Tag Archives: the plank

December 24, 2022 · 9:27 am

“Slow Progress is Better Than NO Progress”

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So says Lynn, my wonderful massage therapist who saves my life once a month. I’m kind of in “assessment” mode this morning, looking back to gauge lifestyle changes.

  • This is DAY 162 of my effort to make daily yoga practice a habit. I’m definitely one of the hard-heads on how long it takes to make something a habit. I looked it up and found, according to some estimates, that it takes from 18-245 days to make something a habit. Day 162 finds me consciously making myself practice each afternoon – still finding myself quietly trying to make excuses for ‘missing-a-day’ and then just slogging around getting my mat, pillows and just doing it. It HAS become a normal part of my day, and I AM seeing some differences.
  • I’ve added some new poses to my practice: Cobra, Downward Dog, ‘Basket,’ Boat, the Plank, and some abdominal exercises thrown in. My practice is about 45 minutes now, but it varies. Sometimes I concentrate on exercise numbers – other times the relaxation and stretching.
  • I am listening to my body more since I started doing the daily practice. I’m aware when my shoulders and neck are ‘hunched,’ and I’m able to concentrate and relax more. I tell myself, “relaxing jaw, relaxing face,” and I can FEEL my shoulders GIVE, when I wasn’t aware how tightly I was holding myself. I’m able to stretch a bit farther now, breathing into the poses, holding them longer or doing a few more repetitions.
  • I’m still putting the gold or silver glittery stick-on stars on my desk calendar. I guess I’ll never outgrow that being a motivator for me, but the emphasis is changing in my actual practice. I’m doing it for ME.
  • I started trying to do the plank pose at the end of October. The first time I tried it, I held it for a quick count of 10. I worked up to holding it for a quick count of 45, but many times I couldn’t do much the next day, having strained myself. I found an article that said for for a woman of my ‘mature years,’ it’s actually more effective if I do the pose multiple times, holding it for a short while each time. Yesterday I held it for a count of 20 seven times.
  • Since it’s too cold to work outside most days now, I’m going to try to add two things: (THING ONE – a short time on my elliptical trainer in the garage. It’s cold, but I think I can do several minutes out there every other day. THING TWO – I’m going to start doing the seated exercises with weights from Mike at MoreLifeHealthSeniors.com again. I’ll alternate these with the elliptical.

Know Your Meme

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I’m definitely making some kind of progress. It’s definitely slow, but it’s steady, and I’ll drink to that. :0)

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December 11, 2022 · 8:15 am

DAY 149

Tenor

Today is DAY 149 on my trying to make daily yoga a habit. I may never get to the point where I consider my yoga practice ‘habit,’ but it’s a normal part of my afternoons now. I start thinking about when to do it starting mid-afternoon each day. I’m still putting a sparkly star on my desk calendar each time I finish and keeping track of the number of days. I’m so immature it makes me laugh. :0)

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I’m doing the plank daily, doing several short holds of the pose, rather than trying to hold one long one. Yesterday I did three times, counting to 25 each time.

Then I’m doing my ‘regular’ yoga practice. I’m doing some extra poses and exercises for my abdomen and core, trying to build strength.

I’m noticing that I’m using the yoga more and more to loosen up and stretch out after working in the yard or doing something else that makes me stiff and/or sore.

As we get closer to winter and I can’t work outside, I’ll switch to doing a session on my elliptical trainer in the garage.

As for losing the lard, my scale is still laughing and smirking at me. It doesn’t laugh out loud as I walk up to it, but it’s close. I really wish I were the type of person who had to be REMINDED to eat….

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October 30, 2022 · 10:44 am

Keepin’ Movin’

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DAY 107 on daily yoga practice today.

Now that my practice is becoming a routine part of my afternoons, I’m trying to add to it a bit. Recently I added the cobra pose (above), and another that I call, “The Basket” where I’m on my back with my feet up in the air. I hold onto my legs with my knees bent, then hold my ankles and try to hold it. I’m doing a pose called, “Downward Dog,” where I’m on my stomach, then push up to an inverted “V” and hold it, trying to push my heels down toward the floor.

I’ve added some abdomen exercises – one where I’m on my back. my arms are on the floor stretched out behind my head while I do a modified bicycle motion with my legs for as long as my back doesn’t hurt. The other is where I’m again on my back, arms beside me, legs bent. I push the middle of my body up using my legs and abdomen, kind of like a push up, pushing my abdomen up as high as possible and then letting it back down again as many times as I can.

When I was at Lunch Bunch recently, my friend Patty (Linda’s daughter) was talking about her exercise. She looks GREAT, so I was eagerly listening. She said the biggest thing she did three times a week was THE PLANK. She said she held the position for 4 MINUTES! My mouth dropped open. That’s impossible.

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I’m now doing two versions of this – one with my arms like those above, but knees down (that’s the easiest form of it you can do), and then a second version, as you see above. Remember, I’m old, so I hold the positions as long as I can, but it’s laughable. I can hold the version with the knees down for about 1 minute. The position above I can hold 12 SECONDS. I KNOW, but at least I’m TRYING – every day. Also remember, I’M the lady who used to congratulate myself for getting down on the floor, AND back up again!

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