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Workout: Intermediate Mat Workout
Author: chaos

Worked with my projected options from yesterday, and went with the pilates intermediate mat workout today. I briefly considered that it would be nice to do a longer workout, but as I suspected, I was feeling far too fatigued to actually pull that off. I’m discovering that planning in advance has its uses. I’m also rediscovering that planning to get in a daily workout helps assure that I actually get said workout in. As tired as I was feeling tonight, I’m not certain I’d have gotten the workout in if I weren’t back into the daily groove. Which is a good groove to be in, definitely. A little uncertain what I want to do for tomorrow… I’d like to get a longer workout in one of these days, but I’m not sure that tomorrow is going to be that day. I suppose if it’s not, I’ll just default to one of the strength workouts. Although things are probably going to be pretty busy for the next month, I want to stay on the offensive in terms of building up to heavier workouts. Anyway, that’s all for now, stay tuned and all that.

Workout: Power Yoga: Strength
Author: chaos

As somewhat expected, decided not to go with a long workout today. Part of that was just that I was feeling lazy, I think, which I’m not overly happy about. Although my ankle was a little unhappy today during the workout, so perhaps it’s just as well. I think I tweaked the ankle somehow in the last day or two, which I don’t distinctly remember doing, but do have a vague impression of. Annoying. I want to start getting back to the hip opening workout, but would really rather have my ankle at full strength before I start doing that again. I also want to start playing Stepmania regularly, but the same thing applies. Oh well. Today’s workout was fairly decent. I still want to figure out pendulum pose one of these days, but other than that, the workout has been going well. For tomorrow, I think I might try out the Yoga Burn disc that I got a while back. I’ll have to watch it first, though, so we’ll see if I actually get around to doing that before tomorrow. If not… I’m not sure. Maybe YfS:s2, or something. Until then…

Workout: Abs Conditioning: Yoga
Author: chaos

While I did manage to watch the Yoga Burn video today, I decided I wasn’t quite ready for it, and so I just went with abs yoga instead. Interestingly, it seems like the yoga burn video incorporates a number of elements from abs yoga. I’m not too sure what that means, but I found it noteworthy, anyway. Today’s workout was decent… I was actually a little surprised, because I thought it would be a little harder than it was. While I certainly wouldn’t categorize it as easy, I’ve had much more difficult sessions. Perhaps the fact that I’ve started making protein drinks after my workouts is beginning to pay off. Or perhaps my abs are finally starting to get used to regular work again. My ankle felt better today, but I didn’t really want to push it. Hmmm… random thoughts. I need to wash my yoga mat one of these days. Maybe I’ll do it Monday night, if I can remember to. I really need to be careful about my diet for the next week or two… without a keeper, it’s easy for me to start forgetting meals and such, which isn’t good. Must avoid. Anyway, that’s all for now. I think I’ll probably give Yoga Burn a shot tomorrow, see how it is. Oh, another random thought, my hamstrings are fairly sore from yesterday. Not quite sure what I did wrong, but… still working on proper technique, I guess. Oh well, until tomorrow…

Workout: Yoga Burn
Author: chaos

As planned, I went with the new Yoga Burn workout today. New isn’t quite the right descriptor, since I’ve had it a number of months now, but this is the first time that I’ve actually done the workout. It was interesting… I’m as of yet undecided on how useful it’s going to be to me. Certainly it was somewhat challenging today, but if I were fully recharged… I’m not so sure. Anyway, the principle behind the workout is the same as negatives in weight lifting, really. Slow movement can be very effective for building muscle. So, the entire workout is based on slow movements between poses. The poses aren’t really held, for the most part. They’re more like transition points for direction changes. There’s quite a bit of stretching in the workout. Overall, I don’t feel like I worked all that hard, but at the same time, I felt like I was working pretty hard at points during the workout. Part of that is recent activity, though… the parts that were similar to the abs workout hurt, quite a bit. Well, hurt in the “feel the burn” way. Anyway, I’ll probably try and get a couple good workouts in over the next couple of days, then have a few light days in the middle of the week.

