Was a quieter day, almost managed to get a nap.
One nice thing is that my vacation mornings stay open, so 10 laps around the 500-meter track, alternating running and walking laps, plus the three miles to walk to the track and the three miles to walk home.
 
Congrats
:worried:
 
Lightened my dumbbells figuring this many programs at once would be hard enough to start with.
Misread Stacked and did sets of 10 instead of 8, so 20 extra there.
I do love dead bugs.
Might take a few runs of Unbound to be flexible enough for the side lunge versions to look good, and to get the transitions smooth.
Timing my breathing in meditation has always felt odd, but I have trouble inhaling and exhaling at the right times during exercises, so my breathing is always out of sorts.
 
Set Monje said:
Timing my breathing in meditation has always felt odd, but I have trouble inhaling and exhaling at the right times during exercises, so my breathing is always out of sorts.
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I am not a fan of timed breathing during meditation. Timed breathing does have usefulness in some contexts (e.g.: performers and others who have a need to work on improving their breath control). But for meditation? I find it just gets in the way.

We all have different lung capacities. We have different breathing speeds. And many factors (head/chest congestion, anything that affects heart rate, etc.) can alter these things even from minute to minute in the same person. Trying to follow an externally-imposed breathing schedule, therefore, can be quite stressful. Which is the opposite of meditation!

I do think that being mindful of breathing rhythm is helpful to meditation (and also to improving breath control in general). But I don't use a clock for this. (I also will ignore the breath count given by the instructor in guided meditations.) I count in my head. This enables me to adapt the counting speed to whatever is best for where I'm at that day.

Perhaps this approach could help you too.
 
Set Monje said:
Timing my breathing in meditation has always felt odd, but I have trouble inhaling and exhaling at the right times during exercises, so my breathing is always out of sorts.
Click to expand...
Check out the free app Resonant Breathing, you can pick various breathing rhythms on it, and there is a sound playing to help you through while you medidate, so you can try various rhythms and see if one suits you. yesterday I used it for the Darebee Yoga (Day 1), because the extra credit was a 4:6 breathing over 10 seconds, so I set the app up for a pattern of 40:60 with 6 breathes per minute, for a total of 15 minutes, and off I went without worrying too much about counting!

Breathing patterns can play a crucial role with the parasympathetic nervous system, which promotes relaxation, helps reduce stress, slows the heart rate, and encourages a state of calm.
 
Fanta said:
Breathing patterns can play a crucial role with the parasympathetic nervous system, which promotes relaxation, helps reduce stress, slows the heart rate, and encourages a state of calm.
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They can, yes. But trying to force a breathing pattern that doesn't work for you inhibits relaxation, increases stress, increases heart rate, and promotes a state of anxiety.

A very common problem in public yoga classes is instructors telling their students when to inhale and exhale on a schedule which is impossible for the students to follow. Often the instructor does not realize this, because they're not following the breathing pattern themself! (They cannot, because they are talking.) So they're parroting breathing instructions they were taught in their YTT (or read in a book, or some such), and they're well-intentioned in doing so. They think they're helping their students to relax. But they're actually having the opposite effect. (Another common problem--amongst all fitness instructors, not just those of us who teach yoga--is they are so busy teaching classes they no longer take the time to participate in classes as students. There is quite a difference of experience between student and teacher, even for those who teach in a demonstration style.)
 
Slipped my mind and so did Touch the Bar last; so, lets say I set the bar low on that one.
Meditation seems to be laying out on the floor after doing the rest of the list at the moment; glad I went with a low intensity challenge this month.
 
Tried out a flex hang today, didn't stay up for too long, but it was a nice variation to do.
Been doing PPL and Stacked as EMOM for the sets this week, when I up the weight next run through not sure if I'll be able to do that, but the pacing is nice for now.
Still love Dead Bugs.
The Cossack Squats are still the thing making me sweat the most in this entire gauntlet.
 
Since I did an extra hang day yesterday, I did max today.
Not a fan how much my bar work fluxes, sometimes my max in 4, sometimes it's 1, so I don't really keep track of it, just work away at it; hang is getting consistent at least.
 
And the reason I went with some shorter programs this month, I knew I was going to lose a few days to events.
Today wasn't one I expected at the start of the month, but it is what it is.
So a for pause today, except Touch the Bar and 2-Minutes Abs to keep the streak going.
 
Really glad I paused yesterday, because PPL would have knocked me out yesterday.
Today it just reminded me to do a glute challenge next month because I have no butt and boat folds hurt like heck.
Not sure why I skipped the 1 Minute meditation yesterday, I just normally do it as a post workout relax, so it slipped my mind.
 
Lots of fun with Touch The Bar today, neutral grip pull-up leg raises, and knee up & twists ... if they can be called that, door mounted bar not letting me extend my legs when I go down after all.
Also, Dead Bugs, don't know why I love them, I just do.
 
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