What was I thinking.... Had my first workout with "Blue" today. Imagine my out of shape middle aged ass locked in a converted garage with a twenty-something, blue-eyed underwear model who keeps saying "just three more", even after "three" has CLEARLY passed by some time ago.
Welcome to Hell. Satan is cuter than I thought he'd be. :) Here are some links.
If stepping out onto the ice for my first practice session was the bravest thing I've ever done, this was a very VERY close second.
Much like Will, Blue gleefully exposed all my weaknesses and exploited them. Again, this was Will's idea, and as I said with Pilates, if this doesn't make me a better skater, I'm going to freakin' kill him.
Or just lock him in a garage with Blue for an hour. Oh hold it, that wouldn't be a problem for him. Damn.
Actually, the workout was just what I needed. I think Blue is going to be a great help in struggling my way back to being in shape - and I can definitely see that this is going to be a huge help to my skating. He trains a lot of skaters, and I can see that he "gets" what to do. In addition to needing to drop about 25 pounds of flab, I really need to reduce my upper body muscle mass and tone up so my center of gravity will be lower - it would help a lot with my balance on the ice. Blue understands the goals, and I am very confident that his coaching is going to be helpful.
So welcome to my Hell! Populated by an assortment of characters, designed to make my life a little more healthy and the expense of my dwindling ego. Between Will, Anna, Pilates, and now Blue I'm pretty much not safe anywhere... except the donut shop :)
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Danced with a partner for the first time today!
OK - so after his normal round of soul-crushing commentary on my non existent technique, Will and his dance partner surprised me at the end of my lesson. Madame De Sade herself came up, pulled me into the Killian position, and proceeded to do some simple combinations with me! And wonder of wonders, I didn't run over her, trip her, crush her, or do anything else that would leave a mark or require weeks of psychoanalysis to get over!!!! I have officially done my first steps with a dance partner.
Wow - it's REALLY different with a partner. Especially one who knows what the heck she is doing. Did someone say "back lead"? Imagine, if you will, a linebacker being pulled around the rink by a chihuahua and you get the basic picture...
Bottom line - it was a HOOT and I hope I get to practice with a partner more - especially after I prove it won't be a fatal mistake. :)
Wow - it's REALLY different with a partner. Especially one who knows what the heck she is doing. Did someone say "back lead"? Imagine, if you will, a linebacker being pulled around the rink by a chihuahua and you get the basic picture...
Bottom line - it was a HOOT and I hope I get to practice with a partner more - especially after I prove it won't be a fatal mistake. :)
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Learned my first complete dance today!
Ok - so my lesson today was pretty normal for me - I thought I was doing better - Will disabused me of that notion and proceeded to show me just how horrible I was. Nothing new there. :)
However, at the end of my lesson, he suddenly said "follow me" and proceeded to show me the steps and pattern for my first complete dance! Hello, "Dutch Waltz"!
It goes without saying that I suck at it, and can barely remember the pattern...
BUT I LEARNED MY FIRST DANCE!!!!!
That's some sort of milestone, right? :)
However, at the end of my lesson, he suddenly said "follow me" and proceeded to show me the steps and pattern for my first complete dance! Hello, "Dutch Waltz"!
It goes without saying that I suck at it, and can barely remember the pattern...
BUT I LEARNED MY FIRST DANCE!!!!!
That's some sort of milestone, right? :)
Sunday, January 18, 2009
No rink time in a week!
Work has been kicking my butt this past week, and I've had to be in early meetings every day - that precludes getting to the rink, as it's in the opposite direction of my office. :) Hopefully things will be better this week, schedule-wise - I'm going on a week-long mid-winter holiday next week, and specifically chose somewhere that has an ice rink, so I'll be taking my skates with me and keeping up! With any luck, I'll actually get to spend more time practicing that I would normally - which would be a good thing.
Oh - and my attitude seems to be improving. Note to self - next time I start learning something new, remember that I'm going to suck at it bigtime and that's not some sort of assessment of my personal worth. :)
Oh - and my attitude seems to be improving. Note to self - next time I start learning something new, remember that I'm going to suck at it bigtime and that's not some sort of assessment of my personal worth. :)
Monday, January 12, 2009
Motivation....
Well, it finally happened today - I had to force myself to get out of bed and go to the ice rink this morning. I wasn't especially tired - I was just unmotivated. I will admit to really struggling with how hard this is turning out to be, and how much work I'm going to have to put in before I feel like I actually belong on the ice with everyone else.
