Fitness Friday #25: Daily Yoga Challenges

I love following a daily practice. The ritual of creating a goal and referring to (and tracking) it daily is one of my favorites.

For quite some time, I’ve hopped on the instagram yoga challenges train. My favorite challenges are initiated by Kino MacGregor and Kerri Verna. Each month, a new challenge is created, and you can follow along with the specified hashtag. This month’s challenge is #BacktoBackbends.

Both @beachyogagirl and @kinoyoga post a video of each posture, showing variations so the moves can be reached at any level.

I usually practice in the morning, right after my run or after teaching Insanity class. That way, my body is warmed up and muscles are ready to be lengthened.

Here’s how it works: after a warm-up, I’ll add a few stretches that will help open muscles needed for the daily posture. For example, for Day 7 split, I would perform a few frog stretches, opening the hips and inner thighs.

I usually try the posture on both sides if it’s a one-sided pose, and snap a picture of both sides. Then, I post the photo on instagram, tag #BacktoBackbends (or whatever the hashtag might be for the specific challenge), and I usually tag #yoga and #yogaeverydamnday, too.

There are also prizes offered for anyone who participates in the challenge, if you tag the two hosts and the sponsor, Alo Yoga.

The process is really quite simple, and I love that I’ve gained exposure to a variety of poses I wouldn’t otherwise choose to perform. These challenges have made their way into my PiYo Live classes, and sometimes even Insanity classes, depending on the specific movement.

I love growing and learning with these challenges.

This month, I’m simultaneously participating in the POP Pilates/Blogilates #JourneytoSplits challenge, too. Many of the moves from both challenges are similar, but trying two challenges at once offers a different daily range.

Do you participate in any of these online daily yoga challenges? What’s been your experience?