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#74The Tao of Parkour

2010-04-12T10:57:00.006+01:00

The Tao of Parkour

Much has been made of Bruce Lee’s enduring concept of Jeet Kune Do, across myriad different activities, art-forms, sports and disciplines. Often it is applied quite wrongly, of course, flourished with bravado in a slapdash attempt to justify some sort of unstructured and unresearched approach to training or development. Nothing could be further from what Lee intended with his concept, or indeed more removed from his own path towards personal liberation.

However, a strong and meaningful analogy can be drawn between Lee’s concept and our own discipline of parkour (As always, I use the words parkour, freerunning and art du deplacement as interchangeable terms that describe the same base activity. For simplicity’s sake I will use the word parkour throughout this article). In fact, parkour is a prime example of Jeet Kune Do (JKD) in action. To explain this, it is necessary to define first what Lee meant by the term Jeet Kune Do and how he applied it to his own training.

Jeet Kune Do, despite the existence of many schools and clubs teaching to the contrary, is not a style. It is not a system, not a collection of techniques, nor even an amalgamation of effective movements from disparate martial arts. It is not boxing mixed with Wing Chun mixed with Muay Thai. It is certainly not the simple imitation of the movements of Lee himself.

Jeet Kune Do is simply the concept of functionality. It is the stripping away of anything that does not serve one’s purpose which, in Lee’s case, was to become the best and most complete fighting man he could be. Lee applied this concept ruthlessly to his own training, and recommended others do the same, so that one is left with only what actually works, only what is directly functional in the pursuit of one’s goal.

The Paradox of Freedom

This means, almost paradoxically, that Jeet Kune Do is at once extremely liberating and extremely rigid in its approach. Liberating because it has effectively only one rule – if it works, use it – and rigid in that it excludes anything that is extraneous to its singular purpose of producing an effective end product. Anything for show, anything ‘flowery’, anything that serves only to look good and boost the ego of the practitioner – instantly discarded. Jeet Kune Do is truly a ruthless guiding principle: which is what makes it so effective, of course. Its core can be found in Lee’s four guidelines, which were:

* Absorb what is useful
* Reject what is useless
* Research from your own experience
* Add what is specifically your own creation

Parkour is much the same. Not a collection of techniques or movements, not a restricting system or tradition-laden paradigm or dogmatic training methodology, not rules-based in any way other than one: if it works, use it.

Parkour, like JKD, is a concept one applies to one’s own training. It’s not even so much a way of thinking as it is a way of learning to think about one’s movement, learning how to train in order to reach one’s own self-established goals: a stark philosophy of facing the truth of where your ability is now and seeing exactly how and what you have to do in order to reach where you want to be.

Again, this means a form of liberation that does not equate to simply doing whatever you want. That was not at all what Lee intended with JKD, quite the opposite in fact. For him, the reality of combat defined his training – so he forced himself to stare that reality squarely in the face and see exactly what he had to do to master it, whether he liked it or not, whether he wanted to do it or not. It meant hard training, continuous research, intensive self-examination and critical analysis. It required enormous discipline and attention, and a supreme effort of will and clarity of focus. Lee realised that his liberation would be a product of a great deal of hard work.

In truth then, applying the fundamental principle of JKD – or parkour – is far harder than mastering any set syllabus of movements or techniques, or sticking to a collection of pre-defined rules. Harder precisely because it puts responsibility for one’s personal growth firmly and completely on the shoulders of the individual. But this is also what makes it – or them – so very empowering.

Fighting Spirit

In parkour, as with JKD, there is no one and nothing else to blame for failing to find a solution to one’s own dilemmas. With enough commitment, drive and perseverance a way forward can always be found. If one had to identify one value as being the most central to parkour training one could confidently put forward that inner resolve, that refusal to quit or be beaten, as a strong contender.

With that mindset, the concept of JKD becomes an endlessly applicable and almost inevitably successful tool. Given time, a combination of good research, practice and review will usually lead you to the answers you seek in any chosen field. Now, of course that research and practice process can be made more or less efficient depending on a number of factors, including access to good information (through teaching, guidance, knowledge and experience of others, etc), sensible application of said information and rigorous self-discipline, but the vital component is the resolve to see the process through – the commitment to do whatever is necessary to realise one’s potential. This Lee prized above all, saying

‘Persistence, persistence, and persistence. The power can be created and maintained through daily practice – continuous effort.’

This fighting spirit, this indomitable, endlessly adaptive willpower, is the essence of both parkour and Jeet Kune Do. Capture it and one can achieve anything, for it bestows the only freedom that really matters – the ability to create yourself.

‘The void is that which stands right in the middle of this and that. The void is all-inclusive; having no opposite, there is nothing which it excludes or opposes. It is living void, because all forms come out of it, and whoever realises the void is filled with life and power and the love of all things’ – Bruce Lee, 1940-1973

#73Parkour Freedom - Parkour Liberté

2010-03-19T17:01:00.011Z

Parkour ”Freedom”

Is “practising Parkour” the solution to feel free in your body and your mind? Or is this quest of happiness, this discovery, this blossoming that we all have been looking for since we did our first steps on this planet?

For me, “The When” and “The How” you start the journey in Parkour cannot be dictated by somebody else and/or just be justified by a series of actions such as balancing on a railing, vaulting some walls etc... In my opinion “parkour” is something personal. Yes, you share some moments, some actions, some feelings, some knowledge, some training, some obstacles etc... But your perceptions, your expectations, your discoveries, your willingness, your rhythm... are personal and internal.

I started playing a bit more with the environment only 7 years ago, however, “my parkour”, this quest for the well-being, this continuous discovery to become stronger, this value’s learning process, this respect for yourself and for the others and this understanding of being honest with yourself started 35 years ago, as soon as I was born. My parents, my education and my different experiences in art and different sport activities that I have been involved with, for the past 30 years, were and will always be my best guide, they are my foundations to my way of approaching obstacles. In my eyes, parkour (moving in any terrain) is just another physical activity, such as football, swimming, dance etc... where I can express myself in the environment in a certain way and where I can learn more about myself. My vision, my definition, my approach of “parkour” is not necessarily the same than everyone else’s. I don’t consider it as “a way of living” or as a particular “philosophy” but: does it mean that I am wrong? Does it mean that I cannot practise, learn, develop and teach some skills to move in the surrounding safely and more efficiently? Personally, I don’t practise any sport to please the expectations of others. The way I practice and see it satisfies me. I don’t want to copy the parkour journey of somebody else...

For me parkour is another tool, like everything we can use to learn and progress. Doesn’t matter the tool I use and the way I use it, when I teach somebody, my aim is not to make him/her become me, my aim is to help to discover his/her own potential and make all my students progress. Each person is a unique whole with his/her own emotions, feelings, visions, expectations, definitions etc... Some of them are capable to learn by themselves, by the environment, by discoveries, but others need to be guided, need to be managed, need to be shown, need to be explained. It shouldn’t matter which approach is used to improve how to move in this environment. It doesn’t matter when and how you experience parkour, important is to be able to adapt without any limits and find your own way. This is what makes me feel free and eager for practising more.

Expectations and goals should never be judged, as this is different for each individual. We all start practising parkour for different reasons and with different goals. I believe every judgement, would be in contradiction with the freedom and this capability to adapt that parkour offers.

Do you really know when your” Parkour journey” started? Do you know exactly this moment when you began this relationship with yourself, with the others, and with the environment, to be able to go through “obstacles”?

Is there a one and unique true parkour?

Parkour”Liberté”

Est-ce que “faire du parkour” est la solution pour se sentir libre dans sa tête et dans son corps? Ou est ce cette quète du Bonheur, cette découverte et cet épanouissement que nous recherchons tous à partir du moment où nous faisons nos premiers pas sur cette planête?

Pour moi, “le Quand” et “le Comment” tu commences ce voyage dans le parkour ne peut pas être dicté par quelqu’un d'autre et ne peut être justifié par une simple série d’actions comme marcher en équilibre sur une barrière, franchir des murs etc...Mon opnion est que “Parkour” est quelque chose de personnel. Oui, tu partages des moments, des actions, des sentiments, des émotions, des connaissances, des entraînements, des obstacles etc...Mais tes attentes, tes découvertes, tes vouloirs, tes rythmes... sont personnel et interne.

J’ai commencé à jouer un peu plus avec l’environnement, il y a seulement 7 ans , cependant “mon parkour”, cette recherche de bien être, cette constante découverte de devenir plus fort, cette apprentissage des valeurs, ce respect vis a vis de soi et des autres et cette compréhension à être honnête avec soi-même, je l’ai commencé il y a 35 ans, lorsque je suis venu au monde. Mes parents, mes études, mes différentes activitées artistiques et sportives que j’ai pu pratiquer ces 30 dernières années ont été et seront toujours mes meilleurs guides. Ceux sont mes bases dans ma façon d’approcher les obstacles. A mes yeux , parkour(se mouvoir sur tous les terrains)n’ est juste qu’une autre activité physique dans laquelle je peux m’exprimer d’une certain façon et je peux apprendre un peu plus à mon sujet. Ma vision, ma définition et mon approche du "parkour” n’est pas forcément la même que tout le monde. Je ne le considère pas comme “une manière de vivre” ou comme une “philosophie particulière”, mais: est-ce que cela veut dire que j’ai tord? Est-ce que cela veut dire que je n’ai pas le droit d’apprendre, de développer et d’enseigner des compétences pour pouvoir bouger en sécurité et de manière plus efficace dans l’environnement? Personnellement, je ne fait pas du sport pour satisfaire les attentes des autres. La façon dont je le pratique et je le vois, me satisfait. Je n’ai pas envi de copier sur quelqu’un d’autre cette experience du parkour.

“Parkour” est pour moi un outil comme toutes les choses que l’on utitlise pour apprendre et progresser. Peut importe l’outil que j’utilise et la façon dont je l’utilise, lorsque j’enseigne à quelqu’un, mon but n’est pas de lui/la faire devenir moi, il est de l’aider à découvrir et à développer ses propres potentiels et de faire pogresser tous mes étudiants. Chaque individu est une entité à part entière avec ses propres émotions, sentiments, visions, attentes, définitions etc...Certains ont cette faculté à apprendre par eux même, par l’environnement et par leurs découvertes mais d’autres ont besoin d’être guidé, d’être dirigé, d’être montré, d’être expliqué. Cela ne devrait pas être important laquelle de ces approches est utilisée pour progresser. Ce que je comprends du parkour, quelqu’il soit “le comment” et “le quand” il a débuté pour chacun d’entre nous, c’est: la faculté à s’adapter, et ce, sans limites, “trouver sa propre voix”. C’est ce qui fait que je me sente libre et que je sois toujours demandeur pour en faire plus.

Les motifs et les buts ne devraient jamais être jugé sachant qu’ils sont propres à chacun d’entre nous. Nous commençons tous à faire du parkour pour différentes raisons et différent objectifs. Je pense qu’etablir un jugement est en contradiction avec cette liberté et cette faculté à s’adapter que le parkour nous offre.

Est-ce que vous pouvez vraiment définir ce moment où votre “voyage dans le parkour” a commencê, le moment exact où vous avez commencé cette relation avec vous-même, avec les autres, avec l’environnemnent pour être capable de surmonter les obstacles?

Y’a t’il un seul et unique vrai parkour?

#72Learning to Learn

2010-03-12T15:33:00.005Z

(Originally posted on www.thomadventures.blogspot.com)

Learning to learn, what does this mean? When a new discipline or activity catches our attention, to the point that we decide to devote a tremendous amount of our time and energy to it, instead of focusing entirely on the content do we actually question ourselves enough, if at all, about learning (i.e. the process of absorbing and making ours new skills and knowledge)? What if learning was not just a question of time and effort, but a matter of clarity and vision as well? What if learning was a skill in itself? Wouldn’t there then be a way to optimise every ounce of effort we put in the aquirement of a new technique, and therefore acheive results faster without extra effort?

In any discipline or activity, there are always those who train hard for years only to acquire mediocre results, and those who seem to fly over every difficulties in their way, is it human nature, or just a different kind of perception that one could unlock ?

This is an attempt to explore these questions...

Being in the moment: the right here right now equilibrium.

The philosopher Blaise Pascal once wrote : “May one examine their own thoughts, and they will find them all focused on the past or the future. We almost never think in the present, and when we do, it is only to shed light on what to do with the future”.

We live in the present, it is our only field of action, and it is only then that we can interconnect entirely body, mind, and environment to create a sense of pure awareness; but how often do we actually do this? What Pascal wrote has never been so true: most of us have grown up and are still immersed in a world of distractions: television, cell phones, advertising, work, social activities, internet, games... the list is endless.

From birth we become accustomed to the habit of being constantly distracted, it is for most of us a normal thing that we accept and agree with entirely, our rare moments of boredom are those that we find awkward and that we will strive to fill with more mind-absorbing activities.

How is this related to learning? I had a student who was a very slow learner and had grown to accept it as part of his nature: he would make the same mistakes many times before understanding the lesson, and he would sometimes learn only to drop back into those old mistakes again. I didn’t really know how to help him until I realised something essential: that even when training his mind was constantly drifting away in thought, absorbed in the past or future, inconspicuously slipping out of the “right here right now equilibrium”.

I understood that one’s learning is clearly improved by being in constant connection with one’s present sensations.

Sensations are feedback, they tell us if what we do is right or not, they show us what we should improve on and how to do it at the condition that we pay attention to them. Repetition alone is pointless if there isn’t constant attention to what is being done, just as it is being done. Learn in real-time, be awake and aware, feel and analyse what you are doing. Trying again doesn’t mean doing again; every attempt is a new opportunity to do better, based on the knowledge and experience of past tries.

So avoid any type of distraction when you are training, let your entire self be directed towards what you are doing and all your energy, all your qualities, all that you are made of will cease to be dispersed and wasted but, instead, will work for you towards one clear goal that you have chosen, like a whole army marching in unison towards one unique target.

I took the time to explain these things to the student, letting them slowly soak in over time, and he has since then made tremendous progress and is now one of the quickest learners I have ever taught to!

Constructive criticism: the positive vision

Collecting feedback and endlessly integrating it in what you do is a major element of learning to learn, but doing so with absolute positiveness is the key principle that will create the alchemy. When we try and fail, we try harder, but if we fail again, most of us will tend to get upset or irritated, and our emotions conquer us and corrupt the positive learning mindset we were in. It is then very easy to slip into negative criticism and to start asking ouselves the wrong questions, such as “why am I so bad at this?”, or even “why can’t I ever get things right?”
The mind, in these cases, is bluntly stupid in the way it works, as it searches for a direct answer to these questions; for instance: “you’re bad at this because it’s not your thing”, or “you can never get things right because you’re not meant to be talented at this”. The answers it gives us are often conveyed on a subconscious level, and thus we unknowingly hypnotise ourselves into failure.

Therefore, one must ask themselves the right questions if one wishes to find the right answers: “How can I improve on this?”, “How can I avoid doing these mistakes?”, “What is holding me back from complete mastery?”

Condition your mind for positivity and you will get positive results. A positive vision is one that can picture a clear objective and a list of ways to reach it, regardless of what stands in the way. And any resistance in your progress, instead of being a source of frustration, will become a call for a new accomplishment, a treat of self-exploration. You won’t need to ignore your frustration, it won’t be there anymore, transformed into a new exciting feeling of challenge!

Training, as intense as it may get, is never but a game so don’t take it too seriously, even if you’re at it every day for hours, be relaxed about it, inner tension will cause outer stiffness, let it flow inside and it will flow outside. Lightness is key.

Discovering rather than manufacturing: the blossoming flower concept
“When I and my students think of strokes as being discovered rather than manufactured, they seem to learn the game much faster and without frustration.” Timothy Gallwey, The Inner Game of Tennis
I will humbly paraphrase this great book here.

As explained earlier, a major part of the process of learning is directly linked to how we visualise things. Manufacturing skills would imply that there is you + all that you’ve learned. Like costumes worn over each other, your skills are not connected to who you are, they are merely added to you in a very impersonal way. Progress, in this mindset, appears as having no end and worse, as being perishable...

Now, let’s talk about flowers... flowers don’t grow, they blossom: from the instant they exist as a tiny seed, they are already the future flower that they will turn into, just like a new-born baby is already in essence the future adult it will become.

They constantly express themselves as flowers and day by day, instant by instant, they become a little bit more their blossomed selves, what they were right from the start is now fully expressed and they are purely themselves.

If you visualise all your skills as being within you right from the start, on standby, waiting to be discovered and released, you will get rid of a lot of the pressure that athletes face with intense training because it means that you are simply learning to express yourself, zeroing in ever more on your true self. One could almost call it a process of enlightenment. In this case, nothing is really learnt, everything is simply revealed and therefore it is an undisociable part of you.

Progress is not an addition of bits of knowledge and skill like Lego pieces stacked on top of each other, it is only the elimination of what is keeping you from expressing your true self.

Conclusion: expanding the horizon
Throughout this article, I’ve never once mentioned parkour: the reason is that “learning to learn”, once acquired, is a skill that transcends any activity it may be applied to. One who understands it may use it in any field equally.

As a matter of fact, in order to explore a single discipline one is required to branch off continuously into other fields, as no knowledge is ever completely isolated.

A samurai once wrote about his art: “The practice cannot be confined to swordsmanship, if one limits it to that, they will not even know swordsmanship“. The same warrior added: “I have applied the lessons of my art to every other discipline I have encountered, therefore in any discipline I am my own master”. The road that leads to the mastery of one discipline will lead to the mastery of others; following one is close to following them all because, more than just the discipline, it is ourselves that we learn to explore and know through our practice. The discipline itself is never the end, but the means to a more noble, meaningful and everlasting end: our blossomed self.

#71Parkour, a Journey

2010-02-18T00:00:00.002Z

2010, Parkour is known all over the world ! One of my dreams came true... We can see practitioners every where, people are more and more used to see people "jumping around". The discipline is growing quickly, so quickly, and what I am trying to do is to help passing on this art to the future generations...

In contrary to the time when I met parkour, we now have tons of different techniques, moves and jumps. We have dictionaries and tutorials for every move. We are told where to put our feet in order to do a specific move, in order to clear a specific obstacle.
I can see that sometimes the first things we teach to beginners are basic vaults, or combinations. I feel that we miss something by teaching techniques at the very beginning.

Why?

Because I believe that parkour is an invitation to meet our environment and to have some reflection. When I met it, and what moved me the most, is that parkour was a big and long journey. Our daily goal at the beginning was to discover our environment, having a new way of looking at the space. We had to go from a wall, to a lampost, trough 2 fences and over a staircase, etc... Every time we were facing new obstacles, and we had to use or find some techniques to overcome it.

Today, I feel like most of the time we show parkour techniques, moves and combinations to the beginners who wanted to learn parkour.We are telling them how to pass an obstacle, we show them where to do it. I feel that we are giving all the keys and solutions before that the practitioner even knows the obstacle. Maybe if we hadn't tell them to do a speed vault onto this wall, they would have never seen this wall as an obstacle.

And in the other way, you could ask somebody to reach some place, knowing that he will have to get over a wall, then the person will have to think about how to overcome the wall, and he may find it by himself, without you, or may need your help, but at least he would know he has to learn this or that technique... And the solution will be much more meaningful.

We are not letting them finding themselves face to face with an obstacle, looking for solutions, trying some moves, falling, missing, and then maybe succeed, or asking us for help.

My point here is to remind practitioners and teachers, that parkour is basically a long journey. In this journey we may find difficulties, obstacles that we will have to overcome. You will all have the time to learn parkour techniques anyway, so it's better for you to learn it when you know why and when you will have to use it ...

Thank you for reading,

Johann

#70Watch Out Below

2010-01-08T01:48:00.010Z

It's not easy keeping a solar-powered watch fully charged during a British Winter. Come to think of it, it's not exactly simple in the 'Summer' here either.

Anyway, when at home my watch sits on the handle of my window, hoping to soak up any stray sunray that might be floating around on an island like this, and when I opened my window this morning, I carefully balanced the watch on top of the handle, taking extra care to make sure it wouldn't fall. It didn't. Not for a while anyway.

It was about two hours or so later that I heard my window blowing wider and a quiet clunk, followed by a few seconds of silence and finally another clunk further away.

Ah. My watch had gone for a walk.

Now I live on the first floor of a tall house and on the ground floor lives a grumpy old man who enjoys nothing better than to drink himself in to oblivion and come home in the early hours of the morning to blast Magic radio out to the street. That man, despite having a good (but untimely) taste in music would not hesitate to steal my watch, believe me.

So I did what seemed the right thing to do. I went downstairs, knocked on his door and planned to ask him for the watch from his back garden. If he refused then I'd think of something. But the old man wasn't home, of course he wasn't.. he was in the pub deciding whether to set his radio to Magic or Heart later that evening.

So there was only one thing left to do.

There's no access to the gardens from the front of these houses. There are no alleyways to get down the side and there's a big factory behind the houses that doesn't allow easy access from the rear so my only option was to climb out of my bedroom window and descend in to the garden below.

Now with the snow and ice outside thick enough to completely conceal my watch somewhere below, the first task I was faced with wasn't an easy one. The only way down was to jump from the icy window ledge, to my left, on to a shed... thing. Standing nine foot or so high, two feet below me and five foot away, it was a menacing sight and with all of the ice covering both surfaces, I did NOT want to jump on to it.

But I had to. I had to get my watch before the grumpy man came home and claimed it.

Sigh.

COME ON! Jump. This is what you've been doing for the past six years.. jumping from stuff, to stuff.

I jumped and landed, slipped a bit but stayed on the roof, and had done what I knew was actually one of the easier bits of this mission. I still had to get back up there.

Hanging from the shed, I dropped to a lower wall and then on to the ground. Reaching in to the watch shaped snow hole, I grabbed the watch and didn't even check to see if it was still working. Of course it was. When the bombs fall, all that will be left standing are the cockroaches.. G-Shock watches and... Yann Hnautra.

Right, so I need to get back in that window.

I climbed back up on to the shed which now I was aware was covered with three inches of snow. Turning around and looking at the jump back to the window ledge, I was suddenly aware of what was below the window ledge. Two large sliding glass doors.

Glass. Doors.

Nice.

Knowing damn well that jumping from the shed and grabbing my window ledge would probably result in two Nike Darts ploughing through a plate of glass.. I was going to have to find another way. My only other option was to jump from a lower position, the lower wall I had used to climb down from earlier.

It was quite a jump to grab the window ledge and the take off was loose, icy brick. Add to that the fact I had to grab a snow-covered window ledge and somehow avoid the two glass doors.. things couldn't get much worse. Until the light came on behind the glass.

Ok, don't panic. I've seen enough movies and been on enough night missions to know that anyone inside a bright room looking out at darkness can see nada.

But he was home!

I had to get my ass out of his garden and the only way was to forget about how slippy the take off was, how icy the window ledge was, how far the jump was and how likely I was to smash his doors and shower his drunken self with shards of glass.

Taking a deep breath and counting down from five, I looked up and jumped.

It was further than I thought. I grabbed with only my left arm and turned my legs sideways, keeping them together and trying to slow them down as I aimed for the wooden panel between the glass doors. The contact was surprisingly light and I wasn't actually expecting my hand to hold the ledge, but it did.

Scrambling up on to the ledge I climbed back in my window, heart racing, and with a massive smile on my face I looked at the time on my watch and as expected, it hadn't missed a beat.

Two minutes later, Dancing in the Dark by Bruce Springsteen filled the air and I knew he was none the wiser.

-Blane

#69New Year, New Commitments

2010-01-02T16:14:00.006Z

It's 2010 now. A whole year ahead of us to fill great parkour experiences and training progression so I thought I'd share one of my many training commitments for the new year. I wouldn't consider these to be resolutions because resolutions tend to be very general and don't state step by step how to achieve the changes we want, where as these commitments are specific and will be easier to achieve.

"Work out what my greatest weakness is and focus on improving it"

All too often I become comfortable with a movement or standard of strength, for example cat pass precisions, and neglect it to focus on something new and exciting to only realise that suddenly what I considered to be a decent level to be falling behind in comparison to my other attributes. Of course it's more important to have a solid foundation and skill set rather than being amazing at something specific and only be able to do that one thing well. This can depend on the person and be highly subjective but this is my approach to my training.

To actually make changes I've written down what areas I feel I'm weakest in, physically and technically speaking, and decided to dedicate more time to improving these and the best approach in doing so. I also decided that every three months to reassess my weakness.

There is a second side to this and I could write a seperate blog about this but keeping it brief and cut it down to one sentence:

Sometimes the things you hate doing the most are the things you need to work on.

I noticed when I first started training my fear of heights was tremendous and being on a 2 foot raised wall would conjure the most frightening images of injuring myself however irrational they were. Looking back I realised because I was so scared of heights I never practised training at heights. Thankfully my good friends, especially Alli, eased me out of my comfort zone on many occasion and I noticed because I was so uncomfortable I didn't have the same skill level at ground level as I did at height.

So train outside of your comfort zone more often. It could be something as simple as being able to speed vault on both your left and right with the same proficiency.

So my suggestion to you is to have one new training commitment and stick with it for as long as possible. Trying as best to your ability to keep doing it for the whole year, provided it's productive and will progress your training in a manner you wish, the process is sometimes more important than the goal itself. It's okay to fall off the path you wish to walk provided you can get back on track and walk the path once more.

James

#67Hi, have you met Parkour ?

2009-11-29T21:43:00.011Z

July 1998, I come back from holidays and my brother Stephane was really into a new sport, I didn't know what it was, he didn't talk much about it... I had the opportunity to watch a video called SpeedAirMan, it was about a crazy guy who was flying around, and this guy actually lived 5 minutes driving from where I used to live ! I looked at the video, I was amazed but nothing more really.

One day, Stephane and a friend of mine, Ken, went to train with this man, David Belle. They asked me if I wanted to join them, and without knowing at all what to expect, I said yes. So here we are, in Lisses and I meet this strange man, who I don't know anything about... I stayed very quiet, and listened to everybody.
Then the session starts, we had to follow David's lead. At this time I didn't know anything about this discipline, if it had a name or anything, I was just following a man... We ended up in facing the famous cat leap at the gym staircase. David and some other people jumped. I didn't even think that it was possible for me to get there, so I wasn't scared !! For me it didn't even look like something I could reach one day...
So David helped me getting on the roof by carrying me and then we continued our journey...We finally arrived at a big grass square, after the bridge, next to the swimming pool, for those who know Lisses. It was a grass square, surrounded with rocks and trees. The idea of the game was simple : start on one rock, and finish the lap, keeping our feet off the floor...

I couldn't manage to finish the lap, even if everything looked like I could do it, I felt it was something possible. Then the session finished and I told to myself that I would come back every single day to this spot, until I could finish the lap...

It took me about 3 months to be able to finish ! During this time, I didn't think about what parkour could or couldn't be ! My only goal was to finish this single route because I knew I could do it !

When I started being more confident, I gave a try at the Dame du Lac, where I found my brother, David, and other people who would become my friends... I was the most beginner from all of them that I had my eyes wide opened and tried to learn from all these guys. In this group, there was Sebastien Goudot, Michael Ramdani, Jerome Lebret and others that had my age. So I started practising more and more with Seb and Mike, and we became very close together.

