Saturday, July 19, 2008

Yoga for retired athletes


I would like to have thought of myself as athletic. I loved sports and I was an avid runner. I even ran pretty regularly after having Maya. My best buddy from college, Tami, and I wanted to prove that 30 yrs old was not really old. We signed up for a half marathon and did pretty decently at it... um... we finished. I thought that was decent. My body fat percentage was nice and low and all my clothes fit almost as nicely as before I had babies. But alas, I was born with a malalignment (similar to cars) in my knees. I remember after that race my knees were swollen for about a week. I never seemed to get back into the "groove" of running after that. I think I did a 5K since then but that had to be about it.

I tried Pilates, but it kicked my butt. You never have to use those kinds of muscles as a runner! I recently started Yoga. I thought it would help me in many ways. It would be a gentle, relaxing way of getting back into shape.

If you are interested in a peaceful way of getting fit, try Kundalini Yoga. After 3 weeks, my body fat percentage is down 4%. I have only lost 3 pounds so far, but I'm trying not to focus on that as much as my body composition.

One thing that's really fun is that Maya can do this, too. We have a blast trying our new poses. Reili tried joining in today, but I think she was just trying to catch a free ride on the horsie (moms, you know what I'm talking about).

Have any of you tried Yoga? What is your favorite kind? I didn't realize how many types of Yoga were out there until I bought a Yoga magazine at the airport. Maybe I'll start my own type of Yoga!

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have an a.m./p.m. yoga that I absolutely love. I also have a Yoga Burn! They are both wonderful - I just need back into doing them.

traceyroxanne said...

Kundalini yoga sounds interesting. I've only done "ymca" yoga--liked it ok, but didn't see much gains as far as fat reduction. How often are you doing yoga and for how long-I'd love to learn more. share, share! By the way, Ryan said he had a great time with Jeff playing golf this am. He said he was really happy to know that "there is a social life after the Harris's" Maybe we'll stop moping so much!

Deena said...

Glitter has been doing Pilates with me this week. She lays her blanket on the floor beside me and sticks her feet up in the air--sometimes she even waves her arms around.

I need some fat reduction...I think I'll look into some yoga. :)

marita said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
The Mrs. said...

I was once convinced by a pro-dancing friend that Pilates could re-align your body, trim all your flab, and fix bad posture.

Alas, I did Pilates faithfully for several months at a time more than once, and I never saw the results.

I have a pricey (for me) DVD on how to do classical pilates, but it was no better than the rest for getting results.

Do you use a DVD for your kundalini yoga?
-Elizabeth

MoMmY k:-) said...

I own her DVD! :-)FAT FREE YOGA Though Donny has made fun of me when doing it! Anyways! Kundalini is great! But I dont do the meditating...it made me feel like a freak...so I just skip it now:-)

Anonymous said...

I love power yoga--have you checked out beach body dot com? They have some good yoga in P90. I once bought a pregnancy yoga DVD and the people on it weirded me out so bad that I gifted it at a white elephant x-change! LOL

Kim said...

I have The Firm's yoga DVD ("Power Yoga?"). It's pretty good. But I can't stand it when KB tries to do it with me. It's supposed to be a nice, relaxing video and the poses are sometimes difficult. How could I possibly relax with Kayla flopping around like a fish next to me?

ME! said...

The only yoga I have done is some DVDs...I am so unbalanced it isn't funny. I didn't know that there was different types of yoga...I will have to look into it.

Glad that you have found something that works.

I did a 13.2 back in 2005. Holy crap did that turn me off of exercise for a while. I was miserable for three days afterwards. I have never been a runner, and have no idea why I did it...but I did raise 1500 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

Good luck!!