Emily's week 38

Saturday - hatha yoga (60 minutes)
Sunday - nothing
Monday - nothing
Tuesday - vinyasa/hatha yoga (60 minutes)
Wednesday - evening walk with the family (45 minutes)
Thursday - nothing
Friday - nothing

Jonathan has been asking to come to yoga with me for quite some time now. Last Saturday I brought him to class with me...and he LOVED it. I was expecting him to get bored and we had brought a book for him to read in the lobby area if he got tired of the class. But he was completely engaged (and silent!) for the whole hour. When we were finished, he leaned over and whispered "Mommy, I really want to come back here again." Later he said that he liked working his muscles and then resting them at the end. Allison (my teacher) was incredibly impressed with Jonathan - she said she's never had a young child participate so well in an adult class. She invited him to come back anytime. :) So we'll see how long Jonathan enjoys it, but as long as he wants to, Saturday morning yoga will be a joint venture!

Oh, and I almost forgot! I can now do full yoga headstands without falling over. :) I've been working on this for some months now and am very pleased. Boy does it take a lot of core strength!

hiatus

I'm exercising fine (though I did take a week off due to shin splint issues last month).  But I'm not really keeping track right now because things are a bit crazy.  I found out my mom has breast cancer and Edmund came down with a really bad case of mono in the same week.  Edmund is all better and we are now down here helping out while she recovers from surgery and then will be traveling down a lot in the next several months while she undergoes chemo.  So, I'm just not bothering with keeping track about exercising.  But, suffice it to say, I have been managing to get 30-40 minutes in about 5 days a week.

Postpartum Recovery and P90X

So, I have been absent awhile, but I have still checked in occasionally to see what everyone is up to. Thanks Jessica and Emily for keeping the blog going. :)

For more than a month, I was feeling very weak because I was stopping the anxiety meds that I took when Rebekah was born. It took longer than I thought to come out of it, but now I am back. I don't regret the meds- I think they really helped to balance me out and be a better mother. I have a great psychiatrist who specializes in post-partum disorders. She is incredible and tried to help me while being sensitive to the fact that I really didn't want to be on any medication if it was possible.

Anyways, I kept walking almost every day through the process and occasionally did Bob's Pure Strength beginner workout and Jillian's Shred levels 1 & 2.

Fast forwarding to today- Nathan was on a work trip and watched an infomercial for P90X. He bought the whole package. I was a little surprised, but glad that he found some sort of workout plan that he wasnted to get started on. We are planning to do the program together, though it will be more modified for me bacuase of nursing. I look forward to the challenge. My sister did the program about a year ago with her husband and she dropped 30lbs while he drooped enough to qualify for the National Guard. It was the only program that actually motivated them to get into shape (so it comes highly recommended).

I am a little skeptical on the nutrition side of the program, but we will continue (as we have been) to try and eat more healthfully and naturally. Also, my goal is to gain strength and endurance rather than to lose weight on the program. I'll keep you all updated on our porgress- it should be exciting :)

Emily's week 37

Saturday - horseback riding! (60 minutes)
Sunday - nothing
Monday - nothing
Tuesday - vinyasa/hatha yoga (60 minutes)
Wednesday - nothing
Thursday - nothing (sick)
Friday - nothing

Week 51 for Jess

Sunday: nothing
Monday: Bob Harper's "Total Body Transformation", 60 min. section
Tuesday: nothing
Wednesday: nothing
Thursday: Jillian Michaels' "Shred-It with Weights", Level 1
Friday: nothing
Saturday: Bob Harper's "Cardio Conditioning", 60 min. section

Hey, it's just me and Em around here lately. How's everyone else doing? I hope well!

-Jess

Emily's week 36

Saturday - nothing (Gabe on ACR board retreat)
Sunday - nothing
Monday - nothing
Tuesday - vinyasa/hatha yoga (60 minutes)
Wednesday - nothing
Thursday - nothing (Gabe at ACR board meeting)
Friday - 4 hour rock climbing trip!

Week 50 for Jess

Sunday: nothing
Monday: nothing
Tuesday: Ripped in 30, Level 3
Wednesday: Bob Harper Beginner's Weight Loss Transformation, plus bonus 10 min. ab. workout
Thursday: Step and Core Pilates
Friday: nothing
Saturday: nothing

Emily's week 35

Saturday - nothing (client appointment)
Sunday - nothing
Monday - nothing
Tuesday - nothing (Gabe out with friends from work)
Wednesday - nothing
Thursday - AWESOME vinyasa/hatha yoga class!
Friday - nothing

I'm SO glad that I made it to yoga on Thursday, because it was amazing! There were only two of us there, and we're the ones who really like being challenged. So Allison created a totally different class than planned, on the fly, and it was incredible! We did a series of real (i.e. hard!) sun salutations, working on details like how to roll over our toes through the movement. We practiced crow, and dancer, and plow and shoulder stands and finished up with a full wheel pose. It was super hard and so much fun and I absolutely loved it. And the best part is that Allison told us afterward that she's been thinking about changing her Tuesday class to be more like what we had just done, because it is really what she prefers to be teaching and she wants to keep the younger crowd that has started to check out the studio. Yay!

Week 49 for Jess

Sunday: nothing
Monday: nothing
Tuesday: did the 45 min. step workout again
Wednesday: Bob Harper Totally Ripped Core (about 45 min.)
Thursday: Kathy Smith Great Buns and Thighs Step Workout*
Friday: Banish Fat, Boost Metabolism (my ankle was okay through this - yay!)
Saturday: spent about 45 minutes digging giant holes in the sand at the beach

-Jess

*okay, this was from the library, because I'm continuing to check things out that look low-impact (on account of my twisted ankle) and it turns out this is a video re-recorded onto DVD, and the leotards in it are AWESOME. :D

Emily's week 34

Saturday - nothing
Sunday - nothing
Monday - nothing
Tuesday - nothing
Wednesday - nothing
Thursday - nothing
Friday - nothing

That went well.

