And that's when it hits you: nothing, and I mean nothing stops teacher workouts!

Yes, it's true.  I'm a newbie.  Just joined the teacher workout group in June after much encouragement, er, threats by my dear friend Kay.  I've eschewed it up to this point for various reasons that mostly center on laziness.  Summertime and the promise of a butt like Danna's convinced me that Kay was right.  Best to get some cardio action going in addition to the pensive daily walks around the lake in my beloved Mueller community.  Best to sweat a little, well, a lot, with friends.

Then AISD inflicted the dreaded July austerity measures on our group.  Dee tried to convince them to leave the AC on just during our workouts.  No. No. No.  She pleaded, she reasoned and argued that teacher fitness is inherently good and a compelling reason to leave the AC on.  No.  Austerity must reign even at the expense of quality air.  I mean, really, when you go on vacation, do you turn everything off?  Isn't that a prime condition for mold growth?  No amount of begging would sway the higher ups.  Off with the AC.  So the workout was like one long hot flash.  Not quite as bad as bikram yoga, and there was the occasional breeze.  I actually don't mind heat so long as I can wear very little.  Thank goodness we are all friends.

We showed up, we worked out.  We dripped sweat on the already highly seasoned blue mats.  We mopped ourselves repeatedly with towels from home.  We drank water in between curls, squats, lunges, and laps.  We laughed about it, and the complaints, though many, were in good fun.  Danna allowed that her boxing gym never has AC.  So we just kept going until it was time to hobble weakly back into our air conditioned lives.

We thought that would be the worst of it.  Oh, mais non!!

Today we arrived at 9:15 to be greeted by a sight that made all of our jaws drop in unison.  At least half of the floor area was covered by huge sheets of plywood, some encased in a strange silver material.  There was a huge machine, looked like a kind of forklift right smack where we normally do stations.  Long, boa like cords were scattered everywhere!   Boxes of florescent lights lined the walls. What the heck?

At first, someone suggested we just walk.  No.  That wouldn't do.  We must keep going!  We must work out.  I wanted to pack it in and go walk the lake.  I thought there was bad juju just looking at all that stuff!  Where was the peace and opportunity for reflection?  I am already disgusted by the insect parts that are sprinkled hither and yon in varying states of decay, impossible to ignore during push ups.  Also, it was hot, darn hot.  Why not just escape?  No.  Not to be. We must keep going.  We must work out.  Unfettered, Danna led us through our normal routines.

We dodged the machine, stepped lightly from one surface to another, avoided the menacing cords as thick and long as cobras.  We laughed and mopped the sweat, took sips of tepid water.  I wondered if anyone would notice if I escaped.  Of course they would because we were so few today with many regulars traveling or getting scoped.  Inspired by Kay, Jean & Trisha and under the ever patient guidance of Danna, we suffered through and lived to tell about it.

Later I emailed Dee whilst on her way to Hot Springs to give her the scoop.  Impressed by our bravery,  she suggested we chronicle our brush with death on this blog.

Nice release to process the ordeal by writing about it.  It worked for the Donner Party, right?  The horror!  The danger!  The perfect storm caused by extreme discomfort, unsightly and hazardous equipment not to mention body bending planks and airplanes!  Only now am I able to regain the calm I usually feel.  Monday we will return and thrive in the relative calm and cool of the library while they finish doing whatever they are doing. There's also the promise of a freshly cleaned gym, too, since it's on Miss Linda's list of things to do next week.  I'll miss the bond-creating austerity but not the insect parts. 

Welcome Lorene & More Books!

Fit Queen Lorene

Lorene walking with weights that remind
her of lifting a pint of Petrus Winter Ale.

Lorene following Danna's lead during leg lifts

Lorene, welcome to teacher fitness fun!  You even survived our two days last week without air conditioning.  What a trooper!  All I can think of now is whether or not mold is going to grow in the gym...

Books We Are Reading:

Kay

Lorene

Danna says thanks to Barbara for the recommendation!

Trisha

Jean is enjoying reading this series
of books to her granddaughters during their
Friday mornings together.

Dee - set near Hilton Head, SC where
she spent the first week of June

Dee is also reading Bluebonnet Books
with some students this summer.  This is
the best one so far!

Nancy and Barbara, what are you girls reading right now? 

Memorial Day 2012 BW Olympics

Nancy Holloway takes gold ... AGAIN! Way to go!!!

After petitioning the judges (Danna & China Bear), a tie is
declared for the overall silver medal.  

Jean, Kay, and Barbara stretch after the events.  Or are they trying to recoup from a severe lack of air conditioning?

Spring Break Nirvana

Bryker Woods Faculty and Staff:  "The best butts in our town!"
Thanks to Kay for  giving the old familiar sign a face-lift - or should we say a butt-lift?  

Mother/daughter lunges...what great form!
We were thrilled to have Sophie join us for
a workout session.  She was home from school
to help plan Angela and Perry's wedding.  

Barbara and Barkley gave a gift to Danna
and Chinabear. Did Barkley really bite Danna
during the floor routine? I miss all the good stuff
when I'm not there!  Evidently on the same
afternoon a bicyclist tried to run Danna down.   

It's amazing how much more energy we have during late morning workouts rather than after a long day at school.  Couldn't we all just leave the children mid-day on school days to get some exercise?!?  

Spring Break I Workout with our infamous
exercise bands. Thanks for taking the picture Jake!

Spring Break II Workout after our walk in the neighborhood.

In the infamous words of Danna Scott:  "Ready spaghettis?"  

See you Monday at 3:45 in the gym!

Guinea Pigs!

