Such a FUNNY STORY!
One of so many very funny stories from my years of working in fitness. This one involves some swearing …. please go with it. Imagine the strongest Liverpool accent, and put yourself in that moment, in about 1995. All caused by The Plank – some people’s nemesis exercise….
The “Plank” is one of those exercises which, when you’re new to exercise, seems like the impossible. Its brilliant because it strengthens and streamlines almost the whole body. But I vividly remember the first time I huffed and puffed with it, trying to do it for the first time at a fitness convention some years back (before YouTube).
I used to go to those regularly – a whole 3 days of solid classes and lectures where Personal Trainers just like me got together to learn all the new ideas.
Tiring, but fun!
So I took the Plank exercise to my general public Classes during the 1990s ….
I was teaching a big busy Body Conditioning class at our local Leisure Centre, and a new lady was in the room. She had the most fabulous Liverpool accent, and a strident voice. We chatted at the start and all was well. I liked her immediately.
She got on with the class happily, doing all the impact and weights pretty well.
But then we went down to the floor.
What happened next …
I gave the instruction
” Lie flat face down on the floor”
Everybody silently did it.
I continued
“Put your elbows under your shoulders and push the floor away”
Everybody silently complied.
I increased intensity
“Try to pull your belly up – and your thighs too”
Everybody silently tried.
Finally
I coached the final move.
“Now dig your toes into the floor, brace your abs and try to lift the hips off the floor”
The silence in the class was punctuated by a loud EXCLAMATION from a voice at the back (guess who)
Are you taking the bl**dy P*s*????
Everybody – inlcuding me – collapsed to the floor in tucks. She had, in that one sentence, summed up the feelings in every single person’s head, which everyone else had been too polite to ask.
Brilliant! hahah
I only wish it was today and I could’ve snapped a picture!!
If you would like to learn to do Planks, and so much more, PROPERLY (and with some humour), please take a good look at On Demand Workouts with Noelle. “On Demand Workouts with Noelle” .
