Grumpy Grumperson Goes to Yoga

I was in a grumpy mood yesterday. It started out ugly with ugly weather and ugly traffic, being late to work, and it was the same on the drive home.

I had plans to meet my friend Robyn at the gym for a 6:30 yoga class. I wanted to get there early to do my Return to Running Plan (jogging 1.5 miles) before class.

I remember now why I hate taking classes.

I was riddled with anxiety as I sat in ugly traffic trying to get there in enough time. Suddenly I had a schedule to keep. When I got to the gym all the treadmills were full.

Yet another reason why I wish I could run at lunch time outside. SIGH.

Talk about frustrating! Not only that, I saw some chick on the treadmill clocking in at over an hour. Over an hour of hogging the machine during PEAK TIMES when there were people standing around waiting to use the machines. That frustrated me even more. Thank god she was wearing headphones because I was so tempted to say something bitchy to her. RUDE!

So I was cranky to say the least. I was irritated I couldn’t get my run in. But I’m certainly not the type to stand around waiting for a machine. I’ll just use another type.

I went upstairs to do some weights for a few minutes. I had about 35 minutes before class started. Since I hadn’t planned on doing weights, I didn’t bring my gloves thus I now have blisters on my hands. Grrr!

I did about a 10 minute weight lifting warm-up:

Three different Chest Press machines: each machine I did 3 sets of 10.

Pec-Fly Machine: 3 sets of 15.

Lat Pull-Down Machine: 2 sets of 20.

By that time Robyn arrived and was doing some stretches and ab work in another part of the gym so I joined her. For the remainder of my workout time, I did:

2 minutes of the Row Machine then

1 minute of the medicine ball/Russian Twist

Rinse and repeat!

It was a decent workout in the short amount of time I had.

Gym Stats:

Time: 34 minutes

Calories Burned: 260

By that time, yoga was starting. The class was packed this time, too.

Last time Robyn and I had a great time and I was sore for days! Especially my hamstrings. I did some extra stretching before class started.

The teacher incorporated some different poses this time around and I liked a bunch of the new ones. Since I’m fairly new to yoga, most of the poses are new to me. 🙂

One of my favorites last night was the Chair Pose.

For an extra stretch she said we could do Chair Pose but stand on our tip-toes. I tried it and it felt great! What a stretch!

The next pose I really enjoy was the Eagle Pose.

And I was able to do it! When the teacher demonstrated it I was skeptical but I surprised myself.

The next pose was the Triangle Pose.

HARD! The Triangle Pose and the Half Moon Pose:

They are hard poses for me. They really show me how unbalanced my body is. I have more strength and balance on my left side than I do on the right (my right IT Band is the one that was injured). Balancing on one side of my body really wakes up my hips, too.

Yoga Stats:

Time: 58 minutes

Calories Burned: 199

It was late by the time I got done with the gym. Michael is getting sick (poor little guy) and so I stopped at Subway on the way home. I didn’t really feel like trying to cook at 8pm.

I love Subway because it’s fast and easy and fairly healthy–if you make the right choices. I went for “sort of healthy” last night. Instead of a ham or turkey I went with my favorite: the Spicy Italian. I got a footlong for Michael and I to split. It was probably about 600 calories after the fixings.

A small bag of Sunchips and I called it dinner. Lazy, yes. Delicious, yes.

QUESTION: What is your favorite yoga pose? And how balanced are you?