Mental and Verbal Gymnastics ... On Core Day
Today has to rank as one of the funniest (weird, not funny, although at times it was funny) conversations ever held during a workout session. No, we didn’t go for the pizza jugular, since for all of us that would be normal conversation. Rather, Russkaya was on a roll … and by roll, I mean, a juggernaut of odd verbal observations that had us in tears a couple of times. The worst part is, it's hard to describe (as will be completely evident below).
Needless to say, we were not focused hard on our workout.
Front planks, go. On your backs, floor bridges, raise right leg until it shakes, hold it some more, then switch to left leg. Then bicycle crunches, go. Then v-sits, hold. Then sumpin, sumpin … Repeat entire circuit. Then relax.
Ok, on the break and during the workout (ok, actually also before we started), our conversation went towards nicknames. As you know, yesterday I gave Helen the name of the Crab, since she asked for crabwalking and actions like that should not go unpunished. Dolores kind of gave me a little lecture about how hard the Crab works all the time, and walks to metro from her home, and from metro to the office … I say: is she crabwalking at that point? So, Crab, Dolores was sticking up for you and I was being given the business, in a friendly way ...
I can’t completely go into how weird the next part of the conversation was, because on its surface, it’s not entirely bad as just not funny, but it sort of fell into the category of “you had to be there.” It inspired a whole discussion around whether sarcasm is a good form of humor (Russkaya says no, it’s mean; Chris says it’s good in the right company with people who understand … The Bear stayed on the sidelines on that one). The inspiration for all of this was: the topic of nicknames. Sometimes someone comes up with one that will stick; other times, you pray that it will never be repeated. This one sort of fell into the latter category … its most egregious quality was: it wasn’t funny and endearing the way Bear, Crab and Russkaya are … I don’t know, maybe I started this whole mess by labeling the Crab, which I sort of thought was funny, but maybe I’ll wait for a verdict. It then led to a whole conversation about whether calling something what it is is actually acceptable … again, my thought here is: calling things what they are is ok … in some instances. In others, it can be politically incorrect, it can be limiting, or, worst of all, it can be not very funny. Oh well, I think I’ve beaten that topic senseless (in all fairness, it may never have risen to the quality of making sense …). In my favor, I will say, one of the reasons Crab as a nickname works is (and to Dolores' point), she's nothing like a crab. That's why it works.
Now, onto other topics. My boss told me he had gone on a weight loss program while he was on vacation, working out 8 hours a day for a whole week, to launch his renewed interest in getting back to being fit (he used to be very fit, but working here has proven hard on his diet and exercise routine). The inspiration for his newfound vigor? Me and having stuck to my workout program for a year (more than a year, now, of course). So, like it or not, I’m having a good effect even if I try my darnedest not to impact my world. He’s running many days per week, and eating more healthily. When he told me this, I said, so you don’t want half of this giant cookie? Actually, that's literally what happened. I offered him my cookie, since he was heading to the airport. That's when he told me how I'd inspired him. Oh Lord ...
Second circuit, what did we do? I remember we finished with bird dogs, isometric holds each side, but how did we start? We also did side crunches on each side. We also did things where we were on our backs, legs straight in the air, bring them down to near the floor, open (to work adductors), close, bring back up, never touching the floor (these are really hard). We also did the exercise I perennially forget, sitting on the floor, legs extended, hands overhead, raise one leg, hold, then switch. We also fit in more V-sits and I think our hands were over our heads … And that whole circuit was repeated, but probably in an order that made more sense than my description of it.
I cannot remember what else we did, but we really didn’t kill ourselves today. Then we stretched to cool down (not that we were all that hot). Oh yeah, a final topic of conversation: how men treat women and how Chris is a good guy and we should clone him so there could be more good guys (this latter train of thought occurred when Chris said he was having a pizza to himself tomorrow night, while his wife hangs out with her friends, and he booked her a room at some hotel and a massage and other pampering stuff, so she could relax since she’s had a lot on her plate recently). I’m all in favor of more good guys out there … if anyone finds any they’d like to share, let me know …
The Crab was headed over to see the cherry blossoms … after last night’s and this morning’s storms, I’m guessing there might not have been much in the way of flowers showing, but you never know. And likely it won’t stop the gazillions of tourists who come here, nor the traffic jammage that ensues. Good weekend to all!
