Buff As You Wanna Be

Had a day today where it felt like I needed to end the day doing stuff on the ground... i.e. gettin' grounded :)

We’re still in the mighty Waikato and today we are playing “Panga” or Te Panga a Hina Marama.
Panga is a traditional Māori game/puzzle that I learned last summer while interning at Toi Tangata. Wiremu Sarich (a Youth Educator at Te Oranga – Te Runanga of Te Raukawa in Kaitaia) spent the day teaching a group of us about different games and the history of the area in and around Cable Bay, in the Far North. Here’s a link to an article I wrote about the day. http://toitangata.co.nz/2017/05/16/te-wananga-o-pohutukawa-with-wiremu-sarich/

Panga is a great game to play with "kids" of all ages (i.e. 5 – 55+++). It requires players to use balance, co-ordination, strategy, flexibility, mobility and competitiveness, to make their way through the puzzle pieces. There are 4 large circles for hands (Hina) and 4 smaller circles for feet (Pirori). Players start in the Marama (starting circle) and strategically bound, hop, cartwheel around the pirori/hina, landing in each only once and alternately. Hands-feet- hands- till you make your way back to the Marama. If you complete the puzzle, you get to rearrange it.
Each circle can only be entered once and a player can only enter a new circle once they have left the previous circle. Players can have a maximum of 2 grounding points (hands or feet).

Panga is basically a way cooler Māori version of Twister.
Today we made our puzzle pieces from leftover pipe-cleaners and long grass tied into circles, but last year we got fancy with weaved flax from Granddad’s place. You could use hula hoops/rope/etc. It’s a fun game for the summer that requires you to GET DOWN!

Here are some Heke kids doing the HEKE IHO!

Happy Tuesday (I mean Wednesday..is it Wednesday?) all the way from the Tron / H-Town / South South Auckland / Waikato.
Aunty Deb is on nephew-sitting duties and is taking the "get down" to new surfaces.
I haven't ice-skated for nigh-on 20 years... so long it seems I now say "nigh". I was never an "ice-skater" and have never been naturally good at sliding around on weird things (like skateboards, roller blades etc) but with a certain degree of co-ordination I usually get by ok (sort of). But after my 20+ year hiatus from the ice, I realised that interacting with such an unfamiliar surface takes a bit of getting used to. Hence, why I did a couple of laps clinging to the rails. Once I got the hang of the uncomfortable knife-shoes, I ventured out onto the ice and started to get the feel for sliding precariously on the ice while dodging falling children - I found out later on that so far there had only been one broken ankle and it was a 50+ year old woman who foresaw her fate but went ahead and had a go anyway - so badass!
I was so impressed to see how many kids out there had no idea what they were doing, fell time and time again, but just kept on getting up off the ground and sliding around some more on their dangerous knife-shoes. I watched an older woman, who later told me her last time on the ice was 40 years ago, she was skating with a couple of her grandkids (on the edges to begin with), but was out there as long as we were. Another couple of "middle aged" men were reliving their youth with some impressive graceful moves, followed by some even more impressive wipe outs. They were having such a blast skating around and jamming out to Bon Jovi.
What's the point? It was fun. It was bloody hard work. And we all fell down and got back up again. Some fell more than others, but they were also the ones who got up more than others.
Ps. I only fell once when I tried to selfie-film the chaos... I'll try to do better next time... in 2037 :)

Today I was a human lawn roller. Long story short*, I sowed some lawn seed (which is a complex process involving steps I mostly ignored) because the weeds I recently killed/pulled from the lawn were actually a large part of my actual lawn and now I have lots of bald spots... in the lawn :)
One of the final steps (that i didn't ignore), was to "lightly roll" or "heavily walk" the seed into the ground to ensure...something bad didn't happen??? I dunno. But I decided the "heavy walk" would be the option for me. Partly because it would be a great example of how we can get 5-10mins of diverse "incidental activity", instead of outsourcing the job to a piece of equipment... I also didn't have that piece of equipment so here we are.
This is me using a range of "heavy walking" techniques. We kinda stray from our "gettin off the ground" theme slightly, but thanks to some imagination you'll see that there's plenty of "gettin off the ground" in this clip to satisfy the brief (and I write the brief so I decide what satisfies the brief).
I don't expect you'll be wanting to sow lawn seed the hard way (which, by the way is a f****n hard job!
But my challenge to you is to think of an activity that you'd usually "outsource" to a piece of equipment, machine or advanced technology, and do it yourself... or do part of it yourself.
Check out Katy Bowman's Nutritious Movement, she takes the idea of movement even further in her book "Move your DNA". She's also doing her own version of the 12 Days of Xmas - but unfortunately for her she doesn't feature 2 dogs and a cat in her (much more sound and articulate) advice.
Enjoy the backing track and happy Friday! :)

* Turns out it wasn't a short story after all.

Happy day 3 of 12 days of Xmas. I'm too lazy to write you a blurb today... but I'll roll around the floor for a few minutes instead. Enjoy!

Here's some interesting stuff about "gettin down" as promised in yesterday's video...
A few years ago, a Brazilian researcher developed a simple sitting on the floor to standing test that may be a potential predictor of mortality. His participants were older adults 51-80 years, but the findings he reported in the European Journal of Preventative Cardiology, could be helpful for those still of us who have a few more years in our pocket. His test involved getting participants to sit on the floor and rise to standing (the way I show here on the video). Each time the participant touched a hand, elbow or knee to the floor, or pushed off their knee or side of their leg (also demonstrated), they received a point. The more points scored by a participant was associated with lower mortality (according to some sciencey stuff) – i.e. if you scored higher it was more likely you would be one of the dead fullas at the 6 year follow up, if you scored lower you were more likely to be still around playing bridge and saying inapropriate things at family get-togethers.

Now, this study was conducted with older adults; however, the implications regarding the application of musculoskeletal fitness and flexibility are relevant for all ages. Obviously, the SRT or sitting-rising test isn’t a magical life preserving longevity pill, but the components of physical fitness required to complete the task successfully (with as few points possible), could be that magic pill you’re looking for. That means you should do moving, physical activity, exercise stuff. AH HUH!

So, what do you do if you fail this test terribly and you are only 31? No, you are probably not going to die next week – but this could be a nice little incentive to give your future-older-adult-self a bit of an advantage by doing more and more diverse movey exercisey stuff. We know that with age, we begin to lose some of the good stuff we once had (muscle mass, flexibility, short-term memory and bladder control ☺ etc), so why not stack your hand and work on having a little more so that the potential decline is less significant? Also, this is a very handy Christmas day movement for getting into a prime opening-presents-under-the-tree-position.

Keeping in mind that some people are naturally more flexible, mobile and/or able to move certain ways, and some people train in ways that improve their ability to move this way – so take this little get-down-test with a grain of...whatever condiment you prefer. And just move!

Tune in tomorrow when I break down the get down... some more.

Ps. I'm pretty sure the short term memory and bladder control weren't part of the original study... But it's worth a crack :-)

Happy (it's less than 2 weeks til) Christmas. Cue the Buff As You Wanna Be 12 Days of Christmas Advent Calendar thingy whatsit. No big explanation today because I was a bit busy today graduating with a Master's degree in Health Science... no biggie ;-)
This year we are gettin' down... on the ground. Tomorrow, I'll explain why this simple-sounding movement / activity is sooo good. Plus for me, it's really fun because it means I can play with my dogs in really baggy Aladdin pants. Enjoy!