Run Jen Run

Sometimes you win, sometimes the squats win. This time the squats won. I managed to injure my right knee during last Tuesday’s class to the point where walking up and down stairs hurt. I rested it, and I made sure not to do any squatting or lunging motions until tonight’s Total Body Conditioning class. Lo and behold, the second I bend to do a warm-up squat, the pain is back. So I’m not taking any chances this time. I’m icing, and I’m off of leg exercises (not counting the elliptical) until this coming Monday. Heal, damn you!

I went for an hour of vinyasa yoga today with my favorite teacher, Aya. I can’t believe I’m actually in a position to make this comment, but I cannot wait until all the starry-eyed newbie gym goers decide to give up around March and my class is less crowded. It was absolutely packed today.

I tried to do the full chaturanga tricep push-up, but my right elbow started having sharp pains about halfway through the class, so I switched to the easier knees/chest/chin sequence during the vinyasa flows. I did manage a decent dancer’s pose (above), so I’m proud of that!

(image via Master the Shift)

Halasana, or plow pose, looks very awkward to be in, but I promise it’s not bad at all! You get a great stretch on your back. In my continuing effort to get back to a regular (and frequent) exercise schedule, I did 3 miles in 40 minutes on the elliptical followed by a little more than an hour of power yoga with Nancy. I feel wonderfully refreshed. :)

(image via American Observer)

Sorry I’m too lazy to find a yoga pose picture … I did my usual hour of yoga tonight, which was about all my knees could handle. I still feel like an arthritic 80-year-old after Tuesday’s class!

The two sets of 40 jumping jacks were probably the easiest thing about tonight’s Total Body Conditioning class, and that’s saying a lot. I love that the instructor saw me pick up the 8-lb. dumbbells for chest presses and was like “Nope, you can do heavier.” (She knew I had 10s at my disposal as well, damn her!)

Trying to coordinate leg lifts and shoulder presses (as above) is oddly difficult for me. It must be the same part of the brain involved in the pat your head and rub your stomach thing, because I can’t manage that either.

P.S. - If you ever want to know what a Total Body Conditioning class — or any class I take — entails, I break it down over at my fitness log!

(image via FitSugar)

That’s pretty much what I feel like right now. I went to the gym to take kickboxing, but Adrienne from Tuesday night’s total body conditioning was subbing, and she ran us through her boot camp from hell (my name, but it should be called that). We did circuits of jump roping and squats/kicks/lunges on steppers for a solid half an hour. It’s pretty much impossible to jump rope for five minutes straight, in case you were wondering.

To make matters worse, today was the first after-work gym day for the newbies, and we definitely had a few first-timers in our class. One girl simply gave up 15 minutes in, and I wanted to be like “The classes are not all this bad, I promise! She’s torturing us today!”

Happy 2011! There were a surprising number of resolution exercisers at the gym this evening, and I was impressed. But hey, it’s only January 1. We’ll give them a little more time and see how they do.

Nothing major to report, I did 45 minutes (2.93 miles) on the elliptical while watching the trash to end all trashy shows, Jersey Shore.

(Snooki ball via Perez Hilton)

God knows how I haven’t gained 15 pounds in December alone with that shitty exercise record. I’m not kidding, I can literally feel the fat glomming back onto my thighs, and it’s gross. That’s what the calendar looked like before tonight — a measly eight active days the whole month. Tonight, however, I started over:

I did my 55 minutes of Club Strength followed by my hour of yoga, and I’m sore but I feel much better for doing it. The CS instructor actually had us jogging around the studio and running wind sprints at one point, whew!

I almost talked myself out of going to the Total Body Conditioning class tonight. Almost. And then I dragged myself out of the apartment and just did it. It wasn’t even one of her harder classes, but I’m glad I went. Thanks, Adrienne!

Ten days. I haven’t done a single damn bit of exercise in TEN DAYS. I can literally feel the fat starting to grow back, ugh. Part of the reason for my hiatus was that I spent the past week packing and moving (I moved yesterday). And then, of course, there’s Christmas coming up, where I’ll be eating at my parents’ house to my heart’s content. I’m pretty much exercising in “maintenance” until 2011, unfortunately.

I did manage 45 minutes on the elliptical and an hour of yoga today, though. And I plan on getting my butt kicked at Adrienne’s Tuesday night Total Body Conditioning class as well.

I went for my usual hour of yoga last night, followed by my usual post-gym tacos. I swear, that taco truck in my neighborhood is so dangerous — I’m probably undoing all the work I just did in the gym!

(side angle pose via the Mountain Murmur)

I finally squeezed in Adrienne’s Total Body Conditioning class this evening — I love her because she shows no mercy, and she does it with a German accent. :) I forgot what it felt like when my arms turn to jelly!

I went for my usual one-hour Sunday yoga class to take a break from all the freelance work I’ve done this weekend — very necessary, and very worth it.

I tried to fit in some cardio today instead of doing two yoga classes in a row. Man, was I dizzy when I stepped off that thing (not to mention I got a side stitch while on it)! Much happier to go back to yoga tomorrow.