I go by the name of Lois Lane

I go by the name of Lois Lane

Actually, that subject line is true, at least as it pertains to the world of F3. Anyway, 7 descended upon the venerable Scout Hut at Matthews United Methodist Church for this week’s edition of Gumby.

It’s been a while since YHC Q’d at Gumby, so, out came the special Gumby t-shirt and a special playlist — the shortest in the history of Gumby in terms of number of songs: 5.

More on that later. Let’s actually get down to it.

*hit play*

DEVO

No specific Bible verse this week, but, YHC took an excerpt from a John MacArthur study guide on a study of the life of Solomon (1 Kings, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes) for this week’s devo. In short — much like a pro athlete has to devote himself or herself to constant practice, so must we have the devotion to seek wisdom.

Asking for wisdom, as Solomon did, is the start, but, we must be anchored in the source of wisdom — the Word of God — and actively remain there.

THANG

Corpse pose — stretch out, arms up, move feet and hands.

Knees up, windshield wipers.

Knees up, bridge. Try and bind your hands underneath your hips.

Move to Table Top

Cat/Cow

Bird dog — left arm out, right leg back, flapjack

Odell Beckham, moving legs out to fire hydrant, then rotating knees in a circle clockwise, then counterclockwise. Flapjack.

Child’s pose — arms out, to the right, back to center, to the left, back to center.

Sit up, sit back on the balls of your feet for a plantar stretch.

1 Sun Salutation — Stretch up, forward fold, halfway lift, forward fold, plank, Chattanooga, up dog, down dog, halfway lift, forward fold, stretch ip.

Grab a strap/rope

On your back, wrap the strap around your right foot and bring leg straight up, holding it (replicating the partner stretch from Brew’s Q last week). Hold for approximately 1 minute.

Relax.

Leg back up, then out to the side. Hold for approximately 1 minute.

Relax. Flapjack.

On your feet, 1 Sun Salutation OYO

Move into Chair. Arms up, then out. Lean forward with right arm extended in front and left leg behind in Dancer. Back to chair, arms out, then up.

1 SS OYO, then repeato with dancer on the other side.

1 SS OYO

Move into Tree. Right foot up, then left foot up.

1 SS OYO

Kick back right foot into Warrior 1, then Warrior 2, then Peaceful Warrior, back to Warrior 2.

Turn and face the wall, into Star, lower down to the mat, stretch in the middle, then right, the left.

Back into Star, then Warrior 2, Warrior 1, then a SS OYO.

Repeato/Flapjack, this time with Star, go down, do a pair of triangle stretches, leaving the left hand on the mat and rotating up with the right hand, then flapjacking.

While we’re down here, let’s get in one of YHC’s favorite stretches, the Ninja. Rotate the right foot up, then sit back on the left foot. Flapjack, the come up into star, and finish out the Warrior set.

1 SS OYO

Grab the strap, back on your back. Round two of strapped leg stretching, this time holding for 45 seconds and only doing the leg straight back. Pay attention to how the stretch (and your capability to do it) changes after being active.

Flip over into Down Dog, right leg back, swing through for Pigeon. Suffer a bit, unwind, back to Down Dog, then flapjack/repeato.

Down dog. Corpse. Revisit devo.

*music ends*

15 seconds of silence, then, the timer goes off. That’s a wrap.

–30–

ANNOUNCEMENTS

F3 Dads, Saturdays at 9AM at Col. Francis Beatty park, on the softball fields.

SKIN

As usual, I had my overly complicated setup going — I had my iPad running the music, and a timer, since the Scout Hut clock is behind the Q in the typical Gumby setup. I read the devo from my phone.

I was also running the music through my M’s nice DOSS Box speaker — this did not go unnoticed by Arena, who openly pined for the days where I would bring in my keychain speaker (which famously has no low end) which usually hangs in my bathroom. And given what Arena called said speaker, “hang” is incredibly appropriate here.

So, here are the five songs:

• Pink Floyd – “Comfortably Numb”
• The Allman Brothers Band – “Jessica”
• Lynyrd Skynyrd – “Free Bird”
• Derek and the Dominos – “Layla”
• Sugarhill Gang – “Rapper’s Delight”

As you can tell, the songs were selected for length and/or the existence of a famous coda. The playlist clocked in at just under 45 minutes.

Given the move from classic rock to old-school hip-hop, the overall length of “Rapper’s Delight” I think was noticed more than the others. But, I knew when I started the endeavor that I wanted it in there. If I’m in a mood, and prompted, I can pull off the entire 14-minute rap with no cheats. It’s on my special skills resume.

There were also a few laughs because my voice is still in recovery after a concert in Greensboro on Sunday night. Well, lots of in-car conversation driving to and from Greensboro with friends, then a lot of off-key accompaniment at the show. Given that Gumby does require the most guidance of any F3 workout, I knew it would be rough. It gave me a few flashbacks to middle school, for sure.

As far as the workout itself goes — I tried to liven things up with the shout-out to Strange Brew’s mobility stuff from last week. Hope it was well received.

T-claps to Arena and Grave Dancer for pre-running. I would have joined in, except, well, I was feeling lazy and just didn’t want to do it. #BRRReady(?)

As always, it’s fun to Q Gumby– praise be to Swiss Miss and Tweetsie (currently sipping Mimosas at The Cove on some sort of “work retreat”) for the opportunity to lead and for their continued leadership of such a great (and essential) site.

Alright, signing off, as my hands are now comfortably numb after all of that typing.