01/08/2022 - grove - Elivs Spreads Love and Bubbles

BackBlast:

I had fun planning this one because of the holidays that fall on January 8: Elvis’ birthday, National JoyGerm Day (in other words spread Joy and love and kindness like germs), and National Bubble Bath Day. So in thinking about the music I discovered that I don’t hate Elvis as much as I thought. I enjoy the songs he recorded in his younger years (“Don’t Be Cruel,” Suspicion,” “Your Teddy Bear,” “Blue Suede Shoes,” etc). The playlist was full of them and other contemporary songs mixed in.

We warmed up with some usual arm circles, gorilla swings, gate swings, etc and then I had a fun song challenge to Jailhouse Rock. For the verses, we kept feet stationary and did punches across body or up into the air. Then during the chorus, we added feet movement (toes taps out in front on the ground) in addition to the arm punches. Pax were encouraged to take it up a notch cardio-wise if they wanted. The goal was to warm up the body given the temps this morning. I think it worked and it was fun!

The Thang – given it was the 8th of January, and it was going to be quite cold, I kept the rep count at 8 in order to keep us moving from one exercise to the next. We spelled some words that connected to the holidays:

J- Jedi Jacks (we did 8 reps of each kind of jack – regular jumping jacks, seal jacks, soldier jacks, star jacks, and plank jacks)

O – old lady squats (crockpot squats)

Y – Y-raises

Then we took a lap to the stop sign and back.

L – lunges (sets) of Pax choice

O – overhead press

V – V-ups

E – elbow to knee (sets)

Then we ran another lap

K – Kicks (aka triple kicks; Pax were encouraged to try not to put their foot down in between each kick; kick front, then side, then back and repeat with the other leg to equal one set; some Pax challenged the group to stay on one leg and not put your foot down until you were done all 8 reps, which added to the muscle usage for sure!)

I – Inch worms

N – Narwhals (sets)

D – Deadlifts

We then took a lap to keep body temps up

N – Narrow squats

E – Elevated calf raises

S – Step ups (sets)

S – skaters (sets)

We took another lap.

B – BGSUs

U – upright rows

B – Bear squats

B – Boy Bands

L – Lunges (sets, Pax were encouraged to do different ones this time)

E – Elevated squats (sets)

Then we took another lap.

We had blown through this fairly quickly so we repeated the whole thing and finished with a minute or two to stretch before COT and NOR. We took a picture, prayed for many people and situations, and went home sweaty and ready for coffee and warm showers!