In Lisses, there was the group of the elders (David, Romain, Stephane, Cisco, etc..) and the group of the younger (Yo, Seb, Mike, Jeje). We were training apart and sometimes we heard about what one of the other group did, and we had to check it out ! Sometimes the 2 groups met and it was like : hum, let's play !

This is how I started practising parkour, this how I met it and this how I used to live it during 5 years. Every day was a different journey, which only goal was to have an encounter with my environment and share it with my friends, my parkour family.
At this time, there was only this feeling of going out, explore the environment and find ways, paths, obstacles, solutions, joy, tears, pains, falls, friends, love....

I really feel grateful for having met parkour at this period. Parkour awoke all these things I had, sleeping in my heart. Today I want to give it back to parkour, by sharing my experience and art, with any and all who would like to.

Love,

Johann

#66Red pill or the Blue pill?

2009-11-19T23:49:00.000Z

Why do you do parkour? Why do you train the way you do? What do you hope to achieve? These are all very important questions that I think about not just relating to myself as a traceur but also to those I teach as a coach. In a documentary Stephane once did he spoke a little about this:

“You have to ask yourself what do you want with parkour? It’s a leisure or you want to be a real and professional athlete in it, and its totally different you really have to make the difference, to see the difference between them. It’s a leisure ok stay ground and have fun, you can have fun no problem like every sport some people practice football or tennis for just fun but if not if you really want to be professional, a real athlete like performance and everything you have to consider all the investment you have to do, and to give up yourself to reach this goal. It’s really not nothing because parkour is a very, very hard sport and physical sport so you have to think what do you want for you?”

Sometimes I feel I can see this in people, I can see those who are just there to enjoy themselves which is fine but then sometimes I can see those who want more. The signs aren’t as obvious as you may think and it has nothing to do with ability or skill level. The people that have that fire are those that are constantly pushing themselves past what is required and I’m not talking about during the easy stuff or the fun stuff but the opposite, the times when its hardest, the times when its boring, the times when every urge they have is telling them to stop and rest or just simply give up. It’s these people that have my respect and in which I see such potential to be good.

The best combination would undoubtedly be someone with natural talent who also had that drive and desire to work hard and improve but sadly this is a rare occurrence. More often than not and something which I have witnessed countless times is that people with natural talent never really push themselves to their limits instead being content with simply being level with or better than the rest of their group. And it's sad, it’s sad that they put a cap on themselves like that, that they define their own progress not on what they themselves are capable of but based on the progress of others. Sometimes I will look to push these people more, not because they did something wrong but because they have the potential to do more. But as they say “the nail that sticks up is the one that gets hammered down” and its here where I can see the difference also. Those who want to improve and learn everything they can accept advice, criticism or critique as they understand that in the long run it’s only in their best interests but then there are those who don’t take this kind of stuff well preferring instead only to hear when they are being praised or excelling in something. I see no point in this, why repeat something 10, 30, 50 times if every time you are doing it wrong or could be doing it better? All you do is reinforce your bad habits or techniques never really improving.

The devil is in the details and at the end of the day that is where the difference in people's goals is clear. It doesn't take too much skill to imitate something or copy a route/movement but to do it well, really well that is something else. It may involve changing a foot placement here or jumping off a different leg there but it adds up. However like i said for some people it's irrelevant and of little consequence to them they just want to be able to do it roughly, to appear to do it well for the most part. So again it comes down to they question, are you doing in for the moment? For now? To show off? Or are you doing it to improve?

But to each their own, live your life but just think about it and be honest with yourself “what do you want for you?”

#65The Spaces Between

2009-11-02T00:28:00.006Z

Parkour, stripped down, is the use of space. It’s how we fill space, how we move through it. It’s a process. And it has often struck me when training and moving that the vast majority of that space is filled with what most would consider to be ‘unspectacular’ movement: that is, the gaps and distances that exist before, between and after the obstacles we fly over and through, around and under. The approach to a jump, the steps between vaults in combination, the landing and rolling and running again after a drop – these are where we spend most of our time, not actually engaged in the saut de bras or cat-pass that occurs so quickly and is over in a flash.

Long ago I began to think that the essence of parkour actually happens between the application of the ‘techniques’ themselves; in the spaces between. It’s the use of those spaces that makes the difference between good parkour and simply good stunts or tricks. A balanced and well paced run-up, for example, makes a good jump happen; efficient and dynamic steps after a landing maintain momentum going into the next movement; coming out of a roll with balance and stability provides the ability to flow seamlessly on towards the next set of challenges. For me the parkour happens in those spaces, in that larger movement that contains the individual techniques. And it’s often neglected.

I look at those techniques – the difficult jumps, the tricky landings, the dynamic vaults – as equivalent to peak experiences in life: they are what we train for and strive for, but in truth they come and go quite quickly and, in isolation, mean very little. Only in context do they have a point. That context is constituted by everything that precedes and succeeds those peak moments: the movements are given meaning by everything that comes before and after them. The spaces between.

The real quality of our movement, as of our lives, is held in the way we deport ourselves in those larger and less obviously glorious spaces. Who are we when not overcoming a great physical challenge or achieving some stupendous athletic feat? Who are we when not enduring a rigorous test of the mind or pushing ourselves to our limits? Who are we in those spaces between, in our daily living, our simple movement between jumps? Who are we in every moment, not just the ones that require our focus and presence in its entirety?

It seems to me that that is the true test of our character, just as it is the true test of our movement. To rise to an immediate and threatening challenge is something most of us will naturally do, it’s probably part of our nature as those who seek to uncover our potential and squeeze every drop out of it. But how well do we maintain those virtues, that inner strength, throughout the days when we are not engaged in such life-and-death moments? Do we still act with the same immediacy of thought? Do we still remember to use our fear and not be used by it? Do we carry that self-discipline and self-awareness we have in training on into the rest of our lives? If not, why not?

Parkour, like all great practices, is an art of living. It is not something you do for an hour or two and then forget or put aside. The point of these arts is that they reveal aspects of ourselves that we strive to hold onto, they uncover and polish something quite pure and bright within us: what a loss to then leave that shining thing on the training ground and live out the rest of one’s day in relative darkness.

Surely the point is, when we discover just what we can be, to then let that knowledge and that practise infuse all parts of our life, so that we can begin to take on more permanently that concentrated ‘us’ we find in our peak experiences. And that can only be done in the quiet stretches of our days, when nothing very special seems to be going on and our character is tested in more routine, but no less significant, ways. It can only be done in the spaces between.

#64Don't Forget To Breathe...

2009-10-16T19:30:00.007+01:00

In the quiet of the shadows, early morning in the city as the streets sleep, the world barely notices one's passing. Quick, light footfalls and the private whisper of measured breathing are the only sounds as I run, tasting the cold, crisp air and feeling the body's warmth rise up against the chill.

I love this. It's a time of immeasurable solitude; just you and the new day, and the frosted, naked city. There is an inner silence to match the outer, nothing but the movement, the breathing, the focus on each step. It's timeless. Endless. No matter what is going on in one's life, whatever challenges and trials exist to be met and overcome, there is always this discipline of the body to return to. An anchor. An old friend. A path with no conclusion, just there - waiting for you to step out and head a little further along it.

It's a path often shared, and such times are a real pleasure and bring their own reward. But in the end it's a personal journey and there is nothing quite like the vast aloneness of such quiet passing through the world, leaving no trace and wanting for none. You expand to fill that space, awareness stretches and merges with your world, the sights, sounds, smells and feel of it. Gradually you fade into it too. And what is left is the body, the breath, the blood, the movement.

Without fail the greatest pleasures in life are the simplest. They are primordial, pure, made of what is and what you brought with you into the world, no more than that. And it's enough. Always enough. These things just are. Just life, just seeing such mornings and being able to flow through them and on into the awakening day. There's a stillness and a calmness in it, a sense of ground. The world and daily life can rage, swirl and shout as much as it wants - this silence endures, lives. Waits. For us to find it again. And when we do it passes no judgement if we have neglected it for a while.

So on I run, moving free and unnoticed, and the world is mine alone for an endless moment. This path, with its distance, its time, its terrain, feeds out behind me and disappears as soon as I have passed. Until only I am left. And then I too am gone. Lungs draw air, a heart pumps blood, muscles pulse and movement happens.

And it's enough.

#632008: Ma plus grande lecon 2008: The biggest lesson

2009-10-06T19:06:00.017+01:00

Nous sommes le 4 Avril 2008, j’entraine Annty et ma femme Agota au Château de la précision( Wandsworth ), je passe par dessus une barrière, mon pied reste coincé sur le haut de celle-ci, je tombe au ralentit en arrière. Au moment où je touche le sol, j’entends clack clack. Le résultat sera: rupture du ligament croisé antérieur du genou gauche. L’opération a eu lieu le 11 novembre 2008...Tout c’est bien passé

Le dimanche 13 Avril 2008, je suis gentiment allongé sur mon sofa quand le téléphone sonne, après quelques minutes de conversations, je me lève pour chercher une info sur mon ordi lorsque que je sens comme un étourdissement. Je n’arrive plus à fixer l’image d’Agota et ma façon de parler est un peu trouble. Inquiète, ma femme appelle les urgences. 10 minutes plus tard les infirmiers sont là et me font différents tests. Ils m’emmènent alors à l’hospital où je fait des examens medicaux plus approfondis IRM, CT scan... Le résultat sera: un petit AVC dans la partie arrière de mon cerveau. Le docteur me dit en souriant” Vous avez eu de la chance, vous n’êtes pas mort et rien n’a été endommagé que ce soit sur le plan physique et moteur ou sur le plan psychologique, vous n’aurez aucune paralisie mais nous devons vous garder ici pour faire tous les tests nécessaires. Ils m’ont découvert un souffle au Coeur, c’est peut être une des causes de ce qui est arrivé mais rien n’a été prouvé.Après 10 jours passé à l’hospital, le 23 avril 2008, je me suis fait opérer du Coeur pour fixer ce souffle.

Durant tout ce temps passé à l’hospital pour mon cerveau, mon Coeur et mon genou, j’ai du faire face à:

DES PEURS, pourrais-je être capable d’être à nouveau physiquement actif, refaire du sport...?

DES DOUTES, pourrais-je continuer à vivre normalement, être un bon mari, un bon père, un frère, un fils, un ami...?

DES DECEPTIONS et DES SURPRISES, pourrais je pardonner à ces gens qui se disaient proche de moi et qui m’ont laissé tomber? Et pourrais je suffisamment remercier ceux dont je ne m’attendais pas forcément qui m’ont tendu la main avec plaisir...

DES DOULEURS, pourrais-je oublier? La douleur physique s’estompe avec le temps, elle n’est rien comparée à la douleur morale. Cela fait beaucoup plus mal de se rendre compte des vraix intentions de certaines personnes à ton éguard ET decouvrir qu’ils seront là pour toi seulement lorsque tu as 100% à donner mais lorsque tu es un peu en dedans et que tu aurais le plus besoin de support , ils ne serons jamais là pour toi...

DES RENCONTRES pourrais-je etre plus courageux? J’ai fait la rencontre de Drake, cet ado qui se bat contre le cancer et qui a été pour moi une source d’inspiration et de courage.

DES PENSEES POSITIVES, pourrais-je être plus heureux? Le Samedi 9 aout 2008, la célébration religieuse en Roumanie de notre marriage avec 250 personnes venant de 15 pays différents, quel Bonheur!

DES ENERGIES RETROUVEES, pourrais-je être plus conscient de mes forces et de leurs origines maintenant? C’est un réconfort de savoir vraiment d’où l’on vient, qui l’on est et où l’on veut aller. Je ne laisserai plus jamais personne décider pour moi ce qui est bon pour, ma famille, mon sport, ma carrière, ma vie future...

L a vie n’est pas toujours “un long fleuve tranquille” MAIS c’est la vie. Il n’y a pas de bonnes ou mauvaises expèriences, il n’y a que des expèriences et nous apprenons tous les jours à y faire face. Ce qui ne tue pas rend plus fort...
Ma leçon: “Tu ne pourras jamais réellemment t’épanouir dans la vie et être vrai avec les autres si tu n’est pas capable d’être honnête avec toi même? Ne jamais abandonner, ne jamais perdre espoir et ne jamais laisser les autres ou le contexte te voler ton sourir mais apprendre à relativiser sont pour moi des règles d’or.
Mes parents m’ont toujours dit:“Après la pluie vient toujours le beau temps, même si cela peut prendre du temps “:-)

2008 THE BIGGEST LESSON

(English Translation)

It is the 4th April 2008, I’m coaching Annty and my wife Agota at the precision’s castle (Wandsworth), I go above a railing, my foot stays stuck on the top of the railing, I fall backwards in slow motion. As soon as I touch the floor I hear clack clack. The result is my anterior crucial ligament in my left knee is torn. The operation is scheduled for 11th of November 2008... Everything went well.

It is Sunday 13th April 2008, I’m gently laying on my sofa when the phone rings, after a few minutes of conversation, I stand up to check some information on my computer when I start feeling dizzy, I can’t fix anymore Agota’s image and my way of talking is a bit slurred . My wife is worried, she calls 999. Ten minutes later the ambulance arrives, they do tests to identify what is wrong. They drive me to the hospital where I go through loads of further medical tests such as MRI scan, CT scan etc... The result is: a tiny stroke in the back part of my brain. The surgeon says with a smile:”You were lucky, you’re not dead and nothing has been damaged in your body and your brain. You won’t be paralysed nor have any other damage but we have to keep you here to do all the necessary tests. They find a hole in my heart, it could be one of the reasons for the stroke but nothing has been proved. After staying 10 days at the hospital, I had a heart surgery to fix the hole.

The entire time I spent at the hospital regarding my brain, my heart and my knee, I had to face:

SOME FEARS, will I be able to be physically active again, to do sport again...?

SOME DOUBTS, will I be able to carry on living normally, be a good husband, a good dad, a brother, a son, a friend...?

SOME DISAPPOINTMENTS AND SURPRISES, will I be able to forgive all those people who pretended being my close friends but they let me down? And will I be able to thank enough the ones that I did not expect to support me but they did with pleasure?

SOME PAIN, will I be able to forget? The physical pain fades with time but it’s nothing compared to the emotional pain. It is more painful to see the real intention of some people AND realise that they are only there for you when you give 100% but not when you are down and you need them the most.

SOME ACQUAINTANCES will I be able to be brave? I met this teenager, Drake, who is fighting against cancer. For me he is a real source of inspiration and courage.

SOME POSITIVES THOUGHTS, will I be able to be happier? On Saturday 9thAugust 2008, the blessing ceremony of our wedding in Romania with 250 people from 15 different countries, oh happy days... !

SOME REFOUND ENERGIES will I be able to be more conscious of my force and where it comes from now? It’s such a comfort to know where we come from, who we are and where we want to go. I will never again let anybody decide what is good for my family, my sport, my career, my future life etc...
Life is not always “a quiet long river” BUT it’s life. There are no good or bad experiences, there are only experiences and we learn every day how to face them. What does not kill you make you stronger...

My lesson
“ You will never really be able to blossom in life and be real with the others if you’re not capable to be honest with yourself. Never give up, never lose hope and never let somebody else or a context steal your smile but learn to put things into perspective.” All these are some golden rules for me.
My parents said:” after the rain comes always sunshine” even though sometimes it can take a while”:-)

#62Gambatte Naoki!!!!!

2009-09-28T09:26:00.000+01:00

I originally had a different post for this month and may end up putting that one up in a few days also but for now I just wanted to make a big shout out for a friend of mine who was recently injured, Naoki Ishiyama.

For those of you who are not aware Naoki is a Japanese practioner who has spent a great deal of time training both here in London with pk gen and also in France with majestic force as well as everywhere and anywhere else he finds himself. As I’m sure most of you reading this will already be aware of the situation he faces himself in I won’t go into too much detail here suffice to say he faces some challenging times ahead but I am completely confident that he will more than rise to surpass them as that is the kind of person he is. Without a doubt one of the friendliest and nicest guys I have had the pleasure of meeting as well as a great tracuer.

But for anyone who does not know I ask that you check out (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=125726156594) and lend you support. It means so much to him and is a great comfort to know that he is in the thoughts of so many people who wish him a speedy recovery. Even if you don’t know him personally or have never met him before I ask that you show him your support during this time! Already the response from the community has been brilliant and it’s a real comfort to know and be a part of such a good and strong spirit, which is not just here for him but here for us all!

#61The Weekend Wake Up Class

2009-09-21T10:00:00.000+01:00

What was I letting myself in for? There I was, committing to teaching on a Sunday morning, indefinitely.. with a British winter on the way. Who would seriously turn up to these classes? Surely it will just be me and Andy standing there on a rainy Sunday morning waiting for.. oh wait. Lots of people!

So it seems the weekend class on a Sunday has been a great success so far with the class numbers growing by the week and with a slightly longer class of two hours, it gives us plenty of time to train and kick start our Sundays with a healthy dose of Parkour. Already we've completed the cycle of locations and this coming Sunday we're heading back to Earlsfield for more of the same!

With an emphasis on improving fitness and basic techniques but aimed at all levels, the weekend class is a great opportunity to train if you find yourself too busy in the week with work or educational commitments. Veterans and beginners, boys and girls alike are welcome and will be challenged respectively.

Last Sunday saw us training at a park near Bethnal Green tube station and as usual we started the morning with a warm up and a 15-20 minute run.

Next up we worked on a route consisting first of a tricky little jump, landing with either one foot or two, followed by some balance and a precision down to a lower wall. After Andy and I were sure everyone had improved and had helped those who needed some guidance, we decided to move on to some off-ground traversing challenges and climbing drills.

With forearms burning we moved immediately on to training some wall runs, where those who were new to Parkour had a chance to work on the technique and the others were encouraged to improve their speed and control throughout the motions. Training techniques like this is always more interesting after the same muscles have been worked beforehand and this instance was no different.

With arms growing tired we switched to some plyometric leg training in the form of dynamic jumps over a series of hurdles. With 6-7 hurdles in a row, those who had good timing could jump over one and immediately bounce straight over the next, continuing until the end. Drills like this are a great way to build leg power and develop timing.

Finally we moved on to some lumbar exercises with two rails before stretching and cooling off in the Sunday afternoon sunshine.

Thanks to all who came along and continue to make Sunday mornings worth waking up for!

See you all at the next class.

#60Empty Elephant

2009-09-15T14:14:00.000+01:00

The housing estates at Elephant and Castle have been a favourite training location for London’s traceurs for several years. During its early stages, Parkour in the UK was often focused in city centres, both in training and in media representation. In my experience, it’s not that Parkour ever left the housing estates but perhaps got temporarily distracted by the shiny city, before realising that the best terrain is residential, not commercial. Better obstacles, less private property, fewer police, no security guards, and many more playgrounds.

Residential housing has often been experimental, and mistakes were made during the 60s and 70s as cities expanded rapidly and populations grew, becoming increasingly dense. What was once regarded as visionary is, a few decades later, regarded as an unpractical eyesore that compounds society’s ills. Many were hastily constructed – some even collapsed – and it’s ith hindsight that the disadvantages of these Le Corbusier-inspired housing projects are fully understood.

A bit of Googling will teach you that the Aylesbury and Heygate estates at Elephant and Castle are due for demolition, and have been since 2004. A huge regeneration project has been dogged by seemingly endless delays and has created something quite surreal: near emptiness.

There are a handful of enormous blocks, each up to eleven storeys in height, each with a mere handful of occupants. For the most part, residents have been relocated (more than a thousand), but this is inevitably a problematic process; some have no desire to move, some refuse the suitability of their new homes, some claim to have been harassed and intimidated by the team attempting to rehouse them

Being virtually empty, there is no self-policing through the vigilance of its own residents. As a result, patrols are sent around in an attempt to keep gangs, drug addicts, alcoholics and the homeless at bay. A team of litter pickers visit daily, collecting the rubbish left behind by the random collection of visitors and the occasional resident dumping unwanted, bulky belongings as they move elsewhere.

Metal panels cover every empty flat, and the floors that are completely empty are sealed off with more metal fencing, keeping squatters out. (London is a haven for squatters due to some strange quirks in English law.) Each piece of metal is welded into place to prevent it from being unbolted and stolen. The expense must be phenomenal.

For Parkour practitioners wishing to train there, it’s quite peaceful, if a little strange. A few remaining residents can be found passing by and for them, Parkour is a familiar sight, to the point that local children create miniature versions of the movements amongst the walkways.

This gallery of images is selected from what I took during a morning spent wandering around the estate. There are a couple of captions giving a little more information. If you’re interested in finding out more, I suggest visiting:

http://livefromtheheygate.blogspot.com/
http://www.elephantandcastle.org.uk/

When the demolition will finally take place is anyone’s guess, but if you want to visit one of London’s best training locations, it might be an idea to do it sooner rather than later.

#59Learning to teach. Teaching to learn.

2009-09-12T21:53:00.003+01:00

How do you truly get better at something? Through human history we have developed a multitude of methods to educate ourselves in whichever disciplines we desire. Obviously there are techniques that work better than others, depending on the personality traits of the individual doing the learning, but personally I have always found that "hands on" training allows me to understand and comprehend concepts much faster than any other method I've tried. That said, I also feel that given enough time I am also able to learn just as well through simple observation and understanding. Clearly this was a mistake.

In 2008 I had been training with Parkour Generations for a few years at the academy and had naively felt comfortable enough in my abilities to believe that I was at a point in my parkour career to be able to pass my experience and knowledge on to others through teaching and coaching. Obviously I had been taught by Forrest and Dan as well as many of the others in the team and seen how they conduct the classes, so I'm sure I have the ability to do it, right? Hmmm....

I remember my first few classes quite vividly. One word. Disasters. I had suddenly entered a whole new realm of parkour and teaching. All of the training that I had done for myself was a fraction of the experience and understanding I needed to be able to teach it. So many questions had instantaneously entered my brain... The most simplest of things had now become the most complex! For instance... A step vault. Can I accurately explain every aspect of the mechanics behind the step vault? Do I know why we do it that way? Why not with the other foot? Other hand? Which foot do we lead with? Which foot do we land with? Where do the hips have to be? How do I teach a ten year old this? How do I capture the attention of a ten year old to be motivated to do this? How do I break this down for someone with little strength and experience? How do I progress, streamline and offer tips on the same technique to veteran traceurs to help them improve? What's the most likely place people will fall? Where do I stand to spot them? How do I get an entire group, of different abilities, to do this? How do I organise this? How do I make sure they all understand the correct way to do this? What must they watch out for? What are common mistakes? How do I deal with someone who just doesn't understand? What the hell is going on!?!?

Oh dear... I know nothing. My respect for the entire team had suddenly been multiplied by a thousand in a matter of about twenty seconds. I now understood the skill and experience it takes to teach an Academy class of fifty people while answering any questions and queries, reacting to different situations, ensuring everyone is safe, gaining maximum potential out of everyone, allowing everyone to have fun and keeping the classes upbeat and enjoyable!

Through the following year, along with the rest of the team, I have, on a daily basis, been put into many different and varied teaching scenarios which have tested all aspects of my parkour and teaching abilities. Some have gone better than others, but all of these situations have taught me more than I had ever hoped about myself, the discipline and my colleagues. Now I am beginning to feel more comfortable with teaching, but know I still have an eternity of learning to do.

The initial fears and frustrations have now faded away but the simple fact is that the more I teach, the more I learn and the more I learn, the more there is to be learnt. Being someone who thrives on knowledge, I guess this is a pretty good situation to be in. I'm just glad that I am in an environment that allows me to learn in the correct way.

There are a million aspects to comprehend and I think it is imperative to have the physical fundamentals, spirit and ethos firmly cemented into your subconscious by spending time with those with the experience to make sure you are on the right path... otherwise, there is just too much that can be skewed, misinterpreted and misunderstood. For these reasons I'm glad that the new A.D.A.P.T qualification is on its way. It's something that will give developing traceurs/traceuses and athletes around the world the option to learn how to TEACH properly and ensure that parkour, as a discipline, is advanced further in the best way possible for all of us as a community. This, I completely believe, is a great thing.

As for me, I'm just excited to find out what we're all going to learn at class tomorrow. :)

#58The Meaning of Strength

2009-09-03T11:00:00.003+01:00

What is it, ‘to be strong’? Why do we push ourselves every day to be fitter, faster, stronger, more fearless, more capable, more efficient?

Who can jump the furthest? Who can run the fastest or climb the highest? Who can face the most danger? Who can do the most twists in a somersault? How could we get to a place in our minds where any of these things matter to us? Arbitrary things, all of them: quick to come and quicker to go; easily gained or lost, easily learned or forgotten; affected by the most random and trivial of things, such as lever length, genetics, training, tendon and ligament position, anatomy, injury, predisposition, substances, drugs, nurture, nature, anything! Meaningless. So where is the meaning? What gives our movement meaning?

In a few score years you will be gone. A few more decades after that the walls and gaps you jump will be gone too. Fast forward a few millennia and the very rock and stone it all rested upon will be altered, changed, and – eventually – gone too. Enough time and the planet itself will be stardust again, swallowed by a red giant. No records will stand then, no medals or points, not even the memory of those things. Transient, to be sure. Heraclitus said it best, ‘Everything flows; nothing remains’. So what does it matter that you can jump 11 feet rather than 10? Is it just ‘to be better’, is it our nature to want to improve for improvement’s sake? Is it that we must constantly prove ourselves to ourselves? Does it all come down to our conditioning, the need to compare and compete both within and without ourselves?

I hope not.

I think not.

What matters, surely, is us. What gives it all meaning, is us.
The temporal nature of things does not render them meaningless, not at all – quite the opposite. It is the very fact that all things are transient that bestows upon those things the potential for ultimate meaning – because that thing, that jump, that moment is unique and unrepeatable: much like us. So it really does matter, quite a lot, what you do with that moment! It is us who give meaning to the moments and the actions, both our intentions for and our actual experience of them, and each moment will be nothing more nor less than what we make of it. So if you do this jump simply in order to impress others, for example, or to beat your rival in a contest, and that is your motivation, that is your goal, your desire, then that moment’s or action’s meaning is no more than that: a flash of primal ego, driven by a no-doubt genetically-fuelled will to power. And where is the meaning in that? Is that really the best we can do?

But infuse that same moment with a will to understand who you are, through challenge, through adversity, through movement, and instantly that same arbitrary jump becomes filled with meaning, with power and substance. It will resonate in you, and throughout your life, and no doubt long after your body is dust. It means something.

In the end, the movements don’t matter. Truthfully, the art doesn’t matter – you could experience this in any action, in gardening, or fighting, or the study of quantum physics: what matters is you who practice the art, for you are what gives it meaning in any and every moment. So what does it mean, ‘to be strong’? Why is being strong better than being weak? Is it at all? Or is the process of becoming strong just a vehicle, a path for us to focus our own understanding of ourselves, our world, our lives, and our place in the order of things? And if so, does it then follow that the only real ‘success’ can be found through edging closer to that understanding, that indeed all knowledge is only self-knowledge?

In this case, a traceur’s true test is not in how far he can jump, or how quickly he can move, or how many muscle-ups he can complete, or even in his level of ability: but rather it is in what he finds in the art – what he finds in himself.

