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Workout: Abs Conditioning: Pilates, Yoga for Strength: session 2
Author: chaos

I managed to go ahead and bust out with the double workout tonight. Started off with pilates abs. It went fairly decently… I don’t think the workout overall was quite as strong as the last one, but it was still pretty good. I think it’s definitely something that I just need to keep at in order to really build up the abs. Decided to follow it up with some YfS:s2. I’m not sure that was actually the best of ideas… I was somewhat drained from the abs workout, and just wasn’t really able to do that well with the strength workout. I suppose it went okay, but it was definitely somewhat lacking. Tree pose was fairly much a bust, as was warrior III… I think I was just too tired to balance properly. Pendulum was also a bust, but that’s pretty much usual. Everything else was okay… I even managed to pull off a fairly decent crane, which I was reasonably happy about. Anyway, not too sure I’ll try combining these two workouts again, at least not for a while, but it was good to make myself do a second workout in combination with the abs pilates, even if it didn’t go all that well. Depending on how tired I’m feeling tomorrow, I think I’d like to do either total body or intermediate… it’ll probably also depend on when I get to the workout. There’s an off chance that I’ll even end up taking the night off to give myself a bit of a break, but we’ll see. I’m not sure it’s quite time for that yet.

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: Yoga for Strength: session 2
Author: chaos

Had a fairly miserable workout tonight. I’m not quite sure what the problem was… for some reason, I just didn’t seem to be with the workout. It started off okay… I went through the opening vinyasa sequence without trouble, and made it through the side stretches before things started going downhill. Half moon pose was shaky, but I’ve had worse. After that, though, things were pretty bad. I had a lot of trouble with tree pose on the right, and couldn’t even manage to get into the pose on the left. Warrior I was okay, but warrior III was fairly miserable on both sides. I got into it on both sides, but not for very long at all. I used the blocks for pendulum, and was at least able to get up on the first one. Crane pose was actually reasonably decent, but even that didn’t feel particularly good. I was considering an abs yoga workout after the first workout, but then decided that I just wasn’t up for it tonight, and to quit while I wasn’t too far behind. I think nutrition might have been an issue… while it doesn’t happen nearly as often anymore, I do sometimes forget to eat enough during the day, and I think today was one of those days. So I’m going to make something to eat, and just chalk today up as a substandard yoga day. Hopefully I’ll be back in the groove for tomorrow, although since it’s an ultimate day, that might not be quite as important as it would otherwise be.

Workout: Yoga for Strength: session 2
Author: chaos

Still having a lot of trouble with motivation. I think part of the problem is waiting too long to do the workout… I start to get tired, and then don’t do workouts like I should. I’m going to try and start getting workouts in earlier in the day, and see if that helps me break out of the slump. Anyway, YfS:s2 today. It was okay… I’m starting to have some serious problems with that right tailbone, though. The first triangle pose to the right was pretty harsh. I’m going to have to figure out how to get that healed, possibly even take a few days off (although I’m reluctant to do that right now, for obvious reasons). Other than that, things were okay. Half moon pose went pretty well, tree pose was fine, and warrior III was okay, although I wasn’t holding it as long as the video. Part of the problem there was that my hamstrings didn’t feel like they’d been stretched out enough. While they weren’t nearly as bad as I feared they might be, they were still a little sore all day. So was the groin area, which was a bit surprising. I had noticed that it felt a bit tight last night, and tried to stretch it out, but apparently didn’t manage to fully avoid the stiffness. I’ll probably go in for the mini-workouts yet again for my pre-ultimate stretch tomorrow… hard to say what I’ll do afterwards, it’ll probably depend on how I feel.

