"Fifteen men on the dead man's chest, Yo, ho, ho, and a bottle of rum."

"We're working out like pirates, now!" says the captain of the...uh...er..training studio! We did indeed. Coach Hurst put me through a rigorous workout using club bells, and rings. We worked on compensatory movements, emphasizing the deltoids, lats, triceps, biceps, pecs, core, glutes, quads....wait....Let's just say that everything was worked! I laughed when Coach Hurst made the pirate comment, and then it REALLY made sense to me. The image and words that come to mind when I think 'pirate' are burly, gritty, gutsy, and adventurous. Oh..and I'll throw in the image of Johnny Depp (just for fun!)
Anyway, burly, gritty, gutsy, and adventurous...PERFECT description for this workout! What I am realizing is that the importance of integrating compensatory movements into a workout is sooo essential to balancing the body. I mean..it IS balance! Far too often have I seen one, or two major muscle groups "worked" rigorously. I've done it many times myself. Now, I see how this all leads to possible injury and an unbalanced body.
Our workout was tough today. Burly..check. Gritty...check(i was even using chalk for the ring portion of the workout!) Gutsy...check(um...anything that Coach Hurst introduces fits this description!) Adventurous...check(I've never done ring work before!) So, yeah...we were working it like pirates; and of all places...in Osaka, Japan!