Beautiful strength

I wondered where my mighty May had gone as I struggled to hang in ‘skin the cat’ for 5 seconds last week.

Photo by: Alex Jenkins.

May was mighty because every week at calisthenics resulted in a new personal best.

💪 I pushed & pulled 100 kilos on the sled.

💪 Did 40 pull-ups unassisted with the green and black bands.

💪 Skinned the cat for 25 seconds – three times in a row.

And I did better at one or the other each week.

Mighty.

And then life interfered.

Sleepless nights. Early morning flights. Late night returns.

My second bout of Covid.

I was disappointed to only push 97 kilos on the sled.

And for needing assistance to complete my pull ups.

And needing two hands on each monkey bar – like when I first started.

My trainer, Alex, says calisthenics means ‘beautiful strength’*.

I couldn’t see any beauty in going backwards.

‘You’re here,’ Alex pointed out.

‘Do what you can. Do your today best.’

— — — — — — —

See that? There. Right there.

One of the reasons I’ve been going to same cali trainer for 13 years.

He cares. And not just about the workout.

Every week, I take what I do and what we talk about into my every day.

I take the strength, endurance, flexibility, coordination and balance I build in cali into my day, my work and my life.

To swim in rough surf. To lift a heavy suitcase. To ride up a hill. To garden for a few hours. To carry shopping bags when I’m 80.

And I take the insights from our conversations to my facilitation, even if I’m not at my personal best.

‘Do your best today’ is truly all I can do with every workshop and every group. I wonder if that’s true for you too.

I didn’t smash any PBs at my workshop later that day. But the workshop was productive and built connections and trust, and the group left with the outcomes it needed.

Beautiful strength.

— — — — — — —

If you’re still reading and would like to explore ‘beautiful strength’ at cali, please come and join me one Wednesday morning in North Melbourne.

Alice Woodruff did and was beaming after a few minutes, ‘I’ve just tried eight things I’ve never done before!’ And returned for more under her own steam.

🙋‍♀️ DM me 🙋‍♂️

* Calisthenics originates from the combination of two ancient Greek words: kállos (κάλλος), meaning ‘beauty’ and sthénos (σθένος), meaning ‘strength’ 

Thanks for reading this far.

Stay (fl)awesome!