Yoga

My week in pitchurs (that’s how it sounds when people down here say it!)

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This week, my first week back at home in Raleigh, has been a whirlwind of working, teaching Zumba classes, adding new songs to my lineup, job things, and trying to reset my life here in Raleigh. Honestly, it was hard to leave my mom last Saturday morning, and I wish I didn’t have to. But she’s improving, and I can’t hang around my parents’ house forever, right?  So my week in a few pitchurs.

Marathon 1

The Greensboro Marathon.  Oh guess who’s doing their second marathon in October?  If you guessed Sydney Poitier, you guessed wrong.  ME!  I am doing the Greensboro Marathon October 26th, after I searched both high and low for a race I could do (within financial reason) this fall!  The race starts in Elon (which obviously, I’m obsessed with because I went there, duh,), and ends in downtown Greensboro.  I’m hoping for a little bit prettier weather than the marathon I did last spring, and I’m better prepped for how boring life will get around mile 17.  I can do this!  Hang in there for marathon posts, I’m sure there will be a TON.

Marathon 3Zucchini Fire.  It’s zucchini season in good ol’ NC, and I’ve come into possession of several humongous zucchini weanies. I had to find a way to cook them. And what other way than grating them into some zucchini bread? Well, me being the domestic goddess that I am, I overfilled my bread pans, and they leaked into the oven, where they started a fire in my kitchen. Not kidding. I was literally using my lungs to put it out in a desperate effort to save my bread. The bread was saved, and I only had to spend like 89 hours scrubbing the oven out with a piece of steel wool. #Winning.

Marathon 2

Headstand victory.  My yoga teacher, the young little Emily Wallace down at Indigo Hot Yoga, let us play around with a few headstands today, and instructed us, step-by-step, on how to get up into one.  I got up, and was able to stay up for a few seconds.  Do I need more work? Yes.  Do I need to get a little more consistent in my practice to continue to see progress, and to continue being a Bendy Wendy, even when I train for this marathon?  Absolutely.  But it felt good, and it took my mind off of serious stuff to be able to work out my core and stay up in a headstand for a while.

Can we say “whew”?  What a friggin week!

Q: How do I get a “donkey booty”?

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No thanks to Phaedra Parks, of the Nobel Peace Prize Winning, “Real Housewives of Atlanta,” I’ve gotten this question more than a few times after class.

Phine Body

Now take a good look at Miz Parks.  Beautiful woman, right?  But does she seem like someone that you should be taking fashion workout advice from?  Does she strike you as someone who sat and studied for their AFAA group exercise or personal trainer cert?  Me either.

This, non-expert has now taken it upon herself to release a workout tape, touting the benefits of a few exercises to give you a “donkey booty,” or a curvaceous, voluptuous behind shape that Queen Bey and Nicki Minaj have popularized.

The real questions here is, can you spot train to firm up and “grow” one area of the human body?

The answer, in short, is, absolutely not. 

-Can you do a bunch of squats and get a Beyonce booty?

-Can you do a bunch of crunches and and get Jackie Warner abs?

-Can you do a bunch of bicep curls and get Michelle Obama arms?

No. Nope. Absolutely not.  Spot training is not a thing.  

So the trick to getting a donkey booty?  Hawt abs?  Michelle Obama arms?

–Throw away those pics you cut out of your fantasy body now.  You’re not Shakira.  You’re not Bey.  You’re not Al Roker.  (Okay, sike on that last one).  But you’re you.  Chances are, you hold on to muscle and fat way differently than whomever it is that you idolize.  Me and my brother have a typical Haitian male shape.  Tall, long limbs, long fingers and toes, and a donkey booty is not in my future.  The little bum I do have is firm, but it’s small.  I’m not going to grow it.

-Eat well! Seriously.  You can work out a million hours a day.  If you’re eating Fishy McBites breakfast lunch and dinner (we’re eating those next week on the blog folks, stay tuned) you’re going to look and feel a mess.  Even if you want a treat, stick to thing you can eat with ingredients you can pronounce.  The fresher, the better, and your body will thank you for you.

-Cardio. You want a six-pack?  Killer arms?  Ridiculous quads?  Work on peeling off the layer of fat that might be covering it up.  Do a little cardio every day.  A good way to get it in?  Run!  Run to the gym.  Run to the post office.  Run to maintain your fitness.  You’ll be surprised to see what’s underneath some of that fat! (And fat isn’t a dirty word, okay?)

–Strength training.  It kinda sucks.  But it also rocks to have muscles.  Even if you’re only using your own body weight, you’re doing what you need.

Do all of this, and your natural, beautiful shape will emerge.  If you’re blessed to have the donk? Donk it up. Your arms may be better than some.  But once that shape emerges, rock it and be proud of your donkey whatever! 

 

Yoga for runners

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Yoga for runners

It has been wonderful, as I have gone on this journey, to see how many wonderful friends have stepped up to help me out! Meet my beautiful friend, Kerry Marchionni.

Kerri is a new friend. I met her through my job at Fleet Feet, and she’s a delight to work with. Kerri is graceful, understanding, and makes you want to be a better person. It’s rare that you meet someone like that in life.

Kerri is an accomplished yogi, and has graciously offered to donate her proceeds from this Sunday’s ‘Yoga for Runners’ to our cause. If you’d like to go, it happens at Fleet Feet Raleigh, Sunday, January 6, 2013 at 10:15am. Click through the photo for a link to RSVP 🙂