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Workout: Advanced Yoga: Hip Opening, Yoga Conditioning for Athletes: Mini-workouts
Author: chaos

I was feeling a little impatient during my pre-ultimate workout today. I felt like I was in a hurry to get to the field, which was kind of funny, because I was actually ahead of schedule. But I did want to practice a little bit before the game, which was probably the cause. However, rushing the stretching workout is a bad idea, so I managed to restrain that impulse, and go through the entire normal mini-workout collection. My left hamstring was feeling a bit stiff at the beginning, but I loosened it up during the workout, so that was good. Ultimate was pretty good, had another good turnout tonight. I’m regaining some of my instincts for when certain throws are going to be made, which I’m quite happy about. I probably didn’t really start getting those down until late August or early September last year, so it’ll be good to have them already going this early. After most of the people left, tossed the disc around for a while longer. I’m trying to get my backhand down again… I rely too much on the forehand. I still have a strong backhand, but it’s somewhat erratic, and I’m trying to fix that. Had some success while tossing, so that’s an improvement. Came home and took a quick shower, then went for a hip flexibility workout. It was a bit of an odd choice, but I’ve been having a hard time getting it in, and it actually did a decent job. Probably could have used a little more stretching of the calves, but other than that, it wasn’t bad. Didn’t try to really push anything today, but I thought I had some decent flexibility. I need to make sure to get the workout in periodically, keep working on the hip flexibility. Tomorrow’s an off day for cardio… I might get an abs workout in if I’m inspired, but then again, I might not. My big concern is that I’ve been having trouble getting the abs workouts in, so perhaps the off day might be a good time to do one. We’ll see how I feel tomorrow… I might just take the whole day off, since ultimate was fairly brutal today. That’s all for now, probably either an abs workout tomorrow, or a stretching workout before ultimate on Thursday.

Workout: Advanced Yoga: Hip Opening
Author: chaos

I was thinking about going for a run again today, but it didn’t end up being quite as warm as I would have liked, so I didn’t. Instead, I played Stepmania for about an hour. My legs were a little sore from yesterday, but not too badly. Mostly they were just tired, I think. Definitely wasn’t quite as “on” as I was yesterday, although I was able to pass a few 9’s today. I can tell I’m getting better, although on days like yesterday where I’m really reading the arrows well, I’m much better than on other days. After Stepmania, jumped into the shower to rinse off so that I wouldn’t soak the mat, and then after a few minutes went with the hip opening workout. I’ve been wanting to get back to it for a while, and it’s definitely easier to do this workout when I’m already warm, as long as my muscles aren’t trying to cramp. They were fine today, so this worked well. I’ve been fairly pleased with my progress, overall… I’m getting to the point where I can almost sit in half-lotus and not have it look absolutely absurd. There’s still some progress to be made, but I can actually see notable improvement since, say, early November. So I’m definitely hoping to keep up with this. Finished off with just the running mini-workout, just to get a bit of stretching in for the legs. I was thinking about doing abs today, but I was working my abs pretty hard with the dancing, so I decided to pass. I’ll definitely plan on hitting them tomorrow, though, especially since I’ll probably take the day off from cardio, unless ultimate is canceled that far in advance. I doubt it, though, since it’s supposed to be warm on Tuesday, although potentially rainy. We’ll see what happens. Either way, the plan is for some type of workout again tomorrow, so until then…

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

Took a couple of days off. My body was starting to feel a little worn out again from all the abuse, so it seemed like a bit of rest might be in order. Really, it was partly rest, and partly laziness. I guess I have been up to a few other things, but nothing particularly… critical. Nothing that would prevent me from getting a workout in, anyway. Almost took today off as well, but decided that I really didn’t need any more rest, so it was pretty much pure slacking off at this point. Pretty happy that I decided to go for the workout… had a pretty good one. I seemed to be somewhat in the zone for pilates. I think I’ve had better, but this one was pretty good. I felt like I had good focus on form. Then I went for a hip opening workout, which went pretty well as well. I tried to make sure I didn’t push too hard on anything, and think I succeeded. At the end of the workout my hips felt opened, and my knees only felt a little bit like they were abused, which is better than usual. I think it’s time for me to get back to regular workouts again, so I plan on doing something tomorrow, such as it is. Not sure what yet, but quite likely total body again, or possibly the full Complete Workout sequence. Or maybe even YCfA, who knows. It’ll depend on what I feel like. So until then…

Workout: Advanced Yoga: Hip Opening
Author: chaos

I was originally kind of thinking that I would go for a pilates workout today, but I decided instead to do some Stepmania and then just do the hip opening workout afterwards. It didn’t really go as well as I hoped… perhaps because I had a rather suboptimal day of Stepmania, and so didn’t end up being quite as warm and loose as I might have been. It wasn’t all that bad, I guess… it still feels like I’m putting too much strain on my knees, though. Although they feel okay after the workout, so maybe it’s not that bad. I do seem to be a little more flexible now. Still a very long way to go before I’m really satisfied. I suppose I have the time, though… I just have to be sure to stick with it during ultimate season. Which shouldn’t be too difficult, I don’t think. Not too much to say today, really… just don’t think I was quite in the right mindset for working out or whatever. Don’t think there’s a whole lot to do with that information other than accept it and move on. No idea what I’ll do tomorrow… I’m feeling pretty low energy at the moment, so I’m unlikely to imagine anything challenging right now, but perhaps I will be then.

