About injuries and satisfaction.

I think that it would maybe be interesting to speak a little of the less pleasant effects of exercise that have been experienced so far, even if they represent no real discouragement. After our last cardio session we both suffered from minor muscle strains in our calves, calluses on our toes (because of the pirouettes and the fact that we danced barefoot -oh, how romantic it sounds) and I from a sore...ahem...bikini area, because my right leg does not have a good a turnout as my left one. See, we learnt some ballet terms in the process as well. All that (injury, not learning) without forgetting to warm up!
The next day, as I was preparing for my mat routine, I was positive I wouldn't be able to do the leg rotations because it would make matters worse, but I did manage to go through all of it little by little and, surprise surprise, by the end of the routine all pain had gone away. Never to be felt again. Even the calluses seemed to disappear, even if we really know there can be no logical explanation for that.
What we learnt from that, besides compassion for professional dancers, was to wear some kind of shoes the next time we pirouette around, since the combination of lino and skin is fatal. Also, what Tracy fucks up one day, she mends the next.
What I'm waiting and hoping for now is the cracking in my right hip to stop when I do my leg routine, because that sound is driving me mad, I hate it. It does seem to happen less and less nowadays than when I started out, but I think I will still need some more time to get back the flexibility I had back in my RG days. If ever, considering that I was 5 back then.
So, with all that in mind, I'm waiting for C to wake up so that I can go to her place and do our cardio for the day. Since our last post, we managed to squeeze in another mat and two post-pregnancy routines :D. Still going strong.

'tis a miracle!

We have measured our bodies yet again in what Tracy our friend would call "the problem areas" and we have noticed the following: C lost 0.75 inches (2 cm) in her abs and the same in her butt, and 0.39 inches (1cm) in her waist, while I lost 0.39 inches in my thighs and arms.
This is veery impressive to us, since we did not expect it after just 3 weeks of around 3 h or exercise per week. Besides, we did not diet at all. As mentioned before, we are not interested so much in losing weight as we are in reshaping our bodies, and this seems to me to be happenning. It's good, then,we just have to keep at it. We just hope we don't shrink till we disappear from the face of the earth in 3 months, cause we just might.

Hah!

Yesterday, after a failed attempt at a cardio session and three hours spent just to get the second and first choreography session right, we felt the ardent need to get back at Ms. Anderson for humiliating us. So we had infinite loads of fun by watching her dance to her choreographies with the sound turned off and with our dirty rock music in the background. Extremely rewarding, though we were still somewhat jealous of her grace and agility. If this kind of experiment appeals to anyone, we heartily recommend "Steady as she Goes" by The Raconteurs with her second choreography (even works with the bits in her promo video)

Post-pregnancy video

In the first post, we said we'd probably try the post-pregancy video as well and, faithful to our masochistic natures, we did. Two times now. Neither of us has babies nor do we plan to in the near future, but we still did it because we thought it would be tougher on the stomach area than the other two and we were right. We found ourselves at one point sort-of half-levitating and panting and dripping sweat and very much pain, and we were liking it!
What is funny about this one is that, though the shitty disco or whatever you call it music is gone, they decided to play classical music (probably because they thought new mothers are more responsive to that and are somehow superior on a spiritual level than before) . So what you find yourself doing is butt lifts on the great rhythms of Vivaldi's Spring. It is quite funny to find yourself in that situation, but I think it is even funnier to watch it. Which is what our dear friend I. did when she came over to visit and we tried to impress her with our newly acquired physical skills. It is also worth mentioning that for the bits where she got bored, she was reading Sarah Kane's Blasted. She must have had a hell of a time!
So, to get back to the physical stuff, we really felt the effect of this routine and it was surprising to us that after just one time, and in spite of severe muscle soreness, the second time we did it it felt much easier and at times even relaxing. But then again, this has happened to the mat exercises as well and now we barely sweat while doing them. (mild exaggeration alert there). We are eager to see if this one will help C lose the surgically-acquired stomach. It can't be worse than a C-section acquired one and our dear Tracy promises to get that back in shape.
Today we're in for cardio, which we haven't done in a looong while. We hope to be able to get down the second choreography and do the first one and the second in succession. I've read on different forums that the second one is really difficult, so we'll see about that and keep you (if anyone is reading this) posted.