Why a Lava Blog

Okay. It occurred to me today that, though I felt it a good idea to have a lava blog, I was not sure why. So here it is. The essence of lava is getting together and watching other people complete challenges you wouldn't have guessed yourself able to overcome, only to find, after their success, that you too are motivated beyond your limits. It's that terrible and terrific now-I-have-to-ness that makes the whole thing so much more interesting than repetitive workouts. Competitive? Ish. More like iron sharpening iron, or in most of our cases, refrigerated butter trying to transmogrify (boink) into nondairy alloys.

What does this have to do with a blog? Well, a lot of the people I have played lava with live in a lot of places now. And it makes it a lot harder to get challenged by their strengths. Enter the interwebs. What I think I want most here is to post stories/photos/videos/psychic transmissions of peoples successes so that we can all get inspired and jealous. So send them in. Yesterday. Or I will start because that makes sense. But tomorrow. That is when I will start. Because I have not taken any videos and it is strange how long it takes to type a couple of hundred words. On the other hand, here is today's move of the day

Jumpstick

Jumpstick – The jumpstick is an aerial transfer from any originating surface to a suitably graspable pole or tree. Composed of two parts, the jump (surprise) is self-explanatory, while the stick requires a bit of elaboration. To adhere to a pole, a lavaist must jump in such a way as to contact the pole with one foot while wrapping arms or hands around the in order to create a crow's nest (see yesterday's post). This will require absorbing the momentum of the jump with the contacting foot just enough to stop the body in the proper position for the clamp. On narrower poles like those of swing sets and some jungle gym verticles, it is best to approach with a sideways or surf-like stance to get the most foot contact, and on angled poles sometimes two feet are required. The most difficult hurdle to overcome with the jumpstick is actually psychological, as it appears to most nonpracticioners an invitation for a busted jewel case or a mouthful of teeth, when in fact you will (mostly) only ever bruise or chip these areas.