Music Monday #1

If you're anything like me, you don't go a moment throughout your day without music. Music is playing during the morning routine, in the car on the way to work, in the office, during the workout, on the ride home, prepping dinner, bedtime, and so on. Basically the only time music isn't playing is if I'm in a meeting or watching TV. I don't think I could live without Pandora, Spotify, my ipod, old mixed cds, and the list goes on. It really does make everything better.

The thing I look forward to most about my solo workouts is putting in my earbuds and zoning out to some of my favorite songs. A new playlist makes me giddy with excitement for the next opportunity to workout. The good news is, music isn't just another distraction. According to an article written by Barbara Russi Sarnataro, it's proven to make you work harder and keep you committed to your weekly exercise routine. For more information on the benefits of music during exercise, you can find Sarnataro's article here.

To honor the love of music and the benefits that it has for our workouts, Lady in Motion designates every Monday as Music Monday! It's a time to share what's on your playlist for the week and a place to hopefully, discover some new workout tunes!

The following are some of my go-to songs on this week's playlist:
(DISCLAIMER: I have a tendency to listen to some "offensive" music...no surprise to those who know me well)

• Eminem - Mosh
  
• Everclear - Santa Monica
  
• Kid Rock - American Bad ass
  
• Fort Minor - Remember the Name
  
• Eminem - Never Enough
  
• Eminem - Rain Man
  
• Eminem - Won't Back Down
  (Obviously I enjoy Eminem...)
  
• Nickelback - Burn it to the Ground
  
• Green Day - Holiday
  
• Ludacris - Number One Spot
  
• Ok Go - Here it goes again
  
• Trick Daddy ft. Luda - Sugar
  
• Weezer - Beverly Hills
  

Leave a comment and share your favorite songs this week!

Until next time...

The yoga battle continues

Over the years I've always stood on the outskirts of the yoga scene and I've talked about getting involved. It just looks so fabulous. Who wouldn't want to wear those cute yoga clothes and buy your very own yoga mat with a sassy tote bag and be able to bend yourself in all of those crazy positions? Not to mention any of the really intense yogis I know are ripped....like seriously strong and toned. So I've tried. My first real yoga experience was a private group (oxymoron?) class for The Resveratrol Runner's wedding. We filled the room with the bridal party plus a few others and the instructor was fabulous. I learned a lot and left the room vowing to take yoga on a regular basis. One year later I took class number two. Hot yoga. It was 90 minutes in a room over 100 degrees. I left there as one giant prune. No thank you, never again. I took one or two "normal" classes after that but have yet to make it a regular part of my program. I struggle with allowing my mind to quiet down and just be in that "zen" moment. I focus on everyone else's breathing other than my own and I can't stop thinking about how I can't bend that far.

I hung up my yoga mat, so to speak and stopped trying to fit myself into that activity but I keep being overwhelmed by the knowledge of all of the benefits of yoga. If what the experts say is correct, yoga is like a magic bullet. Some of the benefits of regular yoga proactice include:

• Stress reduction - isn't this something we all want?
• Increased fitness - improved balance, better flexibility, increased range of motion, more strength, and a decreased chance of injury
• Management of chronic health conditions - cancer, depression, anxiety, chronic pain, insomnia, lyme disease. All of these things can be positively impacted through regular yoga practice
• Weight loss - yes please.

So today I tried again. A friend and I met at yoga class at 6:30 this morning and I'll have to say, it wasn't bad. I was able to clear my head, focus on me, and enjoy the time to just be. It wasn't a very hard class and so I have to fight the feeling that I didn't actually workout today. I will keep telling mysefl that this is what my body needs and that the long term benefits are worth giving up an hour of cycle for an hour of yoga. I will try to keep this on the weekly schedule and see how it goes!

Until next time...