Barefoot & On the Mat August 2022: Hot August Nights!

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I meant to share yesterday that I did this video, supposedly the most-watched yoga routine on YouTube (over 50 mil views). It was okay but nothing special (for me):
https://youtu.be/g_tea8ZNk5A

[JustSandra]

Hi!

Today's Workout: The lower body work from Volume 1 of Margaret Richard's Beauty To the Bone, plus my own warmup and stretches.

Some fun news -- my niece, who has been living with my brother since she and her ex broke up almost three years ago, is moving into her own place! I'll miss seeing her regularly, although she'll still be using my back bedroom for massages. She's 36 and this will be her first time living on her own (no roommates, boyfriends or daddy).

Paine: I need to pull out BofS but I'm a little skeered of it. I was always in awe you could do it with leg weights -- I can barely finish it working barefoot with no weights!

Waving to all!

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Sandra, that's good news about your niece. Has she had any further custody issues?

Margot, I agree with you and Paine that Armatics is tough! A lot of Hamelin's work is tough like that. Have you tried the black bean brownies recipe from Chocolate-Covered Katie?

Pat, yuk about the poor sleep. Not getting enough sleep is one of the hardest parts of going back to work for me!

cyana, hoping you are not working this week.

Pam, wishing you safe travels!

Today I got home a little early from work (after doing a "smash room" as a team bonding activity). I did this Yogea yoga practice, which was different, twisty, and felt really good!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIMAwDlkur0

[Pat58]

Good morning all! Yesterday featured:

~ Lunch walk
~ Kassandra's Back Flexibility yin practice
~ 6,218 steps

We had an amazing light show and thunderstorms last night! We both ran out in the backyard and just stood there in the wind and cool, pouring rain. It was such a relief.

Beth, smash room sure sounds different! I can see it as a good ice breaker though - literally! The put in a smash room at the casino and it's wildly popular. I would like to smash produce like Gallagher.

Sandra, I'm so happy to hear your niece has her own place. I wish her well in her new home.

Paine, you were right - I slept like a log! You amaze me doing BoS. I tried that video way back when I was bodybuilding and almost passed out - couldn't complete it without leg weights, even with my big muscles.

Good morning to Margot and all who visit!

[Paine]

Yin Yoga with Kim Eng (Yin Yoga 2 practice)

Sandra, when I do Smithey's Buns of Steel, I only do the 27 minute floor work which begins with the "L" leg exercises (14 minutes) then the Inner Thigh exercises (7 minutes) and the on all 4's (6 minutes). Keep your remote close by for that "pause" button!
This is an exciting time in your niece's life! It's nice that you'll still be able to see her when she uses your back bedroom for massages.

Pat, I only do the 27 minute floor work in Buns of Steel (see my post to Sandra above). If I'm short on time, I'll only do the 14 minute side lying Legs segment. Buns of Steel is still on YouTube and the side lying legs starts at 14:37 and ends around 45:04:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=976I...guinVideoStore

Beth, what is a "smash room" activity?

[Margot]

Hello all!

All short workouts this morning:
- Ellen Barrett's 15 minute Power Express
- HealthBarre Sovereign Island Stand Off
- Jessica Smith's Pilates Core with small ball

The brownies were quite rich and fudgy. Here's the recipe in case anyone is interested.
https://thefirstmess.com/2019/10/30/...-butter-swirl/
The method is slightly different in the book and she uses almond and hazelnut butter but it's basically the same. I used a mix of almond, cashew and peanut butter and sub'd a can of peaches (blended) for the applesauce and oat flour for the coconut.

Beth - I'm intrigued too what you 'smash'. Yes, I have made Katie's black bean brownies from her cookbook. They're really good too. Thanks for the link to the twisty yoga practice.

Paine - I remember in the day when I was doing The Firm, I used to wear 5lb ankle weights. I got rid of those years ago! I always thought BofS sounded too hard for me!

Pat - I love thunderstorms. What a relief to finally get a break in the weather.

Sandra - Hope your niece will be very happy in her new home. I expect you're all glad she's not moving too far away.

Waves to all!