Workout: Yoga for Strength: session 2
Author: chaos

I’ve having a severe bout of procrastination the last few days, and it’s been making it difficult for me to get in the workouts that I’d really like to. Although, realistically, I wasn’t going to get three long workouts in before Wednesday anyway, I potentially could have done two if I had gotten one of them in today. Alas. Anyway, decided to hit up the yfs:s2 workout, since it’s been a while, or at least it feels like it’s been a while. It was certainly far from my best, although it was also certainly far from my worst. I was having a few more balance issues than I normally do… I also determined that I might be better off avoiding tree pose and warrior III until my ankle finishes healing. I really wish I knew what was taking it so long. Admittedly, I haven’t been healing as quickly as I’d like in any area recently, so perhaps my healing rate is off for some reason. Possibly advancing age… I hear that can happen. Still, not too bad of a workout. Good to get it in, anyway. I’ll probably try to get something a little more complete in tomorrow, possibly total body, if I can motivate for it.

Workout: Abs Conditioning: Balanceball
Author: chaos

I’m so off of my game right now. Just completely lost. Anyway, ended up going way under my original plan, and just did an abs balanceball workout today. The workout was okay, although I think last time was better. I didn’t have quite the same focus today… probably had something to do with the voices in my head telling me that I’m a slacker. Which, of course, they’re quite correct about, which makes them harder to ignore. Blah. Well, anyway, that might change up what I plan to do tomorrow, although perhaps not. I think I’m going to try and get the workout in during the early afternoon, if things are going reasonably well. Which, the way things have been going lately, they won’t be. But, you know, that’s how it goes sometimes, at least when you’re a slacker. Probably if you’re not, as well, but I wouldn’t really know. Oh well. That’s all for now, stay tuned, etc.

Workout: Yoga Conditioning for Athletes
Author: chaos

Well, in the interest of not being a complete slacker, I went for the full YCfA workout today. Although I have to note that this workout is far more about stretching than anything else, it’s still a full length workout. I did everything except for tree pose and eagle pose, wanting to take it easy on the ankle. Relatively speaking, anyway. Workout wasn’t too bad, had reasonable if not great focus. My legs did get a little tired in the middle section… but I’m still working on it. I’m starting to really pay more attention to the subtle directions. Not always able to execute fully, but I’m working on it. Heading off for a few days. Hopefully it’ll help me pull myself together here. I really don’t think it can make things worse. If I get out of this month alive, it’ll be a miracle. Blah. Anyway. Things to do, people to see, all that. Planning on playing a little indoor ultimate tomorrow, so that should be rocking. Hopefully I won’t hurt my ankle again. All for now… stretching workout planned for tomorrow, and then probably abs yoga Thursday morning.

Workout: Free Form
Author: chaos

On the road for a few days. Didn’t bring any of my videos with me, so just ran with some free form action for stretching before ultimate. Pretty much a classic workout… A few sun salutations, then integrating triangle, side stretch, warrior II, and backbend lunge, followed by a few seated stretches. Ultimate was fun, although somewhat painful. I scraped up both of my knees, my left thigh, and managed to aggravate both of the current injuries of note. Also brought back an old injury to my left knee, which made running difficult the last part of the game. All of this just reinforces my thought that I need to take the winter off from ultimate, so I can focus on the yoga without dealing with injuries all the time. The plan for tomorrow is yoga abs, so that shouldn’t be a problem… it’s hard to say what will happen on Friday, though. I’m guessing a light workout, at this point, but maybe things will work out.

Workout: Abs Conditioning: Yoga
Author: chaos

As anticipated, went with abs yoga today. I didn’t have the video with me, but I’m so familiar with it at this point that it’s easy for me to just do it from memory. It went okay… the left tendon problem was a little annoying, but this workout doesn’t affect that too much. I was happy that I managed to get up in time to do the workout before heading out to the events of the day, since I wouldn’t have another chance until late tonight. Hooray for the occasional motivation. For now, things to do, people to see, etc. Not sure what the plan for tomorrow is… something light and stretching, possibly.

