…but first I need to get a better booty to fit into them.  Haha!  I wasn’t able to do any cardio during the Kino workshop two weeks ago in Miami.  And last week I think I got in three good workouts.   Plus, I went on carb overload in Florida.  So now I’m feeling kinda soft….and it’s annoying.  I’ve been so busy with school (7 more classes until I graduate with degree #3!!!), work, yard work, and house cleaning that it’s been a bit of a challenge trying to get back to my workout/yoga balancing act.  I’m sooooo looking forward to not having to go to school anymore.  After my law degree I told myself I was done with school.  Then somehow got persuaded to apply for a graduate degree.  Well, I’m done for good now.  D-O-N-E.  I’m looking forward to spending more time enjoying my non-work time and having more time for yoga and exercise. 

   Back to the booty shorts issue.  Last night I made it back to Exhale Fitnessfor Brittany’s Velo Barre class (first time back in 2 weeks).  It felt so good to workout uninterrupted for a whole hour.  And seeing Brittany in her tiny booty shorts reminded me that (1) I need some new cute workout clothes and (2) I need to step up my workout routine if I intend to fit my badonk in some booty shorts of my own.

    So I’m on the lookout for cute workout bottoms.  If anyone has any suggestions, let me know. 

Yoga Practice Notes:  I was short on time last night after velo barre.  So I went home after class and did second series up to kapotasana b.  Practice felt good.  I was nice and warmed up after velo.  Laghu vajrasanawas rough after all the ballet pliés.  My quads!  But I was able to come up with the hands still on the ankles.  I’ve been working on the suggestion that Tim Feldman gave me in bhekasana to rotate the tailbone down toward the floor while pressing the feet down.  I’m seeing a little more improvement in this posture.  Both feet are only about two inches off the floor now, and it’s getting easier to lift the chest higher.  I think that having more confidence that I’m not going to tear up my knees in this posture has also helped me to press the feet down with a little more force.  Overall it was a good, short practice.

   I don’t know why, but yesterday I was so tired all day.  Well, no….not just tired, I was also just super-relaxed.  Maybe it had something to do with the short yoga nidra session at the end of Louise Ellis’ Tuesday night yoga class.  I don’t know, but I felt really laid back and melancholy all day long.  I had plans to get up early yesterday and go to a spinning class.  Obviously, that didn’t happen.  I also had the option of going to a free pilates class at lunchtime….which didn’t happen either.  Instead, I went home and did my own version of a yin and yang practice (i.e. yin yoga + hardcore workout). 

Yang Practice = “Turbo Fat Blaster Workout”  Okay, so a strength training/cardio workout isn’t necessarily the same as a yang yoga practice.  It definitely doesn’t take the place of ashtanga. But, I was sort on time last night, so I had to compromise.  I have to say that this workout was pretty hardcore even though it only lasted 18 minutes.  I had to take a break during the taping push ups, triceps dips, and knee assisted one arm push ups.  You can find the workout on the Bodyrock.tv website here.  This is one of Zuzana’s old workouts that doesn’t require the use of an interval timer.  Workout details are below (for anyone interested in trying it out):

Picture from http://bodyrock.tv

1. Plie Jump Squats – 30 reps: Stand with your feet wide apart, squat down and then jump up.  Repeat 30 times.
2. Tapping Push Ups – 26 reps:  Do a push up and then in the plank position tap the opposite shoulder.  Do 26 reps total switching arms.
3. Deep Walking Lunges – 30 reps:  I didn’t have enough room to walk back and forth so I just did stationary lunges.
4. V-Ups – 25 reps
5. Get Ups and High Knees – 30 reps
6. Let Lifts – 25 reps: Both legs.
7. Mountain Climbers – 60 reps
8. Tricep Dips – 25 reps
9. Skaters Jump Lunges – 30 reps
10. Knee Assisted One Arm Push Ups – 26 reps: Alternate arms.

Yin Practice  I followed the workout with a nice 30-minute yin practice focusing on hips and hamstrings.

    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.

It’s snowing outside and the roads are covered in a sheet of ice.  What does that mean?  Well, for one, I don’t have to work today.  School is cancelled.  Oh, and I don’t get to to go Exhale to do my favorite workout – Velo Barre.  Booo!  What does that mean?  Another day of home workouts.  I stumbled across an excellent fitness website a few months ago called bodyrock.tv.  It’s pretty well known around the fitness blogs, mostly for the author’s ample cleavage and skimpy lulumon outfits.  I’ll have to admit they’re pretty skimpy.  But if my abs looked like hers, I think I’d probably be showing them off as well.  Same thing if I had cleavage….which I don’t…so there’s no use to show that off.

If you can get past the skimpy outfits, there are some FANTASTIC workouts, none of which really require much equipment.  Today I picked out the “Hot Celebrity Butts Workout.”  And I can definitely say that it kicked my butt.  Four intense rounds of squats, lunges, hip extensions, and mountain climbers.  I was able to finish all four rounds in 19 minutes, 28 seconds.  The time doesn’t include the one minute rest I had to take between each round.  I had to sit down and take a breather because I thought my heart was going to beat right out of my chest.  I have to say that the bulgarian squats totally kicked my butt.  They were so hard, that I was actually looking forward to the mountain climbers for a break.  I would highly recommend any of the workouts that Zuzana posts to her website….especially when you’re snowed in and can’t make it to the gym for some external motivation.

Here’s the workout from bodyrock.tv and a video of Zuzana demonstrating the moves.  I would’ve videotaped myself, but the video wouldn’t be quite as nice as Zuzana’s.

There are 4 rounds of the following exercises:

1. Jump Squat and Backward Lunge (alternating legs) – 10 reps

One rep counts as 1 jump squat and one backward lunge

2. Hip Extension – 20 reps

Lift your legs off the ground. Open your legs, cross them again, and bring them down to the floor – this counts as 1 rep

3. Bulgarian Squat – 20 reps on each leg

Put the top of your foot on the chair behind you, keep the shin of your front leg vertical and squat down to bring your back knee as close to the ground as possible.

4. Mountain Climber – 30 reps

Each jump counts as 1 rep.

I have to start out by saying that I’m NOT a runner.  But I do have great respect for people that can run miles and miles each day, like my friend Jenn over at Eat, Read, Run.  Jenn’s running about 20 miles a week. Me?  I’m pretty proud of myself if I can run for 10 minutes at a time.  I keep reading blog posts on fitness blogs about the benefits of running barefoot, and how running shoes have negatively impacted the way that humans are supposed to run.  Personally, I can’t imagine getting on the treadmill and running with my bare feet.  But the thought of running more on my forefoot instead of striking first with my heel does sound kind of interesting.  As an avid yoga practitioner, I tend to avoid running because of all the high impact.  And I’ve spent so much time stretching my achilles tendon that it seems counter productive to risk reversing all my work for the sake of a nice run.  Like most runners, I strike with my heel down first.  This is how I’ve always run, because I run with nice cushiony running shoes.  But, today I gave the forefoot strike method a try.  I figure that it can’t hurt.  Gymnasts run like this all the time, since they do a lot of their conditioning barefoot.

The verdict?  Not too bad.  In fact, I kind of liked it.  I only ran for 10 minutes with a max speed of 5.5 mph on my treadmill.  I did wear running shoes, but they don’t have much of a heel, so I didn’t have to over-point my toes to get the forefoot to contact first.  It felt like running on my toes.  And I could really feel it more in my calves and on the arch of my feet.  I would imagine that running this way would help strengthen the lower leg muscles and also help strengthen the foot.  Running on the forefoot felt much more graceful than striking with my heel first.  It was easier to maintain good posture.  And I also noticed a significant reduction in the foot impact, which felt much better.  I’m going to give the forefoot running another try during my next warm-up.

Here’s some more information about forefoot striking from Harvard.  Link to full article here.

Forefoot Striking & Impact ForcesFor millions of years,it is likely that runners landed with no single, specific foot strike, and rather landed with a variety of foot strikes including forefoot, midfoot and heel strikes, but we suspect that the most common form of foot strike was a forefoot strike.Midfoot strikes were probably also more common than they are today. These kinds of strikes (i.e. landing first on the lateral ball of the foot) lead to lower impact forces which may lead to lower rates of injury. We hypothesize and there is anecdotal evidence that forefoot or midfoot striking can help avoid and/or mitigate repetitive stress injuries, especially stress fractures, plantar fasciitis, and runner’s knee. We emphasize, however, that this hypothesis on injury has yet to be tested and that there have been no direct studies on the efficacy of forefoot strike running or barefoot running on injury.

Tips on Transitioning to Forefoot or Midfoot StrikingForefoot striking barefoot or in minimal footwear requires you to use muscles in your feet (mostly in the arch) that are probably very weak. Running this way also requires much more strength in your calf musclesthan heel striking because these muscles must contract eccentrically (while lengthening) to ease the heel onto the ground following the landing. Novice forefoot and midfoot strikers typically experience tired feet, and very stiff, sore calf muscles. In addition, the Achilles tendon often gets very stiff. This is normal and eventually goes away, but you can do several things to make the transition successfully:

• Build up slowly! If you vigorously work out any weak muscles in your body, they will be sore and stiff. Your foot and calf muscles will be no exception. So please, don’t overdo it because you will probably injure yourself if you do too much too soon. 
  • Start by walking around barefoot frequently.
  • First week: no more than a quarter mile to one mile every other day.
  • Increase your distance by no more than 10% per week. This is not a hard and fast rule, but a general guide. If your muscles remain sore, do not increase your training. Take an extra day off or maintain your distance for another week.
  • Stop and let your body heal if you experience pain. Sore, tired muscles are normal, but bone, joint, or soft-tissue pain is a signal of injury.
  • Be patient and build gradually. It takes months to make the transition.
• If you are currently running a lot, you don’t need to drastically reduce your mileage. Instead, supplement forefoot or midfoot striking with running the way that you normally ran before beginning the transition. Over the course of several months, gradually increase the proportion of forefoot or midfoot striking and reduce the proportion of running in your old style. Use the same 10% per week guideline in increasing the amount of running you do forefoot striking.
• It is essential to stretch your calves and hamstrings carefully and regularly as you make the transition. Massage your calf muscles and arches frequently to break down scar tissue. This will help your muscles to heal and get stronger.
• Listen to your feet. Stop if your arches are hurting, if the top of your foot is hurting, or if anything else hurts! Sometimes arch and foot pain occurs from landing with your feet too far forward relative to your hips and having to point your toes too much. It can also occur from landing with too rigid a foot and not letting your heel drop gently.
• Many people who run very slowly find that forefoot striking actually makes them run a little faster.