Monday - Short easy TM and Element Pilates

[Guest guest]

Hi Everyone,

Yesterday was a busy day - I joked w/ my chiro this morning that during the holidays I was going to have come in 5 days a week - yesterday, I had to bake a dessert for DD's Thanksgiving feast at school tomorrow (and, of course, I had to make extra goodies for us!) so that kept me on my feet awhile, then, I had the usual house and animal chores and massive kitchen clean-up after the baking (DD helped me - need I say more? It is fun to bake w/ her, but it creates 3X the mess than if I worked alone!) Then, I really got the decluttering "bug" and started going through DD's old toys - I figure now is a good time to purge since she'll be getting new stuff for Xmas and I can donate the old stuff to a charity that can put them to good use. DD is a bit more on-board w/ doing the donating thing this year and has given me some things that she isn't attached to that she is fine parting with. Which is great, she has tons of

stuff! Being the only child and only grandchild for my parents results in a lot of extra stuff.

Anyway, all that resulted in a very tight back - so this morning instead of doing something crazy (I had planned to try Cardio Coach Volume 2), after some of my morning stretches, I went with a gentle two mile walk on the TM - I kept the pace slower and basically used it to mobilize my joints, get the blood flowing and focus on form and posture. I managed a little over 2 miles (probably 2 1/4) in 30 minutes.

Then, I tried Element Pilates for Weight Loss for Beginners. This is a nice Pilates practice! Siler leads on-screen and cues via voice over. The first part is a standing series - she calls it "cardio" but it didn't do anything to raise my HR. Mostly it was a good postural awareness/flowing stretch/joint opening experience. So it was good, but not a calorie burner (but I guess the marketers had to call it that for the "weightloss" title!)! Some of the exercises are reformer inspired here as well. Then, it was on the the mat for "Classical" Pilates work. cues well and her form pointers are helpful and the outdoor scenery is nice. I'm not sure if it is must-have if you already have plenty of classical Pilates practices in your collection but it is a nice addition. Since I'm doing so much PIlates lately, I appreciate the variety. This one is also chaptered so that you

can do the standing section or the mat section. So, if you're short on time (the whole thing is about 45 minutes) you can break it up and do just one part of it easily.

I'm not sure what is up for tomorrow, I'm learning that I can't plan ahead too much - it pretty much need to go w/ what will be agreeable for my back from day to day - otherwise it is counter-productive. It is hard for me to back off the planning thing, since I was always a big workout planner! I'd like to give Cardio Coach Volume 2 a try - perhaps some Classical Stretch. But, I'll play it by ear. Was also thinking of doing a cardio circuit - 15 min on the bike, 15 on the TM and 15 on the lateral thigh trainer thing I have collecting dust (It is alike a mini-stepper)

Hope everyone has a good day!

Donna