Workout: Power Yoga: Strength
Author: chaos

Slacked off a little bit yesterday, although there were some mitigating circumstances that contributed to said slacking. Still, not wanting to make that a habit, I decided to get an early workout in today. I think I’ll try to get another workout in later tonight, but we’ll see what happens. Anyway, it was an okay workout. The bird was being annoying for some reason, which made concentrating somewhat more difficult. My various injuries were a little annoying, but nothing that I couldn’t work through. For now, things to do, and all that good (or not so good) stuff. I’m going to try to go with morning workouts the next couple of days, especially if I do get another workout in tonight, but we’ll see how that goes.

Workout: Abs Conditioning: Yoga
Author: chaos

Well, I was really tired by the time that I got home last night, so I decided that I’d just forgo the workout, and not worry about “catching up”. However, I woke up considerably earlier than I expected to, so I decided to go ahead and sneak a workout in early in the day. Went with the abs workout that I had been originally thinking of. Physically, it went well… didn’t have the same problems with pain below my left tendon that I did on Thursday. Mentally, though, it was pretty poor… couldn’t escape the sense of having way too much to do in the time left to do it in. Which probably isn’t true, as long as I’m not slacking off today. So we’ll see what happens. Probably going to go play ultimate for a little while later, although I really shouldn’t. Hopefully that will cement the feeling of impending doom and cause me to be productive the rest of the day, though. We’ll see. Anyway, time to stop writing this and get on with stuff I actually need to do, so until later…

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

Well, in the interests of proving that I really am insane, I decided to go ahead and play ultimate today, despite the injury problems, and despite the fact that I have a good number of other things I should probably be doing. All of that said, it wasn’t too cold, and it was some good fun, although we only have 4 on 4. I have a number of layouts, but because the ground was fairly muddy, didn’t injure myself too much. Although I do have an odd scrape on my left side now. Other than that… my left knee/tendon problem was hurting a little, but I wrapped it, so that seemed to help quite a bit. I think I pulled a muscle on the outside of my right leg, though… kind of opposite the shin, in front. It’s been tender ever since I played on Tuesday, and it’s really sore now. Fortunately, I don’t plan on playing again for at least another two weeks and quite possibly longer, so I should have some time to heal. Went out for brunch with everyone afterwards… although I didn’t really want to take the time, I realized I probably would just skip the meal if I didn’t, and that didn’t seem like a good plan, so out I went. Hmmm… I suppose theoretically this is about the workout. Just did running and all sports to warm up, since I didn’t want to take the time to do anything longer, and I was working on other things before ultimate, anyway. Not a whole lot to say about it, went as it usually does, pretty much. I’m going to try and do something like strength or something tomorrow, I think, possibly depending on how the right leg feels. Going to try and keep getting the workouts in this upcoming week, although it’ll be tough with all the travel, I think. Anyway, time is fleeting, and all that, so until next time…

Workout: Power Yoga: Flexibility
Author: chaos

Well, despite some panic this morning and some stuff still to do, I managed to sneak a quick workout in. It actually went fairly well… I was surprisingly well focused, for the most part. Whatever I did to the side of my right leg actually feels much better today. My left tendon/knee problem hurts a little more, but that’s not unexpected. Hopefully with some good stretching over the course of the week, I’ll be able to finish healing that, or at least getting it back to the point where it was before. Anyway, things to do, places to go, so must be off. I’m planning on sticking to morning workouts over the next few days, but I don’t know that I’ll have net access, so there will probably be a slew of non-informative updates when I get back. I’ll try to note anything particularly special that occurs during the workouts. Until next time…

Workout: Free Form
Author: chaos

I was feeling fairly good for the workout today. I started off by following the total body sequence through the first four downward dogs. After that, I jumped to a more traditional free form workout with triangle, side stretch, warrior II, and backbend lunge. I finished off the workout with cobbler’s, cobbler’s forward bend, wide angle seated forward bend, seated forward bend, reclining twist, reclined cobbler’s, and relaxation pose. I had fairly decent focus today, somewhat surprisingly. I definitely think that yoga, and particularly the more meditative yoga aspects, are helping me to maintain calm and prepare for stress. That’s going to be quite useful in the next couple of days, I think.

