Butting in 7/24/04

I don't intend to socialize too much at the gym and try not to mind others' business at the gym and at this blog, but I just had to write this today. There was a lady who put a 12.5 pound dumbbell between 5 and 7.5 and she also put 7.5 right next to 15 whose counter part was used by somebody else. This caused a lot of unorder on the weight rack. One lady picked up a pair and from the way they were placed, one was 12.5 and the other was 15. I knew it was none of my business, but I fixed them all.

It was quite busy this morning. Maybe there were a lot of weekend weight lifters. Felt like people come in pairs more. Today there were a couple of high school girls (looked like) and overheard one was saying, "start out with 22.5 and I will pick 25". The other girl followed her and picked up a pair of 22.5 dubmbells and this girl sure picked up 25. They looked like they were engaged in sports. I didn't see their muscles as they were wearing loose T-shirts, but I wondered what kind of exercise they were going to do with 22.5 and 25 pounds! That is just about the limit I can do for big muscles or small range of motion, such as Chest Press, Back Row or Triceps overhead. I followed them over the mirror and noticed that the lead gal was showing the other how to do Shoulder Press! I have NEVER seen female lifters try Shoulder Press with that much weight. Of course, I have seen guys do it, but weight lifting is not where I try to claim women's equality. They were both holding the bottom of the arm to help when taking turns. Maybe this lead gal was strong. She finished 8 reps with 25 and instructed the other to take over. The other gal looked very painful trying to lift 22.5 and she couldn't lift the weights up fully and properly. I thought that would be the fast way to injure yourself. If you are curious, I did Shoulder Press, 6 sets of 8 reps with 10 pounds and maybe will try 12.5 next time.

Back and laptop 7/22/04

Yesterday was TAPPED IN festival and as a ritual, I participated by moderating sessions and sitting at the reception. This meant being on the computer for 12 hours plus with very little rest. Normally when I am in the office, I have a basic USB keyboard and optical trackball. I am used to do everything on my iBook. So I decided to situate myself in the living room because it is close to the bathroom and the kitchen (two physical necessities) and I can sit in the comfy couch with TV or boombox on. It happened to be the warmest day so far, so it was a good idea for the efficiency of the air-conditioning, too.

Towards the end, my fingers started to hurt because the keyboard of the laptop is slightly smaller than the real one and I had to not type for a few seconds and stretch once in a while. I also did Cobra a couple of times throughout the day. I really wanted to go to Will's yoga class and I was in yoga clothes all day, but the last session was missing an official reception helpdesk, so I stayed.

Next Thursday is the post-semester sit and reach test (and the fat content, I hope) and we did the same move in Debbie's class today. I couldn't believe I could barely touch the toes! If it was a test today, I probably did worse than at the beginning of the semester. I always check my posture with easy sitting (あぐら) in the mirror in the class and I noticed that I was hunching over badly again! URGH. Just a day with computer! Today was a lower body day, but I did a lot of back stretch, not much forward bending, but a lot of back bending. Now I somewhat feel better. Tomorrow is a back day, so I should wake up super early and go to the gym before the class and do more back stretch!!!

Starting to feel the end of summer 7/20/04

While Japan is experiencing feels-like 100 degree heat and we are in the middle of the monsoon season here in the desert, the title today may not sound too realistic, but that is how I am feeling these days. We talked about Debbie's Flexibility class is already closed and we are doing sit and stretch test next week. (So, we did traditional stretch today.) My students are taking post-test this week. This means I have three more weeks left for the summer semester, then as soon as that is done, I will spend a short week in Japan. Two weeks break and the fall semester starts!

I took summer semester is a fitness camp at home and am really getting carried away with exercising. One thing I may have to drop is to go to Tom's Tai-Chi class. It is a 30-minute drive and it is kind of in the middle of the day. Once the fall starts and when I feel busier, I don't know I feel like spending practically a whole morning taking a good care of myself. Also writing this blog has been a lot of fun, but also takes time. I am not exactly a good writer and an awful speller.

Probably starting from my stay in Japan, things are not going to be as regular as I would like them to be, but I will have two more weeks that I can indulge before the fall semester starts. Whatever intensive will be done and I will probably shift to maintenance mode. My weight has not changed, but I am anxious to see my fat content test we do with the sit and stretch test. If that has improved, then I can say, I am not losing weight, but the clothes fit better and look, I have more muscle. Well, see how it goes...

QiGong and China 7/19/04

We do all kinds of different things in Tom's class. I must have been going for several weeks now, but I feel like I am just scratching the surface. Today we did QiGong. Very slow movement and Tom talked a lot about Qi energy. Now that I know QiGong is 気功, and if I am right, that my grandmother and my mother used to get that energy treatment quite often. They have a hair dresser across the street, who does it. When my grandmother was still alive, she must have suffered from osteoporosis. She broke bones inside, but my mother didn't want her to go through surgery because she was just too old and weak and staying in the hospital won't make her happy. More and more, I am finding Tai-Chi and its surrounding practices extremely interesting.

Today Tom said one of the students, Laura, got to visit China a couple of years ago. She found that all day long, people are squatting sitting all the time, because there are no chairs. She also said at 6am, in a park, many senior citizens get together and do Tai-Chi. Part of Bill Douglas' DVD (that will be another entry) is shot in a park in a morning mist and I guess that is very appropriate. It dawned on me that my brother is currently living in China, near Shanghai. I never thought about visiting any Asian countries, but after hearing that story, I feel like I want to visit China! Must be some experience!!!

Fall class 7/18/04

Since I am technically a new student at TVI, I didn't get registered until last Friday, although returning student registration has been on since Monday. Because the room is so small at Montoya, all classes have limit of 12 students. Believe it or not, by the time I get to register Friday evening, Debbie's 8 o'clock Flexibility training was already CLOSED! So I had no choice but to sign up with the 7am yoga class. I learned that the teacher's name is Eric Salazar. There is one Eric, who substitutes once in a blue moon at Defined and he wasn't bad. So I am hoping it is him or a decent teacher that I can stick with.

So now I have to bring my yoga mat to class. I have been entertaining this idea of getting a real bag that holds a yoga mat. Normally when people say yoga mat bag, it is a slender, long bag with a shoulder strap that holds the mat and not much else. I want to have one similar to either back pack of duffel bag, so I can put all my exercise stuff. I am thinking of either Journey Bag or Gaiam's Yoga Pack with Yoga mat. I do not need a mat anymore, though. Which one would be better? Humm.