Core Fusion Week Two Begins; Day 5 Recap

Welcome to week 2 of my Core Fusion Challenge. I can’t believe it’s only been a week because I feel like I have been doing this forever! As I type this, I am getting ready for our very first Core Fusion Challenge participant conference call with Fred DeVito, co-founder of Core Fusion and Catherine Hesse, Core Fusion teacher and certified Health Counselor.

As for changes in my body? Well, it has only been a week. That said, my work pants are already fitting more comfortably. My jeans? Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Maybe I’ll have courage to try them on next week! I also notice more definition around my abs and maybe I am imagining it, but when I make a muscle in my arms my bicep does seem a bit more defined.

I last left you after my fourth class, when I had two days off to rest and recover. On Friday, I went to day 5 of the challenge with my friend Missy’s favorite teacher, Page. I heard great things about Page from other people as well, so I was excited to try her class! I heard she was funny and a tough teacher.

Class was at the Gansevoort at 6:45 on a Friday evening. Needless to say, class was on the empty side. There were eight of us there. It was a fun time for me, since I had two other challenge participants in class with me: Missy, who is my good friend and fellow blogger, and Kristine, who I met as a result of this challenge. I was so excited to meet Kristine because we tweet back and forth all the time on Twitter!

I got to the Gansevoort way too early. People tend to leave work early on Fridays, and I stayed until after 5 because I knew I had class. But eventually I couldn’t take it anymore and headed over. I got there at 6 and had 45 minutes to kill! Missy got there right after me, so we just sat in the locker room, talked, played on Twitter and waited for the class before ours to let out so we could get some lockers.

I was the only person in the room that Page didn’t already know, so I introduced myself to her and told her about my knee injury. I always try to tell the teacher before class so they understand why I do modifications. Sometimes I forget or don’t have time to tell the teacher and then I feel like such a slacker when they see me not doing some thigh moves full out! Page was very sweet and seemed really happy to have me in the class.

I had looked for Kristine before class, but she arrived a few minutes late.

Page had everyone in the room take yoga blocks, which is an unusual request for a Core Fusion class! I always take blocks because my flexibility is poor, so I wondered what Page had up her sleeve for this class.

Page had lots up her sleeve.

We put our hands on the yoga blocks to hold our planks. This made the plank much harder. Maybe it was just because it felt a little uncomfortable, or because it was different. Either way, it was a challenge. We also held the blocks for some pushups, and we did some combination plank/pushup move that I can’t remember now, but it was brutally hard.

The reason I don’t remember the specifics, by the way, is because I didn’t get to take notes in my notebook after class because I was busy chatting with Missy and Kristine!

Arms were arms. It hurt. Page is a motivating teacher, though. She talks throughout the class and says some pretty hilarious things which makes the time – and the pain – go by faster. I definitely recommend trying her out!

Thighs were especially brutal. My legs were shaking more than usual. We put a yoga block between our thighs during some parts, which seems to be more challenging than a playground ball. We did so many low down plies where we didn’t come more than halfway up, and it hurt so much. I wanted to cry. Since Page talked us through it, I was able to get through most of it without taking a break. I did let out a loud desperate moan at one point, which I had never done before. I couldn’t help it. Thighs hurt! Page is tough. Funny, but tough.

We did glutes at the bar and it was hard. The first side always feels so much longer than the second, and on Friday it really felt like it went on forever. The second side was definitely better, although my legs were still shaking from thighs.

Next was abs. One of the exercises I have noticed a significant improvement is when we sit flat against the wall and lift our legs up off the ground, and open and close them repeatedly. I keep my knees bent during this movement. I used to not be able to get them off the ground at all, but now I can lift them and keep them up for about 10 counts at a time! Then I stop and rest and do it again. My goal is to keep them up for the entire time, usually about 30 counts I believe. I love seeing this improvement!

During the part where everyone lifts their legs straight up and I can’t do it and have to stretch with the strap, I looked over at my new friend Kristine to see her legs straight up in front of her, close to her head, effortlessly! I was jealous. But then I remembered that we are all different, and just because I am not able to do what she can do doesn’t mean I am getting any less out of this class.

C Curve was brutal as always, more so in fact because we used the yoga block. We did abs like that in Core Fusion Yoga and it was especially difficult. That block is heavy and it really makes abs so much more challenging. I did struggle during this part and had a tough time holding the position and following the movements. I found myself just trying to hold myself in the C Curve and not following along with the arm movements – even though I knew I could do them. I just was not able to get my position right and I was getting frustrated and I knew I wasn’t getting the best ab workout I could have been. Towards the end, Page saw me and corrected me and it was so much better! I was in the position and doing the movements, but then we were done!

I wish she had fixed me sooner – but of course, there were 7 other people in the class and Page was busy demonstrating the movements, so I understand. And really, I never struggled with abs like this until the day last week I took Fred’s class. It was almost like I got it in my head that everything I was doing on my own was wrong and things kind of spiraled from there, and I haven’t been able to do abs the same ever since. I think I need another tutorial.

After class ended, I did feel fantastic. My legs would not stop shaking though! In the locker room they were going nuts. I had a great time talking to Kristine and Missy after class and on the way to the subway. Kristine usually only goes to the SoHo location and she told me Music Yoga Flow is a great class, so I will try that out with her next week!

Page’s class was a great one and I totally see why everyone loves her. However, the Gansevoort location is too far from my apartment so I won’t be going back to her class anytime soon, unless she is teaching or subbing at Central Park South or Upper East Side.

I do feel like I didn’t push myself as hard as I could have in Page’s class, even though it was really difficult anyway! A couple of reasons. The first is that I was worried about straining my calf again. Luckily, my calf felt fine! Crisis averted. The rest days were just what I needed. And the second is that I had an 8:15 am class scheduled for the following morning. Only having 12 hours in between classes sounded scary, so I wanted to make sure I was good to go on Saturday.

But that is an update for another time, as this post is long enough!

*Note – Thank you so much for your generous donations for Dori’s Shiny CHARITY AUCTION, happening on this blog on Thursday, January 21. You would not believe some of the goods and services I’ve got to auction off for you. I am SO excited I can hardly contain myself! I will post a list and description of each item for auction early next week so you have time to think about what you might want! Or, you can donate right to my donation page here: http://www.active.com/donate/thinkpinkrocks/dysterious