Insightful Athlete: Fit Bit

Sorry for my absence! Things have been rather chaotic around here lately. I took a long period off of work. I had so many leave days, I needed to take a long time off work so I wouldn't lose out on them.

I ended up taking a little over two weeks off...I'm not going to lie. It was amazing.

The first trip I made was home to Indiana. I went to the Indiana State Fair with my family. I literally ate myself sick of all the yummy fair food (that is TERRIBLE for you, yet so delicious). I had rounds of sweet corn on the cob, elephant ears, salted caramels, and salt water taffy....yum.

And then there were all of the farm animals. I think I dragged my family around to all of them because we don't have cows in DC. Cows, sheep, and pigs are not a common occurrence for me anymore. I now get excited to see farm animals that remind me of home!

I did meet an awesome llama named "Pongo." He really liked me...but I think he just liked my hair. He spent more time staring at my hair than my face...maybe he sees something in common with my lion's mane?

(By the way, I checked...there were no llamas named, "Tina.")

My last week was a vacation to "nowhere" or also called a "stay-cation." I thought I was going to get sooo much rest, but I spend a lot of my vacation busy practicing golf and playing around.

I was really excited to try Spanish Web. I was supposed to try a rope class, but I switched with my friend Anna. I really loved this class....it is so graceful and pretty. There are two people in this act: a spinner and a flyer. While some get a little sea sick from the spinning, I was happy the spinning didn't bother me. I have another Spanish Web class next week and I'm super excited for round two!

A message painted on one of the Urban Evo walls...how great is this quote!?!

I also started going to a gym called Urban Evolution. They offer Parkour, UrbanFit (functional fitness classes similar to CrossFit), Free Running, Breakdancing, Gymnastics and Aerial Silks. The gym membership itself is a pretty good deal so I bought a membership to give it a try. I liked the Aerial Silks for overall conditioning, but I think I prefer Static Trapeze and Spanish Web at TSNY-DC. I did really love the Parkour classes....I feel like a little kid jumping around on a playground. My legs were nice and sore after a few classes so I definitely got a great lower body workout out of it. So far, the classes have been great and I think I might keep my membership!

This have been really busy at work....getting back to the grind. I had my last class with Andrew in Static Trapeze. He's moving on to bigger and better things so we will all miss what an asset he was! Since it was Andrew's last class, I came really early to ensure I was nice and stretched. I was stretching for over 20 minutes and was in my splits several times. So happy that I finally got down to my full splits (I am NOT flexible AT ALL so this has been a challenge), I went down in them one more time to show Andrew my progress. I heard a pop and felt a snap right away and knew that wasn't good. I had pain, but it wasn't intense pain so I did my class anyways (not a great idea and I don't recommend it). I guess I was more hurt than I thought, because I woke up in terrible pain. I thought it was my hamstring that pulled before class but ruled it out because I didn't have excruciating pain immediately. I went to medical yesterday morning and yes...it's a pulled hamstring. I got a day of bed rest, lots of drugs, and a follow up next week. I don't think it is torn. I have been watching it, and I don't have the rigid bruising yet. My pain has already started to go down...which is good. My doctor said my pain would be constant if it ends up being torn.

Blaah...what a way to end the week! I'm currently stuck in bed with nowhere to go! I'm going to take it easy and slow down on some of my more "extreme" activities like Parkour and Aerial. Until then...I'll be here...broken :(

"Fitness Report" = Blogger Fail

I try to put all of my fit reviews as a priority over normal fitness posts since my blog's focus is on fitness apparel. From my viewpoint, there are enough nutrition and fitness bloggers out there who can give MUCH better advice than me so it makes sense to focus on athletic clothes. I tend to stick to reviews, style advice, and beauty articles for the "jock" at heart.

With that being said, I do buy a crap-ton of fitness clothes because I, too, am a true "jock" at heart. I don't buy tons of Lululemon, Lorna Jane, Athleta, and so forth because I lounge around all day. I buy fitness apparel because 95% of my hobbies away from work are athletic in nature.

I've tried keeping a weekly fitness report, but honestly, I have a hard time keeping up with it. With the reviews and everything else in my life, it usually gets the back seat to my other blog priorities.

I do get positive feedback and requests to provide my fitness workouts, and I apologize for not providing them as regularly as I would like. To get the momentum going, I decided to create a post series called, "Fit Bit," that provides a fitness-related post about anything I feel like talking about. This will hopefully encourage me to write more fitness-posts whenever I want without being confined to a scheduled "fitness report."