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

As I expected, I went with abs balanceball today. It was a pretty good workout… I’m not sure if some of the difficulty comes from the fact that my abs are tired from constant activity, or if it’s really just that difficult, but I definitely felt the burn today. I used to think the the beginning of the workout was pretty easy, but it’s been quite a while since I felt that way… I’d like to think that’s because my technique has improved. I still think the middle of the workout is fairly easy, but I think that’s because it actually is. The end is still reasonably tough, though. It’s a good workout.
Anyway, after the balanceball workout, decided to go ahead with the hip opening workout. I worry that I’m going to strain something or injure my knee again doing the workout often, but it seems okay thus far. I think I’m going to start subbing something for the log stacking poses, though, at least for now. Maybe extra half lotus practice or something. Although my knee has felt like it could start aching a few times during the last couple of practices, it’s ended up being fine both times, so maybe it’s not a big deal. But caution probably isn’t a bad idea there. I think part of the reason I like this workout is because it forces me to be mentally present, monitoring and adjusting my body, and trying to be very active in opening my body up, particularly the hips (go figure). My sleep schedule is a little out of whack lately, but I’m going to try to get something in a little earlier tomorrow night, maybe YCfA or something like that.

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

Although my abs were feeling a little bit tired, I decided to go for the pilates abs workout today anyway. In retrospect, perhaps I should have gone for one of the other pilates workouts, or perhaps balanceball. But, hindsight and all that. It wasn’t really all that bad… I did have to sit out for a few of the double leg raises, and my overall technique wasn’t as good as it has been at other times, but it wasn’t terrible. I managed to struggle through, anyway. After that, apparently not having absorbed enough pain from the abs workout, I went ahead and got in the hip opening workout. I’m still not quite sure where that one stands currently… my right knee did ache a little bit at a few points, but not to the sharp level of pain that accompanied the original injury. I was quite focused on opening the hips today, which seemed to be fairly successful. I think a number of these workouts are having a positive impact in that area, although clearly this one is going to be the most concentrated. Anyway, now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, it’s time to get back to the longer workouts, I think. For tomorrow I’ll probably do either total body or intermediate yoga, depending on when I actually get around to doing the workout. So until then…

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

Started amping up my schedule today with a yoga abs workout and the hip opening workout. I’ve long meant to start combining abs workouts with other short workouts in order to increase the challenge and the rate of my progress, but have often had difficulty actually doing so, either do to motivation or injury. However, I’m currently at a point where it provides a more adequate level of workout, and I’m not overly injured, so hopefully this will be a new trend in shorter workouts. Anyway, wasn’t really that great of a workout day. The physical aspects were pretty much fine, but I wasn’t quite there mentally. At least for the abs workout. For the hip opening workout, I think I’ve regressed a little bit, but not actually all that much. I didn’t actually complete the workout, because my knee hasn’t completely healed, and I felt like I had put enough stress on it for the night. However, the fact that I was able to do many of the exercises was a good sign. So I’ll probably start trying to get this workout in more frequently again. Of course, with all the workouts I’d like to start getting in more frequently, I’m not sure I’ll actually have time for all of them, so we’ll see what actually happens. Since I can add this one to other short workouts, it might have a slightly better chance. Not quite sure what I’m going to do tomorrow… might be about time for another total body workout. Of course, I’ve been thinking about getting yoga burn in again, so that’s also a possibility. Most likely something long, though, whatever I end up deciding.

Workout: Advanced Yoga: Hip Opening
Author: chaos

Had a bit of a potential setback in my yoga program today. While doing the log stacking pose and bending forward over it, I heard (and felt) an odd noise in my right knee. I decided to cut the workout short at that point, not wanting to do any further damage to the knee, but I’m worried that the damage is already done. While it feels okay right now, I have a bad feeling that it’s not going to bend very well for a while, at least not at sharp angles. I’m sure I’ll have a better feel for how that’s going to turn out later tonight or tomorrow. So, today’s workout ended up being cut short. I might do an abs workout later, but I have a feeling that I probably won’t. I’ll most likely get one in tomorrow, and we’ll see how the knee is doing after that to determine what comes next. At least this shouldn’t affect my strength training, so perhaps I’m not going to be too badly thrown off by this. I’ll just have to wait and see, I guess.

