Day 74 – Coaching has started, soreness is here!

Yoga

I was ready for the pain, even though I did very little at coaching I remember from the last 3 years that the first couple of weeks are very painful. Mostly due to the fact that we leave the house at around 6-630 in the morning and don’t get home until after 9pm so it is a very long day. Mix that with having to be on my feet from 330 to 9pm and you have a recipe for a very sore back. Needless to say I was a little concerned about my ability to continue my P90X journey once coaching started however after today I am brimming with confidence that even though it is going to take some real will power, that I can do it!

Yoga today was fine, although I did quit a little early, it was only a few minutes, and missing the last few minutes of laying on the floor and then doing OHMs is not going to ruin the experience. I am sure there are people who would argue that, however I did catch up on my laying down with my eyes closed once I got to bed so I think I will be OK.

I hate to admit it, I really do, but I think I have become somewhat of a Yoga convert. I can’t imagine going to classes anywhere but I do have to admit that much of the benefit of the whole P90X experience has been the stretching and the static strength of the Yoga poses. I can’t remember the last time I felt like I was even “normally” flexible. For so many years I have been restricted by bulging muscles and shortened tendons and my range of motion through my hips, hamstrings and lower back has been terrible. I now find that even though my range of motion is not great, I can grab both feet with both hands while sitting with straight legs on the floor, something that hasn’t been possible for me since back in my rugby days in the early 90’s. It is amazing how much of a difference having flexible hamstrings makes especially if you have back issues. I am finding (this has been over the last year or so) that many times my back issues have come from tightness in my hamstrings or in my ITB (the band of ligament that runs from your spine to your knee, basically). Doing Yoga has at the very least given me some much needed flexibility in my lower body and has enabled me to do things like the floor that would otherwise have put me out of commission for a day or two.

I’ll never be a contortionist, but if I am lucky I may never be a cripple either…

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