For those of you still training: please, for me, strive to be the best. The best you can.
Looks like this blog will be pretty much useless now... I may keep it up, just for the benefit of the newcomers.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
My life...
...was just shattered. I just got the results back from my MRI. Apparently I don't have ankle instability... but instead I've crushed the cartilage in my ankle. There's nothing the doctors can do, and it's only going to get worse with impact. I'll never be able to do parkour again.......
Friday, June 4, 2010
My Ankle, and National Parkour Day
I was just diagnosed with Chronic Ankle Instability. It's basically when you sprain your ankle, and really stretch out the ligaments that keep your ankle stable. Apparently my only two options are wearing a brace the rest of my life, or having surgery. Anyway, it should only minimally affect my training. I just got a brace, and it helps a LOT with the spraining, so we'll see.
In other news, we're hosting a Florida-wide jam here in Gainesville this Saturday, and people from all over are coming here for (Inter)National Parkour Day. For more info on the event, go here: National Parkour Day Event. I should get lots of video of it, and I'll upload it ASAP. Also, if YOU have any video of YOUR National Parkour Day, you're more than welcome to email it to me, and I'll post it up right here.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Strength
So recently I've been working on three different "Beast Skills," namely the Planche Pushup, One Armed Pullup, and Flagpole. Here I will put updates on my progress every week.
Planche: 3 sets of 25 pseudo-planche pushups. (Basically, you put your hands as close to your hips as you can, and do pushups like that. If you're doing them correctly, you should feel it burn in your shoulders and triceps.)
Planche: 3 sets of 25 pseudo-planche pushups. (Basically, you put your hands as close to your hips as you can, and do pushups like that. If you're doing them correctly, you should feel it burn in your shoulders and triceps.)
3 sets of 10 handstand pushups (Do them against a wall
3 sets of 20 dips
Flagpole: 6 sets of 15 sideways leg lifts, alternating each side. (Lay on your side, and lift your legs upward. You should feel it in your obliques.)
Flagpole: 6 sets of 15 sideways leg lifts, alternating each side. (Lay on your side, and lift your legs upward. You should feel it in your obliques.)
3 sets of 100 crunches (should be pretty self-explanitory)
1 Arm Pullup: 4 sets of 10 25lb weighted pullups, alternating palms in and palms out.
This is my workout for the week, on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, with cardio on Sunday. This is in addition to my parkour training days, which are on Saturday and Wednesday of every week. Obviously, most people are going to be at a different level of fitness than I am, so scale up or down the intensity or number of reps to whatever is best for you.
1 Arm Pullup: 4 sets of 10 25lb weighted pullups, alternating palms in and palms out.
This is my workout for the week, on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, with cardio on Sunday. This is in addition to my parkour training days, which are on Saturday and Wednesday of every week. Obviously, most people are going to be at a different level of fitness than I am, so scale up or down the intensity or number of reps to whatever is best for you.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
New Practitioners
As many of the veteran traceurs are aware, there has been a recent influx of new participants due to MTV's Ultimate Parkour Challenge. It is important that we welcome them to our community, and help guide them along the right path, before they begin doing reckless things.
To those of you that did watch the UPC, and are interested in trying parkour, here are a few helpful pieces of advice:
1) Be aware that the people you see on TV doing all those crazy stunts have been practicing for many, many years. Don't expect to be able to go outside and do the things they do right away.
2) For your own sake, don't take big drops just because you think you can. It takes years to achieve a perfect roll, and you can really hurt yourself if you mess it up even a little. Instead, practice vaults, tricks, and rolls at low heights until you've perfected them.
3) Get a video camera, and start taping yourself. Make a video or sampler, and upload it to YouTube, or send it over to me, and get some critiques. A lot of the time, you can't reallyfeel what you're doing wrong, or if you're doing anything wrong at all, but taking a look at yourself on video can really help you focus on what you need to improve. Besides, a little constructive criticism can go a long way.
