A friend of mine defended this thesis today and officially became a Ph.D. Juxtaposing that with the fact that I have not been doing a lot of lab work due to my TA schedule and my inability to compartmentalize my mind and focus on things in front of me, made me feel on the one hand extremely proud him and on the other hand slightly worried for myself.
Anyhoo, in order to go celebrate his successful defense I skipped yoga today, had some champaign which was for some reason much stronger than I anticipated (probably because I was drinking on an empty stomach), and then ingested an obscene amount of cake, chips and salsa, and veggies with yummy ranch dressing. I got home with a headache and was absolutely exhausted. Took a nap and really struggled to go to the gym afterwards.
I did only 2.5 miles today, just to save the long run for the weekend. Given how tired I was when I got up and how much junk food I had in my stomach I did not anticipate that I would have an excellent run. But it just felt... really easy. My foot didn't bother me, I felt energetic, and I felt really comfortable going up to higher speeds. I was pleasantly surprised how short my run felt, and I had a blast watching a documentary on wildlife in Russia on the Animal Planet channel.
And I can't really figure out why. I had assumed that because of the stress, the slacking of fluid intake, the lack of sleep, and my general decline in running ability had contributed to my recent struggle every time I get on the treadmill. Maybe I was mentally less tired today since I knew it was going to be a short run (but I was still afraid of it)? I can't quite figure out what was different about me today. I got about 6.5 hours of sleep last night, plus another 1.5 or so hours before going. I ate oatmeals for breakfast, a vegetarian lunch, and about 2.5 L of water before the cake and snack fiasco. I took my daily vitamins right after I got home. I don't consider that a wild stray from my normal daily routine.
I don't know what made today so easy.
After I got home I did two Ballet Beautiful videos: swam arms and butt series 1. I wasn't in the mood of trying anything new today, and both were a struggle but after many pauses and stretches and coconut water I managed thru them both. I wanted to do another abs video from blogilates but I was tired, and it was getting late. So maybe tomorrow. I think since tomorrow is not a running day I will do legs and abs and something else.
Wednesday morning I tried to do a video before leaving for school. It was a new video too and that wasn't very smart. I forgot why I decided to do it, probably to make up for not doing anything on Tuesday (granted I didn't leave lab until 10:30 for TA stuff and had to get up for the 8:45 am the next day). I didn't get through the entire video due to time and lack of strength, but yesterday was also a long day and I felt much more energetic. I was hungrier faster, but I wasn't tired, and I think the morning exercise may have something to do with it. I just couldn't get up this morning to try again, but I will repeat this experiment someday.
It's almost the weekend! My parents are coming to visit so I will have to plan my time carefully, but they will bring me yummy food, and we are going to see ballet together and all of us are very much looking forward to it.
Showing posts with label Ballet Beatiful. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ballet Beatiful. Show all posts
Thursday, April 9, 2015
Monday, April 6, 2015
Exercise Diary: Setbacks
What I did today:
- 4 miles on the treadmill
- The only thing I was proud of was that I stayed on the treadmill till I hit the 4-mile mark. I walked twice in between, and I was just really tired the while time. My foot was hurting by mile 2, and that made me wary of going any faster. I'm not sure what it was, I can only attribute it to a general decline in fitness.
- first half of the Ballet Beautiful swam arms series
- I thought it makes a lot of sense that on running days I would also work on my arms so my legs don't suffer too much. But I neglected the fact that I did the same video yesterday and I was feeling its effect all day today. I managed to work through the first half of the video before calling it a day. I could go on if I wanted, but I didn't want to. I would probably feel very sorry tomorrow if I did.
- Ballet Beautiful Out Thigh
- To make up for the incomplete of the first video I decided to look for another BB workout to make up for it. I picked this one since it was short and the targeted outer thigh didn't seem too bad. And it wasn't. I mean, my legs were feeling both like lead and on fire when I worked on each, and I needed prolonged stretching after each set so I don't cramp, but after the workout I don't feel my legs so much anymore. It's not like I can't walk or anything.
- Blogilates Quick Ab workout
- After all that I felt that I really should work on my abs for a bit since I've been neglecting this area. Mostly because it's hard and I can't do crunches or whatever you do for very long. There are so many ab videos on Blogilates that I ended up just picking a random one, which despite being a 10 minute video was actually very short, since it only had two moves and worked to a 3:14-long song. I still couldn't do it the whole way through and had to take breaks in between and didn't even bother to pause the video. I'm feeling my abs and I think that's enough for the day.
