Sunday, July 06, 2008

A Bikram ass kicking.

Ok, one on the books for bikram. I made it through today but just barely. My poses were good, many the best ever, but I ended up in the room early so I could get a good spot where I could actually see myself in the mirror( vital when you end up twisting around as much as I do, thinking you are square) and this teacher ALWAYS runs ten minutes late. So instead of 90 minutes of 104 degree heat it was 110 minutes with full capacity class( 55 bodies) and we ended up in the hottest section of the class as well.
7o minutes into the class and things got way tough.It was hard to breathe and there was no where to go. I got into my calming mode and just went through the poses as best I could.Tracy was worried I was going to heatstroke or worse, but I've been here many times in long runs and bike rides so I was pretty confident I wasn't going to stroke.
Had plenty of H2O but it was warm; that didnt stop me from pouring over my head and neck trying to get a bit cooler.
I slowed the pace, breathed through the panic and made it fine.
I went straight to the shower room and got my head and neck under pure cold water immediately after. Better in a second.Amazing what really cold water will do to bring down the core temp in a hurry.
As I said I was very happy with many of the poses and can't wait to go again on thursday and get my heat tolerance back up. AS Pavel says "Pain is good" and this one taught a good lesson in humility. Time off kicks ones ass whether it's kbs or yoga.Practice, practice practice :))

9 comments:

dr. m.c. said...

Way to go on a great session - it's so cool that something like this can make a person feel so up - mentally and physically.

and wow, that sounds like a change from i go cuz it's nice to be with tracy to i can hardly wait to go to the next class!

right on,

mc

Mark Reifkind said...

mc

true.I almost went on thrursday alone when she had her last day of doing nails.but I didnt,lol.
I really enjoy feeling so much flexibility. it brings me back to my gymnastics roots,which has been the keystone of my rehab of late.

Mark Reifkind said...

plus, its way cool that I can
1) do something other than kbs that doesnt hurt me
2) train more the three days a week,lol.

Bob Garon II, Synergy Kettlebell Training said...

This sounds exactly like my last class. I thought it would be good to get acclimated to the heat about 10 minutes before class as well as pre-stretch.

My instructor was very punctual, but she decided to do something that no other instructor has done in any prior class I've taken. She put a towel along the base of the door which prevented all cool refreshing draft to enter- not that I felt it anyway, but mentally I knew it had to be circulating somewhere. :)

This was my wife's first class as well and I silently laughed when, out of the corner of my eye, I saw her take a few breaks throughout the class. I guess my silent laughter turned to extreme true understanding of self when I had to taken one(my first ever) around the Turtle pose. The compression and body position left me unable to breathe right for some reason. I normally don't do this, but at that time I had to look at the clock in the room(which is very, very small). I saw that there was only about 20 min. left in the class and there was NO WAY I was gonna quit or take another break.

I must have drank some water after each pose before Savasana. Physically I knew that my body desperately wanted to get up and head for the door. Mentally I decided that that was never going to happen and that if I passed out they would have to drag me out that door. I was finishing no matter what.

I did.

But instead of lying in Savasana for about 3-5min. after the class as usual I was one of the first to get up and out. I wasn't alone though because most everyone else was trailing right behind me saying that this was one of the hottest classes they've ever taken. I looked at the temp and it was 107 with almost 30% humidity. That's funny because the outdoor Arizona summer temp was almost the same- less the humidity- but it felt soooooooo good with the breeze.

Needless to say that after about 5 or so minutes I began to experience that usual Bikram great feeling afterward.

Mark Reifkind said...

great comment Bob, I thoroughly understand.We didnt stay for the lying meditation- I had to get in that cold shower!

Banu said...

I love that shot too (hee hee). i linked to your site from pams. im building a site for Kb and women. right now its just a page in my personal website but id be honored if you took a peek :)

http://web.mac.com/banu0806

im a competitive swimmer at heart and started into KBing 2 yrs ago (helps my in the water too). we will be opening a crossfit in our area this year specializing in KB. im working toward my RKC

Mark Reifkind said...

kettlebell goddess,

thanks so much,I took a look at your blog and its a great start. can't wait to see what it evolves into.

Mark Reifkind said...

kb godess

sorry I looked at your blog,not the website.excellent.thanks for the comment.

Aaron Friday said...

That's a nice writeup. Way to make some adjustments and keep going.

155 x 3 x 5, 160 x 3 x 5, 20 kg swings 5 x 8/8, floor pushups 40, 35

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