Ashtanga, Ashtangesque

I didn’t want to work out at all today, never mind the cardio warm-up. I’m glad I did it though. I got a decent yoga workout and a needed tune-up. I’ll take a rest day either tomorrow or Wednesday. I’ll need it. I think this is the 4th consecutive day.

Warmup: (10/30×6=4min) jump rope

Yoga

• Suryas & fundamentals. Keeping the handstands out of surya A for awhile, so I can focus more on following through with the ticks. Also moved the hanuman out of the fundamentals & between laghu vajrasana and kapo B. Did it closer to the traditional way, which is also how I’d been practicing it (in the context of 3rd, my last few years of regular advanced.

  Kapo b is still enough for me. I don’t need try for the full expression of the pose. There’s something going on in my back. It’s not a tweak and I hate the word “opening”. More like a loosening, I think.

• Primary+
• Back Bending. Urdhva D, 3 drop backs, 3 ticks
• Finishing, with a bit of rollering on the upper back right before savasana

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Bicep and Tricep Burst by Christine Comeau & my own Yoga

Yep, right knee is sensitive. I’d already decided to do more of a split between working out & yoga, and with the situation the former has to be upper body. No problem! Went to J’s channel & did a search. Now I feel awesome, especially since I know I didn’t strain the tender area in any way.

A workout that’s roughly split bet the fat burn & fitness zones always feels restorative to me.

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Warm-up Stretch,15min: Normally I don’t start the timer if I do some warm-up stretching, which funny enough seems to only happen if I’m doing yoga. But since today is a “recovery workout”, I thought I’d do it. It’s not about the burn today.

• (10/60) single, timed intervals

1. Virasana, supta virasana, malasana, uttanasana
2. Block A – upper back stretch 2, 5lb weights
3. Block B – lower back / hip flexor
4. Hanuman w/ strap, upavistha konasana, baddha konasana A, supta konasana

Bicep and Tricep Burst by Christine Comeau

Tricep Tempo Set (50:10:40:10:30:10)
1. Skull crushers + bridge holds 2, 10lb weights
50 second interval- 4 count down and up
40 second interval- 2 count down and up
30 second interval- 1 count down and up

No Rest Tricep Tabata Pair (20:10 x 8):4 minutes
1. Decline tricep push up (on weights)
2. Tricep kickbacks 2, 10lb weights
No rest move = decline tricep or plank hold

Tricep Burnout 2 min
1. Tricep makers- tricep push up (on weights) + SA tricep kickback in plank + kickback at the top

Bicep Drop Set (15 reps, 12 reps, 8 reps)
As the reps decrease, increase your weight
1. Bicep curl 2, 10lb weights / 13lbs ea hand / 2, 15lb weights

Bicep curl burnout (20:20:20:15 x 6)- based off workout by relentless jake
Go through all 3 moves- 6 times  2, 10lb weights
1. Right arm T- bicep curl + left arm ½ way hold
2. Left arm T-bicep curl + right arm ½ way hold
3. Both arms ½ way hold

Bicep burnout 2 minutes
1. Bicep makers- reverse grip push-up + bicep curl in plank + hammer curl at the top

Yoga

• Surprisingly my arms felt fine for Suryas & fundamentals. Did the handstands in the As this time & held the last one 10 breaths
• (10/30) 3x urdhva D & savasana / ardha matseyen
• Finishing (sarvangasana to sirsasana & a couple more minutes doing an inner body scan in savasana.

Well… I got paid & immediately bought some artist quality paints

Rembrandt professional quality watercolor pans, a set of 24. I’d watched a James Gurney video earlier in which he shows you what’s in his super condensed sketch bag, and he had watercolor pans.

She’s right! They are expensive. This set of 24 was $200 & the set of 48 is $476. (Not shown – the carry pan & box.)

I hadn’t been happy with any of my carry methods for the tubes. For one thing, some of them ooze the binding ingredients a bit, and whether they’re in a zip bag or a plastic box they get jostled around. The pans will stay in place! That makes it infinitely easier to find the color you want faster, important when working outside in changing conditions.

You can see that the colors are dark in the pans, and some of them look really close. I’d remembered that from the video. James makes a little paint chart to carry around. I went one further & made an Illustrator file so I could change the order of the pans a bit from shipping, separating the close colors. I’ll make a wash chart to go in the box after. #virgorising

But hey, if you don’t have a job & you get some especially good paint, in teeny-tiny sizes, you be damned careful with it.