Workout: Free Form
Author: chaos

I started off today with the YCfA:Running mini-workout sequence, and then moved into some general leg stretches, much like yesterday. I wasn’t really feeling like doing standing poses today, possibly just because I was feeling pretty tired. I was also having a harder time staying focused today, perhaps because of the rather sedentary workout. I’ll probably have a better workout tomorrow, since I won’t have to be up nearly so early. Until then…

Workout: Free Form
Author: chaos

I started off today’s workout with the first part of total body, up through the first downward dog. After that, I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do… I was in a somewhat odd mood, and rather tired. I went to triangle next, then did a tree pose, and then pigeon lunge. Then I segued into some seated leg stretching, doing cobbler’s, cobbler’s forward bend, wide angle seated forward bend, reclined cobbler’s, and relaxation pose. I had a hard time getting into the workout today. Hopefully I’ll start to feel somewhat rejuvenated after today. I’ll probably do abs in the next day or two… I originally planned on doing it today, but wasn’t in the mood. I do want to keep up with my abs, though, so probably tomorrow.

Workout: Abs Conditioning: Yoga
Author: chaos

Still not really feeling my normal levels of motivation here. Decided to do abs simply because it’s been several days since I have, and I have been trying to keep to a regular schedule of abs. I also didn’t have anything else that I particularly felt like doing, so it made sense to go with something that doesn’t require all that much motivation, and already has a set sequence. My focus wasn’t quite as good as it had been lately, and I think the physical aspects of the workout suffered because of it. Not too much else to say… in the end, not as good as a workout as I’d have liked, but that happens sometimes. Hopefully I break back out of this small slump I’ve been in pretty soon, and get back to some good workouts.

Workout: Free Form
Author: chaos

I was definitely feeling the motivation a little more today, and was able to get that into my workout a bit. Started off with the first sequence of py:strength, then started into a more traditional free form workout with a simple sun salutation, then integrating triangle and side stretch. Instead of a simple warrior II next, though, I went with the eight-pose sequence from total body. Had a really nice backbend lunge after that, then started sequencing the seated stretches. Started with a little child’s pose, then went into thunderbolt pose. Did Ardha Matsyendrasana next, followed that up with cobbler’s pose and wide angle seated pose, back to cobbler’s and then into boat pose. Finished off with seated forward bend, reclined cobbler’s, and relaxation. The only thing of particular note, I think, was that I was able to grasp my right wrist with my left hand around the bottom of my feet in seated forward bend, which I can’t recall ever quite being able to do before, or at least not having ever done it before. I suppose I should also say that half moon pose went well in the eight-pose sequence. Not sure what my plan is for tomorrow… heading home, definitely, but I don’t know if I’ll try to get the workout in before or after doing that. I should really do it before, since it’s fairly likely I won’t really feel like it afterwards, but it’ll probably depend on how early I actually manage to leave. If it’s early enough, I might just wait. But I’m guessing that won’t be the case, so probably another morning workout tomorrow, and then who knows what’ll happen after that. Oh yeah, I also noted today that my ankle seems to be feeling better, so hopefully I’ll be able to start playing Stepmania in a regular fashion. I should probably take the rest of the year off from ultimate, but I don’t know if that’ll actually happen. Anyway, until tomorrow…