So what do I actually do fitness-wise?

Ok...I haven't completely laid this out on the table yet. I've had hints of my job here and there, but I'm an officer in the Marine Corps currently assigned at the Pentagon doing budget work. My crazy work hours change so much, it is difficult for me to write up a scheduled workout "routine," per se. I regularly do weightlifting, golf, and trapeze. Those are my hobbies...as obscure as they all are together.

Golf is a new love that started last year. I got bit by the bug (hard) and have been training seriously in golf ever since. I'm currently training for the Marine golf team and ultimately want to qualify for the Maryland Open (a ProAm competition). I don't know if I will be able to qualify the Maryland Open this year, but I'm hoping to make the cutoff by at least next year. I don't care if I'm last place....I just want to get to that level to qualify for the tournament. It would be a great honor considering I just starting playing golf 14 months ago. Golf is a slow, progressing sport...it takes years to develop technique. While I am happy with the progress I have made, I am ecstatic to continue to develop my technique for years to come.

My most "peculiar" hobby would be my static trapeze lessons. I started taking flying trapeze lessons at TSNY-DC (what you see at the circus) and recently switched to static trapeze (where the trapeze bar doesn't move). I found static trapeze more physically challenging and appreciate the art of moving around the bar. I'm not doing it because I'm going to run off and join the circus or because I want to perform. I'm doing it because it is fun and gives me an outlet when my brain hurts so much from work...great for nights when I can't seem to find the "motivation" to lift weights. This gives me 2 days a week of something "fun" I can do that makes me feel like a kid again and helps me forget everything else lingering in the background.

In addition golf and trapeze, I also lift weights and do cardio. My lifting and cardio has varied because my ever-changing schedule at work. For awhile I was working on a 5-day body building program, but the workouts are hard to squeeze in during crazy work weeks. I'm making it a goal to have at least 3 weight lifting days and 3 cardio days a week.....and this is on top of my golf and trapeze lessons!

I used to practice Baron Baptiste yoga, but I haven't squeezed it in since I moved to Washington DC last year. Although I no longer practice, two of my golf fitness classes are geared towards flexibility so I still maintain basic stretching during the week.

It's hard to lay out a "routine" workout schedule, but if I did, my golf and trapeze schedule would be similar to this:

Monday - Golf drills in afternoon
Tuesday - Golf drills/9 hole in afternoon
Wednesday - Golf in afternoon
Thursday - Trapeze at 1830
Friday - OFF
Saturday - 0700 1 hour golf lesson, 0800 Golf Fitness Class, 0900 Golf Fitness Class, 1215 Static Trapeze
Sunday - 1000 Golf Fitness Class, 1100 Golf Fitness Class, 9-18 Holes in the afternoon/evening (or rent a practice hole)

This isn't even including my lifting or my cardio. I fit those in where I can so you can see how it is hard difficult it is to stay scheduled!

So in a nutshell, that's me...it's what I "do" regarding fitness. It kind of gives a little bit of an idea of what I work towards before I start my fitness-related mumblings. Alas, tonight's "Fit Bit":

Fit Bit - Rained Out

Well I was excited to rush off and play 9 holes of golf tonight, but of course, the thunderstorms came in strong and hard. I had to cancel my golf night. Boooo. :( It's ok though.....I've been utilizing my weekend for most of my "training" for my upcoming fall tournaments. Yesterday I did 2 hours of golf fitness-related classes followed by an hour and half of golf drills at the "Club Golf" training facility. Then I went to East Potomac that night and did another 2 hours at one of their practice holes. Over five hours of golf drills and related fitness is enough to take it a little easy tonight.

(This will be me in a few hours)

I'll probably just do an Insanity workout in my apartment. I've bulked muscle faster than when I was younger so I'm hoping that more "high intensity" cardio will start to rev my metabolism.

I also have my friend's copy of "Get Bent" that I'm super excited to try. It's a 60 min DVD on circus flexibility (also good for cheerleaders, dancers, etc). My trapeze friend has been using it and wow....her splits are amazing! My flexibility sucks so if I can get half of the flexibility she has worked towards I will be ecstatic!

No golf tonight, but insanity and circus flexibility. Wooh, what an exciting night! I sold my husband on doing Insanity with me, but I think it would be a tough sell on the circus splits! :) It's ok...I'll do that by myself...probably crying in pain like a baby with my ass 3 feet off the floor....but hey, we can't all look like a badass doing the splits: