I'm not only keeping to my workout schedule which IS TOTES AWESOME BABAY!! But I also did Step Work's from Cathe's Cardio Hits dvd ~ an oldie but goodie ~ AND I DID the whole thang pretty much without pausing! Which is HUGE!! As I haven't done it in about 2 years! Yes, you heard me, 2 years! And it's pretty intense! I used to have to take it down a notch without fail during the step skips over the step when I was doing it before and now I don't. Way cool! This is ALL as a result of doing Cathe's Tabata and HIIT workouts. I've been doing them way more lately as I've been doing an experiment to see if they really open my lungs up cardio wise and because I've been coming home late from work and surprisingly enough the plyometrics in the Tabata and HIIT jiggle my condo way less ~ less agony for my neighbours, lol! ~ than step. One of the reasons is because I've learned to land very softly, bending my knees deeply and taking it into my quads and landing toe, ball, heel. Thank ballet for that! So as I said to a friend I land so quietly like a First Nation's walking in the forest ~ NO sound. Even the squirrels make more commotion than me! lol! With that said, the experiment is working! My cardio capacity really is getting better. WooHoo!!
Somebody said it this way on Cathe's forum: "I have always thought this (Step Works) was Cathe's hardest step
workout! I love it, but it's a killer! It's the one I always reach for when I want to check my fitness level and be sure I'm "up to par"!
... so practice, do some Tabata & HIIT, then test it with Step Works, and all is coming.
... with Eoin Finn's dvd of course! I finally did it again this Monday with his sure to uplift "Strong, Free, and Happy" 53 minute class. It's the perfect time, the perfect sequencing, his voiceover is so calming and smooth, yet fun at the same time and it has most of my favorite practice goal postures for this year in it! All with no dread factor. Sometimes primary gives me dread. lol! But this doesn't. There's something happy and approachable about it yet it's no wussy either. It will challenge you as it mirrors the sequencing of primary but sprinkles in more arm balances along the way. Which I LOVE! It affords me the opportunity to practice Kino's arm balancing teachings a number of times throughout the practice. And the floor series has just the right amount of seated postures with jump backs which is rare among non ashtanga dvd's! And includes all these lovely arm balances: bakasana jump back, eka pada galavasana, ashtavakrasana to koundinyasana jump backs, tittibhasana, and kurmasana jump backs. I'm in heaven!
My Practice
It was so satisfying as I did the whole thang this time. Sometimes I cheat and only do two-thirds of it. But this time I did it all! Yeah me! It felt so good to do the arm balancing and notice my lift is more sure and my jump backs a touch better. My postures felt a little more fluid and open, my twists more upright and turned. For the standing warriors sequence, I was able to do it without breaking to straighten my legs! This is huge as Eoin burns your quads by keeping you in it FOREVA!! ~ burn baby burn with warrior 1, warrior 2, side angle, twisting side angle, without coming out of it once!! Yowza!! That will give you some wicked quads and a booty butt like no otha!! Then I finally was able to do an almost easy warrior 3 hold into utthita hasta padangusthasana into dancers pose. Yes! Lovely to see improvement in these as my warrior 3 can suck with me giving in to airplaning my arms instead of holding them out in front. For some weird reason it's almost agony for me to hold them out this way. But it was almost easy-peasy this time!
Floor was just as satisfying, with jump throughs getting better little by little. I did my practice front splits while they did abs. I already killed them in gym so there was going to be no abs! Splits are still painful but my mantra while in the pose is "just keep on keeping on and it will get easier, it WILL get easier" because I truly believe it will. Then I also added bhuji before we practiced kurmasana. Then we did my other goal poses of baddha konasana, ushtrasana and urdhva dhanurasana. Still suck but I just keep telling myself ...
... practice, practice, practice kino style and all is coming!
