So this one shot is based on an actual assignment for my HOPE class in homeschooling. My teacher overall said it was very funny and I really did a great job on this. So now it's your turn to read it and see what it's like for Gingka and his friends to experience YMCA workouts! XD
Enjoy! :D
Note: the fitness equipment pics are not shown.
HOPE Muscualr and Flexibilty project
Madoka thought of an easier way to go to the gym. Although she wasn't aware of all of the special coupons that have been sent to her email, she always ignored them long since now. Maybe they could be useful. Maybe not to her long time friend and partner, Gingka. Or maybe his friends. This all concluded that one of the ads which happened to be YMCA caught her eye. Of course, why not? She always liked to go there with her 12 year old daughter, Jasmine, who also liked it.
Maybe today was a really good day to go there since she had some struggles with a few muscle exercises but you could say that time was the problem. Her schedule was not in a rush but just normal. But there was a little gap in her schedule that consisted of a little work out. And she wanted it to be done today.
A quick phone call made Gingka and his friends join in.
"Why YMCA?" Masamune questioned, while he fiddled with his yo-yo, entirely keeping it in a tangled mess, which did not impress Tsubasa at all.
"I saw it as an ad in my email guys." Madoka reasoned as she opened the door to the gym part of YMCA. "This is just a quick work out, then we'll do whatever you guys want, okay?"
"But Madoka, I'm here to play soccer, not have a time wasting work out with a useless girl." Gingka said, trying to catch up with her.
"Yeah." agreed Yu, probably the shortest of them all, "I thought we were gonna hang out at Oaks Mall or something."
This was getting too much for Madoka. "Guys! Listen!"
Tsubasa, who was the quietest of them all, gave out an hmph and continued to read his pocket book, ignoring the slight talk of doing other things.
"This is just to test your struggles throughout the body such as 'I can't touch my toes'-…"
"Easy." Gingka cut her mid quote and demonstrated the action, "Like this."
His hands almost accomplished knee level.
All of his friends did an sweatdrop plus anime fall except for Madoka, who was not satisfied with Gingka's result of touching his toes.
"This is why we're here! To work more on our skills on our work out, okay!?" Madoka hollered it all out.
"Yes, we have it Madoka." Yu nervously whispered as they all entered the gym. The first person to be there was a girl. She was about Madoka's height, with black straight/curly hair, a gleaming face, and a YMCA lanyard hung around her neck her name tag read Isabella Gary.
"Hey guys, thanks for coming!" she greeted as she kindly held out a hand of informational brochures to everybody.
"OMG! It's Isabella Gary! The fake scammer!" Gingka shouted as he made quick run for the door only for a very large hand of Benkei's to grab his scarf.
"And where do you think you're going, Gingka?" Benkei playfully warned as he set him down next to Madoka, who in return gave out a hard look. Blushing, he turned again to face Isabella.
"Okay, listen, the reason why Madoka has called you guys-…"
"Uh, it was actually me who did it." Gingka raised his hand to kindly correct her.
"-Well, actually him-…"
"Gingka."
"Okay, Gingka." She gave out a laugh, "Well, when I partnered up with YMCA, I was supposed to be lead team in fitness workouts that daily deals with fitness routines and workouts when we all ran out of equipment that belonged to greater gyms across Florida. So I'm not trying to brag about spending your money on expensive equipment but if you can please get us some of them that are 25 dollars or less. We actually have 25 dollars in debt and I suggest that you and YMCA get the best equipment for a cheap price. Say, who's up for it?"
Madoka liked the idea, plus Gingka, who nodded in agreement. Tsubasa decided not to say anything since he didn't want to confess to his friends that it was Yu who was wasting his money on constantly buying ice cream for the little one.
The rest of them tilted their heads in an ok manner, thinking that the idea was too neutral.
Isabella clapped her hands once in as a signal, "Okay, guys, I will assign you guys a certain time on your schedules on when to arrive and it will be almost an every day period. Sound okay?"
Yu nervously raised his hand, "But why every day?"
She paused by the projector while humming in thought, "So that we can train work more on your weaker areas of movement and muscle flexibility."
Smiling at him, Yu gave out nod of agreement then started talking to Masamune, who playfully flicked the yo-yo at his head, the thing bouncing back in a knock out.
"Man, what about soccer then?" Gingka sighed as he was slowly comforted by Madoka.
"Aw it's okay, Gingka. This is just a quick class to improve your strengths in important fields of work out." Madoka softly replied as she gave a smile towards his direction.
"Hmm, yeah." Sighing, he tried to give out a normal face as Isabella brought up a slide show regarding about safety rules before starting a work out.
"It's always important to follow these before you always start a workout."
Moving out of the way, she proceeded to let her audience of teens study and read about the safety guidelines:
Safety Guidelines
-Never continue if you feel any pain
-Never exercise a certain muscle group everyday, make sure you give your muscles time to rest.
-Never lift more than you can safely.
