a shot.
It was… okay. I almost certainly pushed a little harder than I should have, in pretty much every area. There are only a few pushup poses throughout the workout, and I did all of them, which I probably shouldn’t have, since they were getting gradually more painful each time. I did tree to each side, which I haven’t been able to do for quite a while. I even did one legged forward bend, although I still had to back off a bit when my right leg was bent. The trouble has retreated a great deal, but there’s still a bit of work to be done there. The only pose I backed off from was bow pose, and that was because I could feel the strain in my quad immediately, and so I released to head off further damage. I know the reason that I pushed that much is because I’m impatient for the healing to be finished, especially now that the outdoor ultimate season is almost at an end. I just have to keep a tight rein on that impatience, and let my body finish healing itself. Of course, getting proper nutrition would probably expedite that process quite a bit, so that’s what I really should be concentrating on now. Anyway, I guess I’ll find out tomorrow if I overdid things, or merely stretched things out a little more than they’ve been used to in the last month or two.

Workout: Abs Conditioning: Yoga
Author: chaos

As I suspected, last night was a little too much. My knee only feels a little bit more tender, and I’m sure that will be back to normal in another day or two. The quad is fine, I must have managed to get out of the pose quickly enough to prevent damage. Unfortunately, my shoulder has definitely relapsed a little bit. Not terribly much, but probably half a week to a week’s worth of healing. Hopefully this will serve as a good reminder lesson not to push things too quickly, as overall, that kind of loss isn’t that bad. Far better than it could have been, anyway.
Tonight’s workout was fairly standard… okay, it was really standard. I think my form has been a little bit better the last couple of days, although my focus still leaves something to be desired. Oh well. I’m planning on taking tomorrow off, and getting in a morning workout on Tuesday, as that fits in with my schedule pretty well, better than most anything else. I’m uncertain yet as to whether I’ll try a stretching workout or if I’ll go back to abs, but I plan on just playing that by ear.

Workout: Abs Conditioning: Yoga
Author: chaos

Dragged myself out of bed for the workout today. I won’t say I was thrilled with the getting out of bed part, but the yoga part was okay. Actually, it was pretty decent. Had good concentration today, and felt like I was getting a pretty good workout. No idea what the difference was, of course. My shoulder felt a little better today, although it’s still not fully recovered from my foolishness of the other night. But I think it should only be another day or two, providing I don’t do something else untoward to it.
I’ve been considering my stretching type workouts, and I think that I need to get a little more inventive with the workouts. I tend to mostly stick to the traditional yoga postures, but I think that I would benefit from integrating some pilates into the workouts, especially for these short free form workouts. I could probably extend the workouts that way, and get some good work in at the same time. Something that I’m going to try to remember to try out, anyway. Possibly tomorrow morning, but we’ll see how I feel then.

Workout: Free Form
Author: chaos

Had a horrible time sleeping last night. Ended up waking up around 2.5 hours earlier than I was planning on, and being unable to get back to sleep. Since I was already shorting myself for the night, it ended up being a very short night. Eventually I gave up on trying to get back to sleep, and got up to do a workout. Somewhat surprisingly, it went pretty well. Perhaps lying there for so long increased my ability to focus. Whatever the case, my head was actually very clear for the workout. I mostly was just doing stretching… started off with the total body opening, then just free formed a few more stretches and stuff. Threw in triangle and warrior II to make it a little more challenging. My shoulder was aching a bit last night, so I didn’t want to do anything too involved. Maybe I’ll take this weekend off to promote healing. I’ll have to play that by ear. I was thinking about incorporating some pilates moves into the workout, but wasn’t actually sure which ones would make sense. I might need to review my pilates discs before doing anything like that. Anyway, I’ll probably go for an abs workout tomorrow morning, provided I can manage to get out of bed at all.

Workout: Abs Conditioning: Yoga
Author: chaos

Yet another abs workout. Not quite as focused as the last one, but not too bad. The focus came and went. Really, the most interesting thing about this workout was the fact that my shoulder felt… well, certainly not healed, but the quality of the injury felt different. It’s somewhat hard to explain, really… it felt more like the type of injury that will heal within a couple of days, as opposed to the type of injury that will linger for weeks. So that could be a good sign. Not a whole lot else to say about it… doing essentially the same workouts alternating every other day doesn’t lend itself to having a lot to say about them. So, another morning workout tomorrow, and hopefully the final outdoor ultimate game of the season after that.

Workout: Free Form
Author: chaos

Another stretching workout to go into the real last day of the outdoor ultimate season. These Friday games don’t always happen, so I didn’t want to assume last week that I’d get to play outdoors again this year. I suppose I still could play outdoors again, under certain conditions, but I’m not really anticipating that happening. Anyway, another basic stretching workout. I kept things pretty light… I’d really like to let my shoulder finish healing at this point, so I can get back to more serious yoga workouts. It’s hard, but I really need to exercise patience in this instance. I may even take the next day or two off, try and let my body get as much healing as possible in. It’s always a bit of a question as to how effective that really is, but it’s not a bad thought, at any rate. It’s not as if I’m going to miss any particularly exciting workouts in the meantime.

Workout: Abs Conditioning: Yoga
Author: chaos

Yet another abs yoga routine. I think I’ll be able to start doing the other abs workouts again pretty soon… my shoulder has been feeling quite a bit better the last week or so. Fortunately I didn’t damage it on Friday, despite laying out a few times. Actually, I haven’t done anything other than very lightly strain it while playing ultimate since the original injury, I think. Anyway. I’ll probably go to a light stretching workout tomorrow, and try to get a feel for how the shoulder is doing in a slightly more challenging situation. I’ll definitely be backing off from anything that seems to strain it, though, as I really don’t need any more relapses. Oh, my quad also seems to be doing better, I didn’t strain it at all on Friday, which was the first time since the original injury that I haven’t slightly strained it by the end of the day when I’ve played. So that might pretty much be healed now, although I’m not putting that theory to the test quite yet. Anyway, that’s all for now, hopefully there will be more progress to report soon.