101 BANG Salute Observations

101 BANG Salute Observations

                 For the September Warrior in Training Challenge (found in the Groups Section of www.teamddpyoga.com), we had a goal to do 100 BANG Salutes.  For those you that are scratching your head on where to find that on the DDP Yoga DVDs, the short answer is… you won’t.  The BANG Salutes uses a basic set of positions that you know from doing the Diamond Dozen & Energy.  For all of you Traditional Yoga, think of this as a Sun Salutation – DDP Yoga-style!

To break it down, BANG Salutes look something like this:

1.       Ignition

2.       Diamond Cutter

3.       Forward Fold

4.       Down Dog

5.       Plank (or 3-Second Push-Up for the Warrior Modification)

6.       Down Dog

7.       Forward Fold

8.       Diamond Cutter

9.       Repeat at Step 1.

Now, I know what you’re thinking: “Sounds fairly basic.”  Maybe even too easy, right? 

Well,  you may be right, if it weren’t for a few factors to consider:

1.       Dynamic Resistance:  Everything that we do in DDP Yoga has Dynamic Resistance – making sure that every muscle is engaged.  The longer that you can engage a majority of your muscles, the more your heart rate goes up.  This also means that you are moving deliberately, or as Dallas calls it “like moving through clay”.  With “basic” moves like this, this is an easy thing to do.  The not-so-easy thing is timing the Dynamic Resistance so your heart rate doesn’t go too high. 

2.       Breathing:  Along with Dynamic Resistance and moving deliberately, there is coordinating your breath with each move.  If you’re not taking time to breathe with each movement, you’re not going to get far!

3.       Flow:  Even if you’ve gone through the Basic Workouts, you’ve heard “Keep the Flow going”.  “Flow” means moving from one position to the other.  What you are really looking for here is to have one position set you up for the next one.  If you are not using that Dynamic Resistance to move deliberately and breathing into that position, its tougher to keep the flow going.  (See a pattern here?)

Now… put all of that together, then do 100 of them in a row.  Easy, right?

Sure it is!

The beauty about this series of positions is that they are all easy enough to do, plus they allow to you focus on using these principals and keeping them sustained for a longer period of time.  Overall, they help you make the rest of your DDP Yoga better!

All that being said, here’s how I made this one my own:

1.       This took me 3 attempts to complete.  On the first couple of attempts, I added two positions keep things flowing better.  I added Touchdown in between Ignition and the fist Diamond Cutter.  I also added Up Dog after doing the 3-Second Push-Up.  Both of these, I felt added to the Flow of moving between Positions and maximized their effectiveness.  However, I dropped doing Up Dog on the 3^rd Attempt to make it easier on my arms and to cut down the time.  

2.       I really took advantage of Owning each movement, using as much Dynamic Resistance as I could and focusing on my breath.  Getting my heart rate up to my Fat Burning Zone was easy.  Keeping it from going through the roof was a bit more of a challenge.  My Average Heart Rate for the 2 times I did the BANG Salutes was 142 and 146.  However, according to my Polar Heart Monitor, my Maximum Heart Rate got up to 220.  I don’t know if this was a Monitor issue or my heart was speeding that fast.  None the less, I let my heart rate get back to where it was supposed to before continuing on my merry way. 

3.  According to Sparky (one of the main Moderators in the Warrior in Training group), this whole thing should take around 45 - 50 minutes.  The video that you see above was a little over halfway into it.  The whole thing took 1 Hour 40 Minutes. Now, in case you think my math is off (as the title says 101 BANG Salute), its not.  I did 100, then I did 1 more, but with a 10-Second Push-Up.  I think a lot of that was making sure that (a) everything was in good form & (b) making sure to breathe into and own each position.   The 2nd time I did this (yes, I did 101 BANG Salutes twice) was with Liz Collins over Google Hangout.  That was 1 Hour 49 Minutes (with slight pauses for Tech Adjustments). 

4.  This is not a 1 Towel Workout!  This isn't even a 2 Towel Workout!  Just expect by the time you're done to have 3-4 towels to soak up the pool of sweat around you and to throw your workout clothes in the wash. This workout, as simple as it is, teaches you to leave it all on the mat... which is really the way you should  approach each workout!

The October Challenge is DIY DDP Yoga, where we're "expanding our  library" of workouts  with our own spin.  I would say that this is going to be Black Belt level stuff....

But that's going to be for another Blog!

OWN THIS DAY!

Trav