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: 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: Advanced Yoga: Hip Opening
Author: chaos

My original thoughts for today were along the lines of the total body workout, or perhaps some Stepmania and something lighter. However, wacky sleeping (again) caused me to change those ideas. I really felt like getting a workout in still, but didn’t want to do anything too energetic, and didn’t want to do abs again. So I ended up settling on another hip opening workout. I wasn’t entirely thrilled with the choice… my hips weren’t feeling as flexible as I might have liked, and I just didn’t have a real good feeling about the workout. But, I went ahead and did it anyway. It was okay… about what I’d expect, given the above factors. I didn’t feel quite as loose as the last time I did it, but I think I still got some good work in. The important thing that I have to remember is that this is going to be a slow process, taking many months at the very least. I have a problem with being impatient, and wanting progress to happen more quickly. But it’s definitely an area that I can’t force things in, at least not without risking knee injury, so I need to just stay relaxed about the matter, and slowly build into these things. Anyway, that’s all I have to say about tonight’s session… I’m really looking to get a long session in tomorrow, but will possibly settle for py:strength or something if I end up playing Stepmania.

Workout: Advanced Yoga: Hip Opening
Author: chaos

Went for another hip opening workout tonight. It already seems like I’m doing better with the workout, although perhaps that’s just wishful thinking. I have to admit that it seems like whatever soreness I do end up experiencing from this workout is very subtle, or so it seems after the first one… I might have to wait for more data to come in to really form a conclusion. It does make a certain amount of sense that I wouldn’t generally notice the soreness, though… if I regularly used that type of hip rotation, it wouldn’t be so necessary to create greater flexibility. I did notice that my inner thighs felt a little tender today, although that could be from the YCfA workouts, particularly the opening sequence. Anyway, I was fairly pleased with the workout today… obviously, there’s a very long way to go before my hips will truly be flexible, but I’m satisfied with the start I’m getting. My only real concern is my left knee… it hasn’t been entirely thrilled with deep bending for the last couple of months, and while I’m trying to be careful with it, I worry about potentially aggravating it. As an aside, is it just me or do I keep alternating which knee is the problem, every year or so? Well, hopefully once I’ve gotten to the point where my hips are fairly flexible, that flexibility will help protect my knees, as theoretically it’s supposed to. I did feel that the workout, while important, is pretty light, so in the future I’m going to strongly consider joining it with another workout, quite possibly abs yoga. It might be another workout or two before I get to that, since I am still getting back into the groove, but I think that’ll be an excellent direction for me to go. Anyway, short workout before ultimate is next up, possibly stamina or maybe free form.

Workout: Advanced Yoga: Hip Opening
Author: chaos

While I was originally thinking of doing something along the lines of a flexibility workout tonight, when I started considering the matter earlier, I realized that not only did I still have workouts that I haven’t yet done, but that one of them was very appropriate for what I was hoping to do. So after a very long delay, I did the Advanced Yoga hip opening sequence for the first time today.
I started off by watching the entire thing again, since the only time I watched it before was months ago, and it’s a good idea to have at least some idea of what’s coming before doing a workout. I again realized that some of the poses were going to be inaccessible, but since the idea of the workout is to improve something that you’re not very good with (at least, that’s the idea in theory), I planned on making modifications where necessary. Once I got to the workout itself, things didn’t go quite as well as I hoped… I thought I’d be able to do some of the poses where I moved the leg into half lotus, but not really. I could somewhat do it with the right leg when I was reclined, not as much with the left. Actually, I can somewhat do it with the right all the time, just not terribly well in terms of getting the knee down. But I have trouble just getting the left foot into position, so that’s definitely worse. This is actually consistent with what I’ve noticed in the past… I have more trouble rotating to the left than to the right in most poses. All of this suggests that my left hip is even less flexible than the right, although that hardly seems possible. At any rate, I persevered through the workout, modifying when I had to (fairly often), and following along when I could (less often). However, in the introduction to the workout Rodney specifically notes that one should be gentle, and yet persistent, although not exactly in those words. He also mentions that hip flexibility is very important to yoga, which I completely agree with. So, anticipating the end of the ultimate season approaching, I believe that I’ll be getting back to this workout relatively frequently, so as to start preparing for the off season, when I hope to get a lot of serious yoga work in. At the very least, I’d like to get to the point of being able to complete the intermediate workout, and possibly even far enough to be able to start working on the advanced workout. Additionally, I’d like to be able to sit in half lotus, ideally to both sides, but at the minimum to be able to have my right leg on top. All sorts of factors will go into determining whether or not both or either of those things happen, but those are the goals for now. For tomorrow, a more complete workout, unless my hips are too sore from the new workout, in which case… I’m not quite sure what I’ll do, but hopefully something.