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Old 05-01-21, 09:23 AM  
Garrie A.
 
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Virginia
Barefoot & On the Mat May 2021: :music: "It's Gonna Be May..."

Welcome to the monthly Barefoot & On the Mat (aka Mat Mavens) check-in for May 2021!

We are a small, cozy, and welcoming group who perform a wide variety of workouts, but we have a special love for those that are performed barefoot. If you are a fan of such workouts (Barre, Pilates, Yoga, Fusion, Classical Stretch/Essentrics, Ellen Barret, Kettlebells, etc.,), or even traditional workouts performed barefoot, you are welcome. And even if you wear shoes for such workouts, come on in!

Our welcome mats are always rolled out, and we love hearing from new, returning, and guest Mat Mavens!
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-AFAA certified GFI
-Licensed Barre Above instructor
--------------------------------------------------------
CLX 6/19-9/19
STS Grad 11/19-2/20, 9/20-12/20


Current Focus:
Retro Rotation!!


Check out my blog by clicking on the "Home Page" link under my profile name.
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Old 05-01-21, 09:24 AM  
Garrie A.
 
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Virginia
Catch-up post (moved from the April thread)

Wednesday's workout:
Slo-Mo Strength (Legs)

Thursday:
Unplanned rest day (out-of-town date with SO)

Friday:
Slo-Mo Strength (Chest, Biceps & Triceps)

Legs really humbled me. I started with Amy's weight then quickly reduced my weight. (She is STRONG!!) I liked most of the unusual exercises (the Hammy Rocker was my favorite ), except I do plan on making a few modifications next time: using a dumbbell instead of the barbell for the "cradle side lunge" (since cradling the barbell in my forearms was very uncomfortable), not elevating the heels during the wobble hack squats (I want more glute/hamstring emphasis, not quad emphasis since most of the general population is "quad dominant" anyways), and using my lifting hooks for the sumo squats and Jefferson Squats.

I also enjoyed Chest, Bis and Tris. As with the other two workouts in the set, Amy used a lot of unusual exercises that I had never seen before. I went a little lighter than Amy on most of the exercises (except for triceps where I could use a 20 for the skullcrushers, and possibly heavier next time) and my arms felt like they were floating afterwards. I was a little nervous about the "Biceps Bonfire" move (since it has you in a position where your arms are below the level of the incline step), but I went lighter than Amy (5 lbs. for the first two sets and 3 lbs. for the final set) and really felt it (in a good way not a bad way).

My verdict of Slo-Mo? As a whole, I like it and am impressed. I liked the different exercises (surprisingly), the slow tempo, upbeat music, and Amy's personality. However, I would only throw a week of it here and there just to mix things up and hit my muscles in a different way. In the future, I could also see doing a 4-6 week rotation alternating a week of Slo-Mo with a week of Cathe's Slow & Heavy, throwing in a week of total body endurance workouts around the halfway point. I feel Cathe's more traditional strength exercises would perfectly complement Amy's unusual.

Back in a minute with personals...
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Garrie
-AFAA certified GFI
-Licensed Barre Above instructor
--------------------------------------------------------
CLX 6/19-9/19
STS Grad 11/19-2/20, 9/20-12/20


Current Focus:
Retro Rotation!!


Check out my blog by clicking on the "Home Page" link under my profile name.
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Old 05-01-21, 09:24 AM  
Garrie A.
 
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Virginia
(Moved from the April thread)

I finally got my hair cut yesterday and changed my avatar to my new "do."

Pat: I think you made the right decision with your cataract surgery.

Paine: Happy Birthday to your grandson!

Carolyn: Re the apartment, SO and I decided that it would be easier to save up and renovate his house versus finding an apartment for rent. Similar to what my parents and I did to my deceased grandmother's house five years ago. I still have DVDs in my collection that I haven't done yet. And my collection keeps growing. I'm easily enabled by everyone on here!

Beth: Enjoy the book sale! Let us know if you find any goodies. I was laughing at your Hump Day funny!