The Bear
Needless to say, we were not focused hard on our workout.
Front planks, go. On your backs, floor bridges, raise right leg until it shakes, hold it some more, then switch to left leg. Then bicycle crunches, go. Then v-sits, hold. Then sumpin, sumpin … Repeat entire circuit. Then relax.
Ok, on the break and during the workout (ok, actually also before we started), our conversation went towards nicknames. As you know, yesterday I gave Helen the name of the Crab, since she asked for crabwalking and actions like that should not go unpunished. Dolores kind of gave me a little lecture about how hard the Crab works all the time, and walks to metro from her home, and from metro to the office … I say: is she crabwalking at that point? So, Crab, Dolores was sticking up for you and I was being given the business, in a friendly way ...
I can’t completely go into how weird the next part of the conversation was, because on its surface, it’s not entirely bad as just not funny, but it sort of fell into the category of “you had to be there.” It inspired a whole discussion around whether sarcasm is a good form of humor (Russkaya says no, it’s mean; Chris says it’s good in the right company with people who understand … The Bear stayed on the sidelines on that one). The inspiration for all of this was: the topic of nicknames. Sometimes someone comes up with one that will stick; other times, you pray that it will never be repeated. This one sort of fell into the latter category … its most egregious quality was: it wasn’t funny and endearing the way Bear, Crab and Russkaya are … I don’t know, maybe I started this whole mess by labeling the Crab, which I sort of thought was funny, but maybe I’ll wait for a verdict. It then led to a whole conversation about whether calling something what it is is actually acceptable … again, my thought here is: calling things what they are is ok … in some instances. In others, it can be politically incorrect, it can be limiting, or, worst of all, it can be not very funny. Oh well, I think I’ve beaten that topic senseless (in all fairness, it may never have risen to the quality of making sense …). In my favor, I will say, one of the reasons Crab as a nickname works is (and to Dolores' point), she's nothing like a crab. That's why it works.
Now, onto other topics. My boss told me he had gone on a weight loss program while he was on vacation, working out 8 hours a day for a whole week, to launch his renewed interest in getting back to being fit (he used to be very fit, but working here has proven hard on his diet and exercise routine). The inspiration for his newfound vigor? Me and having stuck to my workout program for a year (more than a year, now, of course). So, like it or not, I’m having a good effect even if I try my darnedest not to impact my world. He’s running many days per week, and eating more healthily. When he told me this, I said, so you don’t want half of this giant cookie? Actually, that's literally what happened. I offered him my cookie, since he was heading to the airport. That's when he told me how I'd inspired him. Oh Lord ...
Second circuit, what did we do? I remember we finished with bird dogs, isometric holds each side, but how did we start? We also did side crunches on each side. We also did things where we were on our backs, legs straight in the air, bring them down to near the floor, open (to work adductors), close, bring back up, never touching the floor (these are really hard). We also did the exercise I perennially forget, sitting on the floor, legs extended, hands overhead, raise one leg, hold, then switch. We also fit in more V-sits and I think our hands were over our heads … And that whole circuit was repeated, but probably in an order that made more sense than my description of it.
I cannot remember what else we did, but we really didn’t kill ourselves today. Then we stretched to cool down (not that we were all that hot). Oh yeah, a final topic of conversation: how men treat women and how Chris is a good guy and we should clone him so there could be more good guys (this latter train of thought occurred when Chris said he was having a pizza to himself tomorrow night, while his wife hangs out with her friends, and he booked her a room at some hotel and a massage and other pampering stuff, so she could relax since she’s had a lot on her plate recently). I’m all in favor of more good guys out there … if anyone finds any they’d like to share, let me know …
The Crab was headed over to see the cherry blossoms … after last night’s and this morning’s storms, I’m guessing there might not have been much in the way of flowers showing, but you never know. And likely it won’t stop the gazillions of tourists who come here, nor the traffic jammage that ensues. Good weekend to all!
The Bear