Tag Archives: success

D17

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Strength yoga today, and there are SO many improvements I’m kind of shocked:

  • downward-facing dog? I can do it, and hold it. My heels are much closer to the floor, and my hips and legs don’t have trouble holding the pose. As the sequences went on, my heels millimetered closer to the floor. I don’t think it’ll be too much longer until they’re flat. This feels like such a good thing, since I used to do these with absolutely no problem.
  • last time? crapping out during Sequence 3. This time? Middle of Sequence 4 before the crapping-out started, and it was really due to my lower back starting to get in trouble. I learned I needed to modify a pose because it was the problem movement, but not in time.
  • holding form, oh yeah. I can hold it so much better. I can breathe, and hold the poses, and think about what I’m doing rather than just kind of freaking out hoping I can make it to the end.

What’s extremely notable to me is the weakness on my left side. I struggled but held triangle pose as long as the instructor did (which was about 1,000 minutes), but I did it without losing form. When it was time to do it on the other side, I kept almost falling over. I look forward to improvement on that side.

 

D14

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And I arrive at the last day of my 2nd week! What makes me happiest about it:

  • I’m more excited than I was on Day 1, not less. Now I daydream about doing plank.
  • I can hold plank for 11 seconds, and when I started I could only do 5.
  • I’ve already had to level up on my beginner’s squats.
  • My pants are looser, but my weight has not changed. (YAY!)
  • I’m better able to do yoga, I guess my hamstrings are loosening up from their clench? Would that be why?
  • I feel my abdominal muscles. By which I mean, I do not feel them wobbling around, instead I am aware of feeling them as muscles.
  • I’m wearing a camisole tucked into my jeans (with a little orange cardigan), and a belt. And I don’t feel humiliated by my stomach so much.

What is still very hard, and what I feel like I haven’t really gotten very far with, relates to eating. I’m still not able to eat as much as I should be eating, and after my talk with Marnie this morning I realized that I really do have some kind of eating disorder, though not awfully. But I can’t bear the thought of eating a small lunch — I get kind of terrified by it — because I’ll get fat. I need to look into how this kind of problem is best dealt with. I do think Marnie’s right, though: as I expend more energy, as my training program levels up and expands, I’ll just become hungrier and it will at least partially resolve itself.

Today:

  • ↑modified squats — 3 sets of 12; I did both the 2nd and 3rd set without the chair (back rigid, abs clenched!), thinking hard about form. I have to keep thinking about it, and read more (my assignment), but I did it and don’t think my form was too bad.
  • modified push-ups — 3 sets of 10, similar to the last time (i.e., deeper than when I started, but not more than that yet).
  • ↑plank — held for 11 seconds (!). I held very good form, and it was extremely hard and extremely great. But I need to not expect myself to do it a second longer each time I do it. Today was on the outer edge of hard, whispering into too-hard’s ear.
  • side plank — still not up, held for 11 seconds and my hip still just was a hair from the floor.
  • ↑hip thrusts — 3 sets of 5 held to the count of 10. Very very hard, my thighs were burning and my butt was burning too.
  • leg raises — 3 sets of 15 on each leg.