Pam: Honestly, I don't know what I'd replace it with. I thought about floating the idea of a total body circuit class, either doing a full body strength workout PHA style (alternating upper/lower) or short cardio bursts alternated with longer strength circuits. I don't know yet!

Waves all around!
__________________
Garrie
-AFAA certified GFI
-Licensed Barre Above instructor
--------------------------------------------------------
CLX 6/19-9/19
STS Grad 11/19-2/20, 9/20-12/20


Current Focus:
Retro Rotation!!


Check out my blog by clicking on the "Home Page" link under my profile name.
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Old 05-01-21, 10:54 AM  
cyana
 
Join Date: Dec 2001
Grrrrr......just got thrown off about mid-way through my weekly chat post.

Happy Saturday and Happy May!

Confession - I guess I've been living under a rock, since I wasn't familiar with "More Cowbells" until Beth's birthday. I watched the linked video and later that evening was listening to some music on the Hindley Street Country Club's YT channel and my favorite lead singer was wearing a More Cowbells T-shirt! See what you learn on VF?

Garrie - I just want you to know that I've been craving buffalo chicken ever since I saw your post about Nashville Hot Chicken! I like your new picture - you always have good avatars. Hopefully the class attendance at the gym will pick up as more people become comfortable being out and about. Another confession while I'm on a roll - I've probably had Slo Mo longer than you and still haven't done it. I bought it off Amazon Marketplace for more than I would've paid had I purchased it new while it was still in print. I like the idea of doing Slo Mo and Slow and Heavy (which I've always liked). Hopefully now that my work-life balance should be improving (still a work in progress), I can get my endurance built back up and do both of these DVD's.

Pat - I'm so happy to hear the Holden people took care of you. I felt they would as long as you got to the right person. DH developed cataracts freakishly early and had the first one done when he was barely 40. There were no fancy lens options at that time, but he's done very well (and wears readers). How are your osprey nests doing?

Pam - One thing Maude did that I really liked - when doing hip cleaners, the first round through she did them at about half height and maybe half to 75% of the usual range of motion and then did the full version the second time through. My wonky hips really liked that option and I'll keep that in mind, as those are something I do while standing at my desk. I hope she'll get more air time on ETV going forward, as I really enjoyed her personality.

Beth - LOL on the potato funny! How are your nails holding up? I came across a picture on line one day this week and in the background it showed a wall of a nail studio and I've never seen so many bottles of polish and what looked like the little jars of powder for the powder nails. Hope you have happy hunting at the book sale.

Carolyn - I don't wash my hair every day, either, so I've had to expand from the hairdryer work-out to the staff meeting work-out, conference call work-out, etc. One day this week I managed to get a really good leg/biceps work-out in while I was on a conference call. Of course, you have to remember to unmute yourself at the appropriate times, LOL! My poor bike has been sadly neglected the past few years - hopefully I can remedy that soon.

Paine - I can't believe your grandson is already 6! I'm glad to hear your Whole Foods was fully stocked on your recent trip. It can still be hit and miss for us and some things leave me scratching my head - like why I can't order 1 or 2 organic red bell peppers, but I can buy a 3 lb. bag of organic red bell peppers.

Sandra - I'm planning to do some porch puttering this week-end. Time to get the rest of my veggie and herb plants potted and/or in the ground!

Waves to ALL!
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Old 05-01-21, 11:53 AM  
Pat58
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Join Date: May 2002
Location: Connecticut
Happy Saturday! It was so beautiful here yesterday, and I'd have loved a nice walk, but the wind was just nuts. Anyway, my accomplishments included:

~ Work movement challenge - squats and biceps
~ Good PT session with disc, hip circle and Pilates ring - added more reps and/or sets
~ Yee's Yoga for Energy & Stress Relief, Gentle Relaxation
~ 5,000 steps

I just love the birch trees in YFE&SR. It's such a soothing DVD.

Thank you for starting the May check-in, Garrie. Those sound like some killer workouts. Sometimes those unusual variations on an exercise are an injury waiting to happen, at least in my case, but some of them are "hey I like this" moves.

