Sport is good for you. So, they say… It’s true. Sport is good and done in the right way, it can be very much fun. Injuries can happen, that’s one of the risks while doing sports but hey we are taking risks every day by leaving the house for example. 2021 has been so far one of the most intensive sports years for me. Don’t know why, I probably needed to release some steam 😉

Yoga

When my friend Vandy was telling me all the good stuff yoga brings, I thought she was pulling my leg. How can yoga be interesting?! Slow moves, all that breathing and not much action during which you can sweat like a pig. How wrong I was. I discovered yoga in March 2020 during the first lockdown in Poland and surprisingly I loved it. It turned out not to be boring at all. After going through nearly all YouTube yoga videos I found Sarah Beth’s videos. That girl is incredible and her videos are very diverse. Different lengths depending on the area you want to work on – flexibility or strength or if you are a beginner or had to do something with yoga before. She even did prenatal yoga videos! Shared those with my pregnant GFs. After I started doing yoga nearly every day – your daily practice is your strongest practice as Sarah says. I discovered that yoga is not only about inhale/exhale and moving in tortoise tempo. After the 30-minute power yoga clips I was literally sweating like a piglet. Muscle pain the day after was everywhere 😛 That didn’t stop me from continuing. The stretching videos helped me to get my flexibility back which I lost somewhere between starting university and searching for a good job. After six months of doing yoga very regularly I looked into the mirror and couldn’t believe my eyes.

Wakeboarding

That is my latest hobby. My friend JG got me into it. She was raving how fantastic that is and that I should try it out. So, I went… and I kept coming back. The first lesson was a bit of a disaster. As soon as I was able to stand on the board and ride the waves for like three seconds, pratfall into the water. Stand up again, and again and again and again. After the training my palms were covered in blisters from holding the lift bar. For three days I had difficulties holding things in my hands as the blisters were hurting. Not to mention the gigantic muscle soreness. My arms and shoulders were killing me. Many reasons not to go back, right? Nope… many reasons to go back and get better. From the second lesson I started to see improvement. I didn’t land in the water as many times and even started to learn how to turn. The palms, arms and shoulders weren’t hurting as much as after the first lesson so definitely improvement. I eventually signed up for regular wakeboard training and have a lesson once a week. It’s enough for the start, I think. Yesterday after the training I literally felt like superman! I managed to jump into the water from the jetty while having the board on my feet. Figured out how to switch from right leg in front to left leg in front and keep riding the waves without falling into the water. Plus! How to make turns on my weaker left leg. You can’t imagine how confidence boosting that was… incredible feeling. Now I’m looking forward to learning how to jump with the board on water… soon, very soon 😀 Also the wakeboarding school: Wake Point, contributes a lot to the progress. The instructors take time to explain the technique and they actually challenge you to do stuff. Wish the wakeboarding season would last all year round. Unfortunately, it only lasts till the end of September as after the water on the lake gets too cold. Well, something to look forward to in 2022.

Pole Dance

My biggest challenge! Again, one of my friends JR talked me into trying it out and I fell in love with the pole. I started in April only a month later I broke my wrist and needed to take a break. However now I’m back on the pole and I do feel like I have lots to catch up with. During the lessons I feel like the weakest link but hey ho practice makes perfect. Why pole dance? When I was a kid, I wanted to be a ballerina or an artistic gymnast. The pole is something in between. It requires strength, flexibility and when you do it right it looks absolutely awesome. When I see the ladies that do it for some time, I can’t stop wondering how incredible it look what they can do. I wish to be at that level one day. In the pole school I got to – Chodz na pole, there are classes based on the advanced level, stretching classes but also classes dedicated to different pole variations. Spin where the pole is spinning or exotic, that’s more the high heel sexy dance. Regardless which lesson you go to, each starts with a proper warm up and strengthening exercises. Afterwards, we practice the figures. Not sure why but I feel more comfortable in the upside-down ones. Probably because as a child I was hanging head down on the clothes horse doing all kinds of weird stuff on it. Pole dancing might sound easy but it’s not.

Other

Apart from the three sports I do on a regular basis – yoga five times a week, wakeboarding and pole dancing once a week I also do other sports on a random basis. One of those is rollerblading. From time to time when the weather is nice, and it doesn’t rain, or the tarmac isn’t wet I like to put on my rollerblades to roll some circles around the park. My aim is not to do any fancy or impressive tricks, just simply do some strolls to keep the legs and back fit. Why only during dry weather… Well when it’s wet the rollerblades can slide apart. Funny, I only discovered that fact two weeks ago. Went with JR and her boyfriend to the park to do some roller practice. It wasn’t raining but the tarmac was wet. While breaking my right rollerblade slipped and I fell on my ass. Result – incredibly large burse! Lesson learned, never rollerblade on wet tarmac. 

Other one is shooting. For my birthday DJS gave me a voucher to visit a shooting range. Have to admit DJS definitely knows my taste 😛 After using the voucher a month ago, last week I went back to the shooting range for more practice. Have to say shooting is not as easy as we see it on the silver screen. To successfully aim at the target technique is required. Not only a steady arm and an accurate eye, but also a calm breath. Think that I’ll be going there once a month, to blow off steam… good idea 😉

All nice and good, only how to find a sports discipline that you will like? There are two ways. 

1.     You always wanted to do something but never had the time or courage. Do it! For me it was skiing. Always wanted to but never got the time. This year I finally learned and love it. 

2.     Try out different things. The best source for that are your friends 😀 My friends got me into wakeboarding and pole dancing. I also tried out other sport disciplines and have to say that sports where you have to hit a small ball with a racket, so tennis, ping pong, badminton are not for me. I suck at this. Tried out crossfit and nehhh didn’t appeal to me. Also basketball, not my cup of tea. 

Regardless, what you try out there is always the feeling if something is for you or not. When you find a sport discipline you like it always will be difficult in the beginning, but it gets better with time. Personally, sports give me a kind of challenge and reaching a goal that I set out for myself gives me a feeling of accomplishment. Additionally, I have an office job which means I sit in front of the laptop for at least eight hours a day. Doing sports helps me to stay active, reduce the back and neck pain. I also noticed, when I do sports, I’m more focused at work and better organised. Seeeeeee only advantages come from doing sports 😉

P.S. Although I’m not an early bird, today I woke up at 6.30 to do yoga, as I knew I wouldn’t have time for it in the evening 😉 Motivation and discipline, another thing which sports help me to build up.