Robbed of my 30min and The Flame Thrower

VA Solo Play

That's it! Enough work. I'm sore, I'm tired, I'm menstrual and hadn't had time to eat. I know that if I go for what my gut is saying (feelings aside) I am still reaching for the homemade apple muffins (with real apple pieces) mom made or an obese slice of that orange cake. Its 16:00 and too late to eat now otherwise I cannot make it through my high intensity cardio workout I had planned. So I scorn at the baked treats and guzzle down water instead, pretending to be energetic and head down to the Virgin Active in Gardens, along with my piece of paper with the list of exercises I have set out to do today. 

The parking lot is packed and summer must be near, the Capetonians have their priorities right. "Who trains in the middle of the day?" You shout at the computer screen? Well I do, and so does the rest of Cape Town, basing on the turn out at the gym today. To my pleasure I am also very pleased to see the gym has been revamped!!! Somebody took their head out of their arse and looked at the future of fitness and realised, gym goers need s p a c e , space to jump and move and rotate and stretch and crawl! Functional space!!! Revolutionary. I think its grande. Just like 360. Anyway they have TRX systems, not that anyone has ever showed me how to use them, yet, so if you know of anyone in this expertise, contact me, I'd like to learn about this. Its like staring at a dumbbell and not knowing what to do with it. They have plenty new hard medicine balls, the type you can do push ups on and bounce around with, in all weight varieties, and power bags and new Kinesis machines!

A very large weight section and a dispersing of sweaty men by the army tank load.

Before any physical exertion a mini stretch has become a sacrament. Basic hammy, calves, shin stretching, hip flexion and energizing stretches.

The Downward Facing Dog ( Foreground) + Upward Facing Dog (Background)

Benefits of the Downward Dog

It strengthens the muscles in your arms, shoulders, sides, chest and upper back, while stretching the muscles in your ankles, calves, thighs and lower back. If you are feeling anxious, sad or upset, relaxing into Downward Dog can help calm your mind while alleviating mild depression and stress.
 

Off to my Cardio Amousbuche

4min flat out, as fast as my legs can take me on recovered legs

Jump Lunges x 10

Squat Jumps x 10

Goddess Squat Push ups x 10 or 90 deg leg extension Push up x 10

Repeat sequence until 1 min remaining.

Energized and not nearly sweaty enough I make my way to Power Plate territory, grabbing a 5kg Medicine Ball and a set of 10kg dumbbells. 1 minute into my yoga squats on the PP and the PP zone gets ambushed by the VA Fitness Trainer, who insists on me attending his 30min class or evacuate his turf. So I stay. Hell, lets learn something new. Lets just say that those were 30min of my life I can never get back. There is a reason the PP zone is grazed by rehab patients and retirees, don't get me wrong, I think its brilliant, their adventurism, they are the ones utilizing this magnificent piece of equipment! If only somebody showed the rest of civilization what to do with it, we would all be doing 1 legged squats into Warrior 3's and rows and push up burpees and challenging core work. And basically raping the PP for all its worth to gain competitive edge.

Benefits of the Power Plate

It's claimed that 10 minutes on the PP will have the same results as 60 minutes of conventional strenuous training. As the vibrations stimulate fast-twitch muscle fibers, athletes who use PP machines over time experience a dramatic increase in explosive strength, motor learning, muscular endurance and overall agility. Additionally, studies have proven PP's ability to reduce muscle pain and soreness, and expedite the recovery of damaged muscles and tendons.

On your next PP Encounter, try this, 

1) Avoid class times

2) Stand correctly

In order to develop strength, power, muscle tone and definition, it is essential to adopt a position that puts tension on the muscles. For example, if you're doing the squat position, have your knees bent and lean from the hips, as if you are about to sit on a chair.

3) Combine your exercises 


Try to choose a combination of compound exercises (such as squats and push-ups, which use more than one muscle group) and isolation exercises (biceps curls and front raises). You'll get a better training response, as well as increasing potential calorie burn.
 

4) Keep your knees bent 


Vibration training stimulates the contraction of the muscle spindles, so it's important to keep your knees slightly bent to avoid jarring through the joints.
 

5) Train for other sports, or sports you wish to take up 
Using Power-Plate can help you get far better sport-specific benefits. With skiing, for example, stand in a crouched ski squat position for 30 seconds, and your quads will receive a more appropriate training stimulus than any standing squat against a wall. You can get similar benefits for your golf swing, rugby scrum and so on - just stand in the sport-specific position.

I didn't get a chance to touch my DB's or my MdBall :( and rushed off to Power Yoga instead in 35 deg heat with my Yoga Goddess Queen, Jax Ivory at Jaiyoga. Contact Jai Yoga on +27 (0)21 418 0974 or email on info@jaiyoga.co.za or visit http://www.jaiyoga.co.za/

Play Yoga

After the disappointing VA Solo session, I can still make Jax's 18:00! The class is booming and I place my mat in the Sun Room before returning to the changing rooms to take off the 30% wet t-shirt I was moulding into nicely for something dry. The class is being heated up a lil bit differently today, on my right stands a theatrical viper red flame thrower. It looks like something borrowed from the circus act at the Vaudeville supper club. This thing is a beast and blowing hot air all around the room. 5 minutes into a series of sun salutations, my sweater is now wet. Again. 30%. And the lady on my left hand side already excused herself from the class. We go on and listen to Jacqueline's instructions carefully, coming into deep squats, breathing deep and long. "Its not Yoga if you don't breath, deep. Breath..."

She is magnificent and has a body of a Goddess and an aura of a sunrise. When Jax is teaching, lying down and lifting your leg over your shoulder and behind your head seems easy and attainable. And it is on first try, we are all breathing in the Uhjaiee breath of fire and using our shoulder to contract our Semitendinosis, Semimembranous and Femoris (the back of our knee and our hammys?) and lifting our leg behind our head with our opposite thigh and leg on our mat! Jesus.

I feel amazing and refreshed and energized and relaxed and I stink like a sailor and look like a drowned rat and nothing can stop me from smiling.

Play Score

0.5/1 Run

1/1 Yoga

1/1 VA Solo

2.5/3 Machina

Eat

1 x orange

1 x green apple

1/3 cup bircher oats + hot water + 1 x scoop of whey protein powder (Reflex)
     + 5 x raw almonds

1 x protein shake with water

1 x small smoked dhania chicken breast with steamed veggies + crisp salad + olive oil +  
     balsamic

6 x raw almonds

4 x coffee + 3 x teaspoons of fructose 

2 x servings of L'Glutamine

2 x Vitamin C pills

2 x Roaccutane

Dinner! Crispy + a lil bit of Carbs

Eat Score

9/10

minus a point for eating too little.