Cyana, what a pain about losing your post. Was it the dreaded 501 message? So far my osprey couple are doing well. On my last visit the nest had been built up higher and featured a tee shirt or something along those lines. You can see it partially hanging off one side of the platform. Silly boids! I haven't had luck learning to use binoculars - maybe post-cataract I'll get the hang.

Paine - happy birthday to your dear grandson!
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Old 05-01-21, 11:57 AM  
Pat58
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Join Date: May 2002
Location: Connecticut
So, thinking about some goals for May. Home PT for sure, keep up the office movement challenge, and be more regular with Pilates. I'm contemplating requesting a physical therapy script and taking advantage of the reformers there for a month or two of medical Pilates.
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Old 05-01-21, 12:30 PM  
toaster
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Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Western NY
Thanks Garrie for starting us off! I'm glad I remembered to come to the new thread. I'm excited about the book sale on Monday, although for the last couple, I haven't found much in the way of fitness DVDs or books. Still, it's a nice outing for me & DH. Speaking of which, how are the plans for you & your SO to move in together coming?

cyana, sorry about the lost post. My nails still look perfect! I am tempted to put a top coat on top of them to help but am afraid that will actually make them worse (I probably will for my toes, which are just regular polish). The powder polish does come in little jars. LOL that you were not familiar with the "More Cowbell" skit but then saw a reference to it! It definitely is a SNL classic; I may have actually seen it live - I go on & off with watching SNL, but since I LOVE Christopher Walken, I probably intentionally watched that episode.

Pat, sounds like you did have some good accomplishments despite the craziness. That Yee DVD is definitely soothing! I just love practicing with him. In other good news, I saw that the osprey cam is back! Should we be expecting to see eggs at some point?

Had just a small class in the studio today (2 live, 1 livestream), but it was nice; it's cool here, but beautiful and sunny, and the canal has just been refilled. I also have a bit of yoga news to share: one of my students at the studio is starting a business called Mindful Matters, and she is doing a retreat in July. There are several components (meditation, hatha yoga, restorative), and she asked me to teach the hatha yoga. I was flattered to be ask, she only had come to one of my classes when she asked me to do it, and I am going to be paid very generously for just 1 hour, plus I get to attend the other segments too!

One last yoga-related thing: has anyone heard of this DVD?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Yoga-Inspir...-/124511658223

It was mentioned on the yinyoga.com forum; I couldn't find any other references outside of ebay.
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Old 05-01-21, 03:38 PM  
Paine
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Today is a rest day. I went to 3 markets this morning. I was surprised that I got in 4,800 steps just doing my marketing!

Garrie, thank you for starting our May thread. I like your new avatar and your haircut.
I usually did Slo-Mo Strength once every month or two (when I had it in my rotation). I really liked Amy's idea for Biceps Bonfire--it's the only time I've ever seen biceps done laying down (I usually laid on my bench doing that exercise).

Beth, I have not heard of that Yoga Inspired Functional Fitness DVD.
I bet you'll have fun at that Mindful Matters yoga retreat in July.
That is so great that your nails still look perfect! I'd probably skip doing a top coat and see how long they last as-is.

Pat, you reminded me that I need to pull out Yee's Yoga for Energy & Stress Relief.

I'm waving to everyone!
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Old 05-01-21, 05:02 PM  
toaster
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Join Date: Jan 2002
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Paine you had a busy morning!

I did try painting a top coat over one of my pinky nails. It was fine, but it doesn't look any different from the other nails!
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Old 05-01-21, 11:11 PM  
yogapam
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Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: West coast of Canada, eh. ;)
Hello Mat Mavens & hurray it’s May....summer is coming!

A quick fly by for me, back to chat more tomorrow....

Today’s workouts:
~Pilates class on zoom
~Jessica’s TBB: Cardio Flow
~6 km trail walk

I did a 2 hour Essentrics workshop this afternoon, focus on building a balanced class. It was awesome, I learned a lot!

Thanks for starting us off Garrie, love your new avatar!

Waves to all!
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