Tag Archives: Exercise

Apr 30 2013

A Good Day!

Yesterday was the definition of a good day!  I woke up, granted I felt exhausted from my great weekend, but still, I woke up and it felt like the day was mine entirely.  I stayed on track for calories, didn’t let myself sneak any snacks, and broke a tremendous sweat on the stair master after 25 minutes of soul crushing climbing.

I finished the night off with *gasp* Taco John’s, but opted for a lighter version of the epic Grilled Burrito (I got some knock off one that was 550 calories).  I shared my potato ole’s with the dogs, tossed out over half the cheese cup, and mentally patted myself on the back for my success.  Today has been just about as good, if not for the tons of sodium I had during lunch, but hey, that’s lunch, this is life, and I’m moving on!

No gym tonight, but I’m hoping to try out one of those “at home DVD’s” … although the list of available workouts is kind of staggering!  Anyone have any good ideas for the at home workouts?  Anyone?  Buhler?…

Anyways, I’ll be looking at the 30 day shred hopefully tomorrow AM, we’ll see, 6:00 seems to creep up way to quickly for my taste, but it’s either that or the definition of hell after work: car wash, grocery store, home , gym, home, dinner, bed.  I hate nights like that!

Well, I am off to to practice my cardiovascular and pulmonary exercises (aka singing) tonight, so this fat lady is singing “I’m out!”

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Mar 11 2013

Yin Yoga and You

Keep Calm and Do Yoga

 

This weekend (Saturday, specifically) I had the opportunity to try a new form of yoga (new to me, not to the world).  This form is called Yin Yoga, and it’s interesting because it’s the opposite of Yang Yoga (yes, like Yin and Yang)

 

So, we focused on ligaments and joints, not on muscles, and each pose is held for 1-20 minutes, which to me is a really REALLY long time to hold a pose (in our class the average length was 3 minutes/pose).  It is a very quiet practice and can be kind of chilly, since the movements are slow and controlled.   Class lasted 75 minutes, roughly 70 of which were in various poses or moving from one pose to another.    We started with Child’s Pose

 

We then moved into a twist for each side, held for 3 minutes, with a child’s pose in between.  We moved through a swan pose and a handful of other seated poses, and I could feel my joints stretching each time.  Getting back to work, I decided to see if there was a way I could incorporate a bit of yoga in my daily life, and sure enough, I discovered Desk Yoga.

Mountain Pose Sit erect, clasp your hands, and extend your arms forward. Turn the palms away from you and raise your arms until the palms face the ceiling. Stretch and feel yourself growing taller as you reduce the stress in your head, neck, and shoulders. This posture lengthens your sides. If you want, add to this posture by bending your arms to each side.

 

Thread the needle Sit in your chair and cross your right leg over your left knee. Flex both feet and lift them off the floor. “Thread the needle” by clasping your hands around your left leg, just under your knee. This posture stretches hip rotators, outer thighs, and relieves tension in the lower back. Be sure to reverse sides.

 

Check out the link above for more Desk Yoga moves!

 

 

Mar 7 2013

Back to the Gym

Last night I made it back to the gym.  It took me almost a week!  I literally had not worked out since last week on Thursday and felt like a total bum, and it was aweful!  My workout consisted of “assisted” pullups, I am such a weenie.  I had 120 pounds of assistance! I was literally only pulling up 65 pounds, gotta get that better!  I also did “girlie” pushups, lunges, squats, sit-ups and then a stairmaster for about 10 minutes.  

Was this routine extremely difficult?  Naw, my legs are a bit sore today but not bad, and no I didn’t workout “that” long, but I got to the gym, got my heart rate up, and feel so much better for it. 

Tonight it’s back to the gym, and probably some quality time on the Precor AMT, I actually miss that machine, but they were all full last night :( Sad day.  I may also do some light weights for my arms tonight, since more than likely I’ll only do the AMT for half an hour or so, that’ll give me 20 minutes to do some other sort of exercise.