My New Gym: MIMM 108

May 15, 2017 by Alicia 2 Comments

My weekend wasn’t very exciting. It was quite rainy Saturday so all I did was go out to the grocery store, make cookies and read some of my new book.

I figure I have time right now so I am using it to invest in me and taking the first step towards the NASM personal training and just learning some anatomy first. It should also help my yoga and I have my yoga anatomy book too. I read Heather (lifeinleggings) post and she said it was a great book. Plus who doesn’t love coloring while studying?!

After mostly sitting Saturday, I could not sleep in the evening. I was too antsy and had too many thoughts roaming in my head. I don’t think I got to sleep until after midnight and I still woke up at 6am.

Sunday morning I headed to an 8:30 yoga class. It was so nice to be in a class and get some good stretches after my workout Friday. Friday was squat day and chair pose is really tough after squat day. I needed to get off some energy and rain was forecasted for the afternoon so I decided to head out for a walk shortly after 11. I basically walked and typed this post up on my phone. Walks lately bring up so many ideas and thoughts and I can’t remember them after until I am trying to fall asleep. Writing and walking was perfect for clearing my head and I got back just in time for thunder, rain and hail to start. Yes hail in May!! This weather lately has been crazy. Looking forward to hitting 80 degrees this week.

Since my weekend wasn’t too exciting, I thought I would talk about my new gym and workout plans.

I joined a gym, a “real gym” just weights and a bathroom. No showers, no classes, no pool. Of course I love all those luxury things but what I have realized is I struggle without weightlifting in my life. I love yoga to compliment my weight lifting and remind me to breathe and relax. I love a challenging yoga workshop getting deep into my mind and thoughts and releasing.

workout shirt I wore to my training Friday to remind me to dig deep. also a great reminder for yoga though

But weight lifting makes me feel confident and strong in different ways and my body responses well to it. Actually because I didn’t weight lift for the last 5 months (with traveling) my shoulder is bothering me more than ever. I should write a post about it but I have shoulder bursitis in my right shoulder. It currently bothers me on drives longer than an hour (yes it was painful to drive to Iowa and back and then Ohio, Buffalo and Binghamton). Too many push ups bother it so I decided I should take a break from push ups and focus on just plank for now. I do a few chaturangas here and there but I modify when needed. I can’t run. I mean I couldn’t really before but last year just being consistent with weight lifting helped me to run about a mile pain free. Jumping tends to aggravate my shoulder which is why I don’t do much HIIT training. I loved my traveling but I have yet to figure out how to do my shoulder exercises on the road very well. I can’t exactly travel with dumbbells. Maybe I will have to figure out band exercises as that is more portable.

Anyway I am so happy to be back to weight lifting and incorporating deadlifts again starting with kettle bell deadlift which I think is a great first step back to them. This is an exercise I have specifically avoided for a few years because I always question my form. I signed up for 2 personal training sessions at the gym to learn a basic 6 week program I will follow to get back to weightlifting. After 6 weeks, I will probably go back to the personal trainer and see if she can write me a powerlifting program. I have been following FitGirlMoves and have been really inspired to powerlift, especially since squats, bench and deadlifts is where I started with weightlifting with Brian in 2010. Unfortunately once I moved to Philly, I couldn’t really find a gym that worked well for powerlifting and I had limited time. I am hoping I will have a shorter commute once I find a job. I will also be back to a driving commute since there are no trains in Binghamton and hopefully that will make it easier to go to the gym after work.

So weightlifting and yoga will be my current focus in terms of workouts. I am also looking around for yoga subbing or teaching and plan to focus on that this week by checking out other studios.

balance t shirt — working on finding balance in my life always

Whenever I have a bunch of free time I tend to go to the gym more frequently and I am happy to have a partially structured gym plan at the moment. It is only 2 days a week but I plan to go there at least 4 days and do accessory work such as my shoulder exercises and maybe some abs and light cardio. Ideally I want to go 6 days a week but I don’t want to overdo it as I get back into things. On other days I plan to take long walks and maybe get some of my own yoga in outside again as the weather warms up.

Linking up with Katie for MIMM.

What is your favorite workout?

Workouts Through Australia and New Zealand

April 11, 2017 by Alicia Leave a Comment

I spent 3 months traveling around Australia and New Zealand. While I knew I wouldn’t be doing my weightlifting while traveling, I did want to incorporate some exercise in addition to just walking around new cities. I focused on looking for yoga studios and pools. Australia has many outdoor 50m pools which I love to swim in because A) you are outside and B) it is more challenging to swim 50m than 25 yds or m which tend to be the standard American size.

Below you will find my list of places I stopped in throughout my trip. If you are planning to backpack or travel for a long period around Australia or New Zealand (which I highly recommend) then these are some places you can check out if you are into yoga or swimming. Also note there are tons of different yoga studios in most of the big cities, these are just the ones I chose.

Sydney Australia

Potts Point – Body Mind Life yoga

Drop in $26 or month intro pass available $58 for yoga only

We stayed in Potts Point for 2 weeks and I started by doing yoga youtube videos since we had pretty good wifi in our apartment but then I was craving a class. I found this place near our apartment towards the end of our stay. A drop in rate of around $20-25 seemed to be most common in the Sydney area. Though I did feel it was overpriced, I did enjoy the class. The studio is very nice with changing rooms and lockers available for no additional cost. If I had found the place towards the beginning of our stay I probably would have done one of the intro 1 month offers which were between $58 and $75 depending which classes you planned to attend.

North Sydney Olympic Pool

Swimmer $7.80, spectator rate $2.50

If you are looking for an awesome place to swim, Sydney has multiple olympic size (50m) pools and even better, they are outdoor pools! A drop in rate for this pool just next to the Harbour bridge is $7.80. I also loved that they had a spectator rate at $2.50 so that I didn’t need to pay the swim rate for Brian as he was just watching.

Melbourne Australia

Melbourne pilates and yoga

$59 intro for 2 weeks, most classes $25 drop in

Since we were staying for a week and they had a variety of classes at 7am, I got the intro pass for $59. I ended up going to 5 classes in one week so it was well worth it for me. With the intro pass you can also go to 1 pilates X class (a small group class using pilates reformers to work out). I did pilates X, 2 mat pilates and 2 yoga classes. All were great and it was perfect to work up a bit of a sweat in the morning before going out. I definitely noticed my abs and glutes getting stronger through the week too.

Melbourne City Baths swimming

Swimmer $6.40

This place was perfectly around the corner from our hotel so I went swimming one day instead of the pilates place. The place was built in the 1860s and it is a gorgeous building (it was redone in the early 1900s). During most of my swim I had to share a lane and it was difficult sometimes as the lanes are skinny. Then again I prefer my own lane so it could just be me. Still I recommend the place if you are looking for somewhere to swim. There is also a gym if you are staying in the area for a while or want to pay the drop in rate for that.

Adelaide Australia

Aleetna BARRE

Drop in $22

I was able to do a yoga barre class here and enjoyed the mix of vinyasa yoga with some ballet barre moves. Very nice studio on the end of Rundle Mall area.

Tip: register online for the class as they don’t really have a front desk person.

Adelaide aquatic center

Swimmer $8.20

Didn’t have time to go here but the pool offers a 50m swimming pool certain hours during the week, otherwise 25m when they split the pool. There are also water slides, but I am not sure if those cost extra.

Brisbane Australia

Musgrave Park Pool

Swimmer $5.40

Beautiful 50m outdoor pool and during the weekday I had a full lane to myself as it wasn’t that busy. Highly recommend if you love going for a morning swim.

Core power yoga west end

Drop in $20

When we extended our stay in Brisbane, I decided to check out this yoga studio. It was a wonderful vinyasa class that I felt was at my level with a few challenging poses.

Feel Good Fitness at SouthBank Brisbane

We happened to be in Brisbane the opening weekend of their free fitness classes from March to May so I went to a yoga class on Saturday morning at SouthBank.

Noosa Heads Australia

Noosa Yoga Center

Drop in $20

We happened to be in Noosa Heads the weekend of the surf competition and the Noosa Yoga Center was leading free yoga classes on the beach. The Noosa Yoga Center is located right in town and easy to get to, so if you aren’t there during the surf week, you can definitely drop in and check them out.

New Zealand

Queenstown New Zealand

Alpine Aqualand Queenstown

$8 for pool, +$5 for waterslides

Craving a workout and something to do as we approached Queenstown, we made our first stop at Alpine Aqualand. $8 for an entry to the pool and if you want to use the waterslides, an extra $5 is all it costs. This place was perfect for Brian and I, since I had the lap pool and he was able to hang out in the lazy river and use the slides.

Nelson New Zealand

Hot Yoga Nelson

Drop in $18 + mat rental $2

We were driving through Nelson around noon one day and after sitting in a campervan for nearly 2 weeks I needed to stretch. I found a class just as we were coming into town for the afternoon and really enjoyed this small studio. Nelson is a cute little town I wish we had had more than 4 hours in the town.

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My workouts were in no way consistent when traveling and yes it is a bit pricey to pay all the drop in rates for yoga studios, but it is something I invest in. I am always more motivated to do yoga when I am in a class setting. While I know I have lost quite a bit of muscle through my travels, I was happy with fitting in these workouts when possible. I always feel better when I start my day with a workout. Melbourne was probably the best as I was consistent for a week, but most places we were only around for a few days so consistency is hard.

Don’t beat yourself up about it if you are traveling for a long period of time. I really did learn to live in the present and be happy with the little things each day because I was so grateful to be exploring the world.

Do you workout when traveling?

Yoga Workshop Fridays: Lizard Pose

December 30, 2016 by Alicia 1 Comment

Welcome to yoga workshop Fridays! Don’t know what I am talking about, check out this post.

This series will be each Friday explaining how to do a particular pose leading up to a peak pose on the last Friday of the month. Throughout this series, I ask that you listen to your body to prevent injury and warm up for a pose when needed.

Disclaimer: Though I am a certified yoga instructor, please consult your doctor before you begin practice and note that everyone’s practice may look a bit different as you align the pose to your body.

It’s often said that we hold a lot of tension in our hips and I believe that to be true. Times seem to be more stressful during the holiday season and I hope that these hip openers have helped you. I find by holding pigeon pose for a while and imagining sending my breath into my hips as I hold the pose makes me feel better. As we conclude this month and head into the new year, I wanted to bring in one more hip opener, lizard (Utthan Pristhasana). Lizard has many similar benefits to pigeon pose, but also strengthens the thigh as you are almost holding a low lunge.

How to do the pose:

Begin in a low lunge. Bring your hands inside the front foot and toe heel your front foot out to the side. Lower the back knee down. You have the option to stay here with straight arms or begin to lower down to the elbows, keeping the arms parallel. Make sure that your spine stays long as you lower down.

To make it more challenging, lift the back knee off the ground. Breathe into the hips here, allowing the hips to loosen up.

This is a pose that I like to hold for a full 2 minutes when I can. However long you decided to hold for, to release out of the pose, inhale to slowing come onto the hands if you were down on the forearms. Then walk the fingertips back towards your hips and slowly straighten the front leg taking half split pose as a counter pose. Try to keep the hips level as you take this pose. Then inhale back to low lunge and take downdog and come into low lunge on the second side to flow into lizard pose.

Props

If you want to work on lowering down to your elbows, you can place your elbows on two blocks.

Benefits:

Opens the groins and hip flexors
Strengthens thigh muscles on front leg
Strengthens hamstrings
Relieves stress

Share your pose on Instagram, tagging @bridgesthroughlife and hashtags #bridgesthroughlife #yogaworkshopFridays

I hope you enjoy this series. If you have any suggestions for what poses you would like me to break down, I would love to hear from you. Leave a comment or send me an email [email protected]

Yoga Workshop Fridays: Pigeon Pose

December 23, 2016 by Alicia Leave a Comment

Welcome to yoga workshop Fridays! Don’t know what I am talking about, check out this post.

Happy Friday! Today we are talking about pigeon pose or eka pada rajakapotasana in sandskrit which translates to one footed king pigeon pose. The full version of this pose involves bending the back knee and grabbing the back foot and maybe even bringing it to your head. However, I am just going to talk about the pose with the back leg on the ground. If you are more advanced and want to work on grabbing the back foot, please go ahead and do so.

In my classes, I usually have my students go into pigeon from downdog. You can also set up by starting on all fours. If you are taking the downdog route, I like to warm up and then do a few downdog crunches. Once you have warmed up as this is a deep stretch for the hips, you can follow the steps below. I also have included some prop suggestions. If you are not warmed up enough or a beginner to this pose, I highly suggest the props.

How to do the pose

Begin in downdog, inhale the right leg up for downdog split. Exhale as you bring the knee behind the right wrist. For beginners, keep the foot closer to the hip. If you want more of a stretch, bring the foot out so that it is closer to parallel. Make sure to flex the foot to protect the knee. Lower the back knee to the mat and untuck the toes so that he ties are pointing straight back. Keep your weight centered over the hips so that you are not falling to one side. If your hip is lifted off the ground a lot, you may consider a block to sit on (see props below).

Sit up tall through the spin and if you feel comfortable, begin to lower onto your forearms or extend your arms out in front of you and bring your forehead down to the mat. Make sure to remember to breathe and keep the weight between the hips over the center.

To get out of the pose, slowly walk your hands back in towards your knees, press your hands into the ground as you carefully lift your front leg up and back to downdog split. Then release the foot back down to the ground and go to the other side.

Props

There a few ways you can use props in this pose. Firstly you can put a blanket under your back knee. You can also use a blanket under your hips if you find it lifting a bit. If your hip is really high, place a block (maybe even two) under your hip as I show in the photo.

Another option – Figure 4 pose

If you find that pigeon pose is too much on your hip or knees, feel free to take it on your back. Lie down on your back and cross one ankle over the opposite thigh. Weave your hands through and pull that thigh towards you for figure 4 pose on your back.

Benefits:

Stretch groins and psoas
Opens hip joint
Stimulates internal organs
Increases hip flexibility

Share your pose on Instagram, tagging @bridgesthroughlife and hashtags #bridgesthroughlife #yogaworkshopFridays

I hope you enjoy this series. If you have any suggestions for what poses you would like me to break down, I would love to hear from you. Leave a comment or send me an email [email protected]

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