Yoga for Athletes - Loosening up those tight muscles

I took a little bit easy today by doing this yoga video in the morning. My upper back, hamstrings and glute are totally fried and felt tight so I figured it's best to stretch them out to loosen up the tight spots.

http://vimeo.com/27871447

30 minute Yoga and Light Stretching Plus MORE!

HAPPY NEW YEAR and welcome to the year 2013!

I am quite sore from yesterday's workout so today I decided to take it a bit easy. That doesn't mean I just sat on my ass the entire day and eating bon bons!

In the morning, while enjoying my hot tea, I did 30 minute Yoga and light stretching. Nothing super crazy, just basic poses starting off with 3 sun salutations, then:

• crescent pose
• prayer's twist
• warrior 2
• triangle pose
• twisted triangle pose
• warrior 3
• half moon
• twisted half moon
• cobbler pose
• twisted seated pose (forgot the actual name for it)
• camel pose
• cat stretch
• single hamstring stretch (each side)
• both hamstring stretch

I hold about 10 count slow breathing for each pose. Some poses I transition from one to another (from crescent pose to prayer's twist on the same side, warrior 2 into triangle poses, warrior 3 into half moon then twisted half moon for example). Some I transition back into downward dog etc.

Just a bit variety to loosen up my tight muscles, especially my upper back and hamstrings!

Then during the day, I did some house cleaning, vacuuming the entire house plus cleaning the tile floor area where I usually do my workout.

It was good to stay active and avoid being locked in front of the computer for the entire day! Plus I was quite busy in the first half morning doing some cookings.

FUN TIMES!

40 minute Yoga

I would say today would be my last active rest day and will be back bodyrocking tomorrow again! My lower back felt TONS better and the pain is getting lesser and lesser. This morning I decided to take care of myself and did 40 minute yoga. I made up most of the sequence (strength, flexibility, balance etc) and got a good sweat.

Finally some Yoga!

I realized I haven't done yoga this week or two? The weather was a bit cool today so didn't get much sweat out but at least got a good workout done. Better than nothing!

Yoga and Abs

Actually today was an easy day for me. I did some Yoga mainly just for stretching and relaxation. And at the end I did some Abs on the ball.
Pretty low intensity workout I'd say.

Sweaty yoga in the chilly morning

Finally I managed to drag myself out from the bed at 4:30 am and got a good sweaty yoga done in this chilly morning.

Nothing beats the morning quietness doing yoga while everyone else was sleeping. K was also next to me, doing his yoga.

Bodyrock.tv: Burpee burnout workout

Will one body weight exercise for 10 minutes make you sweat and pant like crazy?

The answer is: Yes, if you do this Burpee Burnout from Bodyrock.tv and push yourself REALLY HARD.

One intense exercse for 10 minutes


I eeked out 50 reps (with lots of breaks in between of course - to catch my breath) but I kept in mind to keep proper form.

After this exercise, my sweat was pouring down onto my face and took a little break.

Next I did core strength with the stability ball.

2 rounds of:
1. Regular crunch - 30 reps
2. Regular with side crunch - 30 reps
3. Lunge backward twist while holding the stability ball - 20 reps each side
4. Side leg lift with one hand on the ball - 20 reps each side

Did some yoga for stretching at the end.

Yoga

Apparently my lower back pain hasn't completely gone yet so I decided to do Yoga instead of another intense workout. To top it off, why my right wrist starts feeling a bit tender? :( I could still do push ups but didn't want to push myself too hard because of horror stories I heard how people broke their wrists by doing high reps of consecutive push ups.

Interval workout - total body

50 sec on / 10 sec off (15 rounds) of these

Squat holding the stability ball above head 20/15/13
Balanced Push Ups (push up and do side plank on each side) 10/9/10
Fighter's Lunge (from Bodyrock.tv)-right side - 20/20/17
Fighter's Lunge (from Bodyrock.tv)-left side - 21/24/24
Mountain Climber 40/30/23

Total workout time is only 15 minutes and I was dripping in sweat despite in this cold weather.

I continued with 15 minutes of moving asanas Yoga with the deep breathing technique that I discussed at the previous post.

I'm ALIVE and STILL kick ass!

Holy moly, I haven't updated this blog for a while (like more than a week???)

Anyway, good news is my lower back pain is ALMOST GONE...*almost*...it's still there and I still can feel it when doing certain move. For the past 1 1/2 week I've been doing LOTS of yoga and core exercises with the stability ball.

I'm not particularly doing P90X Yoga style, though most of the poses and sequence are taken from there. Btw, K (my hubby) told me a little tips for get the most out from Yoga - deep breathing throughout the whole thing and hold the poses longer.

When you breathe in always breathe using your stomach instead of breathe into your chest. So when you breathe in, your stomach is supposedly going out instead of going in. And when you breathe out, you supposed to suck in the stomach. Do those while holding the yoga pose and I guarantee you'll be dripping in sweats in about 15 minutes, especially when you're doing the moving asanas.

And today I decided to get back to Zuzana's Bodyrock.tv workout again.

