Yay me

[abka]

Yay me, I finished my workout goals for week 1. We'll see how it goes next week when classes start again. Today I even went for a jog/run. I'm trying to acclimate myself to running since once my landlady comes back (I don't know when) I won't be able to do my tapes and running is the next easiest thing to do. While I haven't really liked running in the past (if I had the money I'd take a dance class) today it felt pretty good. I even dug out my long-neglected heart rate monitor and used it to do intervals. I came back feeling good, like I had worked hard, but not wanting to die, and my knees didn't even ache. Plus Denis made this yummy fried rice with veggies and tofu (tofu! and I didn't even ask for it). Lunch is reminding me of Collis. Now I need to start doing schoolwork again.

Comments

[abka.livejournal.com]

Your soup sounds so yummy!

I agree that if exercise makes you feel horrible you're not going to keep it up. I actually took a yoga class at Dartmouth but dropped out after 3 classes because I hated it so much. There is a 5 minute yoga section to one of my workout tapes and I do some yoga-inspired stretches now, but I think that's about all I can handle. Part of my frustration is that I don't know if I'm doing the positions correctly. All those years of dance with the wall of mirrors and the instructor coming over and moving your legs to a much more painful (but correct) position has made it difficult for me to just sense if everything's aligned correctly.

[mrsjadephoenix.livejournal.com]

Congratulations on finishing your week of exercise! And I agree with Bayard - it's good not to destroy yourself early on, because it only discourages you.

That's too bad that you didn't enjoy yoga. Yoga is deceptively difficult - not to mention there are so many different branches, and instructors can really vary on what they emphasize. I do yoga occasionally on tape/DVD, so while the instructors are constantly reminding me how to breathe and to tuck in my stomach and keep my shoulders down, etc., I don't actually have any nitpicky person forcing me into positions that my body isn't ready to go into yet.

I think the most important thing about yoga is not to kill yourself doing it. Certainly you should push yourself and make sure your muscles are working, but if it gets painful or uncomfortable, it's probably doing more harm than good. I mean, the human body has evolved those pain-sensing mechanisms over millions of years for a reason. ;-) One of the instructors on my tapes even says, "The important thing about yoga is to feel good and relax, so if you feel yourself tensing up or straining, take it easy!"