I got this amazing compliment at the gym on Friday whilst I was minding my business doing my biceps. I got this coveted position at the corner mirrors ~ there's those mirrors again! ~ so I could see myself in front and sideways doing my barbell curls. And this cool, youthful, need I also say handsome, TALL, built dude was doing biceps on a bench behind me with his buddies egging him on for one more rep. And there I was, as I said, minding my beeswax doing my reps and checking my form in the side mirror. And who told me to notice that my back was looking mighty fine, thick and rippling every time I took a rep! I was in shock. Was that MY back doing that!?! Haha! NICE!! I was secretly thinking. Then suddenly the cute, young, BIG thang turns around and exclaims, "Wow, do have an amazing back!" I'm like, "Who me?", in all innocence," ;) And he's like, "Yah! Your like jacked in the back, it's like rippling!! Man, I'd like to get ripped like that!" This is this big dude who's got all his workout buddies buzzing around him! Well, blow me over with a feather! Let's just say I was a-swaggering when I walked out of that gym! Lolol!
Tonight I did XTrain's Tabatacise! Woohoo! This is just my second time doing it. And already I see a teeny-tiny bit of improvement. I also squeezed in my Intensity dvd (warmup to combo 2) that was planned for Saturday but I just couldn't resist doing today. Call me eager but I LOVE intensity and plyometric type workouts. I just love jumping. I guess it's a throwback from ballet where I excelled in jumps. It's in my blood. I just hope my knees behave!
Cathe gives you five tabata's on this dvd. Of which she separates them into LEVELS. Each LEVEL tacks on another tabata. LEVEL 1 has only one tabata and by LEVEL 5 you're doing all five tabatas. And, yet the way tabata's were designed you really ONLY need to do ONE tabata to reap the benefits of epoc calarie burn for the next days and of course increased cardio capacity. But Cathe's a machine and wants you to be one too. Lol! So I did LEVEL 2 with tabatas 1 and 2 which including warmup and cooldown is 25 minutes. Each tabata is actually just 4 minutes long though Cathe does top each tabata off at the end with a short blast to finish it off. Kinda like a burn set for cardio. Each tabata has eight 20-second high intensity blasts followed by a 10-second recovery. If you want to get a burn in your lungs and legs this will do it! It will also fast-track your cardio capacity like nothing else. But who told me to do it the day after, yes, I said the day after a heavy leg workout. But hey, give me a break, I didn't feel any quad pain before or during so I thought DOMS would slip under the radar, just for me of course. Haha! I'm joking right?! My legs are suddenly in P.A.I.N, I mean A.G.O.N.Y. I don't even want to think about tomorrow! Seriously, I'm a little afeard!!
AND to top it all off as I said before, I got a little gungho, couldn't leave well enough alone and added Intensity step into the mix. Thanks be to Jesus, I only did the warmup to combo 2. But still! The tabata should have been more than enough. This step is all power moves, plyo's, and intensity blasts which is basically like a frikken full-on 20 minute non-stop blast, I kid you not. Which includes a crazy-ass step section followed by an HIIT step section, high impact floor HIIT, low impact floor HIIT and a bonus bootcamp section. The really nice thing about it is Cathe designed it purposely so you can do as little or as much as you want, and use it to tack on sections to the beginning or end of say your weight workout. It's very flexible. But as one reviewer said, there's no downtime on this dvd. You go from intense to maximum-intense-on-roids-over-n-over-again. Yowza! BUT it hurts SO good! I guess that will be my mantra tomorrow!
I've been having a very successful week keeping up with my workout schedule. And it's made me feel like Superwoman! With aching quads and chest to prove it! lol! Yesterday I did Cathe's Gym Style Legs and tacked on Lean Leg's & Abs (just did the legs portion, okay, I'm not that Superwoman) to give me an added cardio hit. And on Monday I did my favorite yoga teacher Kino's Primary dvd. She's such an amazing ashtanga teacher, so generous and prolific in sharing her vast knowledge. And her love of all things ashtanga and her eagerness to share is infectious! But I digress ...
Kino Primary
Because I'm feeling I have to psych myself up to do anything physical these days I decided not to push myself and just get on the mat and JUST DO IT DAMNIT. However much I do, whether just standing or up to supta-k or even not up to supta-k, I was just going to go how I feel. With that I had a nice practice and really only did up to the marichyasana's and then did Fit Chick's version of closing, my goal postures: supta-padangusthasana, front splits, ushtrasana, urdhva dhanurasana (wheel), back to ushtrasana (great sequencing by the way, as doing camel first helped me with wheel and wheel opened my back up more for a deeper camel again. Nice!), then front splits and my final "badass" konosana before savasana. That was perfection for me.
... so practice what you can and don't sweat it, and even fit in your goal postures, and all is coming.