Week 48 for Jess

Sunday: nothing
Monday: nothing
Tuesday: Personal Training with Jackie (40 min. circuit)
Wednesday: 30 Day Shred, Level 1
Thursday: nothing (my ankle was a bit sore from the jumping yesterday, and I didn't want to push it and risk re-injuring it.)
Friday: Xtreme Timesaver Training
Saturday: I did this step routine. Actually, I did the first 11 minutes, then went back to the beginning and did the whole thing. Great option for a good cardio routine without high impact moves.

-Jess

Emily's week 33

Saturday - hatha yoga (60 minutes)
Sunday - nothing
Monday - nothing
Tuesday - nothing
Wednesday - nothing
Thursday - nothing
Friday - nothing

I'm giving up some of my class time in the next few weeks so that Gabe can go out on Tuesday evenings. Next Tuesday is a dinner with some of his previous co-workers, and the following week is an Angels game with his new co-workers. And the Saturday after that he'll be on a church retreat, so no class then either.

All that to say that my class time is going to be seriously sparse for the rest of the month. Perhaps I'll get motivated to pull out some workout dvds? I got Bob Harper's Yoga for the Warrior from the library but the cover is so hardcore I'm pretty sure I won't like it! ;)

Week 47 for Jess

Sunday: nothing
Monday: nothing
Tuesday: 30 Day Shred, Level 2
Wednesday: Mari Windsor Shape Pilates Core Challenge for Pink*
Thursday: Rodney Yee Yoga Conditioning for Athletes
Friday: nothing
Saturday: No More Trouble Zones

I'm skipping out on plyometric workouts till my ankle heals, I think. So, it's going to be weights and yoga for me, for awhile.

-Jess

*or something like that - this DVD has the longest title ever. Did this one as I sprained my ankle yesterday and thought I shouldn't be jumping with Jillian the day afterwards. Sadly, except for about five minutes of truly painful core work, this one was fairly lame. Bicep curls sans weights do NOT impress me.

Emily's week 32

Saturday - nothing
Sunday - nothing
Monday - nothing
Tuesday - hatha yoga (60 minutes)
Wednesday - nothing
Thursday - hatha yoga (60 minutes)
Friday - nothing

Twice this week, yay! And tomorrow I get to go again. :)

Week 46 for Jess

Sunday: nothing
Monday: 30 Day Shred, Level 3
Tuesday: 30 Day Shred, Level 1
Wednesday: nothing
Thursday: 30 Day Shred, Level 2
Friday: 30 Day Shred, Level 1
Saturday: 30 Day Shred, Level 3

This is the first time in a long time that I've exercised five times in one week.

And I feel so good. Funny thing is, the work-outs have NOT been fun. I've really been pushing myself - going at a faster pace, using heavier weights, doing  harder versions of the movies, etc. (except push-ups - I'm still doing real ones only about half the time!) - but pushing hard has meant the work-outs have hurt a lot while I'm doing them.

But afterwards? Seriously, I feel so good. I feel like I've got my body back - I feel connected to it again, and like it's on my side and not working against me. I've been eating well too . . . I just need to do this all the time. It feels so good, and I'm so much happier. I swear doing this changes my brain chemistry. It makes it so much easier to be happy, and that's such a grace and gift in ordinary life.

ETA: going back to the Shred, and just doing that over and over, through all the levels, is part of what feels so right. I like having variety sometimes, but right now I just want my very familiar work-out. I know this work-out so well that I feel very comfortable pushing myself during it, I know what's coming, I know I can get through the whole thing, so it's easy to tell myself, "It's not that long, just do it. You'll feel better at the end. It's not fun, but there aren't going to be any surprises. Just do it." And I'm always glad that I do.

Not being long is another thing. It really is under half an hour. That makes such a difference.

-Jess

Emily's week 31

Saturday - nothing
Sunday - nothing
Monday - nothing
Tuesday - hatha yoga (60 minutes)
Wednesday - nothing
Thursday - nothing
Friday - nothing

I'm finding myself a bit frustrated with the last two weeks...it seems like getting to the studio is at the very, very bottom of the family priority list, and thus it is easy for it to get pre-empted for something else. And working out at home has been such an abysmal failure that I've simply given up...there are too many other things calling my name. I'm not sure yet what I'm going to do about this, or even if there is anything to be done about it.

Weeks 44 & 45 for Jess

Sunday: run/walk of 5.9 miles
Monday: 20 min. of calisthenics (jumping jacks, etc.)
Tuesday-Sat: nothing

Sun: nothing
Mon: jumping rope (1000 circuits)
Tues: Personal Training with Jackie DVD (40 min.)
Wed: nothing
Thurs: nothing
Friday: 30 Day Shred, Level 3
Sat: nothing

Emily's week 30

Saturday - nothing
Sunday - nothing
Monday - nothing
Tuesday - hatha yoga (60 minutes)
Wednesday - nothing
Thursday - nothing (sick kids had to stay home from Awana with me)
Friday - nothing

recap

notta.  sick all week.

Emily's week 29

Saturday - nothing
Sunday - nothing
Monday - nothing
Tuesday - hatha yoga (60 minutes)
Wednesday - nothing
Thursday - hatha yoga (60 minutes)
Friday - nothing