Step Up & Get It: Mace
Monday morning, and I wish it started off better. Yrsa woke me up at around 4:15am, getting sick in her kennel, because she got into the trash twice this week and it’s been hell every day since. I’m not going to spend another second on that subject though because I’ll ramble on about her stupid floofy ass for the next 20 min about it. I don’t want to start the first of the week off on the wrong foot, so I’m closing the subject of Yrsa right now.
It’s a nice balmy 60 degrees out right now, so it’s perfect for an outside workout. I’m so excited and happy for the warmer weather in the mornings, because it means all my workouts will be outside unless it’s raining. Mace outside makes so much more sense. Especially as I move into Mace rotations in the coming weeks.
There are some additional Mace workout moves that I’ve picked up online recently that I might add onto my Onnit Mace workout after I get back into it this week. Because I’m not doing Valkyrie workouts alongside it, I’m just finishing the last 3 weeks of the Mace program, I’m going to spend this week really sinking into the workouts daily and then next week I might play around with these additional moves. We’ll see if Onnit changes it up or if I’m going to be doing more of the same with the program. Onnit does have multiple levels of modifications for each move to increase intensity or engagement of certain muscles as you go, so I’ve no doubt that I will keep returning to it and trying harder variations as I get heavier into Mace work. But I’m also really excited to be working with Sam on building the Mace program. I’ve enjoyed being the guinea pig and testing out this program, but it lacks Sam’s special brand of fitness magic, and I find myself needing that.
Today’s workout is Stable & Strong, which is one of the lighter Mace workouts for this program, in my opinion. I’m glad to start off on that for Monday, considering that Friday was the only Mace workout I’ve done in about two weeks. I’m hoping that the break doesn’t mess me up, considering that next week we move up from Level 1 to Level 2. I’m going to spend some time doing mobility first, because I really need it, like badly. Not that I’m in any pain or discomfort at all, but I was totally lazy about any of it this weekend. I did take Yrsa for a couple short walks, and I cleaned and did laundry, and some reading, but nothing really physical to prep me for this week of Mace. Which I probably should have done.
I actually had a great time with this workout today. I found myself reaching a level of engagement in my shoulder blades that I hadn’t been able to before. My core work was great, I was getting 15+ reps for each 20 second round. Stable and Strong is 5 workout moves, that you do for 8 rounds, 20 seconds each. And despite my time off, I was able to keep up and stay strong through the whole thing. I did slow down for the squats, and focused on my form, and keeping my core, glutes, and back strong and engaged through them. Squats were the last move of the workout, and I was sweating buckets by the end of it, but I felt really good and confident and capable throughout, which is not what I was expecting. I was fully anticipating a struggle bus situation because it’s been a couple weeks, but apparently I didn’t leave my whole ass on the mountain, because I was able to really throw myself into my workout this morning and feel fantastic about it.
It has actually cooled off some since my workout about 30 minutes ago, but I’m going to take off on a walk and get that morning mindstilling done. I really struggle with getting deep into Mindstilling when I’m sitting, or laying down, but when I’m walking or working out, my focus is deeper, more concentrated. I’m not sure why that is, maybe it’s an ADHD thing, or maybe I’m just a mom who is usually running a hundred miles a minute so sitting still for 10 minutes is harder than it should be. I’m determined to get to that point one day though, where I can sit and just be, and breathe, and exist without my brain trying to run a marathon behind my eyelids.
Later this afternoon I have a meeting with a Valkyrie who messaged me a couple weeks ago, asking me if I had anyone to help me with the blog. It’s funny, because the blog still feels so small to me, but in reality it has grown. It has become this massive undertaking, and it has so many moving parts, and admittedly I’ve not known what to do to improve it, I’ve just known that it needs some help to be able to function on the level that it has grown to. I’m excited to speak to her this afternoon and see what she has come up with idea wise, if it aligns with my own thoughts, my goals, and the direction that the blog is currently moving in. She’s also stated that she’d love to help me organize a cookbook out of my recipes, which I’m super excited about, because it’s what I’ve been thinking about for months now, how to get my recipes into a Valkyrie Cookbook and publish it. I learned that Amazon will print your books for relatively cheap, and it grants me an amazon storefront as well, where I’ll be able to list my cookbooks, workout gear, essentials, and anything else I use regularly in my Valkyrie Life every day, and all of those things could also be linked here for ease of access for my readers and subscribers. It feels like a huge step. I’m so excited for it and the potential it has. I’m hoping our meeting goes well later this afternoon, not that I have any doubts at all.
It is supposed to start raining this afternoon, so I’m going to get my butt back outside and on that walk.
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