I had the most awesome experience this morning. Depending on where you are this may or may not ring true…. but falling on ice SUCKS.
Lately because of the Mexican Fat Loss Experiment, I’ve been doing a.m. cardio walks to get the blood flowing and add to my total low intensity activity. I take off in the wee hours and head for the woods. I love it. We’ve had warm and cold spurts here in Calgary so the trails looks super clean and clear one minute and then you turn the corner on a downward slope and you turn into a human star fish hoping for the best.
One minute your walking along and then, you get about 4 million thoughts, nervous system inputs and hopes in .2 seconds before you’re horizontal…and a few more as you hover before you come out of the air and splat.
Which brings me to the amazing part.
Usually I walk down the trail and then tippy toe around the ice. Or I ease into the crab position and bum scoot down the ice. BUT HERE IS THE COOL THING. Lately as part of my low intensity activity, I’ve been doing the Five Tibetans as well as Ashtanga Yoga. This is really freeing up my hips and improving my quality of life. I thought things were good before but now it’s good + 2. Anywho…
This morning, I felt so snappy that I just couldn’t walk. I HAD to jog (yes, even on low carbs). I felt great, so I took off running…. and forgot about the ice.
I hit the ice, couldnt slow down and then….. went into a low hindu squat, slid through and got up running. OH MY GOD THAT WAS COOL!
I saw more ice and thought “What the hell! Let’s keep with this” As I got up to it I went on all fours and bear crawled over it… more ice… sprinter squat and slid through. SO AWESOME!
I felt so free it was cool.
Moral of story? The only thing about falling that sucks is the impact. Get your stretching in. We all are going to get older and you don’t need to gradually grind down into a frozen, immobile statue. You can stay vital, be able to get down on the floor with your kids and actually enjoy the time you get off from work.
Make yoga,stretching and mobility drills as important as every other part of your fitness routine.
You can start with the simple stretches on this site.
Cheers.