-Never wear clothes that restrict your movement.
-Never overstretch or over lift, it will do more harm then help.
-Always warm up with a light cardiovascular activity beforehand.
-Always use proper lifting technique.
-Always breathe correctly.
-Always train to have muscle balance.
-Always control the weight when lifting.
-Research how to correctly do each exercise from a reliable source before starting and make sure you have proper body alignment at all times.
"You guys got it?" Isabella reassured them as they shook they're heads to acknowledge her 'yes, we got it'
"Awesome. Here is the next slide."
"FITT principles?" Yu wondered as Tsubasa softly sighed and began reading his pocket book for multi tasking.
"Correct and if you see this slide, you'll understand more about it."
SPORT/FITT principles
Specificity
Training should be designed to meet a specific need.
Increase Flexibility Example: You want to increase the range of motion in your shoulder (deltoid) muscles.
Increase Muscular Condition Example: You want to improve your muscular endurance in your shoulder (deltoid) muscles.
Progression
Training should start slowly and gradually.
Increase Flexibility Example: Your shoulder stretches will be performed slowly and gradually become more challenging.
Increase Muscular Condition Example: You will perform shoulder shrugs as part of your muscular fitness routine and gradually increase the challenge of this activity.
Overload
Training should require you to do more than you normally do.
Apply the principle of Overload by changing the Frequency, Intensity, Time and/or Type (FITT) of activity you perform:
Frequency: How often you perform the activity. Increase Flexibility Example: In week one, you will stretch three times per week and gradually work up to stretching five days per week. Increase Muscular Condition Example: In week one, you do shoulder shrugs two times per week and gradually work up to three times per week over a four week period.
Intensity: How intensely you perform the activity. Increase Flexibility Example: As your flexibility increases you will gently extend how far you hold your shoulder stretches. Increase Muscular Condition Example: In week one you will use three pound weights and gradually work up to eight pound weights over a four week period.
Time: The duration of your activity. Increase Flexibility Example: You will start by holding your shoulder stretch for 20 seconds and gradually work your way up to 40 second holds over a four week period. Increase Muscular Condition Example: In week one, you will attempt to do eight repetitions and gradually work up to 12 to 18 repetitions over a four week period.
Type: The type of activity you perform. Increase Flexibility Example: You will also perform some chest and back stretches to further enhance the flexibility in these related and connected muscle groups. Increase Muscular Condition Example: You will also incorporate some push-ups into your routine.
Reversibility
Training should continue or you will reverse your improvement.
Increase Flexibility Example: You must continue to stretch or your improvements will reverse. Increase Muscular Condition Example: You must continue to perform muscular training exercises or your improvements will reverse.
Tedium
Training should include a variety of activities to avoid boredom.
Increase Flexibility Example: You will try some yoga poses that incorporate shoulder stretches. Increase Muscular Condition Example: You will also swim laps in the pool and use the water as resistance.
"Whoa, sounds easy." Gingka said as he gave out a blushing smile towards Isabella, who in return, laughed. Madoka, seeing this with silent fume, proceeded to pinch the redhead on the arm. Just as if a bee had stung his butt, Gingka shifted un comfy in his seat all while giving out a soft yelp.
Isabella now stopped talking and stared at the two as if they were now a happy couple.
"Are you guys okay?" she asked, concern glinting in her eyes.
"Uh." Gingka started, unaware of the situation about to be embarrassing or awkward for that matter. Instead Madoka volunteered to say it, "Well, it was just something Gingka said that was not appropriate for the work out."
"Ohhhkayy." Isabella dragged the word as if it was really awkward to her! XD
"Well, then moving on. Here are the most IMPORTANT things to own and use while doing a work out. These things will boost your strength and ability to do workouts even more and faster against the clock. Here are some equipment that I highly suggest you guys to use."
Isabella started reading off of the slide:
"Dumbbells are great for a variety of exercises. They are easy to carry, offer a great range of motion and are a compact size. You need to ensure you have proper alignment when using dumbbells to avoid injury. I would suggest either home made or store bought because they both work out excellent for this product.
Store Bought: The dumbbells to the left cost $7.00 each, for a total of $14.00. They are 5lbs each for a total of 10lbs resistance when you have 1 in each hand. These are some of the cheapest dumbbells you will find but they are very durable and will last you as long as you need them to.
Home Made: To make your own dumbbells take an empty milk carton and fill it up with water to create weights. To make your water jug 5lbs you add 80 oz. of water. If you do this to two jugs then you will have a set of dumbbells each 5 lbs for a total resistance of 10 lbs when you have 1 in each hand for free instead of the $14.00 +tax it would cost you at the store. Instead of a milk carton you can also use shampoo bottles and other containers you have lying around the house."
"Pff!" Masamune scoffed, "Why would anyone buy those if you can make your own home made ones? I made my own grip launcher by using pencil and pens."
Yu started laughing, Masamune didn't find this funny.
