Book Review: The Hippie Guide to Climbing the Corporate Ladder and Other Mountains

I just read this book recently (bought it over a year ago though!) and thoroughly enjoyed myself. Though it's not really about fitness per se, it contains some wonderful stories about professional mountain climbers that are awe-inspiring.

It's written by the co-founder of JanSport, and basically is a chronicle of how the company began, and how the founders were able to grow the business while remaining true to their hippie natures, their passion for the great outdoors, and their ambition to make a product that they could really be proud of.

He peppers the book with experiences of being on the teams that climbed Everest and Kangchenjunga (the world's 3rd highest mountain), and of supporting other climbers planning expeditions on K2. I have never been mountain climbing, and I probably will never take up this particular sport. But I have to admit that while reading this book, I entertained the thought. I have great respect for technical mountain climbers, and the passion they have for their sport. This book didn't change that a bit.

The book also makes me want to own a JanSport again. Desperately.

Upside Down

Salamba Sarvangasana I or Supported All Limbs pose is an extremely beneficial and powerful pose when practiced properly. It is considered the Queen or mother of all asanas. The benefits include improved circulation, improved balance and poise, increased vitality and an enhanced immune system.

Being upside down is pretty...discombobulating. If that's even a word.

As a child I remember lying down on the sofa with my head hanging off the edge, and my legs up against the backrest. Being upside down didn't seem to bother me then. I also remember hanging off the jungle gym in school, hanging from my knees with my head towards the ground. I would swing myself up and around that bar, in the vain hopes that I would one day be a gymnast. No such luck.

So, I don't quite know when I developed the fear of being upside down. But my weekly yoga classes have been forcing me to confront this fear with the practice of inversions, specifically shoulderstand and headstand.

Shoulderstand is a pose that I find easy to get into it, especially with the support of the props, as prescribed in the Iyengar method. However, staying in the pose is another thing entirely. I feel ok at the start, and then all of a sudden, I will start to feel slightly claustrophobic, and for whatever reason, the pose makes my legs ache, from keeping the thighs rolled in, and the toes lifting towards the ceiling, and the hips forward. I just haven't clicked with the pose yet. But I do my best. And try to keep my breath soft and slow, and not to let my eyes move too much, so that I can find the relaxation in the pose, the space in the asana.

Some days are easier than others, when a five-minute shoulderstand seems to go by in the blink of an eye. Other days, it feels like forever, and my mind is jumping around thinking, "Is it over? Is it over?" But I guess that's normal.

Often, when I prepare for sarvangasana, I feel the way I do right before I back-rolling into the water for scuba-diving. I feel a little apprehension, a little twinge of fear. I think it's an appropriate analogy: being underwater is also discombobulating.

I hope to make friends with this pose soon.

Progress

For most of last week--and today, Monday--I have been able to drag myself out of bed to exercise. Granted, it's not high-impact, high-intensity, puke-in-a-bucket exercise. But just getting vertical before 6am is an achievement of which I am inordinately proud.

For the most part, I stuck to yoga, which is a nice way to ease into the day. I spent most mornings last week doing Kundalini Yoga, Kundalini Yoga for Weight Loss to be more specific. It's a 30-minute, fairly gentle sequence, which is why I'm always surprised that I sweat quite a bit doing this. I did notice that on the mornings I did this workout I didn't need as much coffee and that I was quite energetic throughout the day. I quite like this practice, and the teacher who produced the DVD, Nirvair Singh Khalsa.

Today, because my Iyengar yoga teacher said I must begin practicing at home, along with attending classes, I did Rodney Yee's AM Yoga for Your Week. I doubt that my teacher meant for me to do a DVD, I rather think she meant for me to do my own practice, but...you do what you gotta do. Today, it was a pretty strong, and very familiar sequence of standing poses, that are very much like what we do in class. Downward Dog, Uttanasana, Trikonasana, Vrkshasana, Vira 1 and 2, Modified Parsvakonasana. I think I'll actually do it again tomorrow, together with the recommended Tuesday sequence, which is twists. (I am horrible at twists. My teacher says it's because I consume a meat-heavy diet. Sigh.)

Anyway, it's nice to be able to wake up and do something. I hope I can keep it up.

Trying TRX

Thanks to a great friend of mine, who was also my running buddy once-upon-a-time, I had the opportunity to try out TRX Training.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with TRX, it's a body training system using the method of "leveraged bodyweight exercise." It's a training method born in the U.S. Navy SEALS, and developed by Fitness Anywhere®.

