Pilates

I've been doing yoga for awhile (at least 3 years, on and off) and I LOVE the book that I have. I don't like the videos because I want to watch something else on TV instead of listening to the soft, sleepy music on the videos (I realize that part of yoga is breathing and relaxing but I don't care for that part of it so much). The book is called "Simply Yoga" and has a complete program laid out from start to finish. I've been thinking for awhile about Pilates but I haven't been able to find anything I like. I found a "Simply Pilates" book at Amazon. It was used for 56 cents plus shipping. I bought it because I like the yoga book so much. It should be here in the next few days so I can start trying it out. In the mean time, I got a book from the library called "The Complete Pilates Body Challenge" It is a pretty nice book and I might pick one up, if I don't like the Simply Pilates book. It has a section called the "tantalizing ten" It is 10 moves that they suggest you do every day. Then then are other things that you can add for specific areas, including abs, lower body, perfect poster, etc. You add these 5 or so moves into the 10 and it takes about 15 minutes to run through the whole set. It works the whole body, which is what I don't like about the other books I've seen. I have one by Denise Austin that has tons of stuff in it, but is grouped by body part so you get 10 arm moves and then 10 leg and to get a full body workout, you have to flip through 300 pages to find the ones you want.

I did the 10 tonight and I'm seriously feeling it. My abs and legs both sort of ache and I imagine I'll feel it even more in the morning. This is a good thing, since I'm about 50lbs over weight. Honestly, my goal isn't to lose much weight (although, if I lose weight, I certainly won't complain), it is to be healthier. When I push the kids on the merry go round, I don't want to be panting and dying when I get done. I don't want to be winded after running up the stairs.

In addtion, I'm thinking taking a TKD class through the park district. They have a set up where if an adult signs up, you can sign a child (over age 6) for $20. C tried TKD last year and didn't do well at it because there wasn't enough supervision in the class. I think, being a year older and having me in the class with him will help and I think he would enjoy it. Couldn't hurt me either :)

I also want to take a belly dancing class because I think that would fun. I don't want to take it by myself though and no one will take it with me. :( Another class I would like to take would be a pop music kind of dance class. Like NSync or Brittney before she went crazy. I like to dance and it would be fun to learn to do some of them :) I saw a video for teens probably 8 years ago that had that sort of thing on it but I would like a class. Too bad all the dance classes are outlandishly expensive, even through the park disrict. I suppose I could just dl those old videos from youtube and teach myself. I'm such a dork LOL