the Pilot’s first yoga
Hi friends! How are you? Happy Monday! How was the weekend?
Ours was a great one; the perfect mix of time outside, playing in the water, and hanging out at our fave local spots.
Friday night, the Pilot was working a bit later, so the girls and I got ready to head to Wild Adventures. As soon as we walked out the door, we were greeted with thunder and lightning. I went to grab them a snack and think of a plan B, when the Pilot called and offered to check the radar for us to see if the storm was going to hit. (He’s kind of like a weatherman since he has access to all of the detailed storm reports.) He said that the storm would miss us, he was getting off work, and we were all are able to go to Wild Adventures together.
It’s funny because last time we were here, I was kind of meh about Wild Adventures. In addition to having pool access, this is one of the things that MAKES the summer for kids here. It’s so awesome to have a full-up theme park to take the girls to, with lots of rides and a petting zoo. Both of the girls cheer when we tell them we’re going.
We stayed out way past their bedtimes, and came home to put them to bed, drink some wine, and call it a night.
Saturday morning, we all went to Birdie’s Market (<— the best) for breakfast.
I switched up my usual breakfast game and got a salad instead of fruit with my eggs and potatoes. Walking on the wild side.
The Pilot got the huevos rancheros,
the girls had banana bread French toast casserole, eggs, and sweet potato tots,
(this was the best picture of the 3 of us haha)
and we had some of the amazing Grassroots almond milk lattes.
The rest of the day was chores -I can’t believe we’re still working on unpacking and getting the house together. It’s a slow process- and a break to take the girls to the park. Maybe we’ll be unpacked by the time we move again…
Sunday morning, we enjoyed breakfast here at home, grabbed some groceries, and I hit up the gym. I did a 5-minute run, a 1000m row, and the latest BODYPUMP 102. It was.awesome. I haven’t done BODYPUMP in a while -I subbed it a couple of weeks ago- and man. My legs are feeling it today.
During P’s nap, the Pilot and Liv went back to Wild Adventures to check out the water park.
(Just one of the areas. Apparently it’s enormous.)
We’ve only been to the theme park area and haven’t even ventured over to the water park. Liv had so much fun on the slides, and the Pilot scoped out the baby area for P. I think she’s going to adore it. (I felt bad she missed out, so I took both girls to the pool later that afternoon so she could get some water time!)
We also had an awesome day date and caught a yoga class!
You guys.
I’ve been begging, like seriously begging, the Pilot to take yoga with me for years now. He’s never been super into the idea -he was convinced you had to be flexible to practice yoga- and I kind of let it go, even though I thought he would love it. When I told him our babysitter was coming over for a couple of hours and casually suggested a yoga class, I was shocked when he said yes. I’m pretty sure he was half-listening when I asked him because as we drove to class he was very confused.
“Wait, what kind of yoga is this? Just couple’s yoga, right?” (<— they had an intro couple’s yoga class a few weeks ago)
“No, it’s regular power yoga.”
“POWER yoga?! What? No. I’m not ready for that.”
“Let’s just go. You’ll be fine. Just take child’s pose when you need it.”
“I don’t even know what that is.”
He hadn’t eaten lunch since he just walked in the door from the water park, so I offered him a warm baby food pouch from the car (which he reluctantly consumed), and we rolled out our mats in the back of the packed class. The room was warm and sticky -perfect for lots of sweat- and we made our way into the dynamic 75-minute flow.
I kind of expected him to leave halfway through, but he powered through the entire class. And he ROCKED IT. I was like, “Who is this guy?” I think he’s been practicing secretly, because he did all of the major Sun Salutation poses like it was NBD, then just popped into crow pose, and then did the jump from crow back to chatarunga.
My favorite parts:
When we were in downdog and he looked over at me and whispered, “You did this to me.” and
when we were in bound side angle, he mouthed, “This some bullsh*t right here”
lolololol.
But, he did it! Aaaaaand I think he liked it?!
I asked him to write a quick blurb about his experience, so here we go:
So, cue the Kevin Hart, “no, I wasn’t ready” line when Gina told me what we were doing. It felt a little like one of those dreams where you walk into a class you’d accidentally been missing for months, and find out there’s a test. I had no idea what i was supposed to do, and I was pretty sure I was about to be exposed…big time. Oh well, I committed, so I decided I was going to make it work. I was relieved to find that the instructor, April, was awesome with form cues in a comfortable (but challenging) low pressure setting. I worked my butt off, but I never felt lost. By the end, I had sweat out a lot of toxins (read: whiskey) and felt like I got a satisfying workout. I’ll definitely go back again, and try to be less terrible with the poses. It was a great first class. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to spend the next day or so huddled in the fetal position while my muscles heal.
This morning, we’re taking it easy and I’m starting to get things ready for girls’ night. Barre later today!
Have a happy Monday and I’ll see you soon.
xoxo
Gina
Have you convinced your partner/mom/dad/roommate/BFF to try your workout fave?? How did it go? Usually I can convince the Pilot to try something once. 🙂
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Oh man this was so exciting to read, I’ve been trying to convince my boyfriend to do yoga with me FOREVER but he always gives up at the last moment Maybe I’ll just send him this so he can be a little less afraid … Supercute!!