I picked The Best Ripped Ab workout (50 sec /10 sec interval) - 3 rounds
1) Sumo Jump Squat and Leg Lift (17/12/10)
2) 1-2 Reptile Push Up (11/12/10)
3) Squat Side Hop and Side Lunge (8/8/8)
4) Seated V-Scissors (41/36/38)

Compare to last time, my score is actually not bad!

And following after that, I did 30 mins yoga, with the breathing technique I discussed earlier. Boy, the sweat just continued. LOVE IT!

Still alive

My lower back pain is still around but doesn't mean I'm just sitting around and do nothing. In fact I've been doing lots of yoga! Believe it or not, yoga helps ease up the pain. Also hubby got me a fitness ball so I've been doing crunches on it. And still working on my pushups as well!!

Dang, updating a blog w/ my crackberry surely painful!

Six Pack - Love Handles workout

Completed in 27:36.

A little better than last time.

Drenched in sweat. I took as little break as possible in between exercises.

Yoga for 10-15 minutes for relaxation and flexibility.

Another Six Pack Love Handles Workout

4 exercises - repeated 8 times:
1. Prisoner Squat with Knee up – 20 reps
2. Santana Push Ups – 10 reps
3. Jump Rope – 100 skips as fast as you can
4. Plank Knee tucks – 20 reps

Courtesy of Bodyrock.tv

My time: 29:49

A teeny bit better than last time

Not bad

Finished with 10 minutes of Yoga (Flexibility and Relaxation)

Getting back to the grind....kinda.

I managed to drag myself out from the bed this morning and did these:

3 rounds of:
100 skips
Push Ups – 10 reps
Ab crunch w/ 10lbs dumbbell 20 reps
Back Extension 20 reps
Side Plank raise (each side) 20 reps
Time: approximately: 25-30 mins

About 15 minutes Yoga - sun salutations and some stretching.

My goal is to at least do some yoga after any workouts. It helps to keep my flexibility.

Getting the workout together...again

So after 2 days of no workout, I tried one of Bodyrock.tv workout.

8 rounds of:
1. Prisoner Squat with Knee up – 20 reps
2. Santana Push Ups – 10 reps
3. Jump Rope – 100 skips as fast as you can
4. Plank Knee tucks – 20 reps

Time: 34 min 37 sec

Yoga for 20 mins

Not bad, can't complain. I used an online stopwatch as a timer and I didn't stop it even though I took mini breaks here and there for water or to catch by breath.

Yoga Time

A good 46 minutes of Yoga X was all I needed for this day. Almost didn't have time to workout - got up late and after came back home from work usually it was hard to motivate myself to do workout.

Round 2: Day 84, 85, 86

Sorry some family matters happening and I haven't been able to update this blog as regularly as before. One good thing is this is the last week of my Round 2 P90X so I won't feel as much pressure on myself to complete the workout schedule. I know there's nobody that'll scold me for not completing it, but I just have that "guilt" if I didn't do the workout at it supposed to be.

Saturday, Day 84 - 6 miles run
Just ran outside of my house.

Sunday, Day 85 - Yoga X
Finished the whole thing.

Monday, Day 86 - Core Synergistic
Can this workout consider to be a full body workout? It ranges from cardio, weight resistance and some abs. One thing I don't quite like this one is quite random - sometimes you have to be on your feet again, sometimes you have to be back on the deck etc. Speaking of which, I can't even lift 5lbs dumbbells while doing Leaning Crescent Lunge. Anything to do with lifting weights in an angle is really a challenge for me..although I could lift 12 lbs for lawnmower.

Round 2: Day 73 - Yoga X & Day 74 - ARX, Legs & Back, ChaLean Extreme I've Got Abs

Day 73 - Yoga X
Felt good to do Yoga again, though I was slacking off on my Chaturanga in the beginning. But at least I could hold Half Moon poses a bit longer than before.

Day 74 - ARX, Legs & Back, ChaLean Extreme I've Got Abs
I've been having hard time to go to sleep at night, thanks to this hot and humid weather. Plus, since opening the window means a light sleeper like me get more distracted by the noises from outside, especially when the train passes by. I live nearby a railroad tracks. Good thing I still managed to drag my asses off the bed and did the workout, and not ditching ChaLean again.

Also I noticed Tony promoted Beachbody.com in Legs & Back a lot more often compared to his other videos. Been noticing for a while but I keep forgetting to write it on the post.

Round 2: Day 46 - Yoga X

Just because I overslept this morning, doesn't mean today will be my rest day. Nope! I conquered my "evening-workout-laziness" and did Yoga X after I got home from work. Evening workout wasn't that bad actually, given I am way more flexible than in the morning. But I still couldn't justify to have dinner at 8pm and not to mention I have to go to sleep no later than 10 pm, else I will oversleep again tomorrow...*sigh*

Round 2: Day 33 - Yoga X

"Working on triangle pose everyone's sweating like hell....what does that tell you?" as what Tony said when we got to this pose and that was exactly what happened to me. I usually don't start breaking sweat until Side Angle pose but this morning I already drenched by the time I got to the Triangle pose. Not sure what I did wrong, I felt a little tight on my right neck..maybe I twisted a bit when doing some poses..o well.

I love my Yoga this morning.