The Art of Sally

Play can show up anywhere - in any guise

I’m going to start this blog with a brag.  I go to the gym. Regularly.  I say that with smug pride because I am somebody who never does ANYTHING regularly.  Particularly going to the gym.  As someone who's an experience junkie and whose mind rolls in a million directions at once – the thought of doing the same thing with small variations.. over and over. Gave me the ick.

And  I discovered MetCon Classes.

For those that don’t know (or don’t care… let’s be fair), it’s the exercise hero for a bunch of Mamma Mia articles and Sun Herald’s ‘Here’s how to avoid ageing’ regimes.  It’s Metabolic Conditioning.  Ask Chat GPT to do the rest of the health benefit description for you, but it involves weights, kettlebells, squats, push-ups and other stuff.   There. That’s a pretty good description. You arrive, the workout is written on the board, and off you go!

Anyway, my gym across the road is filled with not only great classes but fun people. Devoid of pouts and mirrors, these classes are filled with people ages 20 to 70 of all sizes and all abilities, and they are a refreshing take on some of the muscle meat impressions you get from other gyms.

And yet, the classes themselves are fairly solitary. You challenge yourself, and get the work done kind of classes.  Good. Effective. And always a friendly social aspect to keep any cramping limbs at bay.

However…. The other day I came to class, and only one word, ‘Sally’, was written on the board.

In a single word, our instructor had managed to create a field of ludic space and bring play to a seemingly playless environment.

Firstly – we had ANTICIPATION.

The room filled with excitement.  People who’d experienced ‘Sally’ groaning and yet anxiously excited.  Those new to the process gabbling with each other ‘I’ve never done Sally.  Have you done Sally?  What do you need for Sally? What’s a Sally?’

 The room squawked with an excited edge that had been lacking in many of the other classes as people debated, ‘Do I need an 8kg bell? 12? What’s better?’

Then – the reveal  – SURPRISE

We were informed that ‘Sally’ is a song, and we were to squat, holding kettlebells up and down to the music lyrics.. attempting to stay in for the whole song. (the song is here..you’ll see what I mean about the Sally goes ‘up’, Sally goes ‘down’ lyrics)

Then – POISE

Our collective response: to squeal with nervous anticipation but also hold ourselves together as we pretended that united, as a group,  we weren’t afraid of squatting to some ‘silly old song’. Bring it – we challenged as we helped each other find the perfect weight and became a collective of US vs SONG.

Then we found our  – STRENGTH

Like when a roller-coaster dips over that first rise, so too did we as the intro to the song began. Twenty or so of us breathed in unison as we waited for our first challenge: strong of mind and strong of body. It was only one song. We could do this. The positive affirmations outweighing the underlying fear and trepidation.

Suddenly – UNDERSTANDING

As we work through the second chorus and the verse, it suddenly becomes very real that there is a lot more of this song to go!  Nervous giggles,  a few outbursts of supportive ‘c’mon, we’ve got this’ and then the odd groan or expletive (ok, truth told, I’m the main ‘expleter’ in the class, for some reason, I have this deep psychological belief that if I shout out filthy words while I workout, it will make it all easier. It’s as if I’m channelling the inner villain in me).

And when it’s finished – PLEASURE.

As the song came to a halt and we all reached the end, the dopamine hit of achieving our goal was noticeable.  My legs were like jelly,  and interestingly, although I work hard at most gym sessions, very rarely do I become like so jelly-like… I had been spurred on by the challenge and by the sense of play.

Scott Eberle notes there are 6 elements of play—and in one gym session, we’d hit them all. Often, people question the validity of purposeful play and whether there are environments where the touted skills don’t align. I don’t believe there is. With thought and good design, thoughtful, purposeful play can advance any activity, connection, or situation.

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And I’d like to add my own – novelty.

If we did the ‘Sally’ workout every Monday, the habitual nature of what we did would take over, and it would lose its enigma; however, when we break routine – step outside ourselves and approach things differently,  it just… works…

And if you look hard enough, you’ll see its magic in all nooks and crannies – even squashed between sweat beads and kettlebells in a magic, unity class.

See you at the gym.