Barefoot & On The Mat June 21-27: Happy Summer Solstice!

[Anny]

Paine yes, we just had winter solstice. Personally, I find that July and August are the coldest winter months in Sydney. Definitely when ski season starts in the Snowy Mountains in rural NSW (about 5 or so hours drive from Sydney).

I’m not feeling the love for my Jessica Smith rotation. I think some of the YouTube workouts are a bit meh and I’d probably enjoy the rotation more if I owned the corresponding DVDs. So this week I am walking and modifying Joyce’s 12 minute workout with heavier weights and adapted lower body.

[JustSandra]

Hello!

Oops, I neglected to do a workout Sunday afternoon.

Today's Workout: I did Classical Stretch episode 1315. This was a pretty mild episode (it is even identified on the case as one suitable for beginners). I just didn't feel like I had done much of anything, so I tacked on Add On Abs from Jessica Smith's Walk Strong 3 set.

Anny: I can sympathize with your bailing out of your rotation. I've done the same thing several times. Even with instructors I choose on a regular basis, I think sometimes their rotations, where I am working out with them every day, are just too much of a good thing!

Waving to all!

[toaster]

I tried like 3 different cardio workouts today and kept quitting. I finally settled on a Barlates drill workout (kicks/squats) and about 15m on my recumbent bike while reading.

[YogaGal]

Thanks so much to everyone for the Happy Birthday wishes! I had a relaxing birthday at home. We did go out for takeout from a favorite Mediterranean restaurant and go to the pool for about an hour or less. Physical distancing was easy since few people were there; we went from around 7 to 8 pm.

I took last Friday off, but on Saturday I did Jessica Smith’s “28-minute Ballet Body Barre” on YT. Then for the International Day of Yoga on Sunday, DH and I did RaviAna’s Solar Power, Parts 1 and 2. Quite a workout!

This morning I did Jessica’s Metabolic Conditioning from Walk Strong 3; it has a good cardio effect as I got my heart rate up. Then I did a quick yoga with RaviAna’s House Call, Breast Cancer Prevention and Immune Invigorator sets.

Well, I must admit that I am looking forward to shorter days coming up since temps will be up 107 to 109 degrees this week for me. We are into the true dog days of summer here in southern Arizona!

Donna: Thanks for popping in to wish me a Happy Birthday! Hope you are doing well.

Paine: Thanks for starting us off for Solstice Day! I love down dog pose, but I’m not a big fan of the addition of a leg raise unless it is just to move into a lunge pose. RaviAna has a set with a long stretch of alternating leg raises in down dog, but I have learned not to do that set or if I do, I do a few raises and then just hold down dog. Isn’t it nice not to dread winter? Of course your summer is probably not as severe as the ones in AZ.

Sandra: I’ll be going to my public library tomorrow to pick up an item on hold. This will be my first time going since all this began. I think they do have limited time computer access for patrons. I plan to just go in and pick up my hold, check it out and leave. Masks are required as they are finally at all public places.

cyana: You are going to be my new inspiration for getting to bed earlier! DH and I have been having trouble being disciplined enough to establish an earlier bedtime, but we keep saying we want to do it. The best time to do things is the early morning which is the coolest time of day, so we need to get used to an earlier bedtime. We got up early for exercise this morning, so hopefully we will be ready to sleep by 10 tonight.

Beth: Thanks for sharing Aimee's yoga practices. I may check her out as I also enjoy hearing a bit of yoga philosophy. Sorry you had so much difficulty finding a suitable workout today.

Anny: I can understand that trying to Jessica’s Summer of Strength rotation without most of the dvds would be difficult. I have most of the dvds except for her yoga ones and on those yoga days I am usually plugging in a short cardio followed by a short yoga from YT or my collection of yoga dvds. One thing I enjoy about looking at Jessica’s rotations (whether I follow them or not) is finding YT workouts I haven’t tried or had forgotten about. I agree that some of them are not my cup of tea.

Garrie: Hope things are going well with your job and family.

[Paine]

Home Improvement Lower Body with 2.5 pounds on each ankle: Hamstrings, Outer Thigh & Inner Thigh
Body Electric: Biceps & Deltoids

I think Margaret's Home Improvement has the best lower body work of all her DVDs. My triceps are still a bit sore so I only did biceps and deltoids today.

Anny, you have to do the rotation you enjoy or you'll dread working out.

