I want to take a moment and step away from the bar for just a moment, and touch back on last weeks tip of the week from Jim. Self-maintenance.

As I mentioned on last weeks blog, I was struggling with my knee these past two weeks. It was my fault, I know this. I admit it that I was letting my stretches and warm ups fall to the side. I am a kickboxer and also a power lifter. My body is constantly getting beat up. And my legs were honestly so tight, the moment Jim touched my hip he gave me the worlds dirties look, “Dee you are so tight!” And no, that wasn’t euphemism for something perverted. My legs were tight like rocks.

The pain, Lord the pain! And I had no one to blame but myself.

So against my wishes, I listened to my body, and slowed it down. I stopped taking class for a few weeks and toned down the lifting and concentrated on getting my knee and legs healthy. You guys have NO idea how much this was eating me alive. I set myself back for being careless. The good thing was that I didn’t actually cause myself an injury or worst, permanent damage.

Before every work out I made sure I warmed up for 10 minutes on the elliptical. Followed by a deep stretch and ending up warming up my muscles back up before getting started. Rather than do leg day, I concentrated on working my upper body. I did need to give my legs a break. After my work out, I stretched for a good 10 minutes and then another 10 minutes of horribly painful foam rolling.

I also went back to doing Yoga. I used to do Yoga once a week and I can’t remember the last time I did it and why I stopped. But I rolled out my mat and went to my quiet and zen place.

I prefer doing Yoga at home. Am I the only one?

For me, yoga is about healing, and being surrounded by other peoples energy, takes away from that. Is that weird?

Last year, I found the holy grail of at home Yoga, Yoga with Adriene on YouTube. She is amazing! Really, she is part of the reason I am walking without any knee pain today. Plus she is a bit weird and funny. Although she’s exceptionally good at what she does, she doesn’t take herself too serious, and I love that.

She created a video for tired legs. YES! Just what I needed! And today I am sharing it with you.

You should check out her channel. She has Yoga for just about everything; a hangover, anxiety, stress, for your butt, runners, weight loss, Yoga at your desk, and tons more! Check out Yoga with Adriene.

Yes, self-maintenance is as important as your work out. So don’t cheat yourself, make sure you stretch, foam roll, and even get a massages every so often.

How do you maintain your body? I’ll love to get some new ideas into my workouts and rest days.

XOXOXO!
Dee