Nigerian Boarding School Experience: Core Workouts
Hi Bloggie!
I've been high on birthday celebration since last week o. This year, I'm claiming three weekends for my birthday. Na me biko 😎. I was working out to minimize the effect of birthday diet shenanigans when I finally noticed that I knew some moves long before I was interested in working out. I struggled with where my prior knowledge had come from and then it finally hit me... boarding school punishments. #Boardingschool
I had the privilege of going to both a mixed school and an all-girls school for secondary school. When it came to serving punishments from senior students, my mixed school was a correct learner compared to the all-girls school. And by learner, I mean there were barely any punishments. Luckily, your girl observed more than she served punishments. Phew! There are a ton of terrible punishments that have circulated in boarding school for years. As terrible as these were/are, they don’t take away the overall awesomeness of boarding school. We can talk about that one day. The punishments listed below, made me wonder how these ones found their ways to school. They are legit exercise moves o and I wonder if shouldn’t thank some seniors for strengthening my core. You tell me after you see the moves. 1.Hug Your Boyfriend aka Rear Leg Raises
I won’t lie this one has a cute name. When they first mentioned it to you, you were sure to be confused and said, “I don’t have a boyfriend here.” After the demonstration, you’ll know that you weren’t called in to play. Hugging your boyfriend meant you would look like this picture with your leg raised a little higher and your hands extended as though you were inviting an embrace. See how the name came about? Under the watchful gaze of senior pure evil, your legs, glutes, hands and core would be screaming for mercy! But working out, you can tap out within minutes and move to another workout or give up. Freedom is everything. 2.Pick a Pin aka Single Leg Deadlifts
This punishment was the medicine of choice in this school. It was a well-known and respected punishment sef. You surely wanted to avoid this one because your core had to be strong to see you through. It’s done exactly as in the picture except instead of all fingers on the floor, only your index finger can touch the floor.
If a senior girl forgot she was punishing you and you had the misfortune of being under punishment for long, your entire body turned to jelly. What if you weren’t being punished in your hostel? You’d have to crawl back. Boarding school life lesson: diversify your friends because you just never know when you’ll need to not crawl about campus. Without a doubt, your core and legs will feel this one.
3.Fly Your Arms aka Warrior Pose
This one can be done with a request to have you kneel or to remain standing with your arms flying (as in the picture). If you jammed the senior of all seniors, she’d have a T-square to keep your arms at 180° when your hands started to drop. Depending on if you were standing or kneeling, your core and/or your arms sang before and after you were released.
4.Search for a Pregnant Mosquito aka Shavasana
This was the best and easiest punishment you could serve. Although it required going under a designated bunk-bed to find a pregnant mosquito, we all know you can’t find such with your eyes alone (at least I can’t). If you’re like some of my friends, you’ll fall asleep while serving this punishment since you’re only lying down and looking up. Luckily, I never served this punishment for more than a minute. This position stretches your entire body and I’ve heard folks say one can easily fall asleep while doing Shavasana. Maybe my friends were doing something right that whole time 😊.
5.Agama Lizard aka Cobra
This one I guess is more like a to-MAH-to/to-MAY-to type of talk. Funny that the same move is named after two different animals but both are reptiles! As a Nigerian, I would rather do “Agama Lizard” than “Cobra.” As you can see in the photo, the lizard’s chest area isn’t touching the ground so that’s what the punishment emulates. As anyone who does cobra can testify, your core and abs will also testify after doing this exercise.
After making all these linkages, I wondered if I could hire any of the wicked seniors from those days to come be my trainer now😏.
This week, we’ll jam to El Dee’s "Transformer" because I wish I told some of those evil Naija seniors to go hug transformers 😎.
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