Carolyn, I love it that you sometimes exercise with your DH. My DH loves hard core puke-in-the-bucket workouts so he wouldn't do my wussy workouts.
I'm so glad you didn't have to cook on your birthday.
Oh my gosh, it is hot where you live. Thank goodness for air conditioning!

[JustSandra]

Hello!

I got in an XLAW this morning (about two hours). For

Today's Workout: I felt like doing something a bit different so I pulled out Joyce Vedral's Bottoms Up Gold (recently gifted to me by a kind Mat Maven ). I did the Upper Body section but skipped the abs at the end so it was about 35 minutes total. Not much back work (Joyce includes that with the lower body workout) but otherwise good -- my triceps in particular feel nice and toasted!

Carolyn: I'm glad you had a nice birthday. Definitely hot where you are! We are slightly cooler here, but not a lot. One nice thing is that we do usually cool down at night, thanks to the ocean breeze that comes in through the delta that feeds into San Francisco Bay.

Waving to all!

[Anny]

Carolyn sounds like a most enjoyable birthday! And yes, I agree, trying some new YouTube workouts from Jessica is a good thing. I think it sometimes gets to me just working out with one instructor especially because the YouTube workouts often have only Jessica and no background exercisers.

Paine you are so right that we have to enjoy the rotation and not dread it.

Sandra that Joyce workout seems really good. Did you do the DVD or follow the book version?

Yesterday I did a lower body Joyce from the 12 minute workout, modified and with heavier weights. And I walked.

[toaster]

I've been king of dragging this week...not sure why! Trying to get the current lesson done for my yin training, but the video is longer (72 mins) and technical, so I keep getting distracted.

I also wound up getting involved in a project with my YouTube videos, updating the covers. I still haven't done them all, but if you're interested, you can check out my YouTube (link in signature) and let me know what you think. Also, I'm finally going to film a new video tomorrow! It will be a downward dog focus.

[Garrie A.]

Hi all! I took a little break from VF and am back. A few weeks ago I started a Body Beast rotation but ended up scrapping it. I liked the workouts but wanted more variety. So I Joni O'd Build Shoulders (during the warm-up!) last Thursday and popped in a new-to-me KCM, Upper Body Supersets (from Build & Burn). And I loved it! Kelly packed a lot into the short time frame, as she always does. It felt so good to be reunited with one of my favorite instructors. Then I reunited with Cathe the two days afterwards (Cycle Sweat and PHA Training). Surprisingly, I liked PHA and found it went by pretty quickly, despite the two groups of six exercises repeated three times.

Summer rush has ended at the bookstore. For Fall rush, the current plans are to do the same as for summer. Which means, all orders will be processed online. Due to the high volume of Fall, we have to hire two temps to help out--but this time packing and shipping while the two managers (myself included) pull orders. Thankfully, the financial aid charges start a week earlier than usual.

Also, I go back to work at the rec center on July 6! I'm so excited to get back to teaching again. Next week I have a meeting discussing changes due to you-know-what.

Here has been my week so far:

Sunday:
No workout

Monday:
Filmed a step class for a Facebook page I created
30 minute Mow Max

Today:
KCM's Muscle Up/Lift 2B Fit (Workout 1 followed by Workout 2; during the leg work I also added a 12 lb. weighted vest, but took it off before the second set of frog squats.)

I'll be back in a few minutes with personals.

Waving all around!

[Garrie A.]

Paine: Thank your for starting us off! I still need to try Home Improvement.

Anny: I've lost count how many times I've bailed on a rotation. Some highlights include The Firm's 90 Day Rotation (before I joined VF), Chalean Extreme, and recently Body Beast. The only rotation I've ever completed is Cathe's STS (Shock Training System), since there are only three rotation days (strength), and you get to pick your own cardio. I'd love to do another round, but right now I just don't feel like fussing with the 1 Rep Maxes, printing workout cards for each of the DVDs, and the like. I'll probably go for it again after the Glassboro Road Trip in November. But for now, I just pick what I feel like doing, mixing cardio, strength (light and heavy), and flexibility

Beth: Aww, sorry to hear you're dragging. It's still tough for me to get back into a routine. I've had trouble picking workouts sometimes, too.

Sandra: I once had the Bottoms Up Gold tapes, but got rid of them (on VF) because I acquired the originals and liked them more. But I only like the upper body one in the series. In the original, Joyce actually works the back in the upper body routine.

Carolyn: Sounds like you had an enjoyable birthday!