Yoga and Lifting

Hmmm, looks like I'm missing round 7 in the blog. Oh well. I'm sure your upset, but you'll live.

Monday I did a 45 minute yoga routine. It was nice and gentle. Wednesday was lifting again. And today was as follows. I subbed hip thrusts for the DLs, given that my lower back has been feeling a tad funny lately. It doesn't hurt, but there is a tightness on the right side. It's so low, it's basically over my right SI joint. I need a massage, I think! Yeah, that's it.

NRLA Phase 2A-8
Valslide push away - 12ea, one leg up
Swiss-ball mountain climber - 12ea slow
Cable half-kneeling chop - 10ea/27.5#
DB split squat - 3x8ea/25#ea
KB 2-pt row - 3x8ea/20kg
Hip thrusts - 8x65#, 2x8x85#
DB alternating chest press on partial bench - 3x8ea/27.5#ea

Qi Yoga

Not much to say. I did a 45 minute Qi Yoga class from YogaDownload.com this morning. It was a nice slow class, which also meant it was pretty hard. Maybe I was still tired from yesterday's lift. I loved how the instructor was very specific with descriptions.  I did manage to get into side crow for a bit on each side!

My new favorite TGU variant

This morning, I started off with 5 sun salutations. After my workshop on sun salutations a couple weeks ago, I feel much more comfortable with going about them without any guide. So, I did three different variations this morning. I still have to refer to a paper to remember what to do. I'm going to work on memorizing the flow. Reading a paper takes me out of the zone. I'm thinking this is a nice warm up to a workout!

After the sun salutations, I went on kettlebells:

2xTGU LR 12kg
TGU LR 20sec per position 10kg
2H swing 4x20rep done at 30/30 20kg
foam roll

The 20sec per position TGU was awesome. It was a very hard move. It caused me to keep a strong focus on my form. In case you are wondering, this turns a TGU into a 4minute move! After that, I knew I didn't have a whole lot left in me. I was hoping for more than 4 sets of swings, but my body told me it was enough. Phew!

Sailing, etc.

We just got back from a week of sailing. It was fun. Total, we had 8 races, 3 qualifying races and 5 competition races. Each was about an hour plus time to and from the race and time in between. The first two were on a day with strong, gusty winds. The last two were on a very hot day, as if we were sailing in the wind from a hair dryer. That last day, we started another race in the morning but the wind died down and the race was abandoned. It still took over half an hour to return to the harbor.

The facilities at Carlyle Sailing Association were great. There was a lot of room for boat and plenty of dock space. The docks were in a protected harbor and they had a nice clubhouse, too. We stayed at a cottage in the state park just up the road. It was directly on the lake. All in all a good time.

While there, we walked the trails a couple times, then ran 4 miles on a trail before we left. I also got up early four times to do yoga outside by the lake. That was nice!

Today, I got a lift in:
foam rolling
BB back squat - 3x5x45#, 2x4x55#, 3x65#, 3x75#, 3x5x85#
Chinup - 1
BB OH Press - 5x45#, 3x5x52#
Deadlift - 4x135#, 5x155#

Gentle Hatha Yoga

I did a 70 minute hatha yoga class from yogadownload.com this morning. I really needed the stretch and slow movement. Perfect!

Yoga and TGUs

Today, I got up and did a 30 minute Qi yoga class from YogaDownload.com.  Great class.  Then I did my Turkish Get Up workout.  I didn't do the warm up, since I was warm and twisted from yoga.  Then I did 5 minutes of TGUs with my 20# kettlebell.  I did better this time and got 5 on the left and 4 on the right.  Nice start to the day!

What's up with my heel?

It seems like it is coming from tightness in my leg, but my left heel is sore.  This started right after finishing my 7 mile run on Sunday.  It was a nice run.  I think I averaged about 11:18, which isn't bad for me, especially for a windy day.  I had a few niggles during the run, in particular, the right hip returned at about mile 6, but it didn't bother me much.  It's this heel.  I haven't had this before.  And it's on the other side.  Hmmm.  So, I've been rolling that leg.

Today, instead of lifting like would have been the plan, I did a yoga program, hoping that would help stretch.  The program I chose ended up not being the most stretchy program, but it was still good.  That's when I really could tell I have some tightness in that left leg.  I felt it in the calf and in the hamstring.  I did "Yoga for Buns" from YogaDownload.  It really is a great program.  I even start sweating during it.

We'll see where this leads!

Yoga this morning!

I bought a subscription to YogaDownload.com a little while back.  I'm enjoying it.  I really like the audio classes with pose guides better than the videos, which was what I was using at YogaToday.com.  Not that their videos were bad. They were very good.  It's just nice to be able to shut my eyes when I want and even take off my glasses.  Also, I don't have to face the screen constantly.

