Barefoot & On the Mat 4/5-11: "A house is not a home...."

[JustSandra]

A house is not a home unless it contains food and fire for the mind as well as the body.
Benjamin Franklin

Greetings and welcome to the weekly Barefoot & On The Mat check-in thread! This is a long-running VF check-in. We're a cozy, friendly group who enjoy a wide variety of workouts, but we have a special fondness for those traditionally done without shoes. If you enjoy yoga, pilates, barre, qi gong, Classical Stretch/Essentrics, Ellen Barrett, etc. (or even if you simply prefer doing traditional workouts without shoes!) you'll feel right at home.

Please feel free to join in. We love hearing from new, returning and guest Mat Mavens. Our welcome mat is always out!

[JustSandra]

Hello again!

This week's quote caught my eye, as even though I consider myself a tried-and-true homebody it feels like my house has expanded to become my whole world -- and it will be so for several weeks to come. So far I've mainly been "surviving" shelter-in-place, but I would like to change "survive" to "thrive" this coming week!

Going for LPWs (Long Pointless Walks) each day has been my savior. Now that it is rainy for a few days I'm missing them. I'm adding in Margaret strength work (as I find her soothing and no-dread) but I know I need stretching too.

Garrie: Sorry you lost your long post yesterday -- that has happened to me too!

Waving to all -- be back later with today's workout!

[toaster]

Sandra, good quote for this week! Glad your walks are continuing to help you. I would like to do more here but the weather is not cooperating! Daily yoga has been helping me. I'm actually surprised to hear the number of people who talk about being "bored" at home: I haven't been bored.

Here was my workout week:

Monday
30MTF Circuit Burn - Cardio + Boxing premix
Ekhart Yoga (YT) - LIVE daily practice, Finding Resilience Together

Tuesday
Live Yoga Class with Aimee (my teacher, although I jumped in 15 minutes late)
30MTF Build & Burn - Cardio Core premix (@10m); Upper Body Supersets premix, 2 sets
Yoga with Tim (YT) - Best Foam Roller Routine for Neck/Shoulders

Wednesday
Yin Yoga class for legs on Facebook with Sandra's niece! (@45m)
Ekhart Yoga (YT) - LIVE daily practice, Finding Resilience Together

Thursday
LEKFit (YT) - 15m Arms
Charisma Yoga Bar (YT, local) - Yoga Flow to Find Comfort with Corey
Ekhart Yoga (YT) - LIVE daily practice, Finding Resilience Together

Friday
PiYO - Strength Intervals (standing only)
Classical Stretch - 401, Deep Muscular Stretch
Ekhart Yoga (YT) - LIVE daily practice, Finding Resilience Together

Saturday
Charisma Yoga Bar (YT) - Rise & Shine Yoga with my friend Carol
30MTF Body Design - Weighted Kickbox & Stronger Lower (Paine, I only noticed "come on" twice! )

Sunday
Classical Stretch - 402, Toning & Slenderizing
YogaVibe383 (FB) - Live Yoga Flow with Jesse

I have decided to start working my way through CS Season 4. I'm not doing it every day, but if I want to do something toning-wise and don't feel like doing anything else, I'm going to try to work in an episode. We'll see how long I keep at it.

Hope everyone is well!

[Paine]

Cathe Turbo Barre (Ballet Barre Leg Conditioning and Final Stretch)

Cathe's Turbo Barre was challenging for me today.

Sandra, thank you for starting our week! I am a homebody too (always have been and always will be). I like the quote!

Beth, I love it when Kelly says "Come On!".
CS Season 4 is my least favorite season but I do like the 2 back pain episodes for when I've hurt my back.

This is the easiest homemade face mask I've seen. If you don't have a bandana, you could cut out a piece of cloth from an old t-shirt.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1r2C1zGUHbU

[Garrie A.]

Sandra, thanks for starting us off! I, too, am a homebody. Glad your walks are helping you! It's been a long time since I've pulled out my Margaret workouts, and I need to revisit her sometime.

Linda, I like my Select Techs, too, although I agree with Paine that they are a bit cumbersome. Chalene enabled me when I tried CLX last year. I mostly use them for back work that calls for weights heavier than 20 lbs.

Paine, I never noticed Kelly's "Come on" although I remember her saying it vividly in her 30MTF Kickboxing. I did Turbo Barre a few months ago (during one of my STS recovery weeks) and found it challenging but doable. And I think it has an excellent final stretch segment.

Beth, you had a great week! I need to try your meditations sometime.

Anny, I'm not a big fan of bands although I don't mind when Cathe uses them for "bonus burns" and the loop band for glute work.

Carolyn, my Dad is still working outside the home (he's in construction) so I worry a little bit because of that.

I'll be back in a second to post my week...

[Garrie A.]

Last week I started P90X, but then rebelled because after revisiting a few Firms the week before, I was missing them! So I plan on revisiting my favorite Firms, mixed in with other favorites (Cathe, Slim Series, KCM, various cardio including my spin bike). I even pulled my box of the BSS Firms out of the upstairs closet and looked through them the other day.

Here was last week for me:

Sunday:
P90X Chest & Back
Ab Ripper X

Monday:
P90X Plyometrics

Tuesday:
P90X Shoulders & Arms
Slim and 6 Pack (the one from the refilmed Si6)

Wednesday (Rebelled from P90X!)
Christi Taylor's Step Heaven (Warm-Up, Stages 1 & 2, Cool Down)

Thursday:
The Firm: Volume 3 (Sandahl still kicked my butt although it was a little bit easier than when I did it three years ago.)

Friday:
Unplanned rest day

Saturday:
The Firm: Volume 2 (Wow. I always thought V3 was the toughest of the six Firm Classics, but I must pass on the crown to V2. I used the same weights as when I did it last time--nearly three years ago--and it was TOUGH (mostly 5s and 8s). I'm feeling some light DOMS in my arms, shoulders, and back.)

Today was Mow Max.

Waves and ((((((6-FOOT HUGS)))))) all around!!

[Paine]

Garrie, I love the final stretch in Turbo Barre!
I'd be concerned about your dad working outside of the home too, especially with your mom having health concerns.
6-FOOT HUGS back at ya!

[toaster]

Garrie, my BIL is an architect, and when we had a family video session yesterday, he said that they are busy and that there is still construction going on (Boston). However, he also said that they were putting rules into place to keep the workers safe--hope that's true for your dad too!

Paine, that was a good easy mask video! I haven't done Season 4 in awhile (although like you I use the back episodes sometimes). Right now I am appreciating the simple approach/extra instruction!

[JustSandra]

Aw crud -- it was my turn to have a long post disappear right before sending!

Anyway,

Today's Workout: Segment Four from Margaret Richard's Good For You. Very glad I recently reacquired this DVD!

I wanted to share another YouTube tutorial on making face masks with shop towels:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mai-UqdNRi8&t=17s

Instead of glue, he uses tape and staples. I ventured out early this morning to my local Walmart for rubber bands and hair ties, and I already have the shop towels. Arts and Crafts Time tomorrow!

Will quit while I'm ahead.... Waving to all!

[cyana]

Speaking of all the disappearing posts, I was going to start our weekly thread yesterday and kept losing my post and/or getting hung up, so I finally threw in the towel.

Super pink moon this week - hoping Mother Nature will cooperate for a change!

Thanks for all the mask links. I have some basic masks I purchased several years ago when I had to do business travel during a particularly bad flu season, but I've thought about trying some of the home versions. I don't know if anyone looked at the comments under the shop towel mask, but someone from UNC did some testing on variations of the shop towel mask - quite interesting results. I liked how that guy used the paper clip so you could secure the mask around the nose area - cheap and easy way to significantly improve the effectiveness of the mask.

This will be a quick post and run, as I need to get my work day started.

This AM:
Holden Streaming 3.23.2020 class
Holden Healing Sounds Meditation - Lungs

Lee's doing a lot of stuff focusing on breathing/lung and the immune system, as you might imagine.

Also, if anyone hasn't taken advantage of his free immunity kit: https://www.holdenqigong.com . Go to the bottom of the page and click on the link.

Must run - need to have coffee so I can work, LOL!!!

Stay well!