I took Friday, Saturday and Sunday off (mostly), which always feels great until, of course, Monday. I got up early and opened my computer to find . . . 312 emails to address. Oy.
However, our FITera.com weekly challenge was to ramp up our exercise. (Last week’s challenge was to work out in the morning.) So I DID ramp up my exercise per the challenge – from one TRX class in the morning to two.
However, today was kinda an accident.
The teacher for the 8am class – Gardie – is SUPER DUPER hard. The teacher for the 9am class – Chris – isn’t so hard . . . or, they are different. Gardie makes you do all sorts of crazy stuff fast or super long. Chris concentrates on form and goes slower. So you work up a sweat in Gardie’s, but Chris’s you are more trying to feel what’s working, stretching, etc.
Ahem.
Gardie SUBBED for Chris today.
Even HE thought I was a bad *ss for doing his class 2x in a row. ;-) We only had two of us in the 2nd class, so though the bulk of it was the same, he modified part of it. The first class concentrated a lot on core (planks, etc.) – which he replaced with hamstring work in the 2nd hour (stirrup work).
The hamstring stirrup work goes basically like this:
1. Lie on the ground on your back. Put your heels into the stirrups/handles of the TRX.
2. Bridge your hips up (butt off the ground).
3. Now “march” your feet in, slowly, one at a time, for 90 seconds.
4. Rest 10 seconds. Bridge back up.
5. Now do it bringing BOTH knees in and out instead of one at a time.
6. Rest 10 seconds. Bridge back up.
7. Now spread your feet out as wide as you can, then back in, for 90 seconds.
8. Rest. Bridge. Curse.
9. Now “frog” your legs in to your chest – sort of like #5, but with your knees out to the sides and your feet together.
10. Rest. Bridge. Cry.
11. Now do all the above, but with each move a count of 3-2-1 in, hold, then 3-2-1 out, sloooowly.
Right now, every muscle in my body is sore.
Because I had to do all those emails before heading to TRX, I let the dog out instead of walking him, and “banked” the coals of my emails as best I could. Then I went to TRX, came back, and washed the dog (and me). Then washed the tub of 10 pounds of pibble fur. How the heck does this dog do it every week?
Then I took Winston (my dog) to his Scenting class.
He’s learning to be a Scenting dog. We’re only on our third round of classes, but he can scent now on birch, the first “non-food” scent of 3 (birch, clove, anise). (Each set of classes is once a week for six weeks or so, but you get homework too.)
HERE is a video of him doing a search. It’s only 9 seconds because he found it fast! The scent is on the side of the bench – neither the handler (me) nor to dog knows where it has been put. This is just a one-box search – I have others of him searching for more, but this gives you an idea.
Today they had 12 equal-sized cardboard boxes lined up in two rows. Only one box had birch in it (the others were empty), and he found it on his first pass. I was SO proud. When you do the actual test, they put food in some of the other boxes. Dirty buggers LOL.
Then I came back and worked and worked and worked and worked.
And am still working.
When I get stressed out, I pull up an old video I did in Kona. It’s manta rays. A “manta ray ballet.”
This was just filmed on a little Samsung camera, floating on the surface . . . no diving apparatus, etc.
Manta rays are my “air” and “water” totem.
I don’t have an air (bird) totem, I have manta as both. I went through a spirit quest quite some time ago. My earth animal is the buffalo.
Anyway – if you’re feeling stressed, here’s the video.
I hope that you find it as calming as I do: