S'khai

Week 2 Days 5, 6, and 7 Thursday was my birthday! It was a fun, pretty chill day. I planned to eat some special don't eat very often foods, so that's what I did! I had a cinnamon bun for breakfast, a burger (no bun) for lunch, and lobster and broccoli for dinner! I had planned on making honey toast for my cake... but it didn't turn out. So I'm going to try again sometime this upcoming week. I got in some Cha Cha and Samba practice, did some push ups, and rolled out. Friday I got in a run, a foam rolling/conditioning class, and had a private lesson with my Sensei in Japan over Zoom Today I played on my rings a lot! I did straight arm supports, assisted dips, dip negatives, assisted chin ups, chin up negatives, knees to elbow, and assisted one legged squats. I attempted a bar hang or two, but am getting no where near my 45+ second goal... I worked on my Gold rumba routine. Who knows when I'll be competing again, or what level, but I've decided to relearn all my competition routines in case! Week report card: Practice - B I danced about 6/7 days Nutrition - A- I did much better with snacking, and only ate what I planned to, but I did have a ton of sugar on my birthday. Hydration - A- I was pretty good about this most days. I only came up a little short once. Cross-training - A I did at least a little of something every day this week! A mix of the bodyweight workouts, pushups, hiking, running, and flexibility work.

Looks like you're already doing better than last week! Keep it up!

Week 2 Days 3 and 4 I got an hour of work on a single samba step yesterday. I didn't end up with a practice video. I took some video notes (where I break down the step into tiny moments with explanation for my future self), but I'm assuming that's too boring to share. Today I practiced some cha cha choreography for an hour!!! It was so satisfyingly fun. Here's the video! I was pretty solid on my food goals! I ended up in the kitchen about to snack several times, and each time decided I wasn't actually hungry and left without eating. And then, one time I was in the office and realized that I was legitimately hungry, so I ate some greek yogurt (from a bowl!!) while NOT poking my phone or any other distracting thing. I've been good on hydration also. Crosstraining - I had a lighter day yesterday. I did some handstand pushup practice and did my foot exercises. Today I did my 5k interval training (I bumped up to the new intervals and was so so exhausted by the end... have to work on pacing better), followed along with the level 8/9 rings video from the other day (chinup negatives, dip negatives, knees to elbows), did some box jumps and 30 mins combined of stretching and planks. Oof! I did enough today to warrant two showers! Feeling accomplished!

Thank you! I alternate between spending hours on a single step and just playing around with choreography. Practicing one particular step over and over again is usually really slow going and challenges my balance and makes my muscles cramp after a while. Working on choreography makes me sweaty and out of breath. It's all super fun!! ＼＼\\٩( 'ω' )و //／／

Thank you so so much!

Week 1 Report Card Dance practice : I'm giving myself an A+ on this one! I got in 14 hours this week despite my injury. I did an awesome job listening to my body and modifying as needed, and my back is well on the way to working normally. Nutrition : B. I had a huge delicious salad every day this week, which made me feel awesome for getting in my veggies and was perfectly refreshing for the hot weather. I shuffled the dinners around, but generally stuck to the plan. I had a bit of a snacking problem though... I failed to put my snacks on plates or eat them in a mindful way. This upcoming week, I want to cut down on snacking, but at the very least, I want to be deliberate about it. Hydration: C+ I met my goal 5 of 7 days. And one day I didn't really get all that close. I ate more random stuff on the day I didn't drink enough... Cross training : F I did 3 out of the 6 days I was aiming for. This was largely due to lots of dancing, so I'm not going to be too upset by this. ---------------------------------------------- Week 2 Day 1 - Dance: I didn't dance at all! - Nutrition: Yeah... failed at this one too. I only planned the first week of meals and forgot I'm avoiding the grocery store on the weekends... ><;; I ended up eating out for lunch, but it was delicious! I ate it slowly and savored every bite! - Hydration; Yes! - Cross training: Also YES! This was my big win for the day. I went on a hike with my family and did most of bodyweight 5C (I skipped the rings) ---------------------------------------------- Week 2 Day 2 - Dance: I did an hour of Jive - Nutrition: Planned, shopped, and had a delicious dinner! - Hydration: I'm a bit behind. - Cross training: YES! So so much today. I went on my 5K training run first thing this morning (took it about 80% speed as I took a week off). I did the negative chin-ups that I skipped yesterday. I rolled out and stretched. And finished it all off by leveling up out of handstand pushups level 7. Progress videos: So, I've been really having fun making these. I didn't think I would, because watching myself makes me cringe, but it makes me dance at least 20 mins past the end of my practice or class, just recording myself. I run through a routine or exercise quite a few times until it feels right. I'm not going for perfect, and I know I have a lot I need to work on, but I like to try to record a decent run through. So I turn on the camera and try until I feel like I did okay and can end on a high note. However! Saturday and today have been Jive... The thing with Jive is that while each run through I get the movement more into my body, I also get exhausted. So a fair warning that these videos are gross and sweaty and I'm so tired I feel like I can barely stand, but I'm pushing for just... one... more... time... You've been warned. Week 1 Day 7 Week 2 Day 2

I made a run for my chickens! It took me all afternoon to put it together and about 3 hours for the chickens to find a way out of it...

Days 4, 5, and 6 have happened!! Ballet is humbling. My range of motion is very limited at the moment, but it is improving. Wednesday: 2 hours of ballet Thursday: 2 hours of ballet, 1 hour of latin Friday: 2.5 hours of latin I'm going to take it easy over the weekend, as I've very much been exceeding my original 1 hour a day goal. I've been mostly following my meal plan, with a few days of switching things around. I've not broken down and eaten any meals that weren't in my weekly plan, so that's good. I do not have my snacking under control at the moment. I've been coming in a pint or two short of my goal, the last two days, and drinking more iced coffee/iced tea. I'd like to do better tomorrow. I haven't gone on a single run or walk. I've done a few pushups and some planks and that's the extent of it... I missed the foam roller class I really wanted to take today. I'm going to put it in my calendar and make a point of doing it next week. Tomorrow I will dance less and make sure to fit in some flexibility/strength work. If anyone cares about my progress videos, I didn't take one yesterday, but I have two from today. Day 4 - Me testing my balance/range of motion ballet style Day 6a - Rumba basic with counts Day 6b - Mini Cha Cha combo with music

Day 3! I'm feeling much better. My back still hurts when I try to lift my legs or side bend, but I spend a lot of time exploring the range of motion that I DO have today, and feeling pretty lucky that I have as much as I do. - Practice. 2 hours of ballet and an hour of Latin! I really took it easy in ballet today. There were some combinations I just marked lightly. I managed a few solid double pirouette en dedans, which is pretty good for me! I had a much harder time with en dehors, which is usually my stronger direction... but I was pretty happy! (๑˃̵ᴗ˂̵). My grand battements were essentially degage height... but I'll take it! Progress video taken from Latin practice. I worked on paso today, and took it nice and slow. - Nutrition. Oof. I did so much snacking today... It all started with a chocolate cake that my kid wanted to bake this morning... I limited the chocolate cake eating, but only by grabbing slightly healthier snacks... - Hydration. Did it!! - Cross training. Not today. I had a run scheduled, but skipped it. I should've walked a bit instead, but I didn't.

I'm so glad your back healed. Thank you for this message. I certainly hope mine's a short-term problem. I know it could be a lot worse... I'll do my best to take it easy. It's a bit tough mentally to do it, when I know that summer is my time for dancing. My kid's in summer camp and I don't have classes to teach, so I want to be dancing!! ♬٩( ᐛ )و♬

Day 2! My day started with a lot of anger and sadness over my injury. I'm very sick of my back hurting... this was compounded by the fact that I would have taken a ballet class today, if I wasn't pretty sure that it would break me. There was a gentle movement dance class on the schedule that I tried to Zoom into instead, but no one showed up... not even the teacher! My day got much better with a flexibility class I took in the afternoon. A solid 45 mins of gentle stretching and learning what movements work and which don't at the moment. I learned that if I get into it slowly, I can hold a normal plank without pain, but side planks are totally out. I stretched out my shoulders and did my foot exercises. I can also bend backwards with no pain, but forward bends must be taken cautiously and straight forward. Absolutely no side bends for me. Nutrition-wise I realized I was missing an ingredient for dinner, so I swapped the plan with tomorrow's dinner plan, and I'll run by the store tomorrow to rectify my inventory problem. I did end up eating one unplanned snack today: a bowl of cottage cheese. Hydration - I hit my water goal by 4pm today and had a pint of iced tea and one of cold brew. I'm drinking seltzer now. It's fluffing hot! I finished my day with an hour of cha cha, with a particular focus on the arms and upper body. Today's progress video is from tonight's cha cha routine. I regularly get the correction that my shoulders are too high, and I definitely see that a bit in the video. That's definitely a thing I'd like to work on this month.

Thank you! I communicate best with stickers (=^_^=)ゞ You posted this right when I was starting to enter a dark and angry mental place regarding my injury. I can't tell you how much it helped to be reminded that I'm doing what I can do and that I shouldn't feel defeated. Thank you!

Ok! Day 1 update: So on Friday I fell on my back really hard. I was climbing into a boat, and the seat was loose and slid out from under me, so I slammed hard into metal. It's been a few days, and I still have incredible amounts of pain when I use my left psoas at all... I'm icing pretty constantly, but I didn't want to totally fail on my first day of this challenge, so I did my best! - Practice. I spent 20 mins working on foot strengthening/ankle mobility exercises. I used to do these every time I fed my son a bottle, but he's three now, so I haven't done these exercises consistently in 2.5 years! My feet super cramped up doing what used to be a very reasonable quantity of reps, so note to self: do your foot exercises! I did some Rajio Taiso (my favorite Japanese warmup that can scale to any level of physical ability) from a chair until I was warm and sweaty. Then I went through my Latin routines and did just the arms for all of them. I spent about 20 mins drilling my rumba arms, which I'm hideously uncoordinated at. - Hydration. I'm finishing my last pint of water as I type. - Nutrition. I planned out my meals for the week, went grocery shopping, pre-portioned out lunch for tomorrow, pre-cut some of the veggies for tomorrows dinner, and stuck with my plan for today! - Cross-training. So today was supposed to be my day for Bodyweight 5C. I was able to do only the wall slides due to pain, but I did them! This was not at all the start I hoped for, but I'm happy that I pushed through and did SOMETHING productive for my body, while (hopefully) not doing anything to exacerbate this injury. Please let me feel better tomorrow! Today's progress video is me doing Rajio Taiso from a chair. This is about the extent of my range of motion at the moment...

I've never done lindy hop! Sounds fun! The only swing dance I know is jive, but I would love to learn more.

I love chocolate protein powder oatmeal! But I make some modifications. First, I don't think of it like oatmeal, more like an oatmeal cake. To make it cakier, I cut the water and add an egg before cooking it. When it's done cooking, I add the protein powder, some unsweetened cocoa powder, a bit of cinnamon, and vanilla extract. When I started eating this, I started with a small amount of protein powder and a rather large amount of cocoa powder. Over time I've added more and more protein powder and less and less cocoa powder. When I need it to be extra filling, I add some peanut butter too. If I want it to be a special treat, I add a bit of whipped cream on top. This is my go to chocolate fix at the moment, although I also just invented a protein heavy chocolate cake with my toddler that was super good...