YouTube Yoga

Another morning of YouTube Yoga. This is day 2 of yoga for me. I don't particularly enjoy this girl's videos "Yoga with Adrienne", I find she talks too much and it's not soothing but I also didn't want to spend a lot of time surfing YouTube to find the perfect free video so I deal. I'm finding that yoga incorporates some of the staple exercises from bootcamp like planks and isolated squats but with less speed requiring more control through the transitions.

The best thing about YouTube Yoga is when it buffers during child's pose. The same does not apply to when you're in a particularly difficult pose like the Lord of the Dance pose or something ridiculous like that.

I discovered another perk about working out at home, you can wear whatever you want...or don't want...like your pajamas for example thereby reducing your laundry load. I think when I finally actually catch up with my laundry I'll find a significant decrease in volume.

No Shavasana For Johanna

On the recommendation of one of my friends and readers, I tried some YouTube Yoga this morning as an alternative while my ankle heals. As I'm in these really wrist intensive poses, it all comes back to me as to why I haven't done yoga in years. I think I'll continue with yoga though because I'll never recover full strength and range of motion in my wrists if I don't keep pushing myself. It's funny, you may feel while doing yoga that you're not getting an intense workout just because you're not dripping of sweat like in aerobics type workout but I can definitely feel my muscles are sore from the "smooth" and "graceful" movements.

I will say, one of the perks of working-out at home is when you need a potty break, it's right there and since it's yours, no need to add squats to your routine. :-) The downside, if you've got a zoo like me, you can have some rude interruptions. I ended up sharing my yoga mat at one time or another with both my cats, both my dogs and the dog I'm babysitting. While I was in shavasana aka corpse pose at the end, the little dachshund I'm sitting was so concerned for me he started crying and crawled on top of me and laid across my chest...my cat however decided I had enough relaxation time and knew just how to damage my calm as she attempted to sit on my face.

New Challenges

Swollen Cankles!

Now that I've got a big a swollen cankle I'm having to adjust my routine. This wouldn't be so difficult if I was still in bootcamp, I'd just tell Sgt Laura about my injury and then she'd tell me how to modify. I know now for next week that I need to do some research and plan my workouts since just winging it proved to be more difficult. Still I did some of my own tabatas with things like pushups, sit-ups, weighted sit-ups, leg lifts, and as a recovery between each, a v-hold. The moral of the story, don't make me laugh, I don't think my abs can take it.

Furryoga

The thing with doing floor exercises at home is if you leave for just a minute somehow everyone thinks that it's time for a group yoga class. Move over kids! Momma's got some sweating to do. It's sinking in more and more how different it is working out alone. So many of our bootcamp exercises can be done alone but they were most often done with a partner. Partner high-five sit-ups just aren't the same without CEO.com. Reggie kept walking behind me when I was doing my sit-ups and stood there so I couldn't lay back down. That's when I got the idea that he could be my partner after all, I DID train him to high-five. He had the attention span for all of three high-five sit-ups before he got bored and sat in his lay-z-boy chair.

When your gym partner
needs to cut those nails

Twist And Shout

Today was the first day working out on my own while I build my sponsorship pool to be able to rejoin a gym. Reggie and I put on our bright reflective gear and headed out for a run. Instead of the .7 mile loop I've done with him in the past, I decided to try another longer route since I've got that 3.1 mile Trick or Trot next week. We were about .25 mile away from the house when I stepped on the edge of the pavement and CRACK, I was down on the ground rocking back and forth cradling my twisted ankle while still trying to hold on to my exuberant shepherd/husky mix. There were no street lamps, no light from nearby residences just Reggie and I in the darkness almost exactly across from where Kaytlyn Cooper was fatally struck by a car a year ago. As I sit there pondering my options I was glad I brought my phone which was something I never did for bootcamp. I was thankful I knew of at least one friend that was nearby and awake at this ungodly hour if I couldn't put any weight on my ankle. The initial pain and shock subsided and I pulled my self to my feet. I started taking a few steps back home when I made the decision to walk it off. By the time I reached Lakewood and Golfview I was at a slow jog and found that it actually felt better than walking. This could possibly be because I put more weight on my toes when jogging or maybe my plantar fasciitis was more distracting while running. Reggie and I took Westminster on account of it having one of the few sidewalks in this town. I think we may have startled a few bootcampers when our paths converged on Westminster. Though he made no sound, maybe he gave them the evil eye because they stopped dead in their tracks. I decided we better cross to the other side of the road in case anyone wanted to run faster than us. When we got to the corner of Lakewood and Westminster I thought it best we walked the dangerous narrow and winding shoulder until we got back to Golfview. From there I fartlekked (walk/jog) the way back while Reggie outright farted lol. We made it, the whole 2.25 miles! As long as my ankle heals I feel encouraged about completing that 5k next week. I decided the combination of the trauma and the fear of being hit by a car burned enough calories for today.

And So It Begins

I "enjoyed" a week off from working out but really I was failing to drag my ill body out of bed in time to work out on my own thanks to a weekend in NJ with my sniffling and sneezing niece and nephews. I got up and went to the Highlands YMCA Bootcamp for one final time this morning. I won't be able to afford it moving on so starting this week I'll be forever alone.....well, my dog Reggie will have to learn to enjoy running without throwing up and pooping at least. I might even give my schnauzer a shot once in a while but something tells me running with him at 5am might not work for the noise ordinance in my neighborhood. I'm worried though that I won't be ready for my first 5k on the 30th now that it's up to me to get ready but I'll do some research and find a couch to 5k strategy that might work for me.