#57RETOUR VERS LE FUTUR 3: “DE L’ATHLETISME AU PARKOUR”

2009-08-22T12:40:00.009+01:00

Nous sommes février mars 2002. Cela fait un peu plus de 1 an et demi que je fais de l’athlé, ma spécialité; le 400 mètres haies.

Sébastien Foucan et moi étions dans le même club (SCA EVRY) et dans le même groupe d’entrainement avec pour Coach Cristian Kapfer. Seb était spécialisé dans le saut en longueur. Nos programmes d’entrainement étaient différents mais souvent, il est arrivé que nous partagions des thêmes du programme ensemble par exemple les exercices pour développer la vitesse. Jusqu’à 200 mètres, il était toujours devant, plus puissant, plus rapide, par contre, au dela de cette barrière , les rôles s’inversaient, j’étais plus résistant et capable de maintenir une cadence de vitesse élevée plus longtemps.

Ce samedi matin, Seb et moi nous sommes retrouvés à 10h à la salle de musculation de l’AGORA(Evry) pour faire notre programme d’entrainement ensemble. Durant cet entrainement, nous avons parlé de nombreuses choses, des pompiers de Paris, de sa blessure au bras etc... Si je me rappel bien, j’ai commencé à discuter du film “YAMAKASI”, je lui ai demandé s’il l’avait vu. Il m’a expliqué pour la première fois, qu’il les connaissaient très bien et même qu’il avait été l’un d’entre eux. Jusqu’ici, il avait toujours été très discret sur le sujet, il ne m’en avait jamais parlé avant. C’est marrant, je ne sais pas pourquoi mais j’avais du mal à l’imaginer faire cette activitée, peut être parce que nous nous étions rencontrés à l’Athlétisme: un sport très conventionnel et à cette époque je pensais que le Parkour, l’ Art du deplacement( les termes que Seb a utilisé pour introduire l’activité) n’était pas du tout conventionnel. Je me disais que les YAMAKASI bougeaient comme des animaux et pour être hônnète j’avais du mal à me representer Seb avec ce côté animal. Tout le monde peu se tromper :-)

Bref! Apres avoir parlé de parkour pendant plus de 2 heures et lui avoir exprimé le fait que j’etais sûr , vu ma personnalité et mes aptitudes physiques, que cette activité me conviendrait parfaitement, il m’expliqua qu’il était en train de faire le nécessaire pour créer une association Parkour. Il m’a gentiment proposé de venir essayer quand tout serait en place.

En janvier 2003, je participais a ma première séance de Parkour accompagné de l’un de mes meilleurs amis Chritophe Guilhem. C était dans une salle de gym près de Lisses. J’ai rencontré pour la première fois, Stephane Vigroux, Yohann Vigroux, Sébastien Goudot, Mickael, Kazuma et bien entendu Sébastien Foucan était présent.

Le format n’était pas vraiment celui d’une classe avec une structure, un échauffement, des exercices spécifiques etc... De nombreux équipements de gymnastique ( cordes,poutre, barres asymétriques etc...) étaient éparpillés sur ce terrain de Hand-ball et chacun faisait un peu ce qu’il voulait.

Tous étaient capable de faire la planche aux barres asymétriques, j’ai essayé ce mouvement pour la première fois en pensant que cela devrait être facile parce que j’avais l’habitude de faire tous les jours des tractions et des pompes. Mais non! Avec tous les efforts du monde, je n’ai pas réussi à amener mon corps au dessus de la barre. Tous, sans exception se sont gentiments moqués de moi. Je n’ai rien dit mais Je me suis dit alors:” Je vous montrerai la semaine prochaine que je peux y arriver”. J’étais déterminé comme jamais. Tous les jours, pendant une semaine, au Parc de Seaux, je répètais des exercices spécifiques que j’avais élaboré pour être capable de faire cette planche. Et Oui! Après une semaine d’entrainement intense, j’ai réussi ma première planche, pas la plus gracieuse il est vrai mais cela a été le début de mon vrai entrainement Parkour. A partir de la, j’etais mon propre mentor, je m’entrainais seul, utilisant toute l’ experience que j’avais acquise dans le milieu sportif et à l’universitée pour développer mes aptitudes à bouger proprement. 2 à 3 heures par jours, je répétais des exercices de bases pour le Parkour (travail d’equilibre, touché, renforcement musculaire etc ...) dans un endroit situé à 10 minutes en courant de chez mes parents et que j’appelle “LE TEMPLE DE LA PRECISION”.

Voilà comment mon Parkour à vraiment commencé. Ce qui est sûr:“Il ne faut pas juger quelqu’un sur ses apparences, elles sont parfois trompeuses”

BACK TO THE FUTURE 3 “FROM ATHLETICS TO PARKOUR”

It’s February or March 2002, I have been doing athletics for over 1,5 years. My expertise is 400 meters with hurdles.

Sebastien Foucan and I were in the same club (SCA EVRY) and in the same training group with Christian Kapfer our coach. Seb was an expert in long jump. Our training program was quite different, however sometimes we shared some exercises such as the ones to improve the speed. Until 200 meters, he was always at the front, more powerful, faster but beyond this distance, I’ve always taken over. I was more resistant and capable to maintain a higher pace for a longer period.

On this Saturday morning, Seb and I met at 10 am at the AGORA’s gym in Evry to train together. We talked about several things, the fire brigade from Paris, his arm injury etc... If I remember, I started talking about “YAMAKASI the movie” and asked him if he watched it. He explained to me that he knew them very well and that he used to be part of their team. It was the first time that he talked about it, he was always very discrete on this topic.

The funny thing: I don’t know why, but I couldn’t really imagine him doing this activity, maybe because we met in the athletics which is a very common and traditional sport. At that time, I thought Parkour Art du déplacement (the exact term Seb used to introduce this activity to me) was very unusual and not traditional at all. My opinion about the YAMAKASI was: they could move like animals and to be honest, I had some difficulties to imagine Seb with this animal side. Everybody can make mistakes :-).

Anyway, after spending more than 2 hours talking about parkour and me explaining to him that I was sure I would enjoy doing it because of my personality and my physical skills, he told me that he was in process of setting up a Parkour Association. He kindly invited me to try to join in when everything is up and running.

In January 2003, I went with my best mate Christophe Guilhem to my first Parkour session. It was in the gym hall close to Lisses. I met for the first time Stephane and Yohann Vigroux, Sebastien Goudot, Michael, Kazuma, and obviously Sebastien Foucan was there too.

It wasn’t really a structured class with warm up, warm down, specific exercises etc... There were a lot of gym equipments (ropes, beam, asymmetric barres etc...) all around the hand ball field. Everyone was just using the space and the equipment the way they wanted.

All of them could do the muscle up. I tried this move for the first time thinking it should be easy because I used to do pull-ups and push- ups every day. But No! Even I put all the efforts into it, I couldn’t lift my body above the bar. They all nicely teased me. I didn’t say anything but I was thinking: "I will show you next week that I can do a muscle up" I was very determined. For one entire week, I was repeating some of my specific exercises at Parc de Seaux, to make sure I will manage the muscle up. Yes after 1 intense week, I managed my first muscle up. It’s true, it wasn’t the most graceful but it was the beginning of my real Parkour training. From this moment on, I was my own mentor. I trained alone using my sport background and what I learned at the University to improve my skills and to be able to move properly. 2-3 hours a day, I repeated some Parkour basic exercises (balance, touch, conditioning etc ...) in a place which is only 10 minutes away from my parent’s house. I call it “TEMPLE OF PRECISION”.

Voila! This is the way my Parkour journey started.
“Do not judge on somebody’s first appearance, they are sometimes wrong”

#82Encountering Fear

2009-08-18T00:00:00.000+01:00

My preoccupation these days is climbing, a passion that I seem to have drifted towards, stepping away slightly from Parkour. There's a ton of similarities: training hard, pushing your body, challenging yourself, engaging in something incredibly physical, teaching others. And encountering fear, regularly.

A good friend of mine described us climbing instructors as a group who, though disparate in many ways, tend to see encountering risk as a beneficial and healthy experience. And who could argue.

With climbing, I'm just starting my journey. I will never be the strongest, the most talented, nor the bravest, and that's not why I do it. And I'm far from alone in testing myself, and regularly scaring myself. And nor do I do it as often as I should.

Most of you reading this will know what it's like to force yourself to do something despite the knowledge that if anything goes wrong, at best, you're going to seriously hurt yourself. Something that I notice is that after each time I do it, there's a tremendous sense of achievement but also the knowledge that what I've done was physically straight-forward and, in many respects, actually quite easy; it was simply the fear that made it challenging. Hopefully each experience is a step towards pushing myself harder next time, knowing how to suppress the fear when it's there and feeling confident in my physical strength and ability.

It's a strange conversation that takes place when fear kicks in, bringing our motives and values into focus. Something we should probably all do more often.

#81The War

2009-08-15T11:20:00.002+01:00

It isn’t fashionable these days to talk about training or self-improvement in terms of conflict – we often hear how we are meant to train smart, not hard; to pace ourselves; to work within our limits; to adhere to the principles of sports science throughout. And, from a physiological point of view, this is often very sound advice and we would be wise to follow it.

Yet in the practice of parkour there is also a war being fought: a psychological battle that we are presented with every time we step up to a jump or a movement we have not yet mastered, every time the fear of failure or falling rests its dark gaze upon us and tells us to give up, to go home, to try it another day, to excuse ourselves into accepting defeat. This opponent is, of course, our own self, manifesting through the challenge of the terrain we encounter in our training. And it is an opponent that simply can’t be beaten by playing smart, or working within our limits. It has to be faced head-on, confronted in a very primal sense and wrestled with until either it, or you, submits.

This is where we need some old-fashioned ‘grunt’. This is also the part of our training that is not so easily managed. Becoming strong, or fit, or fast, or to learn to move well, is not that complicated a procedure: apply the right training regularly enough and you will see results. Simple.

Dealing with the mind, however, is anything but.

It is impossible to tell how someone is going to react to the challenge of the self in this situation – will they be cowed by the fear, or will they rise to overcome it? Will they demonstrate the inner strength required to carry themselves through these struggles, or will they look for an easier road? The harsh truth is that until we are faced with the battle we have no idea as to how we will react. Nor will anyone else be able to gauge infallibly how a given individual will fare when in this type of situation: many times we have seen practitioners excel during ‘safe’ aspects of training, perhaps at an indoor class, only to baulk when faced with the same movements in an environment they perceive as more ‘high-risk’.

The mind is the most slippery of opponents, and the most cunning, and the most persistent. And it will use very trick in the book to encourage you to give up the fight. ‘You’re tired today’, it will whisper. Or perhaps, ‘it’s a bit wet still from the rain, best to leave it for another day.’ ‘Don’t push yourself too much, you may get injured’, it will warn. And finally it may reassure you, ‘you can always come back and do it tomorrow. Let’s finish for the day.’ But listen to this sibilant voice every time, and soon it will extinguish the fire within you completely: and one day when you really do want to make the jump, you find you just can’t summon up the strength.

How do we prevent this? By not listening to the voice – or at least not very often. You have to fight these inner battle and win more often than you lose. So listen to what the voice has to say (who knows, once or twice it may actually be talking sense!), take heed of its warnings and its advice – then file them away under ‘noted’, tell it to shut the hell up and get back to overcoming whatever particular obstacle you find in your path.

There are myriad different methods to fighting this war – I won’t say ‘winning’ because it’s not one that can ever be won absolutely – and I have seen individuals successfully employing very different strategies: visualisation techniques, distraction techniques, anger, mantras, music… but somewhere along the line, all these individuals step forward with a look of sheer determination, resolute, committed: and do the jump. That’s the ‘grunt’; that’s the moment of willpower – and it is a moment of self-mastery in a very real sense. For everything inside them is likely screaming at them to step down, to be sensible, to play it safe, and yet they are able to master these thought processes, put them to one side and choose to complete the action. They are in control of their body at this point, and not their fear or any other part of the ‘mad monkey’ that is the mind. It’s great to see someone achieve this state, and it’s even better to feel it for yourself.

When it happens, it’s a battle won. The war will continue, however. This is a war that never ends, after all. The opponent is tireless, relentless, and remorseless. It will be waiting on the battlefield every single time we decide to set foot thereon, arms folded and with a knowing smile. It has seen us before, it knows us intimately – perhaps better than anyone else knows us in life – and it knows precisely how to break us. Conversely, though, we know it just as well, and understand perfectly the challenge it will present us with each time we respond to the call to arms.

It’s a level playing-field: we just have to play out of our skins.

#80A month in photographs...

2009-08-10T00:10:00.015+01:00

I can't tell you how much I've enjoyed the last month!!! It's been absolutely jam-packed with good people and good energy - vibrant and rewarding to the extreme... So this will be a pretty short post, but the photos may hopefully bring a few smiles to a few faces!

July has been a productive month on the Women's Parkour front - with PKG celebrating both our biggest womens outdoor class to date (21 including myself and Annty!) and our biggest womens jam-stroke-BBQ taking place today - the community continues to grow and its truly cool to see everyone contributing, representing and bringing great vibes..! Present along with the London girls we had Southampton, Saiyans, Canterbury and the Leipzig guys representing and bringing us great entertainment and f***ed up handstands..!!! So... what's wrong with THIS picture?!?!

In addition, loads of the veteran girls are back in town and back on form - man its awesome! ;D To be back in action after injury-time is indescribable, even more so alongside mates :) Inspired by a massively fun Monday class this week... Add to all of the above some Ibizan sunshine, a few successful cat-leaps, night missions, a traceuse gathering, old mates - and new ones, beautiful nasal-breathing barefoot-running sessions, a motorbike, some kick-ass live music and you have one very happy Tracey ;D Thanks to everyone I've met or spent time with this month for making it a good one... Suffice to say that good times = good training.

#79Morzine Parkour Camp 2009 (Blane`s Tag Game)

2009-07-30T00:00:00.004+01:00

Morzine, a small town in the French Alps left me fascinated by its beautiful scenery. Everything looks so fresh, the mountains, the snow on the top, the trees, the big open space, the river, the fresh water from the well which tastes so delicious, the chalet with its rustic and cosy interior and the pure air that I had to adapt to after spending so much time in a polluted environment.

One week intense but enjoyable training (7 -9 hours with Forrest and Blane) in such an environment is refreshing for body and soul and it changes the perception of the usual urban training. There is no place where parkour can`t be practised, but training in both, the natural and the urban environment makes the training more complete.

We were 21 guys and two girls sharing the same experience, no matter of our level, experience, gender or age. It was a real pleasure to see that we as a "group" became a real "team" in just a few days. Together we went through all aspects of the training (joy, achievement, pain, frustration, disappointment, progression, individual and collective improvement, game etc.) but always ending the day with a smile.

One particular game I really enjoyed was “Blane`s tag game”. I still remember him coming closer and closer trying to catch me but....... :-)

On the last day we experienced something I believed was impossible, Blane instructed us to Monkey walk backwards 500 meters on a very steep hill, it just didn`t seemed right nor possible but congratulations to everybody, we all managed. We were so determined and full of adrenaline that after completing it we even managed to do 23 press ups (one for everybody in the team ;-)

Thank you for everybody involved, it was a great time.

#78Where we're going we don't need shoes...

2009-07-23T22:54:00.006+01:00

It is early morning in Vauxhall park and the sun has barely risen for the day. I remove my socks and shoes put them in my bag and hide my bag under a large stone seat in eyeshot in the middle of the park. I whip out my mp3 player and start my carefully prepared playlist featuring many tracks from 80's movie montages, the first being Going the Distance from the Rocky Series, and start stretching to loosen up. Rolling up my trackies until they're above my knee and nice & tight I begin my light run staying completely on the balls of the feet. This was the first time I've taken barefoot training seriously and didnt know what to expect.

After 10 minutes of jogging I discovered my new found appreciation of grass and loving the feeling of it between my toes. Unfortuently this feeling didnt last too long when I decided to seek out harder surfaces to toughen up the soles of my feet and pose more of a challenge. I already have calluses on my hands and have befriended them greatly, finding them to be reminders of tough training sessions in the past, so now it was time to see how my feet would react to similar stimuli.

With gentle consideration of my every stride I changed my route in the park so I would run over 20 metres of concrete and 10 metres of gravel. This made the rest of the run very interesting. I was able to have a greater liberty with foot placement when running on grass that I couldn't on concrete. Every stride I took I had to completely absorb the impact of landing on concrete, albeit a very little impact as my pace was slow, due to my unfamiliarity. Gravel was a slightly different challange as I had to land softly and always land on the ball of the foot closest to the heel and rock up towards my toes rather than springing from step to step as I did on the grass.

After another 10 minutes I decided I had sufficiently adjusted my technique to face running at a faster pace and completed another few laps of the park but this time I decided to sprint as fast as I could along the 20 metre stretch of concrete. As I approached I gradually increased my pace but found I couldnt reach top speed or even come close. Some thing was holding me back and after the run I realised it was the soreness in my feet.

Fast forward to two months later and I've modified my first session now including side stepping, sprinting, basic vauls & rolls and moving on to precisions and catleaps but with the same 80's soundtrack. Now I only train barefoot in the main training spot in vauxhall which features small shards of glass, uneven paving stones, small twigs and berries everything one could hope for to tough up the soles of your feet. I find it extremely uncomfortable to train in my normal trainers and now feel very pleased when I walk away from a day at Vauxhall with blackened soles.

#77It does look like rain..

2009-07-21T00:00:00.003+01:00

It
was wet. Very wet.

I'd had a few ideas for tonight's class but I hadn't been expecting such heavy rain to be joining us and as I sat on the bus to the outdoor class I did wonder, should I change my plans?

The answer came quicker than the question.

I SHOULD change my plans! I could make the most of this weather and use it to my advantage. Sure, they'll hate me, but that's nothing new and I'll be there with them so they can't complain. Too much. Right?

When I arrived and stepped off the bus, the unforgiving barrage of water immediately hit me and I knew this was going to be one of those nights. Visions of the last Rendezvous assaulted my senses and they made me smile.. a smile that only grew as I noticed most of the students seeking shelter under some trees, waiting for everyone else to arrive.

The group was divided, I took three of the more experienced guys with me and as we jogged to a nearby park, we made an effort to avoid the larger puddles.. at this stage.

After some more running and very light routes that gradually became faster, I felt we were all warm enough for what was to come.

I asked the guys to remove their shoes, their socks and their shirts and after the initial surprise all three were only too keen to join me half-naked in the pouring rain. Nobody wanted to be the one to protest and there was an energy in the air that had us all too eager to get colder and wetter to see what we could take.

It was obvious I'd need to keep the tempo high and keep us moving to stop the bitter wind and icy rain from demoralising and beating us down, so we placed our bags and clothes in a rare dry patch and got to work.

First up to get the blood pumping and maintain our body temperature was 50 climb ups on a wall, usually a fairly straightforward task for anyone in this group but the rain had soaked the moss on the top and with no foot protection, the sharp, slippery walls made an example of our feet by the halfway point. Irregardless we all finished the exercise feeling great and the rain was only a minor issue in the backs of our minds now. I silently issued a challenge to the skies to give us all they could and they replied with more of the same. Wind and water. Ha! Is that all you have tonight?

Next up we repeated some simple routes over a wall, through some bars, up on to a garage roof, over the top and down the other side but with one stipulation - we had to complete the route in complete silence.. so no foot slides, misplaced hands, careless limbs or loss of control would be acceptable as this would surely result in at least a squeak or bump or creak in these conditions. After five or so repetitions of the route we had all worked out the best way to overcome the obstacles in silence so I reversed the direction which offered a few interesting variations before we moved on to try a couple of jumps that were suddenly a little trickier in the wet and without any protection for the feet.

By the time we had finished this exercise we realised it had stopped raining. Having long accepted our circumstances and feeling soaked to the bone, it really wasn't an issue any more though. Alongside a brief interval from the rain we were also met with some bewildered looks, smiles and shakes of the heads from passersby.. but all were complimentary and supportive, if not a little curious as to whether we were under the influence of something.

Next I led the guys to another area and we climbed on to a wall that led higher and higher as we eased our way along the top. The moss and barefooted combination made for some very careful steps as the height increased and at the peak we stopped to take a look around and closed our eyes, enjoying the feeling of being at a height in these conditions. Of course this is something you should only do if you're comfortable and experienced enough for this kind of training but I knew these guys and enough about their ability to know they were all safe and capable.

A short traversing route and climbing challenge awaited us next in which we had to travel from one location to another without touching the ground.. an age old game but one made all the more fun and difficult with the addition of some water.
The traverse dug deep in to the hands as metal clashed with mettle and I'm constantly reminded of the exercise as a small cut in my hand keeps skimming the space bar. Again. And again. And again.

Finally we headed back to meet the other group as the rain made a comeback. The walk had done a fair job of cooling us down once more so it was time for something a little more intense to get back to a comfortable temperature! We spent an arduous five or six minutes in press up position constantly mixing push up variations with static holds on the fingertips, knuckles and palms as our body temperature crept back to a decent level for such a night. After some core training and stretching we were all relieved to find our socks, shoes and shirts all dry and ready to slip in to. See? There is a method to my madness! Somewhere..

A challenging night, a great atmosphere and a feeling of unity as we braved the worst of it together.

I do love the rain.

-Blane

#76Health and Safety

2009-07-15T00:00:00.001+01:00

A particular news story has recently been brought to my attention (http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/newshome/Teenager-badly-hurt-in-39freerunning39.5431654.jp) and I felt that it was worth discussing some of the points it raises. According to reports a 14-year old boy in Portsmouth had been attempting to jump from one rooftop to another, fell short smashing his face and falling 30ft to the ground below. While at the time I write this it appears that although suffering a serious head injury and breaking several bones he is indeed in a stable condition. His friend claims they were free-running. Already this has had a variety of responses some claim that boys will be boys and this is just something that happens in one form or another and always will, others feel this proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that it's this parkour activity that is to blame and should be banned everywhere, and some have even commented that this is a result of TV and video games promoting the idea that they are indestructible and able to do anything. However a common theme seems to be that people feel that with health and safety running wild in this country kids are just looking for any kind of outlet which allows them to feel like they're not being treated like an idiot.

It seems strange and yet so simple to me that a lot of these issues can be resolved not with this overbearing nanny state but rather with the simple rule of “being responsible for your own actions”. If you trip and fall then it’s down to you, you should have been more careful. People need to stop automatically looking for someone else to blame and start taking more personal responsibility. There’s only so much you can learn for yourself with someone holding your hand the whole time, telling you not to take any form of risk just go about your life without causing any ripples. The funny thing is that sounds more like a video game to me than anything else, follow this set course doing things within these boundaries that we specify for you because that’s how it should be. Its like sitting in a small room where your perfectly happy but if someone was to tell you that the door is locked and your not allowed to leave you would suddenly begin to feel uncomfortable and then the urge to get out. Humans don’t like being confined.

I’m not saying that we shouldn’t have rules as that would be anarchy but simply that rules should never supersede common sense and reason. Rules should always be open to question or discussion. Now granted its not always the time or the place, for example rules in the army are there to keep order and save lives in situations where a clear chain of command is needed and to be followed without question. But that doesn’t mean that you should be afraid to ask or suggest a different way at a later date or in a time better suited, just so long as you can back it up with reasons why your suggestion is better.

A lot of people seem to be only too happy to give away their decision making process, hiding behind rules or regulations even if they don’t understand it themselves. It seems a waste to me. Regardless of your personal faith or belief system the only certainty we have is that we live now, we exist now; as such why sleepwalk from the cot to the grave? Your life is something that should have value in its experiences not merely its possession. Some seem to focus too heavily on merely getting through life as if it is some kind of video game and as long as they survive one more level they’ll be ok. In sticking with the video game analogy you could fail at the 1st level or you could survive everything thrown at you and make it past the last boss but it still ends. What is of value are the moments you played through not the completion itself. A large part of who I am is a result of not wanting to make it to 75, 80,100 and look back on my life as having "made it through". I want to be able to look at all i achieved whether big or small and know i gave it my all, not that i held something back and didn't aim for more for fear of risking what i already had. Personally i feel that regret and missed opportunity are worse than failing and having to start again. We make of our lives what we will. Sometimes I may not want to compromise on something if I feel strongly about it regardless of the consequences. But its my choice to make and I’d happily live with the outcome (good or bad) knowing I did what I thought was right and true to myself.

I’m not sure if there’s an overall point here or if I managed to accurately get across what’s in my head. But to sum up I guess I just think that you should always be true to yourself and think things through for yourself, that way whatever may be you can look at it and smile!

#75With apologies to Alan Moore

2009-07-12T00:00:00.001+01:00

It is September 2003. I am watching Frenchmen doing something I have only witnessed before on a BBC ident.

It is May 2006, I am training with Harrow with friends. I watch them do a precision I can't bring myself to do. We all do a running catleap, across an alleyway, by a pub I haven't been to for a year. We laugh at the idea of doing it standing. I spy an archway across a road, high enough that double decker buses can comfortably drive beneath. I joke about wanting to traverse across it, over the road. I don't mean it.

I'm in Norwich. It is July 2008 and I've been teaching for well over a year now. My foot has twisted on the corner of a flowerbed. I've managed to catch the wall I was trying to precision in an arm-jump, but it's obvious that's the end of my training that day. 10 minutes later after some foolish attempts at quadrapedal on the stairs with only one leg, it becomes obvious that that is probably the end of my training for the next week.

It is July 2006. I am trying to do a handstand on a rail in Barcelona. I flip over and land on the edge of the road, but it's at a bad angle and my ankle hurts. 2 and a half years in my future I hold a handstand for a minute for the first time.

It is spring 2007. I am standing in front of a class. I am telling people to rotate their shoulders to my count. One week previous I was rotating my shoulders to Forrest's count.

It is June 2008. I am in Harrow, training with friends. We do a standing cat leap, across an alleyway, by a pub I haven't been to for years. We laugh at the idea of doing it running. On the way home we pass below an arch, and I make a familiar joke. I'm not so sure I'm joking.

The sun is so hot. I'm inspecting a temporary park made for us to teach and demonstrate on. It is August 2007 and I am going to be here for much of the next 9 days. In 2 days time I will be doing another demo, but my stomach will be filled with butterflies. The reassuring presence of another of “my generation” will be gone, and the prospect of doing a demonstration with two second generation practitioners is filling me with dread. 3 days in my future I no longer care who I will be teaching with. I know we'll be fine.

It's March 20th 2009 and I'm in tears of laughter. Blane is laughing so hard he can barely breathe, and a room full of people are glancing at us with suspicion. When one of us stops, the other will set him off again. I have been doing muscle ups for the last 3 years.

May 2009. I am walking through Victoria station. 2 hours in my past I ate a slice of pizza. 5 minutes in my past I am broken, the 37th slice nestling in my belly, unable to watch Gise put away his 40th of the evening.

It is September 2009 and a surgeon is drilling a hole in my left ankle. 3 years in my past I am landing on the edge of a Spanish road.

It is March 20th 2009. I have spent many hours travelling to Rome, and I meet Gise for the first time. In six hours time I will be crying with laughter so hard I fear I may never stop. In 2 months I will be doing press-ups with my new friend after truly heroic amounts of pizza. Sometime between now and then I will be training at Earlsfield with a friend. Making an unexpected stop in Harrow on the way home I decide to see what the arch feels like. I am halfway up before I realise I have decided to climb across. I do it again to be sure I am confident with it.

