exercise_every_day | July 29, 2010, Check-In

Hey, EED community!

Ack! Almost forgot! Here is your daily check-in post!

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

just_ann_now

One hour and fifty minutes of total mellow blissful yoga! I'm a happy girl on Thursdays.

From:

green

Ooh, sounds awesome. :)

From:

just_ann_now

Thank you! I'm so ready to deal with my day.

From:

shanaqui

I tried some yoga this morning (Sun Salutation A until I was comfortable with it) and ran thirty minutes on the elliptical!

From:

muck_a_luck

Sun salutations ROCK! :D

From:

shanaqui

I am so inflexible, which could be discouraging, but I'm just going to keep at it.

(I was not flexible even when I was a ballerina, so I am not really expecting wonders.)

Edited Date: 2010-07-29 01:11 pm (UTC)

From:

muck_a_luck

I am so inflexible

The thing about yoga is that it is about understanding and accepting where one is right now, but also being ready to grow farther in practice.

If you find you are enjoying yoga enough to practice it regularly, your body will learn the postures and change through the practice of them, not only gaining, say, muscular strength in the quads from practice of Extended Side Angle, but also openess in the shoulders and hamstrings from Downward Dog, and gradually developing flexibility in the spine from twists, like Ardha Matsyendrasana. It's like any form of exercise. People training for marathons don't run them the first day they start! :D One day, you will be doing Revolved Head to Knee Pose and suddenly go, Wow! How did THAT happen?! :D

From:

shanaqui

I hope so! As a ballerina, I never really got anything like that level of flexibility, but then, there was so much else to do as well... But yeah, I'm used to building things up slowly (or even surprisingly quickly: I went from where thirty situps was overdoing it to where two hundred situps was pushing it only a little in about six weeks).

I do like that about yoga, though, about accepting where one is right now, and since that's the kind of thing I'm trying to do and learn, it seems exactly right for me to start doing it now.

From:

muck_a_luck

Oh! I also should have said, you should check to see if your library has Cool Yoga Tricks by Miriam Austin. It's all about how to modify yoga poses for all levels of flexibility. There's some really interesting stuff in there.

From:

shanaqui

Sadly, no, but I shall keep an eye out for it...

From:

green

Yay! I'm going to try the Sun Salutation tomorrow. How long did you practice?

From:

shanaqui

I'm not sure -- I didn't really keep track of time. At least half an hour, I think, but mostly I just kept going (with a couple of rests) until it felt somewhat familiar, you know?

From:

green

*nodnod* That sounds good. I think you're supposed to do that, actually. Really get into the flow of it instead of worrying about what to do next. :)

From:

muck_a_luck

Just sticking my nose in on the how long to practice issue... :D I find that where I am now, I need at least 40 minutes to get what I want out of a yoga practice. I like to work up a good sweat with sun salutations, which takes about 20 minutes. Then I like to have about 10 minutes each for backbends and forward bends. If I throw in an opening movement meditation and some inversions and supine poses, it's really easy to get up to an hour, especially if I'm being good and don't skip out on Savasana.

I think a lot of instrutors who create yoga DVDs think this way (which is probably why I think this way, since I'm totally DVD taught), because most DVDs run 45 minutes to an hour. Shiva Rea's pre-set practices often run well over an hour, as she tends to include decent pranayama (breathing) in warmups as well as meditation.

That's not to say that you need to plan 80 minutes every day for your practice! But for me, if I could have what I want, I would probably be on the mat for 80 minutes every morning. I'm a little bit born-again about my yoga, though... :D

From:

green

Thank you so much for your insight. I'm completely new and have been doing mostly yoga inspired workouts. I wanted to try the Sun Salutation today but I actually forgot about it and did my pilates video instead.

It's really cool that you've found a practice that works for you, and you can be as 'born again' with me as you want. I find it fascinating.

From:

rydra_wong

Morning yoga.

Then I went to the gym (I am not a gym person by nature, but some things really aren't feasible at home) and did barbell squats and deadlifts and goodmornings and overhead presses and bench presses. And some dips and pull-ups and hanging leg raises.

And had feminist outrage.

Later, I suspect I may be doing some more yoga to make sure my lumbar spine stays on speaking terms with me.

From:

muck_a_luck

Ah. A little outrage with your lifting. What better way to start the day. Not.

From:

rydra_wong

On the plus side, it did give me extra motivation. And I got to feel that I was subverting the dominant paradigm while working out. Multi-tasking!

From:

green

How long do you usually practice yoga?

*wanders off to Google 'goodmornings'*

From:

rydra_wong

At the moment, I have a morning practice which lasts about half an hour -- there are some parts of it that stay the same every day, and others where I vary it depending on what feels like it's calling out to be stretched.

Then I might do some more later, even if it's just bits and pieces (I often use yoga-based stretches as a cool-down after other activities), or I might do another practice from a DVD or podcast, or I might not do any more at all.

Consistency is not my strong point *g*.

ETA: This may be completely obvious, but just to state it directly: this is just what works for me and what I have time for right now. There's no rule about how long it's best to practice for.

Good mornings (well, the kind I'm talking about): http://gubernatrix.co.uk/2010/07/how-to-good-morning/

(I was doing them with the bar, with no extra weights on it.)

Edited Date: 2010-07-29 02:17 pm (UTC)

From:

green

Bah, consistency. I say mix it up so you stay interested.

Cool exercise! Thank you for looking it up for me. :)

From:

rydra_wong

No effort required -- it came up on

gubernatrix_feed a few days back, which was what reminded me that I needed to do some *g*.

From:

green

Ooh, I like the gubernatrix site. I think I'll add that feed, too.

From:

rydra_wong

I met her IRL and she is lovely! She taught the women's weightlifting workshop earlier this year where I learned how to do barbell lifts.

Her site and Stumptuous are pretty much my two favourite online resources for strength training.

From:

green

Thank you for the links! :D

From:

lullabymoon

25 minutes of a very basic yoga routine (think the Basic Yoga for Dummies routine) and some dungbell work on upper arms. Feeling nicely calm now.

From:

green

Yay calm! :D

From:

green

Did 40 minutes of the Crunch pilates/yoga video. Got through the whole thing, so those two days off it really helped. I think I'll try doing it every other day now, and if that doesn't work I'll try it with two days in between.

Walking after dinner, I hope. I did it yesterday when I didn't want to, and felt good despite myself. :)

From:

rydra_wong

Did 40 minutes of the Crunch pilates/yoga video. Got through the whole thing, so those two days off it really helped.

\o/ I'm glad that worked for you.

From:

nicolakgreen

I did it yesterday when I didn't want to, and felt good despite myself

Me too - my motivation is waning already, but I am finding that if I just do it anyway, I do feel good. It's a nice discovery to make.

From:

green

The accountability of this comm is good for me, too.

From:

nicolakgreen

Absolutely.
The support and encouragement too - I was really not enthusiastic after I came out of the gym yesterday and

rydra_wong's advice has helped me get it back today.

From:

green

The support and encouragement are AWESOME. I love this comm. *draws hearts all over it*

From:

nicolakgreen

Only managed ten minutes of yoga this morning as I had to wash my hair. I am glad I did a bit though and didn't just skip it.
Gym after work, I only managed 45 minutes - I enjoy it when I am with the trainer like I was on monday and he is telling me what to do, but I am still baffled when I try and work out on my own. I think I need to do some serious reading about exercise this weekend, try to figure out what might be reasonable for me to do. Most of the stuff my trainer has me doing seems to require 2 people.

From:

rydra_wong

I am glad I did a bit though and didn't just skip it.

Yes it definitely makes a difference if you do some every day, even if it's only a bit, versus a long session only once a week or so. So go you!

I think I need to do some serious reading about exercise this weekend, try to figure out what might be reasonable for me to do.

What sort of info are you looking for? For strength training stuff, I've found Stumptuous, Gubernatrix and Exrx to be very useful resources.

ETA: And there's

lifting_heavy_things here on DW.

Edited Date: 2010-07-30 08:36 am (UTC)

From:

nicolakgreen

That's what I've heard, and I am finally listening and trying it.

Yes, I am looking at strength training. My trainer is very dismissive of the machines, but has only shown me a couple of things with light weights. I have been following lifting_heavy_things but more as something to aim at than something to do right now. I don't really know where to start.

Also, the little mats are always really busy, and I am a bit intimidated by all the huge weights in the weights area - I meant to comment on your rant yesterday.

I just opened Stumptuous and Gubernatrix from your post above to start exploring - I will check out Exrx too - thanks.

From:

rydra_wong

Gubernatrix has a good series: Getting into weight training: a female-friendly guide.

I have been following lifting_heavy_things but more as something to aim at than something to do right now.

Hey, "heavy" is relative -- it's whatever feels heavy for you.

I am a bit intimidated by all the huge weights in the weights area

Yeah, it can be very intimidating, especially when you're trying to work out how you put plates on the bar and what all the racks are for and you feel like everyone must be staring at you.

I don't think I'd have made it into the free weights room on my own without going on a women's weightlifting workshop first.

*ponders* Hrm. Actually, I might try to write up a basic guide or something, just sharing the (very little) I know, to make it less scary ...

From:

nicolakgreen

I just found that series of posts! I am waiting for my work to be ready this morning, and reading it.
I am following lifting heavy things under my other account - I need to organise my subscriptions this weekend too.
Hey, "heavy" is relative -- it's whatever feels heavy for you.
I keep telling myself that, but it's hard to remember when I am actually in the gym.

A workshop sounds great, I'll keep my eye out for something similar here.

If you could write something up that would be amazing, and actually hearing that you don't know everything would be reassuring! Just the basics would be a great start, and help remmind me that you don't need to know everything in order to start.

From:

rydra_wong

actually hearing that you don't know everything would be reassuring!

I've started jotting down notes, and you will be pleased to know that it already includes references to "the bench press rack thingy" and "those sort of chair things that look like torture machines".

It will be proof of just how little you have to know to be fine in the free weights room! *g*

From:

nicolakgreen

That sounds perfect - looking forward to reading it. Thanks so much for sharing.

From:

rydra_wong

Somewhat belatedly, Part I:

http://lifting-heavy-things.dreamwidth.org/15127.html

From:

rydra_wong

I completely forgot to say -- if you've got more time scheduled with the trainer, don't be afraid to turn up with a list and say "I want to learn how to do such-and-such". It's your time and your money!

There are plenty of things you can teach yourself off the net, but with some things (squats, for example, and anything involving barbells, if they're something you're interested in) it really makes a difference having someone there IRL who can help you get the form right. That can give you the confidence to go on with them on your own.