Today's yoga practice was a Power Vinyasa Flow called Yoga for Buns.  Besides the talk about "toning and sculpting"  *GAG* it was a really good class!  I saw lots of progress during the class in the utkatasana pose, which I love.  At first it was vary hard, but by the end I was low and strong.  Nice.  I also like the vinyasa aspect, with the linking to the breath.  Unless I'm told whether I should be inhaling or exhaling, I get lost and frustrated.  The instructor did a great job leading the breathing, guiding through the poses, and giving little tweaks to improve each pose.  My savasana wasn't as nice as it sometimes is.  It was a little short.  But, it didn't help that my computer decided to channel a message from aliens from outer space in the middle.  Not sure why my computer messes up audio like that sometimes.  It's a cute but wimpy little thing.  Maybe it just can't handle all the power I'm releasing in its presence.  Ha!

Recovering

Some bug hit me Wednesday evening and I've been down since then. My fever is mostly gone (it was mild anyway), but I'm still a bit weak.  So, this morning I got up and did a yoga video.  It's one that is supposed to help with knee health.  I'm not sure yet how helpful it is, but I think I'm going to do it a few more times to see.

I hope I'm strong enough tomorrow to get back to my routine.

Uggg....

I am definitely sore.  I'm not sure if it is from workouts or if I'm coming down with whatever my daughter is fighting off.  Whichever it is, I probably made it worse today!

I started off the morning with a yoga video called Linking the Breath to Movement.  It wasn't what I had expected, but was still great.  I even was sweating in my cool basement.  I thought it was mostly going to be movements, but there was plenty of holding postures.  I had to bail on some, even, because some were challenging.

After breakfast, I went out and shoveled snow for about an hour and a half.  There is no full body workout like shoveling snow.  Nice.  We might be getting some more later in the week, but not as much and the winds shouldn't be as bad.

More snow!

It snowed yet again last night.  I was already planning to work out in the basement, so it wasn't a big deal.  I did need to leave some strength for snow shoveling later, though.

This week my plan is to work on some of my weak areas.  Today was squats and chin ups.
Yesterday, I had my son help me make videos of my squats.  I didn't see much wrong with my form.  I did see how my legs wobbled some, but I knew that was happening.  I did see my lower back flatten some at the very last bit as I went ATG on the squat.  If I would stop at full squat depth, I probably wouldn't see that.

I focused on keeping my lower back rounded today.  I also payed close attention to where I rested the bar.  I worked on getting it down low on my back, resting on my rear delts.  I think that actually helped a lot.  I was holding a little too high before.  Since I don't have a rack, I have to clean the bar and get it over my head every set.  I almost couldn't do it for the 65# after having gone through all the other work!  Maybe I should change the loading order.

Warm up - 4x sun salutations, 10xbody weight squats
Alternating set of negative chin-ups and back squats:
Negative chins - 7x3@10sec pace
Squats - 10@30#, 8@40#, 6@45#, 5@50#, 5@55#, 5@60#, 5x65#
Short Alternating set of elbows-in push-ups on my Iron Gym Extreme and single leg curls on the Swiss ball
Push-ups - 2x5
Single leg curl on Swiss ball - 2x10each leg
Foam rolling

Week off is going ok

... except that a nasty muscle spasm returned in my back Monday night.  I went to the massage therapist Tuesday.  Wednesday, things seemed to be better.  Then, this morning I thought I felt it again.  Hopefully it's just healing and that is what I feel.  I think I'll use the hot pack again today.

Sunday evening, I went to a yoga class at church and then on Tuesday morning, when I got up with the pain, I did another yoga video from YogaToday.com.  I did this week's free one, which is "Cultivating Friendliness with Twisting Postures."  I really like their videos, but I wouldn't purchase a membership because our internet connection clogs so much in the evening that streaming is out of the question.  Mornings seem to be ok.  So, I purchased a couple to have around.  I did "Happy Hips and Hamstrings" last night.  I think one of my issues with squats is tight hamstrings, so I thought it would be good.  I also purchased "Prevent Sciatica with Yoga" which should also have some hamstring work in it.

This morning I did Rachel Cosgrove's metabolic workout.  Some of the exercises were awkward, some were very challenging.  I think I'll get more out of it as I become more familiar with the exercises.  I did one set of each.  I think I'll have to work up to 2 sets.  For now, it's too much!.  It was nice to have the interval timer on my Garmin to time the exercises.

Feeling strong!

