Wednesday, January 10, 2007

The Journey of Fitness

Sometimes I over think things that usually have simple solutions. With my body I am still learning how to listen to it and apply what I know to be right. And what is "right" has changed over the years. Becomming aware of my body's limitations and capibilities has and will continue to be a "journey", as it will be for you. The important quality of course is to start the journey in the first place. While taking a Bikram's Yoga class I thought of this Journey concept, and how important it is to challenge your body in many ways. The thing I liked about the class was that it really gets you in tune with your body (actually you have to crawl inside each joint, muscle and nerve) and see and feel your body. To take the time to really FEEL what is going on in your body is amazing. I loved it! I love the JOURNEY! Do you?

Tuesday

Bikram's Yoga

Monday Training

A-1 See Saw Press

Double 24kg 1 x 5/5
Double 24kg 4 x 5/5

B-1 Chin Ups

24kg 4 x 4

Short and Sweet

4 comments:

Tracy Reifkind said...

I have a "love / hate" relationship with Bikram yoga!

Because I live with Mark, he explains all that's wrong with many of the poses and how they take you into them is wrong.

Most of the teachers only know the "dialouge" they don't know the mechanics. For instance they will tell you "to" get further into a pose but not "how" to get further into a pose! One of my favorite examples of this is in "balancing stick pose" that's where you step forward on one leg, hinge at the hip with arms overhead, biceps glued to your ears and attempt to bring your upper body paralell along with your back leg paralell. The teachers wil instruct "Get your body down, get your body down, body paralell to the floor" But not "how" to do that!

I'm sure they don't know "how". So I have less respect for that especially since I'm married to a Master Teacher!

Anyway, Mark and I have an interesting arguement on my blog post "Ahhh Yoga" in the comment section. If you haven't read it I would be interested in your thoughts about it.

I'm excited to start a different style of yoga this morning, but I still love sweating my ass off in Bikram! TR

Tommy Shook said...

Franz, I don't have too much experience with yoga so i won't comment on that aspect.
Regarding the constant change that takes place and the "journey" concept, I am right there with you. If there is one thing that I have learned its that everything changes over time. There will be periods of intensity, grinding and unwinding. Some things will loose value while others will increase their's. It all comes down to what is working for you at the time, what you are trying to accomplish and most importantly how much you are enjoying all of it. Things like frequent colds, nagging injuries, bad moods etc. are all signals (at least to me) that what I am doing isn't being productive to my overall cause...enhanced quality of life. So, to make a short story even longer;) Its always about the journey to me.

Franz Snideman said...

Thanks for the feedback Tracy. I have only taken a couple of classes and so far I like it. I have to be very careful with my low back so I don't always listen to what the teacher says anyway. My objective for taking the class was to find something more relaxing than my usual power and strength training sessions. It really seemed to calm me down and mellow me out a bit.

What you said about the instructors, and most Yoga instructors is true. They know the "fancy words" to say, they do not know the machanics and methods for actually doing it. What helps someone like you or me is that we allready have a good base of biomechanical wisdom to know what to do.

Franz Snideman said...

Tom,

the journey is the key. Making sure that the training is "Eustress" and not distress. You are right on about what works at the time is what you need to be focusing on. The late Mel Siff encouraged athletes to monitor there emotional and mental state prior to training. He also encouraged people to use what he called the Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE), that is how a particular weight feels on any given day.

Ultimately it is about the Journey and the integrity and character we develop on the way. The Bible teaches that life is a journey and God says very clearly that the only thing you bring with you into Eternity is the character you build down here on earth, and fitness is a definitely a character builder :)