About this time last month I stood in front of my full-length mirror in my gym clothes and took a picture of myself. I had great ambition and hope that in one month, combining running and doing Blogilates workout and a modified diet I would change my weight and body shape somewhat, and I would document my progress. I didn't expect to be all lean and skinny after just one month, but I did the same thing in front of the mirror today (not the same gym clothes though), and I don't think I saw any changes. If anything I think I may look even bigger and wider than last month. I don't think my weight had changed. I would like to think that I had lost a pound or two but it's not very noticeable. I think given some more time the changes will become more apparent, but this has been a very disappointing month. I'm still adjusting. And I feel there was progress. But there's no proof. Oh well. I guess it's a good thing that winters are so long here; I still have some time before I no longer have my jacket to cover up my body of shame.
Sunday, April 5, 2015
Exercise Diary: Making it up as I go along
I'm still feeling the effect of my butt workout from yesterday. The glute muscles themselves weren't really effected as much as I would have liked, but the leg muscles around my butt are very sore. And because I'm a sucker for quick results, I'm thinking maybe I should incorporate some of this Ballet Beautiful workout into my routine as well, since they provide a longer, more gradual workout that make you feel really tired at the end but does not make you want to kill yourself (not as much) during the process. It's just long and repetitive, like a slow long run day. But mostly I'm tempted by the quick and really obvious results that everyone raving about. Since there are only about 5 or 6 videos available online (each targeting a different area of the body) I feel that I could incorporate them into my routine, rather than completely having them replacing my old stuff.
That, of course, has its own dangers. One of the things I like about Blogilates is that Cassey gives you a calendar at the beginning of each month, charting out what you need to do every day. Or in my case, a beginner's workout calendar. Not that I had successfully followed it for an entire month, nor have I done everything it asked for, but at least it gave me an objective list of workout that I should be able to complete and often time that pushes me to a limit I would not otherwise go. That's my point. If I start making my own list I would either become too complacent, or too ambitious, and neither is really good.
But that's what we are going to do anyway. Today I had no specific plan as to what videos I should do. It's not a running day, and I've given up the hope to get my butt to the gym for an elliptical session since it's never enough motivation to get up dressed up and head out of the door. So instead I just started with a video, and another, until I was properly sweating, and a reasonable amount of time has gone by. In this case, about 40 minutes. If I spend 40 minutes on the treadmill I would probably run 2.8 miles. And I think that's pretty good for my first improv workout day.
In those 40 minutes I completed:
Ballet Beautiful: Ab workout for a slim waistline
Since I worked quite a bit on my butt yesterday, and I am doing the April arms challenge, I thought a nice ab workout would be nice. And it was only 7 minutes, so I had hoped that it would be short but intense. Well, it was short. And I don't know if I'm just not doing the moves right, or whatever, I didn't really feel my abs burning. Rather my upper thighs got a heavy dose and were hurting by the end. Not a very satisfying workout; I didn't even break a sweat or lost control with my breathing. Maybe I'll stick with Blogilates for the abs, but I'll wait and see how intense the legs and hips video is. Those are usually pretty intense.
Ballet Beautiful: Strong&Sexy Swan Arms Workout
I broke my own taboo and did an arm video next. I already did my arms challenge for today and really didn't feel a thing. I knew this video was going to be good since my friend had done it before and said it was brutal. It's long too, about 17 minutes. And she filled the entire 17 minutes with endless swan arms and its variations. It was brutal. My arms felt like lead by the end of the workout and I assume I will feel them quite acutely tomorrow. But it's about an hour after I did the arms video and my arms no longer feel like lead. I can feel every muscles, as all of them got a proper workout, but so far no horrific sore like that Blogilates video I did last week (1 minute of half cobra push-up + 1 minute of triangle push-up can make the back of your arms hurt for a week and I'm not kidding). But overall very satisfying and will definitely do it again, maybe on running days.
Blogilates 10 min butt lift challenge
Broke my taboo again. This is part of the April 1 workout, which was all about butts and hips. I thought, why not. It's evident that I'm not going to follow everything on the calendar, and I might as well start with 4/1 again even though it's already 4/5 (how time flies already). This video was made a few months back as part of the 30-day butt challenge, and therefore I was familiar with all the moves. It was intense, especially after the workout I already had yesterday. I was able to do most of the video except the very end when Cassey totally surprised me after the bridge pose and added the single leg bridges. If I wasn't tired out I would attempt to make it to the end, but I just couldn't. So I didn't. For me it was more like a 9 minute butt lift challenge. But whatever.
