DUMBBELL YOGA

I've decided to take up weight lifting.  Maybe seeing all those ripped bodies in Rio at the Olympics has motivated me; maybe it's the increasingly flabby, baggy bits on my body; maybe I could lose a pound or two of belly fat.  Whatever.   A few weeks ago I registered for a "Lift to Lose: Senior Strength and Balance" class at a local rec. center.

May I just say, the whole "senior" thing is starting to grate on me.  When you hear that word, what images pop into your mind?  Yep.  Why can't we just say "older adults"?  It might sound like semantics, but you have a whole different picture story in your head when you use those words, don't you?   But I digress....

The class allows everyone to lift at their own pace, choosing free weight dumbbells that are appropriate to them.  Most choose between 2 pounds and 6 pounds, I've noticed.  I'm starting out with 4 pound weights.  The instructor does easy movement warm ups before we even pick up the weights.  When we do, she moves us through a wide range of motion in the upper body, targeting all the arm, chest, and back muscle groups.  We do squats, bends, and folds holding the weights.  Sometimes we use exercise bands or balls.  Sometimes there is more emphasis on aerobics.  There is always a balance component to the class.

What does any of this have to do with yoga?  Well, here's the braggy part.  My yoga practice has made me the most flexible and balanced girl in class.  At least it seems that way to me.  I rarely have to hang on to the back of my chair for balance; my squats, folds, and bends are far deeper than those of others; my breathing is deep, slow, and measured....

Wait.  Am I comparing myself to my classmates?  Is my Ego running amok with "yay me!" self congratulation?  Hmmm...I guess the true meaning of yoga abandoned me there for a moment.

My point is...I am so grateful for yoga being one component of a well-rounded fitness program for me at this older adult stage of my life.  I am a yoga proselytizer and see it as a spiritual practice with the happy side benefit of encouraging fitness.  Combining the asana limb of yoga with a ramped up aerobic and resistance weights program, worked out after a consultation with the Lift to Lose instructor, and I will soon be setting up a Go Fund Me site to raise money to send me to Tokyo in 2020.  I'm sure my Olympic career is just about to take off. ©

Namaste, donnajurene

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