2 and a half years after I discover parkour, I am in a park, practising my muscle-ups. One week ago, I was in the same park, at the same climbing frame, and I couldn't muscle-up. 3 years in my future I am making noises and faces that should not be seen or heard by most other human beings. I'm doing my 20th muscle-up in a row and it is killing me. Form broke down some time ago, now it's just about getting over the bar.

I am at a barbecue, surrounded by friends. They are giving me weary looks, and wondering exactly what it is that is making me laugh so much. I am 4 months away from lying unconscious in an operating theatre, and 3 years in my past I am making noises and faces that should not be seen or heard by most other human beings. I'm doing my 2nd muscle-up in a row.

It's Sunday 2004! I have gone to Southbank to train. It could be any Sunday. I have arrived at Waterloo shortly before 11, as I have done, and will do, all year.

It is Autumn 2007. I am meeting Johann to check out a new sports centre we'll be starting a new class at. 4 years in my past I am watching Frenchmen doing something I have only seen once before in my life. Someone called Johann Vigroux is on my television screen, jumping across roofs. 18 months in my future Yo is telling me to keep going, just one more, as I make noises and faces that most other human beings should not have to endure.

#74Improving through non training

2009-07-09T01:00:00.005+01:00

Hey
everybody,

This time I would like to talk about non training. I know one we start parkour it takes place in your life, your heart, your time, everywhere !

When I started, 10 years ago, I was training every single day, right after finishing school, and I kept this rythm for years.... There was so many things to discover that I couldn't stop training even 1 day, it would have been a waste of time ! This was the "Fire" period, the incredible energy which keeps you in very good shape and makes you train all day everyday :)

After a little while, I got injured and had to reduce my training ! (it's the case for many of us !). When I got back in shape, as I achevied a lot of things about performance, my goal was to enjoy my practising but also being safe, healthy, I didn't want to feel injured anymore ...

So I started thinking about my training and how to be smart (can be hard !). And finally, with time I understood that I didn't need to train all day like a furious man ! I could do regular average physical trainings to stay fit but for the techniques I improved a lot by not practising. The movement became clearer, my touch became better, my vision became more calm and I got more confidence in what I do....

The thing that I learnt is that I improved more this past 2 years than during my first years of practising. I call it experience. This is not something you can rush, it comes with time and no matter if you training everyday or not, your experience improves by itself.

I feel very grateful for the experience I have now, and I believe that training everyday, all day is not the only solution to become better, I had to train a lot with my mind only, which can me done anywhere, at any time....

Here are my monthly thoughts !

Peace,

Johann

#73Remembering 7th July 2005

2009-07-07T07:36:00.006+01:00

(Originally posted on metafilter on 7.7.05.)

I've just had quite an interesting day. Nothing compared to some, I grant you, but I hope some find this worth reading.

I heard the news (at my flat in Stepney Green, a 20 minute walk from Aldgate East) when I finally crawled out of bed this morning at about 9.30am. I had just ignored a call from one of my flatmates who is up in York and was ringing to check on my situation. Unfortunately, by the time I learnt what was going on and tried to call back, the phone networks were down.

I sat on irc (ircnet, #london) with the radio next to me and kept track of everything that was going on, periodically trying to check on my flatmates, one of whom was due to take a train from Kings Cross this morning. I finally got through to them both at around midday. (I hate watching breaking news on television - it's a frustrating experience and you can learn a lot more a lot quicker online.)

Shortly after noon I received a text message from a friend who had arrived in London from Birmingham this morning for a job interview. She doesn't know the city at all and sent me a slightly worrying message that simply read "I'm somewhere in central London and really scared. call me as soon as you can." Of course, with the phone networks down I then spent 20 minutes trying to call her.

Eventually I got through and managed to figure out that she was somewhere near Piccadilly and a little confused. She heard one of the blasts go off this morning and didn't have a clue what was going on.

I packed a rucksack and set off into central London on my flatmate's bike. The rain was chucking it down. I passed by Royal London hospital where ambulances were pulling up, being closely tracked by various news crews. Then on, past aldgate east and Liverpool Street, having to continually check my route and cut south to get around the road closures. The police were calm and incredibly helpful.

The roads were empty of cars. Lots of people were walking around the strangely quiet, wet streets, and occasionally a couple of police cars and bikes would fly past me, sirens blaring. The bars and cafes were pretty full with people watching the breaking news. I made my way long the river and cut north at embankment. The usually busy streets around Trafalgar Square were empty, save for the occasional emergency vehicle. The weather was improving and on tracking down the right Cafe Nero at Piccadilly, I caught up with my poor friend, Flick, who was quite relieved to see me. She couldn't get in touch with her Aunt in Greenwich with whom she is staying tonight.

The atmosphere then was a little strange. From what I saw, away from the bomb sites, things seemed to be rapidly returning to normal - en route I had seen tourists piling onto their coaches parked up on Victoria embankment. At Trafalgar Square, where we sat for lunch, people were gradually going back to doing regular weekday stuff, taking photographs, chatting, having lunch. The only difference was the lack of traffic and large numbers of people walking everywhere.

After lunch we wandered down to Charing Cross to see the situation with the trains. Hundreds of people were flooding into the station and it will take some many hours to get home tonight. Continuing east along the river, I put my friend on a ferry to Canary Wharf where hopefully she can get the DLR to Greenwich where she's staying with her family.

One of the strangest moments occurred at around 4pm when suddenly O2 (who appear to have been worst affected) returned to 100% and delivered 7 voicemail messages. Various friends and family had been calling me this morning and had been unable to get through.

The cycle ride back to Stepney Green was surreal. The traffic picked up as I approached Tower Bridge and turned into a mixture of empty and then gridlocked streets as I approached Aldgate. I assume that the police were having to hold off traffic so that emergency services could get access to wherever it was they were going. I have no idea what sort of incidents they were responding to or where they were headed, but a few convoys of emergency vehicles screamed past me in both directions along the empty streets, and squeezed through on the busy ones.

I stopped next to the cordon near Aldgate East and listened to a news reporter talking about the traffic, trying to find out some information as I hadn't heard a news report since leaving the house. He was saying that the roads were empty but traffic was starting to pick up. He was right in that the road he was stood on was empty, but two streets away, the traffic wasn't moving.

A guy handing out religious leaflets was not having much luck.

All the roads around Liverpool St and Aldgate East were cordoned off and there was no view of what was happening from where the police line started. I didn't hang around, preferring to get back and catch up with what was going on. Heading east along the A11, the traffic was being carefully controlled - emergency vehicles were still moving about and I assume that the flow had to be monitored to ensure that police and ambulances were able to move around freely.

The A11 was empty outbound (heading east) as I cycled along. The traffic was stationary in the opposite direction. I have no idea why people were trying to head towards the city centre. I passed people waiting at bus stops and told them that there was very little heading out of the city. People will be standing at bus stops for several hours. The 25 bus to Ilford is overloaded at the best of times, so unless people start walking, I don't know how some of them will get home.

I passed the Royal Hospital again. A few ambulances were pulling up as I passed, and a few news crews were still there. I assume they continued to film those being carried off ambulances.

It's amazing how calm the city was and how quickly it seemed to be getting back to normal - bar the huge number of pedestrians. I've never seen so many people walking across Waterloo Bridge, even during rush hour.

In all likelihood, I will be having beers in the west end tomorrow evening and I will be down at London's South Bank on Sunday, training just like last week. There's no point living in fear or changing what you do. Be vigilant, yes, but don't let the terrorists affect how you live.

Of course I'm no expert on security operations or emergency responses, but the impression that I got from the police was that (as much as they could be) things were under control and there was no cause for alarm. I've heard people praising them for their work today and I would like to express my thanks also.

#72Retour vers le futur 2: “Stephane Vigroux, une fois...Un athlête bléssé...”

2009-07-05T00:00:00.002+01:00

Original image here

Nous sommes en octobre 2003, je passais dans le coin, je décide d’aller dire un p’tit Bonjour à Steph. Je frappe à sa porte avec l’incertitude que quelqu’un ne réponde; je n’ai pas prévenu que je venais. J’ai de la chance, il est là. Il m’invite à entrer, m’offre à boire et nous commencons à discuter de tout et de rien. On en arrive à sa blessure et à sa ré-éducation, un sujet délicat, je le vois sur son visage: il a un air triste, déchiré,déçu et sérieux à la fois:” tu sais Forrest , cela fait maintenant plus d’un an que je me suis fait opéré, mais il ya eu des complications, mon genou ne progresse pas vraiment comme il se devrait. Je ne suis pas sûr que je pourrais un jour refaire du Parkour .” Je le regarde en souriant et lui reponds:” Ne soit pas si pessimiste, je te propose un deal; je ne suis pas docteur, je ne suis pas kiné mais je connais bien le corps humain, je pense que je peux t’aider. Je te propose d’être ton préparateur physique , je m’occupe de toi, tu n’as rien à perdre et en contre parti tu m’en diras et me montreras un peu plus du Parkour.”

“Forrest, c’est sympa mais je n’ai pas les moyens de te payer.” Je lui réponds de nouveau assez fermement: “Qui t’as parlé d’argent? Si je te le propose, c’est que cela me fait plaisir et en plus pour moi, ce sera une bonne expérience, tu seras le premier athlète dont je m’occupe de la ré-éducation. La seule chose,je te donne de mon temps, mon expérience et mes connaissances donc je ne veux pas entendre d’excuses comme quoi tu es fatigué, tu n’es pas en forme, tu n’aimes ce que l’on fait, tu ne peux pas...”Bon ok! On commence quand? Me dit il. Je passe te chercher lundi à 9h...

Pendant près de 9 mois, qu’il pleuve, qu’il neige, qu’il vente, j’etais là à sa porte prêt pour son programme de re-education, entre 9h-9h15 le matin, 3 à 4 fois par semaine pendant 2 à 3 heures pour chaque seance.

Je dois avouer que c’etait un challenge intéressant. Après quelques séances, je pense que je connaissait mieux les aptitudes physiques, les limites et jusqu’ou je pouvais aller avec Steph que Stephane lui même. J’ai été dur physiquement avec lui, je lui ai fait faire des exercices qui n’étaient pas forcément écrits dans un des manuel s de ré-éducation mais cela marchait... Sinon! Nous avons passé beaucoup de temps discuté des choses de la vie, de la méthodologie d’entraînement, de son genou, de son état d’esprit, de ses attentes etc...

Il y a 2 choses dont je dois lui gratifier: premièrement, il n’a pas manqué une seule séance. Ensuite, même si des fois il me fusillait du regard après que je lui ai demandé de continuer un exercice alors qu’il avait déjà dépassé son seuil acceptable de douleur, il ne sais jamais plaint. Et même s’il y a eu 1 fois , 1 épisode où j’étais sur le point de tout arrêter, j’étais furieux avec lui parce qu’il a faillit en une séance détruire tout le dur travail qui avait été fait jusque là, Il a tout de meme fini par entré dans mon estime et a mérité mon respect en tant que “ VRAI ATHLETE.”

Plus les semaines passèrent et plus je pouvais apercevoir un grand sourir s’afficher sur son visage . Je le voyais à chaque séance de plus en plus confiant, de plus en plus fort et solide sur ses jambes, le haut du corps et les abdos :-)

En mai 2004, David Belle lui a proposé un rôle dans le film “Banlieue 13”. Stephane m’a demandé ce que j’en pensais. Je lui ai sourit et dit:” Ton genou est solide maintenant, la seule chose que tu dois éviter pour le moment, ceux sont les grands sauts de fond tout simplement parce que nous n’avons pas encore fait de travail spécifique pour , donc je ne veux pas que tu prennes de risque. Pour le reste, tu es prèt...”

Encore une fois, j’ai été témoin du fait que l’on ne reconnait pas forcément un VRAI ATHLETE par ses performances physiques mais vraiment par ce qu’il dégage de l’intérieur.

”Notre plus grande gloire, ce n’est pas de ne jamais tomber mais de se relever à chaque fois que l’on tombe”( Confucius, Philosophe )

“L ‘Homme qui peut se pousser à en faire un de plus alors que l’effort devient vraiment douloureux est l’homme qui vainquera”( Roger Bannister,le premier à avoir fait moins de 4 minutes au mile )

Tu l’as fait, “Le singe est de retour”:-)

BACK TO THE FUTURE 2: “Stephane Vigroux, once an injured athlete...”

It was October 2003 when I was passing Steph’s house and decided to go to say hello. I knocked at his door without actually knowing if he’s there or not, but I was lucky, he was. He invited me to come in, offered me a drink and we started talking about everything and nothing. We talked as well about his injury and his rehabilitation, really upsetting topic I can see on his face: he looks sad, tore, disappointed and serious at the same time:” You know Forrest, it has been more than 1 year that I had my operation, but I had some issues with it, my knee didn’t improve the way it should have since and I’m not sure that I will be able to do Parkour again.” I looked at him and smiled. ”Don’t be so negative, I suggest you a deal: I’m not a doctor, I’m not a physio but I know the human body quite well, I think I can help you. I offer you to become your physical coach, I will take care of you, you have nothing to loose and you will tell and show me more about Parkour”.

“Forrest, it is very kind from you but I cannot afford it”. I answered quite strongly: ”who talked about money? If I offer you this, it’s because I’m happy to do it. Additionally, it will be a good experience for me as you will be the first athlete I will take care of the rehabilitation. The only thing: I will give you my time, my experience and my knowledge but I do not want to hear from you any excuses such as: you are tired, you’re not in form, you don’t like what we do, you cannot etc...”Fine! When can we start? “I come to pick you up on Monday at 9am...”

For nearly 9 months, whatever the weather, rain, snow, wind, I was there at his door ready to deliver his rehabilitation program, between 9-9.15 am, 2-3 hours, 3-4 times a week.

I have to say it was an interesting challenge. After a few sessions, I think I knew more about his potential, his limits and until where I could push Steph than Stephane himself. I pushed him physically very hard, I did with him some exercises which were not necessarily written in any rehabilitation program manual but they worked. Otherwise, we spent a lot of time talking about life, methodology of training, his knee, the way he feels psychologically, his expectations...

There are 2 things I have to give him a credit for: first of all, he hasn’t missed one single session. Secondly, even though sometimes he looked at me with killer eyes after I had told him to carry on an exercise although he had already reached the peak of pain he could handle, he’s never complained. And even though once I was close to stop completely taking care of his rehabilitation and I was very angry with him because in 1 session he could have destroyed all our hard work over the past few months, at the end he did manage to earn my respect as a “TRUE ATHLETE”.

As the weeks passed by I could see smile and happiness, at each session he was more and more confident, more solid and stronger on his legs, upper body and core muscles :-)

In May 2004, David Belle asked him to play a role in the movie “District 13”. Steph asked me what would be my advice on this. I smiled and said:” your knee is strong now, the only thing that you have to avoid at the moment are big drops. And just because we haven’t done some specific training for this yet, I don’t want you to take any risk. For everything else, you’re ready now...”

Once again, I witnessed that a TRUE ATHLETE is not always recognised through his performance but through his inner strength.”

”Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall...”(Confucius, philosopher)

“The man who can drive himself, further once the effort gets painful is the man who will win" (Roger Bannister, the first person to break the four-minute mile)

You did it, the monkey is back :-)

#71Excerpt 2...

2009-07-03T00:00:00.001+01:00

Following the recent pubication of our Handbook of Parkour and Freerunning, here is an extended version of one of the early sections of the book for those who can't access a copy.

Transformative Practice

The art of displacement is an art based on the refinement of one’s movement, in all areas. This ranges from gross movements such as jumps, drops, and passing obstacles, down to the fine movements within one’s anatomy, such as joint mobility, muscle-chain connections and even to training the neuromuscular pathways that underpin all motion. It is an art that aims to enhance one’s natural abilities and gifts, helping us to return to our more primal talents, to the essence of what are bodies have evolved to be able to do. It is a true transformative practice, which is loosely defined as the regular practice of particular physical movements with the intent to improve them and, concurrently, to improve the self as well.

However, while these abilities are latent and stored within all of us, it is clear that a disciplined approach to developing them is what enables us to unlock our potential fully: parkour offers methods and approaches to this practice that have been pressure-tested and refined over many years to create an optimal way of training both body and mind for the improvement of one’s movement.

It is a truth that in modern industrialized societies rarely do we need to push our bodies to their limits, which in turn precludes most of us from ever coming anywhere near to our full potential. Our bodies are therefore usually not ready for the strains and pressures of practicing such explosive movement, especially on the concrete and metal surfaces of the urban jungle, and to attempt to copy the high-powered actions performed by seasoned practitioners without the necessary training and physical preparation is to invite almost certain injury and damage. Good parkour training will remove that risk, and in fact reveal to the practitioner that his or her limits are far beyond what they could ever have imagined.

Conditioning: Forging the Body

A large proportion of training in parkour is what is loosely termed ‘conditioning’ - this is the process of preparing the muscles, joints, connective tissue and bones of the body for the demands of practicing the art. To be able to practice this and indeed any physical discipline safely and for as long as one wishes it is absolutely vital that one first develops the necessary physical attributes that underlie the movements.

The physical aim of parkour is to be as functionally fit and strong and capable for as long as possible in life - to become the best version of yourself that you can - not to explode out of the blocks, have a few years of energetic practice and then stop because of injury or overstraining of the body. Parkour is an art of living, a way of approaching not only your environment but also your life - for as long as you are living it.

This conditioning process is a way of forging your body to prepare it for the rigours of training. It creates a kind of ‘body armour’ of muscle and toughened tissue that not only protects your whole anatomy from harm through repeated impacts but also shields you if and when you fall or strike a surface unintentionally. This armour protects you not only in your parkour practice but also of course in any other activity, making you less susceptible to injury from everyday accidents and strains.

It is vital to understand that even in conditioning one must not rush or push too hard, too fast. Connective tissue such as tendons and ligaments take much longer to strengthen than muscles and to over-develop muscles without giving thought to the increased strain on the connective tissues will invariably lead to repetitive strain injuries such as tendonitis. Always seek proper instruction from experienced and qualified teachers before embarking on a physical conditioning regime, to ensure optimal development.

The Physical Benefits of Parkour

“The joy of surpassing the limits of the body is open to all.” Mihaly Csikszentmihaly

Practitioners have long been aware that good parkour training brings about incredibly positive physical changes as it requires us to use our bodies as they were meant to be used; functionally and holistically. This training is far removed from linear isolations of muscles on a weights machine - freerunning tests all of the body all of the time, and almost every movement requires most of the major muscle groups to work together and coordinate their efforts. As we have seen, however, attempting these movements without proper understanding of the art can lead to negative results for the body and less functionality - the reverse of our intention!

This fine line between positive development and pushing the body too far is best walked under guidance from those who have navigated it before, until one becomes sensitive enough to one’s own body to be able to manage this balancing act alone.

While practicing the freerunner is never attempting to work any part of his body in isolation, nor is he ever developing anything other than the most functional attributes and skills. A practitioner of parkour rarely brings weights or specialised equipment to his sessions: his body is his one and only tool. The principal practice for parkour is to repeat and refine the movements of parkour, improving tensile strength, flexibility, and coordination as you go, creating kinetic chains between the muscle groups while increasing neuromuscular efficiency. The importance of proprioception (the constant, accurate assessment of the body’s position in space, facilitated by the contraction of numerous small stabiliser muscles) cannot be overstated, and is constantly improved through balance exercises, night-training, and spatial awareness drills.

This ‘natural’ approach to training in some ways parallels the lifestyles of ancient tribal cultures, perhaps first properly researched from a fitness perspective by Frenchman Georges Hebert (1875-1957), a pivotal figure in the history of physical education in the West who was struck by the natural attributes of the indigenous peoples of Africa – Hebert noted that merely leading their natural lives of physicality and dynamism produced incredible specimens possessed of exceptional functional strength and agility. His ‘Natural Method’, which many regard as one of the forerunners of parkour, was a means by which to reproduce these effects in industrialised societies by “promoting the qualities of organic resistance, muscularity and speed, towards being able to walk, run, jump, move quadrupedally, to climb, to walk in balance, to throw, lift, defend yourself and to swim.”

Just as with Hebert’s method, the art of displacement focuses on enhancing one’s natural movement capabilities, which means every individual who practices it will see physical improvements perfectly in line with how his or her body is designed to work. These benefits can last a lifetime.

Extraordinary Living

The art of displacement encourages a gradual sophistication of attributes, through detailed specification as the practitioner goes deeply into the intricacy of his movement, towards an unconscious mastery of his own abilities. To achieve ‘flow’ in movement is one of the holy grails of parkour: to link skills together into a seamless, dynamic whole facilitating instinctual movement over any terrain. Acquiring this sense of fluidity in movement carries over positively into all one’s activities, and aligns us with the enormous potential that is latent within us all. We will look into this ‘flow’ phenomenon in more detail in Part Three of this book.

When practiced correctly and safely parkour will transform the individual in a radical fashion: taking one’s functional strength, fitness, endurance, confidence, agility and balance to incredible new heights. You will feel more wholly ‘yourself’ in a very visceral sense, with a new and fuller picture of how you connect with your environment and also a new understanding of what you can achieve in that environment.

We all contain immense potential for amazing activity. We all possess the innate ability to move with the seemingly superhuman attributes that parkour develops. The truth is, of course, that there is nothing superhuman about these activities – and there are no secrets either. Diligent, intelligent practise and focused, regular training will bring about the realisation of this potential. Let this training take you to the peak of your abilities and you may discover that rare but undeniable sense that all humans harbour vast capacities for extraordinary living.

#70Training Partners

2009-06-30T00:00:00.026+01:00

I am very fortunate to have the opportunity to share my life as a wife with Forrest, but also as a training partner and student. We spend a lot of time together enjoying sport such as dancing, yoga and of course parkour.

I got to know this great discipline through Forrest and I am very happy that he is still taking a lot of time teaching me and sharing with me the joy of practicing parkour. The majority of our spare time is spent on training. It is not always easy to let go the feeling to be a wife and take on the position of a student but every minute of it is worth it. I learned to deal with the fact that when we train together in the academy, outdoor class or on our own, he makes comments just like a teacher. It wasn`t always easy to deal with it but I am really pleased that I can now let go and accept him being my teacher who sees me as his student. But of course having a hug after a hard session is great and takes away all the pain :-)

Many people have asked me whether it is not too much time spent together and how I feel to share so much with Forrest. My answer is simple; having a training partner, teacher, friend and husband in one is the best that could happen to me. I love it and I am very thankful for having this fantastic and unique opportunity.

Sometimes I do manage to challenge the teacher though...we always learn, doesn`t matter if you are a teacher or a student...

The images give an insight of our training, captured by Mick Mason who was interested in getting to know a bit more about our time spent together training parkour.

#69Summer jammin...

2009-06-27T00:00:00.001+01:00

Sunday 14th June saw the 30th Women's Jam taking place on another beautifully warm and sunny day...

Congregating in great spirits at our well known and well loved spot in Kilburn Park, instructors Annty, Andy and Tracey were present to kick-start the session with warm-up and training guidance to those that needed it. We were pleased to see new faces as well as regular practioners from the Parkour Academy! Also joining us for the day was Shi Ong - webmaster of girlparkour.com - a now well-seasoned female practitioner fully dedicated to travelling the world and spreading love and word in the female community!

Starting with core fundamental techniques, enthusiastic balance practise ensued with various challenges beginning at base level - staying in balance, working up to turns, crouches, routes, and rail precisions... It's always so cool to see confidence growing and techniques improving with a little persistence and everyone did great stuff - particularly Preetha and Tracey, both new to Parkour but gutsy and determined ;)

Moving onto a new spot and some wall-runs and cat-leaps, everyone beasted their arms and shoulders working on the endless goal of efficient upper body strength and the much coveted smooth climb-up! Again, the persistence of all the ladies present was impressive so we moved on to some nice lil cat leaps with some height to work the mind.... And the real challenges begin!!

Now your senses start to really try and tell you that this is dangerous. You look down and the ground seems so far away. What if you fall, what if you miss the wall you aim for and drop down all that way?! What if... Endless scenarios playing out in the mind trying to steal your concentration. You jump down and view your starting position from a more usual and rational place - and realise its not even very high! You see aren't going to hurt yourself and jump back up to try again. But it seems you are in a different and much higher place again! Damn! You fight back the fear, you focus only on your landing point, everything else quietens and becomes another world to your current place in time and you jump............ You land! All is well, and theres elation and applause as everyone who knows that journey so well feels your joy and joins you in your acheivement. Hell yeah! Lets do that again!!!

Everyone pushed through boundaries and fear, making some great jumps and feeling a little of that sweet airtime before you stick strangely easily to a wall - the things that makes cat-leaps probably my favorite thing in the world to do!!! (No kidding!)

Warming down, breathing deeply with focus, stretching hard-worked muscles, relaxing, giving your body some attention after a good training session... It serves us well and we leave smiling and satisfied - happy in the knowledge of todays acheivements and increased strength from some good dedicated training. Thank you to all that came for a great day!

#68A work in progress.

2009-06-22T22:23:00.010+01:00

Brian, preparing before a day's shooting.

As you might recall from the last selection of photographs I posted on the main PKG site (here), there is a housing estate in London that I'd been planning to return to in better weather. Last month finally presented me with that opportunity, and I was privileged in being joined by all of the coaches as the visit was combined with team training.

A complete gallery of images is almost finished as, for me, it seems a shame to release a selection of shots that aren't quite ready. That said, I think I can easily return there many times in the future before I tire of this location, such is its potential.

A reminder of the social problems in this area of London was made clear early on in the day. The curious concrete walls where we began our training had various items of detritus scattered about. We learnt from a passing local that the residents of the tower block overlooking the walls occasionally threw things out of their windows. During the day, it was mainly fruit, eggs and other foodstuff. In the evening, it was more likely to be recently drained bottles of vodka and gin. Even TV sets had been known to make the direct journey from the twelfth floor.

My thanks to all that commented on my last blog post. Dan has kindly picked out Andy Fisher's comment as being his favourite (in spite of the typos) so a poster will be winging its way to you very shortly. Drop me a line and let me know your address. :D

I might well offer another competition next month, this time international, so watch this space. :)

#67A Training Session in Lisses

2009-06-21T01:00:00.006+01:00

Photo by Brian Appiah Obeng 2009

I was fortunate enough to spend yet another few days in Lisses with some of the guys from the team last week and as you might expect from a trip to one of the birthplaces of Parkour.. it was awesome! I'll leave the majority of the details to some other happy blogger though, I just want to talk about one of the training sessions I had.

It was late afternoon and very wet outside but having been blessed with excellent weather thus far I wasn't too surprised when it stopped raining and brightened up as soon as we left the hotel.

After realising it was the last full day and knowing we planned on taking a trip to an 'all-you-can-eat' chinese restaurant later that day (yes Chris, you missed out!), I decided to train a bit harder today.

I started with a 20 minute run and found a series of long staircases for some sprint training, which consisted of sprinting up a flight of stairs, jogging down the other side and running to the next set of stairs, which were to be found every 40 metres or so. After 20 sprints or so I was feeling good and felt it was time to work my legs with bodyweight squats.

