Finding my center and focus …

Wednesday - Strength Training

• Bikram Yoga - 90 minutes (class at local yoga studio)

For the first time since I started kettlebell training, I chose not to do it when I had the opportunity. I woke up this morning with plenty of time to do my kettlebell workout but I didn't do it. As I got out of bed to go turn the alarm off, I felt some soreness in my left knee. I felt this same soreness yesterday morning when I woke up and at the end of my run last night. I decided that the cause of this soreness might be the number of squats and squat thrusts that I am doing during my kettlebell workouts. Since I have never really done these exercises before starting my new kettlebell workout, I may very well be doing them incorrectly. Also, I don't really want to upset the people who live below me so I have been trying to cushion the jumping action of the squat thrusts. I believe that by cushioning the jumping action I am actually causing my knees to take the brunt of the motion, which is probably not a good thing. Because of this, I decided to take the day off from my kettlebell training.

I still went to my Bikram Yoga class! I may have decided against doing my kettlebell workout this morning but I still went to my Bikram class with my favorite instructor. I probably should have stayed at work to finish some things up but I also wanted to attend my yoga class. Such decisions to make. I have been making a lot of progress with many of the poses. Even though I have been practicing yoga on and off (mostly off) for about three and a half years, I am still not very flexible at all. I can honestly say that I have progressed leaps and bounds in my level of flexibility. My hamstrings still have a long way to go. I still have issues coming out of Toe Stand properly but that should come along as my hamstrings loosen up. I am almost ready to begin kicking out on my Standing Forehead to Knee Pose, which also requires strong knees and hamstrings. Even though my knee was sore this morning, that feeling wore off throughout the day and I was able to get the most out of my practice, including achieving the full expression of Fixed Firm Pose. The class was also really hot again today, which could have helped my move through the poses almost effortlessly. It seems that the hotter it is in the class then the looser my muscles are. It felt good to attend this class tonight I didn't feel completely centered focuesed today at work, which probably had something to do with me not doing my kettlebell workout this morning.