A little more about Jungshin

Hey Jeni!

I know exactly how you feel about getting outside. Sadly, we have been having a lot of rain in the Rochester area so it has been hard to get out on the bike. 

I would have liked to have gotten out there today, but my knee is bothering me after some workouts this week and past experience tells me to give it a rest! I will have to blog sometime To share the workouts that I do when I can't have a lot of knee activity. I still kept active today- mostly working the core area- so I don't feel like I'm not doing anything.

I want to tell you all about my Friday night workout! I blogged before about the Jungshin class that I've been taking; on Friday the creator of the program came to out gym and did a class. It was a lot of fun! We use the swords as part of the workout. It is part sword action, part strength and conditioning. There are even finger tip push-ups. Yes, you read right, finger tip push-ups. They are pretty challenging so I stay on my knees when I do them. Maybe I'll be on my toes by the end of summer?! 

I took some photos with my 90 day challenge coach, Christine, as well as the creator of the program, Annika Kahn. 

This is a photo of Christine and I with the swords. There are stances that have you lunging and squatting

This is a photo of the creator of Jungshin, Annika Kahn.  She led the class, it was awesome! Challenging, but refreshing! 

Overall, I think this is a different, but good workout because it feels different than yoga, Zumba or other classes. Perhaps it will help me continue to tone up for the summer. I do have my eye on a swimsuit at Athleta, you never know what can happen between now and summer? I may need that new swimsuit for the beach and lake! 

Tell me more about the kettleball workout you have been doing, how did you find it and what is it all about?

Xoxo

Jenne

Breaks and Brownies

Jeni! 

I've been gone! But I certainly haven't been slacking! This past week has been pretty similar for me with some "listen to your body" frustrations. 

Last year I had a knee strain which really cramped my cycling training for a while. The strain and my ability to ignore it ebbs and flows. My doctors orders are no high impact anything and avoid 90 degree angles in the knees. Welllllllll...

I've been taking Zumba, strength training (jumps, lunges, squats) and some other classes that likely could have some higher impact movements. Some may even have running laps. Oops! Thing is, I really like these classes. So, we've been teetering on a potential no no zone for my knee while also not bracing the knee up. 

Last week I took two days off, I also took off Monday. It irritates me, but I should not ignore what my body tells me. Right now I have been very careful with the knees. I am on the bike alot. I am wearing my most heavy duty knee brace and avoiding high knee impact. Today I modified jumping jacks and was happy that our class had wide squats. I then went on the bike and did a very low key ride (to recover from my endurance ride from yesterday). After this post we are going to pull out the bag of peas from the freezer. 

It's tough! It's frustrating. I wish I could just run and take Zumba classes everyday, but it's not what my body allows me to do. It is hard to accept. I think that all of my additional strength training has made these classes possible lately. I am certainly keeping that up.

This week is my midpoint weigh in for the 90 day challenge. I have some pretty mixed feelings about it, especially considering that I ate a quarter of a pan of brownies and four of my vanilla coconut spice bran muffins on Monday. My body is still feeling the effects of that. In the end, I think it was ok to do that. I don't often eat brownies. It was certainly interesting to see the impact on my body. I am back on track and crossing my fingers for my weigh in on Friday. We'll see how it goes!

Rest is important. For the past few weeks I've been getting at least 8 hours of sleep. The difference is great. I feel much more refreshed! I hope by the time you read this you are feeling better. 

Xoxo

Jenne