Championship Weightlifting Guinea Pig

Lunges with a band will transform our lower bodies!

Partner runs with bands provide good cardio.  How soon we forget!

We look fab working with our bands outside on the sidewalk near the gym! 

So many options!  Don't use these kind of bands though.  They snap and break. 

Danna is starting a new teacher fitness class at a south Austin school that shall not be named.  The class starts the week before Spring Break and our mission is to give her input on exercises that require minimal equipment.  We are in full guinea pig mode! 

Does exercising our fingers count?!?

Never ever comment on the size of someone else's body parts!

Last week after skipping my workout on Monday I got the motivational kick that I needed to never skip again!

Experiment
by Eleanor Jewett

I sat down in a puddle,
     And shall I tell you why?
I did it so that I should know
     How far the drops could fly!

After reading the above poem we (unnamed small group reading class) began to discuss it.

Ms. Susong:  "Would you sit in a puddle on purpose?"
Student 1:  "No, because people would think I had peed in my pants!"
Ms. S:  "That would be embarassing."
Student 2:  "I would and the water would really splash high."
Ms. S:  "I think that's what the poet meant when she wrote the drops could fly."
Student 1 looks at Ms. S. and says:  "You should sit in one because you have a big ______."  He then drew the shape of my butt in the air with his hands.
Student 2:  "Yea.  It would make a huge splash!"
Ms. S:   "It is not polite to comment on the size of people's body parts.  It could hurt someone's feelings. Now let's get back to the poem.  What rhyming words did you hear in the poem?"

Thanks Student 1 for keeping me motivated to do millions and millions more squats and lunges to decrease the size of my butt (pictured below)!

Poetic Push-ups and a Google Search Gone Wrong

Have you ever seen more perfect  push-up partners than Kay and Barbara?

National Poetry Month comes to the real world every April, but it's making an early visit to BW in response to poetry analysis being added to the upcoming STAAR Reading test (formerly known as TAKS). Thanks a million TEA!

On this rainy Saturday morning I thought I'd post a fun poem about doing push-ups, but my google search led me instead to all kinds of push-up bras.  Victoria's Secret has one called Angels Air Push-up.  Of course we all know that underwire DOES NOT feel like angel air!

Following another rabbit trail, I discovered a rare book of poetry entitled Two Hundred Push-ups at the YMCA. I am sure this is where the perfect push-up poem is hiding!  For a mere $150 we could own our very own copy.  Alas, our meager teacher fitness dues alone cannot finance such a purchase. Perhaps we should pen a verse of our own?

Here's a stanza of inspiration from Rich Tola, Fat Burning Workout blogger:

Believe you can tighten
Believe you can win
Cause who better than you
Conquers that battle within

See you all Monday in the gym after a fun filled day of parent conferences. :)

Book Talk

Talking about books while exercising makes the workout more fun or less painful or something!  Sue, Donna, Kay, Denise, and Angela, what are you reading now?

Lynda is reading about her ancestors.
Dawn's family is from the same area.

Dee is reading this book and trying some of the recipes .

Jean is reading Hugo right now.
Trisha read it over the holidays.
Dee and Danna would like to read it soon.

Lynda and Dawn are reading this biography right now.
Dee read it over the holidays.  We enjoy using Apple products, but
are glad we didn't have to deal with Steve Jobs in person.

Barbara is reading this right now and
highly recommends it!

Trisha read this over the holidays.
Dee read it with her 5th graders
in the Fall.  It's a  must read.

Danna is reading about Taoist monks.   

Nancy is enjoying book two of the Game of Thrones fantasy series.

He Who Shall Not Be Named

Dawn is stylin' in her new workout garb!

The scintillating conversation of the week is about the SAG Awards.  No, we are not talking about saggy body parts!  It's the Screen Actors Guild picks for the best performances and movies for this year.  Danna is a member of SAG and got a ballot.  We gave unsolicited advice on the movies we had seen.  Everyone liked The Help.  The Descendants got mixed reviews.  Of course we know she WILL NOT be voting for HE WHO SHALL NOT BE NAMED.  He's nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries.

"Nice arms!"

The gang working glutes and triceps ... what multitaskers!

 Someday over the rainbow on a hot summer day in Austin when in desperation we are wearing spaghetti straps,  someone will notice our toned triceps and ask, "How did you get such nice arms?"

We will grin and reply, "Body by Danna!" Join us on Mondays and Fridays in the Bryker Woods gym.

Welcome to the fun Denise!

Panther Derby

Yes, it's true!  Trisha and Lynda will be playing their rookie game in the Texas Rollergirls against the Lonestar Rollergirls next month.  If you haven't had the cultural experience of attending a game, I highly recommend it.  Everyone should go once! 

Dee was disqualified at try-outs due to taking too long to put on her skates.

Nancy's gracefulness on skates led to the Rollergirls coach recommendation that she try out for the Olympic figure skating team. 

We can't wait until the skates come back to Bryker Woods next year!

12 in 2012!

I am excited to report that including Danna our numbers are up to 12, which is just perfect to kick off the year 2012.  Welcome Donna!  Welcome back to Sue!  Angela is back after a December hiatus.  Dawn is back after her short trip to Galveston over the holidays.  Barbara is back now that she has Casey safely married off.  (Ending a sentence with a preposition is wrong, right?) She even demonstrated the much talked about dance from the wedding.  Go Barbara! Lynda is back to keep us out of trouble, especially since TROUBLE is back. :)

Angela and Lynda show good form working their glutes or are they napping? Lynda's former husband Dan wondered if this was a kegel exercise?  Hmmm...perhaps a discussion for Monday's session? See you there at 3:45.