PSA: Don't forget to enter to win our amazing hot yoga survival guide giveaway! And, we're looking for YBC Ambassadors, if you want to help out! Lastly, we have one spot left at our Costa Rica yoga retreat coming up soon! Super cheap if you book one way tickets each way!
Workout Wednesday is a series on YBC where I talk about what I do to complement my yoga practice. This isn't instructional, but rather, an opportunity to share what I do that makes me feel great. I'd love to hear what you do to complement your practice down below in the comments along with any questions you have for future W.O.W. posts.
Working with a trainer
The other day in I mentioned I'd started working out with a personal trainer so today I wanted to share my first impressions.
This is going to sound awful, but I'm normally not into working out with trainers because I just feel like it's too easy to get certified (I took a certification course, it was kind of a joke how easy it was - I barely learned anything). Now, maybe it was just the course that I took, but it was just such common sense stuff that I walked out of there feeling like that's it? Now I can go push someone to their limits to help them meet their fitness goals? Uh, no.
My husband is also kind of a trainer snob as well. Having been a professional athlete, he had access to top trainers who coached at a high level and so he just taught me the basics and I did my own thing. However, I'd been seeing this one trainer at my gym and everything he was having his clients do were things that I believed in and wanted to work on - Olympic lifts and hiit style workouts. So I made an appointment because I'd like to be in a bit better shape for my book's photoshoot and while I think I might be able to get myself to where I'd like to be if I just continue what I'm doing, I think I could do it more efficiently if I had a qualified person just tell me what to do. Sometimes you need to just call in someone who knows better than you do, you know? This guy is crossfit certified and I just really like that style of working out, but don't want to join a crossfit gym because I think if you have a specific fitness goal in mind, the crossfit workouts at a box might be too random to get you where you need to be, and I think individualized programming may be more beneficial.
Anyway, in the first few sessions I learned a few things:
1. I have a tendency to let my shoulders roll in. It's a subtle thing that's initiated by the inner elbows facing in towards my body. It was messing up basically all my lifts. So with one little tweak - facing my inner elbows out in front - I made huge strides in my lifts.
2. I need to work on getting my arms past my ears with my jerks and that, I think, comes from just repeated bad habits and maybe a tiny bit lack of strength. This will also help with my handstands in my yoga practice.
3. My knees tend to dip in just the slightest bit when I jerk - lack of strength and repeated bad habits.
So these are all things I am psyched to learn and work on. The nice thing about having someone there is they're a fresh set of eyes that point out things you don't even realize you're doing. And everyone knows something you don't, so I walk into each session feeling like it's a great learning experience for me and always ask a billion questions about technique and the why behind nearly every movement we do.
The other thing I was curious about is whether I would be pushed hard enough. I feel like I go pretty strong on my own but according to my heart rate monitor, I am pushed much harder with the trainer. Interesting, right?
I am working out with him three times per week and doing two to three times a week on my own. I'm trying to give myself more recovery time because those three times I'm working out with him are really intense, and I'm trying to find a solid balance between the crazy workouts and a quiet stretching and yin that I need from the yoga practice. Both the workouts and the yoga cultivate a sense of mindfulness for me, so I feel good there, but I do think I will be incorporating more meditation because I just feel a little crazy right now and really don't want to take a turn to negative town if I can help it.
Finding Balance
Yesterday I went to a yoga class with a teacher I really love. She does traditional ashtanga in a heated room, and it's an intense class. I wish I'd taken a gentle or yin class, but she is really fantastic and hasn't been teaching in a while so I went. Now, I practice yoga every day, but sometimes it's five minutes and sometimes it's thirty. It's not like a 90 minute class every day. While in her class (a 90 minute class) I was so surprised by how tight I'd gotten in just a few days of not having a longer practice and it kind of bummed me out. There are only so many hours in the day, you know? And between taking care of the dog (two walks per day, 30-60 minutes) and work, writing my book (!!!! what?!), prepping the mantra boxes and yoga retreat, and running the errands to keep the household going, I just feel tired.
Eating Habits
To that point, I recently hired a nutritionist that I trust. (I am also weird about nutritionists because in college I had severe PTSD after three family members passed away unexpectedly and I developed crippling anxiety that plummeted my weight to like 70 pounds. The nutritionist told me to eat donuts at breakfast. I wish I were joking.) So, yeah, the girl I'm working with now is very holistic, is familiar with the GAPS diet (which was key because she's helping me be strategic about what we start incorporating as I transition off the diet), and has worked with top athletes with a focus on performance training. I decided to work with her because I don't feel like I am eating enough for the amount of activity I am doing, and I also want to keep my fitness goals in mind but be sure to incorporate lots of fats etc so that I can continue on that GAPS/Paleo style of eating, which I feel is very healing. Her plan is to incorporate a bit more carbs in the form of sweet potatoes, etc, but to create a plan where most of my energy source is coming from protein and fat, which I am really happy about.
So I feel good about it all, it's just that the beginning stages are tough and I am still working on finding a balance, and a rhythm to what works for me and what doesn't. As always, I'll keep you updated, and appreciate your support! xo
PS - If you're on snapchat, I'm @yogaby_candace and I've been sharing snaps of my workouts, food prep, etc....along w other totally random things. :)
Let's talk I'd love to hear your experiences if you've ever worked with a strength coach, personal trainer, or nutritionist. Any vital tips you learned from them?