So I will remember for sure what’s what

Downloaded the complete Rembrandt color chart so I could make sure I was getting the #s right (for re-orders.

So ya… I’ll be trying to sell some art. Help an artist! Buy a painting! I should probably make my new, separate art blog here on WordPress again. I tried to go back to Blogger but it’s too hard to get any traffic at all going there. I’m sure there’s a way to start the blog & then export any posts from here that are art related. We’ll see. For now I’ve got too many other things to do.

All my art is also posted on my Instagram.

I have never been so obsessed with a weather report #heatwave

I’ve also never faced a weather report this bad while living on the east coast, in the aggressively air-conditioned NYC. I cannot recall one 100+ day streak. Not one!

Here in Portland everything’s minimally air-conditioned, if there is any at all. We don’t have it at home on the hill. The windows are all the type that swing out to the side… We got one of the standalone kind last year. You have to fit a piece of foam a bucket. It’s big and takes up a lot of space in the office… We got that for me so I could still work upstairs, but it takes up so much room & only takes things down about 10-degrees. It’s become easier to just work downstairs when I want do do stuff in the afternoon. Until now!

Those bitches at Hanna Andersson downtown must be roasting! LOL. After the way they treated me I take great joy in the construction I see on that block. One day there was a noisy machine set up right in front of the store. I cackled. I’m sure it 1) made things pretty miserable inside for the harried minions trapped inside and 2) discouraged a lot of stroller traffic. They don’t have any AC either and high ceilings and vents don’t do much north of 95. Have fun you jerkoffs!

But ya, many of the businesses here, they’ve got the weak AC that takes things down just 2-degrees from miserable. Like you’ll go inside and think, Ahhh…, but then 5-minutes later you’re hot again. Am I going to spend five days alternating between Powells and the Pioneer Place mall? Am I going to spend all the money I made trimming on movies? There aren’t even that many movies I want to SEE. I picked out three so far.

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My right knee is definitely tender, but on the other hand, maybe I shouldn’t do yoga today b/c one of those days I’ll probably be sweating my balls off at home & I may as well do it on the mat stretching…

Full Body Workout: Kick it up a Notch by Trish K

Normally I wouldn’t make a Julia workout longer, but b/c the first part right after the warm-up was reps, I decided I’d do up to the first cardio blast with the list, and I added rests in for transition times to the warm-up.

• Concentrating on speed is a different sort of challenge. I wouldn’t want to do it ALL the time but it was fun today.
• My right knee was just a bit tender in places. I’ll do yoga tomorrow and pay close attention.

Warmup: 10:30 = 8min set

1. jump rope high knees I changed all the high knees to jump rope b/c the extra concentration required works my mind & body way more. Love the jump rope.
2. bridges
3. squat + leg lifts
4. jump rope
5. bridges
6. jumping jacks
7. jump rope
8. forearm plank and knee drives
9. lateral lunge and reach
10. jump rope
11. RL clams ppl band Also changed the order of the warm-up & put these last, so I only had to spend 1 of the transition times in this set dealing w/ the band
12. LL clams

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Superset 1: 3x
12 decline push ups About 2/3rd range of motion to stop short of clicking in left arm.
12 squats 2, 15lb weights Lightened from my usual 40 b/c I wanted to go fast. But touched weights to floor on the lows & squeezed ass on the ups.

Superset 2: 2x
16 Bulgarians per leg 2, 15lb weights
16 Single leg hip thrust per leg Shoulders on bench

Superset 3: 3x
8 clean and press 2, 20lb weights
8 back flies 2, 10lb weights

Superset 4: 2x
20 chest press 2, 15lb weights This weight was kind of cheating for me but I could go REALLY fast, lol.
10 diamond burpees

My total time (including all rests) on these 4 sets: 20:29

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Cardio blast: 30:20:10 (20 sec skaters) 7 minutes @ 26min
1. Jugglers
2. 180 tuck jump burpee
3. Goblet squat, slam
4. Matt jumps
5. Box jumps (squat to stand)
6. Star jump, 4 cross jacks
7. 4 plank hops, tuck jump, heel click

