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Workout: Power Yoga: Flexibility

I did it! I really didn’t feel like doing yoga this morning after a long day of catering yesterday, but I bit the bullet, because I know that skipping even one day becomes a very slippery slope …

I thought I had done this workout with Chaos when he was out here a year and a half ago, but it doesn’t seem at all familiar now.

So, it went fine. I’m extremely … um, how can I say this … in need of this tape. I am sooooo not flexible. But that’s ok. That’s why I need to keep doing yoga. I continue to get more flexible each day. Downward dog is getting even better as is standing forward bend. I can’t compare the other poses too much because I’ve only done some of them the once, but I’ll know soon enough if they’re getting better.

Workout: Abs Conditioning: Yoga

I’ve decided to do yoga MWF, and possibly on the weekends, but to try and commit to MWF. This should work out well this quarter, because of my late classes, leaving the mornings fairly open.

Today I did the abs workout. It went well, things felt good for the most part. I kept up my boat pose for the full time, which I think might be a new thing. One thing I worry about with that pose is that I’m not at the right angle. It seems easier if you lift your shoulders up higher, rather than being down with your back to close to the ground. This means I should probably not be lifting so high, because it’s easier. Not easy. But easier. I find it hard to tell from the video because I can’t really compare myself to Rodney (since I can’t see myself). I’ll keep trying to figure that part out.

Everything else went well with the video, and the plan is going well so far!

Workout: Power Yoga: Strength

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

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

Workout: Abs Conditioning: Yoga

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

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

Workout: Abs Conditioning: Yoga

Today I finally did yoga again, and boy are my abs happy.

This required finding my abs dvd, which I finally did last week I think. Today I have the day completely off, so I decided to go for it.

It went well, though because I haven’t done it for so long, I had a hard time remembering what he was talking about and had to look up a lot more. I think I’ve decided that total body workout is the only one that has to be done in the morning, so I’m ready to start doing yoga more frequently.

We’ll see if that happens. There is a lot of knitting to be done, after all.

Workout: A.M. and P.M. Meditation

I did the a.m. meditation which is a Rodney Yee thing. I had to return it to the library without ever doing p.m. meditation, but I took a look at it, and I don’t really think either of them is for me. There’s something about silently focusing on my breathing for 20 straight minutes that just makes me want to … I don’t know, do something, anything else. I guess that’s not very zen of me. I enjoy relaxation pose a lot at the end of a workout, but I don’t expect that I will be buying or using this workout again.

It may seem like I’ve been slacking, and I have, but it’s because I hurt my ankle. I can’t do anything that will require balancing on my right leg. I guess I’ll just have to modify some of the other workouts, because I need to get back in the swing of things.

Workout: Abs Conditioning: Yoga

I did the abs workout today. It was a little difficult to do some of the leg raises because my hamstrings are a bit sore from TBW still. Other than that, things went well, and the abs are feeling strong.

I like that this is a shorter workout so I can fit it in even though things were kind of crazy at our place today. My brother was visiting and then later we did band stuff with Tish, so it might have been tough to fit in one of the longer workouts.

Workout: Yoga for Back Care

That’s three days straight, for anyone who’s counting. Boo-yah.

Yes, I did back care again today. I did only 2 of the parts — the “Strength & Flexibility” and “Restoration”, skipping the “Exploration” portion, which seems kind of silly to me. It went well, though I am a bit sore still from yesterday’s Total Body Workout. Tomorrow, I’ll go for abs, I think.

Workout: Power Yoga: Total Body

I woke up this morning with only a bit of pain in my abs. And that really only when I move :). Anyway, so I kept my resolve to do a workout today and decided to go with total body workout. It went well. I had forgotten how much this workout makes me sweat. All of the positions went pretty well except maybe the upward bows which I didn’t hold for the full length. The half moon poses and the warrior 3s went well, and I felt like my form was better than ever on my triangle pose.

All in all, a good workout …

Workout: Abs Conditioning: Yoga

I tried this workout this morning, and I really like it. I still have a ways to go as far as remembering to breathe correctly and not tensing up my throat as I do some of the things, particularly the half boat pose. But like Rodney says in the interview, the good thing about the workout is that when you’re trying to focus on the breathing and the senses in other places, you don’t notice the workout your abs are getting. Except, of course, when you have to keep your legs straight, move them off to the side and hold them 2 inches above the ground for a while. That made it difficult to focus on much other than trying to hold my legs there. I’m looking forward to switching back and forth between this one and the back care dvd, as Rodney suggests. Although, at some point I really need to do some power yoga again. I don’t know how Chaos does two workouts in one day … I don’t know if I’d be able to sleep after doing that!

Workout: Yoga for Back Care

I’ve been a little slow to update. I actually did this workout last Friday. It’s broken up into three sections, which Rodney claims you can pick and choose amongst. I tried all three. It went pretty well — I liked a lot of the relaxation, though I found it difficult to completely let all of the muscles in my back let go. I also liked that there was a lot of ab work as that will help support my back. All in all, it was a good workout, though no where near as vigorous of a workout as power yoga yet still taking the same amount of time. We’ll see how well I can integrate this new dvd into trying to do yoga more frequently.

Workout: Back Care Conditioning

I finally checked out my back care conditioning with supportball tape. I should say Andy’s tape. Anyway, it was a nice quick stretch … not really a workout, but nice to stretch out and it felt good on my poor little back. Too much catering last weekend, followed by being shoved in the back of a camaro for hours.

So I’m not really up to a full total body workout, so I think it’s time to get out and get that new tape, for days like this.

Workout: Power Yoga: Total Body

Today’s workout went well, in general. I did all of the poses for at least most of the time. Triangle pose and extended side angle pose didn’t seem as painful as usual. The upward bows happened, but were still painful. Camel’s pose happened and I stayed in it for the whole time. All in all pretty good. I guess Chaos is right, it’s nice to do the workouts somewhat regularly.

Some things I noticed today: I feel like I slip in and out of having some sort of mind/body connection. At some points, I really feel and understand the instructions like “breathe into your back” and “lengthen the hips”. Other times, I go through the motions and just hope for the best physically speaking. It’s nice when I get the connection because it makes me far more relaxed, and balance comes even more easily.

Also today, my flexibility had improved, as evidenced by my ability to actually do a standing forward bend and touch my hands to the ground. I know, that probably sounds pathetically inflexible, which I have never denied being.

Finally today, after my workout I noticed that my abs felt tired. I attribute this to being more careful about paying attention to my core muscles and using my abs to support my back in a lot of the positions.

Overall, a good yoga day. Still trying to decide what yoga dvd to buy next. I’m definitely leaning towards the abs.

Workout: Power Yoga: Total Body

I did the total body workout yesterday while I was in MN, and my mom joined me! I decided it might be good for her to try yoga. Of course, we had to skip the middle part because I didn’t want to kill her. I think she enjoyed it. I was a bit chagrined to see how much more flexible she is than me. She’s been doing some pilates stuff too, but she’s always been more flexible than I am. But hey! I have more balance than she does. She kept falling over …

In other news, word is I get to buy another yoga dvd! Woot!

Workout: Power Yoga: Total Body

Nothing really exciting to report about this workout. Other than the fact that I seemed to be unable to really push myself today. I did what I could do, but when it seemed difficult, I said “eh, I don’t really want to hurt myself” and moved on. Like, I did the upward bows, but only for about half the time. This all seems to fit in with my general pattern of laziness recently.

In the end, though, I felt pretty good. The relaxation was much needed at the end, and I think I’ll be more prepared for the next go …

In a side note, how am I supposed to keep myself from slipping on my yoga mat?

Workout: Power Yoga: Total Body

I did about 20 minutes of this workout yesterday. Things were going really well at first; I was really getting a flow going and when I was breathing I could feel it throughout my body. Then, about 20 minutes in, my stomach had a revolt from something I ate the day before or something. So I decided I couldn’t keep doing the yoga. I did stretch out a bit so I wouldn’t be in a lot of pain today, but it was rather disappointing.

Then later yesterday I hurt my back somehow and it still hurts today. So I probably won’t be doing yoga today and might go with my yoga for back care tomorrow.

Workout: Power Yoga: Total Body

Today and last session, I have been noticing that my flexibility is definitely increasing. I can reach much further in any of the bends each day. Also, in downward dog I am getting closer and closer to being able to put my feet down.

Also, each day, the whole thing gets easier in some ways and in some ways harder. It is easier in that the movements flow from one to another much more, but harder I think because I am actually going into the poses correctly. By going into the poses correctly I am really working the muscles.

Today the upward bows were much more possible, and I actually stayed in them all three times. I also didn’t lose my balance on the half moon pose. Woot!

All around, a good workout, and no muscle cramps …

Workout: Power Yoga: Total Body

After last week’s session, I was rather sore for a few days following. Last night I did my little session and I felt fine today. Except one thing.

You see, have you heard that yoga is very energizing? Well, perhaps doing my yoga from 8:30-9:30 at night the day before I have to work from 7:30 am to 10 pm is not the best idea I have ever had. I could not sleep I tell you!

Other than that, the workout went pretty well. I did a lot better with the upward bow, actually going into it all three times for most of the time and going on to the toes and back down and what not. It still hurts my wrists a bit; I don’t know what that’s about. The half moon poses, I was a bit off center, and I had to grab the tv more than once for support. I’m not sure if it was because my right knee has been being funky or if it was because I had some wine with dinner or if it was just because. We’ll see how it goes next time.

Another thing I noticed was that a few times when I was in weird positions (or more frequently, coming out of a pose), I would get horrible muscle cramps. This seems bad. I hope that with practice comes smoothness and less cramping.

I guess that’s it.

Workout: Power Yoga: Total Body

Well, I did my Rodney Yee Total Body last Wednesday, and on Thursday I was sort of regretting how hard I pushed myself. I think the full bows at the end stretched the muscles around my ribcage a bit too much. Then when I had to lift trays and trays of fruit at work I was unhappy.

Overall, that workout was good. I made it all the way through, cheating on some poses of course, and only really falling out of the full bows at the end. Everything else I at least managed to keep in some facsimile of the pose, though not really what the poses were supposed to be.

I’ll probably try again tonight …

Workout: Power Yoga: Total Body

I tried the dvd from chaos on Sunday. Or, well, part of it. It should be good once I get into the swing of things. That’s Gaiam’s Total Body Yoga with Rodney Yee. I’m looking forward to getting good at it. I’m also looking forward to my hamstrings not hurting so much.

I tried a dvd from the library yesterday. It’s Power Yoga for Runners, and I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it. It has a lot of the sun salute stuff and then some leg stretches. I didn’t watch all the info so maybe they explained why it was particularly good for runners. The one nice thing about it was that it was 30 minutes and therefore fit easily into my day. I felt really energized while I was doing it, but then with the 5 minutes of relaxation pose at the end, I got kind of calmed down again. Anyway, glad I got it from the library and didn’t pay for it.

It’ll be back to Rodney today or tomorrow I guess! I’m wondering if I should hold off since my hamstrings hurt …