Dances: Waltz, foxtrot, tango, quickstep
Shoes: Purple suede heels with rosette flowers on the toes
After 45 solid minutes on a cardio machine, I made the mistake of thinking I could lift weights and dance too; all on less than 6 hrs. of sleep last night and an average of about 6 or less each night for the past several days. Even with Greek yogurt in my system, that was somewhat of a miscalculation on my part, and I gave up on the weights part way through. At some point I just have to realize that if I'm doing all of this to dance, I shouldn't push myself physically to the point where I can't dance. Although Jeff is some super Asian and completely unsympathetic to my stance that 5-6 hrs. or sleep is not enough, I really have found it affects my energy levels pretty significantly as the week goes on with the activity level I'm maintaining. Food is also a whole other issue that we ended up discussing a little tonight. This training we're doing requires a decent amount of whole food and simple protein, which is pretty expensive, but we have both found that eating cheaper junk type high calorie foods just don't give the body what it needs to function on this level. I have personally found it is hard to keep up with eating enough of the right food...sometimes it's so hard to bother with I end up eating too little, and then have no energy. Without calories and the sleep, I really start dipping into the deficit zone.
Dancing today included work on the quickstep rumba cross section, as well as some slower tango. We also did a run through of all four dances, but today had some space constraints due to the reappearance of the bikini girls and a few salsa dancers doing their thing. Jeff and I were both tired out for various reasons and I think our practice reflected that...we didn't have it in us to tackle the slowest foxtrot exercise ever today. I'm sure the antics of the fitness models in their new sparkly excuses for swimwear didn't help anyone's focus either.
For tango, we tried out some new music from "Pirates of the Carribean IV," a Spanish guitar piece with a dead on tango beat, and though more of an Argentinian style, nevertheless quite fun to dance to and good for slow practice. I am getting better about taking smaller steps on the insides of turns and being patient on my slip pivots, and Jeff is being less "polite" with everything...all positives, and it felt better today than it often does.
Quickstep was just the rumba cross section run through slowly, and practice seemed to improve it some. As we had gotten more movement and more shape in our dancing in general, this particular segment of the routine had gone drastically downhill, and I for one usually felt like I was holding on for dear life since it really feels like an out of control roller coaster. We'll probably work on this more in the near future.
We danced some random mambo since the salsa dancers played their music for some of the time, and Jeff was aghast at me at first because it took me a minute to get into the "on the 2" groove, I'm so used to regular salsa that I would slip back into the "on the 1" timing after a turn. I don't even dance salsa anyways, so I think I deserve a break. (Wherever I want one, for that matter.)
All in all a less productive practice than some, but we did manage to work on some "trouble spots." Practice will be better once we've both had a chance to recharge our batteries.
Try meat, beans, and veggies. It takes a longer amount of time to digest so you don't get hungry and attack the high sugar junk food. At the same time, you'll still have energy and over time lose weight. My partner and I are both on this meal plan. I've lost about 1.5 pant size over 2 months.
ReplyDeleteAlso, if you're physically exhausted to the point where you feel you cannot lift your arms up, that's where you could potentially dance the best. You're just letting gravity do its thing, but your body is in self-preservation mode so it will not let you crash into the ground. You'll find you have a natural swing going without realizing it.
Gorme, your diet suggestions are true...only problem is I'm pretty much already doing that and that's why it's so expensive. I really don't crave junk food and sugar these days. Plus, I don't need to lose a lot of weight, maybe a few lbs. won't hurt, but that's not really the goal. I'd rather lose inches. I think I have actually gained weight and lost girth since I started this regime, which I think is generally a good sign. By physical exhaustion, I was talking more about low energy than tired muscles. It's a different kind of tired, and really doesn't help the dancing. Relaxed is good though.
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