Ah so glad he had such a good experience! My s.o. has been coming to more and more classes and seems to enjoy it when he makes it a part of his routine. Luckily we go to a studio that’s gender diverse which I think helps him out with his comfort level. It sounds like the pilot will be back 🙂
That’s so awesome you guys took a class together. I convinced my husband to take a barre class in 2011. He liked the class but I have not been able to pull that one off again. Enjoyed the post as always.
Your breakfast spread looks amazing! And — I love your athletic crops — would you mind sharing the brand?
Thanks so much!
Yes, those pants are so cute! Please share!
thank you! they’re from lorna jane 🙂
So far, getting my husband to try power yoga has been a giant fail. He says he can’t think of anything more miserable than working out in a hot environment… I try to convince him that it’s WAY different than just BEING in the heat (neither of us are big on really hot temps, but I love it in yoga) but so far I’ve been unsuccessful… there are a couple other classes that I think I could get him to join, but I’ve given up on the power yoga front!
A few summers ago my husband and I both got really into hot vinyasa yoga and we had a blast going together 3-4 times a week. We now have a toddler and a baby on the way so it’s much harder to do things like that together, but I absolutely loved it (and he did too!)
Also… breakfast potatoes are my love language.
I had been doing yoga for a few years and always invited my mom to join me. She politely declined until I sold her on savasana — Mom, you can workout and then get a nap in every class. For a year or two, she would only go if I would be in class, but then she became familiar with the instructors and the studio, and she’s been a daytime regular for 10 years (OMG!) now. She goes 4x per week to the slow flow (non-heated) classes. To think it all started with a nap!
I can’t believe it took so long to get him to come to yoga! I’ve (nicely) forced my boyfriend to come to a few of the yoga classes I was teaching. I don’t know if he would go for hot power yoga though!
This some bullshit!!!! OMG classic. Wish my hubby was up for stuff like this….but unless it involves a bow and arrow, golf clubs or guns…its a no go. (Insert eye roll emoji)
His in class commentary cracked me up, glad you guys had fun!
That’s pretty awesome you were able to get him to go. Maybe you could get me to try yoga! lol!!!
I’ve been doing yoga regularly for about five years, and JUST got my husband to try yoga for the first time in March. He loved it! In fact, he recently went to a retreat for work where they did yoga every morning at 7am, and he said he went every morning! (TBH, I was more surprised that he got up before 7am every day, than by him doing yoga every day for a week.) This is a guy who has literally never set foot in a gym. I hope he realizes that this means I’m dragging him to classes with me from now on. 😉
I actually had the OPPOSITE happen…my mum convinced me to come with her to a power yoga class when I was visiting home last week. (I’ve done hot yoga a few times before, and loved-hated it, but it had been yeeears since my last class.)
It was a sweat-fest, and I was more tired/sore – in a good way! – afterward than I remember ever being after a yoga class. Doesn’t mean I didn’t drop a few f-bombs under my breath, though 😉
Just trying to picture my husband in a yoga class makes me laugh.
However, I did convince him to do a pop sugar tank top arms video with me last night & one of your barre burner videos. (He has to say yes to all my ideas because I’m very pregnant) Of course he rocked the arm workout cause he’s a construction worker and was using 4x the weight I was. During the barre video I kept asking him – does it burn? Cause if it doesn’t burn you’re not doing it right. He was acting so unphased. He admitted about an hour later when we were cleaning up that he couldn’t squat to pick up the toys cause his legs were cramping! SUCCESS! He said “I was pretending it didn’t hurt – that’s what guys do.” LOL.
I know this is probably horrible, but I hope my husband never wants to do yoga with me, in a studio or at home. That’s MY time to be without my domestic time-suckers from home 😉
I finallllly got my husband to take a yoga class with me a couple years ago and now he practices more often than I do! Truthfully he doesn’t love it, but continues to practice because he really notices the benefits :). Hate to say it but….”I told you so!” 😉
This is a fantastic post. I love this story!
That may be my favorite Yoga story ever. I have tried to get my husband to do it at home with me-no pressure- and he still refuses! Silly boys!
Yes, after years of suggestion my husband started coming weekly to my”stretching” class. He said he wanted to spend more time with me doing something outside the house (other than eating) It sounds like it went similarly; he was way better than I expected, not looking so lost and easily doing crow on the first go. He still calls it stretching and refuses to believe it’s a “real” workout (he usually runs/rows or does intense circuits) but will admit it improves his flexibility.
I think you got a winner with the pilot, Gina! Hilarious post. Compromise at its finest.
I convinced my brother to take my HIIT class and at the end of class he said, “I’m never speaking to you again. Not because I’m mad at you, but because I don’t know if I can breathe enough air in to make words!” LOLZ He’s a big strong athlete so I was pretty proud of myself 🙂
I love this post! Did the Pilot ever try Zumba with you? I was having a bit of a moan about having no one to go to Clubbercise classes with me as my friend has stopped as she’s pregnant, and my husband offered to go with me which I thought was very sweet! But I didn’t take him up on the offer as I know he’d hate it. It’d be pretty funny to see though haha 🙂
that’s good he liked it. I just asked my boyfriend now to go with me and he said…”Noooooooo”
grrrr. will try again.
keep trying! he may surprise you one day haha
I’m really lucky-my boyfriend will try ANYTHING. He always asks to tag along when I try new classes and if I find something I particularly like, he asks when we can come too. He also asked me the other day if the next time I go get a pedi, I’ll make him an appointment too. Ha!