As you know, I’ve made a determination that I WILL get my body back into shape, and I’ll lose that excess weight. So, with that in mind I’ve been doing all kinds of wonderful exercises and doing my very best to avoid the Coldstone ice cream store that is here in the village.
Last night I went to see Leigh Brown and get my first experience in using RedCords. Leigh’s private studio, called Metaform Movement is wonderful, bright, immaculate, and filled with some pretty “interesting” equipment that makes one think of things like torture!
My first lesson showed me that my muscles have improved since last week when I took my Pilates class with Alexandra (which I’ll be doing again tomorrow – yipes!). It was difficult, but I could do it. RedCords was like doing exercises standing up with the support of ropes. Then we moved to the floor.
On the floor my feet were in the loops of the cords hanging from the support on the ceiling. Leigh decided that since I’m new, and not really terribly strong yet, that she’d put the loops just below my knees to help make it a bit easier for me to do the exercises. The idea was to do a supported plank – make my body be horizontal to the floor by pressing up on my elbows and pressing down with my lower legs.
I was shocked! It worked! Actually, it wasn’t as hard as I expected, but by the end of the second set I was spent. I was afraid that I couldn’t do the next set, but Leigh put a thing that looked like a sling under my hips. The sling is on bungee cords so it’s not really holding up your weight, but that little bit of support really made a big difference and not only did I do the third run in this set of movements, but I was able to rest and then do three more sets.
Then, on the very last of the final three, Leigh removed the sling and I could feel that I was stronger then when I’d first began — I felt rewarded!
I’ve also found out that Leigh teaches belly dancing. Now, I need to check to make sure that I don’t need to keep my belly to be able to do this fun form of exercise…but since Leigh has really tight abs, I think I’ll be heading in the right direction. I’ll let you know how that one turns out.
Today I’m going to do some serious Julstro self-treatments to flush out all the lactic acid I’ve been building up since I started this exercise routine, and then I’m going to treat myself to sitting in the steam room at the YMCA.
How’s your exercise routine going? Remember to take the time to release the tension in your muscles so you can not only be pain-free, but you can also continue to strengthen your muscles more effectively.
Have a great day,
Julie