Week Four

This week we started off strong with yoga CrossTrain. I felt stronger and more flexible than before and was able to do all of the moves 100%. The next day, I woke up SO sore. I know being sore is a good thing but the next two days of yoga Cardio and Strength were very rough because of it. When it was finally Yin Yoga day, it was amazing. The stretch felt so good especially since I was very sore. Somehow, I managed to truck through it and am still pretty sore today. Gio stopped cutting weight for his fight because his opponent dropped out so we binged on some food that was definitely not part of our diet. As a result, I did not lose any weight this week but will be back on the diet starting tomorrow. I'm really loving doing yoga every day and am excited to finish the first of the three cycles of The Ultimate Yogi next week. The next cycle throws in some workouts we haven't done yet which we are really looking forward too.

I wanted to focus this week on yoga CrossTrain as it is one of the classes Gio and I are really growing to love. It is the perfect blend of balance, strength, cardio, stamina and flexibility which makes it really enjoyable. Here's a quick peak in on the class:

It's very fast paced but we do so many different flows to incorporate strength, balance, stamina, flexibility and cardio which makes the class go by really fast and leaves you feeling amazing afterwards. It takes elements from all of the different classes we do each week, and puts it all into this one workout. It's a great class to do at the beginning of every week to check in with your body and see how you've improved. Here are some of the moves we did in class:

This arm twist opens up the shoulders and back. To get an even deeper stretch, we did a flow by holding this arm twist while we brought our heads low to the floor and then all the way back up and leaned back which felt really amazing.

This is Warrior II pose, also known as Virabhadrasana II. Holding this pose increases stamina, stimulates abs, stretches and strengthens the shoulders, legs, ankles, groins, chest and lungs, and relieves backaches. 

This is Reverse Warrior pose, also known as Viparita Virabhadrasana. This pose stretches the obliques, groins, and hips, strengthens the quads, arms, and neck, and opens the chest and shoulders.

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Our favorite pose of the week is this Seated Forward Bend, also known as Paschimottanasana.

This pose feels so amazing, especially when held for 5 minutes. When we first started this program, we couldn't touch our toes at all, but from holding this pose for an extended period of time, we were quickly able to do so. This pose has so many benefits. It improves digestion, stretches the spine, shoulders, and hamstrings, calms the brain, helps relieve stress, soothes headaches, anxiety, and reduces fatigue, and stimulates the kidneys and liver.

~ Do your practice and all is coming ~