Every morning I get up and cycle through my morning routine; washing up and doing the same stretches. I do sun salutations, then also stretch my quads, hips and glutes since I sleep on my side and all those muscles need to get loosened up & straightened out. I feel all out-of-whack if I try to start a day without stretching. Then I go downstairs and make some tea (usually green, but sometimes black, white, or mate) and a smoothie with one banana, a half cup to full cup of fruit (or sometimes dark leafy greens instead or in addition to), and a cup of some kind of juice (usually orange but sometimes apple, pineapple, carrot, or vegan milk) and I check my facebook and email. It's a pleasant way to wake up and I love that routine. If any part of it doesn't happen, I feel completely off-kilter all day, so I try to just stick with it.
Tuesday is my workout day. I subscribe to Vital Juice which sends me a cute email every day, often with ads for some brand new superfood chocolate or pants that sculpt you a fake butt (it's often pretty ridiculous, actually), but frequently will send me some really engaging youtube workouts. If they're the kind of thing I can get in to, I'll bookmark them on my delicious page with a "workoutvideo" tag, and then on Tuesdays I open that tab and go through all the videos I have saved.
Even though I know which ones I like to do in which order, I don't have them sorted on my delicious at all, so what I want to do is embed them all here in the order that I do them, and then bookmark this entry on firefox to reduce scrolling and clicking on my Tuesday mornings. (Such a hassle! Haha.) I keep an extra-large tumbler of water with a splash of oj or a squeeze of lemon in it on hand, and I usually burn through at least two before all the videos are over.
1. Cardio Tease
I'll be the first to admit that this video is idiotic. Some people can do that whole diva thing with aplomb, and I'm not one of them; I work my way through this video awkwardly trying to imitate her moves (and failing), but it makes a really good warm-up. Nothing is particularly hard, and it gets my heart-rate up. The routine is easier to follow every week, but I'm seriously so un-coordinated that it's been a challenge.
2. Dancing With the Stars
I love this one! The way she talks is so cute; I love the way she says "jive" and "up on your toes," it's charming. Everything in this video is really fun, and I usually keep doing reps while she's talking about the next move. The "Rhumba Reach" is my favourite.
3. Tracy Anderson Basic Moves
I find Tracy Anderson a little problematic. I've seen some interviews with her where she's going on about everyone getting "tiny and cute" which bothers me, and she does so many reps that I wonder if it could cause permanent damage. I have to admit though, the routines she puts together are pretty darn good. I pause this video frequently so I can do my own reps, but when she says "a hundred," I say "Maybe fifteen," and then call it quits.
4. Tracy Anderson Butt & Thigh Webisode
Someone was kind enough to repost this in two pieces, so this routine is just for the right leg, but like I said: Tracy Anderson likes to do more reps than I can handle. She says to do thirty of each move, so I just count to fifteen and switch legs. This one is pretty intense even divided in half. It's also the last of the Tracy Anderson. I can only handle so much...
5. Butt Toning Moves
There are just a couple moves in here and I usually just rep them while they're talking. It's pretty chill, and the moves are good.
6. Pilates Multi-Tasking
The moves in this one are freaking HARD. My upper body strength is severely lacking, so even during the very first move I've already collapsed to take a rest and stretch while she's saying "Don't rest yet!" I'm just like "Whatever, lady..." I also always add weights for the second to last move when she's laying down and raising & lowering her arms. For whatever reasons, that move is really easy for me. The one where she lift her whole body off the ground with her legs extended is IMPOSSIBLE. I just sit and stretch during that part. Haha.
7. Aerobarre
This is a demo clip from the full video, so it moves kind of fast, and the sultry male voice in the backround annoys me. I do the moves I feel like, but don't really attempt the bouncy ballet/ boxing routines. Who's idea was this? I also pause it and move around in the vid frequently so I can do the reps I want and still catch the routines that overlap, then I do extra tricep stuff with the weights when I'm not interested in a segment. Next time I clean out my bookmarks I might go ahead and get rid of this one.
8. Four Minute Workout
Skip to about :50 to spare yourself watching this poor meathead struggling with the cue-cards. I usually watch the girl on the right of the screen and do what she does. Watching this one on mute would be a good idea, but I never bother
9. Moon Salutations
This video is fantastic. It goes through the routine three times, increasing the intensity just a little bit each time. The breathing patterns get easier with time since they're pretty intuitive. It makes a perfect cool-down.
I have a whole bunch of little photo-essays too, for more arm toning moves and whatnot, but I don't even do them; videos are a lot more interesting to me. I like being able to see the motion too; photo essays just don't cut it.
10. Back to Reality
After I'm all done with that, I'll do some more squats with my fit-ball against the wall (lean on the ball placed at low-back level with tailbone tucked; knees & feet at least shoulder-width apart and pointed out slightly, then squat & lift, rest, squat & lift, rest, etc). I do about twelve, then I throw myself in the shower. Today I've got some work to do in the yard too, so it's fit-ball, then food, then yard work, then shower.
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