WOD Asana

What happens when you combine Crossfit and yoga?

WOD Asana!

Sunday morning started bright and early with an hour and a half combination workout; half Crossfit, half yoga. Rochester, Auburn Hills, Royal Oak and the surrounding communities have a large-ish Crossfit population with boxes everywhere. We headed to New Species Crossfit in Royal Oak; one of the assistant managers and educators trains there and both were leading us through the Crossfit portion.

We started with a timed-5 minute warm up of 15 seconds each:

• jumping jacks
• “air” squats
• mountain climbers
• hollow rock

After that..duh-duh-duh.

12-minutes:

7 burpees

14 tuck jumps

7 candlesticks

The burpees were different from the ones I usually do; they had us come all the way to the ground, then almost peel ourselves off to come to standing, clapping overhead. When I do them, I either perform a push-up or hold a plank, then jump my feet back in and jump up. The Crossfit burpees were more challenging since pushing up from the ground is the hardest part-NO MOMENTUM.

Burpees have 6 movements:

1. hands to the ground
2. walking or jumping feet back to plank
3. push-up, hold plank, or drop completely on the floor
4. pushing up from the ground to a full extension
5. walking or jumping feet back in to a squat
6. standing/jumping up or clapping arms overhead

Another reason they’re so challenging? Think about the amount of mass (your entire body weight) you move over a distance (your full height plus the height of your vertical jump); transitioning from a squat to plank to squat to a vertical jump requires tons of muscles and lots of energy. Breaking a burpee down makes us quickly realize why burpees are a functional exercise and calorie/fat burner! Please add them to your workouts; yes, they’re hard and test every aspect of you but there are SO many variations to make them easier/harder!

How do you burpee?

Legs and Cardio Quickie

There is a sun! I was starting to get a little skeptical that it was gone for good :).

It’s Workout Wednesday!

How are you guys doing so far in regards to the workouts? Too easy, too challenging, more strength workouts, cardio workouts, etc.?

Here’s a legs and cardio quickie circuit I just did; I was in and out in ~20 minutes! Don’t you love the sound of that?

It’s been a whirlwind of a week; I have a couple of reviews to post about community workouts I’ve done so stay tuned!

..to leave you with a teaser..

 

Updog Yoga, Rochester

This is my first Sunday-scratch that-first WEEKEND day off of ANY work! I’ve either been:

• away at a conference
• working at lululemon, or
• doing Oakland-things

I love being busy and am happy I’m involving myself in so many things but it’s nice to have a “me” day #greedy

So what does a girl do on her “me” day?

YOGA.

One of the MANY perks about being an educator at lululemon is getting out into the community and taking all different forms of fitness classes; yoga, CrossFit-you name it, I’m eventually going to take it! Even living in a smaller-ish city (Rochester), there are actually a lot of studios to practice yoga, either in the heart of the city or surrounding communities. All it takes is a little look-seeing while you’re driving through from place to place (pref not done at the same time). That’s how I found Updog Yoga!

Right off of University Dr., it’s tucked behind the old library building on the second floor (if you blink, you’ll probably pass it!). When you walk in, you’re greeted with a lovely breakfast spread, fully stocked with fresh fruits, dip, and coffee. FREE COFFEE.

After I signed in, the woman at the desk informed me that the first week was FREE! Yoga classes-mind/body classes in general-are very pricey; I’ll definitely be taking advantage of 7 classes at no cost!

The class was a 90-minute Vinyasa yoga practice taught by Natalie (who knows some of the yogi’s who teach at Oakland!). We started with a series that was pretty challenging; doing one-legged push-ups in a warm-up is a sign that this class has one) regulars, two) an advanced instructor, and three) they both mean business. We did a total of 3 sequences, all about the same level of difficulty in their respective ways. The pose of today’s class was half-moon (photo to come) and it was featured in every sequence.

One thing that really stuck out to me was, once the instructor took us through the sequence on both sides, she turned up the music and let us go. I appreciated it because it let me and the other yogi’s flow at our own place and practice the poses that we wanted to master (I’m working on kicking up to a head stand while another was perfecting her full-moon pose). But it got me thinking, what if you had a terrible memory? Would you say something to the instructor or just act like you know what you’re doing by following someone else? This isn’t the first practice I’ve been to that it was set-up like this, so it must be common..just got those wheels turning upstairs :).

One more thing that really stuck out to me was while we were going through our flow, the instructor came around and massaged lotion onto our necks. I wasn’t expecting it but I actually liked it after-the-fact! I can’t put a name to the smell but it had the effects of “Vicks” and opened up all the passages in my chest, neck, and face-so rejuvenating!

The rest of the day was spent doing tons of homework, laundry, making brownies, watching the Steelers vs. Giants game, and waiting for a certain someone to get off work..

so he can help with these

I am a Healthy Living Blogger.

Yep, that’s right..I am a healthy living blogger! I blog about all things fitness, health, wellness, and food related interspersed with my own quirky thoughts on everything from fashion, reality TV, sports, books, crossword puzzles, and normal life probz of a maturing 22-year old woman.

