Summing Up Sunday

It was a slow, quiet day around here. This morning I had a nice walk with mrC before he left on his trip...back to the Maldives (lucky guy). It is slowly warming up in southern China, so more and more people are out in the mornings.

I did yoga camp day 26. There were lots of well timed hamstring and quad stretches. My legs were a little stiff when I woke up this morning.

30 Day Pilates Body Challenge

day 5 - Upper body again (it was pick your favorite workout from the week).

Honestly I would have rather done a core workout, but we didn't have one (yet), so I gave my legs a rest. Plus I only do push-ups when someone is telling me to.

This little life saver has been put to use many times the last couple of days. Not only were my legs sore from HIIT class on Friday, but my trapezius muscles have been very tight (I think from all those shoulder presses we did). Laying on the tennis ball for a couple of minutes makes a huge difference.

That's it. I had some eats. Netflixed. 

I told you it was a slow day!

How To Avoid DOMS

Yesterday's HIIT class was (not surprisingly) a shock to my body. I did more jumps, squats, and lunges (with weight) than I have at one time in a lonnnggg time. I knew that if I didn't get proactive, I was going to be suffering from delayed onset muscle soreness something fierce. No fun.

Here are some of the ways that I have learned to beat DOMS:

Stretching
All day long. As soon as I got out of bed, I started stretching. The more I moved around, the more I stretched. During our morning walk, when my muscles were warmed up, I stopped and did some deeper stretches and held them for longer.

Staying Active

After the walk, I did some yoga. Yoga Camp day 25 focused on strength poses, but like all good yoga sessions, I came away feeling looser.

30 Day Pilates Body. Day 4. A HIIT workout. Oh, the irony. This 8 minute video was actually not that bad. Making my muscles work helped push out some of the soreness by getting my blood pumping. 

Foam rolling 

Owwwww. This was by far the most painful method of the day, but an easy way to release the tension in those sore muscles.

Protein 

Consuming extra protein is said to help our bodies recover faster. Breakfast: eggs and yogurt. Lunch: Quinoa and tuna leftovers. Hemp hearts on my salad. Berry spinach protein smoothie. 

How do keep DOMS away??

A Killer HIIT Class

I'll try almost anything once, and sometimes I'll want to go back for more even if I got my butt kicked.

But first. 30 Day Pilates Body Challenge 

Day 3 - booty
Lots of bridges, but the most intense variation? Feet together (not pictured) activates the glutes, hamstrings, and inner thighs! 

My goal for this challenge:

Keep up and keep in touch. Simple, right? It should be since the workouts are 10 minutes or less.

So today I tried another new fitness center and class. I left the apartment with plenty of time to walk to Vitality Fitness Center. Thank goodness they have a nice lounge area because I arrived for a 10:00 class that actually starts at 10:40. Oops. I was super early, but entertained by the videos playing and the Zumba class that looked like a group of professionals.

HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) Class was the epitome of intense. The instructor (who had just led the Zumba class BTW) gave us a fierce mix of exercise circuits.  Squats to shoulder press to skaters. Mountain Climbers to pushups to jump squats. Jump rope to dead lifts to plank. Crunches, crunches, crunches! We never stopped moving.

My body. My legs. I'm pretty sure I haven't had a workout that intense since SurfSet and Boot Camp in the fall. I got my butt kicked and then I bought a 10 class pass.

When I got back to the apartment, I tried to keep my lunch healthy. Pineapple berry protein smoothie with quinoa and tuna. On the side I added one cup of dry Rice Chex cereal. I have a need for crunchy.

I was exhausted. And I loved it!

Do you like HIIT workouts?

Fitness Accountability and a Bike Ride

I started the 30 Day Pilates Body Challenge today.

The challenge actually started on March 1, so I had a couple of workouts to do before time zones start messing with things. By that I mean, when I wake up on day 3, it is still day 2 in the US and I don't have the day 3 email yet. I work out in the morning. Yada yada yada...you get the idea.

So today, I reached out to my BFF in the US to sweet talk her into joining the challenge too. She will be my workout buddy (aka accountability partner). My other accountability partner is YOU, my blog friends. I promise to share something from each daily workout to help me stick with the program.

Day 1 - legs
I honestly had a flashback to Booty Barre. In less than 10 minutes my legs were shaking and burning. Ah, I miss that.

Day 2 - arms

Ok, I have done triceps dips on the floor, but never while raising one leg into table top. Wowzer, that is hard and my arms are going to feel that later.

After my little Pilates workout I grabbed a quick breakfast. I am so excited that we found GF Cheerios at our favorite international store. These are perfect on days like today when I have a bike ride date with mrC.

We finally rode all the way to the Mangrove Ecological Park located on the Shenzhen Bikeway. 

Shenzhen is an interesting city with large districts that feel like they could be cities on their own. We left Shekou behind us, rode toward Futian and that's Lohou in the distance.

One of my favorite parts was the Coconut Grove, a perfect spot to escape the sun, have lunch and/or take a nap.

Because biking and selfies always go together, right?

Who/what is your fitness accountability?
Do you bike ride?

Practice, Practice, Practice!!

mrC and started the day with a walk before he had to go to work. Sometimes the environment just invites me to strike a pose. Even though I was just playing around, I noticed right away that doing this pose was A LOT easier than it was a couple of months ago. Consistent yoga practice really does work.

Speaking of yoga practice, I went back to my regular studio for a Flow with Alignment class. This studio has more space than the new one I found across the street. I tried to take a picture of the removable wall they use to open up the room when the class fills up, like today. I decided to get another pass even though it is more expensive, because sometimes I like to just be a part of the crowd. 

This class felt good. I was feeling a little sore from yesterday's yoga and Pilates workouts, but I felt strong. It also felt good to know what I was doing most of the time and I was able to keep up just by watching since the class was ALL in Chinese!

While scrolling through my Instagram feed, I came across a new challenge. I've been talking about Pilates a bunch lately and I believe that everything happens for a reason, so I took this as a sign that I was meant to do it. 

What new challenges are you taking on lately?