4) Drill, drill, drill, drill, drill. The founder of parkour, David Belle, once said, "A bad traceur practices a technique until he gets it right, a good traceur practices a technique until he cannot get it wrong." For a list of some helpful drills to practice, check out Demon's Drills. Also, I'll be regularly posting some of my own drills on this lens, so be sure to check back here regularly!
5) Join a parkour community. Search around for a PK community near the area you live, and get in contact! Training with other traceurs is not only fun, but you can play off of each others talents, and get new ideas for moves. A good place to start if you live in the US is American Parkour
6) Attend a jam. A jam is basically a get-together of a bunch of traceurs from an area. The purpose of these is to have FUN, and to learn and teach. There are usually lots of experienced traceurs to help you with any problems you may be having, and to show you some new moves. Besides, the atmosphere at a jam is awesome; at the first jam I attended, I had an absolute BLAST.
7) Set goals! There is nothing more important in parkour than setting goals. If you don't make a list of goals, then it's really hard to keep track of your progress. Also, meeting your goals is extremely motivational, and the joy you get is really indescribable, especially if it's something you've been working very hard for. I remember the first goal I met, the muscle up! I worked and worked at it, and when I finally got it, it was an amazing feeling.
8) Find an Open Gymnastics center near you. Open Gyms are a great place to work on some of the more difficult techniques in parkour and free running, such as double kongs and flips. If you really want to start learning flips and twists for free running, I also suggest taking a tumbling or gymnastics class. Even for those of you who are strictly practical in your parkour, gymnastics is a great way to increase your spatial awareness.
9) Have fun! If you make your training a chore, then you'll likely get discouraged. Don't be bummed out if you can't get something right away, just keep working at it. If you really commit to your training and conditioning, you'll be excited to see how fast you improve, not only with your techniques, but physical fitness as well! I remember when I first started parkour, I was skinny as a rail, and couldn't balance to save my life. Now, I'm more fit and agile than I've been in my whole life, and it feels GREAT. So get out there and have some fun!
4) Drill, drill, drill, drill, drill. The founder of parkour, David Belle, once said, "A bad traceur practices a technique until he gets it right, a good traceur practices a technique until he cannot get it wrong." For a list of some helpful drills to practice, check out Demon's Drills. Also, I'll be regularly posting some of my own drills on this lens, so be sure to check back here regularly!
5) Join a parkour community. Search around for a PK community near the area you live, and get in contact! Training with other traceurs is not only fun, but you can play off of each others talents, and get new ideas for moves. A good place to start if you live in the US is American Parkour
6) Attend a jam. A jam is basically a get-together of a bunch of traceurs from an area. The purpose of these is to have FUN, and to learn and teach. There are usually lots of experienced traceurs to help you with any problems you may be having, and to show you some new moves. Besides, the atmosphere at a jam is awesome; at the first jam I attended, I had an absolute BLAST.
7) Set goals! There is nothing more important in parkour than setting goals. If you don't make a list of goals, then it's really hard to keep track of your progress. Also, meeting your goals is extremely motivational, and the joy you get is really indescribable, especially if it's something you've been working very hard for. I remember the first goal I met, the muscle up! I worked and worked at it, and when I finally got it, it was an amazing feeling.
8) Find an Open Gymnastics center near you. Open Gyms are a great place to work on some of the more difficult techniques in parkour and free running, such as double kongs and flips. If you really want to start learning flips and twists for free running, I also suggest taking a tumbling or gymnastics class. Even for those of you who are strictly practical in your parkour, gymnastics is a great way to increase your spatial awareness.
9) Have fun! If you make your training a chore, then you'll likely get discouraged. Don't be bummed out if you can't get something right away, just keep working at it. If you really commit to your training and conditioning, you'll be excited to see how fast you improve, not only with your techniques, but physical fitness as well! I remember when I first started parkour, I was skinny as a rail, and couldn't balance to save my life. Now, I'm more fit and agile than I've been in my whole life, and it feels GREAT. So get out there and have some fun!
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