I don't know what has gotten me all fired up with goals this year. Maybe it's to fight the blues from taking over in this most squalid of winters or just maybe I'm all inspired from within. Well, whatever it is, I shall not question and just ride the wave.
So here are my goals for 2014 in no particular order. Notice I did not say New Year's resolutions. Somehow this feels so carved in stone and if I don't do it I'll be a loser of losers, a failure of failures, a characterless person. Goals sound so much more positive and realistic ~ something you're reaching for as opposed to being so resolute you'll never budge. Hmmm. But I digress:
Overarching
• maintain a consistent painting schedule
• maintain a consistent workout schedule
• maintain a consistent Ashtanga/yoga schedule
• Get thee to your Mysore classes backslider!!! lol!
Painting
• To get more creative and start painting again after I let a couple of years slip by. Which I have! Woohoo!
• To do at least two of the most inspiring pictures I've taken last year. I'm starting small with two as to not overload myself. I even prepped three canvases. Who knew they would be the primary colours!
In the beginning there was Cadmium Yellow Light!
In the beginning there was also Primary colours!
Yoga
• To get an open Baddha Konosana or as I like to say a "Badass" Konasana. I'm hoping to have my knees on the ground by next December. This will open up so many postures for me.
• Be in full frontal splits by the end of the year.
• Widen my side splits. I won't say full, as I have a LONG reach to go!
• Being able to get my leg to face in Supta Padangusthasana ~ because I want to! Is it wrong?!
• A more open, deeper backbend: What would that look like?
– straighter arms in Urdhva Dhanurasana (Wheel)
– a more rounded Ushtrasana (Camel pose) with more open hips and quads,
– and starting to work on Laghuvajrasana
• More lift in my arm balances: being able to consistently get my feet back to bakasana from tittibhasana and a better positioning of the knees on upper forearms for jumping back with dignity instead of a sad flop.
• A cleaner jump through because it'll make me look fly!
Ways to get me there:
• Always do crow, supta padangusthasana, titti-transition, splits, backbends and wheel with every practice.
• When watching TV sit in butterfly pose, or front splits. Also, practice passive stretches every other night for backbends over a chair with pillow, over yoga blocks, and on my exercise ball to open my back.
Cardio:
• Increase my cardio capacity: What does that look like?
– 1st: Being able to do a Cathe cardio dvd without pausing one iota.
– 2nd: Perhaps being able to do all of Cathe's Step Works without pausing one iota.
– Pinnacle: If I want to go for broke, being able to do Intensity dvd's step portion including the HIIT step portion without pausing! I'm not even going to attempt the other HIIT segments in this dvd as my goal as there's no need to bother. As it is, this one's going for gold. But ya neva know until ya try! As one reviewer said this has NO downtime, even the "moderate" segments are intense ~ it goes from intense to maximum intensity over and over again, no in between. Get it!?!
Ways to get me there:
• Doing a varied and consistent routine of steady state, metabolic (since it has alot of anaerobic cardio that really pushes plateau's), HIIT's (anaerobic for plateau pulverizing) and Tabata's (app).
Hopefully, I'll remember to check in 6 months from now in July to see how I've been doing with these little goals of mine.
... so practice, make inspiring but realistic and maybe even some unrealistic INTENSITY goals ~ cause ya neva know unless ya try as my friend said, at least it will get ya some ways there! ~ and all is coming.
... in doing three sets of chest exercises followed by a burn set for!?! My chest is on FIYA and I did the Burn Sets dvd on Sat! I'm realizing this dvd is not a misnomer! I'm living proof of it! I can hardly open and close doors or put a fork to my mouth. Wait a minute, that might be a good thing! I'm not regular at doing weights for my chest and it's also my weak area as it gets sore really easily, though I have no problems doing full push ups whether on the floor or inclined with my feet off the step. But I just wasn't putting my little noodle of a brain in gear to assess this a little further before being so ambitious. Oh well, they say no pain no gain for a reason. Just gotta suck it up sometimes.
