BBM Connection

Workout: Free Form
Author: chaos

Got in my first workout on vacation tonight. I was fairly pleased with the workout… it went a little bit better than I was expecting. My wrist seems to be healing somewhat from having many days away from throwing, which is definitely a good sign. I didn’t do anything too intensive with the workout, but did get in a lot of the standard poses, such as triangle and warrior II, as well as a lot of stretching poses. I think the main differences between this workout and some of the recent ones was that I felt I was getting into the poses more completely, and there wasn’t as much pain associated with the workout as a whole. Anyway, we’ll see how the vacation yoga goes… it’s not necessarily easy to find a good time for it, but hopefully I’ll get in a few more workouts over the next week or so.

Workout: Free Form
Author: chaos

Although I’ve done almost all of my yoga indoors, there is something kind of nice about getting a decent workout in on a nice morning in the fresh air. Not that I really intend to make a habit of it (nowhere really good to do it at home, anyway), but it’s not a bad change of pace. Went for a light version of total body today, essentially. Almost a combination of total body sequencing and py:stamina timing, I think… nothing held for too long. I’m definitely feeling somewhat better, although the ankle is still somewhat problematic. The wrist has gotten much better, though, which is perhaps more key even than the ankle. It’d be nice to get a few more workouts in while on vacation, but we’ll see what happens. Finding the time when we aren’t putting up or tearing down the tent, or just plain exhausted, is not easy. I think being on such a daylight-centric schedule wears me out more than I might otherwise be, too. Anyway, I’ll continue to look for opportunities to get workouts in, and will hopefully manage at least one more before the end of vacation.

Workout: Free Form
Author: chaos

Finally managed to get another workout in, on the final day of vacation. It was certainly assisted by a relatively late checkout time, although I woke up plenty early enough to have managed, anyway. Went out to the beach for this workout, as that seemed like it would be a pretty nice place to do a workout. And it was… pretty nice to be out in the sun, looking out at the water. For the workout, basically followed the total body sequencing again, but with much closer to total body timing this time around. And it felt good to do. I skipped warrior III and the backbends, but other than that, I think I followed the sequencing pretty closely. I probably didn’t hold poses for as long as I would with the video, but given that I’m starting to get into more serious workouts for the first time in months, I don’t think that’s too bad. Working out on sand was a little odd, but not bad. The top layer was fairly soft, but it became more packed a few inches down, so once I hit that, I was able to plant myself pretty well. And it allowed me to kind of grip the surface with my hands, which I think was actually a little bit easier on the wrist. Anyway, overall it was a really good workout, the best I’ve had in a long time. I’m feeling that many of my injuries have either healed fully or at least a decent amount, so hopefully I can avoid further injury during the rest of the ultimate season, and get back to having a good yoga workout regimen.

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

Although I’ve been feeling pretty good over the last couple of workouts, decided to just take it easy today with the usual running and all sports workouts. Notably, it was the first time in about two months that I didn’t really have to work through pain or modify the workout to avoid pain. Which is definitely a welcome thing. Ultimate was okay… the tendon problem that I first had in January made a sudden and painful reappearance after about the first 3 minutes, so I ended up hobbling around the rest of the day. Slacked off on stretching afterwards once again, partly because the leg was hurting me and I didn’t want to aggravate it, mostly because I was lazy, though. I’ll probably play tomorrow unless it’s really bad, but will consider taking Thursday off, depending on how the healing is going.

Workout: Power Yoga: Stamina
Author: chaos

Decided to try something a little bit more challenging (but only a little bit) and do the py:stamina workout tonight for my ultimate stretching. The last time I tried to do this workout, I only made it a few minutes in before my wrist protested something, and I switched up. Since my wrist has largely recovered at this point, I figured that I’d probably be able to make it through. And that was successful… the tendon pull that I did yesterday hurt some, but certainly not any worse than running around on it. The wrist was okay, although I’m still being a little cautious with it. I’d really prefer not to go back to having it be a constant problem for workouts. The workout was a little more tiring than it should have been, but given how much I’ve been working out lately, not terribly surprising. I was just glad to make it through. Ultimate was fun, although I was still hobbling around for the most part. I may take Thursday off, if my leg doesn’t feel considerably better by then… I’d rather let it heal back to at least the state it was in before than keep hobbling around all the time. Only did a little stretching afterwards, because the mosquitos were coming out and they seemed hungry. The plan is to get an abs workout in tomorrow, and for a change, I think I’ll actually manage to follow that plan. So until then…

Workout: Abs Conditioning: Yoga
Author: chaos

Well, I originally intended to get to this workout last night sometime, but never quite made it there. It went reasonably well… far from my best, but my abs seemed to be taking it decently. I was a little uncertain, since it’s been so long since I did an abs workout. I thought the abs might really rebel against working out again. The only truly notable thing about the workout was that I really didn’t much feel like doing it, and yet I did anyway. It’s been quite a while since I’ve been able to say that, and it gives me hope that maybe I’ll start getting back in the habit of regular workouts. I’m not quite sure if I’m going to play ultimate today or not… my leg is feeling considerably better, but definitely not back to normal, so I’m considering just taking the day off, and healing until Monday. But we’ll see. Either way, I plan to try and get a light workout in sometime later, so hopefully that happens.