The good news is that I got my lazy ass out of bed and did go to the rink this morning. After my normal edge control warmup, I decided to focus on backward stroking, something that Will threw at me during my last lesson. It let me stay at one end of the rink, out of everyone's way and relatively isolated. I think by the end I had started to get the hang of it. I know I'm not bending my knees enough (that's an ongoing issue) but I do think I understand the basics after 30 minutes of pushing myself backward.
Pilates continues to kick my ass. This just isn't designed for someone as big as I am. I have way too much muscle to make many of the exercises work, and the tightness across my chest and back from all that heavy lifting has pretty much shot my flexibility. Add to that my seeming complete lack of any abdominal strength, and the whole experience is pretty demoralizing. Since I'm starting with "Blue" next week, and gym training is something much more familiar to me, I might decide to drop the Pilates for now. Getting my ego beat down at the rink, and then again in the Pilates studio, is just a bit more than I can handle at the moment. If Blue constructs a good program for me, at least working out in a gym is something very familiar, and which I'm likely NOT to be terrible at - so that will help counterbalance days like this :)
Still glad I'm doing this? Absolutely. I just need to find ways to balance how this makes me feel about myself with something more positive until this becomes an activity that doesn't suck out my soul every morning :)
The good news is that I got my lazy ass out of bed and did go to the rink this morning. After my normal edge control warmup, I decided to focus on backward stroking, something that Will threw at me during my last lesson. It let me stay at one end of the rink, out of everyone's way and relatively isolated. I think by the end I had started to get the hang of it. I know I'm not bending my knees enough (that's an ongoing issue) but I do think I understand the basics after 30 minutes of pushing myself backward.
Pilates continues to kick my ass. This just isn't designed for someone as big as I am. I have way too much muscle to make many of the exercises work, and the tightness across my chest and back from all that heavy lifting has pretty much shot my flexibility. Add to that my seeming complete lack of any abdominal strength, and the whole experience is pretty demoralizing. Since I'm starting with "Blue" next week, and gym training is something much more familiar to me, I might decide to drop the Pilates for now. Getting my ego beat down at the rink, and then again in the Pilates studio, is just a bit more than I can handle at the moment. If Blue constructs a good program for me, at least working out in a gym is something very familiar, and which I'm likely NOT to be terrible at - so that will help counterbalance days like this :)
Still glad I'm doing this? Absolutely. I just need to find ways to balance how this makes me feel about myself with something more positive until this becomes an activity that doesn't suck out my soul every morning :)
Friday, January 9, 2009
For Once, a lesson went well!
It's been a while, but I finally had what I consider to be a positive-ego-experience lesson! I got to the rink an hour early to practice some more, and then my lesson started. Will complimented my stroking, but he realized I was doing it fast to cover up stuff - and went he made me do it slowly all of the flaws showed up - so much for smoke-and-mirrors.... :) Bottom line, I have some more tweaking to do, but the news was largely positive. Also got kudos for my edge control.
Crossovers are still plaguing me - the changes he gave me haven't settled in as yet, and I'm going to really have to work at it in coming days. I think it's all about being willing to go slower than I want to, and really drill in on the boring, piddly stuff that drives me insane.
I guess everything was - on balance - good, because he threw some new stuff at me today... more backwards stuff. If I thought forward stroking correctly was hard, BACKWARD stroking is an entirely different ball game, and I can already tell I will be blogging about falling BACKWARDS on my ass in the very near future. However, skaters spend most of their time going backwards, so I gotta figure this out quickly.
On my own, I've been doodling with one of the simplest ways of switching from forwards to backwards - it's called a "mohawk" and I think I've just about figured out how to do it and not come completely unglued in the process. You basically go from forward on one foot to backward on the other, and you do most of the work with your hips. The few times I committed to the move and threw caution to the wind, I actually pulled it off. I think a lot of learning new shit on skates is going to be like that. You have to just throw yourself into it, roll the dice, and hope you don't break something in the process. No wonder this is easier for kids to do - they don't really understand "consequences" at that age - as an adult, my whole life revolves around that. It's probably the only real difference between us - adults live in a world governed by consequences, kids just don't.
At the end of the day, I had my second Pilates torture session. Yes it still hurts, and yes I'm still going to do it. My core strength is pretty much nil, and Pilates has all those abdominal strength exercises that you know you SHOULD do, but don't because you know they are going to hurt like hell. Pilates coaches must either be complete sadists, or or just numb to other peoples' pain. I'm going to keep up with this because it's good for me, not because I enjoy it.
I also finally got the nerve to call that athletic-model trainer guy, "Blue". Good lord, what a name. I need the intensive personal training he offers, and I'm just going to have to get past my personal demons. Pretty people are just like everyone else, just prettier.... and they get their lived handed to them.... and clothes fit..... and and and :) I start next week with a one-hour familiarizing workout - more for him to see where I am and what I need to do. I've already told him that right now I have completely the wrong body for skating, and I have to lose some of this muscle mass and get a lot more toned. I've already started watching what I eat so the flab will start to drop off. "Blue" will help me restructure the body that's underneath it. I know I have a lot of work ahead of me, turning my bodybuilder-wannabe/linebacker body back into something more appropriate for the ice, but I'm committed to doing the work. I've enjoyed having the muscle, but it's in my way now.
Crossovers are still plaguing me - the changes he gave me haven't settled in as yet, and I'm going to really have to work at it in coming days. I think it's all about being willing to go slower than I want to, and really drill in on the boring, piddly stuff that drives me insane.
I guess everything was - on balance - good, because he threw some new stuff at me today... more backwards stuff. If I thought forward stroking correctly was hard, BACKWARD stroking is an entirely different ball game, and I can already tell I will be blogging about falling BACKWARDS on my ass in the very near future. However, skaters spend most of their time going backwards, so I gotta figure this out quickly.
On my own, I've been doodling with one of the simplest ways of switching from forwards to backwards - it's called a "mohawk" and I think I've just about figured out how to do it and not come completely unglued in the process. You basically go from forward on one foot to backward on the other, and you do most of the work with your hips. The few times I committed to the move and threw caution to the wind, I actually pulled it off. I think a lot of learning new shit on skates is going to be like that. You have to just throw yourself into it, roll the dice, and hope you don't break something in the process. No wonder this is easier for kids to do - they don't really understand "consequences" at that age - as an adult, my whole life revolves around that. It's probably the only real difference between us - adults live in a world governed by consequences, kids just don't.
At the end of the day, I had my second Pilates torture session. Yes it still hurts, and yes I'm still going to do it. My core strength is pretty much nil, and Pilates has all those abdominal strength exercises that you know you SHOULD do, but don't because you know they are going to hurt like hell. Pilates coaches must either be complete sadists, or or just numb to other peoples' pain. I'm going to keep up with this because it's good for me, not because I enjoy it.
I also finally got the nerve to call that athletic-model trainer guy, "Blue". Good lord, what a name. I need the intensive personal training he offers, and I'm just going to have to get past my personal demons. Pretty people are just like everyone else, just prettier.... and they get their lived handed to them.... and clothes fit..... and and and :) I start next week with a one-hour familiarizing workout - more for him to see where I am and what I need to do. I've already told him that right now I have completely the wrong body for skating, and I have to lose some of this muscle mass and get a lot more toned. I've already started watching what I eat so the flab will start to drop off. "Blue" will help me restructure the body that's underneath it. I know I have a lot of work ahead of me, turning my bodybuilder-wannabe/linebacker body back into something more appropriate for the ice, but I'm committed to doing the work. I've enjoyed having the muscle, but it's in my way now.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Ouch.
If you ever want to have it driven home how out of shape you really are, take a Pilates class.
Ohmyfriggingawd that hurt.
I had my first session with Cathy today. She looks like she spends her life teaching yoga - she has a Pilates studio in California, and it's no stretch to see here doing this there - everybody drink your wheat grass and sing "Kumbaya". You know the type - middle-aged, short hair that's grey and not dyed (heaven forfend), skinny little fucker that can probably twist herself into a pretzel first thing in the morning and has probably been able to do that all her life.
She's evil. Pure, unadulterated, smiling eeeeevil. And here I was with my out of shape 46-year-old ass trying to keep up with all of the twisting, stretching, and contortions that constitute Pilates. The equipment could easily be at home in a medieval torture chamber, and my screams transformed the place into something only the Inquisition would find "fun". I see her again on Friday, goddess protect me.
All I can say is this better make me a good skater, or I'm gonna kill Will.
or better yet, lock him in a room with Cathy for an hour.
I'm coming to realize that, although I was right to retire from my dance career, I NEVER NEVER should have stopped dancing. It's hard to be a mess.
As for my skating practice this morning... Sigh. I hate that I have to spend my hour in the corner working on just staying vertical while all around me the kiddies are whizzing by, blithely executing moves that would probably put me in the hospital for a month if I tried them at this point.
I worked today mostly on coasting backward in a circle on one foot. It sounds pretty simple, but given the number of times I fell flat on my ass, I can tell you it's NOT. The only bright spot is that I inadvertently executed a back, outside 3-turn at one point (a move I'm nowhere near attempting on purpose) while I was trying to catch my balance.... and Will's dance partner saw me do it! She came over to correct my form (duh) and I had to admit to her that what looked like a passably executed 3-turn was really my pitiful attempt to keep from going face down on the ice again, and that she shouldn't expect to see it again for months. She quickly switched gears and corrected my "coasting backward on one foot" form. Gee, I wonder if I'm at least BREATHING correctly. In and out, right?
It's days like this that I really have to buck up and be willing to be BAD at something, publicly and potentially for a really long time. I've always said that everyone should do something every day that they are bad at.... but after skating AND Pilates today, I need to go do something I'm REALLY REALLY good at for an hour or so...
I just have to remember what that is.... :)
Ohmyfriggingawd that hurt.
I had my first session with Cathy today. She looks like she spends her life teaching yoga - she has a Pilates studio in California, and it's no stretch to see here doing this there - everybody drink your wheat grass and sing "Kumbaya". You know the type - middle-aged, short hair that's grey and not dyed (heaven forfend), skinny little fucker that can probably twist herself into a pretzel first thing in the morning and has probably been able to do that all her life.
She's evil. Pure, unadulterated, smiling eeeeevil. And here I was with my out of shape 46-year-old ass trying to keep up with all of the twisting, stretching, and contortions that constitute Pilates. The equipment could easily be at home in a medieval torture chamber, and my screams transformed the place into something only the Inquisition would find "fun". I see her again on Friday, goddess protect me.
All I can say is this better make me a good skater, or I'm gonna kill Will.
or better yet, lock him in a room with Cathy for an hour.
I'm coming to realize that, although I was right to retire from my dance career, I NEVER NEVER should have stopped dancing. It's hard to be a mess.
As for my skating practice this morning... Sigh. I hate that I have to spend my hour in the corner working on just staying vertical while all around me the kiddies are whizzing by, blithely executing moves that would probably put me in the hospital for a month if I tried them at this point.
I worked today mostly on coasting backward in a circle on one foot. It sounds pretty simple, but given the number of times I fell flat on my ass, I can tell you it's NOT. The only bright spot is that I inadvertently executed a back, outside 3-turn at one point (a move I'm nowhere near attempting on purpose) while I was trying to catch my balance.... and Will's dance partner saw me do it! She came over to correct my form (duh) and I had to admit to her that what looked like a passably executed 3-turn was really my pitiful attempt to keep from going face down on the ice again, and that she shouldn't expect to see it again for months. She quickly switched gears and corrected my "coasting backward on one foot" form. Gee, I wonder if I'm at least BREATHING correctly. In and out, right?
It's days like this that I really have to buck up and be willing to be BAD at something, publicly and potentially for a really long time. I've always said that everyone should do something every day that they are bad at.... but after skating AND Pilates today, I need to go do something I'm REALLY REALLY good at for an hour or so...
I just have to remember what that is.... :)
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Ever have one of those days where you are suddenly clueless?
Oh god - it happened today. I had days like this when I was a dancer, and always dreaded them. The horrible day that I step onto the ice and seem to have zero balance..... As a dancer, I could tell within moments of starting a class that I wasn't going to be worth shit that day - and on the ice it's no different. From the moment I took off the blade guards and stepped out onto the ice, I could feel that my balance just wasn't there today. My placement was shot, I kept losing my center and wobbling all over the place. Stuff that was effortless is now gone completely.
I hate days like this.
I kept at it though - decided to concentrate on basics as a way to compensate, so I did 30 minutes of edge control work, about 15 minutes of VERY slow stroking, and the rest of the time breaking down swing rolls with the new corrections Will gave me at my lesson on Friday.
I suppose the good news is that things seemed to start evening out by the end of the hour, and Will (who showed up for his own practice) complimented me on my stroking.
I guess the moral of days like this is to just plow through them and work it out.
I still hate days like this, though!
OK - went to the Pilates place.... $95 a session!!!!! No friggin' way! Damn, I'm in the wrong line of work! The good news is they train Pilates teachers, and you can work with one of them for $20. That's do-able, and I'm happy to work with a student, since the option is not doing this at ALL. WOW that's a lot of money! As soon as the students start back for the semester, they will contact me to set up my first session. Twice a week for a month, then we can probably go to weekly. Did I say this was an expensive hobby? :)
I hate days like this.
I kept at it though - decided to concentrate on basics as a way to compensate, so I did 30 minutes of edge control work, about 15 minutes of VERY slow stroking, and the rest of the time breaking down swing rolls with the new corrections Will gave me at my lesson on Friday.
I suppose the good news is that things seemed to start evening out by the end of the hour, and Will (who showed up for his own practice) complimented me on my stroking.
I guess the moral of days like this is to just plow through them and work it out.
I still hate days like this, though!
OK - went to the Pilates place.... $95 a session!!!!! No friggin' way! Damn, I'm in the wrong line of work! The good news is they train Pilates teachers, and you can work with one of them for $20. That's do-able, and I'm happy to work with a student, since the option is not doing this at ALL. WOW that's a lot of money! As soon as the students start back for the semester, they will contact me to set up my first session. Twice a week for a month, then we can probably go to weekly. Did I say this was an expensive hobby? :)
Friday, January 2, 2009
Lesson after a long break
Ok - so I decided to get to the rink an hour before my lesson today to make some vain attempt at improvement before I had to show Will my progress.
So - I thought my left progressives were good and my rights needed work. Guess what - it's the other way around. Sigh.... more work to do. Will said I was doing it correctly on the right side, probably because I was paying more attention to it. So now I have to unlearn some habits on the left side and get comfortable with how it's REALLY supposed to feel.
I also had thought my swing rolls were coming along. Not so much. My leg alignment was way off, and my shoulders weren't were the were supposed to be.
Oh, and my progressives suck as well.
Gee - wonderful lesson - so good for the ego!
Will broke things down for me again. I think I'm just trying to go to fast (not a surprise for me) and need to just be willing to slow down, take it easy, and really concentrate on the mechanics of everything. I am frustrated as all hell that I'm not doing anything remotely artistic at this point, and maybe that's why I'm cutting corners. I just have to be OK with piddling about in the corners for a while longer.
Will gave me a referral to a trainer who works with skaters. He's a model (wonderful....) so I'm going to have to get over the intimidation that being around someone really pretty always causes. He's supposed to be really good, so I have to just get over it. I HATE being around "pretty people" - it just reminds me how unremarkable-looking I've always been, and that's not anything that working out or grace is ever going to change. I'm normally OK with it as long as I don't have to stand next to the pretty people! I'm a comic, character actor for a good reason. :)
Will also suggested I start Pilates to build core strength. He's right - it's shot to hell from being out of dance for 15 years. I've got a name of a place he suggested, so will go check them out.
So - I thought my left progressives were good and my rights needed work. Guess what - it's the other way around. Sigh.... more work to do. Will said I was doing it correctly on the right side, probably because I was paying more attention to it. So now I have to unlearn some habits on the left side and get comfortable with how it's REALLY supposed to feel.
I also had thought my swing rolls were coming along. Not so much. My leg alignment was way off, and my shoulders weren't were the were supposed to be.
Oh, and my progressives suck as well.
Gee - wonderful lesson - so good for the ego!
Will broke things down for me again. I think I'm just trying to go to fast (not a surprise for me) and need to just be willing to slow down, take it easy, and really concentrate on the mechanics of everything. I am frustrated as all hell that I'm not doing anything remotely artistic at this point, and maybe that's why I'm cutting corners. I just have to be OK with piddling about in the corners for a while longer.
Will gave me a referral to a trainer who works with skaters. He's a model (wonderful....) so I'm going to have to get over the intimidation that being around someone really pretty always causes. He's supposed to be really good, so I have to just get over it. I HATE being around "pretty people" - it just reminds me how unremarkable-looking I've always been, and that's not anything that working out or grace is ever going to change. I'm normally OK with it as long as I don't have to stand next to the pretty people! I'm a comic, character actor for a good reason. :)
Will also suggested I start Pilates to build core strength. He's right - it's shot to hell from being out of dance for 15 years. I've got a name of a place he suggested, so will go check them out.
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