INGREDIENTS: 1Chopped Onion 1Chopped Green Pepper PinchCumin, be careful with cumin, I made the mistake of putting too much and it overpowered the flavor Sea Salt, to taste Generous AmountsChili Powder 1Crushed Garlic 1CanDiced Tomatoes 1CanStewed Tomatoes, or you can just do another can of diced 1CanCorn Niblets 1CanRed Kidney Beans 1CanBlack Beans 1CanPinto Beans, optional, my chili got too big to put this in. lol! Red Crushed Chili Peppers, to your finicky or fiery taste 1 or 1.5PacketClub House Hot N Spicy Chili, totally optional
DIRECTIONS:
1. In a large pot with olive oil to coat the bottom glaze the onions, crushed garlic, green peppers, sea salt, pinch of cumin (once again watch out for this as you don't want to make a mistake and put too much and over power the beautiful chili flavor like I did! lol!) and a generous amount of chili powder. Glaze the onions until they're see through.
2. Then get a good can opener and a strong wrist and open all the cans and have a party pouring it all in there!
3. Stir and add more chili powder, sea salt and Hot n Spicy Chili packet (optional) to taste. This is when you'll add in the crushed chili peppers. Add whatever floats your boat. A dash for the timid, and a dump for the daring hawt one's. ;D
NOTE: Can adapt this easily for meat lovers by adding ground beef after glazing the onion mix.
OMG, I had a very productive satisfying day. And man it feels goooOood! And Party Rockin' it made it that much better! I got alot done by my standards. Now, I say by my standards as I'm sure others beat me by a mile like my EverReady Bunny, Mom. Who keeps going n going n going! Haha! I can't compare to that! So I do my own thang! So, by my standards it was productive.
I made a wicked two bean veggie chili. It was supposed to be a three bean chili but I ran out of room! And I had a big pot! (Check out my Recipe section.) Then I did Party Rockin Step 2 followed by Burn Sets Chest, Back & Shoulders. Then as it was my cheat day foodwise I went to my fav fish n chips restaurant and pigged out on my usual "Fish, Ceasar and a Few (chips)" and not to be outdone, chased it all down with my fav dessert "Apple Walnut Crumble with Icecream." I kinda went a little overboard on my cheat and at home had my saved in the freezer Godiva dark chocolate with creamy mint center and, wait I'm not finished yet, along with one melt in your mouth frozen christmas shortbread cookie. I take cheat to the extreme! Then I sketched my composition on my canvas in preparation for tomorrow's creative painting fest. And now watching good ol' TV. So it was a very satisfying day.
Party Rockin' Step 2
Once again Party Rockin' Step 2 was rockin for me. I love this dvd as it has a great fun factor, great music and a great blend of steady state mixed in with Cathe's famous blasts that keep me challenged and my heart pumping. I even noticed that I hardly paused this time around. Actually only one time! Okay, there was two other minor times only to remember the steps quickly, that's it. So, it's great to see my cardio improving. And I think it's due to a more regular ~ trying at least ~ cardio schedule and incorporating more metabolic workouts. ... Oops, but I have a confession, I didn't do the last combo or the complete combos put together at the end. So, sue me!
Burn Sets
Then I followed it with Burn Sets' Chest, Back & Shoulders. Love this disc as it's a traditional strength workout that's the same as I do at the gym. And is very effective in muscle building. With this dvd you work each muscle group entirely before moving to the next and you do three exercises per muscle group doing 3 sets each with the last working to failure using heavy enough weights to peak out at around 10 reps. Then you finish each muscle group with a burn set to totally "burn" the muscle group before moving on. And man, I "burned" those muscles! I know I'll have great DOMS the next day! Yowza! I love this as I don't have to go to the gym every second day. Yeah! ... And I DID do it all!
... so practice, love what you practice and all will be coming!
Really, I love yoga!! It makes me feel so strong, limber, agile and youthful! I feel like I can do anything when I do yoga. And it feels like ballet, gymnastics and martial arts all rolled into one. Yet so different from them too. It's calming, invigorating and breathtaking all at the same time. I love yoga!!
Highlights and Lowlights
I just finished doing Peak to Supta K from YogaGlo.com. I love this practice as it's short-n-sweet, get in get out, gets the basic postures in and the ones I want to work on. So a nice balance.