Workout: Power Yoga: Flexibility
Author: chaos

Well, I didn’t manage to get a workout in yesterday. I had originally thought that I would get one in before leaving, but I decided I just wanted to hit the road. After I got home, as I suspected, I didn’t really feel like doing a workout. Specifically, I ate dinner and went to sleep. I’m uncertain as to whether or not I’ll attempt to get a make-up workout in at some point. Probably not today, anyway. For today, I just went with flexibility. While I do want to start getting back to the full length workouts, today I was just looking for a decent workout that wasn’t too long, as I have a number of things that I need to be attending to. I think the next two weeks are going to be somewhat of a crunch time, and after that things should ease up for a while. I’m hoping I’ve learned some lessons about procrastination, and maybe things won’t be so bad right at the deadline this time. We’ll see. Anyway, things to do and all that, so going to wrap this up. Might do an abs workout tomorrow, but I’m not really sure right now.

Workout: Abs Conditioning: Yoga
Author: chaos

Ugh. Another low motivation day. In general, not just with respect to the workout. Although the workout certainly showed that, as well. I had originally been thinking about doing the pilates abs workout today, but couldn’t summon the desire. I barely had the desire to do any workout, really. Kind of annoying. I really need to get myself on track here. Anyway, nothing too exciting about the workout. It seemed a little easy, to be honest, although I was trying to stay focused and really work the abs. While I think that I could have a better workout, I also think that I may finally be getting back to the point where this workout doesn’t really challenge me. So that’s a bit of a good thing. Now I just need to start pushing into the other workouts, particularly pilates, so that I am challenged. Hopefully I can start doing that. Anyway… who knows what I’ll do tomorrow. It’ll depend partly on whether or not I’m still in this motivation slump, I’m sure. Hopefully I’ll at least do a strength session of some type.

Workout: Yoga for Strength: session 1
Author: chaos

Having some definite motivation problems the past couple of days. It’s probably partly the fault of my diet… I lost a few pounds while traveling from not eating enough, and I haven’t been doing significantly better since returning home. I haven’t been losing weight, but I have been sleeping a lot, and that’s most often a sign of insufficient calorie consumption, I find. Also of avoidance, but that’s a slightly different issue. Anyway, went with a workout I’ve been thinking about doing ever since getting home, YfS:s1. I really wanted to do the shoulderstand sequence, for some reason. Workout as a whole went pretty well… the two minute downward dog was interesting, I was having some problems with trembling, yet at the same time, I wasn’t really feeling fatigued. Kind of odd. I definitely felt like I could fairly easily hold the pose a while longer, though, which is a good thing. Not too much else to say… I definitely feel like I’ve been neglecting the cardio aspect of things this month, though. I have a few things I want to try and knock out by the end of the month, but after that, I want to get serious about the whole physical fitness thing again. Which means I need to get this other stuff done, so I can get on with it. Anyway, those are the thoughts for today, hopefully I’ll come back tomorrow with another good workout, or at least a pilates workout or something.

Workout: Power Yoga: Strength
Author: chaos

Still having trouble getting things done. They are getting done, just at a much slower pace than I’d like. Correspondingly, still having trouble committing to other things, like workouts. Decided not to totally slack off today, and went for the py:strength workout. I know that I’m not really pushing myself with these workouts, but at least I’m hopefully maintaining, and perhaps building a little. I think I have recovered most of the strength that I lost during the ultimate season. Pretty much all of my injuries seem to be healed, except my right pinkie, and the left knee/tendon problem. That doesn’t bother me, really, but I can still feel that it’s there. I think the pinkie is healing, but it’s a very slow process. I’m not really sure what to do about it, other than leave it alone. I don’t really think anything else is effective at this point… whatever the problem is, it just has to heal, and taping the finger doesn’t really seem to help that any… probably because taping and removing the tape aggravates things slightly. So I’m just trying to avoid hitting it and otherwise aggravating it, and hoping it improves. I need to start doing the hip-opening sequence again, now that my ankle seems to have recovered. I think I’ve made some improvements, but I need to keep working on it. Lots of stuff to get done… I need to learn to manage my time better. I just haven’t managed it for so long, it’s difficult. Anyway. Possibly hip-opening tomorrow, or maybe abs, or possibly both if I manage to get a lot of work done in the next day. Unlikely, but possible.