The equipment is basically two straps that can be adjusted for length. The apparatus attaches to either your ceiling or a door handle (in the travel versions of the TRX; the equipment only weighs 2lbs, so you can throw it in your luggage when you have business trips and, as the TRX battle cry goes, "never miss a workout". You use the straps to perform over 300 exercises that can build total body strength, flexibility, and improve physical performance. You use your own body weight-increasing angles to make exercises more difficult, or decreasing angles to make it easier. For instance, you hold the straps in your hands, walk your feet behind you until you form a "plank", and from there you can do an exercise very similar to a push up, to work your chest. To maintain your balance, you have to engage your core muscles, making the exercise truly total-body.

As our instructor, Linzi Arellano-Co said, the beauty of the  TRX workout is that you make small adjustments to tailor-fit the workout to your current strength and ability. Additionally, the TRX trainer makes transitions between exercises lightning-quick, so you can keep your heart rate up, making the workout aerobic as well.

Linzi Arellano-Co, on the right, with esteemed Pilates instructor Romana Kryzanowska

 We started out with squats, holding the straps in our hands very lightly, just for balance. Each student in the class went at their own pace, and the instructor would tell us when to stop and switch to a new exercise. We did a variety of squats and lunges, even piston squats (which made me want to cry.) We did upper body exercises as well: rows, chest presses, bicep curls, tricep presses. And even though the room was air-conditioned, I was sweating like anything.

The TRX will reveal which side of your body is stronger (for instance, my left leg was hopeless on the piston squats. My right was a little less pathetic.), and it will force you to work your body evenly, equally. Your body is constantly adjusting as you try to perform the different exercises, some of which require a lot of balance.

We also did a couple of exercises on the floor, for the butt and abs, this time, putting our feet into the straps. Planks and crunches on the TRX bring a whole new meaning to the concept of ab work.

Finally, we did stretching, using the straps to go deep into stretches for the upper body and the legs and hips. Heaven.

Streeeeeeetch!!!

TRX Training is both effective and fun. There's no time to get bored, because you're constantly switching it up. Of course, the fact that I was there with friends made it that much more...shall we say, entertaining?  
On the whole, it was an experience I enjoyed a lot. I hope to TRX train again soon!

Why not give TRX a try too?

---
Linzi Arellano-Co is also a Classical Pilates instructor. Her studio, Pure Pilates, has Pilates and TRX Training classes.

Yoga. Again.

 Yoga is like music. The rhythm of the body, the melody of the mind, and the harmony of the soul create the symphony of life. - BKS Iyengar

I once had the luxury of having a yoga studio a hop, skip, and jump away from my office.I would rush out fifteen minutes early for lunch to make it to a noontime class, and return to the office refreshed, invigorated, and ready to focus on whatever tasks were left in the day.

Then...the yoga studio moved, and the practice that I had so carefully cultivated flew out my 10th floor office window.

I discovered later, that they had moved to another location, but quite a ways away. And for a year, I guess, I didn't attend any live yoga classes. Something that should not have bothered me, as a dedicated home exerciser. But, there's still something different about getting hands-on corrections, plus, I really liked the teachers, and the opportunity to carve out time in the day to reconnect with my breath, to stretch, to align, to sit and recognize the divine in me, and in others.

I ran into one of the teachers at a party and she greeted me by saying: "Why aren't you going to class?" And I made the usual excuses about it being too far away, blah, blah, blah. But then she said the words that made me think: "It's just two lunch times a week."

Surely, I could manage that.

I sincerely hope that my bosses are not reading this, or else they'd know that on certain days of the week, I run out of the office before the lights go down for lunch, hop on a jeep and rush to attend my yoga class. If they are reading this, I will have them know, that this effort at achieving work-life balance ensures that I stay happy. And happy employees are productive employees. At least, that's the theory, isn't it?

Anyway, I am so glad to be back at yoga. Having tried Vinyasa yoga and Ashtanga, my now regular Iyengar yoga class is a definite change of pace. Initially, I thought it would bore me, but, in fact, I find it interesting, and challenging, as I explore the different asanas and how to use the different props to assist me in creating the right shape, how to achieve the balance of energy that will allow me to stay in the asana, how to get the different parts of my body to work together harmoniously. 

