Funny story.
Last night, after putting the kids to bed, the hubs and I created a little circuit workout. It was (very) loosely based on the 100 Workout, but since my plantar fasciitis flare up, I can't do much of anything with impact, so we modified it A LOT. We did a couple sets each of boxing, crunches, squats, arm raises, and high knees. The number of reps we chose was way too low and the whole thing only took us 10 minutes! LOL But, hey, it was 10 minutes we weren't sitting on the couch. So, we'll add more next time.
ANYWAY, this was not the point of my post. After our tremendous workout, I suggested we do some yoga, you know part of that whole balance thing I'm going for. And, then Jay suggested Thai Chi. Lucky for us, there were beginner videos of both On Demand. So, we started with the Thai Chi and the wonderful teachings of Grandmaster Chen. As my friend Kim knows from our prenatal yoga days (that's a whole other post unto itself), I am not a very good participant in quiet activities in which you are supposed to channel your inner...your inner...whatever that would be called. As soon as it started, I was giggling. I don't know why. I just can't help myself. But, it only got worse from there. The video was TERRIBLE. Pretty much the only instructions he gave you were: "sleep" (ummm, OK)..."wake up" (Already? I just went to sleep.)..."50-50" (Huh?)..."turn foot" (Which foot? No clue.).."same weight" (Whaaaat?!?!). All the while, you can only see the upper half of his body. It was really quite comical as we rotated, breathed, and moved in SUUUUUUUUUUPPPPPPERRRRRRR sloooowwwww motion around our living room.
So, after about 10 minutes of that, we decided to try out the yoga video. We turned it on and were immediately concerned when we noticed it was from the same production company as Mr. Chen's Thai Chi. Then, the host comes on, and we just look at each other and started cracking up. This woman had the biggest boobs EVER. Not that you can't have big boobs and do yoga. I'm sure plenty of ample breasted yogis around the world would take issue with that; just not what we were expecting. But, we didn't let that deter us. Onward and downward (facing dog) we went! Our wonderful hostess was amazingly strong and flexible, and we did our best to keep up with her, but given our inflexibility and uncontrollable laughter at the soft core porn shots throughout the video (did I mention how low cut her top was), we just couldn't quite cut it. We probably lasted about as long with Big Boobs as we did with the Grandmaster.
Bottom line, though, is we had some fun and weren't sitting on our butts. Laughter has to be a zen habit, right?!
ADDENDUM: Immediately after completing this post, I went to Facebook and my friend, the aforementioned prenatal yoga Kim, had posted this link. LOVE IT! Open Letter to the Fat Girl I Saw at Hot Yoga in New York City. I wish I could write like her.
Core workout are a much safer and more effective alternative to crunches. Implementing this type of core training builds balanced stability, endurance and strength in the abs and lower back. Break away from the crunch-aholic syndrome and start training smarter.
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