Wednesday, January 12, 2011, Check-In

[muck_a_luck]

Hey, EED community!

Here is your daily check-in post! Hope everyone is having a great day!

If you are posting for the first time, or new to the community, please review the community's standards, below.


1. Mod (that's me!) will post a Daily Check In post, for those who prefer to note their daily activities in response to a prompt. Please only place exercise comments here.

2. All members are encouraged to post daily independent posts about their activities, if they prefer that to a prompt.

3. Please place any NON-EXERCISE comments in independent update posts and behind a cut. Some people are sensitive to discussion of diet and nutrition. That is integral to many people's exercise activities, so I want members to be able to discuss that, but for those who are here strictly to log exercise, I would like them to be able to avert their eyes.

4. Everyone is encouraged to introduce themselves, discuss their exercise goals, and post updates on their activities. "I finally made it to running a mile!" or "I kicked up into handstand today!" are updates that we all want to hear about and share! Please put long posts and entries involving diet and nutrition behind a cut, though.

5. Aside from intro posts and injury announcements, please try to include an exercise update in every post.

Comments

[shanaqui]

Yoga and situps, this fine rainy, noisy morning.

[just_ann_now]

Nice lonnnnngggg session on the elliptical machine since my workplace has a delayed opening today. I was supposed to work 10 hours today, so !hooray!

[alexseanchai]

Yoga. The beginner 1 routine on my DVD is getting boring and my arms will not take the beginner 2 routine (and see me not doing resistance bands or any flavor of pushup...), and conveniently enough it's my birthday tomorrow, which means bookstore giftcards: any recs for beginner-level yoga DVDs? Something where the routine is more interesting than this-minus-five-through-seven-plus-triangle-and-warrior-2 and easier on the arms than the above link in its entirety.

[muck_a_luck]

:D But there's your problem, right there! Ya gotta do the whole sun salutation! You'll build those arms up to full power in no time!

There's a lot of good stuff in The Yoga Zone Ultimate Collection that is not too hard on the arms. You might also consider Sara Ivanhoe's Yoga Target Zone set.

If you are not interested in routines that involve arms, then I would specifically stay away from anything claiming to be "flow" or "vinyasa" yoga, as those will want you to do a lot of the basic sun saluation vinyasa between postures.

All that said, as much as you can, you should work that plank, chaturanga, up dog, down dog vinyasa. It's like doing one pushup at a time. It will strengthen your arms and upper body very quickly - much faster than you think - and it will let you access much more yoga.

[yvi]

Oh, that first collection looks nice!

[alexseanchai]

*nods* Thanks!

[rydra_wong]

Does doing modified chaturanga (knees on the floor) help at all?

FWIW, my chaturanga started out as "graceless flump to the floor on my stomach and count it as a win if I manage to slow the collapse at all", and now I'm pretty confident with the full version.

DVD-wise, how about something like this?

http://www.amazon.com/Journals-Complete-Beginners-Guide-Encyclopedia/dp/B002JYPV7C

It would allow you to work on poses individually, as well as having practice programmes.

As muck_a_luck says, having a version of the chaturanga --> up dog --> down dog sequence that works for you will let you access a lot more yoga, because that sequence turns up all the damn time.

But IMHO it's never going to be helpful to force yourself into stuff that feels hateful for you, and it's nice to be able to pursue the areas that you find more rewarding and meaninful. It's not as if there's a hurry; chaturanga and co. will wait for you.

(Lurking. In the shadows.)

[muck_a_luck]

Good points! Also, Bryan Kest suggests, rather than the bent knee variant, you try a variant with knees straight and *chest* on the floor. He seems to think that builds more strength.

Chaturanga was my most hated posture a very challenging pose for me when I started, too. It still is, on my weak days. What I was trying to say (in my usual pushy, bossy way!) was that if you shy away from the posture too much, or let it frighten you too much, you will not be able to do it because you don't do it. That makes sense, right?

[rydra_wong]

Yeah, it absolutely makes sense. And it's very empowering when you take on a hated personally challenging posture and find that you can come up with a modification that works for you, and then bit by bit, get stronger/more flexible.

On the other hand, it's also empowering to realize: I'm the one in charge, and if I really really loathe this pose and am not getting anything out of it, I don't have to do it! And it'll still be there if at some point in the future you find you are ready and interested in tackling it.

