So a few weeks ago I was doing a weekend camp with the national coach and a handful of other juniors. It was a good little camp and a lot of fun; however, there was one little problem. I am very inflexible and this new coach is really into stretching. Combine this with the fact that he's a pretty funny, good-natured guy to begin with and he spent a lot of the camp laughing at my inability to touch my toes. I didn't take it personally because it is pretty funny (and sad) how inflexible I am, but now that I'm done the school semester and am back at home in vancouver, I've started going to Bikram's hot yoga at my dad's suggestion.
When my dad started doing this stuff I laughed at him a lot and gave him a hard time; however, a little while ago I read an article about how Bruce Bowen (the #1 perimeter defender in the NBA) does yoga as well. Well, if Bruce Bowen isn't too manly to do yoga then I am DEFINITELY not too manly to do yoga so I bit the bullet.
This hot yoga stuff is tough - it is honestly one of the hardest athletic activities I've ever done. But I feel like it'll be really good for my fencing. It does a good job stretching out the muscles and really helps me build up the little stabilizer muscles that are so crucial to staying balanced while fencing.
So my plan is to do this yoga stuff once a day until christmas while fencing around 5 times a week and then after christmas I'm heading off to a training camp. All this stuff is in preparation for the junior world cup in Budapest. I feel really good right now - a couple weeks ago I felt just terrible about my fencing because I'd taken about a week or 2 to really focus on all the exams and essays I had for the end of the semester but I feel like I've got my fitness and my abilities back now.
Also, if by any chance Budapest turns into some kind of tropical jungle by January 6th, my hot yoga skills will put me in excellent position for a surprise victory.
12-19-2007 04:27 PM