This Tabata/yoga class was a real eye (and hip) opener

December 19, 2017 Ashley 0 Comments

After doing three high intensity workouts yesterday, I was so ready for restorative yoga.

That’s why my heart sank into my mat ever so slightly when I heard her say it…

“So the first half of class’s gonna be Tabata! Then we get to relax into some poses!”

(“LOLwhat?”)

Lucky for me, I’m fueled by a super awesome plant based diet. So, even though my mind was kinda less than ready for it, my body was like, “Let’s do this!” That said, I wouldn’t’ve been doing so well this morning had the class layout been any different. See, Sarah (our fun loving, eccentric instructor) has designed the perfect mix of high intensity body weight strengthening and poses that Play Doh our bodies back into a limber state. For thirty minutes, we go hardcore, working every somatic section we possess. Glutes and gams? Check. Shoulders, biceps, and triceps? Oh yes. Abs? Absolutely. Then, for a final flourish, she combines everything together into an evil chimera of this mountain climber mixed with a plank, performed at rapidfire pace. It was brutal. And beautiful. I love finishing with a good sweat. But, then for the second half, we assuaged our battered body parts with some TLC stretchery. Everything we’d just maimed got a good stretching. And, when I woke up this morning, I felt… awesome. My overworked guns weren’t firing on me. My hammies weren’t hammering me with pain the moment I dismounted the mattress. And my usually vice tight iliopsoas had some slack to it for the first time in a while.

(“No, bae… I’m crying ’cause I finally feel *good*. And also a little bit ’cause your breath stank.”)

And that’s when I realized it.

This is the problem with most of us. Including me, so much of the time.

We stretch to get ready for our workouts. But we fail terribly when it comes to doing any kind’ve post body pumpin’ Gumby sessions. I mean, I get it. I’ve been there. The workout’s finally over. We prioritize blasting calories. And then all we wanna do is GTFO and get back to our days. But any sweat expert can tell you just how bad that is. What happens is this: while you’re badazzing through those box jumps, lactic acid is accruing through all your body meat. Your muscles are teeming with the stuff by the end. The result? That aforementioned aching and malaise you wake up with the next day. (And the next…) But, taking just a little bit of limbering time afterward works wonders for preventing any of that. Your muscles get supple and warm again, you increase the blood flow to everything you own, and you wake up feeling amazing instead’ve Frankensteinian and wanting to plop back onto that pillow indefinitely.

(This doesn’t hafta be you.)

And what’s all this got to do with weight loss?

Um… only everything. See, if you wake up with sick case of DOMS tomorrow, then guess what’s probably not gonna happen? That regular workout you need to keep doing to lose weight. (Or stay in shape, in the midst of the nutritional nemesis that is the holiday season.) What’s more, even if you do push it, your performance is less than stellar. And, if you’re new to working out, this is terrible for making you wanna stay the path. Exercise typically leaves us feeling good, energized, and full’ve endorphins. If you’re feeling the total opposite, how likely are you to continue long enough to lose weight? Contrarily, by counteracting all that lactic acid awfulness with a few asanas (AKA yoga poses – or whatever stretching you prefer), you’ll wake up ready to battle sweat sesh number next sans any kind’ve issue in your body tissues.

And, with that, my well stretched flesh vessel’s off for some sweet lactic acid-less cardio.

(Here’s hoping that I can actually remember to roll out that yoga mat after…)