At this past YogaSlacker's Teacher Training we had the privilege of training with and teaching to an amazing group of humans. As part of the training, Jason and I usually head up the conditioning part of the day. In our daily lives, we are always looking to change up our practices and get the stoke level up higher for our workouts.
During the Outdoor Retailer Show this summer, Jason happened to walk by the Nuun Hydration booth as they were blasting "Flower" by Moby and doing a very fun and brutal looking workout to the lyrics of the song. Like most of Moby's work, the song uses samples from an old plantation work song called "Green Sally Up". A quick internet search will tell you all about the origins of the song, and the original meanings that are steeped in slave culture, and keeping kids occupied. Most historians agree that the kids were actually supposed to squat and then jump up as instructed - in short it was a workout/play song for them.
Jason couldn't resist and jumped in with the group. When ever the lyrics would say "Green Sally up" (sounds just like Bring Sally Up!) they went up, and when they said "Bring Sally down" they would hold the bottom of the squat. After 3 and half minutes Jason's butt and inner thighs were on fire. This is awesome! He thought.
After telling me about it, I of course wanted to try and so it started. We jumped on the Bring Sally Movement and have been adding our own reps to it all the time. At the YogaSlackers TT we did it to all sorts of conditioning moves including elevators, squat jumps, plank to down dog and leg lifts.
If you want to try - start with the squat version, and then maybe the plank (down)/down dog (up) versions. Elevators or ticks are pretty tough but doable for many. Pushups is damn hard - especially if you use good form, but knee pushups is no joke either. Pull-ups, dips, pistol squats (you better do the other leg too!), squat (box) jumps up the level more.
But once you start the music has a way of making you give it your all - which is the magic of the Sally. Even if you fail, you have a great high intensity workout in under 4 minutes.
