Day One: My Cellerciser has arrived!!!

The UPS truck swung by the house today, and dropped off my brand new half fold Cellerciser.

First impressions:

-dang, this thing is heavy
-easy to set up
-very well built

Check back in a couple weeks after I've spent some quality time bouncing.
I'll post a more thorough review.

Thoughts on the bounce:

-silky smooth with little to no noise
(especially after hitting all the metal to
metal with some 3 in 1 oil)
-dang, these legs sure are wobbly (more so on carpet than hardwood floors)
-me n you are gonna be good friends

The getting started stats:

-morning weight 203 lbs
-waist measurement 40.5 inches (at belly button)
-took some before photos (wow I'm outta shape!)
-

Stay tuned for info, thoughts and stats from my first official Cellerciser workout!

A life changing moment?

So, last night our income tax return hit the bank. This morning I promptly ordered a Cellerciser! So excited to start bouncing on a quality rebounder, and documenting my progress here. Waiting a week for it to arrive is going to be tortuous.

Progress so far, Looking forward to the future

So, after Christmas I bought a mini trampoline. Not a particularly nice one. It only cost 30 bucks at Walmart, but it may well have changed my life forever. I had started wanting a mini trampoline sometime before Christmas. If you asked me now I couldn't tell you why though. Sometimes good things just happen because they're supposed to.

Anyways, I started bouncing on that thing, and discovered a feeling I only got on my best days of doing Tai Chi or Bagua. A full body tingling as every single cell in my body is squeezed and massaged. In Chinese martial arts they call it chi. After all the research on rebounding I'm inclined to say that feeling is getting the lymphatic system going. I've been bouncing for over a month now, and while I haven't yet lost any weight I have definitely added some muscle to my arms and legs. My tummy has also tightened up considerably and is slowly shrinking.

I'm quite in love with rebounding, and I've been researching the different types and brands of quality rebounders out there. When we get our tax return back I'm going to spring for one of these. The top brands for those who don't know are: Needak, Cellerciser, ReboundAIR, JumpSport, and Bellicon. Now Bellicon is the Cadillac of the bunch with a silky smooth bungee bounce. It costs 800 bucks though, and the bands need to be changed out every two years or so. JumpSport is also a bungee based rebounder, and it seems nice enough. Just not sure that a bungee bouncer is right for me. The other 3 are all spring based bouncers, and of the 3 I think the Cellerciser is the nicest and most likely to last. That's the one I'm leaning towards right now.

When I get my new rebounder I'm planning on using this blog more frequently to track my progress.

On Continued Practice...

When we were living in Austin there were these wagon wheel tracks in the limestone rocks of the creek beds that had become embedded into the rocks over years and years of continued usage. This is what I feel like practicing Baguazhang is doing. Each movement forming a groove or track and slowly becoming embedded into my being. It's no longer something I do. It's a part of who I am. It's so fun and amazing to really nail one of the palm changes. To be perfectly smooth, flowing and powerful, and as you come out of the change you're smiling this big, ridiculous smile like a 5 year old that just learned how to ride a bicycle. :-)

This morning's practice:

- Ding Shi Ba Gua (walking the 8 mother palms. I used to do this walking one way, making a change walking the same palm the other way, then changing to the next palm on the next change. Now I flow from one palm to the other in the same direction until I end up at Fire/Dragon/Millstone Palm then do a Single Palm Change to get going the other direction and repaeat the proce

ss. This way seems to help me focus not only on the palms and the energies of them, but also the circle walking involved.)

- Jiang Palm Changes (I only know the first 6 of 8 so far. This time I ramped up from 1 to 6 alternating sides then went back town to one on the other side. Sometimes I'll repeat the first a couple times on both sides then the same with all the rest. Bagua is all about change so why keep the routine stagnant?)

- Walking Tea Cups (I don't know if anyone else is doing this. Looking on the internet I can't find proof that anyone else is doing the Tea Cup exercises while walking the circle. I think it's a great exercise to try to coordinate the hand movements with the stepping around the circle and tying the waist and hip movements into it to generate power. Adds a whole new dimension and way more fun than doing the Tea Cups while standing still.)

- Focus on the 6th palm change. (This is the last one I have learned, and while it's relatively easy...it's deceptively difficult. So, I did this one back and forth on both sides til I was happy with where my form and technique was.)

- Random Palm Changes (Just doing whatever number palm change comes to mind.)

All in all a great practice. Not as intense as some have been, but that's OK. It had an energy and flow all it's own. That's the fun thing about exercising to music. If you coordinate your movements, flow and pace to the music you'll end up with a different energy to the practice because the music is different.