Last night I attended a yoga class of a new yoga instructor at the gym. I was the only one there, so I got a private lesson for $5. I think I'll pay more than she's asking if I go again. That just isn't enough. It was really good and this was the first time in a long time I had a mirror to check my form in.

This morning was 6B4 for me. Next are the last two Stage 6 workouts!! Things went well. I even increased some of the weights. I realized that last time on the 2-pt row, I did both arms at the same time. Oops!

Reverse lunge 1db at shoulder- 4x4@30#total

Db 2-point row - 4x4@45#total (one arm at a time, this time! I run the weight parallel to my body, otherwise the width gets in the way and hits my body... maybe this isn't totally right, but it's the way I do them)

Db push press - 1x4@25#ea then 3x4@30#ea (wow, that's hard!! difficult to stabilize at top)

Back extension - 3x4@45#total

Incline reverse crunch - 3x4@30deg

Full body workout

Boy, my whole body feels worked-out today. That's a good thing!

Today, I did 4A2 of NRoLfW. During one of the step-ups, as I was decending, I landed on my non-working foot wrong, twisted my ankle and fell down, losing one of my 25# dumbbells. I was worried that I had done some damage, but after a couple minutes of rest, things improved to the point that I continued with the workout. I have weak ankles, so this isn't new. Falling after coming off of a ~18inch step holding 50# of weights was a bit different of a feeling, though! Rather scary, especially since I was all alone in the gym. There was a funny coincidence, though. VH1 was on the gym TV and a song by Kelly Clarkson was playing. As I was sitting there seeing if my ankle would get better, she's dancing on a bar and ends up falling off in much the same manner that I did!

I definitely got a good workout if you reference my heart rate graph from my Garmin:

Heart rate from today's workout. Resting ankle at about 25min mark.

The only problem I have with a heart rate chart is that I don't get credit for activities that are prone. I'm working really hard during those 2 minute planks, sweating and puffing, but since I'm not standing up, my heart rate doesn't get very high. It does show me getting up to 130bpm, though. I guess that is pretty high for a prone position.

I didn't hear as many clicks from my knee today. Also, the ones I heard weren't as extreme as normal. Before the workout, my knee wasn't as sore as it has been. Improvement? I hope!

Last night I did a yoga session from YogaToday.com. I needed that. The kids were being terrors last night and I was so worn out from dealing with them that I could have gone to bed at 8:30pm. Hubby encouraged me to do the yoga, though. Thanks, hon!

New Rules of Lifting 4A2:
FSPP - 3x50# (got sloppy towards end)
Step-up - 3x25#ea (twisted ankle)
DB 1-pt row - 3x35#ea
Static lunge - 3x35#ea (should probably get lower on these??)
Push-up - 2xsetting 4 on Smith Machine, 1xsetting 5
Plank - 3x2min
Horiz woodchop - 3x37#

Rise and shine

Yesterday I went to yoga again. It's amazing how good of a stretch I get there. Some of the postures really require a lot of muscle strength, too.

This morning, I managed to talk myself out of talking myself out of working out. I got there early and again there were people there. Two already when I got there and there were four when I left. I ran a measly mile on the treadmill. It was still below freezing this morning, so I'm still not up to running outside yet. I'd be looking at some big problems with asthma at those temps. I could tell the mile went easier than the one last Friday. I'll work on getting up speed on that one mile. However, I already hit in the 180's bpm during the run, so I have to take it carefully. It would be cool if I could get that mile down under 10 minutes. It would make it easier to break the 30 minute 5k mark this spring.

I completed 1B6 out of NRoLfW this morning. I did end up sore after Friday's 1A6 workout and I'm feeling my lunges already. Deadlifts were on the menu today. I think I need to do more of a squat to grasp the bar. I felt like I was doing more of a straight legged deadlift. But, I guess I'll have to pay attention to the mirrors to make sure.

After the weights, I did the stretch trainer. I used the yoga breathing and got a much better stretch.

All in all, I was done in about an hour. Not bad. I had thought the 3-set portion of NRoLfW would take too long, but it seems like it will be ok. Of course, I know the exercises better now, so maybe I stay on task better. I'm pretty good about keeping the 60 second rest between sets. Although, on lunges, I take a short break in the middle.

Need to get it going...

I've been so tired and out of the habit of running and working out that I've been slacking lately. We did go on a bike ride yesterday and I went to yoga class again. So, I'm not a total loser. I wanted to get up this morning to go work out, but I just couldn't. 4am was simply too early. Maybe it won't be when I'm rolling along, but for now I think I shouldn't delude myself by thinking it's going to happen.

Yoga!

Yesterday I went with a friend to a beginner's yoga class. It was nice. I was glad I hadn't lifted weights beforehand, though! I think I'll try to make that a regular item.