At the gym

What started as a way to stay in shape was moved from behind Emma's quarters to the water well area. Nothing more than a bag of sand hanging from cross arms used for punching and pushing around, it serves a purpose. Then a home made bar bell was added. Kinda hard to change the weight........The barrel is for the younger ones to reach the cross arm.

I noticed from across the court yard the one with the orange vest using the "bar bells made with concrete" and tracked him down to get some pictures. Anytime I do that I can guarantee you there will be a crowd of friendly onlookers. This was no exception. That really put him on the spot and with good natured ribbing, his mates urged him on to put forth a massive effort that was almost there. Then Emma stepped in as the teacher and helped him with the technique to make it work.








After that Emma then demonstrated why he is so strong by lifting the bar bell without effort. Emma is Andee's right hand man for all the maintenance work around Hope House. He is extremely conscientious and tries very hard to make things work with limited resources such as using old tire inner tubes strips to warp around a leak in a water pipe. It stretches and seals quite effectively. We made a sign and hung it on his door..... "Rambo's Plumbing Service"




Anyway back to the gym. This pictures shows Emma doing an ABS sit up workout. Try that by holding your legs around the bar with your arms then do a sit up!

You can see the original sand bag hanging at the right of the cross arm. They say it is easier on the hands when punching if the sand is dry and loose versus being wet then dried out which makes it very hard.





Next another young man stepped up to show how he does his ABS work out. After first falling off the bar and shrugging off the laughter, he rubbed sand on the top of his feet for a better 'grip'
In this picture he is not holding on with his hands, he is actually doing a sit up with only his feet holding him on the bar.


Most everyone can get along fine without their flip flops for shoes. I have seen men digging a trench and leaving their flip flops off while working.

I hope you enjoyed this side of life at the Hope House where the little things are used to great effectiveness.

Pete