End of Bootcamp Round 3

2 Mile End
Photo Courtesy
The Mayor of Sebring

Today marks the end of my third round of bootcamp. As customary with each final day we had a bootcamp challenge. I find these challenges more stressful than fun because I feel the pressure to not let other people down even though there's really nothing to win except bragging rights. We were tasked with a variety of challenges, the first being collect as many flags as possible and take photos with all the flags for the following challenges. We had to go to the one mile turn around and take a creative planking photo, go to the 2 mile end and take a creative planking photo. We then had to take a creative planking video that included a tire, a table and a bottle of water while singing Happy Birthday to one of our fellow bootcampers. BTW Happy Birthday to Math Maniac! By the time 6:15 rolled around we still hadn't completed everything but we did everything that required the whole team so those of us that had to go, left. If the remaining team members were able to complete the rest of the challenges I think this may be the first time I've ever been on a winning team!

I didn't lose much weight this round of bootcamp but I feel slimmer, healthier and stronger. I'm enthused about being more active which is a nice change. I'm heading to Jersey for the weekend for a mini family reunion and birthday celebration where I've planned a joint Teenage Mutant American Ninja Turtle Warrior Birthday party for my sister and nephew who are both very active. I planned a fitness competition for the party adapting some exercises from bootcamp that should prove fun and rather hilarious if all goes well. Hopefully I'll get some good video and photos.

You're Tired? Now Do It Again Faster!

It almost seemed like a treat when we started the morning out in the classroom. We split into three groups and competed with timed relay burpees, relay sit-ups and the hardest of all the relay push-ups. The relay sit-ups were the real cherry on top, we just lay there and wait on the person next to us to sit-up as it goes through the entire group like a wave. The comfort was short lived when we did pushups and had to stay in a plank until it was our turn to do a push-up after our arms (and wrists) are already tired from the burpee round. After the group exercises we went to pairs for paired sit-ups, side twisting sit-ups, partner lunges, and push-up high fives. We then went to the sand pit of pain for a couple rounds of sprints. It baffles me that on the second round of sprints Sgt Zipper Pouch thinks that we could do better than the first time. Ha! My only goal every time is to not do far worse than the first time. Of course to top off the whole morning she has us do a timed mile run (or two miles for the overachievers).

Every morning on my way to work at 7:45 after bootcamp, I see "T-College Money" and "School Board Queen" still outside working out....It's no wonder they're so fit. If I had three hours to work out a day I might be....who am I kidding that's two hours I could be watching Netflix.

Balls To The Wall

It was the first time I felt a hint of fall when I left for bootcamp this morning. The feeling of a little chill was rudely interrupted when we began our workout with an 8 minute Indian run. These runs are always made more difficult and annoying when group three is lead by people who should be group two but don't want to make the commitment so instead we end up running just 10 - 20 feet behind the group two's causing the majority of the group three's to give up and walk. I'm almost talking about myself but not quite.

After that longer than usual Indian run around the two soccer fields we did 4 sets of partner 1 minute isolated squats and 4 sets of 60 partner planking high-fives. When I was squatting with one partner my knee popped so loud she heard it even over "Sgt Zipper Pouch's" screeching. (Yes I stole that euphemism) I got through about two rounds of the planks and when it came to the third and fourth round my wrists gave up so I had to just do forearm planks. We finished out our time at the skeeter buffet with a 4 minute Indian run. Our legs so heavy from the squats it felt like they could give out from under us at any moment. I did end up having to walk for a short time but when I got the 90 second count down I picked up the pace and tried to catch the group two people since all of my group threes were dispersed.

We headed in to the basketball court for a circuit that consisted of 15s of everything; table climbs, belly rolls, stability ball planks, jumping pull ups, partner under hand ball tosses and wall ball squat tosses. Belly rolls are always so awkward, trying to keep your balance with your shins on a stability ball while pulling your knees in is difficult and it's worse to dismount. It's entirely possible when I got off my ball, or fell off rather, my stability ball may have hit the guy in the head that was behind me but he didn't say a word. When CEO.com and I headed to the next room to do our pull-up jumps Sgt Zipper Pouch asked if we wanted to do banded pull-ups...she convinced CEO.com to try it but it looked like you'd actually have to be able to do a pull-up for that so I slipped out of there and did the jumping pull-ups. The wall ball tosses proved to be excruciating as you're supposed to go into a deep squat and as you come up throw this large ball up 12 feet in the air.....all this after 4 sets of partner squats?!?!? I might have trouble getting up from my chair at work today.

Honey I Can't, I've Got A Headache

Have you ever awakened with a headache so bad you for a moment thought maybe it was a hangover but couldn't remember drinking the night before? Well I did this morning and of course it happens on a bootcamp day. As usual lately I go through the inner debate of to skip or not to skip but that's a stupid question. My logical side says, you'll regret it more Monday when you've been lazy for 4 days in a row. So I get up and take some ibuprofen as quickly as possible in hopes of squashing this migraine before I head out, I keep all lights off except for one little lamp because every light I encounter feels like the flood lights of hell. I drive over to the Y and walk up to the basketball court. The lights! I immediately cringe from pain as I walk into the court, this won't be fun.

We started the workout with karaoke suicides and knee repeaters, every step I feel the thud reverberating in my head. After a few painful rounds of this we head into the classroom for some timed sit-ups and leg lifts as well as planks and pointed dogs. Though those are not my favorite exercises at least I'm laying down and it's not impact heavy. Surprising enough, I was able to do almost the same amount of sit-ups in 1 minute that I do in two minutes....meaning I need to work on my endurance.

I should have known, when we were done in the classroom we went outside to do our .7 mile loop as many times as possible until the end of class. I fartleked through one lap only to be passed by Beau as he finished is second. I decided to cut out about 7 minutes early knowing full well I couldn't fartlek through another one in that time. Yes I love the word fartlek.