There is pain in Yoga

In my quest to be a healthier and more fit person I decided to take part in the Yoga class at the gym. Now, I had done yoga some time ago and remember it as being a good workout with an amazingly relaxing ending. My memory was obviously shaded in some kind of rosy haze.

8:00pm- I walk into the classroom and immediately notice that I'm the only one there without breasts...hummm.

8:02pm- The instructor, Valerie, says hello and explains that we would be doing some stretching and some power yoga (I had no idea what power yoga was) and reminds everyone not to push it to an uncomfortable level... hummm.

8:03pm- We started with some slow neck rotations, nothing major. A little stretching to warm up. It actually felt great. We then moved on to what she called some lengthening poses whereby you have to stand on both feet, legs straight, reach down and place your hands on the floor and push your back up toward the ceiling... I will refer to this as an attempt to break you in half and it just went downhill from there... OMG!

8:50pm- Finally a reprieve. We laid down on our mats, facing up, hands to the sides, palms up. She had some really soft music playing as she took us through relaxing every muscle in our bodies. Now this... this part right here... this makes it worth it.

Seriously though, this is an excellent workout. I poured more sweat in 1 hour of yoga than I have in the last 3 months. I felt great, more energized at the end of the class. I would recommend Yoga to anyone looking for a very low impact, yet intense workout. I can't wait for next week's class. In the mean time, there's a Kick Boxing class I want to try... more pain coming this way.

LA Fitness

Let the soreness begin! I finally decided on a place to work out. I picked LA Fitness because they have no contracts, the place looks clean and the people there seem to be more interested in working out than in staring at those not looking like Silvester Stallone as if we were from another planet.

My first day was with a trainer. If you've ever signed up for a gym, you know this routine. They "give" you a health evaluation with a personal fitness trainer to set your goals and see what you want to achieve. What they don't tell you is that this is nothing more than a way to make sure these guys get potential clients. That "one hour" really is 30 minutes of exercise on 2-3 pieces of equipment followed by 30 minutes of sales. I have nothing against this, except that the pricing is kind of ridiculous. $60.00 PER HOUR with a minimum plan of 4 hours a week... that's $240.00 PER WEEK.... that's more than the gym itself!!

Oh well, at least I found out what my percentage of body fat was. But I'm not telling. Let's just say that I'd like to get to 16% and I'm far, far away from it. Today I go back for some much needed cardio an a little upper body work out. My weight-in is this Thursday, right before my vacation trip to Mexico. I'll keep you posted on how much damage I cause while I'm there, stay tuned.

Off we go...with Weight Watchers

After a year without smoking, I felt it was time for the next challenge in my quest to become a healthier, better me. So, two weeks ago I started Weight Watchers and working out at home. Since blogging helped me keep my focus when I quit smoking, I decided to blog my progress in this new journey. That's me on the right holding my biggest motivator, my baby son.

I have to confess, this is my second go at Weight Watchers. On my first try, I lost quite a bit of weight and managed to keep it off for almost 2 years until I re-married. For some reason the, "I don't have to impress anyone now" mentality took over and I truly let myself go. I gained all my weight back, and then some. My final draw came when I looked at the Christmas pictures and felt horrible about it. I am taking this challenge with the same focus I did on my previous one. One day at a time, one craving at a time. Hopefully I'll be able to achieve this as well.

So, if I started two weeks ago, what's happened since? On my first week I lost 5.6 lbs, even after not following the program perfectly. I think I became overconfident and relaxed a little for my second week. Had some stuff I really shouldn't have and, although I managed to not gain any weight, not losing was a disappointment.

Rather than get all upset though, it's given me more focus. Form now on I'm sticking with it. By this time next year, I'll be at my goal and feeling and looking good. In the mean time, I need to make it through today... wish me luck, or better yet, join me in my journey.