Today's Exercise: Standing on My Head!

I've been diligently working hard in yoga to try and do a headstand, and tonight, it finally happened. My fantastic teacher served as a spotter and I pulled my legs right up and held my pose. Honestly, holding it was hard, but getting down without doing the equivalent of a belly flop onto my mat was the most difficult part of the whole thing. That's why I was grateful for my spotter. It's really unbelievable to me that just a few years ago I was unable to move my neck to the right because of two herniated discs and pinched nerves. To now have worked my muscles to a place where they can do something like standing on my head is quite the feat, and one I never would have dreamed of doing back then.

My crazy/wonderful teacher has decided to really push us "regulars" and she had us to our normal vinyasas, and toss in some handstand practice too. I almost had it, I had one part where I was floating up, but I just wobbled and lost it. We're also working on some crazy balancing pose, that I can't even describe, where you are on bent arms and have one leg hooked around and another out straight. I'm getting closer, but definitely not quite there yet. Than and Crow have been the hardest for me. Something about those forearm balances just are the thing I struggle the most with.

And this ridiculously hard class was AFTER I did my half hour training session with the wonderfully hyper Kristin. She had me focused on my lower body and lots and lots of squats with some really hard weights. And she kept me longer than my 30 minute session, since her next person cancelled on her. Thank goodness I had yoga, or lord knows how long I would have been there. Then again, I just willingly signed up for a double session with her when I get back from vacation. Maybe I'm the crazy one.

Today's Exercise: I Think My Trainer and Yoga Instructor Are In Cahoots

Last night I did my personal training session with the always crazy Basil. You know, he's the guy who trains my trainer. And the guy who always has my ears ringing by the end of the session because I'm working out so much. That guy. So I'm close to the end of doing this grueling regiment that includes some sort of weight thing called a woodchopper (where you take a 20 lb. weight and swing it like an ax), and then those awful things where you hold two weights in your hands and do pushups (in increasing increments), stand and do pressups, and then some deadlifts for good measure, when my yoga instructor walks by. At first she sees Basil and says a friendly hello, and then she notices me. It's about five minutes before class (and five minutes before my personal training torture ends) and she stares at me and says, "you'd better be coming to class." I grunt that I am but I might not be able to move my arms, as I was in the middle of a series of deadlifts. She and Basil both laugh, and Adrienne assures me that I will be able to do yoga. And I did. After a rough few vinyasas, I actually felt like the room wasn't spinning and made it through class. And, I almost managed to get myself into the <a href="http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/468" target="_blank">crow/crane pose</a> (which I've been working on). I only held it for about three seconds before I actually fell on my ass and Adrienne laughed, but it was a step in the right direction. My arms may be super sore this morning (typing was a taxing proposition last night at 10:30 when I got home) but I can see some muscle definition finally starting to happen. Or at lest that's what I'm telling my self to make the pain all worth it.