Cathe, Kino and Travis!

The dynamic trio! ... I'm so proud of myself as I just did 3 workouts in a row since I've been back at work starting this past Monday, with my awesome go to trainers. I decided to print out a workout schedule and try really hard to focus and stick to it. I find that planning, printing and having my schedule in front of me at my desk is really helping me with my motivation and focus. I was finding that in my heart I want to do it. The heart drive is there BUT my physical, psychological motivation was lagging behind once the evening came around. This way, seeing my planned schedule and also knowing my days off is really helping me so far. But the true test is time over tension and consistency. So we'll see!

My Bakasana Ideal
(arms straight, knees higher)

My Bakasana Reality
(arms bent, knees lower, but getting there!)

I'm going to try and keep this short and sweet. Just an overview as I need to get to bed!

Travis Monday: 

On Monday I did my hearthrob, Travis', Ultimate Yogi Flexibility and snuck in a bakasana (arm balance) and jumpback to chatarunga. Weee! I felt stronger the second time around. Love the front splits in this one which he has you sit in forever! I'm practically groin down on one side. Yes! My hammies feel quite knackered the next day, but you know it's just stretchy growing pains — the Travis' leftover effect — pummelling my hammies to submissive openess. All's good.

Cathe Tuesday:

Then on Tuesday I did the awesome Cathe's XTrain All Out Low Impact HIIT. My achilles have been feeling a touch twingy lately from all that plyometric jumpy fun I've been having. Been icing diligently but thought what better time than this to try her dvd. Man, this got my heart rate up. It was funtastic.

She uses alot of low impact cardio moves that really hit the quads hard making it anaerobic too. Those quads burn!! There was floor work then step work and finally glide disc. I'm still having trouble with those discs. I can't quite keep my feet on them without them sliding off during the exercises. I'm trying to figure out what the magic trick is. But overall this was an amazingly fun, challenging, HIIT, quad quaking sweatfest without any impact that left my quads nice and sore the next day. I even felt the soreness in my vastus medialis muscle (the teardrop) muscle close to my knees. Nice! This is a muscle that's always been hard for me to engage properly yet is key to keeping my patellas stabilized. So, it's nice to know that all those vastus medialis leg extension machine exercises that I do at the gym is paying off.

Kino Wednesday:

And I topped it all off tonight with my favorite beautiful ashtangi yogini teacher, Kino's Primary dvd. Not that I don't have other fav yogi teacher's ~ we all know me and Travis ~ but sorry Travis I have some other loves too. lol!

With Kino's dvd, I love her pacing which is a bit quicker and her impressive non-stop dialogue of instructions. Some will love the chatter and some won't. I love it. It actually keeps me focused and in the zone. Also, if you really listen to what she's saying her directions are a phenomenal gold mine of tips, teaching and guidance into each posture. Literally a treasure chest of information. And I got to practice my jump backs and throughs. I will master you yet! Funny, the Travis set has helped give me more strength and stamina for the primary which is a nice bonus. I'm actually not surprised as I thought it might.

Hmmm, I don't think I was successful in keeping it short. Oh well!

So, it's been a good week so far and it's just past hump day! Now it's all down hill from here. Weeee!

... practice, schedule ~ do whatever works ~ and all is coming.

Gym Done! ... Tres Leche Cake ... Oops!

Just had my first ever taste of Tres Leches Cake (recipe by none other than The Pioneer Woman) that my Mom and I made for an intimate dinner party with my cousins. It was THE BOMB! And totally bombed me out of whatever gains I made in my gym workout today! Haha! But I digress ...

I exagerate, all is not lost as there's still the muscle gains that no Tres Leches Cake can take away. Had a good workout, psyched myself up having had only 4 hours sleep (don't ask) and seeing stars whilst bathing, strapped myself into my knee and wrist braces (working on healing wonky wrists got from ramping up too quickly with yoga hand balancing and handstands 1.5 years ago, not a good idea!) and just getting on with it and had a great workout. Sometimes when I gotta put on my braces especially when I have to add my bicep brachialis braces on my forearms I feel like the veritable bionic woman. Yet I still get complemented for my workout outfit and my wee buffness so I must be doing something right. lol! I'm a bit of an ectomorph so ashtanga will NOT build muscle for me even though I will get WAY strong! Believe me when I say I find ashtanga way harder to do then any weight or cardio workout. Go figure! But I need the muscle tone for other things in life and it does help to keep my stamina in yoga and in life in general and besides I just love pumping iron. And one other thing, ladies, here's a tip, as Dr. Oz says, as you get older ya lose muscle mass and it's for real! And baby, I want me my muscle into my OLD OLD age thank you very much! And besides it "make me feel strong like bull!" Besides that it's actually physiotherapy for my knees. I have patella femoral syndrome and if I don't keep up those machine leg extensions and weighted plie squats (my most basic leg program) and warrior poses (those are a Godsend!) to keep my muscles strengthened around my knee joints my knees WILL decompensate and I won't be able to do a-n-y-t-h-i-n-g, which is SO no fun! For me it only takes 3-4 weeks slacking off for my knees to degrade, think Christmas time. Suddenly the pains start coming back and I'll suddenly have trouble wearing heels, taking stairs, walking, etc. And then getting back into my exercising is a study in patience. So it's a MUST! Oh well, it's a great excuse to keep fit! So as I'd been off on vaca for 1.5 weeks I did my basic leg program of:

Leg Extensions, 90lb:
4 sets, feet turned out to isolate my vastus medialis quad muscle and
2 sets done straight for overall quad.

Plie Barbell Squats, 100lb:
2 sets x 16 reps + 4 pulse squats tacked onto the end of each 16 reps. Ouch!

Also, I decided to test my wrist wellness by doing some back work and did:
Lat pulldowns, 60lb: 4 sets
Wide Grip Seated Row, 60lb: 4 sets

Chest Pec Dec
Seated Tricep Pushdowns: but only 1 set as I started to feel a little pain in my left palm so I decided to leave well enough alone and opt for the wiser wait-n-see approach for the rest of today and tomorrow.

Superduper Nearly 90° Incline Situps: Yowza! 30 reps, rest, 20 reps. Down from 50. Ouch!

Then home and ICE, ICE, ICE on my knees and achilles. I always do this after ANY workout whether ashtanga, weights or step. This has been KEY to my recovery and continued maintenance for a number of years. I've discovered that I just need to do this as part of my exercise program for me to continue to do what I do. And for me it WORKS. If I don't inflammation will set in. If I do everything works like a charm and I can continue to workout and not get stiff, sick and rusty.

Hmmm, if all goes well with my wrists I might try to start back on some bicep and shoulder work tomorrow but only 2 sets of each to see how my wrists are. If I do too much too soon with weights, yoga, etc. my wrists start to act up again. So for the past 1.5 months I've had to back off of weights as I will NOT sacrifice my ashtanga. That seemed to do the trick so I must go s-l-o-w-l-y! In fact, I think I better work it out again, methinks I will delay my over eager bicep/shoulder plan for next week. Better safe than sorry!

Life's good ... etc. etc.