If you are taking a posture and core-defining class with John Bolesta, you will often hear him asking this question: Yes, no, maybe? (The “darling” is optional, however). He wants to know if you are feeling “it.” “It,” meaning all the right sensations and tensions in all the right places.
Thankfully, I have been able to say “yes” to his questions more often now that I am in week 3 of my training with him. I am learning to define and isolate the parts of my body that are affecting my posture: Parts like shoulder blades, the rib cage, and my lower abdominals. Most of the ladies I work out with at the Saucon Valley Country Club are better at saying “yes” than I am at this point. They have been with John for some time and usually enjoy every minute of their class with him (except for the 3 minutes of hell, which I will need to get back to explaining later).
What I have learned in these three weeks is that I need to constantly remind myself to create what John calls, “lift and separation.” It seems I have been walking around in a rather blob-like state for many years with my shoulders hunched over and my hips pushed forward which only succeeds in pushing out the lower abdominal region. Yuk! This is one of the reasons why so many people are walking around with belly bulge.
It seems as though I am in a tough battle with my mind about where my body should be as I am only totally coordinating all the right movements about half of the time three weeks into this program. I am getting there-always being mindful that patience is a fitness virtue.
My pathetic hamstring stretch: Day 1
I rather not even talk about my lack of flexibility when I started, but I will since I suspect that many of you may know what I am talking about. I am not totally there yet, but when I started I couldn’t touch my toes-not even close. I am now about one-inch away! That’s progress in my book. After three weeks I am also noticing that clothes are fitting better. I am not wiggling into my wardrobe at this point-just experiencing a rather nice slide into and an uninterrupted zip up. Nice!
Last night I met with Leslie Roehrig, RD, LDN. She is a nutrition coordinator with Moravian Village in Bethlehem and works with John’s clients regularly to ensure that while they are counting calories, they are not counting out the necessary nutrients their bodies need for productive workouts. I used to think I ate well and knew a lot about food in general-the good and the bad. I discovered I did not. For instance, I knew it was important to have a
Tofu: A great source of lean protein
certain amount of lean protein in my diet so I feel satiated, but I didn’t realize how much and how often.
Leslie is steering me in the right direction now with approved food lists and recipes. She also gave me “homework.” I need to start taking a good multi-vitamin, cut out black tea (this will be a killer for me), and drink more water. (No big surprise there.) What did surprise me was finding out that water is
essential to the body for breaking down protein, which will help in my quest for lean muscle. So the more protein you eat, the more water you need.
Well, I’m off to complete my homework and do my grocery shopping. I want to try making the Black Bean and Fresh Corn Salsa recipe Leslie gave me. I’ll let you know how it comes out.
