We’ve all encountered the extremes the weather has thrown at us over the past few weeks. Today was a day those of us associated with Hopebuilder had been looking forward to. Dufresne had a collapsed lung over the holidays and following an extended stay in the hospital, he returned home. We paused the workouts, but kept coming to visit. Today started with a tornado watch, driving rain, a severe thunderstorm warning, and by the time 4:00 pm arrived, the clouds parted, the sun emerged, and it felt like spring had officially arrived. The hope of spring…
The PAX gathered in the foyer, discussed the plan…focus on exercises and form, low reps, building on Dufresne’s strengths. We charged the stairs to find a smiling face waiting for us. That smile is what we’d all be looking for.
MAdolphus was alongside to guide us, a professional PT, and a fellow Hopebuilder.
THE THANG:
Leg Press x 5 alternating
Leg Pushes x 5 alternating (leg straight, foot pushing again spotters leg)
Leg Rolls x 5 alternating
Checking the Animal for Weapons x 10
Arm Pushes x 5 alternating (arm straight, hand pushing against spotters hand)
Pile Drivers x 10
Pushing Down x 10 (elbows pushing down, being careful to support the shoulders)
Milking the Cow x 10 alternating (foam tube with hand squeezes)
At this point Dufresne wanted to do some other exercises and we couldn’t figure out what we were missing. We pulled out the board and Dufresne spelled B-A-N-D. Oh, right!
Tricep Extensions (rubber band held above, hands held in grips, hands pushed toward floor) x 5
Arm Extensions (rubber band held above, arms held out straight, arms pushed toward floor) x 5
Thanks to MAdolphus and her guidance, we incorporated tapping to support the exercises (as technical as it sounds, you tap on the muscles being used to stimulate them).
COT:
Fazio led us out in prayer and it was a strong one. Well done Dufresne! A huge thanks to Adolphus and MAdolphus for bringing expertise to help us help Dufresne. It was good to be back. To see Dufresne, to exercise with him, to see him smile was a beautiful thing. Speaking of smiles, the biggest smile of the day came from Dufresne when he saw Adolphus’s youngest 2.0, carried by Adolphus. It didn’t go unnoticed by any of us that the clouds parted and the sun came shining through as we all arrived.
