I love ernestosarabia’s videos on YouTube. Always some cool acrobatic demonstrations. He posted a new one today showing a variety of ways to lift up into a handstand. Not the most impressive acrobatic skills ever…but definitely something that I’d like to be able to do one day. I like how each demonstration in the video is so slow and controlled.  Something to aspire to.

Okay, my shoulder is almost healed.  I sooooo want to try this handstand exercise within the next week or so.  Don’t think I could get my body that parallel to the ground for the one-arm hold though. 

   I love a good balance beam montage.  The old Soviet Union routines were always so original and graceful.  Strength, flexibility, and grace are all good things to strive for. 

     I must’ve lost my mind over the weekend.  On Sunday morning I went without caffeine for the first day in…well…I can’t remember myself pre-caffeine.  The caffeine withdrawal, daylight savings time (i.e. waking up 1 hour earlier), and a mild cold led to me not having the best day yesterday.   I’m on day #2 without caffeine, and feeling better.  Still have a cold, and the time change is wrecking havok with my eating schedule.  I’m also wondering if I may go into some sort of artificial sweetener withdrawal as well….since the majority of my ‘splenda’ consumption was due to my coffee addiction. 

    Looking forward to the extra hour of daylight tonight after work.  That means more time to work in the garden! 

    I’ve been working on my hip flexors recently.  In addition to improving my dropbacks (and backbends in general), I’m working on getting my hips more square in hanumanasana (forward splits).  This is a nice exercise that I think I’ll try when I get home.  I’ve tried hanumanasana with the back knee bent against the wall before.  It’s actually quite helpful in providing a visual aid to help get the leg in alignment.  The shin should be perpendicular to the floor….although mine has a tendency to be more diagonal. 

    I know there are some yogis that frown upon having a lifestyle that incorporates both yoga and regular fitness workouts.  There’s a great article over on  Autumn Lotus Yoga about this topic today.  It makes me happy to see that there are other yogis out there that are also into cardio and/or strength training.  I don’t feel so alone now.  I’ll be the first to admit that having a regular fitness routine can wreck havoc on a yoga practice.  It seems counter-productive to spend an hour or two lengthening your muscles only to risk them shortening as a result of an intense workout.  Of course, proper stretching before and after your workouts can help prevent most of these problems.  Regardless, there are still days I come to the mat only to find that my hamstrings are screaming from the prior day’s workout.  I already know that my calves are going to be a little stiff tonight after an early morning spinning class.

    For me, the soreness isn’t much of an issue.  I love working out, and muscle soreness and fatigue is just part of the process.  But the physical effects of exercise on your yoga workout should be taken into consideration if you’re thinking of adding a fitness routine to your schedule.  Of course, there’s also the time element.  Yoga takes time, as does a regular workout.  I don’t know too many people with unlimited amounts of free time, so balancing yoga time with fitness time is always an issue.  I’m still working on achieving the perfect balance myself.  There are some days when I wake up and just want to practice yoga.  There are also days when I would rather be on the treadmill instead of the yoga mat.  And then there are days when I want to do both yoga and fitness.  Every day is different.

    I have made a point this year to make yoga a priority over fitness.  This means that on days when I have a craving for some cardio or strength training, that I’ll still have to make time for yoga in my schedule.  This may mean streamlining my workouts to make them more efficient timewise.  Or it may mean no workout at all, if I only have time for yoga.  Some days it means incorporating a little bit of core work into my yoga practice. 

   So, if you really love a good cardio or strength training workout, there’s no reason why you have to give all that up to practice yoga.  It’s all about balance.  Maybe if you’re creative, you can think of ways to incorporate your workouts into your yoga practice.  Check out the video below.  Who would’ve thought that nakrasana (crocodile pose) could be used for a core strengthener?

    Since today is a moon day (new moon), I’m skipping the ashtanga practice.  Yippee!  That left me with some extra time this morning to focus on a conditioning workout. I picked another new one from bodyrock.tv called “Brutal 8 Exercise Drill.” I took it easy using two 5-pound weights…and I still didn’t beat Zuzana’s 21 min/44 sec time.  My finish time was 23 min/32 sec.  Not too bad though.  And I can definitely say that it was ‘brutal.’  Wow, 50 mountain climbers are no big deal until you follow them up with a round of push-ups.  And the 15 plank/row set was killer.  The workout is two rounds of the following exercises — as fast as you can go.  I’d recommend going to the bodyrock.tv site for the full explanation of each exercise, along with some pictures.  But, here’s my take on the workout:

1. 30 Walking Lunges:  Basic walking lunges without weights. Rounds 1 & 2 were both pretty easy.
2. 15 Squats (with weights):  Zuzana’s squats use full range of motion, meaning that you’re squatting all the way down until your knees come up toward you chest.  These would’ve been a lot harder if I was using my heavier weights.  Rounds 1 & 2 were both okay.  I like squats.
3. 30 Side Lunges (with weights):  This is your basic side lunge, although you’ll want to try and get your thigh parallel to the floor on each lunge.  Rounds 1 & 2:  this is where I started to get kind of tired.
4. 50 Mountain Climbers:  I hate mountain climbers.  There’s nothing I really like about them except for the fact that they’re good for my core.  Something about that ‘running-in-place’ feeling that I don’t really like.  Rounds 1 & 2:  this is where I started to sweat and curse myself for picking this workout.
5. 15 Push Ups: What can you say about push-ups?  I love push-ups, unless they’re preceded by something like mountain climbers.  Then….ugh…I hate them.  Round 1 was much harder than Round 2 for some reason.
6. 30 Step Ups (with weights):  I used my dining room chair since I don’t have a nice high step stool.  You’ll want something tall enough to get your thigh parallel to the floor when you step your foot up on it.  These totally sucked.  I barrelled through Round 1 but felt like I was going to throw-up on Round 2.
7. 30 Backward Lunges (with weights):  I really really really despise lunges…but after the 30 step ups, these were almost a nice resting exercise.  Rounds 1 & 2 were okay.
8. 15 X Plank/Rows (with weights):  This exercise sounds really easy.  You do a row on each side while in plank and then jump forward to a squat.  Then you grab the weights and push up to standing.  Sounds easy…especially with my light 5-pound weights.  But, let me tell you, this is the hardest part of the workout.  It goes on FOREVER and it feels like you’re just holding plank for the whole time.  Rounds 1 & 2:  these were killer.

You can check out Zuzana’s video of the workout below or at her site here.  Great workout…totally kicked my butt.