Banded set: 30:20:10 1x 7 minutes (20 seconds banded DL) ppl band Loved, loved, loved!!!
1. Goblet Sumo squat + pulse
2. Wall sit hip abduction
3. Squat jump
4. Donkey kick L
5. lateral squat walk
6. Donkey kick R
7. Star burpees

Abs and cardio tabata pairs 20:10 (hold planks during 10 sec rest) 12 minutes Loved, loved, loved!!!
Set 1: high knees     V-ups
Set 2: flutter kicks     Ski jumps
Set 3: elbow plank hip dips     Switch foot mt climbers

Strength reps 2x
20 curtsy lunges per leg 2, 15lb weights
20 upright rows 2, 10lb weights
20 step ups (10 per leg) 2, 15lb weights
20 hip thrust +20 second hold 2, 20lb weights
20 SA row per arm 20lbs
20 dead lifts 40lbs
20 toe touch crunches I’d started early so 1st round I did this as fast straight abs w/ toes braced. Next round I did w/ list but did this move as per video.

Cardio quickie: 30:10
1. 4 cross punch, get low and squat jump
2. Lunge back touchdown and kick L
3. Lunge back touchdown and kick R
4. Commando plank, 4 mt climbers
5. Hand stand, heel click Love!

Burn the booty : 5lb ankle weights 50:10
1. Straight leg lift L
2. Straight leg lift R
3. Donkey kick L
4. Donkey kick R
5. extended range leg lift L Good reminder from J to keep the toe turned down. Even just a little changes where you feel the move quite a bit.
6. extended range leg lift R

And then I barely stretched – one quick forward bend & a quad stretch on each side. That’s ok b/c I’m going to yoga it tomorrow. This alternating really works.

rest day ashtangesque

Workout wise, I could’ve really used a warm-up of 4-6min jump rope intervals, but after yesterday… I tested out a bit of jogging in place earlier in the day and my body was all, Nope! So I went with ease. I did a full practice but scaled back.

• Suryas & fundamentals. Lately I’m not doing the handstands in the surya As.
• My reg primary+
• 2nd to laghu vajra but no kapo hang or kapo B
• Urdhva D, 3 drop backs & only 1 tick
• Finishing

Only 6min of “fitness” in all that!

But of course the yoga is a different kind of fitness. For me, practicing at this much reduced, less ego-driven of a level, it’s most often more a meditation than a workout. But the fact that I practiced makes it much more likely that I’ll be ready & able to do a super long & intense Julia workout tomorrow. I’m planning on her latest. I’ll likely be at it a good 2-hours

Scapoose Moorage at Dusk #forsale

“Scapoose Moorage, Dusk”, $200 plus packaging & shipping

8×10″ on spiral bound Multi-Drawing Book 80lb paper.

1000 Rep Full Body Challenge by Daniela

Huzzah! I took my own advice & did this all reps routine the day after a rest day. I’d intended to practice yoga late yesterday afternoon, but ending up being downtown longer than expected & returning full, with the one meal I ate that day. Sometimes it’s cool to do a longer than usual fast before your first meal. It fills you up longer. My main & sometimes only meal of the day during ashtanga obsession was always lunch.

“It’s way more than 1,000 reps; I’m telling you right now.” – Julia

Just occurred to me today I should start tagging Julia’s workouts by who wrote them so I can get an idea of my own favorites! I always forget. I’m not going to go back through all my old workouts and tag them, but I will start doing that now.

Part 1: 20 reps each, 1x through=220 reps

Julia finishes just under 18min (including her very short introduction – she gets right to it which I love). My time = 22min. And of course I took a break after!

1. Diamond pushup burpee hands in diamond & diamond jump
2. Plank rows and frog hop (2 row + 1 hop = 1 rep) 2, 15lb weights
3. 180 tuck jump squats Squat & tuck jump I don’t like turning while doing tuck jumps. Need to be careful of 3rd Series knees!
4. Bulgarian LL + fwd lunge 2, 15lb weights / Do bulgarian & step same leg fwd for lunge Did this move 10x each leg, alt, for a total of 20reps ea leg
5. Bulgarian RL + fwd lunge
6. Jab cross 2x + heel grab 10 w left arm starting & switch
7. LL SL DL + hammer curl and shoulder press 13lbs ea hand Went light here b/c 15lbs would be still a bit high for me w/ upright rows, the next move. Legs must be even! lol
8. RL SL DL + upright row same weight as #7
9. Yoga tricep pushups Chest goes close to ground, butt is up in air. Then push up into updog. J moves pretty fast here & stays up on toes. 
10. Close grip chest press + skull crusher 2, 10lb weights I didn’t wanna challenge myself with 15s on the skull crusher! Also wouldn’t wanna hold 2 weights in each hand here, like I do when I pick up a 10 and a 3 for each hand. I’d do 12s if I had ’em. 
11. Switch lunges 2=1