Where is this coming from? An afternoon yoga class with my mother and an instructor whose message had a direct path to my heart. Her words before we started our practice:

breathe. take a moment to listen to your body. set the tone for your practice. what do you wish to accomplish today? can you erase the negativity, the cannot’s, the I wish’s and focus on the positives, the I’ll tries and I can’s, and the gratefulness. it’s just you, the mat, and your strong, beautiful, and capable body. let’s go.

A couple of doctor’s appointments, a prescription, and a new workout routine seemed to help some symptoms I’ve been experiencing. There’s nothing wrong with me! Good news-not that I wanted there to be something wrong but at least I would know why I’ve been feeling so blah, time and time again-always looking for the easy way out I tell ya. My doctor did another blood test on me and everything is A-OK. We talked about everything I’ve been experiencing and she thinks it’s just stress. I agree 110%; stressing about my next move- new friends, old friends, working, exercising, eating, sleeping- can cause a body to stop producing what seems like EVERYTHING and over-tax all systems. I’m getting back on BC to regulate estrogen and progesterone levels, taking Caltrate (a calcium supplement) to increase the calcium and vitamin D in my bones as well as drinking milk and eating calcium-rich foods, and starting my day with a hefty dose of Miralax. Simple enough and semi-all natural.

Revamping my exercise routine to listen to my body more. I’ve taken a break from lifting weights (Get Ripped DVDs and Body Pump since I’ve been home) and instead, adding more body weight exercises and classes to keep me toned, strong, and my perception of the “ideal look” that suites me. Yoga, Pilates, cycling, running, and resting are my main gig’s currently. I’ve taken a break from weight training because, in my opinion AND for my liking, I was too muscular, especially in my upper body. PLEASE DO NOT GET ME WRONG! I think a toned, sleek, and sculpted body on a woman is sexy and attractive but for MY body (my height, genes, type of body and shape), it was a little too much for me. Everyone has their own definition of fitness and this is mine. I’ll never erase weight training from my routines, but am taking a minor break from it; add in the fact that I’ve been doing Body Pump and Get Ripped for going on 6 years now. This also will give me new goal (to gain back the strength I may lose) to work towards when I decide to add it back in. Plus, my mom likes to do classes with me and she can’t handle the impact of a weight training class, especially when it’s pre-choreographed and the instructor can’t or doesn’t know any better show you variations.

So back to that (one of many) life-changing experiences; it was like an “aha” moment for me. Key words: BREATHE, LISTEN, YOUR BODY, STRESS, NEGATIVITY, POSITIVE, TONE, GRATEFULNESS. All of these words are antonyms of PRESSURE. I’m putting too much pressure on my body. On top of the mere pressure of existing, I’m adding EXTRA to

1. exercise
2. blog
3. start graduate school
4. maintain a social life
5. meet new people
6. fit everything in
7. make everyone happy

But why? Why can’t I just take the classes to enjoy them anymore? Where, when, why, and how did this mind-set come from; I went from looking at fitness, health, nutrition as something I enjoy, is a passion of mine, and was,is,and will be my career to my becoming own personal drill-sergeant.  I use to pride (and thought I still prided) myself on my attitude towards exercise and balance. To be honest, I think the “healthy living blog” world is a major culprit. I read these blogs and so many bloggers have ED’s, restrictive eating or the like (*NOTE-I am NOT judging, assuming, and/or prescribing ED’s; these are serious and life-threatening diseases and not a joke. My heart goes out to anyone who suffers and I pray for a recovery). I think it took a toll on my own views and opinions and how I need to act in order to be considered a “healthy living blogger”  and gain readership.

Blogs are a personal place where the author has the freedom to write and share about anything they choose to, and I get that and respect their opinions and views. But I want this blog to focus on the positives of fitness, health, wellness, and nutrition and be a place where readers can visit and take the information away with them without feeling like their doing something wrong, not doing enough, or getting caught in that awful comparison trap.

So that’s it. I am a Healthy Living Fitness Blogger who just wants to share my passion and knowledge of fitness, help as many people as I can reach their goals, be their “go-to” guru, and just keep doing what I’m doing!

Thanks for reading and stay tuned! 🙂

Day 29

Traffic can make a good day go bad-especially when the accident isn’t even on YOUR side of the road! Damnrn rubberneckers! Good thing I had this  and saw this  on my Pinterest board when I logged on this morning :).

Although I wasn’t planning on riding a stationary bicycle, I did plan a cycling class that I’m teaching on July 19, Cycle & Stretch (I’ve said the exact date because it’s a GOAL of mine; always a work in progress and motivation to perfect it-keep me accountable!). 45-minutes of cycling and 15-minutes of stretching is the ideal cycling class for me because I’m not (actually never) excited about taking a cycling class (I feel violated when I come off the saddle) and it’s completely out of my comfort zone. I hope you’ve noticed-I’ve been stepping out of my comfort zone a lot lately; step I.T., cycling, yoga, Pilates, and aquatics are all formats that I’m conversant of and participate in regularly, but teaching them is a whole new ball game. In this internship experience, it’s okay for me to mess up; using the wrong terminology in step class, sprinting to a song that’s more fitted for a climb, wearing a two-piece to a pool plyometrics class..all are “oopsies” that I’ll take and learn from so that they don’t happen again. I want no regrets, no “I wish I tried that”, no if only’s in regards to this internship; I’m learning, growing, and evolving and I challenge you to do the same with your respective careers! Will you try? 

