12 - Plug

Today the temperature got even worse! It was in the low 90's around here and set a whole new record. Typically this time of year tends to hover around the high 60s/low 70s in this area. This was just insane!


I did all of my exercises inside, with multiple fans running in a desperate attempt to keep the air circulating. I still sweated like a pig, but every little bit helps trying to stay cool.

I find that I have to be cautious when doing the Side Kick. If I try to be overzealous and tilt a little high, I will get a slight twinge in the groin area when I go for the kick. It goes away immediately when the leg returns to the standing position and if I lower my aim a little bit, it's fine. So at the moment, I can give someone a good, strong kick to the knees.

One of the downsides I've found is that sometimes it's hard to figure out how to do some of the flexibility positions properly. There are moments where I'll be staring at the little pictures trying to see exactly how to get into those stances. For example, the Backbend on today's sheet. I see that Patrick is bent backwards and he has his hands on the wall, but exactly how far away from the wall is he? I encountered the same question when doing the Wingspan a couple days ago.

Luckily for me, I have a tool that helps figure out the answer to some of the questions I have on the poses. It's called the Knowledge Worker's Survival Guide: Posture by some guy named Patrick Reynolds. (Yeah. I know. Shameless product plug.)

It's loaded with lots of good information about muscles, and posture, and flexibility, and blah-blah-blah; however, the part I'm finding most useful are the sections it has flexibility exercises. A number of the poses there are the same ones that we're doing now!

The nice thing about the Knowledge Worker's Survival Guide: Posture is that there's some good description about how to get into the pose, what's the correct and incorrect way to hold it, and—best of all—bigger pictures.

Although it came out after my PCP days, it has helped me over the past few months with one exercise that I never quite got while I was on that program: the Pistol Squat. I would stare and stare and stare at that workout sheet and I never got the same feeling that everyone else seemed to have with that exercise. With the Knowledge Worker's Survival Guide: Posture, I finally figured out what I was doing wrong (I was lifting the heel of the leg I was balancing on).

This has been a great resource for me these past few days to get into as close to proper form without a yoga teacher standing there to pull and prod your body into position. I'm lovin' it!