Part 2: Pyramid= 300 reps (520 total)

My time = 17:36

1. 100 squats 2, 15lb weights Went light! 50 holding weights on shoulders, 50 down by my side
2. 80 touchdowns 1=1 touching down in the middle
3. 60 hip thrusts 2, 20lb weights, on the floor J does sets of 20, alt weighted w/ unweighted & uses a shoulder elevation. I did the same, albeit w/ lesser weight. Someday I’ll have a sandbag!
4. 40 side lunges 2, 15lb weights / Toes turned out & feet planted wide. Alt side to side 1=1
5. 20 back fly burpees with lat raise at the top 2, 10lbs No push-ups hooray! But still brutal. Jump back into plank & fly each arm. Jump forward & stand up straight for lat raise.

Part 3: 20 reps each, 1x through=220 reps (740 total)

My time = 24:17 And I thought this reps set went much faster than the 1st one! I guess it was the psychological ease of closing in on the end of the workout.

1. Tricep pushup plank tuck jump
2. SA clean & press and rev lunge (10x each arm) 15lbs Hold the weight up & then lunge back w/ same leg
3. Reverse grip pushup + bentover reverse grip row 2, 15lb weights / jump up & bentover row w/ both hands
4. Dive bombers
5. Swings Slams 35lb kettlebell
6. SL box squat + fwd lunge (10 each leg) no added weight
7. weighted squat jumps 2, 10lb weights
8. Chest fly in bridge hold 2, 15lb weights on bench
9. SA burpee no push-up!! 10 ea arm obv
10. Sumo DL 2, 20lb weights
11. Good mornings 2, 15lb weights

Part 4: pyramid 260 reps (1000 total)

Forgot 2 reset stopwatch so don’t have time for this set

1. 90 SA curtsy swings (45/side) 10lbs Did 20/20/15/15/10/10 alt arms
2. 70 weighted punches 2, 3lb weights in sumo squat hold,, 2=1, 35 leading w/ LH 35 leading with right hand
3. 50 reverse curls on bench=
4. 30 ski squat + front raise 2, 10lb weight, 15 palms facing ea other / 15 palms down. Squat w/ feet together & then lift
5. 10 explosive pushups hands & feet leave the floor
6. 5 split lunge snatches RL 2, 15lb weights
7. 5 split lunge snatches LL

Time = 1:26 including all breaks / better than expected

Yoga

About 15min. I should do an ashtangesque tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ultimate Booty Lift and Cardio #2 by Laurie N

I am really SO LUCKY in a lot of ways! #catgoals #catgains

Wasn’t so sure about this workout, with all the taking off & putting back on of the ankle weights. I don’t have the kind that are so easy! It takes me 15-20 seconds to transition between moves with them. (But they’re 5lbs for each leg.) I was afraid this would be clunky & not much of a workout… And ya round 1 took about 40min! I liked the moves but probably wouldn’t repeat it unless I had a set of the weights that fasten with one, easy motion.

I still got a good workout today & that’s all that matters. Took a rest day yesterday… I might do some yoga tomorrow, late afternoon. We host a jam night here most / many Wednesdays. It wasn’t here last week though & we decided not to expose the new kitten to that her first week, and let her get used to the other mammals who live her first. I might stay home tomorrow night, if I’m going to be gone more of the day than usual. Theodora’s almost four months old already. We’ve only got a month left of tiny!

But what I think I might do is make a list of the booty moves to do for either reps or time after maybe a 30min HIIT sometime.

Warmup: (10/30×6=4min) jump rope

Do leg moves, odd #s 25 per leg on both legs before moving on to cardio moves, even #s. Set timer for single intervals of 10/50.