I wanted to do a homemade strength workout before a training session; as much as I like taking the classes here, the sculpting classes tend to do the same thing (not complaining though!) and I’m not feeling challenged as much. There’s nothing that a little digging through my exercisebrary can’t fix! The workout went a little like this:

• side squats and reverse lunges (combo of the two)
• up, up, down, down push-ups and push-ups with a knee tuck on the stability ball
• BOSU bent-over rows
• dead lifts and biceps curls
• step downs with a knee lift and anterior raises
• BOSU step ups with overhead presses
• triceps kickbacks and glute extensions
• single-leg bridges

In and out in an hour!

Girls night is back and the plan is sushi and a concert series! Have a great night!

Day 22

Hello Tuesday 🙂

It’s good to be back on a schedule! Being at home at doing things at my leisure is enjoyable for a while, but I like to follow a loose schedule for the most part. No training this morning! But I wanted to get a head-start on my to-do list for the week so I went in early.

While I was at home, all I ate for breakfast was eggs-scrambled, dippy, omelets oh my! It felt and tasted good to eat some overnight oats again-with cookie butter!  I ran out of milk for my coffee so almond milk took its place..and I’m indifferent about the taste. It tasted not good but good? If that makes sense. I asked on twitter how, if you use almond milk, do you like to make your coffee and Katie recommended I try it with a little cinnamon and/or flavored almond milk; I’ll give it a shot!

Lots of emails to respond to, meetings to attend, and general office work to get done awaited for me at work! The morning was spent plugging away on the computer, finishing up freelance assignments,  internship posts, and preparing for my FIRST Step I.T. class to teach on Wednesday! Very, very, very nervous but excited at the same time; I’m completely out of my comfort zone with Step, but with the hardwork I’ve put in to attending classes and practicing, I think I’m going to do O.K. for my first time. Wish me luck! (Review to follow).

 

I attended Interval Training for a 45-minute sweat-sesh; my brain was a little foggy so a quick workout was appreciated! 2 minutes at every station; cycle bikes, step aerobics, jump rope, ladders, slide boards with biceps curls, triceps kickbacks, overhead press/upright rows, push-ups, squats, and lunges as transition exercises. Great class! It took me a while to get the hang of the slide boards; the first time through I picked a board with the bumpers too far apart for my stumps legs and didn’t push-off enough to make it to the other side. I remember my first time exercising.. Once I realized if I sat lower and pushed harder with my outer thighs, I’d make it to the other bumper; then, of course, it was time to move on. The second time through was more successful!

Strength training for runners followed; we utilized the stability (physioball) ball for balance exercises as well as core strength and stability.

Equipment cleaning followed.

More work to complete then Yoga Flow! Except it was very flowing; when I think of a yoga flow class, I imagine sun salutations, transitioning into a series of poses held for a couple of breaths, then flowing into the next pose, series, etc. This was more of a Hatha yoga type class rather than a Vinyasa or Ashtanga Yoga. Hatha yoga is an easy, basic form of yoga that strives to achieve balance between the body and mind. Vinyasa yoga focuses on coordination of breath and movement and can be very physically demanding; Ashtanga yoga is similar and involves synchronizing breathing with continuous series of postures that increases your heart rate.

A trip to Trader Joe’s after! Have a fabulous night 🙂

Yoga is a MUST!

Have you ever said something along the lines of “I know I should do it..but I don’t”? I say that about yoga all the time..and yesterday I finally did something about it! I know the benefits of yoga: increased flexibility, balance and coordination, improvement in posture and strength, lower blood pressure and stress levels, etc. and after yesterday’s class, I realized that I need to make time to practice yoga more often. I participated in Catherine’s yoga flow class, which combines yoga and Pilates exercises, resulting in a completely new glistening workout sesh :p.

“I always start with a simple warm up like cat rolling and then from there introduce some of the major poses we will be flowing through like down dog and up dog,” explains Catherine. “For the main flow, I always try to find a really challenging format that pushes every level in the class.”

Here’s an example of a my legs were shakingchallenging flow:

• runner’s lunge-warrior 1-twisting warrior 2-warrior 2
• reverse warrior-extended side angle pose (we connected our hands but that’s beyond my terminology 🙂 )

Pretty intense-eh?

Catherine finishes up her class with restorative-thank goodness-poses..

“so people forget how hard they worked and just concentrate on the relaxation. At the end there is always around 10 minutes for a series of meditative poses.”

FitBit*

Step out of your comfort zone and try a new class. You’ll  experience a “new” sore, work muscles that you may not have known you had before, and if nothing else, learn a new technique you can take back and use in your respective class! It’s always fun to be a participant once in a while :D.

Pick your Fave!