So here we are at the end of Week 2

Well I definitely feel taller. Seriously, I can reach high things more easily than before which, for a 5'5" chick is pretty damn useful. Sadly the last time was cut short by the actual worst period pains I've had for years. My poor, wonderful boyfriend nearly called me an ambulance. Stupid ovaries. I am a little worried that I've accidentally made my stomach muscles stronger, thus giving them the ability to hurt me more, but I don't think that's the case or no women would have abs ever.

Other than that I've noticed my legs are improving quickly, though not my hamstrings (obv) and I can still do one whole push up. Without using my knees now which is good.

I'm still a little worried about my left elbow, though it's hurting less this week, I think that might be to do with work and the way I sleep on it more than anything.

I don't feel more flexible, I still can't get anywhere near touching my toes and if anything my down dog as got worse. I can roll forward further from a seating position now, but only since I started crossing my legs over the other way, which makes me wonder if I've been crossing my legs wrong all these years? Is that even a thing? Anyway it seemed to make a difference last time so I'll see.

Day Three

It's possible that over time I will find more interesting titles for these posts. But probably not.

So by the end of this third one I was much sweatier, which I am taking as a good sign. However, I had been out the night before and done a LOT of headbanging (moshing, whatever you want to call it) so I had an incredibly painful neck which did not do wonders for my flexibility or shoulder muscles. OW. My legs were also suffering from dancing in heels so I used more of the modified positions than I did before but that was ok.

I do feel like my hamstrings are a little longer, and some of the positions are making more sense the more I get used to them. The standing up split thing is completely ridiculous, my legs are pretty much at right angles so I have a looong way to go there.

The on-screen encouragement is great, because it does actually help, but means no one is offended when I pour scorn all over it because I am a cynical horrible person.

I'm really not feeling the benefit at all this time but I think that's a mixture of post-dancing neck pain and the sudden onset of winter which makes me stiff, cold and grumpy. I'm sure next week will be better. See!? Positivity! I knew that shit would be catching.

Just to note, I am slightly worried about my left elbow, which has been hurting for a while before we started doing this, sudden stabby pains that didn't feel muscular. It stopped for a while but seems to have started again since this so I think I'm going to invest in a support bandage and see if that helps.

Day two

Second workout (I feel like such an arse calling them that. Session? Not much better) today, this one was much less tutorial and much more I'm-trying-to-kill you. Still enjoyable, and the nice thing about it being on DVD is I can hurl abuse at the guy and he doesn't mind, which I imagine a real life Yoga instructor would. I mostly spent a lot of time trying to see the screen from under my own armpit.

EVERYTHING hurts now. Especially my legs, arms and everywhere else.

I'm up to six second breaths, fighting my natural urge to suck my tummy in.

I did a push up! A whole one and what could generously be considered a second. Progress :)

I am so trembly. Literally everything is shaking all the time, which I am told is good. Though I didn't sweat much which makes me feel like I'm not working hard enough, but my aching everything reassures me that I am, I'm just very very feeble.

I'm going to have a bath and go to bed in the hopes that I don't wake up stuck in the position I slept in.

Hurray!

Sadly we don't have a big enough living room for me and my other half to do workouts (ew) together but he pointed out that that was probably a good thing since we'd be demanding simultaneous baths afterwards and our poor boiler cannot take it.

I didn't do any of that other stuff. But here, some yoga!

So Yoga is a thing. As is wrestling. There is an old wrestler call Diamond Dallas Page who has kinda re-invented yoga as an alternative to the gym. The long and short is that we now own 4 DVD's and I'm actually really excited by the whole thing. The cynic in me wants to pull it to pieces, to ignore all the so-called "success stories" and roll my eyes at the encouraging shtick and positive cheerleaderyness, but actually, I really want to do this. Basically this is going to be of very little interest to everyone else in the world but I did the first session tonight and I want to record the results so future me can feel like I've progressed.

First and foremost, I cannot do a push up. Not a single one. Not even the super easy "push ups for people who can't do push ups" push ups. What I really want from this whole thing is upper body strength and a flat stomach so hopefully this is something I can improve on.

My breathing is crappy. I can only really do 5 second breaths at the moment so must practice that.

At first I wasn't overly impressed but now (about an hour and a half later) I can really feel which muscles I've been using, initially I felt a lot taller as well, like I had properly stretched my spine. My left arm is a lot more feeble than my right, and when I'm not paying attention it has a tendency to drift out of position. Everything goes a bit fast for me and I feel very silly and unwieldy but that's just a matter of practice.

There's a schedule of which bit to do on which day, I may follow it but I guess it depends on how quickly I can get the hang of things. There's also an insanely strict diet(ish) to follow which I will almost definitely not do. I'm not trying to lose any weight here (I'd actually vanish) so I think I'll just try to make a concerted effort to eat more healthily and cut down on the sugar. He suggests going dairy and gluten free, but I really don't think I could live without tea, and unfortunately soya milk is just horrible. It's a shame Americans just don't understand about tea.

In conclusion I really enjoyed my first session, even though it was very frustrating and I felt daft at points, I hope I can stick to it and be all kinds of bendy and toned and shizz in 3 months time.

So he said to take photos of yourself for reference but I can't be bothered, here are some from a recent fashion show I was part of. I'm not trying to lose weight in any way, and I know nothing can be done about the nobblyness of my knees but I would quite like to have more toned, less lumpy thighs and a better stomach. I'm aware you can see my ribs, I don't want to change that. I eat like a pig so I'm not worried about being under-nourished in any way.

[Edit] It's two days later now and my arms and chest are KILLING me. Push ups are the devil.