Fruits and sugar fix 7/30/04

I am a standard chocoholic and I give away candies in my night class, but I have been staying away from sugar as much as I can. The doctor I saw in April had one point right. Do not stock sweets at home. He specifically said about ice cream. He said keep no ice cream in the house and you have to go buy it when you want. I have been almost ice cream free this summer. I bought a huge amount of chocolate to take to Japan and I had to take 30 bars out of one box because it didn't all fit in the big suitcase I have! However I haven't touched any.

I am hooked with fruits these days! I am starting to taste the sweetness of fruits more. The other day, there were nice looking cherries and the tag said $1.90 or something. So I grabbed two bags thinking it would be about $4. The lady at the register warned me that I have about $8 worth of cherries because it goes by the pound. She said she would buy a piece of stake for that price. Although I realized that was a sensible concern, I couldn't resist buying them because cherries are so sweet and tasty! Same thing goes to peaches. Sometimes they only have bigger size and when I pack one peach a day for a week, it goes quite expensive. I go at the same way about grapes and they are probably most reasonable. Ahh, where is the bag of cherries? Do I still have some more?

Almost 90%?! 7/29/04

Today was the modified sit and reach test. I have been practicing the move since last week and taking extra care of the back. On 5/25, it was 15 and 3/4 inches and I was a little over 70% mark. It meant I am more flexible than 70% of female between ages 36-49. Today I made it to 17 and 3/4 inches. 80% is 16.2 inches and 90 is 17.4 inches. It I am right, I am over 90%? Or did Debbie say 17 and 1/4??? Anyway, my goal was to make it to 80%. That is the only goal I accomplished this summer. Ahhh.

What to wear 7/28/04

Today Tom showed up in an official Tai-Chi uniform. Black one with red accent color. With his T-shirt, shorts and sneakers on, he looks like a regular fit guy, but Tai-Chi uniform really set the tone for the class today. I bet some people took a notice while he was walking in the gym. He said he wears it at his school all the time. He also had martial arts shoes, he said, that have two points of something and they looked soft. I have had a question about my regular sneakers while Tai-Chi practice. I almost bought a pair of Tai-Chi shoes at an Asian market the other day. These were just simple black canvas shoes to me.

Since Debbie's class is basically free and $30 a month for the gym lets me go to all the classes on top of use of weights, the most expensive part of exercising has been clothes for me. I am quite sure I am an eyesore at the gym, but I usually exercise with sports bra and shorts alone, even in winter. I started to wear strapped tanktop with shorts for yoga. I actually don't like this 100% (although I look half-way yoga-like) because back is not exposed to give good massage. I know a lot of people exercise with T-shirts, but I usually don't. Sometimes it conceals forms and I noticed that I slide when I try to do the Wheel. Layering sure sounds like a practical idea, but doubles the amount of laundry. Unfortunately I end up paying for decent sports bra because I have big, fatty (like anything else) chest. Also the ones I wear is supposed to be absorbing sweat. Not only you look cool and make you feel that you are ready to exercise, decent workout clothes are necessary for exercising comfortably in my opinion.

No change in fat content! 7/27/04

Today Debbie brought that fat content measuring machine. I was quite anxious of this. I have been in a fitness camp at home all summer. I must admit that my weight hasn't changed, but I thought that my fat was being reduced. Well, it did, by 0.1% and 1 pound! I think this is well within the margin of error. URGH!

Well, I have been taking a very poor care of myself, ever since I moved to NM, so no instant gratification will be granted. Grrr. More time on Elliptical. Grrr.

back, back, back 7/26/04

I have never been an athlete, but I am learning a lot about taking care of back while various exercising. Although I have always been overweight, I never really had serious back problem. Knock on wood.

1) Weight training
Today was Back and Biceps day. Back must be one of the biggest muscle and I can lift most weights. 30 pound DB for Shoulder Shrug and 70 pound BB for Bend Row.

I have to check myself in mirror when I do bench exercises. Especially DB Back Row, BB Bent over row and Tricpes Kick Back. I use a bench with back support when I do shoulder exercises with DB.

2) Stretch
Of course, on Back day, I need to stretch back. However I often end up doing stretch on muscles that I didn't work on that day. Back stretch needs to be done along with hamstring almost everyday. Besides, because of the promise of Wheel pose, I make sure I do back bend as well as forward bend. Doing camel pose on stretch mat with shoes on is a lot easier. So far doing Wheel on stretch mat is necessary because I still have to put some weight on the head. It is getting better as my back seems to be lifting up a little more these days. Problem seems to be more on shoulders. (another entry, grrr)

3) Tai-Chi
Tom constantly reminds us to keep our back straight without hunching over, without reaching too much. He said "the wall is closer than you think."

4) Sit and Reach
Sit and reach test is a measurement of seated forward bend and health field takes measurement of flexibility with this. So forward bend must be a real deal. I feel like I may get a little further than at the beginning of the semester. The test is this Thursday. Let's see...

New Yoga teacher 7/25/04

Since James had no definite word for who is taking over the class, I was very worried who, if at all, is going to teach yesterday's class. There was one female teacher who substituted once and she had many wrong ideas about yoga. I was ready to go back to the parking lot if I see her from the outside. (Studio A can be seen from outside.) I think he said his name is Soli. He is a stocky, not tall, African American, that loosely resembles the cover guy in Real Men Do Yoga book. You probably wouldn't imagine he does yoga from the looks, but he did an interesting class.

He said he came to yoga because of an injury and had been practicing for 8 years, teaching for one. He said he does Iyengar style and he thinks highly of partner yoga. Maybe it is good to have a new teacher and new routines once in a while. Everybody looked a little puzzled in class at times, but it was refreshing for me. Most interesting one was a series from Threaded Needles pose. (I can't believe, I can't find that reference!) From there, put the hand that is not the thread behind that back and look up first. Then Stretch the bottom leg and balance like half moon variation in three points. Then eventually lift the top leg. I couldn't do well on the left side and fell about three times. When I did the right side, I told myself to stay slow and didn't try to lift the leg until I knew I had a good balance. It was still a challenge, but I think I could lift a little bit.

He also came around and correct the postures, too. I am picky on yoga teachers, but I think he passed the test.