Yesterday was a special day at the Jungle Jym. The breeze was crisp, the sky was clear with stars, the ground was peppered with droplets of sweat like a trail for those who dared to follow, and the sounds of feet pounding the pavement and determined deep breaths were like music in the air. Just another night at the Jungle Jym in that respect.
The first sentence and the last sentence of the paragraph above are obviously conflicting. How can it be a "special day at the Jungle Jym" and "Just another night at the Jungle Jym" all at the same time? Well, it was just another night because as usual, the class was pushed to their limits and they surpassed my expectations and most importantly their own. Now, it was a special night because not only did we do yet another brand new routine (No class has ever been the same) but I joined the class to see just how hard my constant banter of commands and and "can do" propaganda really were. All I can say is that my class ranging from 54 year old business men to 18 year old athletes are right when they say, "This is hard, Jimmy!". However, let me assure you, every class is tailored to push each person to their limits without leaving anyone behind.
After two paragraphs, I think it is time for me to tell you what we did during class. As usual, we met at the top of the Lyon Street Steps at the corner of Lyon Street and Broadway and in the heart of the posh and enviable Pacific Heights neighborhood. From there, we jogged down the steps to our rallying point for our exercises.
On this day, a car of unknown origins was parked in "our" cul de sac and right in front of "our" basketball hoop, this is not a big deal considering the incredible amount of space we still had but if threw of my routine for a New York Minute. However, as exercise and life rears back and throws us a curve ball, we must adapt and that we did.
Now that the car dilemma has been solved and adapted to we began out usual warm up raging from high knees, to deep lunges, to butt kickers, to bounding. As you will notice in coming to class, our warm up is designed to warm you up while doing dynamic stretching as opposed to static stretching. Dynamic stretching warms you up more quickly and prepares you for greater range of motion and a higher rate of necessary blood flow.
As soon as the warm up was complete we wasted no time and ran down the road to the next block, which is right at the base of the Baker Street Steps (you'll learn to love these). From there we turned right back around and jogged back to our rally point.
After quick sip of a double hydrogen with a splash of oxygen cocktail, we begin our Plyometric Training Day! That is when the panting and beautiful sound of nimble toes tapping the ground with excessive speed began. Each exercise is for maximum number of repetitions so we do as many reps of the given exercise as we can do in anywhere from 1 minute to 15 seconds. In this case, we were doing 1 minute of later jumps. After that we did the same thing but thing time in a forward and backward motion for 1 minute.
As soon as the completed their calf busting, ab sculpting, head turning, quick feet building, drills, we moved onto a class favorite...Broad Jumps. Now, the point of this exercise and like all of the other Plyometric Drills we did on this given night is to condition the muscles to be explosive. This exercise, more than others, drastically increases power which will make a person more apt to change direction quickly, deliver larger amounts of strength in less time, and become more athletic as a whole. All three things are keys to becoming a better athlete and simply for overall body mastery which is vital for all ages and walks of life.
After a few more plyometric drills, including squat jumps, we took a thirty second break for water and to towel of the salty water (sweat) dripping from our drenched heads. I tried to give the class more of a break but they were ready rarrin' to go like a 16 year old at the wheel of his first car.
From there we ran down to the corner of Vallejo and Baker and to no one's surprise, what do we find, an hill that seemed to be built for the sole purpose of developing lean toned bodies built for speed and pure unadulterated athleticism. Now, what good is a hill if you are not going to sprint up it? After all, that road may be meant for cars but from 6:30pm-7:30pm it's purpose is solely designated for The Jungle Jym and it's quest for fitness perfection. So, we honored it purpose and proceeded to run 5 full speed sprints up the hill. As one could expect, there are different levels of fitness at every class so some people finished before others but what you will notice about the Jungle Jym is that each member (and I call them members because they have earned the right to be given a respectful title for thier commitment) shows one and other a sense of support that you see with families and sports teams. So as the legs were burning and the lungs were aching and the equilibrium was begging to be back on a flat level surface, cheers and voices of steady encouragement could be heard and what a sound it was.
As we finished our sprints that were proceeded by over 15 plyometric exercises, we jogged back to the "rally point" and pounded out 12 minutes of ab busting core exercises. Keep in mind, I pride my class on out of the box training methods and creativity so some of the ab exercises that were done would leave passer bys scratching their heads but the Jungle Jymers didn't even have time to notice with the level of hard work they were chalkin' up.
After the final grunt that signaled the last repetition of Russian Twists, we stood up with chests out and a felling of pride and accomplishment draped over our sweaty bodies and gave one and other the symbolic gesture of approval, the high five.
After a few loud cracks of palm to palm contact, we collected our things and headed on home.
What a day, what a class, what an experience.
Whose ready to be apart of the next blog???
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