[cyana]

Good Morning. I ended up doing a conference call on Monday afternoon and hung out to see if I was going to be requested to participate in something yesterday afternoon, which didn't come to pass, so I feel today is my first official day of freedom. I'm hoping to do a live Lee class later today.

Beth - Holy cow that one YT video has a ton of views - over 58 million! I'd never heard of a smash room before - hopefully that was therapeutic. The summer pasta sounded like a great warm weather meal.

Pat - I'm glad to hear that you slept better last night. LOL on Gallagher - I used to love to watch him smash those watermelons. Hooray for the thunderstorm. We lost our power Saturday night for several hours after a storm blew through. The storm wasn't severe, so I'm not sure why we lost power.

Paine - I'm still in awe that you used weights for the lower body work in BoS!! Back in the day, I used to Firm Volume 1 with weights. Now I'd be crying within a couple of minutes, LOL!

Sandra - Hooray for your niece. I hope she enjoys having her own place and that's she close by so you see them often. Do you ever try hitting the back button when you get the 500 error? I did that one day last week and I was able to save my post.

Margot - Interesting ingredients for your brownies. I'll bet those were ! Kudos to you for getting items ready to take to the charity store. I need to do that one of these days. I have cookbooks that I haven't touched in years.

Hoping that Pam's travels went smoothly.

Waves to ALL!

[toaster]

Paine and Margot, believe it or not, a smash room is exactly what it sounds like - a room where you go to smash things! It was not a "team building" activity that I would have chosen, but we have a lot of millennials on our staff.

Pat, there wasn't any produce, just dishware and appliances.

cyana, sorry that there have been some limits on your freedom; hope you remain completely free today!

Last night I had several new people at yoga class. One woman told me after that it was her first yoga class ever, although she had done yoga using Fitness Blender. I told her I started with videos too.

[YogaGal]

My summer was not very enjoyable, mostly due to my having expectations. After working on our small house in the mountains last summer and dealing with a terminally ill cat, I was hoping for some R & R this summer with plenty of time for yoga & reading. However, we spent the first part of the summer getting settled and then creating plans for an addition. (We soon discovered that a little over 600 sq ft is too small for 2 adults and 2 cats.) Once we got plans drawn up to almost double the size, we found that we needed to clear out a path on the side of the house so that the eventual builders could access the back lot where the added rooms will go. This involved trimming and removing a bunch of shrubs and then building a retaining wall with concrete blocks, and adding some fencing and a farm gate. We couldn’t find anyone to hire to do the work, so DH and I ended up doing it. We also had to move a bunch of rocks in the front of the house to improve drainage issues. So, it was a Summer of Strength with manual labor! Must admit that I prefer using fitness videos.

We did relax in front of the tv most evenings and even went to a couple of movies in a theater, so it wasn’t all bad. And the cats were good little troupers adjusting to the new place, although I know they enjoy having more space to run around. We moved back to our home in the Valley on Friday and had to deal with an air conditioner problem on Saturday afternoon (luckily DH figured out how to do the repair). And then on Sunday we found out that our washing machine isn’t working (ordered a new on Tuesday morning which will be delivered on Friday).

I started back working at the library on Monday for what will likely be my next to last Fall semester as I plan to start my Social Security payments in January 2024.

I started the week doing Joelle’s 7-Day Yoga Challenge, but I subbed Kassandra’s latest back yoga today. I did a short Dance Party walk from Jessica Smith’s Fast Fat Blasts dvd on Monday, KCM’s Upper Body set from Body Design on Tuesday, and “1-Mile Lower Body Circuit Walk” from Jessica’s YT channel today.

I’ll catch up with some personals as the week goes on, but I have to share this now with
cyana: Prepare to turn GREEN. DH found out last night that Leonid & Friends is returning to the venue we saw them in a few years ago. Tickets went on sale this morning, and we scooped up two for October 14th!! I think this will be an early anniversary celebration for us (our anniversary is Oct. 24).

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Carolyn, sorry to hear that you had a rough summer! We had a few house issues ourselves (AC stopped work, major clog requiring a plumber), but not at the level of what you experienced. Interesting thinking that you might have only 2 more fall semesters. State retirement is 55, so I could retire next year. It will probably be a little longer than that for me, but not until 65.