Blogiates Hips Butt&Thighs Super Shaper Workout
It's also part of the 4/1 list. There were two other bubble butt workout but I just couldn't. This one had some other components that the workout targeted so I thought why not. And it did. Lots of leg circles and lifts and tapping the front and back and doing side planks (which I cannot do). Also some back leg lift for butt. Nothing to difficult to do (except the side planks) and my butt is seriously hurting now. I was going to go for the full hour but after this I thought it was enough for a day.
The shower afterwards was really nice.
So that wasn't too bad. I think using time instead of sets and reps and things to-do works much better, and I really should have known since it was applicable to running as well. We'll just have to see how it will go during the weekend when shit again hits the fan and life spins into crazy mode.
That, of course, has its own dangers. One of the things I like about Blogilates is that Cassey gives you a calendar at the beginning of each month, charting out what you need to do every day. Or in my case, a beginner's workout calendar. Not that I had successfully followed it for an entire month, nor have I done everything it asked for, but at least it gave me an objective list of workout that I should be able to complete and often time that pushes me to a limit I would not otherwise go. That's my point. If I start making my own list I would either become too complacent, or too ambitious, and neither is really good.
But that's what we are going to do anyway. Today I had no specific plan as to what videos I should do. It's not a running day, and I've given up the hope to get my butt to the gym for an elliptical session since it's never enough motivation to get up dressed up and head out of the door. So instead I just started with a video, and another, until I was properly sweating, and a reasonable amount of time has gone by. In this case, about 40 minutes. If I spend 40 minutes on the treadmill I would probably run 2.8 miles. And I think that's pretty good for my first improv workout day.
In those 40 minutes I completed:
Ballet Beautiful: Ab workout for a slim waistline
Since I worked quite a bit on my butt yesterday, and I am doing the April arms challenge, I thought a nice ab workout would be nice. And it was only 7 minutes, so I had hoped that it would be short but intense. Well, it was short. And I don't know if I'm just not doing the moves right, or whatever, I didn't really feel my abs burning. Rather my upper thighs got a heavy dose and were hurting by the end. Not a very satisfying workout; I didn't even break a sweat or lost control with my breathing. Maybe I'll stick with Blogilates for the abs, but I'll wait and see how intense the legs and hips video is. Those are usually pretty intense.
Ballet Beautiful: Strong&Sexy Swan Arms Workout
I broke my own taboo and did an arm video next. I already did my arms challenge for today and really didn't feel a thing. I knew this video was going to be good since my friend had done it before and said it was brutal. It's long too, about 17 minutes. And she filled the entire 17 minutes with endless swan arms and its variations. It was brutal. My arms felt like lead by the end of the workout and I assume I will feel them quite acutely tomorrow. But it's about an hour after I did the arms video and my arms no longer feel like lead. I can feel every muscles, as all of them got a proper workout, but so far no horrific sore like that Blogilates video I did last week (1 minute of half cobra push-up + 1 minute of triangle push-up can make the back of your arms hurt for a week and I'm not kidding). But overall very satisfying and will definitely do it again, maybe on running days.
Blogilates 10 min butt lift challenge
Broke my taboo again. This is part of the April 1 workout, which was all about butts and hips. I thought, why not. It's evident that I'm not going to follow everything on the calendar, and I might as well start with 4/1 again even though it's already 4/5 (how time flies already). This video was made a few months back as part of the 30-day butt challenge, and therefore I was familiar with all the moves. It was intense, especially after the workout I already had yesterday. I was able to do most of the video except the very end when Cassey totally surprised me after the bridge pose and added the single leg bridges. If I wasn't tired out I would attempt to make it to the end, but I just couldn't. So I didn't. For me it was more like a 9 minute butt lift challenge. But whatever.
Blogiates Hips Butt&Thighs Super Shaper Workout
It's also part of the 4/1 list. There were two other bubble butt workout but I just couldn't. This one had some other components that the workout targeted so I thought why not. And it did. Lots of leg circles and lifts and tapping the front and back and doing side planks (which I cannot do). Also some back leg lift for butt. Nothing to difficult to do (except the side planks) and my butt is seriously hurting now. I was going to go for the full hour but after this I thought it was enough for a day.
The shower afterwards was really nice.
So that wasn't too bad. I think using time instead of sets and reps and things to-do works much better, and I really should have known since it was applicable to running as well. We'll just have to see how it will go during the weekend when shit again hits the fan and life spins into crazy mode.
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