Sometimes the instructions make my head whirl:
- Lift your arms from the strength of your inner thighs. (That's one of my favorite instructions.)
- Push the knee back, shoot the buttocks forward. (That one is often said rapid fire, while you sweat bullets in parsvakonasana.)
- Make your abdomen soft. (This sometimes makes me chuckle, since...my abdomen is already soft.)

There are also other instructions involving pulling your shoulders down towards your waist, or rotating your arms inside-out (I know, right?), but all of these ultimately make sense, and when you begin to understand and apply the instruction, you get this great "a-ha!" moment, when you realize, OH! That's how it's supposed to feel!

It's great.

I will be attending a workshop next weekend. Will keep you posted on how that goes. I'm sure the a-ha! moments will be numerous. I can't wait.

A Fitness Collectible

And finally, after a long time, an update.

Because last weekend I found the Holy Grail--well, one of them at least--of the fitness world...

I found it in the grocery store, of all places, for the dirt cheap price of PhP190 (a little less than 5 dollars?)!

Reading it brought back memories of working out along to Jane's video, and reminded me that sometimes the simplest exercises really are the best and most effective. I love the fact that Jane provides a suggested playlist of music to do the exercises to.  She recommends doing the workout three times a week, and emphasizes the fact that the workout be done to music. Her suggestions are definitely retro, but it drives home the fact that music can sometimes make or break a workout. I am in total agreement on this. Music is essential. In fact, I have some DVDs that are great workouts, but I find them difficult to do, just because the music is so...for lack of a better word, meh.

I did the abs and buttocks section the night I got the book (after walking two miles). All I have to say is that there's a reason that Jane looks so good on the cover. The exercises are classic, straightforward, and effective. (I would not do the bouncing/pulsing/ballistic stretches however, although these types of stretches are still found in some dance classes...)

My sister says the unweighted arm exercises are similar to the kinds of exercises that "Teeny-Tiny" exercise diva, Tracy Anderson (Gwyneth Paltrow is a devotee) is doing now. Tracy advocates the use of no, or light weights for the arms to sculpt without bulking up. Check out this video online and see for yourself whether there's a resemblance. They look like dance moves to me (I admit I've never tried a Tracy Anderson workout before, and some of this looks rather strange to me), but look closely and you'll see some moves that would make Jane proud (plus, the music rocks.)

Just goes to show, good exercises never die.
They just come back with better music.

10K update: I ran the 10-K at the Condura Marathon on February 26. It was a tough route, but overall, I had a great experience, and took 14 minutes off my 10K time at the same event in 2010.

The Other Half of the Equation

This blog has mostly been about exercise and staying active.

Lately however, I've had to come face to face with the unpleasant truth that exercise is just one part of fitness. For me, luckily, it's a part I like. I enjoy moving and being active, and I've always been interested in different types of exercise: dance, yoga, running, weights, kettlebells. And there are so many other things I haven't yet tried! I have not tried TRX, I haven't tried the much talked-about Plana Forma, and although I have been exposed to different forms of yoga, I have never braved the heated room of Bikram. I love the idea that there is still so much to discover.

I wish that loving exercise and being consistent with exercise was enough to stay fit. Sadly, it's not. And the numbers that flash on my digital scale prove to me every day that I am not doing enough to keep the extra pounds from creeping on.

I have long tried to fool myself that I "earned" the chocolate bar, or the chips, or fill-in-the-blank-with-the-treat-of-your-choice by working out hard. As a result, I think I've sabotaged my workouts by not doing enough on the nutrition--oh, heck, I'll just use the word I mean--I haven't done enough on the DIET side.

Exercise is great: it elevates the mood, it's great for cardiovascular health, it strengthens and tones the muscles. But regular, even regular intense workouts, should never be used as an excuse to stuff our faces post-workout. Yes, I'm really talking to myself here. But feel free to feel spoken to as well, if it encourages you to make some important changes to your diet.


I've never been a diet-type of person. I enjoy eating too much, and I hate depriving myself of foods that I enjoy. At one point, I think exercise was enough. But now that I'm getting older (something I plan to do as gracefully as possible), I can feel my metabolism slowing down, and I realize that I can no longer eat the way I do and expect to not gain weight.


The numbers on the scale don't lie. And they aren't pretty. So, it's full steam ahead for Operation: Clean Eating. None of your South Beach or Atkins for me. It will all be about sensible portions, a lot less sugar, a lot less salty snacks, and more fruits, vegetables, and quality protein.


And a little chocolate, now and then. Just a little. I promise.


What's your diet strategy this year?