Showing posts with label Pilates. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pilates. Show all posts

Monday, November 7, 2011

Monday

Monday was a good day foodwise - I stuck to my plan (and I also had salad at both meals, no dessert at either and no french fries!).

I also went to pilates - I haven't been in such a long time (6 months or so!). I remembered most of the positions/moves, but my abs have got much weaker, so I wasn't able to do them as well. (My big problem with pilates is my neck. For some reason I tense it a lot when I'm doing anything that requires me to lie down and hold my head up - crunches and a lot of pilates exercises. When my abs were stronger that problem got better, but they're back to being weak again :(. I need to work on that!).

The pilates also felt gooood after my run yesterday. I am still really sore from it (much more than I would normally be). I'm also really feeling it in my hip flexors which is a bit strange. During the run yesterday (with the new "barefoot" shoes) I felt it in different areas to normal - the top and sides of my feet and the insides of my calves. I also think I really overdid it. After I came back from the run I read more about it all (trying to make sure that I was doing it "right"). Apparently you can seriously mess yourself up if you don't build up slowly. So...the new plan is to try to run in them for 2 x 10 minutes during my two cardio gym trips. I was able to run for longer than normal in them, and I felt better running than I normally do. I'm hoping that once I build up and can run those distances "safely", the shoes will help me to enjoy running again and start solving some of my foot issues!

Midterm grades are starting to trickle in slowly. I'll probably do a post on them in the next few days.

In other news, my poorly sister has to have a colonoscopy tomorrow (a bit tmi, I know). I am sure it'll all go okay, but I'll be thinking of her and keeping my fingers crossed. Also, fingers crossed for this helping to work out what her "illness X" is!

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Pilates

I had a strange day today - I had a history paper due at 3pm, so I woke up early to finish that off and ended up skipping dinner. After I handed that in, I had a meeting with my partner for another project, due next Tuesday. And then...pilates!

I started doing Pilates in September, because a tonne of people recommended it to me. Some people thought it would be good for stress reduction/relaxation and others thought it would be good for my back. I have very slight kyphosis (excessive "out" curvature of the top of the spine) and lardosis (corresponding excessive "in" curvature of the bottom of the spine). One of the best ways of dealing with it is to strengthen your abs, so that they can support your back better. Pilates is all about strengthening your abs, so it seems like a good fit!

At first I didn't like it - it's one of those things that based on very subtle body orientations, so it's easy to look like you're doing the right thing when really you're not. Now I love it! I've been going for long enough that I think I'm starting to get some of the more subtle adjustments, which is a good thing! I always feel better (and like I have better posture) after doing it.

I'd really recommend it to anyone (if you can find a good teacher).

Ps For the first time in about a week I finally took my vitamins today! Hoping that they'll help me shake off the cold which I'm still suffering from!