I'm visiting NOLA and conveniently, there is a Gold's like, 5 min away from my parent's house. It's a new gym, so they are pretty aggressively "welcoming" people and luckily, I have a good amt of personal training sessions left, so I was able to side step that conversation.
But I was able to get my measurements, so that was good.
Here are my beginning measurements when I started in WS:
My chest is 34 (before I started working out, I was a 32)
Waist 34 (i feel like this might be big, it doesn't look as wide as my chest, but it's my true waist at the belly button)
Hips 42 (no surprise there)
Thigh - 26 (what my waist was when I was 18)
Arms 14 (starting measurement- 11)
Calves - probably about 16 - always big.
Here's my measurements now:
My BMI was 28% which was good, I haven't been under 30 in a long time.
My fat percent was at 37% - sigh. I will really have to really diet for this bullshit to go down. My trainer here is pretty aggressive, she wants me to get down to 25%.
Neck: 12.5in
Chest: 36.5in. she did it including the boobs, whereas in WS, under the boob was measured, I think. (I'm currently fitting into a smaller bra, btw)
Shoulder width: 43in ( I wonder what the average is)
Waist: 30.5in (woo! 4 inches smaller!) - Trainer wants my waist to get down to 25inches. I wonder if that's even possible.
Hips: 41in (1 inch smaller!)
Thighs: Left: 23 Right: 23 (3 inches! LOTS SMALLER!)
Calf: L: 15.5 R: 16 (I wonder if my knee thing is making my calf smaller)
Biceps: L: 11.5 R: 11 (3 inches smaller and way more defined!)
Overall, I'm happy to see some concrete progress! My clothes have been fitting slightly looser, and my waist has become more defined. It was so much work, though. I definitely am going to have to take the mantra of, "nothing tastes as good as not having to do stair intervals feels"
Monday, September 29, 2014
Thursday, September 25, 2014
Circus Freak
I'm visiting New Orleans for the next few weeks and I'm pretty into taking advantage of the things I can do now that I haven't been able to since I've been away.
#1 - Take a circus arts class.
Right when I started traveling a lot, LA Motion opened up and it offers all kinds of awesome aerial classes. Since I'm in good shape from all my training sessions, I felt that I was ready to take one. I decided to go to the beginner lyra class. The lyra is where you weave yourself in and out of a hoop suspended from the ceiling. It's really beautiful.
I went, not really knowing what to expect and prepared to work out as usual: including drinking a pre-workout drink. It was 7pm and I wanted to be able to focus.
I was worried about my flexibility, I'm at 30% of what I used to be. I had felt it slipping away over the course of the HiiT and weight training, unfortunately. But you gotta start somewhere. I hung in there during the warmup:
running laps around the gym floor, (the springy floor was heaven on my wonky knee), 10 burpees, floor stretches, floor ab work - these are what I think I will remember to do:
lay down > up to pike > down > up to pilates V > down > up reach through wide leg split. That's 1 rep. We did 10.
Downward dog > lift leg up > bring in to nose 10 each leg
hip flexor stretches
lots of loosening up and warming up major joints - hips, neck, back.
Splits.
I CAN STILL DO THE SPLITS.
backbend - hurt my wrists, but otherwise, can still do.
I know that if I hadn't been working out so much before, I would not have made it through the warmup.
Then we got on the hoop to warm up. Hanging shoulder shrugs 10, I was thanking all those shoulder reps right bout now.
But then getting on the hoop.
That playground monkey bar move where you raise your legs up and loop your knees over the bar? I seem to have lost that ability sometime after the 4th grade. I could not make my body do it. Much less do the hamstring pulsing warmup. It's a lot to align and think about, so I did it lying down on the floor so that I could get the idea of it.
Then it was time for a simple sequence on the hoop.
This time, it was a side mount. Hold the top of the hoop, pull myself up, straddle, hook one leg up, straddle the bar, turn and then hook your other leg, and drop down, holding on to the bottom of the hoop with one hand.
This time, I was able to to get up on the hoop this way pretty easily. I was quite excite at this point, and loving my bulky shoulders. I dropped down and while I wasn't very graceful, I had gotten the mechanics of the sequence.
But then the spinning of the hoop. I started getting dizzy. Quickly. So I dropped off, and got my center. After a few minutes, I was ready for another move.
This time, it was the mount that I cannot do into a mermaid. She spotted me up into the hoop, grab the top with one hand, turn outwards and you're basically in a side plank with your ankles behind the hoop and your body is in front of the hoop. Then back to seat, and other side. Again, once I got on the hoop, I was able to do them.
But the spinning. I have no control over the hoop yet, of course. After this, I was REALLY DIZZY. Like, worse than than the drunk room spins.