It has been a few weeks since I'd done a large number of squats without rest and I didn't want to totally destroy myself so I settled for 500 repetitions and began the process. Looking out over the lake to the dame and the trees beyond I found it was a much more peaceful experience than the days spent at Vauxhall doing the same drills. I finished 20 minutes later and ran back in to central Lisses to try and find the guys.

Having decided today was going to consist of more endurance based work I decided I'd now complete 10 lengths of quadrupedie along a 25 metre stretch in front of the lake, 5 forwards, 5 backwards. But when I reached 6 or 7 I realised 10 wouldn't be much of a challenge so wanted to double it and do 20.

Getting to 20 took a bit of time and in the humid and hot air I was dripping from the training so far, but I found myself to be really enjoying it and wanted to continue.. 25 should suffice!

Upon reaching 25 lengths I found myself heading for the 26th and listening to my body to see how it was coping with more quadrupedie than I think I've ever done in one go. I felt tired, a bit sore and very hot but generally I was fine.. could I do the same again? Could I make 50 lengths?

The lengths between 30 and 40 seemed to be the worst. The muscles stopped hurting though and there was just a dull ache in my wrists from the constant pressure from the past hour. Somehow the last 10 never seem so bad when the finish line is in sight!

I reached the 49th length and decided as is usually the case to do one extra after this for all my friends and family, and for those who couldn't be with us in Lisses.. but wait! I'm not completely exhausted yet, maybe I could do a few more? The 50th length was hard but I could do a few more, I was sure.

So I did another one for Brian who had given me some support throughout the ordeal by willing me on and joining me for a portion of the crawling. Then one for Alli who couldn't be there for the last couple of days.. then one for Dom and one for James who I'd listened to teaching themselves French by my side for the past hour and a half.. and finally one for Shirley, who deserves an honourable mention for planning most of the trip and putting up with us for five days!

56 lengths of 25 metres = 1400m of quadrupedie, so a few short lengths short of a mile.. which I guess is my next goal! I felt like I could have continued for a lot longer but would have been tempting potential wrist problems, I figured stopping there and coming back another day was the best course of action.

On reflection the one thing that surprised me the most was how the body went through a phase of feeling the pain then finally realised it was useless trying to get me to stop and just settled in for the ride..

Mind truly does rule over matter.

#66Everyday Life.

2009-06-18T08:45:00.006+01:00

It's funny, only five years ago you could probably count the number of times parkour was used in the mainstream media on one hand. There was the famous "Rush Hour" BBC Ident featuring David Belle that inspired so many people and obviously District 13 (or Banlieue 13 for our French counterparts) had come out in 2004 that not only inspired practitioners but gave many media industries a new perspective in what was possible with the human body. Lets also not forget the seminal 2001 movie 'Yamakasi' by Luc Besson which is arguably the spark that ignited the entire movement.

Flash-forward today and I literally cannot go through a single day without seeing something directly or indirectly influenced by parkour. Ok, I'll admit that yes, my life is about the discipline and I guess that any practitioner would also agree that their eye is trained to notice these things more, but I'm just talking about what you pass in the street, read in the newspaper or see on the TV or games consoles. The really interesting part is that it has no signs of slowing down and has now become more accepted within society than ever before.

Just have a read of Dom's post (Number #64) and notice that all of the responses that are quoted gave the impression that the speaker had some form of familiarity with what he was doing. There is a lot less "What on earth is he doing?" anymore, or "Does anyone know whats going on here?"... It's more of the "Oh, that's that jumping thing isn't it... I can do that... :)"
This all suggests that the populace are becoming more comfortable with what they see us doing, some might still not like it, but the important thing is that it is more recognisable than ever.

I could be wrong, but I'd wager that recently one of the biggest welcoming industries of parkour would have to go to computer games developers. Through their products I think that parkour has reached millions of children and adults alike. Initially in a diluted and subtle form, but now a more direct representation of parkour (albiet usually over-exagerated). You can look at the early Tomb-Raider games to see the first generations of this. Today, there are too many games to count... Assassins Creed, Mirrors Edge, Prototype, Splinter Cell, etc... And the future has even more on the way. (Splinter Cell Conviction, Assassins Creed 2, Beyond Good and Evil 2, etc.)

As for movies and the silver screen I'm sure many of you get excited, like I do, when you see parkour moves integrated into chase scenes or the usual infiltration clips. Hollywood and the media are becoming more and more comfortable with using professional practitioners to supplement their action sequences to the point that most viewers take it as normal practice now.

For a community I think it is good news that so many people are getting to see and experience parkour on one level or another, but we need to make sure that the correct spirit and ethos is also delivered to the general public. Its the responsibility of everyone to ensure that the message of safety and training hard in the right manner is the only way that these professionals are able to do what they see.

I feel that now, more than ever, every traceur and traceuse, as an ambassador of parkour, needs to be extra vigilant with ensuring the understanding of being respectful to others, your environment and yourself is an absolute priority for our community.

As for the future, who knows? I think it's fair to say that Parkour is here to stay and I for one am excited to see what the future holds.

#65Parkour Power to the People

2009-06-15T08:00:00.003+01:00

There is a movement, a mass movement, running free through the cities and towns, effortlessly vaulting, climbing or balancing on almost any obstacle in their path. Movements executed with amazing power, speed and grace.
This is parkour. A revolution in the streets, sports halls and city walls:

Battling against anxiety, boredom and movement suppression: "walk don't run", "no talking", "no ball games" and definitely no fun.

Parkour can liberate the power of youth and we have proof...
The disaffected become self corrected and redirected. Confidence is built, skills developed and fears faced.
Apathy & aggression turns into Energy & Progression!Fatness turns to fitness and youth crime is replaced by training time.
The journeys, the achievement, personal bests and group success, all levels of skill and fitness are welcome.
Gender, ethnicity and post code area are irrelevant. Respect your self and others. Build bridges. Make friends and push each other on. "lets all get stronger together". No one is left behind.
Free up movement, free up minds, redefine what's humanly possible.
Though progress has been made there is so much more to do. You have to move to improve...and parkour's momentum is building everyday.
So ask yourself"what part can I play in this revolution?"
Pass the message to everyone you meet, explain, demonstrate, repeat.
Do presentations at schools and community groups, set up parkour clubs, vault, balance, climb whenever you have time. Network with friends and campaign as a group.
Free up movement.
"use your environment to keep fit""you're not too old to jump around!""Break out of social conditioning and take that short cut" "Move the way you want to in public "
Tell your family, your friends, your sons and daughters. Help them be the healthiest and stealthiest they could possibly be.
Spread the word, let parkour be seen and heard. You are a liberator of human movement!

You have a month to make a difference. This is your blog now - post here your pledges and your progress.

#64Look its spider-man!

2009-06-13T12:00:00.001+01:00

At various times when I have been out training and generally doing that crazy parkour thing we all know and love I’ve been in the middle of something and I hear a comment thrown my way. I’d like to start this post by sharing a few of the most common ones and my responses (sometimes only in my mind) to them.

“Hey are you trying to be spider-man?”

(This is easily the comment I hear the most from all age groups in all areas. To be honest if I had half the climbing and athleticism associated with that wall crawling super hero I don’t think I’d be training here out of costume I mean I’d really suck as a superhero if I went out during the day with no disguise and practiced my moves. Secret identity would be blown out of the water!)

“Careful you could break your neck doing that”

(well perhaps that is technically true but I’m no more likely to randomly fall over onto my head here than you are walking down the road. They could both happen but does that stop you from leaving your house in the morning?)

“I used to do that when I was a kid”

(You used to do parkour. cat leap, kong to precision, wall run parkour? I kind of doubt that. Really? Awesome maybe you can help me with my technique)

“pssh that’s easy I could do that”

( I just running precisioned over a big-ass drop then konged that wall and landed on a rail, a RAIL man! I was amazed by that when I first saw it! You know how hard that is, you’re like 6 years old how would you even see over the wall, look I don’t have to prove myself to you!)

“You’re those guys who jump off rooftops right?”

(Um no… that’s not exactly what I do, its more a physical training to get the body strong and resilient, um no its not gymnastics either its more all round training, running, jumping, climbing, etc)

“What’s the highest building you’ve ever jumped off?”

(What like to the ground? That’s really not what I do, and how would anyone ever survive something like that, no wait seriously think about it for a second, jumping from the top of a building to the ground. People do that when they are trying to die, that’s really what you think I do?)

Do a backflip!!!!

(Hey you’re that kid from before you weren’t impressed by all that other stuff I did but a backflip would amaze you, well I can kinda understand that but come on man it was a RAIL!!!)

This is but a grain of sand in a desert of what I hear sometimes but at the end of the day its cool, they share, I share, occasionally im amazed at the cognitive processes of some people and other times I’m pleasantly surprised when I find out the guy im talking to used to be a mountain climber, or a break dancer or even just someone with a story to tell. It’s that approachability gained from doing this that I don’t generally have walking down the street normally. Especially in a city where people do their best to avoid eye contact, or conversation worried that they may talk to a crazy person or be looked upon as a crazy person themselves.

The problem comes when certain people use this as an opportunity to try and force their negative views upon me. “Why don’t you go and join a gym” when I hear this I must admit it still winds me up to a degree. I wonder if you seriously think its better to go and pay hundreds and hundreds of £ on membership and equipment to run inside on a treadmill while watching TV? Rather than pay nothing to run outside and get to see more of the city I live in. Or when I’m told that I’m damaging the area or breaking the walls. I remember a time when I was training with James and a local council members or some such approached us and told us we needed to stop cause we had caused damage. I asked him how and he showed me a slightly cracked bollard, take a second to realise that this was literally a couple of steel rods covered and reinforced by concrete. I couldn’t break it if I tried; I could actually drive a car into it and still would come off worse. Yet somehow this logic was not enough for the man. If told we are damaging the walls I highlight the fact that this is the environment we need and use. I have more respect for those walls then any of the “commentators” I use them on a daily basis, I know how they feel if I touch or land on them, I know if one part is a bit weaker than the rest, etc.

I’ve found that often these people are just horrible human beings; the only joy they get in their life is from the lowering of others. Sometimes its just people afraid of anything different, something that stands out or doesn’t move with the crowd scares them far more than it has any right to. Psychology would suggest that perhaps its them recognizing their own shortcomings, restrictions or missed opportunities in your happiness or success that angers them so much. Often it’s like talking to a brick wall when you try and engage with these types of people they’ve made up their mind and logic or evidence be damned. Yet that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try and its these sort that I’m most interested in talking to and trying to convince. If you get angry, abusive or even rude you’re just lowering yourself to their level and as the saying goes “never argue with an idiot. They bring you down to their level and beat you with experience” real change can only come if you put in the effort on your end. Each time all you can do is offer the explanations or opportunity to talk and if they listen good you’ve made one person think, if they don’t fine you’ve lost nothing as your still where you started.

So the next time someone gets on your nerves with stupid or negative comments don’t allow yourself to be baited by them, simply mention what your doing and leave them to continue their day. Its always an idea to try and spread the real reasoning and structure of what your doing even if they don’t take it on board maybe the next person will, its up to us to do that…remember “with great power comes gre….wait uh never mind” Lol :)

Oh and feel free to add any of the wacky comments people have said to you or similar stories you've had in the box below people, you know how this works....

#63... suite

2009-06-11T00:00:00.000+01:00

No PK - restaurant - running late - late running - bus - no bus - taekwondo training - knees up - kick high - kick higher - quick kick - faster kick - kilburn park - football - basketball -running

fatigue - ennui - finsbury park - taekwondo - competition? - cathartique - sport - sueur - fatigue

fired - no restaurant - more PK? - parkour! - monday class - hard hard - sweat - pain -fun - pain - sweat - easy easy - weak arms - strong legs - big jumps - small touch? - nice and fluid - tired - tired - tired? - pull ups! - muscle ups??? - abs ?????

barbecue - barbecue - barbecue - barbecue - crystal palace - french - TKD for ever - lost - fun - Annty Kty - london bristol -barbecue - barbecue - football - basketball - running -barbecue - barbecue - internet café - annty - barbecue - barbecue - Starbucks?!!

french boy - Italian- Spanish - Italian - Spanish - Italian and Spanish - italian - rhoo font chier eux! - bed bugs - Annty Kty Bamby - bransdale close

predator fanfan jeap doums

ohh Abbey road!!!! - trainning - barbecue - off the grill - ohh archways - off the wall - ohh westbourne park - tranning!!

poarkour coaching - parkour generations - youth academy - st augustine - porchester demo - barbecue - trainning - strong arms - strong legs - liverpool street - weak joints!!

instrus de fous! - Cds - disques durs fruity loop - reason - "on n'oublie pas" - instrus de malade

acces class - physiotherapy - rolfing??? - ADAPT - team trainning - fat - chocolate - cereals

annty & yao's PK trips

brioche - happy hippo - evry lisses

jump! - trainning - barbecue? - trainning

strong body - strong mind?

apparemment ma vie tourne autours du sport, il semblerait que j'ai trouvé ma voie!

#62Motivation.

2009-06-08T00:00:00.003+01:00

I was in the middle of probably the hardest training I have ever done in my life. It's amazing what the prospect of some time away does for you.

For those who don't know, I was supposed an operation on my left ankle on the third of June. The injury came from messing around on holiday back in 2006 and has been a source of virtually constant irritation ever since. Annoying because of its longevity, irritating because though not a parkour injury originally, it has recurred through training and made many movements difficult at one time or another; and frustrating because I really should have been more careful! Hindsight is a wonderful thing but I can't wait to properly develop some foresight...

Regardless, hopefully the injury will be in the past soon. And hopefully few, if any, of you will have to endure the same.

But the point is, from the time I discovered I was going to have the operation, I attacked my training, and especially my strength conditioning with a renewed vigour. I'd like to think that I hadn't exactly been slacking off before, but I'd definitely found a little extra energy from somewhere.

Which got me thinking: have I only been giving 80% up until now? Have I been short-changing myself in training for the last couple of years?

And these begat more questions: was being strong or good at parkour not that important to me? Or, and I've come to believe this to be the case, was I not really aware of JUST HOW important it is to me? And in this I realised I was guilty of taking things for granted. How strong I've become, how much stronger I want to be, and how lucky I am to have found this discipline and be able to practice it.

All of which, in my usual meandering manner, brings me back to motivation and my operation. Because surely, my movement, health and fitness can't only be important to me when they are taken away temporarily. Likewise, they can't be more important when I don't have them.

So in a funny way I find myself giving thanks for my injury, and even the need for surgery. True, it shouldn't take something so serious to make you appreciate what you have. And I certainly hope no-one else has to make the revelation in the same circumstances. But I think a lot of us at some point or another may "coast" a little. And you know what? If parkour isn't such an important part of your life, that's fine! I don't suppose (or wish) that everyone has the same motivation, or even the same level of motivation as others. But if it is, think why. And try to remember this and keep it with you.

And then try a little bit harder ;)

#61One Month In

2009-06-07T00:00:00.005+01:00

My last blog post described how I've wanted to do a one arm chin for some time and how I'll be going about it training for it.

You can read it here.

So my progression and observations so far:

At the moment when fresh I'm able to start a negative, stop at 90 degrees and pull back up to the top on my right arm. On my left no such luck making me realise me right arm is a lot stronger than my left. A Possible way to work on this is to start with the weaker side first.

On the assited pull ups front I was able do 8 reps with my assisting arm at the very bottom of the belt. The first problem with this is that the there isnt enough resistance to keep the number of repititions below 5. Strength gains can still be made in the 5-10 range but instead of training for maximum strength the focus shifts to hypertrophy, and considering I'd like to achieve the OAC as quickly as feasibly possible it's not in my best interests.

The second problem that arose was that once my assisting arm was at the bottom of the belt the position that my body was moving through thoughout the movement was not close enough to an OAC, as I was twisting out changing my hand position on the bar to a neutral grip.

To solve both these problems I wore a 10kg weighted vest and adjusted the height of my assiting arm so I could keep the reps to 5 or less.

A big issue I've noticed many people face is elbow tendonitis. To avoid this I've really tried to listen to my body for any aches and pains I've found out of turn elbows or otherwise and resting until they've gone and begin training again. I've also been using this to gauge how my much I've recovered muscularly and judge how many days to rest to get the best results from my training. Although I am on a program and consistensy is a key to success, the human body isn't a machine and should be listened to.

From the past months training I've changed the regime to:

1 to 3 sets of 5 reps of negatives depending on how controlled they are

3 to 5 sets of 5 reps assissted OAC's depeding on how successfully I'm able to complete each repitition without kipping.

I'll keep training and hopefully I'll get the skill down in the next couple of months.

#60Street Camp III

2009-06-05T00:00:00.002+01:00

From the 29th of May to the 1st of June, I've been invited by the Danish group Street Movement. They were running a parkour camp for 3 days in their sport center, 1 hour drive from Copenhagen.

The place where the camp is held is a peaceful sport center, far from the cities and the only thing you can do there is having fun, eat sleep and do sport ! It was great to spend time in a quiet place for 3 days, it changes a lot from the stressful city of London...

Street Movement has his own parkour structure in the center including concrete walls, railings and a massive scaffolding ! It's like a small paradise for Parkour...

About 40 young people from 13 to 18 attended to the event. As most of young people, they had a lot of energy and were jumpimg around all day ;) Our goal during these 3 days was to make them have fun of course, but also give them some basics tips about training and values which are essentials in Parkour...

We worked a lot as a group, helping each other, starting something together and finishing it together as well. The danish guys have a lot a funny drills which makes you work on the basic movement functions of the body, I found it very interesting because kids like it, they have fun, and at the same time they improve the mobility of their body...

We had 3 days of hard work and fun and I would like to thank all the poeple who attended to the camp, and of course I thank Street movement a lot for the good work they did, this kind of camp is great for young people and I enjoyed it so much !!!

Looking forward to the next one guys ;)

Peace

#59RETOUR VERS LE FUTUR (BACK TO THE FUTURE)

2009-06-03T01:41:00.015+01:00

« PREMIERE... »

Depuis février 2005, j’enchaîne les démos et séminaires. Nous sommes maintenant en avril 2005, on vient de me demander d’ouvrir la première académie de parkour à Erith. Cette ville se situe à 30 minutes en train de la station Waterloo Est. Les dires étaient les suivant:” Forrest, j’aimerais monter la première académie de Parkour ici (uk), la seule personne que je connaisse, qualifiée et compétente pour s’en occuper, c’est toi. Est ce que cela t’intéresserait?” Ma réponse fût simple: ”Pourquoi pas ça peut être cool mais à une condition; je ne veux personne derrière moi pour me dire ce que j’ai à faire, je structure les séances comme je l’entends.”Un sourir et une poignée de main et le deal est fait: «Merci Ez pour l’opportunité».

Nous sommes le jeudi 18 mai 2005, il est 18h, 8 personnes sont présentent pour ce premier cours.” 2 heures à tenir me dis je, c’est parti! La première académie de parkour sur le territoire Anglais est officiellement lancée. Le nombre de participants ne cessait d’augmenter d’une semaine à l’autre. Après 2 mois et démi, 32 personnes étaient là, enchaînant les exercises, tranpirant et souriant.” J’aime cette ambiance ”.

En octobre de la même année, après une des classes, le gardien du gymnase qui était aussi prof de gymnastique me dit qu’il est désolé mais qu’il va falloir que j’arrête mes activités ici. Il prétexte un problème d’assurance. “Bref...!”Je n’insiste pas ...Chanceux, un gymnase dans l’ouest de Londres; “Moberly Sport centre” nous donna la possibilité de continuer cette aventure.

Vu le succés de ce cours, il était clair que j’avais besoin de quelqu’un pour m’assister. La seule personne qui me venais à l’esprit et qui je pensais avoir les meilleures qualités pour ce rôle était Dan Edwardes. Si j’étais si sur de mon choix, c’est parce que plusieurs semaines auparavant, il m’avait demandé s’il pouvait s’entrainer avec moi pour accroître ses aptitudes physiques et techniques. Nous avons passé énormement de temps ensemble (tous les jours pendant des heures). J’ai appris à le connaître et à découvrir son potentiel. Mon choix n’était pas de l’avis de tout le monde mais moi j’en étais sûr… Même s’il a fallut que je me batte et que j’insiste pour que cela se fasse, en Décembre 2005, pour la première séance à Moberly, Dan et moi avons pris un malin plaisir à structurer et conduire cette classe pour ces 34 nouvelles têtes.

Durant cette même période, après avoir entendu parlé de l’académie, différents organismes semblaient vouloir introduire ce format dans les écoles. Saint Augustin, le mardi après midi de 15h45 à 17h15 et QK le jeudi après midi à la même heure, elles fûrent les premières écoles à essayer et à approuver notre tandem ici à Londres. Nous étions là pour seulement 5 semaines :) Je les remercient vivement de la confiance qu’ils nous ont porté et de nous aider encore aujourd’hui à nous permettre de faire avancer notre (Parkour Generations) programme éducatif. Je dois avouer que je suis particulièrement fière de voir que tous ces efforts sont encore aujourd’hui récompensés. Chaque annee de plus en plus d’intitutions sont intéressées.

”Il y a toujours une PREMIERE... dans une histoire, MAIS c’est toujours mieux de ce l’entendre dire par ce qui l’on vécue”

« FIRST... »

Since February 2005, I had been involved in parkour performances and workshops. It is now April 2005, I have just been asked to open the first Parkour Academy at Erith, which is about 30 minutes away from Waterloo East Station. These were the words: “ Forrest, I would like to open the first Parkour Academy here in England, the only person that I know who is qualified and capable to take care of it, is you. Would you be interested?” My answer was simple: “Why not, it can be fun but I have one condition; I don’t want anybody behind me telling me what I have to do. I will structure and lead the sessions the way I want.” A smile, a shaking hand and the deal was done. “Thanks Ez for the opportunity”.

It is 6 pm, Thursday 18th of May 2005, 8 people attend the first class. Two hours, I said to myself, let’s go! The first Parkour Academy in England is officially launched. The number of people constantly increased week after week. After 2,5 months, 32 people were in attendance, working out hard, sweating and smiling. “I love this atmosphere...”

In October, after one of the classes, the guardian of the gym who was a gym coach as well, came to me and said that he is sorry but I will have to stop running the sessions here. His reasons were apparently insurance issue. ”Alright...”I do not insist... Luckily, a gym located in west London “Moberly Sport Centre” gave us the opportunity to carry on the adventure.

Due to the success and increased numbers of practitioners, it was obvious that I would need somebody to assist me. The only person with the best skills for this role I could think of was Dan Edwardes. I was very certain about this choice because several weeks ago he asked me to train with him to improve his physical and technical skills. We spent a lot of time together (few hours every day) and I learned to know more about him and his potential. Not everybody was happy with my choice, but I was very certain... Even though, I had to fight for it, in December 2005 at the first parkour class in Moberly, Dan and I enjoyed together structuring and leading it in front 34 new practitioners.

At the same period, after hearing about the Parkour Academy, some organisations wanted to introduce and set up a similar format in schools. St Augustin, on Tuesdays 3.45 to 5.15pm and QK on Thursdays at the same time were the first schools to accept and implement parkour classes in London. We were supposed to run the sessions for only 5 weeks :) I would like to thank them very much for trusting us and for still helping us out today with pushing forward our (Parkour Generations) educational program. I’m particularly proud to see that all those efforts are still awarded today. Every year more and more schools are interested...

“There is always a FIRST...in the story, BUT it’s always good to hear about it from the people who lived it and were part of it”

#58Connections: Coaching Parkour

2009-06-01T00:00:00.000+01:00

We teach. Lots. As Parkour Generations we run several classes every single day of the week, all year long, both in the UK and internationally – recently we have held seminars in Spain, Italy, Portugal, USA, France, with more coming up in Denmark, France, Italy again, and requests for the same in Turkey, Kazakhstan, Chile… the list goes on. The coaching we do ranges from private one-to-one tuition to the regular London Parkour Academy classes to weekly sessions for schools in the UK to corporate workshops and special event seminars. It’s non-stop.

And it’s a huge responsibility. I have taught in several different fields for over 15 years now, from lecturing at universities to martial arts instruction, but this is a vehicle by which to reach people like nothing I have ever seen – crossing all boundaries, be they of culture, creed, age, ethnicity, class, etc… parkour has no political agenda, and is a transformative practice truly open to all. And every one of the Parkour Generations instructors I work with brings something special and unique to the passing on of the art, over and above being excellent, dedicated teachers themselves.

So why teach? We are all happy to practice for ourselves for the rest of our lives, even were we the only ones on the planet doing it. Is it to pass on specific training methods, or see people become fitter and stronger, or to fight the cotton-wool culture much of the western world finds itself ensnared by? Or for social reasons such as combating obesity and ill-discipline?

Probably not. Although those are great by-products of learning this powerful art, I would hazard a guess that they are not the main motivator for people who wish to pass on parkour.

No, for me it is about connections. Anyone who has ever taught seriously in any field will know that the most rewarding part by far is the connection formed between you and those you share your knowledge and experience with: the joy of seeing someone benefit from something that has brought so much to your own life; the reward of watching sparks of understanding become a blazing fire within another; the bonds and friendships that arise from it all.

Life is always connection of course: nothing exists in a vacuum. We all of us are connected to everything and everyone else on all sorts of levels, physically, fundamentally, psychologically… truly no man or woman is an island. Teaching mirrors this truth – for it is far more than just a process of conveying raw information or data from one body to another: machines may communicate in that fashion, but humans are far removed from such mechanistic approaches. Were we not, all learning could be done via books or from simple audio instructions, yet it is clear that there is no substitute for live, personal contact time with a teacher.

Most sports instruction is done through modelling – which is simply watching someone skilled perform an action, and then attempting to perform the same. In fact, many studies have shown that modelling alone, with no verbal instruction, is an incredibly powerful teaching tool. Too often we attempt to think through things we are trying to learn, when the best way can be to get out of our own way and let our body instinctively carry out the task. But it still needs that model, and the better the model, the better the knowledge that is conveyed. To attempt to teach a physical practice without being able to demonstrate that practice competently would not only be lacking in all credibility, but would also likely be met with little success. Further, as no two people move exactly alike, every instance of modelling is unique to the particular individuals involved. Slight nuances in technique, posture, stride and so on that are specific to that one instructor will be taken in by the viewing student and either assimilated or used as a reference for their own attempts. Again, the individual connection at even this basic visual level is all important.

The connections we form are, of course, far more than merely the transmission of raw information from one person to another. That information does not exist independent of either the one doing the transmitting or the one receiving it; our knowledge is always coloured by our own experience, our own perspective, flavoured by the subjective nature of all things. Indeed, what is transmitted is affected by both sender and receiver each time it is transmitted, making every ‘teaching’ connection a two-way phenomenon and truly unique in and of itself.

I would suggest that it is that which makes coaching such a compelling and enjoyable experience for those of us who are drawn to it. Not just the meeting and interacting with so many individuals around a subject we are passionate about, but the quite unique and unpredictable nature of each of those connections. That is certainly what draws me back to it, time and again, and what I hope will be discovered afresh by every new generation of guide and practitioner of the discipline.

#57Another academy class.....

