I definitely have a waistline again. Can we just take a moment to process that one? I don’t know about you, but my waistline was sacrificed to the inertia of my 2020 lifestyle. I was a little bit worried that it was gone for good. But it’s back. I’m starting to get my shape back. It looks like my body is being carved out and reformed.
It’s been a while since my last class. About a week. How did I feel in the meantime? Well, here’s a funny development. I have stopped doing my daily push-ups. Not because I meant to, or I slacked off or anything like that. Just because I forgot that I needed them. I mean I am no longer feeling pain from sleeping.
Not only that, but my back is looking good, too. Pulling in. I am starting to see the curve of my spine, the nice dip that flares from my waist. And my back dimples are back.
Looking at all this before I start class, I am pumped to continue. I want more of this. I go into class knowing that showing up and having fun is going to give me my body back.
Day 5 of Rokmil: Float like a motherf*king butterfly
When the class starts, I can tell today is going to be a good day. Everybody’s energy is so high. They are dancing with so much enthusiasm. I can tell that everybody is rested and feeling good. That type of feeling makes me feel good too, and like today is going to be a really good class.
My goal for this class is to keep my mind on my abs. I am not going to wimp out on the ab workout in this class. I am going to focus on those muscles even more than before and see what I can achieve.
There are two biggies I am keeping in mind. Moves that are a bit difficult for me. The first comes up right away, in the second set. It’s crazy how sometimes when you set a goal you get an opportunity to deal with it immediately. I breathe deep and get to it.
We sit on the Rok and then lean back, suspend our feet off the ground. Just breathe, I tell myself. I pull from my core, engaging my abs. My feet are just as heavy as the first class, my legs no less a weight. But my abs work together, firming the muscles of my back into a plank of support. The front of my body acts like the strings of a puppet, pulling my feet off the ground. My side abs – obliques, I’ve learned – hold me steady. I can do this. My legs pulse in the air, peddling gently.
I keep my feet entirely off the ground for the whole set.
That’s not to say that I did all the work a hundred percent. I certainly did not. But my legs were floating. #strengthgoals
The second biggie comes later. Reverse tabletop. I lift one leg and touch it with the opposite arm. I know I did this exercise once, but not well. Today I crush it. I lift my leg and touch my arm. I keep time with the class. I can feel it in my lower back. I can feel it in my core. Using my Rok to hold me steady, I stretch from the opposite ends of my body and tap my leg, switch sides, switch again. I’m gettin’ it.
5 Changes to my body that only took 5 classes with Rokmil
1. Flexibility. During a lunge I noticed that I was able to stretch deeply into my upper thigh. I wondered if I could even stretch into a split. I could feel how loose and warm the muscles were, more so than normal – at least, my normal.
2. Cardio. I have a pretty small workout space. It’s about 3’ X 7’. Long enough for a side-to-side lunge, or a good plank. But I check the numbers at the end of my workout using my handy Fitbit watch and each time, my heart rate jumps into the cardio zone while I’m doing Rokmil. It jumps up as high as when I go for a run in the neighborhood!
3. Strength. I don’t know what I can say except that I feel really good about my core strength. The fact that I hit all of the ab workouts today is crazy. My measurement of how strong I am getting is my side plank. Usually, when I do side planks, I feel like my body is nailed to the ground. But today I had about a foot of air under me! My obliques have become a muscle group that I can command with my mind to just pull me up and hold me. Yeah, I still feel a lot of sensation while doing this. Of course, I still feel it! But I also feel that I can handle it. And that I have control of the motion instead of the motion having control over me.
4. Sweat. There is so much great movement in the large lower muscles of my body. I get nice and warm. My face is full of sweat. This is only significant because a lot of times when I work out, I don’t get that sweaty. Even if I think it’s a good workout, I just don’t. That’s not a thing for me. But every single time that I work out with Rokmil I get very very sweaty. I feel wrung out, detoxed.
5. Energy. I end on a high note full of energy and ready to keep going. I have to say that I feel better – more energetic. Not just in the class, but outside too. I have the energy to make a plan to stay in shape no matter what 2021 has in store. I have the energy to commit to my body.
P.S. I did not use the Rok for these classes. I definitely think having a Rok is more effective than using a stool – it’s weight and height really complement the moves of the workout, but it is 100% possible to get an awesome workout using a stool or ottoman, whatever you have at home that you can substitute.