The Dailey Method: An Update For Hy! (And You.)

One of my friends (Hyacynth) asked me a couple of days ago if I have written a post recently about how my workouts at The Dailey Method are going. I have not, and thought that it was a great suggestion.

Back in the summer (from mid-June to mid-July) I participated in a blogger review program of The Dailey Method. I wrote three posts about my experience:

Post 1 is the one in which I wrote about what The Dailey Method IS along with how my first class went.
Post 2 is about how I became hopelessly addicted to The Dailey Method, along with an interview I did with the owners of the Naperville and Wheaton studios.
Post 3 is about the community I found at The Dailey Method Naperville studio, and how I had decided to continue taking classes there after the blogger review program was over.

Even though I’m posting this on my sponsored posts/review page, it’s technically not a sponsored post because, well, it’s just not. I’m writing this because I want to, not because someone asked me to. Well, all except for Hy, but she’s not paying me. (Are you, Hy? Kidding.)

Anyway, how’s The Dailey Method going for me, you wonder? Overall, it’s going really, really well.

I take classes five to six days per week. (Really.)

I still love it. Every class is different: even though the framework of the classes is set, the exercises vary a lot. I also take classes from a variety of instructors so I don’t get used to just one, which is better for my body and keeps me on my toes (so to speak).

I have gained lots of strength since mid-June. I can hold the positions longer and see a huge difference in my planks. I’m also working on feeling successful with each extra second of thigh work I can handle without dropping to take a break. For the most part I know exactly what the instructors are cueing, so other than their making the normal adjustments in what I’m doing as they walk by me, I don’t have that “deer in the headlights” look on my face when I’m listening for what to do next: that’s a good feeling. I am told that I have made vast improvements in my form, and my flexibility is greatly improved.

I’m down about seven pounds since I started, and I’m fine with that number. Like I mentioned in one of my previous posts, my body is shifting. Sometimes I feel like I haven’t made “enough” physical progress but then I remember that I look at myself in the mirror every single day (Usually more than once. Shut up.) and because of that, I’m not going to be able to see my bodily changes as readily as others might.

I am walking (and sitting) taller: I spend lots of time thinking about “neutral spine” and pulling my shoulders down, which leads to my feeling more graceful when I move. I know that sounds corny, but it’s nice to focus on something so simple that ends up making a big difference in how I feel.

Don’t get me wrong: it’s not all rosy every single day. I had a particularly bad day on Tuesday. When I arrived for class I just wasn’t “feeling it” and allowed all kinds of discouraging thoughts to enter my head. Naturally I didn’t have a good class–it happens to all of us sometimes–and reached out to a couple of good friends for reenforcement. I also emailed Bonnie, the instructor whose class I took that day. I poured my heart out to Bonnie, telling her all of the reasons why I was so frustrated (one of them being the fact that I don’t normally GET frustrated, so it’s difficult for me to fall into that!). Bonnie emailed me back immediately with a beautifully encouraging response, telling me all kinds of lovely things that I already knew deep down, but her external reminder was invaluable at that moment.

Bonnie reminded me about my first class three and a half months ago (she was teaching that day, too!) and how far I’ve come. The Dailey Method is meant to be a practice, a challenge: not every class is going to go the way I think (or hope) it will. Her email to me meant the world to me, not only because she said exactly what I needed her to say, but also because she reenforced the feeling of community I have fallen in love with at The Dailey Method. The friends I have made there keep me coming back every bit as much as the workouts do.

My goals for the immediate future include continuing my five to six day per week workouts, getting to the point where I can do one of the two sets of thigh work with proper form and without dropping for a break, and increasing my hold time on those stinkin’ planks. Oh, and giving myself some grace on the days when I am not my normal, bubbly self. That was Bonnie’s advice. That new friend of mine is a smart lady.

I’ll post another update in a couple of months!