Workout: Yoga for Strength: session 2
Author: chaos

Well, while I was certainly recovering over the weekend, I wasn’t really entirely well. So while I considered doing a workout yesterday, I eventually decided to just go ahead and take another day to rest up. After the workout tonight, it seems like that was probably a good idea… for some reason, I’ve been quite tired today, although I’ve mostly gotten over the cold symptoms. Just a little bit of congestion remaining, really. Anyway, I was considering doing a free form workout, but I might be doing quite a few of those in the next couple of weeks, so I thought perhaps I should go with something structured. I wasn’t quite sure what, but then I decided that I should start on the process of testing my arm strength, and building it back up, if necessary. Pleasantly, I didn’t have any trouble with the arm at all… if I hadn’t known I broke a bone five weeks ago, I certainly wouldn’t have been able to figure it out from the workout. Unfortunately, that was pretty much the highlight of the workout… the general fatigue that I felt for much of the day continued through the workout. Predictiably, this led to difficulty with the more complicated balances, although the simple ones were fine. I did seem to be a little lightheaded after the opening sequence, but that might have been from standing up too quickly. Anyway, I had some shakiness in half moon and warrior III, and tree pose was a disaster in both directions. But I think those are all attributable to the lingering vestiges of illness, perhaps combined with the lack of practice lately. However, after I get through the next few weeks, I should have at least a solid month to devote to the practice, provided I don’t injure myself again before that. Anyway, good to get a workout in, and I’ll probably try for an abs workout tomorrow, as I attempt to start making the practice regular again.

Workout: Yoga for Strength: session 2
Author: chaos

I’m quite pleased to be getting my workouts back. Did the workout that started it all today, session 2 of the yoga for strength workout. While doing the workout, I was wondering why I had been avoiding it, but I think the problem is that I have a very short memory as far as injury is concerned, and so I’m already forgetting the extent of the damage that was present at the time.
Anyway, the workout was decent. I’m definitely continuing to be cautious with the shoulder, particularly during pushup pose. It still feels like it’s not quite as healed as would be optimal, and yet isn’t really causing problems. So for now I’m just going to be careful and continue trying to gradually build back up. I was a little surprised that I didn’t have any trouble with either the side arm balance or half moon pose. It’s a good sign that the healing is nearly complete, despite twinges to the contrary. I wasn’t quite feeling up to doing warrior III, so I substituted warrior II in for it. I probably could have done the warrior III, but decided to go with my instincts. I actually got off the ground both times for pendulum… using the blocks, but still. That’s progress over the last time I did the pose. Crane wasn’t quite as solid as in the past, but I was a little tentative with it as well. It was actually okay, another good sign. My abs were notably quite sore today… I think the combination of abs workouts and DDR in the same day are really working them. Which is fine… they should build up more because of it. Anyway, going to try and keep getting the daily workouts in, motivation has been a bit lower lately… just tired, I think. Hopefully I’ll rest well and eat decently over the next couple of days, and that’ll give me a little more energy.

Workout: Yoga for Strength: session 2
Author: chaos

Well, I probably didn’t go to sleep quite as early as I should have last night, but I still managed to get some fairly solid sleep. I was apparently badly in need of it, since I slept through my alarm. Admittedly, it only goes off for 30 seconds, the air conditioning was loud enough to mostly drown it out, and I woke up 10 minutes later anyway, but still. In addition to that, I don’t recall waking up at any point during the night, which is very rare for me, no matter how little sleep I’m getting.
Unfortunately, the amount of sleep was still rather insufficient. I was still quite tired when I finally dragged myself up, and it felt like it affected the workout. It wasn’t really a bad workout, just tired and not terribly inspired. Things were okay for the most part. I did notice a twinge in my right hamstring when doing warrior III on that leg, so I discontinued that quickly. I didn’t have much success on the left side, either. I just felt tight and not really ready for those poses. On the plus side, I was actually able to lift myself for a second or two in pendulum pose, both times. I’m not sure I’ve ever really successfully lifted off a second time, definitely not without using the blocks. So that was cool. Maybe I’m finally getting to the point where I’ll be able to do it. Crane pose was also pretty decent. Anyway, I’ll probably get a stretching workout in tomorrow before ultimate, or at least that’s the plan as of now.

Workout: Yoga for Strength: session 2
Author: chaos

Well, I acquired my first serious injury of the year at ultimate yesterday. Pulled my hamstring in the right leg. This is kind of annoying, because it’s somewhat painful, but more importantly, I was fearing that it was going to keep me from getting my workout in. Motion is definitely somewhat restricted, unless of course I want to keep it from healing. Since I’d like it to heal as quickly as reasonably possible, restricting motion seems like a very good plan. Unfortunately, that cuts out a lot of yoga poses. Things like standing forward bend are actually quite a bit of a problem, and even downward dog isn’t really a good idea. So I was feeling like I was going to have to take a day off, when I hit upon this workout. It doesn’t do a whole lot with those types of poses, and I felt that with a little modification, I could get the workout in. It was fairly tough, but that’s what I managed to do. I avoided stretching back into the few downward dog poses, didn’t fold fully into the standing forward bend, and substituted a warrior II for the warrior III. I was also extremely cautious with all of the poses, especially when my right leg was the leading leg. Interestingly, having my right leg as the back leg causes no trouble at all in any of the poses I did today. It’s definitely more fond of being straight and partial weight bearing than anything else. So in summary, I managed to persevere and get the workout in. Whether I’ll be able to continue doing so in the next few days remains to be seen… I could be coming back to this workout quite a bit, or doing some different free form stuff than I have in the past.