2009-05-29T00:00:00.005+01:00

I felt sore, especially my upper body was in pain after the team training on Wednesday night at Abbey Road. But it didn`t stop me to attend the Thursday class at Moberly Sport Centre, and I`m glad it didn`t.

The sports hall started to fill up and more and more women walked into the room. I was positively surprised to see so many traceuses, some regulars but also many new faces. After the usually intense and challenging warm-up, especially today :-), we separated into six groups. We were four girls in one group Karen, Zazie, Nicky and I. We all have different levels and abilities, some of us are more advanced, some only attended a few classes before.The format of the class was again different, the aim this time was to get comfortable with the basic moves, such as slide monkey, kong, tic-tac – reverse, side-way vault etc..

After completing the first three sections we arrived at the kong station. Zazie is watching me doing the kong which wasn`t very well demonstrated. She is asking for a bit more details of how the kong works. Karen and I explained what the important parts are to do it right. Take off two feet with a bit distance to the obstacle, push on the obstacle with both hands at the same time, for a very short time both knees need to touch the chest with the body weight slightly forward above the shoulders and lending on the toes. Without much thinking Zazie is doing the move and “wow”, for the first time it was impressively great. Only the position of her landing needs a bit correction, landing on toes and shoulders slightly forward. But apart from that the move was perfect.

Nicky couldn`t go over the obstacle completely, but she managed the first step which is stepping on the obstacle. Only a few more repetitions and she`ll manage to complete it too. All of us watched Nicky giving her best, and the confidence she gets by seeing little progressions is amazing.

Karen, the longest female practitioner at the Academy is demonstrating the perfect kong, smooth, powerful and efficient. She is flying over the obstacle. She smiles at us and we can see the joy in her eyes. She didn`t expect to have it done as nicely as she is only coming back from an injury. Certainly the injury didn`t have any effect on her way of mastering the kong. The legendary loud voice from Forrest is saying “that was good”…

It is my turn again, I feel inspired and I really want to do it right this time. I take position and yes, I manage it. I can hear the loud voice again saying “that`s good, the girls are in form today”…

All four of us managed to complete the section in our own limit and abilities. It is irrelevant how we managed it. Every move can be mastered in different ways, it just needs to be adapted to one own level. We all in the group had different ways of doing it, but we managed it and we all felt satisfied.

The other sections were as challenging and as much fun as this one. We all together, men and women shared the pain, fun, and achievement of the session, but also the joy of the relaxing stretch at the end of the class.

It doesn`t matter which level, strength and abilities you have, there is always a way to go over obstacles. You just need to find your own way.

It was just another class among many to come..... :-)

#56We came, we jammed, we conquered!

2009-05-26T22:59:00.009+01:00

I’ve suspected it for a while now but now I’m absolutely sure of it… We ladies-of-the-Parkour are definitely blessed!

Checking the forecast, every day, always starting a week before and seeing only cloud, rain, crap temperatures, I never cease to be amazed when I wake up on the second Sunday of each month to see blue skies and sweet sunshine… It always makes me smile! The same was true on the morning of Sunday 10th May – the day of the 29th London Girl Jam.

Marvelling at our luck, we congregated at the wonderful playground that is Latimer, with Blane leading us in a monkey-warm-up! Continuing with some light upper body conditioning we managed to combine the push-up variations with a game of ‘dodge the parking car’ when someone decided they wanted to park where we were training! We moved, then they wanted to park where we had moved to, so we moved a little more all the while in press-up position… This went back and forth for a bit before they managed to park and we finished our exercise! (Congratulations to Emma for definitely winning the ‘dodge’ game!)

Moving across a route was next – a little balance, conquering of safe heights, a small gap to negotiate along with a cat leap, climb-up and small drop back to earth where some underbars awaited our attention… Repetition, refinement and fluid success were to follow and we moved on to our next playground…
Ropes!!! So many ropes to play on and challenge ourselves with in so many ways, working the fundamentally important level of balance in Parkour – as well as the calves and the shoulders and every SINGLE muscle of the foot and ankle! Walking back and forward, sideways, cat-balancing, precision jumps, squats and balancing at height – in a strong wind!!! All these challenges ensued on the ropes (and everyone moved just a little closer to preventing a stupid ankle sprain because of the time spent strengthening the joint). Always time well spent!

We spent the rest of the afternoon with various challenges set by each other! Routes and technical challenges kept some of us busy, the beautiful sunshine kept others blissfully occupied for a bit (BUSTED Shirley!!! ;D) but the highlight was watching Nicky in the struggle (so well known to us all) to break a jump she had been fighting with during the session! Massive congratulations and respect to you for pushing aside the fear, taking a breath, quietening the mind and showing your brain and body that sometimes your spirit knows best.

#55...

2009-05-24T00:00:00.007+01:00

Ezanville
– Cergy

Courir autours du pâté de maison a pleine vitesse ; courir le plus longtemps possible ; marcher sur une barrière ; marcher en hauteur ; parler anglais ; parler pour ne rien dire ; faire des squats ; faire des pompes
Donner des coups de pieds ; bloquer avec les mains ; renforcer les abdos ; se faire mal au dos ; frapper a la tête ; casser les couilles ; se ronger les ongles
Dormir ; se réveiller ; se reposer ; se fatiguer

Chercher ; trouver ; rechercher ; retrouver ; chercher à nouveau
Perdre ; perdre ; perdre ; gagner

S’entrainer ; s’améliorer ; gagner ; prendre du poids ; perdre du poids
Entrainement ; compétition ; victoire ; photos ; médailles ; haribo ; groupe
Entrainement ; compétition ; victoire ; photos ; médailles ; haribo ; groupe
Entrainement ; compétition ; victoire ; photos ; médailles ; haribo ; groupe
Entrainement ; compétition ; victoire ; photos ; médailles ; haribo ; groupe
Ça devient habituel

Champion de France ; champion de France universitaire ; quart de finale de championnat d’ile de France ; champion du val d’Oise ; 80 kilos ; -78 kilos ; jamais -72 kilos ; petit ; gros ; noir ; grosse cuisses ; championnat de France N2 à Lyon

Kilburn

Grange park ; football ; basket-ball ; barbecue ; taekwondo ; housemates ; Australian ; south Africa , Lebanon ; Scottland ; Brazil ; training

Party ; party ; Volvic ; Badoit ; no money!!!! ; Gordon Ramsey ; shit ; restaurant ; shit ; no money!!!! ; Absolutely spotless ; no money!!!! ; more money ; butler ; more housemates ; more restaurant ; cheyne walk ; money!!!! ; the temptations ; songs ; CDs; predator-Yao ; music prod ; gig in France ; Laila ; spoon ; Joel ;

SON DE BATARD ; NOS STYLES ? ; Fanfan, Doums, Jeap, Jacky, Yao

London ; sport ; expensive ; restaurant ; emile’s mother ; emile ; parkour !

Dan & Forrest ; …

#54Behind the shot

2009-05-22T00:00:00.002+01:00

Back in September last year I was invited to join the team on a trip to France to meet with the Majestic Force guys. Julie was filming, I was photographing, and after a magical day spent in the forest in Sarcelles, we headed in to central Paris to train.

I’d been asked to get some shots of the French guys for the Majestic Force website and publicity. Working candidly is always tricky; I much prefer to have a small group of maybe three or four athletes and no other distractions. In addition, when people work drills and do general training, it’s not necessarily photogenic, and this can be a little frustrating.

Those who are familiar with my work will know of my love for strong clean lines and bright skies, so when I was asked to go and spend ten minutes scouting a location for a dedicated shoot, imagine my pleasure in wandering up to the banks of the Seine and seeing the Passerelle Simone-de-Beauvoir stretching across the river towards the Bibliothèque François-Mitterrand. This footbridge is only a couple of years old and its undulating design presented a decent rail for the guys to vault, and a blue sky and cityscape as a backdrop. A little basic, but given the available time and a lack of familiarity with the neighbourhood, combined with the need to get some good action images, this was pretty good.

Paris can be a tricky place to photograph. As with London, if you look vaguely professional, you need a permit, especially if you’re shooting a landmark. Having a tiny amount of lighting equipment would catch the eye of any passing gendarmes and this meant that we’d have to work fast.

The exact location was determined by the guys stepping up to do the vault; it was mid afternoon and two days of training had left them a little fatigued and as a result, the height of the vault was reduced a little to go a little easier on their quads. I was fine with this – a bigger jump always looks impressive but I’d rather do the slightly smaller version and have more opportunities to catch the shot.

Next up, some light tests. A glorious, azure sky meant tons of light, but I wanted to fill the shadows with my strobe. You might have noticed that on bright days, looking up through your camera towards your subject, you can get great skies but the person ends up really dark. With the flash helping out, I could expose for the blue sky (almost under-exposing to get the depth of colour) and not have to worry about my traceur being under exposed. The shot of my hand (with Chau looking down at me as thought I've gone mad) is a quick way of seeing how much light will fall on the subject - with digital, it's a quick alternative to a light meter.

The last tweaks were clearing out some of the litter. Sometimes this can add to a shot, giving a sense of the grittiness of the city. In this case, I knew that with the light, the mesh and metal of the railing, and the colour of the sky, it would end up being a very commercial, clean shot and it needed to be free of distractions. As it happens, a banana skin went unnoticed but fortunately it was easy to remove in post production. You probably wouldn't notice it, but I'm told I can be something of a perfectionist at times...

Once all of that was sorted, I simply needed some volunteers to do the vault. The guys had all waited patiently for me to get sorted and they were more than keen to get involved. This was where having a large collection of athletes comes in useful: I could snap jump after jump without fear of tiring anyone out too quickly. In all, I took 23 frames of the jump being performed, experimenting with some background movement to give a little variety. I was almost shooting into the sun so was having to be careful of lens flare, and you’ll notice that it has crept into a few of the other images. I don’t mind it occasionally, but it can be a little clichéd and so wanted to avoid it where possible.

The best shot was of Stephane with Tony in the background cat crawling along the rail. This was posted a few weeks later on my own site - kiell.com - and the Parkour Generations site. I prefer not to release a batch of very similar shots as it can dramatically reduce the impact of an individual image that stands alone, and for this reason it didn’t appear in a gallery of different shots as it didn’t fit in with anything else.

I always seem to be blessed with magnificent weather whenever I head to Paris and this was no exception. For a half hour shoot I was very pleased with the resulting shot of Stephane and Tony. And if you want it hanging on your wall, here’s your chance. An A2 poster for the person who posts the best comment in response to the blog. (Sadly, I can only really afford to post to the UK, so many apologies to my international friends!) Posts will be judged by PKG director Dan Edwardes and results will be announced in my next blog contribution next month. Good luck!

#53Enter the quiet moment...

2009-05-21T00:00:00.004+01:00

Take a deep breath,

Look at the palms of your hands,

Exhale, let your hands come into focus,

Breathe normally, be very aware of yourself - the feeling in your chest,

Keep this awareness of self and allow your senses to tune into your immediate surroundings, the space around things and the silence beyond the noise,

Be absorbed by the quietness inside you,

Stay with it and feel at ease with what is.

You're here now

----------------------------------------------------

This exercise was designed to unplug you from a world of noise, information addiction and overload, from a mindscape clouded by an incessant internal monologue.

Caught in a stream of thoughts you regret past action, hope for the future and struggle with the present moment. This monologue is normal for most of us but nevertheless it is somewhat senseless: The past is gone (it's just a memory), the future isn't here (it is but a theory: an endless string of possibilities and most of what you fear will never come true). The only thing that really exists is the present moment.

As you tune into the present moment any tension you have will drop away, noisy thoughts will disappear and your senses will pick up things you never noticed before. A symphony of impulses cascade through the sensory cortices of your brain - painting a landscape of light, sound, touch and subtle beauty.......life

Practicing present moment awareness or 'mindfulness' as it is called by some, brings many benefits to those who care enough to invest in it: Calmness, ease of movement and improved decision making are just some of the highlights.

What's stated is a simple process for a powerful state of mind and should be kept as such. You do not have to believe in it or think it through as It's as easy as stepping back and silently observing life.

Exit the cloud of thoughts...........enter the quiet moment.

Let me know how you get on.

Peter

Resources: These guidelines come from many sources; including books, talks and personal experience. For those new to practicing present moment awareness this blog may be sufficient, however I find that author Eckhart Tolle gives the easiest to follow instruction for those who want to deepen their appreciation of it.

#52Happy Times...

2009-05-19T00:00:00.001+01:00

Every day I train, every day I discover more and more about my body and capacities… I am in a really pleasant period of my life about parkour, I get to know myself more, get some confidence in my movements, and get a lot of surprises from what I can do.

Now is a moment of my life when I can train a lot. I’ve never done that before, never had the time, the will… Never thought I would do so much some day… I didn’t know the reactions of my body from intense training… And I start to see… Rather positive.
That makes me want to push more, to see how far I can go. I realize I don’t know myself… and I’m eager to know more. I’m building confidence, power and strength. I’m starting to aim always further, to see bigger, and push my limits.

Everyday I discover, I experience, I learn, and I love it.

I want to thank my circle of friends who help me everyday through my training progression, those who help me discover what they already know and what makes them live.

#514 Alternate Pressups To Try

2009-05-17T09:00:00.000+01:00

One of the more popular requests we receive through emails and the forum are from people who have never had the opportunity to attend any of our classes regarding our training techniques and methods.

With the advent of the new blog I thought it might be a good idea to start posting some articles detailing a small subset of conditioning exercises that I like to do and would like to share with you, the readers. Some of it you might find useful, others maybe less so, but I hope that it will give everyone some different perspectives and ideas to incorporate into your current training.

So, with that, I'd like to start with a great upper-body exercise for all-round development. The Pressup. As most of you are aware it doesn't translate to any particular parkour movements that we do, but the results from regular pushup conditioning will greatly benefit your overall core strength.

I'd also like to note that I won't be giving any repetition or set numbers to these exercises due to everyone having different levels of ability which should be judged on an individual basis.

Before I go into the details of the alternative pressups, I'd like to quickly give a checklist to make sure you have the correct form and posture for a good pressup position.

Make sure your hands are positioned directly below your shoulders.

Ensure your back is engaged by contracting your stomach muscles.

Do not drop your hips.

Do not bend your knees, keep the legs straight.

At the bottom of the pressup, touch, but do not rest your chest or stomach on the floor.

Try to be dynamic. i.e. Do not rest between each repetition of the set. complete the set without stopping. (This does not relate to speed)

With all of that said, below are four alternative pressup combinations that you could supplement a warmup or workout with:

1. Wide Stance Pressup

I'll start relatively simple with the wide position. this particular pressup can be very effective if done correctly. Start in the regular pressup position and now move both hands as far out as they will go while still supporting your weight (See photo #1).
Now bend your arms while keeping your back straight and go as far down as possible without collapsing or resting your chest on the floor. (See Photo #2)

Unfortunately these images don't work so well because the grass obscures the bottom position of the pressup.

2. Alternating Forwards & Back Pressup.

With this pushup you start in the regular position and then move your left hand back to your waist and your right hand further forward than normal (Photo #1). Now you go down by bending your arms as normal (Photo #2). On the way back up you dynamically switch your hand placements so that they are now in the mirrored position with your right hand by your waist and the left hand forward (Photo #3). Rinse and repeat!

3. Triangular Movement Pressup.

Ah, the triangular pressup.
So, Start again in the regular pressup position and then move both hands slightly wider than shoulder width. Now you shift your weight across to the right arm so your right hand is directly below you and your left hand is in a wide-position far from your body (Photo #1).
Lower yourself slowly (count to five) until your chest is just touching your hand (but not resting on it!) (Photo #2).
Now slowly shift your body across to the opposite (left) hand while counting to five (Photo #3).
Finally you push up in a diagonal direction until you are above your right hand again. (Photo #4)
Oh, and once you've done your set of repetitions don't forget to switch and start above the left hand too!

4. Praying Monkey.

Last but not least is the infamous praying monkey... The same as all the other variations, start in the regular pushup position. Now push your hips back and ensure your back and arms are in a straight line (Photo #1).
The movement is very simple now... Just place both elbows on the ground without bending your back or legs (Photo #2). The movement is only in the arms and elbows but you should feel the tension and work in your upper back, shoulders and triceps. Finally you should push both elbows back up so you are in the starting position again. Remember to keep your back straight and hips up.

So there we have it, four exercises to experiment and supplement your training with until next month!

#50The Muscle Up

2009-05-15T21:04:00.000+01:00

Instead of bashing these keys before me about present times or my plans for the near future, I'm going to use them to take a step in to the past and talk about an old friend of mine...

The muscle up.

Today it's as common and well known to Parkour practitioners as a pushup or a squat, but there was a time not too long ago when nobody in this country had even heard of the muscle up in Parkour circles.

I was first introduced to the technique in 2005 by a friend of mine from Austria, when he sent me a video of himself performing one, quite cleanly too I remember. Never in my life had I seen anything like it and I have to admit, it looked quite simple and easy to do. He was amused by my response and asked me to try one, so the very next day I found myself a bar and rolled up my sleeves.
In less than a second I knew. In less than the time that it takes for you to read this sentence, I knew. As soon as I had pulled and hit that invisible wall with only my chin higher than my hands, I realised that this was something that deserved a little more respect than I had first granted it.

Fast forward three years and it's still highly regarded and deservedly considered a benchmark in upper body development but the old muscle up has been gathering some dust of late. My aim with this blog entry is to plunge the muscle up in to a pool and bring it out gleaming once again, to the forefront of your attention.
Now there are plenty of people who can hang from a bar, pull themselves up and struggle and fight their way to the top position using elbows, forearms and momentum generated from flailing legs, but not many can make the muscle up seem effortless - the way it should be.

The thought of being able to move quickly and precisely across a diverse and unknown terrain before me, only to have to stop and wrestle with a horizontal bar to continue on my path is something that makes little sense to me and this would immediately bring my attention to the weak link in the chain, so why don't people spend more time improving their muscle ups to the same standard as the rest of their game?

Unlike the pushup or the squat or many other exercises you're likely to discover in Parkour, the muscle up is not just an excellent exercise, it's a highly effective and diverse technical skill. And like all other techniques, it must be trained to a high level if you are to avoid gaps in your ability to move quickly in any direction. I find it unfortunate that many people are satisfied with merely being able to get to the top position of the technique, whereas they will spend hundreds of hours repeating rail precisions or certain vaults to try to master them.

Regardless of your current level of ability there is a place for the muscle up in your training. In the beginning it will be an elusive power and strength feat for you but with time and training it can become an endurance based exercise as you become more and more comfortable with it.

I recommend spending plenty of time training climbups to the stage where you don't need to use your elbows or forearms, as a prerequisite for muscle up training. If you can perform 8-10 climbups on a wall with good form then I'd say it's time to begin moving to the bar.

anything worth doing is worth doing well

Dynamic pullups and negative repetitions (starting at the top position with the bar at waist and lowering down to hanging) will help you develop the strength and power needed for the muscle up, and dips are important too.. since you will need to be able to dip from a low position when you come to try the muscle up itself.

Once you can perform one muscle up using whatever means necessary - elbows, forearms, one arm before the other, leaning forward with chest or stomach on the bar - your work is far from over. The next goal should be to continue training until just your hands are needed. Usually at this stage one arm leads before the other and this is fine for a while as you continue to build strength, but your next goal should be to complete a repetition with both arms at the same time.

When one perfect repetition is achievable it's time to begin building on that until you can perform around 8-10 in a row, with perfect form. If the last few reps cause you to lead with one arm then there is still some work to do at this stage.

Next up is the slow, controlled muscle up.. which is very difficult in comparison with the dynamic one. Slow negatives will help you work towards this and the hardest part is of course the transition from the pullup to the dip, and you must be careful to avoid tendonitis or elbow/wrist problems if you plan to train for this. Listen to your body, only train when you're fresh and get plenty of rest between training sessions.

Finally the muscle up will be yours and its benefits to you will be obvious. If you wish to continue using the exercise to build strength you will need to add weight in the form of a vest or a dip belt or something similar.. but we still have a long way to go.

The next stage is training the muscle up as a muscular endurance exercise. Being able to complete 20+ repetitions is a remarkable achievement and when you look back at all of the stages you progressed through to reach this stage you will better appreciate just how much respect this exercise deserves.

The final stages? Weighted muscle ups will allow you to continue building strength with the exercise, muscle ups to failure can be a brutal and mentally challenging experience and if you fancy something a little different, there are whispers floating around these parts that would urge you to try 300 in less than 2.5 hours - quite a challenge!

Other variations worth training include a muscle up on a flat surface instead of a rail, a muscle up with a supinated (underhand, palms facing you) grip and also one with a semi-supinated (hands face in different directions) grip.

So which stage are you at with the muscle up and are you satisfied there? Is it a weak link in your chain of techniques or a well honed and natural movement for you? Have you paid it enough attention or just accepted your current ability as good enough..?

As the popular saying goes, 'anything worth doing is worth doing well' and although it is not an easy journey, it is ultimately a rewarding one to reach a good standard as it becomes an increasingly effective, functional and diverse weapon in both your technical and physical arsenals.

#49A good day for the poets

2009-05-14T00:00:00.012+01:00

The poets...

Perhaps they would have understood today's beauty?

The warmth of the sun on my skin

The swish of fabric as I vaulted railings, the metal passing under me from right to left, my body flowing over them

The energy simmering in my muscles

The wild flowers in the graveyard

The ease and lightness of my movements

Clothes cool and flowing

Sitting, satisfied with what is and what has passed

The crumble and melt of lemon polenta cake

Watching happy people go by

Perhaps you would understand?

-----------------------------------------

Poetry: It's possible that in your mind the name is linked with the writings of overly sensitive souls pondering ever more flowery descriptions of everyday life - Someone who you may have nothing in common with?

We are all capable of poetic thoughts and those thoughts can enrich our lives.

Forgetting about making it rhyme or constructing its rhythm to iambic pentameter, poetry is essentially a tool to refine the senses and to make what you feel a tangible experience for someone else. You can heighten your awareness of self by describing the experience in terms of "touch", vision, emotion etc.

Could a traceur impart a technique or the essence of flow in this manner?

Don't be concerned - be creative! Relax, tune in to your feelings and write.....

#48Results time!!!!

2009-05-13T00:00:00.008+01:00

Its Results time! As you may or may not remember from last month I set a challenge open to any and all practitioners out there. Simply put I wanted you to find something that scares you and I wanted you to do it. I was very pleased with the initial response and support I got messaged and hoped that there were even more people attempting it as well, whether it be to report back to everyone here or just for their own improvement. ( If you have only just remembered this, now would be a good time to quietly leave the room and complete the challenge you promised yourself you would do….go on I’ll wait)

Well let’s get this show moving as I explain to you what I did. There was one jump I had in mind as I wrote the last blog which was funny to me as I had already done it a few times before! Quite awhile ago at Off The Wall 5 we were at Greenwich and there was a jump that had caught my eye, you had to start on top of a wall jump off the edge tic tac off a wall directly in front of you and land back either on the wall or over the side. Now while the tic tac itself was quite small it was something about running at a blank wall with a significant drop below that put me off. Either way after much back and forth and then seeing another traceur do it I managed to do the jump and it was fine, really was as simple as I first thought I left that day happy with my achievement. Recently I went back to that same spot and after training a bit there I went to do that jump again remembering the ease with which I did it last time, but something was wrong I couldn’t get myself to go at it. I couldn’t understand, the conditions were good, my body felt ok, why couldn’t I do it? That day I spent quite a bit of time getting frustrated trying to psyche myself up again and do it but it just wasn’t happening. I tried everything doing smaller similar jumps, doing safer jumps of similar if not greater distance, each time telling myself how easy it was and that I had it, each time climbing back on top of the starting wall getting ready then climbing back down again choosing to check my jump the “one” more time.

Eventually as I had other places to be I left it, feeling angry with myself and the obvious lack of control I had over my body. I thought about it a lot after that going through all the stuff I had learnt that day, I knew the technique, I more than had the distance, but the one thing the kept nagging at me was having done it before? It was there that I decided the course of action, firstly I would stop focusing on what had happened and get back to what was happening I needed to view the jump as it was for me now not as it had been. Secondly I needed to accept and acknowledge that until I did that 1st jump the fear was always gonna be there and if I waited for it to go away I’d be waiting all day. Lastly I needed to realise that if I was going to do it I wouldn’t be looking at it for ages, constantly checking and re-checking my body, the move, the landing, etc if I was going to do it I had to warm up, assess the jump and go. So came the day I returned to the spot with Brian, having all that in mind I warmed up, did a couple of tic tacs to feel my body then climbed up on that wall. Looking at the jump and the drop the fear came flooding in but somehow it felt different I knew what I had to do, 2 steps and jump. Feeling that fear but trusting in myself and my skills I looked at it a couple times worked out my foot placement took those 2 steps and jumped.

It was the best feeling, but somehow I was more proud this time of how I approached the jump not the jump itself. I then drilled this jump quite a few more times to make sure that it stuck this time.

My second jump was not as long a story (I’m sure you’re pleased to hear) but started after training one day. I was looking around with Blane and James and we came across a gas pipe on the side of some flats, I climbed up a few times to check that it was secure and to see where I could go from there… turned out not very far. But across from it was a low roof and the wheels in my head began to turn. Climbing on top of the roof we looked across at the pipe, I suggested that if someone wanted to they could running jump from the roof and catch the pipe then climb down. The guys agreed and blane began to size it up, seeing this I decided I couldn’t be the one to suggest it then not give it a go so also warmed-up for it. Initially it appeared quite close and considering some of the other jumps I had looked at earlier was well within reach but as I got ready to go that fear and uncertainty came back, this wasn’t helped by the fact that when looking head on it appears as if the pipe is flat against the wall with no space for your hands and that the edge where you would take your last step is loose. Control and accuracy was a must. While looking at it I decided that no matter what I was doing that jump then, not tomorrow, not when I felt better or more rested but then so as not to allow it to build up in my head. After looking at it a couple more times I got out my ipod and put on a track to get me psyched up then went for it.

Again that overwhelmingly good feeling you get from succeeding at something challenging came flooding in and I repeated it a couple times (without the ipod) to make sure. I went back there a couple weeks after with brian to get the pic for the blog and was happy to find that in acknowledging it may still be scary when you return was able to repeat it no problem.

So to sum up my painfully long post I found:
1. It’s important to view each jump as it is then and there and accept that if you’re afraid you’re afraid, that doesn’t mean you let the fear beat you.
2. If you choose to do the jump then do it. Don’t spend 2hours looking at the same spot because in that time your only reinforcing your fear and inability to do it. Come back some other time if need be.
3. Understand and trust in your own abilities. Some things should affect your jump/movement i.e. surface conditions or weather but some things have no real bearing on your skills i.e. height. If you can jump 5ft on the floor there’s nothing that having a big drop below you can really do to your 5ft jump, it’s your mind.

And so ladies and gentlemen we come to that part where you tell me about your challenge! Remember it doesn’t have to be long or detailed if you don’t want to just a little bit about it, the ways in which you prepare for it or even just how you felt? All questions and comments will be read and appreciated so….uh….go!

