Stretch and destroy

Stretch and destroy

Six of Area 51’s stretchiest PAX descended upon the Scout Hut for this week’s installation of Gumby. Here’s what it looked like:

First, we had to get the mood lighting set. So, it was a Bambi Lamp morning.

Start, as usual, in shavasana. Devotional came from Swanson’s tribute to Cheech that is floating around the F3 social-media space. We concentrated on the aspect of wearing our faith on our sleeve — we want to live our lives in the way described in 1 John 4:13-15 so that at the end of our own lives, we might reflect 2 Timothy 4:7-8.

From corpse, stretch out, arms above head, start moving hands, feet, fingers, toes.

Knees up for a series of windshield wipers, followed by a series of bridge stretches.

Then, sit up, feet together, knees out for some butterfly stretching. We did about 50 “flaps” of our knees, then, brought our feet closer in and pressed knees close to the floor, using our elbows to try and press. This brought back memories of joy and pain from YHC’s time as a teenaged Tae Kwon Do prodigy student.

Stretch legs straight out and touch your toes.

Move to table top for some cat/cow, followed by side bends.

Sit back on your feet, stretch hands out into child’s pose, moving over to the left and right.

Back to table top for broga’s version of the burpee — sun salutations! We did 5 — first one led by YHC, then the next 4 OYO.

Then came some chair work —

Sit back into chair, arms up. YHC decided to bring an aspect of the people’s chair to Gumby, leading 5 slow air presses. After that, arms out straight, then back up.

Recover. 1 burp, er, sun salutation OYO.

Back into chair:

Arms up, 5 air presses, arms up, arms out — now, leave your left arm out, grab your right leg, and move into dancer. Standard advice of “find something to concentrate on” given, YHC still stumbled around. Apparently talking, balancing and concentrating is too difficult.

Leg down, arms out, arms up. Recover. Salutation OYO.

Repeato, flapjacking with left leg back into dancer.

Final set: arms up, 5 air presses, arms up, arms out, right leg back into dancer, then tip forward onto your block/water bottle/whatever into High Tide’s favorite: Half moon. Back to dancer, leg down, arms out, arms up. Recover. Salutation OYO.

Repeato, flapjacking with right leg back.

Now it’s time for some war face with warrior!

Right leg back into Warrior 1, Warrior 2, lean in with your FORWARD foot (thanks to Swiss Miss for helping YHC when he was confused about left/right), back to Warrior 2, turn and face to the right.

Arms out, slow descent into good ol’ leg stretches. Walk your hands back, then to the left and right. Ascend. Warrior 2, Warrior 1. Mountain. Yoga burpee OYO.

Left leg back into Warrior 1, Warrior 2, lean in, back to Warrior 2, turn to the left, 5-count windmill. Warrior 2, Warrior 1, Mountain, Saluburp OYO, meeting in plank.

From plank, swing right leg back and forward into pigeon, really leaning in to get down onto the elbows. Unwind, move back to plank and flapjack.

Unwind, back to plank, then back to corpse, devotional review and finitio.

Count off, name-o-rama, announcements, lock shields and Tweetsie took us out.

-30-

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Kinetic Heights field trip on Friday. Pre-run at 0500, workout at 0530. See the Kinetic Trips channel on Slack for more details.

Convergence at the American 4 Miler on Tuesday — this will also be the debut of the Speed for Need chairs. Skunk Works should be on as scheduled, but, as of right now, there is no Q, so, get with Harley if you feel so moved to lead. Otherwise, I guess the regulars will just show up and do a bunch of swings.

Paper Jam on the Q next week!

GREENSKINE

The morning got off to a great start — I fartsacked through my own pre-run alarm, leaving Tweetsie to explore the mean streets of downtown Matthews on his own. This also resulted in his first Site Q panic attack as Tweetsie didn’t know if I was awake and was planning to actually show up. You’re welcome.

I hope everyone enjoyed the workout. I tried to mix it up a tiny bit with different poses in different flows (like the dancer-to-half-moon bit) and add some new wrinkles, like the air presses. I also tried to concentrate on the lower body, as most of my upper body is still on fire after Skunk Works yesterday, but that’s another story.

Now to the most important part of any Gumby BB — THE MUSIC. I had a complicated setup that was the envy of the PAX. This also helped me keep track of time, since (1) the Q can’t see the clock in the hut (2) the clock has been dead for the last couple of weeks … maybe as an act of service we should bring some fresh batteries?

Oh, and hey, speaking of BATTERY …

So, once the music started, some gentle cellos filled the Bambi Lamp-lit room and all was well. Then Swiss Miss asked the million-dollar question:

“Is this ……. Metallica?”

YOU BET IT IS. Today’s soundtrack was provided by Apocalyptica, a Swedish cello quartet that plays Metallica covers (and other metal type tunes). I referred to it as “oddly soothing.” Not sure what the other PAX thought of it. Some were probably horrified not so much by the music, but that I knew about this group.

The official set list was:

• Nothing Else Matters
• Sad But True
• Seek and Destroy
• The Unforgiven
• Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
• Wherever I May Roam
• Battery
• Enter Sandman
• Creeping Death
• Harvester of Sorrow

This is all off the aptly titled album “Plays Metallica by Four Cellos.”

As always, this is one of my favorite groups, and this workout is essential for me just as a way to keep myself fresh as the wear and tear of other workouts builds up. Thanks to Swiss Miss and Tweetsie — it was an honor to lead, and I hope to do it again as soon as Sept. 13!