Week 5 - Part Two

The fifth and final week of the first cycle was really great. The schedule this week was slightly different from previous weeks. It was:

1. CrossTrain and HardCORE

2. Cardio

3. Strength and HardCORE

4. Mountain Pose Series

5. Gentle Yoga

6. Yin

7. Sun Salutations

The Gentle Yoga class was amazing. After being pretty sore from the first three days of the week, this slow yet constantly flowing class was exactly what Gio and I needed and has become our favorite class yet. We cant wait to add it to our routine for cycle two of The Ultimate Yogi. The class gave our muscles the time to repair and heal themselves while also helping us reduce our stress levels. We really enjoyed the slow pace of the class which helped introduce us to some new poses and motions. Throughout the class, the instructor kept us focused on alignment as well as our breathing techniques as we explored the variety of yoga poses we were experiencing. Here is clip on what this class was like:

Mid-week, I went to a park near my neighborhood, found a really peaceful and beautiful spot right next to a lake, and practiced some yoga moves in the sun. I usually do yoga in a dark room so this was a very different environment but it was really great. I had the best time and felt so calm and happy. Below are some pictures from that day:

Feeling the warmth of the sun and taking in the beauty around me made these Warrior poses truly special. In the first picture I am doing Warrior II, the second is Warrior III and the third is Reverse Warrior. I love doing these poses as a sequence because it helps me lengthen my spine, stretch my ribs, burn my quads, and challenge my balance and core. With this first cycle coming to an end, being at the park practicing poses on my own was a great way to celebrate my accomplishments. Speaking of accomplishments, since losing weight was one of my goals from the start, I'd like to share that I have lost a total of eight pounds throughout these first five weeks of the program. Here's a before and after picture to see my progress:

I am loving watching and feeling my body change. Everything is becoming tighter, my arms, core and legs are becoming stronger, my balance is greatly improved, and I am getting more and more flexible each day. Gio is loving the benefits he is gaining through this program as well and his new found flexibility is really helping improve his mixed martial arts performance. We have both acquired a new sense of calm which is making us much happier overall. With the first cycle of The Ultimate Yogi done and gone, we enter cycle two with high hopes and determination and are ready to take our yoga practice to the next level. I would like to leave off with this beautiful quote from Caroline Adams Miller, as we say goodbye to cycle one:

~"Your life is a sacred journey. It is about change, growth, discovery, movement, transformation, continuously expanding your vision of what is possible, stretching your soul, learning to see clearly and deeply, listening to your intuition, taking courageous challenges at every step along the way. 

You are on the path exactly where you are meant to be right now. And from here, you can only go forward, shaping your life story into a magnificent tale of triumph, of healing, of courage, of beauty, of wisdom, of power, of dignity, and of love."~

Week 5 - Part One

This week, is the last and final week of the first cycle of The Ultimate Yogi! Gio and I cannot believe how fast time has gone by and how much this workout has changed us. We are eagerly awaiting cycle two. This week, Part One of Week Five, I am going to focus on how this workout has impacted us as well as get into what will be changing going into cycle two. Next week in my "Part Two" post, I will sum up our final week of the cycle, focus in on our favorite class of the week, and provide stats and pics on how our bodies have changed now that the first cycle is complete.

Gio and I have both noticed changes in ourselves from doing this workout. We are able to find our calm throughout the stress, and grab onto the light in the darkness. We even feel a closeness to each other from going through this together. After class, we often find ourselves playing around with our new strength and flexibility by trying out new poses that are way beyond our reach as of yet. To keep us inspired and motivated, I decided to make us a board of inspiration to hang in our yoga room to always remind is to keep pushing and digging deeper. Here's a peek at how it came out:

It really excites us that one day, we will accomplish some of these amazing yoga poses. But we know that before reaching the top of the mountain, we have to go through that uphill trek. Our next step on the way to becoming Ultimate Yogi's, is cycle two of the program. With this new cycle, comes some new classes which we are really looking forward to. The new class schedule will be as follows:

1. Balance and HardCORE

2. Strength

3. Flexibility and HardCORE

4. Gentle

5. Detox and HardCORE

6. Cardio

7. Mountain Pose Series

We are going to miss our CrossTrain, Yin, and Vitality classes but are excited to face Balance, Flexibility, and Gentle yoga to help bring us to the next level. This 108 day journey has been way more amazing than I could've ever imagined, and we both cannot wait to enter phase two of the program.