#47Meditation and thought processes

2009-05-11T00:00:00.000+01:00

The sun cowers behind an ominous cloud, the wind carries an icy chill, and the sky starts to weep cold rain, but I am on fire! My muscles are tight, they are awaiting further demands. I’m breathing consistently, inhaling through my nose and exhaling from my mouth. I can feel my heart start to accelerate; it fuels an adrenaline that courses through every part of my body. I wipe the fear from my face, look down and realise it was just sweat. Leaving my physical processes alone for a minute, I notice, that the longer such a quandary goes on for, gradually the closer my destination seems to the wall I’m standing on. I have jumped a few times and fallen short on purpose, I don’t know why.

But now I must break these habits. I have decided, I’ve sworn to overcome this obstacle. I am no longer uncertain, there is no if or maybe, only yes or no, do or do not! Once I have this in mind, I cannot be disloyal to myself, there is no turning back. “I must do this perfectly, I can do this”. I’ve repeated this several times to myself, but it’s just psychological. So, I stop. Everything stops. Slowly I am overcome by a sinking feeling. All the sounds start to fade, as if I were under water, my eyes are obscure to all but my destination, My heart starts to slow to a normal pace, I can feel my body jar forwards to a 45c angle, I’ve released a loud exhalation, my arms rush upwards and toward my target, my knees spring into action, I am airborne in just a fraction in time, but everything seems to be in slow motion, I haven’t taken my eyes off the mark. As I am directly above it, I begin my descent, the balls of my feet pound into the wall first, they absorb all the impact, lastly my arms come down and I place my hands onto their landing spot and contract violently. I pause for a moment, I have an overwhelming sense of euphoria, my heart quickly accelerates again, my breathing is heavy, my body is numb. It was perfect.

Then as my surroundings start to vanish, I slowly open my eyes and wait for everything to reset. I am still lying in the same place, I can hear the pebbles patter on the concrete next to me, and the sound of a distant mumble, the bystanders think I’m dead. Light from the sun starts to break through the dark cloud, and casts a halo onto the surfaces. A new lease of life consumes me. I stand onto my feet and dust myself off.

“I’m ready. Now I have to do it for real!” .

#46Fear

2009-05-09T00:00:00.001+01:00

The following are my thoughts on the nature, and usefulness of fear in parkour. My thanks to Nick Kelly for originally probing my mind for this!

How do you work through fears you encounter when practicing parkour?
What purpose do you think fear serves, and do you think fear has any positive qualities?

Fear can be both friend and foe. It can be a blockade to progress, yet also be an invaluable guide. The important distinction to realise (whether in parkour or any other time), is what is legitmate fear, and what is not. For example; not walking the streets of the safest streets at night because you're scared of being mugged is an illegitmate fear and one you shouldn't give in to. Not going out after dark walking through a park where there are regular assaults is a wise one. The exact same thing applies to parkour.

When you are scared in parkour it is because you do not feel confident. It may be the move, the height, some other factor you feel is dangerous, or simply your body doesn't feel up to it either through tiredness or injury.

The first thing is to identify what it is you're afraid of. The two fears you should most listen to are if you feel too tired/injured to perform the move safely, or if you are genuinely not sure if you can complete it (make the distance, etc). Fortunately, these are easy to overcome. In the case of the former, rest, or rehabilitation exercises for the more serious injury, will prove adequate. When unsure if you can actually physically make the distance, maintain grip, be accurate enough or whichever fear is holding you back, a period of practise on similar but smaller problems, or conditioning a certain part of the body, will remove tnis fear once you know you are physically able.

Where the problem is the height, or some other "dangerous" factor, it is often a little harder to pigeonhole what your fear is. In most cases, your fear is of injury, of "what if I don't make it". But in the majority of these circumstances, you are not genuinely afraid of falling short, because you know if the height/stairs/sharp railing/whatever wasn't there, you'd have completed the move successfully, and repeated it many times without messing up once. No. Here it is merely the fear of the danger, even if the risk is infinitisimally small.

Now again, sometimes you are scared because you haven't done moves with this kind of danger before, in which case practise over a smaller drop, or find a similar move where the danger is still there, but the gap/cat leap/etc is smaller so you feel more confident. This fear is easier to combat through repetition, much like making yourself stronger.

However, sometimes, and by far the hardest, you are simply scared of the stairs, height whatever the dangerous element may be, even though you know you can repeat the move hundreds, thousands of times without ever coming to harm. While to a certain extent this can be also be combatted like above, this is more of a mental block than just being inexperienced to the danger. This is the toughest to deal with mentally, because you have to let go with your mind. But this should still be rooted in your practise. Wen you let go in your head, it should NEVER just be a case of becoming oblivious to the danger. It should always be rooted in a fundamental belief and confidence in your training and abilities, and you are merely pushing any danger to one side and focussing just on the move.

It is of paramount importance in the the last case, that it is not something you *think* you can make and you go for it anyway. You KNOW in your self, that you will make it every time, you just recognise that it is fear alone that is holding you back.

Fear is the subconcious's way of telling the mind of danger. It makes you realise you are not comfortable with a situation. In parkour, this can be a beneficial tool because on a very simple level, it will highlight areas of your training that need more practise. If you are scared, it is because you do not feel confident with either the movement or the situation. In either case, this will be remedied through repetition of what you are scared of, but on a smaller scale.

Fear is also useful for keeping you alert. Ever noticed how most injuries occur on small things, jus swinging around, often tripping on kerbs etc? Because when there is no fear, it is easier for the body to lose focus. In this sense, fear is vital to help keep you in a safe context if there is danger around. It helps keep you alert to even small risks, because of the consequences.

#45One arm chin

2009-05-07T00:00:00.003+01:00

For far too long I have wanted to achieve this strength skill. The one arm chin. My nemisis. Experiencing the feeling of pulling your entire body weight from complete extension to complete flexion only using a single arm is some thing I've longed for.

In the past I've always used one arm chin progressions as a test to see how strong I was without directly training for the skill, seeing what carry over my strength training of more specific movements similar to those in parkour had. With mixed results progession was slow and this sometimes encouraged me to train for the skill for a week or two, but ultimately I wouldn't stick with it and find another pulling exercise that grabbed my attention (Muscle Ups!).

What has sparked my interest in them once more? Seeing someone do one in person! After Blane did one on the Rome trip it's been in the back of my mind ever since, almost calling out at me begging for attention. So now it's finally time to get this skill. It doesn't matter if it takes 2 weeks, 2 months or 2 years! It will take as long as it takes and I'm going to train it consistently and use this the blog as a tool to monitor my progress.

So what exercises will I will be doing?

One arm lock offs: About 6 reps max on each arm

1. Pull up with chin above the bar, one hand pronated and the other supinated
2. Let go of the pronated hand and as slowly and controlled as possible lower self to full extension

Assisted one arm chins: 1 to 6 reps max

1. Place one hand on a towel/ resistance band/belt hanging over the bar.
2. Place the other hand on supinated on the bar
3. From complete extension pull up until chin is above the bar
4. Lower self down in a controlled manner.

The rest periods between sets of each exercise will be between 2-5 minutes and number of rest days will be one or two. The rest periods are highly dependant on how intense the session was day.

Thats it! Only two exercises, just keeping it nice and simple. Next month will feature my progress with the program and should have a video as a record of my progess.

#44Why...

2009-05-05T01:30:00.004+01:00

Why....
Did you start Parkour ?
Do you practise parkour ?
Do you push yourself in the training ?
Do you look for more and more challenges ?
Do you think you know why you practice ?

Here are the questions I asked myself a while ago, and I may ask them again...;)
Everytime I come with a different answer, and everytime I thought this one what the right answer, the ONE !

So I can start wondering, were they the right answers at these different times or were they something different, just a part of the answer maybe ? Or was I totally wrong before ? Maybe each answer was what I could see and understand at this very moment and nothing else, maybe the answers weren't mine, I was just inspired by all the answers you can find from other people...

This is something I understood when I thought about this : when you think you know the answer, you may have to think again ;)

What I want to say is that I could find a lot of reasons to practise and a lot of answers to these questions but with time, everything narrows into a few things that are the origins of my practising...
And even if today I think I know a lot about these questions, I believe I have to stay openminded because I might find something else on my path and I want to let an open space for the change...

I just wanted to share a part of my reflexions !!! And I invite you to do so ;)

There are some obvious answers to these questions but there are also some hidden, deep, old reasons...

I believe that understanding what you do, may it be in Parkour but in life generally, will help you a lot on your path...

I really hope it makes sense for you ! If not, too bad :D

Cheers

#43UNE REGLE D’OR

2009-05-03T00:00:00.002+01:00

Je viens juste de finir de prendre ma douche. Ce soir, je me suis entrainé seul. Cela n’a jamais été un problѐme mais il est vrai que j’avais pris l’habitude, le mardi soir, de coacher ma femme et par la même occasion de m’entrainer avec. Elle est en Allemagne pour son boulot pour toute la semaine, elle me manque...

Aujourd’hui, nous sommes le mardi 24 mars 2009, je suis particuliѐrement content de mon entrainement. Toute la journée, je l’ai passé devant mon ordinateur, répondre á mes e-mails. Ce n’est pas vraiment ma tasse de thé. Il fallait que j’aille me dépenser mais je ne sais pas pourquoi, pas motivé. J’allume la télé en me disant:”j’y vais dans 10 minutes...Allez encore 10”. Il est maintenant 18h, “c’est bon y’en a assez, arrête de trouver des excuses”, me dis je. 2 minutes après, je claquais la porte d’entrée, je descendais les marches á vive allure, la musique dans les oreilles, je suis dehors: voila!

J’ai fait le plus dur,la séance commence. Non loin de chez moi, il y a des marches,”c’est décidé, mon spot ce soir”. 30 secondes après , j’y suis, j’enchaine 10 montées et descentes 1 par 1, rapide et sur la pointe des pieds, suivi de 2 autres séries á cloche pied. Mon genou est un peu douloureux mais je sais que c’est bon pour ma rééducation donc je continue. Je commence á sentir mon second souffle:”je me sens bien, allez 2 séries de plus mais cette fois 2 par 2”. Les gens descendent et montent du train en me regardant. Peut être pensent ils que je suis un peu bizarre, cette pensée me fait rire, je contimue encore quelques minutes.

Je décide de finir mon entrainement á la maison. Dѐs que j’arrive, je retire mes chaussures, je vais dans le salon, j’installe une chaise et je prends mes poignées de force que je mets devant. Mon circuit est prêt: 7 tractions utilisant le rebord de la mezzanine, suivi de 6 montées corps horizontal bras tendus. Je change la prise, je monte 5 fois jambes tendues, mes pieds venant toucher mes mains. Je fini le circuit avec mes poignées, en appui bras tendus et avec mes pieds ne touchant pas le sol. Je tends mes jambes sous le siѐge puis je les ramѐnent á la poitrine et je fais de même au dessus du dossier, 5 fois de suite. Aprѐs avoir répéter le circuit 6 fois, je me dis:” 200 Abdos et 20 minutes d’étirements et pour ce soir c’est bon”. C’est fini! J’ai le sourir, je suis content, je l’ai fait...”Et oui, ne jamais abandoner est une rѐgle d’or et encore moins , avant d’avoir commencé...”

"Je n’avais pas très faim, je me suis fait une salade, je pense á mon entrainement de demain:” je me ferai bien une séance de cotes au park...”

"Je viens de voir que j’ai reçu d’autres e-mails:”allez! C’est reparti,au boulot...”

#42Excerpt...

2009-05-01T00:00:00.008+01:00

Next month sees the UK release of the new Handbook of Parkour/Freerunning. Just for you blog-followers, here's an excerpt as sneak preview...

Philosophy and Physicality
Movement is the nature of all things. The ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus famously proclaimed ‘Everything flows; nothing remains’[1], and both human history and modern science have proven him right. All is process, all is movement: all is flow. That is why this art speaks so strongly to us, because it is our nature to be always in transition, changing, moving, and not only on a physical level but on a mental one as well.

For those who are serious about the art, parkour is a way of life as well as a way of travelling. It’s a way of thinking, an art of movement, a discipline of physicality. Parkour is a pathless way, a method that has no one method of practice, and it is for the individual alone to find his or her own route. For freerunners, those elements we used to see as obstacles are that no longer – they become stepping-stones that carry us forward as we move towards personal liberation and self-mastery.

In this Handbook we have focused on the physical attributes you must develop to give yourself a good start in your own training. However, by far the most important attribute to develop is what can be described as ‘spirit’. Spirit, for the freerunner, means strength of character, an inner commitment to progress and self-improvement at all times; and it is based on possessing a high level of competence within a number of different, yet interdependent, fields of thought. These are the virtues central to the practice of parkour, and include the following:

* Self-discipline
* Focus
* Determination
* Control of fear
* Humility
* Helping others
* Knowledge of one’s limits
* Persistent testing of the self

Your spirit is your approach to training, and is essentially the means and the end of practising parkour. This art of movement is, for those who devote themselves to it, a way of strengthening one’s inner spirit through mastery of the body.

This mixture of philosophy and physicality is not a new concept in history, but it is renewed and revitalised in parkour. There is no one philosophical concept behind the art, no complicated and convoluted intellectual webs to unravel. Parkour concentrates on placing you fully in the here and now of your life and helping you to see your surroundings and yourself as they are.

For me, and for many of us, parkour is an expression and an exploration of the power and versatility of the human spirit. It acts as a mirror to the self, exposing one’s fears, self-imposed limitations, and our conditioned thought-processes. It is a method by which one can overcome all these things, as with all transformative practices, so it is in truth much more about mastering the self than about conquering a few high walls. Our everyday surroundings provide the ultimate training ground for this and so in a very real and immediate sense, with the fresh vision that parkour offers us, we can see ourselves reflected with great clarity in our environment.

When you do so, you may rediscover a deep sense of harmony with your world that reminds you of the simple pleasure of being alive.

___________________

[1] Quoted by Plato in Cratylus, and by Diogenes Laertius in Lives of the Philosophers Book IX, section 8.

#41“Parcours sportif”

2009-04-29T00:00:00.002+01:00

Original image here

It is Monday the 13th of April 2009, a lovely sunny day with a slight wind in Parc du Seaux, somewhere between Evry and Paris.

We start running but unfortunately after 15 minutes I have to stop as my knee gets more and more painful. I have a minor injury that is called BTI. My Physio has advised me to stop running as soon as I feel the first sign of pain. When I am motivated and I feel the joy of running it is hard to stop, but Forrest forces me to stop immediately and we continue our warm-up just with another 15 minutes power walking.

We arrive at the parcours sportif track, which is a specially designed path in the park for fitness purposes. There are about 10 – 12 different stations such as parallel bars, rings, ladders, railings etc.

Our first station is the ladder. Forrest sets the rhythm with 5 sets of 5 muscles- ups, and I follow with 5 sets of 5 pull-ups. The ladder structure is like a playground for monkeys, and in fact a little boy was demonstrating some monkey swings. I just joined him, and don`t actually know if I felt like a little girl or a little monkey, but I enjoyed it very much and it was a great exercise.

We carry on to the rings. It is my first time that I try to turn 360° touch the floor and come back. I am not sure if I am strong enough to hold myself, I feel scared in case I dislocate my shoulders or fall. Forrest is next to me giving me confidence and security that if I drop he will catch me. He tells me to trust myself. So I take the challenge, touch the floor with my toes but I am not strong enough to completely come back. It just looked so easy when he was doing it, so why can`t I do it? Forrest looks at me smiles and says – “with a bit more practise you will be able to do it easily, so don`t be upset but enjoy the moment”-.

We continue our journey to the next station where we find three round low railings. The sign shows that this station is aimed for stretching, but Forrest is taking the press up position. The railing next to him is a bit higher and without much talking I just take the same position and follow him. Surprisingly I`ve already done at least 20 press-ups in a row and I still feel good, 10 others follow but Forrest still goes on and it still looks so effortless. I feel great with just the 30 so I stop and wait for him to finish. Then I ask –“what’s next"?

We walk to the next station, the surface is soft, like a kind of natural carpet and it feels like sand under our feet. Forrest is approaching two parallel bars, he lifts himself up with both hands bouncing forward and backward through the bars. Needless to say that this is something I will have difficulties to imitate, so I just choose another option thinking that it will be easier. Well, maybe it is easier but it certainly wasn’t easy. I am moving forward hand-by-hand with straight arms, which are very sore, but I have to keep control of my swinging body. After finishing the route Forrest says – “Voilà c`est fini”.

We go to stretch and enjoy the sunshine, the nice smell and beautiful surroundings of Parc du Seaux. It is always a pleasure to train together and explore different ways and places, even though we don`t necessarily do the same exercises. Men and women have different physical abilities and I believe our training need to be different too.

“Parcours sportif” is such a great idea to keep people fit in any context. I look forward to the next session in Parc du Seaux.

#40Building Confidence

2009-04-27T00:15:00.010+01:00

I have been inspired recently by a number of women who have contacted me wondering if Parkour is for them. Some of those have blown me away: made me smile and laugh out loud at their evident passion for learning the discipline! Learning to move with stealth, grace and efficiency, and becoming strong are the aims and it seems there is not a shortage of women who would really like to give Parkour a go. This post is, in short, a message to all of you to say DO it!!!

I have seen the female Parkour community grow from strength to strength, with hugely inspirational strong, beautiful and resolute women in London and all over the world forming an ever-growing network of regularly practising traceuses. These girls are breaking fears and boundaries, training alongside the guys in a combination of the sheer joy and excitement that Parkour brings, and proof that Parkour most definitely is for women too. And importantly, (most of) these people did not start out as supermen or superwomen!

There are many reasons why people hesitate (men and women alike). But the beauty of Parkour is that everyone trains at their PERSONAL level. Whatever your level of fitness, strength or build, you begin at your base level and work on it. It is not a competition. Do not concern yourself by thinking you are not strong or fit enough to learn Parkour – they are things to work on rather than being a starting requirement! For women particularly the strength aspect can be particularly daunting but still, all it takes is practise (and a little determination). Training always pays off, and man it feels good when it does!!

If you are now thinking to yourself Yeah ok, I’m gonna try! – that’s awesome hahaha! ;D My work here is done! But really, get outside and try some simple things. Take some headphones to block out the world if it makes it easier! There’s no need to set high expectations, just go out and play for a bit, enjoy and learn a little more about yourself. If you’re short on ideas, start with a light warm-up of the joints and muscles, maybe move on to a short run (grass to lessen the impact on the body) – keep it light and don’t push yourself to exhaustion to start with! Try moving over a few low obstacles in combination focusing on soft landings and fluid unbroken motion rather than speed or flash moves. Try hanging on a wall in a cat leap position and then move onto trying to pull yourself up. If something seems too hard or scary work on it for a full 15 minutes minimum before letting yourself give up – it will become more comfortable, suddenly achievable or better next time from the work you have put in. Be proud of accomplishing each training session, with the knowledge that every bit of effort is building more strength to make everything you want to accomplish both easier and safer.

One last note. For those already practising, think to encourage and support female beginners to get involved. All beginners! And the more encouragement the better! Consider that it can be a little daunting for women when they’re surrounded by butch guys pulling awesome moves! Sometimes people just need a little push to find the strength and confidence they need. Help to build the confidence of those around you always.

#39Breaking Jumps

2009-04-25T10:00:00.007+01:00

Autumn '07.

Breaking a Jump.

That's all it was that day.

Breaking a Jump.

Abbey Road. A Staircase. Break a Jump.

GO!

I mean... its me that picked the challenge. I'm the one that saw it... I'm the one that chose it... and most importantly... I'm the one that knows I can do it... its the most challenging jump I've ever attempted, and I want it... so WHY am I not actually DOING it?

Here I am in the middle of the estate, standing at the top of a staircase staring down the jagged steps. I looked up at the walkway that ran left to right above it, and judged the distance from where I stood to the worn blue handrail bolted to it. I could already picture myself making the jump... I could feel the jump... bit still... I was not doing the jump...

I know, I know... "breaking a jump" means to find a something you've never done before, and especially something you believe will be challenging, or downright tough... then do it. Still, to me, its a phrase that almost sounds dreamy... romantic even. To break a jump is a moment that transcends both the...

...FOCUS MAN!!!

...none of those descriptions matter now...

...what I know is what I know, now get back to what you were doing...

...but... why aren't my feet listening to me...

...why are my legs not paying attention?

...I'm frozen!!

..."wiggle your big toe" isn't working!

...so much damn noise in my head...

...so many excuses...

...so many distractions...

...procrastinate...

...yes, that's what I have to do...

...I... if I delay this, then I can get out of doing this...

...I can go and...

...I...

...no...

...breathe...

...just calm yourself and breathe...

...ok...

...focus on the jump...

...you have the distance...

...you have the strength...

...you have the ability...

...but...

...so many thoughts flitting by!

"...where are you going to land?"
"...where are you going to place your hands?"
"...where are you going to place your feet?"
"...do the surfaces give me enough grip to make the landing?"
"...what if I slip?"
"...what if I fall?"
"...wait... why are you even thinking that?"
"...are you scared?"

...dammit man... empty your mind!

Aaaaaaaargh!! Frustration!!!

...ok... change something...

...but what...

...pushups!

...yes, let go of the jump, turn your back on it, and do some pushups...

I dropped down and started counting.

...1-2-3-4...

Banging them out... the adrenaline was coursing.

...28-29-30...

I just didn't feel tired.

...49-50-51...

Keep going.

...63-64-65...

But I knew that when I stopped, I had to do the jump.

...78-79-80...

...you know what...

...stand up...

...there's nowhere to hide from it...

...just go...

...do it...

...do it.

I walked back to the spot.

...still nothing...

...still nothing...

...still nothing...

...the fear's back...

...what the hell man?!

I remember looking up and seeing Stephane and Kazuma. They could see what was going on in my head.

Kazuma gave me a technical option of how to land... advice on my foot an hand placement for safety... advice that calmed me.

Stephane told me... "Give yourself a time. Count. When that time's up, if you jump, you jump. That's it." - words for resolve.

...inside, I let loose a brief smile...

I gave myself a minute. One solitary minute. Take it or leave it.

...start counting...

...60...

...59...

...58...

...I'm still counting...

...the noise is subsiding...

...47...

...46...

...45...

...this is it man...

...29...

...28...

...27...

...then something changed...

...an instant where I realised, up until now, I hadn't been in control. I was letting events control me. I was a slave to my emotions. It was a tiny realisation, but it changed my perception of everything.

...3... I decide to be in control.

...2... I decide to step up to the spot.

...1... I decide to jump.

I jump.

...that's when it returned... that feeling of calm. I remember the feeling of actually jumping. That moment when you feel like you're actually in flight. When there's no conscious thought, and your instincts take over. When all I can hear is the breeze as I fly through the air. Its a beautiful feeling, and reminds me why I love to move. Its not so much slow motion as a moment of clarity, and knowing myself and who I am. I remember coming in to land, and extending my hands to the bar. Seeing the patch of moss on the wall that my feet were aiming for. I felt like a cat. A BIG CAT... but a stealthy cat.

I land.

Two more times now...

Can I do it again?

The doubt returned... but was dismissed momentarily and the confidence grew.

...Lets do it again...

...a shorter count this time...

...3... I stepped up to the spot.

...2... I decided to jump.

...1... I jump.

Aaaaah... it was a feeling of joy, tinged with a slither of adrenaline. I was enjoying it, but I wanted to stay in the moment... to stay in the flight.

I land.

...just one more time!

I was feeling happy, but I was careful to control my ego.

...let it go...

...just the Jump...

...3...

...2...

...1... I jump.

This time I remember there being slight change of windspeed as I took off, but I know it was not strong enough to alter my movement. I flew again, and watched as the Black Kalenjis on my feet stretched out infront of me towards the wall, then connect on the wall with a soft crunch, similar to the sound of a small sack placed onto gravel. It was audible, but it was my quietest landing yet. This time I held the position to remember it. I remember looking at the position of my hands on the rail, and their grip... the position of my feet spread apart slightly, with one above the other... how secure they felt. I paused in this position, and turned my head to look down at the staircase... at the drop beneath me... at that which had scared me so much... and felt a sense of safety.

Out of the corner of my eye, I was aware that people were still around... Dom was smiling, James nodded, and far off I remember Tracey laughing and clapping in support.

Yes, I'd gone through it, but I wasn't alone... through the day, they'd all been there doing it as well: There had been difficult precisions... challenging drops... awkward balances - we were there as a team, but everyone facing their own demons in their own way.

Together.

Breaking jumps.

#38Break the jump

2009-04-23T00:05:00.004+01:00

“It’s just a jump! Nothing to be scared of!!!” that’s what I’m thinking out loud, getting ready to break the jump. I know I have done bigger jump and more tricky than this one. My concern in fact, is this knee high wall on which I have to step on to, to take off. I usually like the feeling of running precisions, the sensation of flying makes me think sometimes that nothing is impossible as long as I find the motivation and the strength to reach my goals.

I try to relax, look at the jump one more time, shake my arms and legs, shake my head, try again to relax my whole body, swipe my shoes soles with my hand to get an optimal grip. The grip on the landing has been checked, the run up, checked, the take off… this damn take off! What can possibly happen? If I focus too much on the jump and miss the take off, that will be the worst case. Not enough foot and I will bang my knee or my shin on the edge of the wall. Too much foot and I will slip and fall on my back, and maybe hit the wall with my coccyx. I don’t really like these perspectives.

So I’m going to concentrate mainly on the take off, and decompose the jump as I always do when I’m not confident about it.
- First, run as fast as you can, Momentum is your best friend
- After, jump as far as you can, even further
- Finally, land because if you don’t land, that means you’ve been abducted by aliens.

So I start running, try to get the maximum speed, evaluate the distance to see if my foot placement is still right; it’s fine, I’m getting close to the wall, take off… and chicken out on the jump because I was too scared on the take off. So I give it a try, 3 perfect take off in a row then I’ll go for the real deal. 3 done! I’m now ready for the jump. I will run, jump and land successfully. I have thought of everything I could have thought of, my physical condition, the whole process before the jump, the position of the walls and even the temperature and the wind. All I need to do now, is to go to Vauxhall and see if my meditation is fruityful. In any cases, I’m going to break the jump.

#37The Breakthrough

2009-04-21T14:40:00.005+01:00

After an incredible training session at the start of the month I was compelled to tell others about my breakthrough...

The team did a great thing for me today, they helped me break a jump. Not just any jump, it was a jump that I had broken last year but somehow through lack of repeating it I was back to square one and this tormented me. It was a precision jump between two widely spaced concrete walls. On one hand I knew that I had done it before but on the other hand it just didn't look safe anymore. My mind was filled with thoughts of slipping or landing too short and then contrastingly I would remind myself that it was doable and safe. This mental argument would loop over and over and so instead of repeating the jump, I endured the repetition of *almost* jumping. Frustratingly, preparing to jump and abandoning the jump became the norm. Until today....

Breakthrough didn't happen straight away though as again I stood facing my tormentor, psyching myself up with more conviction than before only to be rooted to the spot. TOTAL PARALYSIS. Like a mime artist I had created an invisible barrier that seemed tougher than any wall could be. My body was strong and ready to go but I just couldn't pull the trigger and commit.

More encouragement came and the guys rallied to keep me positive and spot my landing area. It all seemed in place to guarantee my success: the outside conditions were perfect but inside my mind it was a different story. Something extra was needed, my mind and body had to move. To stay and ponder the jump any longer would only reinforce the problem...it was time to break out of this prison.

