So, I popped in the Total Body Basic, I was about to try it. It was about 45 minutes (perfect for my first day back into yoga after an extended break) and it was the beginner tape. (Not include the 15 minute Quick Start video to teach you the moves.)
It begins with with a few minutes of warm up. Ok, not to bad. I kept thinking I can do this, no problem. This video has a mantra "Today I express strength, creativity, and joy." Hmm, it must be true. I am doing some yoga booty ballet, that alone sounds "creative".
After a little warm up, you move into the Ballet section. Ha, this is where I realize once again- I have no balance. It's a lot of standing on one foot, while lift the other leg in different. All while holding your arms in different ballet type positions. Ok, so I feel it working my butt! But, I am just tumbling and stumbling throughout the ballet. I never no how to release my thoughts, when all I do is laugh at myself for being so coordinated! I also really feel this working in my standing leg. It's amazing how trying to balance yourself while doing these little leg lifts and arm sway can work so much, abs, legs, butt and even my arms are feeling it from holding them in the air! I finally made it through all that balance stuff, watching the 2 girls make it seem so easy, yet here I was struggling. Also, listening to the yoga music, makes it relaxing. But, now it's time to move on.
The next segment is the cardio portion. Here you use small weights. It's a lot of plie, squat moves along with arm moves like bicep and tricep work. I have to admit, I used 2 lb weights, because I exhausted my arms yesterday. But, between the legs moves and the light weights I was really sweating! When you do a lot of reps with light weights, you work in toning, and I must have been toning those triceps because they were burning.
Finally you get into the standard yoga moves. The downward dog, the plank pose, the asana pose. This is what I was waiting for. All the stretching! My body needed that! I love how the stretching in yoga always flows from one move to the next. Just easy (ok, not really- some of those moves take strength) and relaxing.
After a few minutes, its time to move on to abs. The program comes with a little squishy ball. I never worked abs with a squishy ball. But, you use this and place it between your legs. They instructors run you through a handful of moves where you squeeze the ball with your legs while doing curls. After what seemed like a million crunches, my abs were ready to say- thank you for being done now!
Finally you go into a little cool down. Here you run through a lot of stretching moves. All feel wonderful after a long hard week of pushing through some tough workouts.
The scenes change from one segment to the next, all very peaceful surroundings to help you relax. The music is the calming yoga music with a little more upbeat tempo then I would have expected! At the end, there was a segment of relaxing breathing. The sayings they say and ask you to repeat to yourself really help to relax and calm you after your total body workout.
Overall I liked how it flowed from one segment to the other. I really felt that my entire body got a light workout. The 45 minutes flew by. It wasn't as much "stretching" as I was hoping for. I really wish the yoga section was a little longer. But the fact that it included some stretching, some strength, some cardio, and ab work made it a video I'll definitely go back to. Plus I have to come back to it if just to prove to myself- I DO HAVE BALANCE AND GRACE!
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment