Yesterday was great! It was jam-packed with super classes. I was in desperate need of a shower by 6pm. The Schwinn Release & Relieve class with Helen Vanderburg was a Just below threshold cycling class that then used foam rollers and a massage ball to help Dacia and muscles to release. I have been wanting to write a blog post about foam rolling (and tennis balls/massage balls) because they are unparalleled in getting some of my tight areas loosened. When you get a runner or cyclist or triathlete on a foam roller working their quads and IT band area you will not believe the groans and grunts and other sounds that you will hear. It definitely sounded like there were some other activities going on in our room! Just that short session at the end of the ride and feeling the difference it made in how legs felt after two tough rides reminded me that I need to get back to using them... *DAILY* and made me realize I want to include these tools in my yoga classes. It's mind-blowing how much of our movement (of lack of range of motion) is related to the health of our feet. Tight areas in our feet cause all sorts of complications in our knees, hips, and lower back because everything is connected! Similarly, tight hip flexors are often the cause of knee pain. Again, everything is connected. Too often problem areas, areas where we experience pain, are looked at in isolation and it's nice to see fitness professionals address this and research being done to further our understanding of anatomy, kinesiology, and biomechanics.
An other session that was fantastic was Shifting is the New Lifting with Jonathan Ross. It explored using the body in all the planes (frontal, sagittal, transverse) and how to utilize mixes of them in our upper body and lower body to create more effective exercises that work your body smarter and more functionally. Most of the exercise utilized body weight as the primary load with a few that used some other tools (kettle bell, medicine ball) and it was amazing how effective they were. This class spoke to the need to not just having male (and some female clients) that just want to lift heavier. It was about how we can make our movements with clients more useful to help them in their daily lives. I am going to look into his book, Abs Revealed, because I was that impressed with what he was saying and his approach.
Nothing much to report from my two classes today so far. I did score some Larabar samples yesterday that I thought I'd share. :D
(Sorry about any typos. I'm posting from my phone.)