Workout: Advanced Yoga: Hip Opening
Author: chaos

As per my rough plan, went for the hip opening workout today. I still feel like it’s a bit short of a workout, though… I really need to pull myself together, and get on with real workouts. Anyway, it went pretty well. It seemed like I had more flexibility today than I have when I’ve done this workout in the past. I think my efforts to really work on my flexibility during normal workouts have been helping. I’m still a long way from being able to do lotus position, but I’m definitely beginning to feel like half-lotus might be an attainable goal before the end of the winter. Not too much else to say, other than I’ll be trying to get this workout in more frequently, as long as my knees don’t object. Hopefully I can start combining it with abs workouts, which will make the whole seem more complete. I did note that my hamstrings were quite sore today… apparently I’m doing something wrong again, because the last two workouts really got to them. It’d be nice if I could consistently remember how I started avoiding the soreness, and get back to it. Anyway… I’m definitely thinking pilates tomorrow, so we’ll see how that goes.

Workout: Cardio Pilates
Author: chaos

Decided to go in for the cardio pilates workout today. Mostly just for the pilates part, although I did do the beginning of the cardio section today. I had forgotten that it actually provides a decent powerhouse workout, as well. Anyway, decent session. Concentration was fairly good. I managed to hit pretty much everything, which is unusual, and a sign of good focus. Anyway, just trying to keep going with the workouts for now. Was slightly more productive today, which may or may not be a sign of anything else. Past performance not being a guarantee of future results, and all that. Anyway, I’ll probably go for another strength workout of some type tomorrow, since I think I’ve now recovered from the previous few.

Workout: Power Yoga: Strength
Author: chaos

I think my motivation is starting to return, slowly. I was having trouble working on my essays, so I decided to rearrange my normal sequence of events somewhat, and get the workout in earlier in the day. This way I don’t have to worry about getting it in later, and can hopefully concentrate on writing instead. Decided to go with py:strength again. Not too bad… I hadn’t healed quite as much as I thought, in terms of soreness. Which is to say, there was a bit of soreness, but nothing important… I was just under the impression I had fully recovered. Had a little bit of trouble with my right big toe, since the nail was trimmed a little too close last night. Just a minor annoyance, really. Anyway… provided I get some work done on my essays tonight, I might try for a hip-opening workout in addition to an abs workout tomorrow. We’ll see if I actually do that, or end up settling for just one of the two.

Workout: Abs Conditioning: Yoga, Advanced Yoga: Hip Opening
Author: chaos

So much for that increase in motivation. Totally slacked off yesterday, both on essays and on the workout. Somewhat made up for it today, actually doing both the hip opening and abs yoga workouts. I really need to start getting to the DDR… I think I’m suffering from a lack of cardio exercise lately. Of course, I need to get this one app out in the next couple of days, another one a few days after that, probably another one a few days after that, and one more by the 15th. So I probably won’t actually be getting to it nearly as soon as I’d like, unless I really do get my shit together here. Which really doesn’t seem to be happening. Anyway, I’ll probably hit something up for strength tomorrow, but I won’t put something like total body out of the question… depends on what kind of mood I’m in, I suspect. Anyway, until then.

Workout: Yoga for Strength: session 1
Author: chaos

I managed to overcome my desire to slack off tonight, and get the workout in. It actually ended up being a fairly decent workout, as well… I have a new idea on how to keep my hamstrings from getting so sore. I think I have to relax them when coming up from standing forward bend. It’ll be harder to keep track of during faster workouts, though, so we’ll see how it goes. I doubt I’ll really be able to tell from tonight, since I don’t think they’re usually sore after this workout. Anyway, workout was decent. I’m definitely pleased that I managed not to be all lazy about it. Well, things to do tonight, like finish my essays that are due in just over 24 hours, so I should probably be on to that. For tomorrow… hard to say. Might just go quick and easy, or I might take a long workout, depending on when everything gets finished. So until then…