Yoga Thoughts and a Killer Lower Body Workout

I have been doing yoga for a few years now.  I went to a free yoga class once and wasn't very impressed with it, maybe it was the type of yoga or the thought of having to pay to go to classes.  I loathe having to pay for working out, which is why I have never belonged to a gym.  So I just popped over to the library and borrowed, for free, the Yoga Zone - Ultimate Collection 6-Pack and I played the videos on my lap top for a few months until I felt comfortable with the common moves.  Libraries are wonderful!

This year for Christmas I received The Athlete's Guide To Yoga which I had also from the library for the past couple years because it is a great resource for yoga poses.  It contains beginner through advanced moves and the book is broken down into body sections.  So if your back is tight flip to the back bender and chest opener section and pose away. Now I don't have to borrow or renew the book every three weeks anymore, again sorry about that Brant County Library.

I like to do yoga for 10-15 minutes directly after a workout to really stretch out the muscles and then on recovery days I will often do a longer 20-30 session.  I keep my Gymboss set for 45 second intervals while stretching because it reminds me to switch poses and then I am stretching both sides of my body for the same time keeping everything even.

Since starting yoga I have noticed my muscles have become much longer and my flexibility has improved by leaps and bounds.  I am also much calmer and relaxed in all things.  I really recommend giving yoga a try if you haven't already.

Today is a Yoga day, my ass is killing me from yesterdays workout!


Killer Lower Body Workout - 20 minutes

About a year ago I discovered the power of single leg exercises, I had been working out with heavy weights doing squats and dead lifts forever but by taking it to the next level doing single leg exercises I have really seen an amazing difference in my body.  Not only do you work legs with the workout because you have to balance the whole time you're working out so your core gets and amazing workout as well.

Using my Gymboss timer I did 3 sets of 30/10.  30 seconds workout/10 seconds transition and writing down how many reps I've done.

Set                                                               1                  2                 3

Jumping Lunges                                         34                30               32
Pistol Squats, each side                                 8                  8                 8
One Legged Deadlift, each side                     7                  7                 7   (12kg kettlebell)
Box Jumps                                                   9                  9                 9
Step Ups, each side                                      10                10               10   (12kg kettlebell)
Bulgarian Squats, each side                         10                  9               10   (12kg kettlebell)

Yoga - 16.5 minutes

Total workout time 36.5 minutes.