I laid myself out on the floor to try and regroup. But then I started sweating. This isn't going to be good. I ran to the bathroom and promptly threw up. Twice. No more pre workout for me before lyra class. But I felt better - enough to drive home, anyway. Once I got home, I went straight up to bed and tried to sleep it off. 4am later, I was still dizzy and nauseated and burping up stomach acid.
I probably should have taken into account my ridiculously sensitive motion sickness trigger. I mean, I get sick if I'm in downward dog too long. What made me think I could spin around in a hoop? ARGH.
But, BUT. The good stuff is that I actually felt really strong. One of the things my instructor said to me was, "don't hang from your hands, hang from your shoulders" and I totally could do that. Which is funny, bc I think my shoulders are one of my weaker spots. I always fatigue out halfway through an arms zumba routine.
Anyway, my shoulders.My big bulky shoulders shone today. I could hoist myself up onto the hoop much more easily than I expected.
What I do have to work on are pullups. If I can do pullups, I think I can get up into the hoop from underneath.
And SPLITS. I CAN STILL DO SPLITS. That might be the most exciting part.
#1 - Take a circus arts class.
Right when I started traveling a lot, LA Motion opened up and it offers all kinds of awesome aerial classes. Since I'm in good shape from all my training sessions, I felt that I was ready to take one. I decided to go to the beginner lyra class. The lyra is where you weave yourself in and out of a hoop suspended from the ceiling. It's really beautiful.
I went, not really knowing what to expect and prepared to work out as usual: including drinking a pre-workout drink. It was 7pm and I wanted to be able to focus.
I was worried about my flexibility, I'm at 30% of what I used to be. I had felt it slipping away over the course of the HiiT and weight training, unfortunately. But you gotta start somewhere. I hung in there during the warmup:
running laps around the gym floor, (the springy floor was heaven on my wonky knee), 10 burpees, floor stretches, floor ab work - these are what I think I will remember to do:
lay down > up to pike > down > up to pilates V > down > up reach through wide leg split. That's 1 rep. We did 10.
Downward dog > lift leg up > bring in to nose 10 each leg
hip flexor stretches
lots of loosening up and warming up major joints - hips, neck, back.
Splits.
I CAN STILL DO THE SPLITS.
backbend - hurt my wrists, but otherwise, can still do.
I know that if I hadn't been working out so much before, I would not have made it through the warmup.
Then we got on the hoop to warm up. Hanging shoulder shrugs 10, I was thanking all those shoulder reps right bout now.
But then getting on the hoop.
That playground monkey bar move where you raise your legs up and loop your knees over the bar? I seem to have lost that ability sometime after the 4th grade. I could not make my body do it. Much less do the hamstring pulsing warmup. It's a lot to align and think about, so I did it lying down on the floor so that I could get the idea of it.
Then it was time for a simple sequence on the hoop.
This time, it was a side mount. Hold the top of the hoop, pull myself up, straddle, hook one leg up, straddle the bar, turn and then hook your other leg, and drop down, holding on to the bottom of the hoop with one hand.
This time, I was able to to get up on the hoop this way pretty easily. I was quite excite at this point, and loving my bulky shoulders. I dropped down and while I wasn't very graceful, I had gotten the mechanics of the sequence.
But then the spinning of the hoop. I started getting dizzy. Quickly. So I dropped off, and got my center. After a few minutes, I was ready for another move.
This time, it was the mount that I cannot do into a mermaid. She spotted me up into the hoop, grab the top with one hand, turn outwards and you're basically in a side plank with your ankles behind the hoop and your body is in front of the hoop. Then back to seat, and other side. Again, once I got on the hoop, I was able to do them.
But the spinning. I have no control over the hoop yet, of course. After this, I was REALLY DIZZY. Like, worse than than the drunk room spins.
I laid myself out on the floor to try and regroup. But then I started sweating. This isn't going to be good. I ran to the bathroom and promptly threw up. Twice. No more pre workout for me before lyra class. But I felt better - enough to drive home, anyway. Once I got home, I went straight up to bed and tried to sleep it off. 4am later, I was still dizzy and nauseated and burping up stomach acid.
I probably should have taken into account my ridiculously sensitive motion sickness trigger. I mean, I get sick if I'm in downward dog too long. What made me think I could spin around in a hoop? ARGH.
But, BUT. The good stuff is that I actually felt really strong. One of the things my instructor said to me was, "don't hang from your hands, hang from your shoulders" and I totally could do that. Which is funny, bc I think my shoulders are one of my weaker spots. I always fatigue out halfway through an arms zumba routine.
Anyway, my shoulders.My big bulky shoulders shone today. I could hoist myself up onto the hoop much more easily than I expected.
What I do have to work on are pullups. If I can do pullups, I think I can get up into the hoop from underneath.
And SPLITS. I CAN STILL DO SPLITS. That might be the most exciting part.
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