Impr-YOU-vement

I have taken 15 hot yoga classes. Since then my abs have become visible, I have lost zero pounds, and I've been able to increase my total weekly exercise load. Today I did an OCR workout at the gym for the first time in a while, and I noticed huge improvement in a few things. 

Started with 5 minutes of grip strength in the form of hanging from the high pullup bar in the squat rack. There are rails on either side of the squat rack that I can plant my feet on so I can either wedge myself in (possibly going hands-free for a break) or I can at least take some weight off my hands to make the hanging a bit easier. Normally I've needed to drop to the ground a few times during this 5 minute span just to get a break. Not today, Satan! (tm Bianca Del Rio, if ya don't know, Google it.) I was able to stay up either with just my hands or with a foot assist for the full 5 minutes. I didn't even need to spend much time hands-free propped. BOOM.

I also do a 5-minute segment where I prop myself in between the rails of the smaller squat rack, kind of hovering my body from child's pose up into downward dog and such. It's a great isometric workout. Naturally, 15 sessions of yoga have greatly improved my ability to hold myself up. I also managed to get one leg on each rail and do some held squats that surely made every 25-year-old dude on that side of the room go "what the actual F is that lady doing?" To which I would have responded, "GODDESS SQUATS!" 

The other improvements I have made might not be directly credited to hot yoga, but it probably didn't hurt. I have gotten far more fluid and faster at the belly crawl. If needed, I could pull myself across the entirety of the gym using just my arms. I got up and down the stairs one extra time in my 5 minutes (16 times, rather than 15) with my 15-lb medicine ball in hands. My leg plyometrics have gotten more solid and my body feels dang near bulletproof. Injury prevention is and always has been my number one priority, as it must for any athlete. It feels like the training is working.

Going into race season, confidence is critical. Find activities that make you feel strong and do them often. Find activities that help you recover and do them often. Protect your body with modifications, rest days, and proper nutrition. Races are expensive and you don't want to lose out on the fees with a DNS (did not start). Write everything down so you can see measured improvement. Be better. Be your best. (Don't "Be Best," though, that is Melania's tragedy, not yours!)