Solo Training (Agility/Flexibility) Kiora Inoue

In the late afternoon Kiora stood beside a very symmetrical tree, with solid branches spaced evenly all the way up the tree, the bark worn smooth by obvious repeated usage by the more gymnastically inclined students of the academy, herself being among them. To her left was a flat stump about a yard across for stationary balance exercises. She chose to start there, removing her shoes and setting them in the grass beside the stump. Rolling her neck in a circle, Kiora stepped onto the stump. Inhaling a full lungs worth of air, she slowly raised her arms to the side, and then continued to raise them high above her, rising up on the tips of her toes as her arms reached their peak height. She held this pose for a few moments, before she began to exhale slowly, letting her arms decline back to her side and also settling back down on the flat of her feet. "Ah, that always feels good." she thought to herself as she began to bend low, first letting the tips of her fingers grace the wood before placing her palms flat on the smooth stump. Bracing herself, she methodically began to lift her left leg into the air. Tensing the muscles in her arm to hold her weight, she began to lift her right leg as her left leg began to come into line with her arms, both legs eventually pointing straight up into the air as Kiora executed a stationary handstand, sweat dripping from her brow as her hair fell forward into a pile on the stump in front of her. "I'd trim it down, but I'm far too fond of it." As her muscles began to burn, she moved her right leg back down the path it had ascended, left leg following suite until she was right side up again, smoothly transitioning into a frontwards split, leaning forward onto her left leg now, arms reaching forward and grasping her foot, a pleasant burn tingling in her lower back and hamstring as she stretched her muscles out. she repeated this procedure with her left leg, a small pop coming from her back as she did so. Moving to sit on her bottom, she brought the bottoms of her feet together, and pulled them to her groin, stretching the muscles in her inner thighs by doing so. Holding that for a moment, she stood up. Bending her right leg up so her heel was touching her butt, she grabbed said foot and pulled up, bending down as she did so, extending her left arm as she bent over to touch the ground as she stretched her quadricep out. Falling back into resting position, she mimed her motions with the left leg and returned to standing position. Satisfied with her stretch, Kiora moved to the balance portion of her workout.

Breathing out, Kiora turned to the side and launched a side kick at a near hundred and eighty degree angle, going through the motion at an agonizingly slow pace, balancing firmly on her right leg as her kick reached its apex, holding the pose for a second, before retracting the leg, and then extending the leg again, launching a side kick at waist level, again keeping the sloth like pace to practice the balance of her blows. Retracting her leg once more, she aimed a kick at knee level, then, shifting her weight, she spun her leg around in a reverse roundhouse at eye level, and then letting her foot finally return to the wood. Breathing in, she exhaled in a controlled manner to keep herself steady before mirroring the routine with her other side, taking care to go through the same motions at the same glacial pace, returning to resting position. Extending her foot forward so her legs made a right angle, she jumped off her right leg, and snapped forward with it, whilst she landed on her left foot, wobbling a little bit before steadying out. Raising her right knee, she twisted, throwing her momentum into a spin as she leaped vertically into the air, launching a tornado kick with her right leg at head level, touching back down on shaky legs. grinning as she successfully landed the maneuver. "Yes!" she exclaimed to no one in particular, happy she hadn't face planted like she had the last few times she'd tried to execute a stationary tornado kick. With a giddy expression on her face, she hopped off the stump, sliding her shoes back on and striding on over to the symmetrical tree, standing below the lowest branch, which was barely a scant few feet above her.

Reaching upwards, she jumped and grabbed onto the branch, wiggling her fingers to secure a firm grip for herself. Grunting, she hoisted herself up, touching her chin to the branch, letting herself down, then flexing her core muscles to bring her legs up in between her arms and hooking her knees on to the branch, letting go with her hands and letting herself dangle upside down. "Crunch time." Crossing her arms across her chest, she lifted her chest until her face nearly touched her shorts button, holding it for 2 seconds, then slowly letting herself down, keeping her muscles working. Back in her neutral position, she curled herself up again, and repeated the motion eight more times for an even set of ten. On the tenth repetition, Kiora grasped the branch firmly and unhooked her legs from the branch, letting herself swing in a half circle before she hooked her feet on the next branch above her, letting go with her hands and then curling up to grasp the branch, releasing her feet, and then swinging her weight backwards like a pendulum, then letting her weight and momentum carry her forward in another half circle, catching the branch above her with her feet in the same manner as before, and curling up to grasp it with her hands in an exact duplicate of her previous motion as well. Sweating profusely with the effort she was putting forth, Kiora curled herself up onto the third branch, releasing her feet again, then pushing her legs up between her legs, hooking her knees around the branch, and then pulling herself up completely to sit on the branch and rest for a moment. Panting and sweating, she slid down off the branch, then down the second branch. Forgoing the last branch, she opted to swing back, then forward into a backflip before landing smoothly on the ground, bending her knees to absorb the impact. "Yeah... that'll do for today girl. time to head home and wash up, grab some food and hit the sheets I think." she muttered to herself as she started the walk home, satisfied with her workout for today, and looking forward to coming back later in the week to take it up a notch.

Total Word Count ((1148))