Monday Workout: Balance from Baseball!

This week we’re doing some balance work.  Any time the Bosu gets involved, we are dealing with balance, but for fun we are adapting a baseball catcher’s exercise to work our endurance, coordination, and balance all at once!  Please note that if this is not an appropriate challenge for you, you can play catch standing on one leg with a friend (or a wall).  Three rounds.

kb swings	30
kb twists	20
kb 8s or overyets	10
bosu side steps/hops	30
bench press	20
bosu squat catch or 1 leg catch	10
clean and press	30
flies	20
quadruped	10

Friday Book Report: Yogabody

This week’s yoga anatomy book is Yogabody by Judith Hanson Lasater.  It takes a more traditional approach to the anatomy itself, including lots of charts about muscles with origins and insertions.  However, it adds some hands-on explorations both within the text and in sections for the student and for the teacher at the end of each chapter, offering an opportunity to experience, say, how the patella moves, or to observe pelvic alignment.

The prose is clear and the illustrations helpful.  The tone is friendly rather than intimidating, even though there is a ton of information.

I would describe it as a useful reference rather than a page-turner, but it has given me plenty to think about.

Storage Systems

I have never changed a tire.  I could, probably, figure out how and I expect I would muddle through if I had to, but I’ve never actually done it.  I keep that knowledge and experience in someone else’s head.

For some people, trainers are the someone else who keep the knowledge and experience for them.  Clients show up and trainers direct them.  It’s a workable system.

However, it is possible to learn from trainers.  A good trainer should be able to tell clients what a particular exercise is good for, what pitfalls to expect, and how to avoid them.  Sometimes trainers will tell you the muscles working, by name, and may even go into exhaustive detail about insertion points, eccentric contractions, and time-under-tension.  Take what you want, or let the trainer keep it for you.