Session Yoga

Today was my first one on one session with my yoga instructor. But it was amazing. Absolutely amazing. I felt at home and calm the entire time.

Chelsea made the session dynamic and fun. I think the fact that we have known each other for over seven years made it so we both acted like friends doing yoga together instead of the traditional teacher/ student relationship.

Our session started off with a brief introduction to the Baptiste method and some goal setting. I love goal setting! In everything I do I have to have purpose when doing it. I don’t always need to have deadlines per se. Obviously, my first goal is to increase my mobility. My lifting has been limited because my mobility is so bad. I have been struggling with falling into my squats and it sucks doing military presses behind the neck. I need to focus on opening up my hips and rotator cuff. My second goal is to become a bad ass yoga practitioner. Of course I am competitive enough to want to master my practice (I fully understand this is counter to yogic philosophy). Thirdly, find a fun activity to do every week that connects me deeper with myself. I don’t want to feel frustration with my body anymore. I think it is important for everyone to be impressed with their physical capabilities, even if their are minor at first.

I know that it has only been one session, but I can already feel a difference in myself. I used to do yoga several times a week and I think my muscle memory kicked in during the middle of the class. It was like my body was welcoming the movements. However, there was a key difference. Even though I am terribly out of practice and in a way out of shape I entered this practice without expectations. I even found myself being surprised at my abilities on the mat (Boom Goal #3!). When I was younger I entered my practice expecting it to be easy or at the least to become easy quickly. And when it didn’t I would become frustrated and sometimes become shameful. Shocking, a 20 something guy with high expectations of himself.

Maybe I am tapping into my maturity or maybe I am remembering how difficult starting a yoga practice can be. But this time I am just fine exploring what I can do now. That I think is a lesson that is hard learned.

When I don’t cook before hand…

Today I woke up late for work (surprise!).  Obviously, I did not have enough time to pack a decent lunch for the day. So I ate like a bastard. It looked a little like this:

8:30am- 1 apple

9:30am- 2 cups of coffee

11:30am- Cobb salad with one poached egg on top and balsamic vinaigrette.

1pm- More coffee

5:30pm- pre-work out shake

7:30pm- mashed cauliflower, squash and roasted ham

Now that I am preparing food for tomorrow my meal plan looks like this:

Breakfast- Mini quiches and 1 cup of coffee

Snack- celery with soft cheese and water

Lunch- left over mashed cauliflower, squash and 1 baked chicken breast (mio drink)

Snack- stuffed baked tomato and tea

Dinner- Chicken and vegetable soup and water

What a difference. 

Pistol whipped

Saturday’s training:

-Begin learning the pistol squat progression

- Attempt personal record of doing three Turkish get ups with 55lbs

My trainer has now presented me with a new obsession, the Pistol. According to Jackie and Power Athletes Magazine the pistol has a ton of health benefits. But to be honest, the complexity of the movements and physical demand are enough to keep me obsessing about it for months. I have a bad ass squat and have never struggled with maintaining balance, but like the first time I picked up a kettlebell, the pistol progression was game changer for me. 

The combination of strength and flexibility took me out! I can already see it is a technique that is similar to the Clean which is similar to riding a bike. You do it over and over until a synapse connects and the movements become second nature. Needless to say that moment did not come this session. But it’s going to come eventually.

Goal Setting

Alright, I am now a solid 235 lbs. That is down fromm 275 lbs in January.

I am active six days a week and work out with two personal trainers twice each week. One is a kettlebell specialist and the other one is a general trainer.

I got tried out for and got on the rugby team, though I am not going to be participating due to scheduling issues.

I went from tall Asian guy with no booty to tall Asian guy with little, but hard booty.

My next goal is to continue training and prepare for the RKC. If all goes well I should be ready after I graduate in May with my undergraduate. 

Lets see where this journey takes us.

Top