1. SL bench squats donkey kicks holding 10lbs goblet style, 10/10/10/10/5/5 Decided to change this move b/c I still can only do SL bench squats with hardly any weight, even tho I’ve made lots of progress w/ pistol squats. Also donkey kicks is a move that feels more “burnout” to me, or at least with the body fully revved, not the 1st move after warming up. I thought my swap would be more of a full body move.
2. squat jumps ppl band
3. straight leg glute lift ankle weights One leg kneels on bench. Both hands on bench. Foot taps down to the floor & lift straight, squeezing glute.
4. skaters
5. leg lift cross overs (rainbows) ankle weights Hands & knees, only counting near side of the tap down, so each rep has 2 glute lifts
6. switch lunges
7. fire hydrants ankle weights
8. broad jump fwd, 3 bunny hops bk Changed this move slightly b/c this is one of my faves
9. side leg kick outs ankle weights  Hands & knee/s Did this lying leg lift by accident on 1st round
10. roll back tuck jumps
11. rev plank leg lift no added weight I kept fingers facing forward, more like Purvottasana
12. bench jump-overs Quadzillas Not fond of quadzillas for whatever reason
13. pike glute raise knee tucks ankle weights Downdog glute raise, plank, alt knee to nose w/ knee to same side arm
14. burpees
15. lie on side leg lifts Move 9 here!
16. box jumps
17. clam shells ppl band Lying on side, head propped, feet together, opening top knee up & closing
18. mt. climbers
19. plank toe taps ankle weights
20. jumping curtsy lunges

Round 2 (my time 31:48)

1. donkey kick pulses ankle weights I was nicely warmed up by this point!
2. squat jump burpees Jump back & into low push-up in one movement. Jump forward & 2 squat jumps
3. straight leg glute lift pulses
4. skater burpees Skater on one leg to SL burpee
5. leg lift cross overs pulses far side cross-over to ½ way up
6. switch lunges burpees Start w/ switch lunge
7. fire hydrant pulse
8. broad jump fwd burpee, 3 bunny hops bk
9. side leg kick out pulses
10. roll back tuck jump burpees
11. rev plank leg lift
12. bench jump-over burpees 3x jumpover then burpee
13. pike pulses 25 & hold in tuck 25 sec (set timer for single interval of 5/25)
14. step thru burpees w/ handstand Push-up, step thru 1 side, repeat to the other side. Jump forward. Jump to handstand & try to hold one breath.
15. lie on side leg lifts ankle weights
16. box jump burpees
17. clam shells orange band
18. mt. climber burpees 4 mt climbs at bottom & 4 high knees at top but I did 2=1
19. plank toe tap pulses Leg held out about 45-deg
20. jumping curtsy lunge burpees Jump back for push-ups in the center

Yoga

About 8min.

High Burn Astanga! & my new kitten

Now that I no longer practice the “advanced” series, my full 3rd & partial 4th, which would’ve gone further if the teacher situation in NYC had been different, it’s rare to get a good workout from my ashtanga, or “astangesque”, as I like to call my personalized pose line-up. It’s basically just a primary+, though practiced at a respectable level of expert. But every now & then I burn high. Today it’s because my emotions are running strong with my new kitten. She is AMAZING.

The images and clips are all from our pick-up and bring-home day, last Friday, July 21st. I have more of course!

I really ought to learn some video editing. I like to put little montages together just because it’s the best way to archive stuff into graspable memories for me. Even though I have creative cloud 2017, I haven’t learned Premiere. I’d want to do that on a 22″ monitor iMac. Video editing is complex with lots of panels. Even with Illustrator, Photoshop & InDesign I spend a lot of time looking for shit on my 15″  laptop. I’d have bought another 17″  if they hadn’t stopped making them. They were good for designers who had to “pick one”. So many times clients will require you provide your own laptop, which has to have current levels of balls & software. If you’re self employed, quite often you can’t afford to keep up two Macs. When I had to replace my last laptop, right after paying for cross country moving expenses in March 2015, I spent $3,300. I digress…

Yoga

My usual ashtangeque with chop-chop & gusto. Amazing how good it felt when I’ve been HIITing like crazy while neglecting the yoga… It HAS been warmer and more humid lately, especially for Portland which has really dry summers compared to the northeast USA. This was a short workout for me, but to have that high a HR average for primary means I was definitely “excitable”.