Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Yard and Yoga

One thing about spring in the pacific northwest is the amount of trimming and cutting that has to be done each year. There is a reason it's called the Evergreen State. It should be called the Overgrown State. The constant rain keeps it green and beautiful but it also keeps things constantly overgrown.

I had to buy a STIHL product that lets you use different attachments such as something I like to call "chainsaw on a stick" It's a chainsaw on a 10 ft pole. The problem with this amazing product that you must have lots of upper body strength. To get to the upper limbs I had to hold it arms length over my head for about 4 hours. My shoulders were KILLING me.

However, I'm not in pain the next day after. Why? YOGA.

I've been doing yoga now for almost 2 months. The first week was not easy. The 2nd week it got a little easier. As time went by I became more flexible and my posture started to improve.

The best part about yoga is how quickly I recover from muscle soreness. Sunday I spent 4-5 hours trimming hedges and was very sore that night. The next day I went to yoga and the soreness went away. Yesterday I did 4 hours of cutting trees and brush and was incredibly sore last night. Today I went to yoga and Ta-Da! no soreness. I went on to teach 2 spin classes back to back tonight. I feel incredible.

If you have any lower back injuries like I have, I can't say enough about the benefits of yoga. I have virtually no more back pain except for the occasional stiffness from sitting on the couch for 3 hours watching re-runs of 30 Rock and Tosh.0.

Guys, give yoga a try. You will feel totally stupid the first few times you go. Man up. It will do some much good for you than you can imagine.

Next time you do your yard, do your yoga.

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