"What's funny Yu!?" he demanded with fury.
"Masamoo moo, you seriously created your own grip launcher using pencil and pens!? Real bladers don't use that!" he proceeded to laugh even more.
Masamune sprung out of his seat, getting even more frustrated.
Tsubasa sighed.
"Guys, guys!" both Isabella and Madoka separated them and into their seats, "Were not here to start a fight and argue with each other, okay? Were here to workout, alright?"
Both of them nodded in understanding although they continued warily staring at each other, one finding it funny, the other not.
"Continuing on, here is the next one."
"Leg Weights are used mainly for exercising the leg muscles however they can also be used anytime just to add a bit more resistance to any event. They are extremely compact and easy to use. I would suggest store bought because the homemade are ineffective and hard to keep on. They hardly add any weight and for the variety of what they can be used for, it is best to spend some of your $25 on these leg weights.
Store Bought: The leg weights to the left cost $13.00 for the pair of them. They are 3lbs each for a total resistance of 6lbs resistance when you have 1 on each leg.
Home Made: To make your own leg weights you can tie mini bean bags to your legs with ribbon. These are hardly as effective and are extremely hard to stay on, especially while working out. I would not suggest homemade leg weights."
"Whoa, imagine if I had to use those when launching Pegasus. I won't even have a good aim!" Gingka commented as Madoka reassured him, "Gingka, this is workout class, not Beyblade. Besides, who would even wear those while launching your top?"
"Oh yeah." Gingka realized.
"Next are steps" Isabella said as she moved onto the next slide.
"Steps are used for both calf exercises and for balance while doing other exercises. They are kind of compact and very easy to use. I would highly suggest home made because a raised platform is extremely expensive and it is extremely easy to find in your home.
Store Bought: The stair step above is $40.00, which is way out of budget. I would not suggest buying this at a store at all.
Home Made: A raised platform is very easy to find in your house. It can be anything from a chair to a step on your stairs. My personal favorite is a step on your stairs because it fits every description needed and usually has a hand rail by it for balance and safety."
"That kind of looks like a Wii fit board." Gingka pointed out.
Isabella double checked before she blushed, "It does!" she then gave out a short laugh.
"Now for this equipment, you don't have to buy it because it's already in you."
"Whoa, really?" Yu nervously wondered.
"Yup and it's all in your body weight."
"Body weight is always free and is impossible to buy at a store! It goes with you everywhere and can be used in many different exercises. When using your own body weight, make sure you have proper alignment or you could have traumatic injuries."
"Last but not least, here is a daily table that we must follow in order to accomplish you guy's goals."
"Aw c'mon! I have soccer on those days!" Gingka whiningly complained. His soft tantrum caused him to receive yet another pinch from Madoka.
"It's fine. I'm sure you'll find time for both." Isabella reassured as she placed up the next slide.
"The table you saw earlier was Flexibility. This one is Muscular."
Everybody except for Madoka and Tsubasa groaned with frustrating complaints.
"Aw, c'mon! You're killing us!" Yu shouted.
"Screw that, I'm heading back to Bull Burger!" Benkei said.
"Aw, Ben Ben, this class is good for you." Yu suddenly changed his expression of manner, "I already see that you'll look much better than yo yo."
"Whatever you say, Yu. I'll do it." The bull blader promised as both of them got their attention back to Isabella, who was smiling and waving her hands above her head to get attention.
"Since that you now know what to do, please help us get our equipment back and maybe after these days I might find you guys improved on your work out skills. After that done, I'm going to write out a small note to the YMCA HQ about my class."
Description of Classes overall health:
My class participants have a good overall health. Many of them have strong upper body strength and a moderate strength on the legs. They lack a core body and abdominal strength and have very low levels of flexibility. They need the most amount of work in flexibility. Since I have taught them more than they need to, it was quite fun and impressive to watch them work hard and train themselves into a (what they call strong 'blader') We have successfully achieved our goal by raising 25 dollars from the horrible debt and are successful to get our high equipment back. Thanks again, Isabella Gary, head fitness instructor of YMCA of Winter Park. :)
Bonus ending:
"Woo! I feel like a man again!" Benkei cheered as he smiled towards Yu's quote earlier. They all now hung out at the B-pit together after days of accomplishing their classes day by day.
"I told you'd look much better than yo-yo!" Yu laughed.
"Just wait until Kyoya sees this! Ooh! I can't wait to his reaction about me!"
"Madoka?" Gingka shakily said, constantly wobbling over his feet, "I feel as if I have more kicking power in my legs for soccer and more launching power in arms for blading."
Madoka chuckled at that, "Right you are Gingka."
"Woah, I feel as if I can flick my yo-yo towards Yu's head." Masamune said as he really did it. And the Libra blader was down in a knock out.
"Oh." Was all he could say as his friends started staring at him hard. "Uh, it was an accident used by my own strength?"
LOLZ. The end. XD
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