While swiping through my Instagram account, I came across a very intriguing exercise performed by Jason Mamoa.
As I dug deeper into his training, I became even more intrigued when I learned he has been training with Mark Twight, Co-Founder of Gym Jones. You know, he’s the coach known for getting Gerard Butler and the rest of the Spartans shredded for the 300 movie.
I’m not too sure of the name of this exercise but I’m going to call it Papa Kokolo, the Crawling Board. Coach Mark Twight most likely has a name for it though.
When I attended a lua ceremony where we took park in eating the sacred foods of lua, a couple of the haumana (students) served the leaders, the olohe. They started at the end of the aisle which was bordered by other hauama and around 20 yards long. When they entered the mat, they crouched down low to the ground, kept their heads down, and made sure the board (papa) that held the food didn’t tip over.
After serving the olohe, they had to reverse the movement with the empty board in their hands until they were far away enough to stand and get the next course.
This exercise reminded me of the board that served the olohe. The straight back and strong core during the movement symbolizes the papa. The rowing and crawling (kokolo) symbolizes the hard work done by the haumana.
Papa Kokolo
When you perform this exercise, keep your back flat and your core tight. Start in a push up position with dumbbells in your hand. Reach out with your right arm holding the dumbbell, when the dumbbell reaches the ground, hop your body forward far enough so that the dumbbell in your left hand is below your hip. Row the dumbbell up to your hip then place the dumbbell in the left hand past the dumbbell in your right hand and continue in that pattern forward.
Here I am putting the exercise to the test.
It was definitely NOT fun, but well worth it and humbling. I went for a distance of 25 yards using 30lb dumbbells.
Let me know how this exercise goes for you.