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

Ended up deciding to go ahead and play ultimate today. In preparation, did what used to be the usual warmup from the mini-workouts, running, swimming, and all sports. It felt fairly good… I felt like I got some good stretching in, didn’t really feel like I was straining. I modified a little bit, substituting a one-legged forward bend for the triangle pose in the all sports workouts, just to get a little more targeted stretching for the tendon in the left leg. Ultimate went fairly well… while I still clearly wasn’t at 100%, I was definitely doing far better than I did on Monday or Tuesday. At least in terms of mobility… my hucks were leaving something to be desired today. It wasn’t that they were bad throws, I just couldn’t quite seem to connect with my receivers like I normally do. Anyway, going to try and keep up the yoga habit over the weekend, although we may be traveling again, which will probably make it tougher. Still, going to make the attempt, and hopefully get workouts in at least two of the three days.

Workout: Free Form
Author: chaos

Well, somewhat followed my plan to get a workout in. I was feeling tired last night, so figured I’d sleep for a little while, and then get the workout in. Which I did, somewhat surprisingly. I ended up not using a mat, which is always a little problematic, since I have very little traction on my hands and feet. So I only did a few standing poses before moving into a series of seated poses, mostly stretches. Still, it felt good to get the workout in, even if it wasn’t particularly intense. Hopefully I’ll get another workout in tonight, maybe something abs related, but we’ll see if that actually happens. If not, certainly a stretching workout before ultimate tomorrow.

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

Once again failed to give myself adequate time before ultimate, so I ended up just going with running and all sports. I did a slight modification to get in a little extra groin stretching, but nothing serious. Ultimate was decent… it started out really small, but we ended up playing sixes with subs, so that wasn’t bad. My throws continue to be a little off… they have been ever since returning from vacation. Don’t know what the problem is… the throws are stronger, I’m just having accuracy issues. In a weird way… kind of hard to explain. Anyway. Got in a little bit of stretching afterwards, not a whole lot, but more than I have been recently. That was partly because my quadriceps were threatening to cramp, and I really wanted to avoid that. I think that I didn’t drink enough water during the game. Overall, a fairly decent day, hopefully a precursor for a few more to come.

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

Went for the three usual today. Although it’s still pretty lightweight as far as real workouts go, it feels good just to be able to do all three of them again, as opposed to just the two. Which is not to say that I’m able to do them without pain, but at least it’s a fairly low level of pain, a level at which it no longer feels like I’m doing more damage while working out. Ultimate was decent today, I played somewhat better than I have been, but still not really up to the level I’d like. Maybe if I weren’t so lazy. Perhaps I should find a team to play with, so that I can bust out hard for a point or two, then take a break. Right now I’m just half playing most of the time so that I can keep playing. Good for the endurance, though. A little bit of stretching afterwards, although I probably should have done more. Groin muscles are a little tight, as well as the quads, but I think they’ll be okay tomorrow. I’ll probably go for abs yoga tomorrow, and maybe throw in a little bit of light stretching in addition, if I can motivate for it. Until then…

Workout: Abs Conditioning: Yoga
Author: chaos

Successfully convinced myself to do the abs yoga workout tonight. It didn’t really take much convincing… I would like to get back to the daily workout at some point, preferably some point soon. It’s just harder now that I’ve gotten out of the habit. Anyway, my focus was somewhat better for this workout than it has been in quite a while. Not quite sure why that was, other than that not working out right before ultimate probably helps. I should be focusing then, too, but I don’t think I have been, at least not very well. The physical part of the workout was a little tougher, perhaps partly because of the added focus, but I think largely because of some lingering soreness from the last couple of days of ultimate. My legs also felt pretty heavy, which was somewhat unusual. Altogether, though, I was fairly happy with the workout, and I hope that it will help me to start getting in better workouts, as well as working out more consistently.

