Day 32: A Legion of Badassery
Not surprising in the least, but there are areas of my body that haven’t been sore in decades, that are impossibly sore today. That double down workout has my arms, shoulders, chest, and back so sore I’m shocked I could lift my arms at all this morning. The fact that I can, is giving me unreasonable amounts of confidence though, so I better get my butt out on that mat before I get too arrogant.
We officially have over 300 Valkyries in Squad, with new members joining us in Discord and other social media platforms every day. Sam was crying with joy and excitement that her creation, her baby, is so loved already. She’s been adding things in weekly it seems, while somehow managing to support and help each one of us overcome our own physical obstacles in our individual journeys. When she told me the other day that we had over 300 members, I declared us a LEGION OF BADASSERY, and it’s now both of our favorite tag lines. Expect to see it a lot, because that’s just what we are. An army of women hell bent on bettering themselves, fighting every day to be stronger, more confident, flexible, powerful, and energetic. A Force to be reckoned with would be an understatement.
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Just knowing I have that many women at my back, fighting the same fight, and beating their own odds, their own records, makes me feel powerful and confident. I know I’m never alone, not when I’m low, not when I’m high, not when I feel like I’m failing- there’s a literal army of women right there with me. We may not be as close as Nesta, Gwyn, and Emerie, but we’ve got this comradery building up on Discord that makes it a close second. I’m sure that before the “end,” of Squad comes for each of us (If it ever does, I can totally see myself doing this eternally)that we will all have formed friendships and connections between us. Some girls are already planning trips to visit others who are nearby and join up for a Valkyrie Day. I’m so jealous of them, and I hope to one day do the same. Maybe a road trip out west with my Bestie to meet up with some Valkyries will be in our future too.
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Today we’re back in Balance mode, with a Core Reset to start me off on the right foot. Balance kicked my entire booty the other day, I can still feel those dead lifts. I’m grateful that the Balance and Core workouts have little to do with my arms, since everything from my shoulders down is protesting all the Boxing Drills, Shoulder Mobility, and the Blade Day 1 workout I decided to add in later in the day yesterday. It’s a startling 54F out there this morning, and I’ve been sleeping in late with my husband home this last week. It feels good to be up before the Sun and readying myself to strengthen my body. I love my babies, but trying to workout with them awake and peeking at me through the windows, in between homeschool lessons, and temper tantrums, is a bit chaotic for me. I much prefer having an hour or two to myself in the morning to workout, go through my planner, spend some time Journaling, and drink my tea before they come hurtling at me with 82943709340237 questions. I can actually answer a few of those questions, if I’ve been up for a bit first.
Back to the focus, Core Reset. I actually decided last minute to swap this out for the Valkyrie Posture video that Sam just added in this last week. I had been telling her that all the low core work I’ve been doing has made me really reevaluate my posture, and that I find myself spending a few minutes several times a day checking my alignment, my core engagement, where my hips are at, shoulders, etc. And she decided that it warranted a video, because damn right Valkyries stand tall and proud, and that’s exactly what all this core work has been doing for me. The video is about 18 minutes long, and it’s the practice of engaging various muscles all over the body and realigning yourself, like stones stacked up on each other, or bricks, they have to be balanced to hold firm.
Naughty Joke Incoming. Sam was telling us to “Pull the pelvic bowl up, so it’s level. You don’t want to spill your soup. You need to keep it level so your mate can eat from it.” The way I cackled so loud! I’m sure I woke somebody up.
Once my posture was in check and I felt nicely warmed up from the effort, I pressed play on Balance and got going. I needed my resistance band, a small weight, (haha, I’ve levelled up to a 10lb for everything) and an elevated surface- so I grabbed my blocks.
And Ohhhhh Boy, oh Boy, was I silly this morning. Today was Balance work, so I was thinking it would be similar to Day 2, which was a lot of leg work. Oh no, silly self, today was still balance work but it was all upper body! Remember I said my shoulders and back and arms are super sore and tired from everything I did yesterday? Yeah, that part. We had to stand on one leg with the weight overhead, pressing it up one one side. Balance. We had to do side planks- more balance. Kick throughs- balance. My shoulders are twitching now that I’ve gotten through it, but they were screaming at me during.
I don’t regret doing all the workouts I did yesterday, it felt damn good and I feel great today too, albeit stupidly sore throughout my shoulders, arms, and chest. I know that I tend towards anger first, especially when I’m feeling overwhelmed or stressed out, and yesterday I was a lot of both. I’m glad that I had a healthy outlet to channel it through, that even though Mindstilling didn’t empty my head as much as I needed it to, I still found a way to utilize that energy and do something good. I didn’t sink back into old habits, I didn’t binge eat a bunch of crappy food or slam 6 cups of coffee and rage through the house. I’m proud of myself for finding an outlet in something I love, that also improved my health.
Speaking of proud, I’ve been slowly moving through other facets of my life and working on improving them. I’m actually using all of my planners (yes, all. I have a few) to keep myself on track with workouts, chores, hydration, business goals (I sell handmade jewelry locally) and anything else that needs done. I spend time every day on personal development, reading books or listening to podcasts, and journaling. My husbeardo and I picked up the Morning Sidekick Journal a few years ago, but we never really got into them because we were so crazy busy trying to build our restaurant. Since that stress is a thing of the past now, and I actually have the time to dedicate to the journal with my new schedule, I decided to crack it open and get into it again.
It’s after 7am now and the sky is still so dark. I think I need to get a headlamp and some reflective gear so I can keep up my early morning walks with Yrsa through winter. For now though, I’m going to get myself some breakfast and wait for the sky to lighten up. I’ve gotten really good at yogurt bowls, because I eat second breakfast almost every day now. Silly Hobbit.
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