Ask GiryaGirl: What’s MonkeyBarMonday? What’s an EMOM workout? and Some Small Questions

What’s all this MONDAY Monkey Business??!?

Monkey Bar Monday, aka #MonkeyBarMonday or #MBM started on a total whim several months ago. As usual I’d had quite a lot of espresso and decided to walk over to a small park where some monkey bars were gloriously empty… and it was Monday. And Monday and Monkey start with M… which makes it catch enough to turn into a hashtag. While it has not caught on in a widespread way yet, it does really seem to have some devoted fans AND a few participants out there too. Basically if monkey bars are available I’ll do something on them, or if they aren’t I’ll try to do some kind of monkey bar or pull up bar inspired move or calistenics combination on them… on a Monday. Those are the few rules.

Today’s #MonkeyBarMonday had to happen indoors as we’re still dealing with the rainy soggy thundery aftermath of the remnants of Tropical Storm Erika… So I decided to think up a monkey bar like “challenge” for the indoor pull up bar firmly installed in the hallway.  ONLY to be tried on a sturdy pull up bar as you might swing around… I wouldn’t dare try this on one of those doorway pull up bars for instance.  Most of the time I put them on my YouTube channel 🙂 Do you have a Monkey Bar Monday video to share? Be sure to link to it in the comments (I have to moderate any comments with links but if your video link works and is on topic the I’ll approve it as soon as I can!)

What’s an EMOM workout?

Since helping Mike Krivka with Code Name: Indestructibe I’ve become aware of the EMOM style workout.  I hear this is something fairly common to CrossFitters but I wasn’t familiar with it before chatting with Mike about some of his workouts.  Basically it stands for “Every Minute On the Minute” So… generally you’ll pick a period of time (8 minutes, 12, 10, or some crazy people will go as long as 30 minutes… I once did 1 weighted pull up on the minute every minute for 20 minutes for a “fun time”).   The next thing is to select a small handful of exercises and reps.  You want to be able to complete the reps well before the 1 minute is out, because what’s left of that minute is your rest time.  You’ll notice as the workout progresses, this will get more challenging as these rests will naturally get shorter!!!

Here’s an example from last week’s kettlebell small group.  Now, if this doesn’t seem difficult enough for you, you can always adjust the reps.  Considering that it was a heat index of 110 degrees with 110% humidity (hahaha) this workout was especially brutal, considering how innocent it may seem here:

The Workout…
We started with joint mobility and the Convict Conditioning Vol 2 “Trifecta” then did some warm up get-ups (kettlebell optional) 3 on each side.

First “EMOM” we set the timer to chime on the minute every minute for 10 minutes… and at the top of every minute we completed the following:

• 4 Jump Squats (bodyweight only)
• 10 moderate to heavy kettlebell swings
• 4 Sitouts (check out this post for more info and a how to video)

After some much needed water, I shared the “bad news” that there was another combination!!

Second “EMOM” we set the timer to chime on the minute every minute for 8 minutes… at the top of every minute we completed the following:

• 10 alternating lunges (forward or backwards, with or without kettlebell)
• 2/2 heavy kettlebell rows
• 1/1 heavy kettlebell cleans

We ended with several friendly bouts of plank tug-o-war (get in a plank position, grab a rope with one hand (keep that elbow off the ground!) while your opponent does the same, who ever has to put that elbow back on the ground first is not the winner!  The winner then moves to the next challenger.  Anyone not actively engaged in the tug o war will be doing their choice of related core exercises (hollow rock, tuck ups, etc) until someone’s elbow hits the ground (do this on grass or mats, please!)

Small Questions:

Q: What did you have for breakfast?

A: I don’t want to put too much out there about my unconventional schedule (it goes against pretty much anything written out there about “success and productivity”) But I don’t so much do breakfast as I do brunch.  I take care of what needs to be taken care of and then usually make some kind of crazy huge omelet.  For example here’s the one that happened recently: Browned 1/4 bell pepper and 1/4 large white onion then added 4 beaten organic free range eggs, topped with cubed avocado, roasted salsa, about 1/4 cup organic pastured sour cream, and some cilantro.  As a general FYI the workout from the night before involved at least 5 significantly long farmer’s walks while carrying 150lbs each time… and of course a bunch of other stuff too. SO I woke up hungry even after a pretty big dinenr.  I’ll also make omelets whenever I can’t really make up my mind about what to eat, or if the ingredients for something particularly good seem to be hanging around the fridge.  Spinach, onion, oregano, eggs, goat cheese is a regular lunch item around here.

Q: How much does THAT weigh?!

A: It’s funny the assumptions folks make about the items my friends and I use, or that we use with the kettlebell small group.  There must be something on tv with people flinging around pieces of plastic because people are often surprised to find out exactly how much even “those little ones there” weigh.  I have a representative of nearly every kettlebell that Dragon Door makes, the teeny tiniest one being the 10lb ones that “live” over in the mobility corner with things like Indian clubs and such. The ones we typically work out with when people ask range from (12kg) 26lbs up to (32kg)70lbs and beyond (gotta have The Beast! The 48kg!) The newer ones which are still reasonably shiny and not immediately recognizable as solid iron seem to cause the most cognitive dissonance… well, along with the fact that the general public is not always ready to visually process a petite woman putting over 50lbs overhead with one hand over and over again. “uhhh I just realized that’s not like plastic or something…” 🙂 🙂 That’s right and we can teach you how as well!