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

Well, not necessarily all the time, but lately, anyway. Tried to keep the issue of focus in mind during the workout. I think it helped somewhat, although not nearly as much as I’d like. However, I was fairly happy with the workout, overall. My wrist and ankle are both still bothering me a little, although not nearly as much as they were before vacation. I should probably think about taking a day off sometime, maybe next Thursday. Of course, I thought that about this Thursday and last Thursday as well, and clearly didn’t take them off, so it’s probably not too likely I’ll actually take next Thursday off, either. Anyway, made one modification in the triple threat sequence, did backbend lunge instead of triangle during the all sports workout. My thinking is that I already got in a triangle stretch during the swimming workout, and could use the extra groin stretching. Ultimate was pretty decent today, both a decent game and my play. It’s definitely the best I’ve played since coming back from vacation, I think largely because I didn’t try to overdo it. I need to start taking that lesson into my other days, particularly Dearborn on Tuesdays. Anyway. Did a little light stretching afterwards, but actually felt fairly good, better than any other day this week. Strange how that works out sometimes. I’m going to again try to get workouts in at least two of the three days this weekend, and possibly even go for all three, depending on what I’m doing and how I’m feeling. So until next time…

Workout: Free Form
Author: chaos

Completely failed to do a workout over the weekend. Which is a little funny, because I really felt like doing one at a couple of points, I just couldn’t motivate myself to actually do it. Rather weird, to be honest. Anyway, took way too long to start getting ready for ultimate today, so I just did a quick free form workout to stretch out. Mostly, I did a mix and match of various parts of the normal mini-workouts, plus an addition or two of my own. As it turns out, it didn’t really matter… it was rainy and relatively cool, so no one else showed up. Really, the only reason we showed up was because I had agreed to bring the cones, and though it seemed unlikely that anyone was going to come, I figured it would be bad if people did and no one had cones. Didn’t really matter, just hung around for a bit and then grabbed dinner. Anyway, the weather is supposed to be clear tomorrow, so hopefully it will be and I’ll also get to the workout a little more promptly, not leaving myself open to pulled muscles, or at least less open.

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

Gave myself a little more time for the workout tonight. Went with the same workout as last Thursday, with the backbend lunge modification. Focus was poor, but that’s hardly unusual these days. Ultimate was decent, got in some good exercise. Not sure I got in much more than that, but sometimes that happens. I did do a better job of taking it easy during the game, although the shutout in the final game was still somewhat frustrating. The teams were clearly mismatched, but still. Anyway, plan is for abs tomorrow, and I’m pretty confident that I’ll manage that. So until then…

Workout: Abs Conditioning: Yoga
Author: chaos

Had a fairly weak abs session today. The physical part was okay, neither particularly good or bad. But the concentration aspect was fairly terrible. My mind kept wandering throughout the entire workout, despite pulling it back to the workout several times. This isn’t particularly unusual, except that I’ve traditionally done a little better during workouts with few external distractions, and abs is also usually a strong point. Anyway, just something that I need to work on.
With this workout, and the expected workout before ultimate tomorrow, I’ll have continued my streak of having an average of a workout every two days or better for every month since the beginning of 2004. However, I feel like this is perhaps the weakest month I’ve had in that time. A number of times I’ve just made the average, but that has largely been because of injury. This month, though, it was largely because of laziness. While the first two weeks were largely spent on the road, I could have tried harder to get workouts in. But the worst part is really the time after getting back. With the exception of one or two days where it seemed better to get a little bit of extra rest for the body, there’s really no reason for me not to have gotten a workout in every day. Sure, the extra healing time has helped somewhat, but not as much as getting workouts in would have. I’ve lost some of my dedication to the practice, and I really need to get it back. Overall, I’m in relatively decent shape from an injury perspective, so I should be trying to get back into full workout form. Instead, I’ve been continuing the trend of laziness, and taking it easy on myself. I’m hoping now that I’ve noted this and stated it, I can start to overcome it, starting this weekend. I think perhaps it’s time to embark upon a renewal of self, in several different areas in my life, and hopefully come out a little better for it. As always, stay tuned to see how this turns out.

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

While I didn’t leave enough time for the workouts again today, only getting in running and all sports, I did have a bit of an improvement in focus. Still not great, but better than the last few workouts. Ultimate today was okay. I had some problems catching, which is rather unusual. All the missed catches were of the slightly off target variety, but still, things I’d normally grab. Throws were a little off, too. I was also having trouble with my breathing early in the day, causing me to be fairly fatigued, although I eventually worked through that. It was still a fun day overall, though. Didn’t really do much stretching afterwards, although I’m going to have to start doing more. I think I can get away with it when the temperature is warm, but as it starts getting cooler, more post-game stretching is going to be necessary, I think. I’ll have to monitor that, see how it goes. For now, just going to try and keep going through the rest of the season, hopefully without accumulating more injuries.