~ "All problems are illusions of the mind" ~

Eckhart Tolle

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 ~

Week Three - Part Two

Week Three is now complete! Gio and I have started eating our egg whites with spinach, tomato, and cheese for breakfast and dinner because we are obsessed and still haven't gotten sick of it yet. For lunch, I've been subbing in these really delicious yogurt parfaits from Publix and three hours later I eat this great Power Crunch protein energy bar. I usually like to keep the protein bar in the freezer because it ends up tasting like a chocolate wafer bar which satisfies my chocolate fix:

Gio has been subbing in this really yummy Power Chicken Hummus Bowl from Panera for lunch and loves it:

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The yoga class that I want to discuss this week is Detox. This workout has really become one of our favorites. It's filled with a variety of spinal twists that feel AMAZING and really gets you sweating. Here's a small clip of The Ultimate Yogi Detox class with Travis Eliot:

I was excited this week to do this workout because with me having such a bad head cold all week, I figured it would help me sweat out some of this sickness. All of the deep twists throughout the class had us sweating like crazy, helped us ring out our toxins and flush our internal organs with freshly oxygenated blood. After the class was over, I felt like we had just gotten an adjustment at the chiropractor. It restored our spine's natural range of motion and stimulated circulation. It left us both feeling brand new on the inside as well as the outside. Here are some of the poses we did in class:

Favorite pose of the week:

This is move is called Plow Pose, also known as Halasana. This pose has so many benefits. Not only does it give you a great spine and shoulder stretch, it also massages the abdominal organs, improves digestion, calms the brain and nervous system, relieves stress and fatigue, flushes mucous from the lungs, and massages and stimulates the thyroid glands.
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Today I did my weekly weigh-in, and lost 3 more pounds. In just three weeks of The Ultimate Yogi as well as eating a healthier diet, I've lost a total of 8 pounds! Gio who started the program at 185 has been cutting weight for his MMA fight this coming weekend at 165. Today he weighed in at 175 pounds which is right where he needs to be at this point. We are both becoming more balanced, flexible and happier overall. It's safe to say, we are loving our first cycle of The Ultimate Yogi. I'll send you off with a before (alternate pose) and after picture of one of Gio's newest accomplishments, the Backbend Pose!

~ "The nature of yoga is to shine the light of awareness into the darkest corners of the body" ~ 

Jason Crandell

Week Three - Part One

This week was a rough one for me. On Monday, I woke up with a horrible head cold and cough but had to suck it up and head into work because it was the first day of my new promotion. I trucked through each day of work and still found the energy to do yoga once I got home. I hoped that sticking through the workouts would help me sweat out some of this sickness, but it is now the end of the week and I STILL have this head cold and cough. I have noticed that I've had a sense of calm throughout the week though when normally I would have very high anxiety. I really think this is one of the effects yoga is having on me and it is truly amazing. Gio is now one week away from his next MMA fight so he's been cutting weight, training three times a day and doing yoga with me at night. He's noticed the impact yoga is having on his flexibility because he can now throw a really great head-kick that he wasn't able to do before. We've both noticed this increase in flexibiliy as well as balance. During weeks one and two we were always falling all over the place and had a lot of trouble keeping our balance but now we are able to move through all of the sequences without falling nearly as much if not at all. It's really great because now we can flow through all of the yoga sequences swiftly which makes the workouts even more enjoyable.

This week, our favorite Ultimate Yogi workout was Detox. With me being so sick, and also  having some back tension, this class was literally my savior. All of the moves throughout the class are meant to twist your spine in every which direction while also causing you to sweat A LOT. The feeling after this class is indescribable, but tomorrow I will go more in-depth into the class, show some pictures of our favorite spinal twists, do my weekly weigh in to let you know how much weight I've lost, and let you know where Gio stands on his 20 pound weight cut for his fight next week. 

~ Namaste ~