Do What You Don’t
Posted: April 3, 2010 at 1:27 pmHello friends! First, I want to say thank you all for the supportive comments about my competition prep post. And I am LOVING all of the fun facts you are posting in response to the giveaway. If you want to learn some crazy things about your fellow bloggers check out the comments section. Who is a twin? Who has tattoos, including tattooed eyeliner!? Who has met the Dalai Lama??!!! It's great!
Does everyone have fun plans for this weekend? I am keeping with the theme of this week and being insanely busy. I went to the gym this morning for some Power + Kick. My friend Paula, who I rarely get to workout with due to our schedules, convinced me to stay for both. Man, what a workout! It was intense, but a ton of fun. Definitely more of a hardcore workout than yesterday, when I decided to take a chance to mellow out in the workout arena.
Nicole from Prevention RD is doing a challenge this month. The challenge is to DO what you DON'T. In other words,pick any activity that you don't typically do and get started actually doing it during the month of April. This is in hopes that it will become more of a habit and motivate you to try something out of your comfort zone. It can apply to any sort of goal. What was my goal? To actually give yoga a try. I have never been a yoga gal. I will try to make time to stretch well after every workout and foam roll at least 1-2x/week, but yoga has always frightened me.
taking time to foam roll after today's grueling workout
Even with my stretching efforts, I don't stick with it enough to fully stretch myself out from my regular workouts and I know flexibility is not a strong point of mine. I have heard of the benefits of yoga often, and have always thought it would be cool if I could do it. But I was scared. I'm not too flexible and I can be pretty clumsy, so I was nervous to go in a room full of people and not be able to handle it. I'm also not used to doing something fitness related subpar. Well, besides running long distances. But I have accepted that truth for awhile now.
Yoga, though, I had never even given a full fledged effort. And I knew when Nicole posted her challenge I had to go for it. Also, when this prize pack from Em's giveaway arrived in the mail the day before the class I was thinking of attending...
Aurorae Yoga Mat Pack
...I finally knew I could no longer keep up with the excuses. And when I thought about it, I was going to be going to a basic yoga class at my gym. Not an advanced Bikram class in a top of the line yoga studio. I figured these people wouldn't be super professionals and it would be more in my comfort zone. Plus, my friend Paula ended up taking the class with me since she had Good Friday off from work.
How did it go? I really, really liked it. And I did much better than I thought I would. Or at least I didn't feel like a total spaz. Plus, I liked the peacefulness of it, but also the power you feel from it. Because holding some of those positions was downright tough. And I could already tell how well it helped stretch me out. I think it was the perfect fit for me right now, since it wasn't a very serious yoga class, aka not as "proper" as something I would find in a studio. Although I do admit, it had me getting online to check out local studios for beginners classes and then getting bummed out that yoga sessions are a bit too $$$ for us right now. I will definitely be adding this into my regularly scheduled workouts. Thanks Nicole and Em for lighting the fire to get me to finally do this!
i love this challenge…i don’t know what i’m going to do yet…maybe work more intensively on abdominal and core work? i prioritize everything else, but not abs. let’s do this! 🙂
ahhh what a GREAT challenge!!!! yay for yoga! maybe i need to do that? well, you look awesome!
I like the idea of this challenge 😀 Unfortunately, between school, marathon training, and extra-curriculars…idk if I can pick up another hobby 😕 But that’s awesome you’re getting into yoga!
Wooooooooooohoooooooooooooo!! I just <3 yoga so much!! I look forward to my weekly yoga sesh and it's like a spa treatment for my entire body. Feels so good to stretch and strengthen at the same time. I did a challenge back in october and did yoga every other day the entire month and at the end of the month I noticed a huge difference in my flexibility! I could just go on and on about all of the benefits of yoga. Have lots of fun using your new mat!! 🙂
I love yoga! And check out yogadownload.com! Free 20 min sessions 🙂
Thanks for the tip! I will do that!
Another blogger I follow posted about taking this challenge too. I seriously need to add in something like yoga. So far, I have yet to find one I enjoy (DVDs that is). Hope you’re having a great weekend, even if it is super busy.
I’m glad you had a good experience! I want to try out more yoga once I can exercise again!
What a fun challenge…and I’m with you on yoga. Ive never really been able to get into it, but I know it h as so many health benefits!
Thanks for stopping by, and what a great challenge!
I think mine may be running…
Good job! I try and try and try with yoga… and never quite stick with it LOL!
Awesome for you!! I made your chicken enchiladas last night for dinner and posted the review on my blog today! They were AMAZING!!!!
Yay! At least you can still do yoga at your gym and not have to pay a whole bunch for a fancy studio. Going to classes is the only way I can do it. I’ve tried doing videos and podcasts, but it just feels more messy when I try to do it myself. I’m all about the gentle yoga. I workout hard enough, I don’t need to pile on top of that with athletic yoga classes!
I definitely need to stretch a little more and work on my breathing….when I exercise I tend to hold my breath…I’d get so much more out of the workout if I would just breath normally!
What a great challenge! I agree- local studios are always expensive. I’ve found some really great classes/instructors at my gym- the one thing about “gym yoga” is that you never know what you’re going to get, but once you try a bunch of the classes, you’ll know pretty fast which ones you prefer!
I used to think yoga was not for me, but I’ve been going to Group Centergy for a few months now (they may have that at your gym), and I love it! I think it’s great for a beginning yogi because we hold the poses for a shorter amount of time and do a lot of different things in one class.
They do have that one at our gym, although it is very sporadic and usually at like 7:30 at night so I haven’t had the chance to try it. It sounds like it would be up my alley to though.