[alexseanchai]

Does doing modified chaturanga (knees on the floor) help at all?

Don't know, haven't tried. Shall try.

FWIW, my chaturanga started out as "graceless flump to the floor on my stomach and count it as a win if I manage to slow the collapse at all", and now I'm pretty confident with the full version.

Hee. I think I'll give it another shot. Meanwhile, thanks for the rec!

[rydra_wong]

Don't know, haven't tried. Shall try.

Definitely worth a go if you haven't! Full chaturanga is really fucking hard, especially if you don't have a lot of upper body strength to start with.

So doing a modified version lets you build up the strength over time (and I will note that my initial graceless flumping was with the modified version -- it took me a while to get the hang of that).

From Plank, you drop your knees down so you're on all fours (or if Plank is hard for you, skip it and step from the lunge into all fours), then you belly-flop down onto your stomach using your arms to brake as much as possible.

If you can lower down from your knees in a controlled way with your body straight, you're already ahead of the game. *g*

Then you push from the floor into Up Dog or Cobra (whichever feels easier for you -- they're both common versions of the sun salutation sequence).

It's not dignified, but if you do it regularly you should find your arms getting much stronger. And then you will feel incredibly badass.

[alexseanchai]

Full chaturanga is really fucking hard, especially if you don't have a lot of upper body strength to start with.

Reassuring.

And then you will feel incredibly badass.

A worthy goal. Not now, though, sleepy.

[willful_zephyr]

Core work (Boat/Navasana) will also help your chaturanga, it is a lot easier to control the movement when the hips/back are solid.

Even experienced people have days where the chaturanga is a challenge - I think that is why it is everywhere.

[alexseanchai]

*nodnod*

[lyorn]

FWIW, my chaturanga started out as "graceless flump to the floor on my stomach and count it as a win if I manage to slow the collapse at all",

I usually nose-dived when coming from the down dog position, but pretty consistently managed to land on my side and not on my face, and only once or twice on my knees. However, considering what I have done to my shoulder last May when I tried my best to *not* nose-dive for once, I don't think I'll attempt it ever again.

Never try to out-stubborn a yoga pose.

[rydra_wong]

Never try to out-stubborn a yoga pose.

This is a deep truth.

(In my case, I was doing graceless flumping with my knees already on the floor, so I avoided any injuries except to my dignity.)

[rydra_wong]

Belated thought: might be worth asking in sun_salutation for recs of DVDs/videos/podcasts that are chaturanga-free. Then you'll have some options.

[alexseanchai]

*nods* Thanks

[rydra_wong]

Morning yoga, shadow yoga class (yay!), and then the Yoga Journal 21-Day challenge practice for the day.

Yeah, it's been a yoga-heavy day.

[yvi]

Unsurprisingly, weight training (I will do something else again at one point, I swear!)

• 10 bench presses with 19 kilograms, 8 bench presses with 19 kilograms (slowly going up with that one)


• 2 sets of 8 deadlifts with 24 kilograms (up with the weight YAY)


• 4 15 seconds planks (those are killing me the most, actually)


• 2 sets of 12 calf raises with 24 kilograms


• 2 sets of 12 dumbbell rows with 10 kilograms (going up next time YAY)

[hyperbole]

I did my regular walk-around-the-park routine in ~33 minutes, including walking up to my floor (100 stairs) afterwards. When I last tried this (Sunday) it took me 40 minutes and I felt completely dead five minutes before the end and couldn't take the stairs. Yay improvement! I looked it up on google maps and this walk is just over 2 miles, which feels like a decent daily amount for me.

[lyorn]

7 km of bicycling. It's nice that the weather allows for bicyling again, but I am very displeased about having a cold and not being able to go to the gym.

[willful_zephyr]

Pilates at lunch. Was going to the gym, yesterday, but work intruded. Class today was great, though.

[smackshack]

Managed 45 minutes of mixed walking and running before going inside to escape from the cold. A bit of plank and a handful of crunches to round things out.

[natmerc]

Bit sore from yesterday's pilates, including sore lower back so I did the 35 min "lower back tension" segment from Barbara Benaugh's Yoga for Stress Relief.

Feel better and much more relaxed.

[zennish]

Pretty much first day back at gym since the aforementioned shenanigans with the SI joint: double-unders and sit-ups.