Free Fitness Movement. All you need to do is show up!
As is traditional ’round these parts, we took part in the annual December 21st urban backpacking festival. And I think, as is traditional, the best way to describe what took place is as follows:
‘Twas the morning of the 21st, when all through the city
About 50-odd creatures were stirring as they prepped to get fit-y;
Their backpacks were donned on their backs, by their hair,
And they hoped they’d soon get to take those off of there;
They show up.
They not only push themselves with cold, logical determination, they carry the rest of the tribe to higher altitudes of greatness. Every encounter with them leaves you encouraged, happy really.
Infectious positivity, quiet or loud, others notice their hearts of gold.
Many of our Tribe members embody this character, and we are lucky to have you show up with us each Wednesday.
Welcome to the club all you diehards! The single digits club was bumpin’ today in Indy with awesome showings at both workouts! Indy’s first good snow of the season brought with it our first deep freeze. But that didn’t stop the masses from #justshowup – ing.
7 degrees (that’s -14 in whatever wacky temperature measuring method you Canadians use up there; I mean, what kind of sense does it make having 0 mark freezing?!?! 32: much more logical) was the consensus on a couple phone apps, but we’ll go with 3 degrees (-16 Can-a-dia) because Howard Monroe says so; he’s got that direct weatherman connection. Either way, that’s one WinterWeatherProofSingleDigit Tag earned for everyone at the workouts today!
Four simple words. Numerous iterations of a classic. Maybe you’re a purist and love the Dean Martin version, maybe you’re more contemporary and dig the Jessica Simpson version — or maybe you ABSOLUTELY LIVE FOR the Will Ferrell-Zoey Deschanel version from Elf.
I’m not here to tell you which version is the best (it’s the Jimmy Buffett one, OBVIOUSLY). I AM here to present you with an alternative to this holiday classic. Suspend belief for five minutes, imagine I have a good singing voice, and listen to the NP version:
Well, the workout was tough this morning, not because of the burpees, not because of the wall-sits, not because of the heft of the flannel, not even because of the cold. It was tough because so many of us were dressed up like lumberjacks that the ESPN cameras and onlooking diehard fans and folks needing trees chopped down just kept getting in the way. We did our best to alleviate that problem, citing Mr. David Chappelle: “Just because I’m dressed this way does not make me a [lumberjack].” Appropriate person/stand-up act to cite here? You be the judge . . . but the answer is definitely no; I’m not even going to hyperlink the feed to that clip, though if you were to look it up, the word lumberjack may or may not have replaced the words “police officer” . . . maybe, maybe not; I won’t say. Aaaaanyway, the important stuff is below.
-JoeyMac rockin’ to the rhythm of the rain like a true Judd-
“Well the weather outside was frightful, but the fire J-Keys lit under everyone’s asses was so” . . . well, that was frightful too, but it sure as hell got us moving (looking at you Ja’Shawn . . . nice work today)! Wrong holiday, right idea. Thanksgiving too often gets overlooked in stores and themes, so it’s comforting to know that Shaw can always dish out a soothing festive song like “The Gobble”, which inspired the below “piece” . . . .
Tomorrow’s our big screening of the Dooster made film “Showing Up” powered by The North Face. The film highlights eight November Project tribe members from around the world and how November Project has impacted their lives. As we learn about these amazing individuals, most of whom we have never even met, we also want to highlight some of the beautiful people we see each week at NP Indy.
Louis Armstrong had it fucking right you guys, we do live in a wonderful world. My world is made all the more wonderful every Monday, Wednesday and Friday BECAUSE of November Project. If you’re pissed, if you’re devastated, if you’re elated – JUST SHOW UP, we’ll be there and I GUARANTEE you will feel better leaving than you did when you arrived (endorphins, man).
The results are in . . . fun was had by all at NP here in Indy this morning (and at a hell of a good price I might add)!
We had plenty of groggy faces still recovering from contentious races, but we made due with heightened energy, hugs upon hugs, and of course free as can be fitness! Despite the economy, despite the rhetoric, despite the political mortal combat, NP always stands firm based on a solid, unshakable platform of free fitness and a sense of community for the masses! I think that’s a platform nearly everyone can stand on.
For several months, November Project Hong Kong (formerly #justshowuphk) has been quietly building a community around a simple phrase: “Just show up.” We started with a rag-tag bunch of Sun Yat Sen Park wanderers, work colleagues, and peer pressured friends with a few things to prove: that there is a reason for Hongkongers to be awake before 7am, that hugs or high fives are an acceptable form of greeting, and that #freefitness is eating the world.
Just like the other pledges, we spammed our social feeds, solicited co-workers and schemed our way into local publications. More and more, we became pretty obsessed with the numbers in the pictures and the fans on facebook. Maybe we (I) became so concerned with growth that we weren’t aware as we could have been of the development of a group that has come to define its name. Finally, there was a transition and the people who just showed up became a tribe and that was right about the time we became #32.
Lisa, Rebecca, and I have been are happy and proud to see individuals, and a group as a whole, accept the norms of inclusion, positivity, and cohesion. We regularly enjoy representation from over a dozen countries with a wide array of “how I ended up in Hong Kong” stories. And the best part about it is that all we have to do to enjoy it is show up.
