Um, hi. Remember me?

Hello, Internet people!

I’ve been absent (not because I love you any less), busy, and tired. Tired like beyond tired tired. So tired that using any adjective other than tired makes me… tired. Why, you ask? Why so… fatigued?

Well. It turns out that as kids get older, they get more mobile. Who knew?? With increased mobility comes increased germ exposure and immune system building yadda yadda. So the past months have looked something like: fine fine SICK fine SICK SICK fine SICK SICK SICK fine. For those of you keeping track, that’s more sicks than fines. All thanks to my little germ-ridden bundle of joy.

(For the record, she is a joy through and through. 18 months old and she does burpees. And can support her bodyweight hanging from a bar. And she does barbell snatches with a toy rolling pin. Squee!)

On to the “busy” half of “busy and tired”: Why so busy?

Well. It turns out that as gyms get older, they get more mobile. More clients means more work! Can’t we just fail quietly and then take a nap? Gah. But noooo, (and now it’s bragging time), instead of napping we published a video that got picked up by places like Mark’s Daily Apple and MovNat.com, generating over ten thousand views.

We’re also in the process of renewing our natural movement selves. Greg just returned from the MovNat Expansion Course in West Virginia with Erwan LeCorre. We’re building new equipment all the time (hello, climbing wall! Hello, battling ropes!). Erwan himself will be joining us in September to spread the love. We bought half a cow from BeaverVale Farms and the lucky ones who got shares will be picking up their bounty this week. We’re starting a brand new Eat REAL Challenge this Saturday. We now carry VitaCoco Coconut Water.

We’ve been busy. Life is good.

Recess! Cliffhanger! Part Two!

Cliffhanger update: StrengthBox opens its doors March 1st. Shake off your lingering winter insulation at our unique training space in East York… we’ll get you freakishly fit in groups or one on one! Check out www.strengthbox.ca for more info on rates and just what it is we’re doing over there.

This past Recess was bruuutal! I brought out the big guns to whip the Dolls into top shape, developing their explosive power and superhuman speed. 24 minutes of intervals fit the bill and then some… the lovely skating ladies barely had enough energy left over to leap into the foam pit willy-nilly!

Sharkey wondered what’s wrong with Turkish people that they have to Get Up this way

Joey joined us for some Intervals of Doom!

A relaxing post workout block bath

Exciting Cliffhanger: Update!

Ok, we all know that Recess! is awesome. (If you don’t already know that, you really need to come out and try a class). We’ll continue playing tag and flying into foam pits at The Monkey Vault (Saturday mornings, 10:30 and 11:30, come on down, $15 cheap) until it’s no fun anymore (never!). But what would you say if I told you that Recess! will soon have TWO fantastic homes? That’s right, kids, the Big Exciting Cliffhanger announcement is here:

The Original Recess! will continue, at 10:30 and 11:30am at The Monkey Vault. Recess II: Son of Recess! will begin in the not too distant future at our (prepare for Epic! Announcement!) Very Own Training Space in East York. Greg Carver (he of MovNat fame) and Howie Tse (firefighter extraordinaire) are joining me in opening StrengthBox, a training facility that will redefine your very human existence.

StrengthBox will emphasize natural movement, powerful strength development, high intensity intervals, and gymnastic skills. We’ll be working in small groups and one on one… We are open and available to any and every skill level, and we’d really like to welcome you to the StrengthBox family! Life should feel good, people. Let us show you how to get lean, strong, and capable of superhuman feats.

Our logo, shiny and new...

What’s Shakin’?

Oh goodness, this Saturday is going to be fun. To start things off, the Death Track Dolls will be gracing us with their inimitable presence at the 10:30 Recess! class, and then the ever-fashionable, eco-conscious, radder than rad Do. Crew (check out their facebook group) will be tearing it up at 11:30.

Are you kidding me? This will be more fun than sweet potato fries and ketchup. More fun than talking through a fan to make your voice sound like Darth Vader. More fun than watching a bully try to kick over your snowman, not realizing you built it over a fire hydrant. More fun than any singing cat video you’ve ever seen.

