Positive Gym News

I checked out the kids open gym tonight. In many ways, it's disciplined by the adult open gym, and the nine-year-old level fours and fives were offering me lots of advice and conditioning tips, which was pretty awesome. I'm going to try their push-up/crunch ideas when my arms aren't rubbery. I did a lot bar work and conditioning--negative pull ups, dips, and lots and lots of casting. My shoulders are going to hurt tomorrow.

I made a lot of progress on my squat-ons, had a great string of cartwheels on beam, some decent front tucks, and a lot of good round-off back handsprings into the resi pit. At the end of open gym, I had one of the coaches spot me on floor. She gave me a light spot the first time, and then at my request just stood nearby for the second set. I did it, no mats and no spot. From here, I think I'm going to work with having the coach standing just a bit farther away each time until I get some more confidence. She also gave me some shoulder stretches--my shoulder flexibility isn't very good, and it's probably part of why I'm so nervous on back handsprings. I really depend on sheer power and on my back flexibility, and that's not a good thing.

But I did it by myself. No mats. No spot. There's nowhere to go but up!

Ballet +, Gymnastics -

I had a great dance class Monday. I was focused, I pushed myself, and I was able to focus on really dancing instead of just putting a series of moves in order to a specific beat. It helped that the combinations were fairly simple, and that seven years of training left good muscle memory, even if I haven't done any ballet in five years. I wasn't able too look at myself in the mirror very well, but from what I could tell my split leaps were at about 130--not very good. I have a lot of work to do there. But the form was good, and they were enthusiastic.

And I just didn't go to gymnastics yesterday. I don't have a good reason why. It had been a bad day, I was feeling down on myself, and I was exhausted. I didn't want to drive more (1:20 commute to work, an hour home, and I was more than done driving), I didn't want to be productive, I didn't want to face the frustration of not being able to do things I thought I should be able to do. And I was really, really tired. So when 7:30 rolled around, I didn't make myself go get ready. I wasn't out the door at 7:45. And by 8:30, I was in bed.

I'm regreting that decision now. I did need the extra sleep, but I needed the mood boost I always get from gym more. I'm still tired, but I know I'll get my workout in tonight (circuit training day!) because of that regret. I'm going to go and spend ten-fifteen minutes practicing my forms for Tae Kwon Do, too. That will wake me up more than a nap, and I'm going to need that extra energy to get through the rest of today and the ride home that's already looks like it's going to be too long.

Maybe I'll be able to convince my husband that we should check out the kiddy open gym practice on Friday.

New Year's Resolution

I'm not really one for New Year's Resolutions. Sometimes I'll make them, but I usually forget them within a week. These aren't really New Year's Resolutions; they're goals that I've had for a while, very generally. But we all know that general goals just floating around in your mind are not goals that are likely to be met. So here are my fitness goals, laid out and measurable.

First, I need to work on being more consistent about my exercise. Therefore, my goals are:

Cardio 4x a week, 30-60 minutes, every week
Strength training 3x a week, every week

I don't have any specific cardio goals, I just want to keep moving. I do have specific strength goals:

20 handstand push-ups
10 hanging leg lifts with good form
Be able to do a pull up

I'm most excited about finally being able to do a pull up. For whatever reason, this particular skill has always eluded me, and I really want to get it. And I have motivation to get my strength up, because I need it to meet my gymnastics goals.

Floor: Round off-back handspring-back handspring-back handspring; RO-BHS-Back tuck onto mat in the resi pit; punch front onto mat in the resi pit; front walkover
Beam: Consistent handstands, back walkover, round off
Vault: Strong front handspring vault
Bars: Squat on jump to high bar, glide kip (maybe, hopefully...)

I'm not starting from ground zero with these, but it'll be a lot of work and means I have to make good use of my very limited practice time. My goals for ballet are a little more form orientated:

Ballet: Improve turnout by 20 degrees, free hold leg at 135 degrees, hit full split on leaps, remember combinations the first time through

Last, but not least, flexibility. Like strength, I'm going to need it to make my skill goals.

Flexibility: Square hips in 10 degree oversplits, enough shoulder flexibility to keep my arms in line with my body on back walkovers