On Christmas eve, I found myself walking along the gravelled path of Mt Amos, in the Eastern Coast of Tasmania. It had been my dream to see the curving shoreline of Wineglass Bay ever since I spotted it on Pinterest. The only way to the lookout is to walk uphill to the vantage point. The track is short but fairly steep and continuously uphill. My heart was racing within 10 minutes and I could feel my limbs slowly getting tired. After numerous water breaks, I made it to the top and was rewarded with fabulous and unique views of the bay. I went on to do 2 more hikes later in the same week.
But it made me realize how much I had been neglecting my cardio workouts. The past few months I was solely dedicated to increase my flexibility, so that I could reach my goal of doing splits. But in the process, I hadn’t been concentrating on other parts of the body.
So the first fitness goal this year would be to concentrate on a balanced practice. Keep all the systems running and well oiled.
Among other things, I spent the first day of the year doing a 2 hour full body workout, which included repetition of Suryanamaskar, plank variations, pushups and yoga inverions. I was hitting the mat after 2 weeks of no workout . That day, I could hear my limbs creak with every low lunge.
Handstands took way more jumps than before. This is what happens when you are out of practice even for a fortnight. So this year I plan to be more consistent with my practice and take less gaps between workout days.
The past week, I had been working on my backbends too – doing more floating camel (👇), camel, and a half dropback wheel. I really want to improve my wheel pose. And so adding it to my list of yoga/ fitness goals.
I was soaking in sweat by the time I started doing inversions. More so because of the scorching Sydney summer. Thankfully I got gloves with rubber spikes as my palms become extremely sweaty, which in turn affects balancing yoga inversions.
My husband often tells me that you don’t have to do too many ‘almost’ push ups. Just do one, and do it properly. The one he taught me includes lowering your body till the chest touches the floor and then rising up, without losing the alignment. Frankly, I can do exactly 1 of that. So this year, I would like to increase that number. 😀
My last year yoga goals were to improve both my strength and flexibility. There were a few hits and misses. I can almost do a split but my backbends are the same. I improved my forearm stand, can do a fallen angel and side crow now, but no improvement in handstands. There’s always this tussle between mind and the body. Mind says ‘go go go’, body is like ‘not yet bro’. 😂
Hopefully, this year I will see more improvements.
Tell me all about your goals and workouts in the comment section. I would love to read about them. 😀
Stay strong and humble.
Hikes are hard but look at you. You are such an inspiration when it comes to workouts. Keep up the good work in 2018 too.
So something funny happened on the night of 31st December and I guess that’s a part of growing old. VT and I were at a friend’s place to ring in the New Year and at exactly 11:30pm, we decided to push off. Yes, everyone was shocked. We reached home at around 12:10 and actually brought in Jan 1 in the car. Then we slept and I woke up early to hit to Yoga class. Loved doing an hour of good workout on day 1 of the year. Year has been going well so far and this year, I am working on my body’s strength. I am seeing that if I focus on that and continue with Yoga, may be I can work on being better at Yoga 🙂
I like your updates about your treks. They really make me want to take up trekking in the near future. Your workouts are fab, as always. I hate running/walking on the treadmill for cardio. I do it by other means. I am yet to start my workouts in 2018 since the last 2 weeks saw me falling a little uneasy first and then D went down with viral fever. I shall be resuming from tomorrow by all means.
Cardio is such a pain… Makes me cry 😅 I am thinking of following some youtube tutorials to get started 😀
You and Druv would love trekking…do get started.
Thank you so much for stopping by.
You’re simply unstoppable, Raj! I admire your dedication. I’m not much into working out other than brisk walking for 30 mins every morning for six days a week. But I’ve been unable to keep up with it due to my health issues. I intend to get back to it once it’s warmer. It’s challenging to pull myself out of my cozy rug in winters! 😉
I hope you are back to your healthy self. Being sick is auch a damper. Glad you have a routine going on 😊thank you so much for your kind comments.
Getting back to playing active Squash. Find playing a sport a good way to stay mentally and physically fit.
Ohhh squah needs so much stamina. The one time I tried playing I almost died 😅 wish you good luck. Keep going 😀
Love the photos! I’ve been practicing yoga for a few years now, and I really want to go even deeper into my practice in 2018. I started the New Year with a 30-day yoga challenge where I do about 20-30 minutes of yoga each morning. I’ve been doing Yoga With Tim’s Yoga Challenge on YouTube, and I absolutely love him as an instructor.
That’s a great way yo start the new year. I will also check out the challenge. I wish you good luck. Thank you so much for commenting.