Workout: Yoga for Strength: session 2
Author: chaos

I wasn’t quite sure about my shoulder still tonight, but decided to go ahead and try out a yoga workout anyway. This one seemed a good choice, largely because it has fewer downward dog poses than all of the others. Since that was the primary pose I was noticing strain in my shoulder with, it seemed that avoiding too many of those might not be a bad plan.
It was a reasonable if not exceptional workout. My shoulder did still feel a little out of sorts, but I was able to do all of the poses with it and not feel like I was straining it more. It was really only an issue in the beginning vinyasa sequence, after which it’s very lightly used for the rest of the workout. I was also seeking to avoid straining any other injuries, so I modified tree pose with my right leg up so that I simply did a cross-legged stance over my left knee. I think it’s a pretty effective modification, since it felt like I still had much of the benefit without causing pain in the knee. The only other pain I had was doing the reclining twist with my legs to the right side, I felt a bit of the pain in my ribcage again. It’s mostly gone, I think it takes a very specific motion to trigger it now, and will most likely be completely gone in another day, two at most. Not sure what I’m going to try tomorrow, might again try and rest the shoulder, let it recover as much as possible before going to harder workouts on it.

Workout: Yoga for Strength: session 2
Author: chaos

Had absolutely no sense of what workout I wanted to do today. So I just selected YfS:s2, more or less at random. I suppose it wasn’t completely at random, since I did note that I hadn’t done it in a while, but it certainly wasn’t a heavily pre-determined process.
Overall, it went decently. I feel like I often arch my back too much doing warrior I, particularly when I come at it from standing instead of from a lunge. It’s also usually more of a problem when I turn to my right than to my left. I’m still trying to figure out what I’m doing differently so I can correct it. Other than that… a little more success with pendulum pose today. I at least managed to get my feet off the ground for a little bit. Crane started out a little shaky, but I managed to make it pretty solid. I like the lift I’m getting in the pose, anyway. Warrior III also felt good today, the second or third time in a row that I’ve been pretty happy with it. And half moon went really well, about the best I’ve ever done on both sides. So, overall, it was a pretty satisfying day, and hopefully I can finish out at least the rest of the weekend in a similar vein.

Workout: Yoga for Strength: session 2
Author: chaos

I spent most of today suffering from a fairly bad headache. I think it was primarily caused by some muscle tightness in my neck, probably a result of sleeping in various less than ideal postures. I’ve been having that problem quite a bit this week, but it usually goes away after being up for a little while. Today it didn’t, and ended up taking nearly 8 hours, some painkillers, and a few small naps before it finally disappeared.
Considering all that, I was pretty surprised to have a very good workout tonight. Maybe because my head was hurting all day long, I was able to really focus on the workout tonight once my head was clear. Whatever the case, I was quite pleased with the result. I felt much more in touch with my body during the workout than I have in a long time, and really had the feeling of being part of the motions. Really, it felt as though I was doing a completely different type of workout, one that I was intimately familiar with, and yet also still in the process of learning. It seemed as though I gained insights into many of the poses, almost all of them, really. The workout wasn’t quite to the level of an epiphany, but it was definitely on a higher order than most of the workouts I’ve done in the last few months. While the price I paid to get there today wouldn’t be acceptable in general, hopefully I can take something from the experience and get there more easily in the future.

Workout: Yoga for Strength: session 2
Author: chaos

Another directed hardwood workout tonight. This time I went for one of my classic workouts, yoga for strength session 2. It was definitely a learning experience to do it on hardwood. For instance, some things are a little more painful to do, because little bones protrude into the floor in a painful manner. Other things seem much easier to do, like half moon pose and warrior III. Really, I think any of the poses involving balance on a single foot benefit greatly, those are just two of the more obvious ones. The only real downside to this workout was that I had a very difficult time with my breathing work. It was all about action plus breath, no real union of the two. Alas. As long as I can keep it in mind, I can continue to work on it, so it’s definitely not a total loss. Anyway, I was hoping to get some more sleep than usual in tonight, but clearly that won’t be happening at this point, so I’m just going to head off and get what I can in. I may go for a pilates workout tomorrow night, depending on how I feel.

Workout: Yoga for Strength: session 2
Author: chaos

Another classic session, the most classic, really. I’ve certainly had better editions of this session, although it wasn’t terrible. I was noting during the session that my overall focus has really deteriorated in the last few months. It seems like I’ve largely lost the idea of focus. Obviously, that’s something that I need to start working on, perhaps the first thing that I really need to start working on. Without that focus, I don’t really think that yoga is anything more than another workout, and if I’m just going to do a workout, I could do one with more cardio in it. Obviously, I still think that there’s more to be gained from the yoga experience, but I’ve lost sight of that lately. But it’s certainly not too late to recover, and now that I’ve realized this, I can hopefully start working more awareness back into my workouts. I’m sure that with that, the physical aspects will continue to come.

Workout: Yoga for Strength: session 2
Author: chaos

It’s been quite a while since I’ve gotten in this workout. Not entirely certain why… I suppose mostly because most of the poses are also done in other workouts, and I haven’t often felt like going through the slower paced workout. I really wasn’t in the mood for the frenetic pace of the PY:Complete disc today, though, so this felt like a good choice. It went pretty well… I was very satisfied with both my half moon pose and warrior III. I was somewhat wobbly in tree, but I managed to stay upright. I also managed to get off the ground for a little bit in pendulum pose, so that was good. I adjusted the position of my legs slightly, and I think that helped with the lifting off. I’m still not there, but I think it’s a bit closer now. Hopefully I’ll get in a workout either tonight or early tomorrow morning before work.

Workout: Yoga for Strength: session 2
Author: chaos

The yoga for strength sessions have been extremely infrequent in the last few months. I’m not really sure why that is… I suppose it’s because the faster paced workouts feel like they take less time. I suppose they do take less time than session 1, but not session 2. I guess I was also worried about the jumping that occurs during the workout shaking the house, but that doesn’t seem to actually be a problem.
The physical aspects of the session didn’t go all that well. Half moon was okay but not good, warrior III was very shaky on both sides, and tree pose once again was poor. I’m noticing that I seem to have particular problems lately with the poses that require me to balance on one leg. Perhaps because I’ve been slacking off so much on non-abs workouts, my ability to balance has been deteriorating. Perhaps it’s mostly the extra cushioned surface that I’m doing the workouts on. Maybe it’s a combination thereof.
The workout wasn’t a complete loss, though. Well, I suppose it’s never a complete loss, although it occasionally feels like it. Anyway, the mental aspects were okay. In a sense. I feel like I continue to gain understanding lately. Like realizing that part of my problem with warrior III in the past was that my legs were starting wider than hip distance apart. And realizing that I’ve gotten much better at understanding the subtle directions that are thrown into the workout. Not that I’m particularly good at following them, necessarily, but at least I understand them now. Hopefully the ability to execute will come in time.
I suppose I should try to get to sleep. I’ve been failing to get my desired six hours of sleep a night thus far this week, but if I manage to fall asleep quickly, I might manage tonight. I have a feeling that I’m going to be lying awake for a long time, but I suppose I have to give it a try. I’ll probably go for something abs related tomorrow, but I might do something else depending on how I feel and how much time I have or am willing to spend.

Workout: Yoga for Strength: session 2
Author: chaos

I experimented a little bit during this workout, just to test what I might be able to do if I stepped out of the ordinary practice. I did part of the workout with my eyes closed. That was particularly interesting, because then I could really feel my body making the movements. I don’t normally get that sort of feedback, at least not on a conscious level. I’m not even sure if it’s useful feedback to have on a conscious level, but it is something a bit different. Anyway, that pretty much fell apart when I got to the more complicated balances… I couldn’t manage to get into half-moon with my eyes closed. Which seems a bit strange, since my sensing of the balance should be better. Perhaps it’s more a matter of familiarity. At any rate, I then proceeded fairly normally until I got to warrior III, where I took my time to align myself more precisely. I didn’t get up into the poses for very long, but I think the positioning was more accurate. Something to keep working on. I’m thinking about doing a different pilates workout that I checked out from the library tomorrow, and perhaps pilates abs workout as well.

Workout: Yoga for Strength: session 2
Author: chaos

Returned home today with this session. I modified it a little bit from the normal today, and did the middle part with all the standing balances as a vinyasa flow. I liked that, although my timing was a bit off from not having done such a thing before. But I think perhaps it makes the movements a little less jarring, and I’m fairly certain I shake the floor less this way.
The workout itself was okay. Did pretty well with most of the poses, with the notable exception of warrior III. That wasn’t terrible, but wasn’t too great, either. Pendulum was so-so, I lifted into it but couldn’t hold it. I definitely need to study the videos, because all the evidence (it being on beginner videos, and before crane pose) suggests that I should be able to do it. There must be something subtle that I’m completely missing.
While I was at a party this weekend, another practictioner also recommended what I’ve been thinking I should do for a while, go to classes at least a few times so that I can get an instructor to correct my poses. So that’s something I should really get around to doing one of these days, before I start getting into the more advanced poses, although I’m not quite sure when that’s going to be. Anyway, will probably return to normal schedule tomorrow with an abs workout and a normal workout.

Workout: Yoga for Strength: session 2
Author: chaos

This was somewhat of a strange workout. One of the worst I’ve had in quite a while, actually, at least in terms of completing poses. It started off okay… my side arm balances felt a little strange, but I held them fine. I even felt like I made a little bit of progress with half moon pose, holding it on both sides and opening up into it. After that, though… completely unexpectedly, I wasn’t able to hold tree pose on either side. I certainly don’t lay claim to doing a perfect tree pose or anything, but even when I started doing yoga I usually had no trouble getting into it and holding it. So it was really odd for me to not be able to. I had slightly better luck with warrior III than I did last time, although I still felt out on both sides before the time on the video. Although I was working on improving the pose, so that was possibly part of it. In addition to those things, I fell out of position a few times when transitioning from something like triangle back into an upright position. Quite odd, overall.
Even the arm balance section was a bit strange. During the two boat poses, I definitely noticed the effects of the abs workout from earlier. It’s possible that was part of my balance problem earlier in the workout, not sure. I did use the blocks today, and was almost able to hold pendulum pose for the entire time on the video, at least the first time. Didn’t do nearly as well on the second, but I expected that. Even crane was a bit off, but that worked out kind of well because I managed to reposition my legs and lift fully into it without coming back onto my feet. So that was kind of cool. Tomorrow… well, I’m not really sure. I was thinking about doing total body, and I may still decide to do that, but it’s possible I’ll take the day off, as well. I’ll definitely be playing that one by ear. So until next time…

Workout: Yoga for Strength: session 2
Author: chaos

Somehow, I managed to cramp my left hip area today while getting out of my car. Not anything terrible, just… a slightly tight and strained feeling in the area. I was hoping that tonight’s yoga session would stretch it out, but I don’t think that happened. The session was okay… it went pretty well except for the warrior III poses. They started okay, but I fell out of both of them. This was because I was trying to make adjustments rather than being because of fatigue, though, so that was good. That’s one of the nicer things about this workout, I can really practice poses without having to deal with fatigue. Crane pose didn’t go quite as well as it has been lately, I had trouble straightening my arms fully. I just wasn’t quite mentally prepared, I suppose. I’ll most likely try and get another two workouts in tomorrow, starting with a balanceball workout.

Workout: Yoga for Strength: session 2
Author: chaos

Well, the facilities are pretty satisfactory for workouts here. Since I had someone new to yoga doing the workout as well, I decided to go with this since it’s quite easy to follow along. The poses aren’t necessarily the easiest, but it does give a decent overview of a number of poses. And because it’s slow, there’s time to attempt a pose a second or third time if you miss it the first.
Anyway, it was a decent workout. I had a really good crane pose, which was nice. I also managed to get off the ground for a little bit in pendulum pose. I think it’s somewhat hit or miss right now, but it’s definitely progression. I also managed to stay in all the poses for the time on the video, which was good. I was fairly shaky in a number of poses, though, which was kind of weird. Anyway, it was a decent workout overall, and nice to see that the pendulum progress probably wasn’t just a fluke. No further workout tonight, but possibly two tomorrow.