What’s Recess all about? Well, Recess is a games-based gymnastic/Parkour/high intensity interval class which will restore your youthful vitality, reignite your love of movement, and get you freakishly fit. Have I set the bar too high? Come try a class and find out. 213 Geary is where it’s at.

If you have questions, or would like to schedule a private or group session, email me (Liz) at marthadonkey at gmail dot com.

Recess #2

Recess is now on Saturdays at 10:30 and 11:30! Come to The Monkey Vault at 213 Geary Avenue and see what all the fuss is about…

This week at Recess we climbed a rope ladder, learned how to do Jackie Chan-style parkour tricks, and played with throwing and catching… and then the brave, brave Death Track Dolls requested an ass-kicking. Five short (long) minutes later, I think everyone agreed that an ass-kicking had indeed been delivered. Don’t think Recess is all fluff and no substance! You may not notice how much work you’re doing because it’s all about the fun, but Recess will mold you into a lean, mean, fighting machine if you give it a go.

Throwing and catching

Stair crawling

Balancing…

The calm before the storm

Context

MovNat is all about how movement becomes “natural movement” primarily because of its context. Taken out of context, a burpee is just a burpee (yay burpees!). While they’re certainly an effective calisthenic bodyweight exercise, one might find oneself asking why the hell one is doing so many damn burpees when one is, say, halfway through Pukie Brewster (that’s 150 burpees for time, for the uninitiated). In the context of falling down and getting up as fast as possible to escape a threat, burpees make a lot more sense. Dare I say it also makes them more fun? Context defines pretty much everything we do… when you see someone who usually makes your morning americano at your favorite cafe, but they’re at the grocery store, it can be tough to pin down why they look so familiar. If you’ve ever had a truly mind-blowing meal, it probably wasn’t just about the meal… after all, the steak you eat after a day of heavy yard work or snowshoeing isn’t the same steak you eat after a day of surfing the net.

MovNat

This weekend I took a MovNat seminar (an updated interpretation of La Methode Naturelle) with Erwan Le Corre, and it was effing amazing. To perform true natural movements is to “fall in love with moving”, as Le Corre puts it. Moving should challenge your physical capacity, but it should above all else be enjoyable.

I was a little nervous prior to the seminar, convinced that the other attendees would all be experienced Parkour traceurs with superhuman abilities, and then there’d be me– wondering when the double unders were going to start. I was also concerned about being comfortable, as Greg and Summer had both warned me that the outdoor training was very windy and cold. I pictured having to belly-crawl over frozen earth, toss boulders effortlessly into the air, climb spindly saplings to the top using only my pinky finger. I was, of course, mistaken, but only about the degree of intensity. We did belly crawl, but indoors on a wooden floor. We did throw rocks, just not boulders. The climbing took place on a pullup bar, not a sapling, and I was allowed to use both hands (and legs!) to get up.

We spent most of the day engaging in physical play and exploration, with a sprinkling of technique to round things out. The great thing about the human body is that it already has an excellent knowledge of how to move… but occasionally one must unlearn an artificial pattern in order to be more efficient. Running was the big example of a pattern to un-learn… sneakers and running shoes encourage a serious heel strike on each stride, which means that with every step your front leg must absorb the impact of 3-4x your bodyweight. Ugh. A better, easier way to run involves landing softly on the mid-foot, and allowing gravity to pull you along. The day after a 10 km run, only your calves should hurt. If your quads are sore, you’re doing something very wrong.

My least favorite drill involved leaping into and vaulting over a park bench. I would watch others perform the jump, think “I can totally do that!” and as soon as I began my approach the bench would seem to triple in size and pointiness. I could picture all the ways I’d get hurt. Erwan was happy to break the movement down into very simple steps, allowing me to begin a training progression that would eventually lead to a full vault, sans fear. According to the MovNat philosophy, this means that I should work heavily on jumping. Sigh.

I loved the idea of a workout being “play”, more fun than work, and engage your whole focus. If you can chat or watch TV, you’re not connected to what your body is doing. I could very clearly imagine an entire workout based around heaving big rocks into a lake… can’t wait to get some other MovNat-ers together in the new year to go outside and have some fun!