Oh ya… The pain was definitely felt in the 2 classes.
On Friday, the class we had was the Yoga “Legs Splitting Bootcamp”. Holy cow… I had never done so many Hanumanasana s in 1 class!! PLus we had to go into it pretty fast as it was in a flow sequence.
How many? The sequence was to go Hanumanasana from three legged down dog, swing the lifted leg diagonally to the opposite hand and go into split. For each side. For 3 sets and in between sets we had to do variations of cresent moon pose (Anjaneyasana working towards full pose of holding bent back leg with both hands) and finally to Eka Pada Rajakapotasana (One-Legged King Pigeon Pose) . This was lots of intense back bends. I think everyone in the class was struggling… I know I was… ( I take like at least several moments to sink into Hanumanasana but this was a flow and I hadn’t had the time to sink properly into it… )
Know what’s more tough for me? Today’s class ->> Yoga “Arms Bootcamp”!
Definitely a wake up call for most of us in class today. We did a total of 60 chaturangas or push-ups in class. They are done 10 times for every standing pose we did ( each posture we held for around for 1 minute… all the warriors… ).
I realized I am weak! My arms are really weak! ( well, the test by the machine on my muscles and fat ratio a week back did indicate that my arms were “unbalanced” with much more muscles on the right arm ). By the time the first set of 20 push-ups were over, the second set of 20 had me reverted back to on-the-knees push-ups. Before this push-up regime, everyone in the class also did 1 minute handstand for 3 times. Three quarter way through the minute for second handstand, I had to come down as the arms really cannot take it especially my left arm.
Gosh. This was really tough for me. I came out of the class like an army recruit who failed the physical examination badly…. except that I don’t get punished. I think part of the reason was the class was early in the morning and I hadn’t had any food which explains the lack of energy AND… the worst part was I slept at 3am and was woke up by my dog at 5am!
All these push-ups and handstands are to build up good arm strength so that we can do better in handstand and arm balances. I think it is good for training but I was totally swamped…. as in Singapore slang goes –> “Can Die, Man…” I also hope I don’t build up too much of biceps muscles… yikes.
Om~ Time to catch some rest for my poor arms!!
Technorati Tags: Hanumanasana , cresent moon pose, Anjaneyasana, Eka Pada Rajakapotasana, chaturangas, handstand
Well, at least you got a good workout. I hope your arms feel better!
Oh yeah, you might like the Yoga Discussion Forums.
Thanks!