My highlights were I practically got back my jump throughs. Yeah! As they sucked on Sunday. And it makes me feel like I'm getting somewhere and that it's finally getting there. When I say "there" it in no way implies I've arrived. As it looks in no way like Kino's which she just posted on Facebook today ~ as a reminder of how far I have to go! ~ with a very satisfied smile at the end like she's saying, "See, easypeasy!" Yah right! Put it this way, she floats in handstand first. Get it?! ... My Marichy twists were nice and fluid. I can feel my twist opening more. My shoulders still need some work in this posture as they don't have much range of motion in their sockets so my shoulders kinda like to salute my ears a tad. One day. And I was surprised to find I went down nicely on my butt in Kurmasana and then crossed my feet over in Supta Kurmasana. Yes! BUT lost the finger clasp in doing so. Soon, very soon! And I opened my back a bit with Ushtrasana (camel pose). I find this very useful in prepping my back for Urdhva dhanurasana (wheel pose). AND I did two, yes two Urdhva's with relative ease. Which is mind blowing for me as my back is as stiff as a board ~ my old posts on this one on Aug 12/13 "Backbending OR The Ramp ... My Mount Olympus" will tell you exactly why it's mind blowing. So that felt very good.
My lowlights were not being open in my splits the way I'm used to. I'm going to say I was too cold. Lol! Missing the clasp in Supta. But all in all a very satisfying practice.
And then there was Light! Cadmium yellow light to be exact.
I had a great day today! Very productive. Prepared all my foods for the week, painted for the first time in ages, did my Cathe step and then my blog. Now, I wish I was this well behaved every weekend. Ha! Snort! But I digress ...
Athletic Step
Did Cathe's excellent Athletic Step routine which is about 47 minutes in length (30 minutes of actual step) as it's meant to be tacked onto her amazing STS heavy weight program. So the length is compact. However, I just did her step as I was planning to do weights but it felt a little too ambitious for the day. I do have my limits!
This is a nice mix of steady state step with high intensity power moves/sequences mixed in to each combo keeping it challenging especially on the first and last combo. She even puts in a light blast sequence at the end to top it all off. Nice! I felt pretty accomplished with this one and saw a little bit of improvement in cardio power. As I had very few pauses for me. But still have trouble with the last sequence. It's so challenging that I keep thinking she's finished the combo when she invites you to now do it from the top! Waaaaa??? You mean we haven't done the full sequence yet??? It sure felt like we did and then some!! She gets me every time there and I always have to stop as my lung's about to bust a vessel. That's my measuring stick, that last combo. When I can do that one without pausing to catch my breathe, I know I've arrived. Almost! For this dvd anyway. There's ALWAYS more vista's to climb with Cathe. She's never finished with you. Oh, and the music's groovin! As always with the gurl!
Finally yesterday I did my yoga. My gosh it feels like so long! I did do a wee practice in Miami with my dream come true mirrors in my room. OMG talk about a Bikram room to be jealous of. A full wall from tip to stern and from top to bottom! I was in love! I could analyze my postures to my heart's content. But alas, there was so much to do and so little time to do it in that I just got in one practice analysis. And that was it. Though my mat sat there hopefully the whole time. Sigh! But I digress ...
Strong, Free, and Happy!
Last night I finally fit in my yoga. And truly fit it in I did, as I did it late! Don't ask me how late. Suffice it to say it was well after 12am in between my midnight TV respite. lol! Anyhoo, I did the DAMN WELL just DO IT motto and got it done with my fav Strong, Free and Happy routine off Eoin Finn's Power Yoga for Happiness dvd.
I love this routine as it has alot of ashtanga elements. The standing flow has enough primary postures for me plus a really nice warrior series that will burn and strengthen your legs that's missing in primary. I can always gauge my yoga leg strength with this one and I failed this time. I copped out at the very last twisting posture (utthita parsvakonasana) as I already did long holds in warrior 1, warrior 2, parsvakonasana A, then B without a break! So sue me! Also the standing series has two nice arm balances in it that I love to always get into my yoga practice. Moreover, the seated postures also are ashtanga style with a compacted version of it including the jump backs and throughs. Eoin also includes more arm balances and my fav astavakrasana to koundinyasna jump back and tittibasana. And, YES!, I can still do the full expression of astavakrasana and transition on my right side but still having trouble transitioning into koundinyasana on my left. Practice, practice, practice. However, expressly because of lack of practice my jump throughs at the beginning were more like a drag through. Let's just say I was NOT happy about my backslide. But by the end of practice they were getting more bouyant. Yeah!
I subbed hanumanasana for side plank and supta padangusthasana for the ab work as I already killed my abs sufficiently at the gym the night before. But didn't go all the way to kurmasana and titti. Oh well, another time. But I was happy with what I did. So, overall it was a very satisfying practice.
... so practice, however way you can fit it in, and all is coming.
I was very proud of myself as this past Wednesday I did Cathe's new Greatest Hits Vol. 1 step for the second time. And noticed some more cardio improvement. And again it hit the spot for my aerobics as it's a great compilation of my favorite step routines and is a great mix of steady state and high intensity intervals. And man, I'm really starting to finally notice some cardio improvement in quite unusual ways.
The Marathon Dash
When I was in Miami I was tearing down Dadeland Mall on a marathon run through the mall. Going from one end to the other in a crazy dash. Because we were literally doing some marathon shopping before we had to get back to the hotel to get ready for a cocktail party. It was hysterical! And I noticed that I was not breathing heavy at all. Not even a little bit. It was like I was just taking a leisurely stroll meanwhile I was literally running, yes you heard me, running through the mall from one end to the other and back again, at one point. Thank goodness I could do this because it was the week day and it was practically empty. Love that! And I was astounded at the improvement cardiovascularly. It was so noticable. Yeah!!
... so practice marathon shopping and all is coming.
Fortune House, what a beautiful place to stay.
Reminded me of Agatha Christie's Bertram Hotel.
I'm back down from the heights that was Miami! What an experience! I hope and plan for many more in the future. New day, new chapter, I say! However, I've landed like a drug come-down into the dank depths of reality. No fun! ... To counter this see saw highs and lows I've decided there's nothing better than planning. The bible says "Where there's no vision the people perish." I know, I know, sounds rather heavy. But it's helping me to plan and keep my focus so I don't go keening into a real depression. So, I've got three main goals/plans for now: planning and saving for my next vacation, widening my social circles, and artistry specifically painting. By the end of this month I need to have two canvases prepped; by next month a nice big deposit into my vacation fund; and by the next two months getting my butt back to Mysore School and joining some cool groups of interests. This will keep me buoyed up and mind busy to get me through these dull, cold, non-Miami days! Lol! But I digress ...
No Cop-Out!
I finally won mind over matter. And dragged myself to my gym at 9pm tonight. My shadow hadn't crossed it's threshold in almost a month! What with Christmas, a cold, running around in readiness for my Miami trip there just wasn't any time. Besides I was getting great workouts at home. However, there's no substitute for going heavy at the gym. And my legs really need it for therapy. So finally I was able to psych myself to get there and it was no easy task I tell you! You have no idea the war that goes on in my head every Friday to get there. But my head finally won and I did the "Just DAMN WELL do it!" moto. And it worked! Got my butt there and a-kickin. Did my leg extensions for my vastus medialis quads to help my patella track in place. Can do 90lbs and 105lbs now. Did my barbell plie squats at 100lb (down from 105lb) doing 2 sets of 16 plus 4 low ends. I usually do 3 sets but since I haven't been at the gym for about a month I need to ramp up slower. But now that I finally lost the weight (I was NOT going to Miami not at my best, no way no how!) down to my normal 114lbs, my knee braces aren't fitting tight enough and I have to really watch my form. Time for new braces, but with saving for said vacation, I may have to put it off for late summer. We'll see how my knees fair. I did back work, chest pec machine, triceps and abs on the nearly 90° ramp. Wicked! But totally forgot to do my inner and outer thighs! Bummer! I'm going to be SORE tomorrow. I always get sore when I've been delinquent in my weight workouts. Yowza, serves me right!
More Plans
My plan is to do yoga tomorrow, maybe Eion Finn's Power Yoga for Happiness, Strong Free and Happy 53min sequence. As it's got some nice arm balances thrown in and an ashtanga type floor work. Also, has some good warrior holds for strengthening the legs. Then on Sunday, I'm going to decide what two paintings to start and the ground colours to use. And do my step aerobics possibly Cathe's Athletic Step or 4 Day Split High Intensity Step plus shoulders and biceps thrown in.
... so practice planning and DAMN WELLs, and all is coming.
