Swing Like a Monkey Again!

​When was the last time you swung around on the monkey bars? Recently, that's all I want to do when I get to the playground because my kids are now exploring and climbing the bigger play structures. My older son is just tall enough to reach some of the monkey bars. His younger brother tries to keep up. Both are eager to test their swinging, hanging and landing abilities.
Watching them, I couldn't help but get the bug to try the monkey bars myself one day, only to find myself letting go with defeat after swinging 1 or 2 bars forward. I felt a surge of envy and wonder as I watched some of the older kids swing effortlessly across. How is it that these kids can do this and I can't? Shouldn't I be stronger? Perhaps not. And strength isn't the whole story. Admittedly, I became a little obsessed with the monkey bars. Watching kids move naturally using their bodies to swing forward, I realized I needed more momentum rather than relying purely on upper body strength. After a few trials at the playground, I landed on with a sequence that starts with lower ab leg lifts to warm up because I needed my body to swing … like a monkey, of course.

1. Lower Ab Leg Lifts
Find any parallel bars that’s just wider than the width of your body such that your arms make a narrow upside V when you push yourself up with your feet off the ground. Arms straight, shoulders away from ears (think about squeezing your armpits).

1. Inhale: pull your belly button in, engaging your abs.
2. Exhale: breath out of your mouth and use your lower abs to initiate the movement to bring your legs forward and up. If you can bring them almost parallel to the ground, that’s great. If not, just bring them as high as you can. 
3. Inhale: hold the position.
4. Exhale: lower your legs to starting position with control
5. Repeat 5-10 times.

2. Reverse Pull Ups - Lowering
Find a single bar on the playground, preferably one where your feet can still touch the ground when you grab onto the bar with your hands. Grip the bars with your fingers pointing towards you. Keep your hands about shoulder width or a little wider. Hop yourself off the ground while engaging your biceps and lats to bring your chin above the bar. Shoulders away from your ears. 

1. Inhale: slowly lower your chin to below the bar. You don’t need to go all the way down to straight arms.
2. Exhale: bring your chin up above the bar to starting position. You will feel the work in your biceps, however, engage your lats (feels like your squeezing your shoulder blades together) to start building upper back strength.
3. Repeat 3-5 times.

3. Swing Like a Monkey
Find a monkey bar and get swinging. Just have fun and try different variations to get as far as you can. Below is just a few things I do to enjoy this more.

1. Take off any rings because they tend to pinch the base of my fingers with the friction from the bars.
2. I try to start off with a big swing forward and keep the momentum.
3. I bend my knees to shorten the bottom lever on my body.

​When I got across the monkey bar on that particular day when I tried this sequence, I truly felt like a kid again. A swell of happiness and confidence filled my chest as I landed on the platform on the other side from where I started. I imagine that's how kids feel when they accomplish something by themselves for the first time. We were all kids once and have had that experience. It's nice to bring it back once in a while, especially when it comes to moving our bodies. Now I want to keep trying to see if I can repeat it.
​
Next time you're at the playground, join your kids at the monkey bars and get swinging! Have fun!