"Frustratingly, preparing to jump and abandoning the jump became the norm. Until today...."

Johann led me in a route around our training area, jumping from wall to wall, running, vaulting and rolling, I wasn't to stop and I wasn't to think about the jump. On the next circuit Johann recruited the whole team to run with me as I freed my mind and got my body warm and my muscles firing, I followed him as closely as I could and I didn't know where he would step or when the jump was coming. I could only think about following and making the next move.

He curved round in the direction of the jump and I followed, briefly I looked at it and it looked different. I sprung off the wall in front of me and came down on my landing area but only got one foot in place. I didn't make it but I was almost there. “Don't think about it. Keep moving!” said Johann.

The run continued: breathlessly I vaulted, climbed and jumped in quick succession, I felt tired but a feeling of confidence and determination emerged within me. Johann looped back round to the jump area and again I jumped, I just jumped, I landed and made it! I din't think about it or psych myself up, the jump just came to me like any of the others I had been doing. Both feet, safe, secure and on my landing spot!

Yeeesss! I yelled and the whole team cheered with me. “Now do it again!” I was told. I was so charged up, the chains had come off and I was liberated. I jumped it again and again from one side and the other to make sure i'd got it. I had it! it was mine. I felt immense relief and the strong feeling that I could do so much more.

Could it be that the antidote to my paralysis was not a complicated technique but simply: raw instinctual movement? Through being caught up in the momentum of 'the pack' I forgot myself and followed without hesitation and unlocked what had always been within my potential.

It was the perfect way to end the session and a great way to continue on to my next level of progression. I still have to work that jump though, because it was only mine for one day.....and I'd like to have it permanently. Thank you guys, I'm looking forward to my next breakthrough.

#36What makes me continue to train, why do I do parkour?

2009-04-19T02:19:00.003+01:00

A question, much like an obstacle that shadows over me, that’s still unconquered. I thought it’d be simple enough to answer, not so complicated, it was just a question. But it was, Like a Parkour roll in a way, so elementary, but so much harder than basic.

About three months ago, I’d started training again after a lengthy absence. During these months of recluse, I had a time to reflect, on where, prior to my disappearance, it had started to spiral out of control.

Training had become dead to me

It was a knock on effect of months of, what seemed to me, as a failure. I was disinterested in trying to succeed, to improve, or to be stronger. I was made to feel depleted by my training, which was uneventful, and lacking in any motivation. So, I wanted to trial a life with out Parkour, to see if I would be more contented, with out having the pressure to constantly improve, or to try and find a reason not to give up. At first it was easy, It was a release. But as I started to drift further away from my familiarity, I felt myself falling into a void, Parkour was all I knew and out here there was nothing for me, I was cold turkey but itching for the bottle once more. It was in this moment where I realised, that the further I tried to distance myself from training, the closer I would land to it. And in the emerging sanity, I was reminded of how much Parkour had become a part of me, that training is what makes me who I am, and having Parkour is what solves all of life’s little problems.

But this reunion had influenced a new perplexity. For, at least, most traceurs Parkour has become a long commitment, and for this we are constantly asked, “why do you still practise?” and out of curiosity, to me, it begs another question, the same in one way, although some what opposite, “why are we so unable to stop?”

I was once told that I must know why I want to train, otherwise there’s no point. And it’s true, we should all know why we do Parkour, because it’s not only the point to all this training, but also the motivation to carry on. But, How many of us actually know the answer to this, excluding the obvious choices; To be fit, it’s fun or I like it.

Amidst the rebirth of my training, I have experimented with the motive, more than the training itself, that is the motive to push myself and to prosper. I’ve found that having, just a simple motive, can have profound effects on not even the Parkour, but your attitude towards it.

Just having some small incentives for myself seems to have given my training a greater sense of longevity, because now I have something to strive towards, but also something to lose.

A good friend of mine asked me recently,

“Why do you still do Parkour?”

I told him that I am uncertain. For me, after everything that happens, in every year with more experience, and after every training session, that answer will be different!

Perhaps the point I’m trying to make is, that maybe we should be influenced to continue training because of the question its self, more than the answer to it.

#35Body Armour.

2009-04-17T09:39:00.003+01:00

If you are one of our academy students I'm sure you will agree with me when I say that we heavily supplement our classes with a large dose of conditioning. I still remember my first class at moberley and being completely horrified at how absolutely unfit I was... Barely able to do a situp or last a minute without doubling over and gasping for breath. Alas, I stuck with it and started off (very) slowly and eventually built up my strength and fitness bit-by-bit. Apart from this obvious benefit, why else do we do conditioning?

Last month I learnt a new reason... body armour.

Yes, conditioning will give you bigger jumps, faster speed vaults, get you doing those muscle-ups easier, but it will also help protect you for those moments when you to slip, fall and trip. I'm not talking about flesh wounds that we all get, i'm refering to those (hopefully) rare times when the universe is plotting against you and it all goes horribly wrong. Sometimes there is absolutely nothing you could have done to protect yourself from that injury, but in other cases maybe there was something to reduce your injury... I for one am thankful for all the push-ups, sit-ups and quadrupedie (to name a few) we do because I feel like it saved me from something that could have been much, much worse.

"I for one am thankful for all the push-ups, sit-ups and quadrupedie (to name a few) we do..."

Obviously all injuries and situations are different, but its a simple choice that doesn't take a genius to understand... Do I protect myself as much as I can while I train, or don't I? This doesn't mean conditioning gives you an invisible kevlar vest that allows you to be reckless, but it may be the one thing that stands in the way of that oncoming floor and you...

#3424 hours

2009-04-15T01:03:00.001+01:00

The following takes place between 7:00am and 8:00am.
A familiar song is interrupting my conversation with a man who has no face. I linger for a while in some middle ground between dream and reality, wondering where I am and what day it is as I fumble for the snooze key on my phone.

The following takes place between 8:00am and 9:00am.
I'm showered and contain significantly more weetabix, oats and bananas than I did one hour ago. I find myself jogging past a church, the only person in sight wearing a smile as I weave between frowning commuters towards the tube station.

The following takes place between 9:00am and 10:00am.
I'm standing near to a pub that is more often than not occupied by men who particularly enjoy the company of other men. I'm still not certain why this has become the unnofficial meeting place for those about to add yet another crimson stamp upon the Vauxhall walls, but it's something I've never felt the need to question.

The following takes place between 10:00am and 11:00am.
I've been running for a while now. Sweat trickles down my face and all I can hear is a dozen pairs of worn shoes colliding with grass and asphalt in every direction around me. We started together and we will finish together, just as we always do.

The following takes place between 11:00am and 12:00pm.
Midday is about to greet us and I wonder if I've injured the ant that I've blown way off course as I exhale out of yet another press up. I'm probably hurting more than the ant actually. I've squatted, traversed, pushed, pulled and crawled my way through the last sixty minutes and my shouts of determination have blended with those of my friends to create a symphony, a chorus of pain.

The following takes place between 12:00pm and 1:00pm.
We're stretching, having recently done more muscle ups than any of us thought we were capable of, the arms no longer feel... well, anything. My heart is beginning its journey to a resting pace again and I look around to see tired but contented faces.

The following takes place between 1:00pm and 2:00pm.
Lunch is over and I'm upside down in a park, practicing handstands and balancing in the sun with an old friend.

The following takes place between 2:00pm and 3:00pm.
I'm on my own. Soon after a tube journey that greeted me with the usual looks of disinterest or curiosity at my dirty clothes and bleeding hands, I'm crouched on a wall trying to convince my body that it can reach the branch that teases me in the nearby tree. If I don't, there's a fair chance I'm going to get hurt since I'm high up and concrete is unforgiving at the best of times. But I will make it, I must make it. I've done a hundred jumps like this in the past, perhaps not at this height but the height is irrelevant if you make the jump. And I will make the jump.

The following takes place between 3:00pm and 5:00pm.
I'm on the last set of a series of jumps that I've been doing in quick succesion to build power in my legs. My arms are weak from a brief one-armed pullup test and I check my watch.

The following takes place between 7:00pm and 8:00pm.
I'm indoors, rotating my joints and loosening up once again along with thirty or so students. We prepare our bodies for what is to come for half an hour or so and then I position some obstacles in a half-improvised manner. As I watch the expressions of doubt turn to joy on a new practitioner's face, I realise that we never lose that feeling of pleasure in our success upon overcoming our fears. The relief on the man's face is a reflection of my own only a few hours ago as I caught the branch. Is this the most addictive part of our discipline? Is it the surpassing of our fears that brings us back time after time? I think about it a little more as the air in the room grows warmer still and the tired limbs attempt one last almighty effort.

The following takes place between 9:00pm and 10:00pm
Some of those around me might argue that the warm down would make a fairly good warm up. All at least would agree the stretching is a welcome relief. I shake hands, smile and say my goodbyes to old friends, new friends and strangers who I'm sure will grow to be friends in time. At last, the physical demands of today are over.

The following takes place all day, every day.
The Oyster card is at the bottom of my bag when the bus arrives.

The following takes place between 10:00pm and 11:00pm.
I find myself sitting down and eating. Checking emails and wishing I had more time to reply to some of them, I update my diary for the week once again before feeling the shower wash another day off my back. Blood, dirt, sweat and something unknown is dissapearing in to the dark abyss below me and I stand there a little longer than is necessary, allowing my muscles time to relax in the cool water.

The following takes place between 11:00pm and 12:00pm.
I turn off the light and try to get back to my bed without bashing my knee on something. I still haven't quite perfected the whole pitch-black navigation thing in this new room of mine but I'm getting there. I'm almost asleep before my head touches the pillow.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The following takes place between 7:00am and 8:00am.
A familiar song is interrupting my conversation with a man who has no face. I linger a while in some middle ground between my dream and reality and wonder where I am and what day it is, fumbling for the 'snooze' key on my phone...

#33Its all in your head....

2009-04-13T01:27:00.002+01:00

This is my 2nd post since the blog first started and the biggest problem I had with deciding what to write was in choosing something that I thought others might be interested in reading about. After quickly realising that I had no monumental news or amazingly unique insight I decided to approach it in a different way. I want to know what you yes YOU reading (scanning) this now would actually be interested in reading about, please do leave any comments, questions or suggestions in the box below. Seriously though comments are where it’s at because no matter how stupid or insightful, 1 word or 1,000 I don’t mind. If not its a lot like giving a big speech to a room full of people finishing and then having everyone just sit there silently staring at you, very off putting I can assure you.

...that Kong-precision that you’ve looked at all those times, you do so because although it scares you you can see yourself doing it...

Anywho down to business…. mental blocks!!! It’s something that I’m sure a lot of you have come across at 1 time or another and it’s certainly something that can be very detrimental to your training if not handled carefully. One thing I’ve noticed personally, that I think is important to take into account is that your body knows it can do it. This may sound a bit weird at first but bare with me, a lot of the time I hear people claim they can’t because they are scared or that they want to but they are not sure if their jump is big enough, etc. But simply by seriously considering actually doing the jump they’ve demonstrated that somewhere inside they know it’s in their range. I want you to take a second and think of the most ridiculous jump you can, like precisioning the corner wall of the manpower drop for instance. You would never get a mental block about that jump because you know its an impossibility, maybe someone somewhere has god-like strength in there legs not to crumple and snap on impact but for the majority you would never seriously consider such a jump for yourself. But that cat jump you had in mind earlier or that Kong-precision that you’ve looked at all those times, you do so because although it scares you you can see yourself doing it. You can see that if you were somehow able to free up your mind you would have done it already. Now while that may not magically fix anything for you and maybe you knew it already its certainly food for thought.

But the reason I confuse and bore you with this is that today I’m going to find a jump that scares me or that I’ve put off for awhile and I’m going to do it. And not only that but I want you to as well, I want you to find something that makes you hesitate or walk away and I want you to do it. It doesn’t have to be big, it doesn’t have to be crazy, it can be something you’ve done before but for whatever reason are no longer comfortable with, it doesn’t even have to be anything that anyone else would find difficult that’s not the point, this is for you.

You have 1 month.

This time next month I’m going to post what my jump was maybe even a picture if possible and once I’ve done that I want you to tell me something about yours, what it was, how you did it or even just how you felt. I would really love to get as many people involved as possible so tell your friends, spread the word and good luck!

#32Fight Fears

2009-04-11T02:44:00.004+01:00

I am really scared of height. I just lose all my abilities when there is height.

One day, about 6 months ago, for some reasons we had access to the Royal Festival Hall's roof. The guys I was with were jumping around, and walking on the edge of the roof top. Like they would do on the floor... except there was a 7 floors drop on the side. I couldn't believe it, and freaked out just at the thought of doing it.

I approached the edge, first on all fours, then crawling, to have a look down. People were so small down there, like small toys, I felt like I could take one of them between my fingers... But mostly, I felt like I could never stand up there!!

On one corner, the roof was surrounded with a wall. That wall was about a foot large, and had a 10 feet drop on the inside, and 7 floors drop on the outside.

I was talking about my fear with my friend Blinky, who took it into his head to make me walk on that wall. At first I didn't even want to think about it... but I listened to him... there was no harm in listening to what he could say. Anyway I wouldn't do it.

He tried to explain to me that the drop was just a distraction... that it could never touch me, push me or physically attract me. The drop is there, but it's useless... Like when you try to do some balancing exercises and some guys try to make you fall by talking and distracting you, just to make you lose your concentration. All that is just in the mind.

The more he talked, the more I was getting in a strange mood, where I thought I could do it maybe... He made me breath in and breath out deeply, make space inside my head... and I saw myself approach the edge. Walking was a bit too much, so i crouched, and went on that wall in cat balance position. I reached the corner... Damn it, the second part of the wall is thinner... But I really can't make a half turn above that drop. I have no choice but to carry on. I tried not to think about anything but the wall, and the end I had to reach, which was not that far.

When I finished, my mind got back to reality, and I rushed away from the drop.

But I did it! I couldn't believe it! I really don't know if I would do it again, and when I think back to that day, I just think I was crazy... But maybe if Blinky is around...

Thank you Blinky for helping me fight my fear.

#31My New Toy

2009-04-09T00:41:00.001+01:00

Anyone that has seen my room will be only too aware of my growing collection of random fitness equipment. The last year and a half or so has seen me install 3 pull-up bars in my doorway; get a weight vest; buy a climbing fingerboard; get my hands on (pun intended) 3 different Captains of Crush grippers; invest in a squat rack; and obtain a new, removable pull-up bar. All excellent purchases, and all in some small way responsible for me not becoming the fat bloater my massive diet would suggest is my destiny!

But now I have a new toy. I was sufficiently excited that despite spending 5 hours out training yesterday, I still felt compelled to wander down to my local park in the dark to try them out. An hour later, my grinning, but somewhat tired, self left convinced that they could well be the best money I have ever spent in my life. I'll probably end up writing again once I've had a chance to use them for a while and see how effective they are. Suffice to say that nothing has worked my muscles like trying even simple exercise on my spanky new gymnastic rings for a LOOOONG time. Muscle ups, tuck planches, even the humble dip takes on a new edge once your muscles start to fatigue and the rings try to escape away from your body.

It certainly wasn't the most structured session (I was like a kid in a candy shop, trying every different thing that took his whim), but I have a satisfying dull ache across virtually every muscle from the rectus abdominis upward. Hopefully, and if I can rein in my excitement, some more intelligent training on them should produce the kind of rock-hard abs that every cover model dreams of.... cough, I mean... some good functional strength gains :P On a serious note, I'm really looking forward to seeing how incorporating some ring training into my conditioning regime improves me as an athlete.

#30Dealing with serious injury

2009-04-07T01:00:00.002+01:00

Injury. Something we all may face at some point or another while training, whether it be small grazes, cuts, bruises or perhaps something more serious. We prepare our mind & body for the worst of outcomes through conditioning and repitition, perfecting a jump.

The reason I bring attention to this is because a while ago I seriously injured my left knee on a running cat leap and have had to change my approach to training completely. People often ask me how can I still train if I can't jump and in this article I'll give you some ideas on how to continue progression while injured.

The biggest key of all is to stay happy and enjoy what you're doing.

Injury isn't the end of training. There are many aspects to consider while training in general, so when an injury comes along focus should be moved onto the areas it doesnt effect. A very simple example is if you sprain you left wrist doing a vault you can try a vault that only requires use of your good hand. In a broader sense this approach to training with an injury will allow you to continue progression even if there is a lengthy recovery period.

The first thing I do when injured is list every thing I'm capable of doing without slowing down recovery. This may range from basic movement to physical and mental training. Rather than seeing it as a step back see it as a chance to work on your weaknesses for example if your lower body is injured focus on muscle ups or rail balance at height outside your comfort zone to challenge you mentally, if your upper body is injured focus on perfecting your touch and strength. Your outlook on training should always be positive and you should leave each session feeling you've achieved atleast one thing and forget you even have an injury. With this mind set in no time recovery will fly by.

The last thing I'll touch on is the mental approach to training. One thing I've learnt from sustaining a lengthy injury is that your mind still develops and sees new jumps that you didn't realise previsously, even when you're injured. Your mind will still progress even if your body needs to catch up meaning you will still have constant progression. If you experience this, keep the jump in mind and visualise your self performing it perfectly over and over. With the right attitude when you come back to the jump 100% it should be vastly easier to do.

The biggest key of all is to stay happy and enjoy what you're doing. Look at the bigger picture. In terms of how long you will be practicing parkour in your life and the amount of time the injury will encompass. In comparison this will be a very short amount of this time and is an another experience to learn from.

#29Fire

2009-04-05T09:00:00.004+01:00

For the 20^th to the 22^nd of March’s week end, Annty, Andy, Sebastien, Chris, Blane, James and I were invited to an European seminar in Rome. First of all I would like to thank Gise for inviting us and for all the people who made this event happen...

We were asked to run a 2 hours’ workshop between free jams. About 100 practitioners attended to the event so we split them into groups regarding their experience.

I ended up in taking care of the advanced guys with Sebastien and Blane. And the thing that hit me the most was the energy most of them had. We call it the Fire, when you burn your energy, you just fly around, you don’t care about tiredness and pains, you just enjoy so much moving that you don’t care about anything else and you can’t stand still !

The thing is that with these guys, some of them don’t understand why we make them do a lot of conditioning. They don’t feel they need it right now because they feel good, just by moving everywhere. What I use to say is that I don’t see the point of teaching them more techniques because they already know it I prefer offering them something they don’t know about, and it may be hard for them to understand because them won’t need it right away...

What I want to say is that if you have this kind of Fire with you, enjoy it as much as you can ! This energy will make you improve a lot, your confidence will be at its top level and you will feel very good... This fire will also save you from most of the pains and injury because you have this incredible joy to move !

When I meet people like that I just want to give them some tools for the next step: One day this fire will go and then you will have to practise with something else, another motivation, another method etc... I don’t show them conditioning drills to piss them off, I just believe that it might be helpful the day their way of practising changes and the original fire is gone. The conditioning will build up a body armor and if you want to last in the discipline it will protect you from pains and injuries...

Peace

#28LA MACHINE DE FORCE

2009-04-03T09:27:00.001+01:00

(Original Picture here)

Cela fait maintenant 4 mois et 1 semaine que je me suis fait opéré du genou. Aujourd’hui nous sommes le mardi 17 mars 2009 et comme toujours, mon rendez-vous chez le kiné s’est bien passé.

Après 5 minutes de vélo pour m’ échauffer, elle m’a demandé de m’installer sur cette chaise: La Machine de Force. Elle mesure la force qu’un individu développe au niveau du quadriceps et de l’ischio-jambier dans la flexion et l’extension. 1 mois auparavant, j’avais déjà fait le test pour comparer la différence entre mes deux jambes. J’avais réussi á l’impressioner par mes résultats. “ce matin, cela devrait être une parti de plaisir, plus facile” je me disait, et bien que je me soit imposé une longue et épuisante séance de marches la veille, je me sentais frais. Elle me dit:”Aujourd’hui, tu le feras que de jambe gauche mais j’aimerais que tu fasses 6 séries cette fois.”

C’est parti, je souffle, je pousse, je me cramponne et j’enchaine les séries sans vraiment transpirer, je me sens bien. Voila, c’est fini! Elle s’approche avec les résultats et me dit:”on peut voir une légère amélioration avec le précédent test, vos résultats sont bons voir même excellents et vous êtes largement au dessus de la moyenne. Mais parce que vous tes beaucoup plus fort que cette moyenne, je dois avouer que je m’attendais qu’ils soient meilleurs.” Pour etre honnête, j’ étais moi aussi un peu déçu, j’avais l’impression d’ être nettement plus fort que la dernière fois. La machine ne trompe pas...

“Dans 2 mois on remet ça”, me dit elle en souriant. Je lui réponds gentiment:” á dans 2 mois en meilleure forme.” Avec un léger sourir, j’ écris la date sur cette carte de visite de mon prochain rendez vous. Je rentre dans l’acsenceur, je mets mes écouteurs, je sélectionne ma musique et des que la porte s’ouvre , je commence á courir pour aller á la maison et je me dit:”dur, dur mais accroche toi, c’est Presque fini.” Eh oui! A nouveau je me sens bien et prèt á l’action...

#27Spring Mournings

2009-04-01T00:00:00.011+01:00

So it seems that Winter may finally be behind us, and Spring touches body and mind to bring that perennial renewal on so many levels. And for most of us the passing of the cold seasons is a thing to be celebrated, as training becomes easier again and we find it a real pleasure to be out in the sun all day, under blue skies, with colleagues and friends to share the hardships of the discipline with.

But perhaps we should, in at least some small way, mourn the end of those icy morning runs and chill evening sessions? Isn't it then, when all those conditions are urging you to head for home and give up the day, that you can really dig deep and master the self? That's a ready-made challenge right there, a daily test provided free of charge by the elements themselves. Should we be happy that has been taken away for another 6 months?

Of course, every season has its benefits and drawbacks, and certainly training in warm sunshine and dry conditions seems so very easy after having to manage the weather factor for so long, and one should enjoy that. Who wouldn't?! However, parkour is a discipline of self-improvement on all levels, a constant yardstick by which to measure oneself against - and that is never more easily done than when adversity stands squarely in front of you. It is said one should be thankful for the strength of one's enemies, and I have always liked to see the driving rain and wind of Winter in this way. The hard yards of training are made in such conditions, and it is those hard yards that lead us to being fully capable and confident when the conditions swing in our favour again.

The seasons turn, and it is now time (we hope!) to enjoy the favourable months. But spare a thought for that old sparring partner called Winter - I, for one, am already looking forward to the next round come the end of the year...

#2610 New Things about the blog.

2009-03-15T17:33:00.026Z

Hey everyone. I'd like to introduce you to our new and improved Parkour Generations Blog. It has lots of new features and an awesome new layout that will allow you to keep track of what the entire team is going to be up to. We wanted to bring you a deeper and more personal experience of what the team is up to day-to-day starting from April, so that you may get an insight into how we think, feel and train. So you don't miss any of the new bits-and-bobs, I'd like to do a quick rundown the top ten new features for you to check out.

1. New Design & Layout.

As you can see, the entire blog has had a total make-over with new graphics and gadgets. You might have noticed the new background at the bottom of the page, right? The blog is time-sensitive, so be sure to check back after 7pm for a little change to the night-time design...

2. Numbered posts.

All the posts are now numbered and catalogued so you know instantly if you've missed a post or not.

3. Calendar.

The big calendar in the sidebar will show you what the current date is, just so you can keep track of who is posting that particular day.

4. The Team.

Ah! So now you can see the entire team is now involved with the blog. Each member has been allocated a specific day of the month, so you'll get a regular post to read every other day!

5. Social Networking.

With the internet improving communications all the time, we feel it is essential to keep up-to-date with these technologies. You are now able to join, submit and promote a post we have written on a number of popular social networking sites, including Digg.com, Delicious.com and facebook.com.

6. Twitter.

One of the more popular social sites that you can join is Twitter.com. You can now add our twitter profile to your account and follow the Parkour Generations news on mini-updates that can also be sent to your mobile phone.

7. Blog Emails or RSS Feed.

The blog is also connected through feedburner.com which will allow you to subscribe and read the blog through your own personal RSS reader. Additionally you can subscribe to email updates to recieve a message every time a new post has been written.

8. Labels.

Just to be a little organised, each post is now given relevant labels that you are able to search through.

9. Comments.

Got something to say on the topic that the author has written about? Why not leave a comment at the bottom of the post...

10. Polls / Questionnaires.

We are always interested to hear back from our readers, so we will occasionally host polls and questionaires for you the community to respond back to.

#25Buildering.

2009-03-04T20:30:00.029Z

A few weeks ago I hooked up with John Bourne for our first session of buildering in far too long. London is a curious place when it comes to buildering for a few reasons: hardly anyone does it, which is strange given the popularity and growth of parkour; there's a large number of climbers who live and train in the capital; and there's a distinct absence of rocks to climb. The nearest option is the "southern sandstone", a series of very porous crags down in Kent that take 3 days to dry after a gentle shower where the routes are getting steadily tougher as the soft rock gradually wears away.

As with Parkour, buildering in London is often more accessible, draws less attention, and often reveals some interesting architecture when you head out of the city centre and into the housing estates. Parts of residential London are incredibly densely packed, and John is proving a dab hand at stumbling upon some real nuggets. He'd discovered an estate in the south of the capital whilst out on one of his nocturnal running missions and suggested that we head there to see what else we could find.

On his jogging reccy visit, John had spotted a disused, elevated playground. These are another curious feature of London's housing estates - random communal play areas scattered amongst post war edifices that have fallen into disrepair. Like many others, this one had become the domain of taggers, smack addicts and glue sniffers, and as a result, it was no longer accessible. A rusty gate and a wall topped with swiveling spikes meant that we had to clamber over a ten foot pronged railing, but it was well worth the effort.

As you will notice, the wonderful red brick of the buildings isn't coped as fully as modern walls, giving plenty of opportunity for some very fingery problems. As we discovered later on, the estate is actually listed, meaning that it is protected due to its status within the architectural and cultural history of the area. We had just started to wander up the road to another housing estate when we spotted two low buildings with an alley running in between. It was begging to be chimneyed - not a tricky ascent but quite satisfying, especially given the height.

"She assured us that she didn't mind in the slightest but asked us, half-jokingly, if we would mind removing the rubbish that had collected on the flat roof."

As John joined me on the roof, a resident leant over her balcony and asked us what we were doing. Initially we figured we'd upset her - we were climbing right next to her flat and at a glance, it could easily be regarded as suspicious, potentially damaging, and reckless. I immediately apologised and told her that we would be moving on very shortly. She assured us that she didn't mind in the slightest but asked us, half-jokingly, if we would mind removing the rubbish that had collected on the flat roof. We happily obliged and she passed down some carrier bags into which we placed a shoe, some syringe needles, various cans and bottles and a coat hanger. We're such nice young men.

Our final stop of the day was about a mile up the road: a small housing estate with a concrete communal area, dotted with flowerbeds and a low building that offered a nice wall-run to muscle up - a nice combination of parkour and climbing. Not the most visually striking, but I grabbed a quick shot of John as it's a movement that he really enjoys doing.

A great day's climbing, and my thanks to John for showing me the new spot. I'm hoping to return the favour in the next couple of weeks, and I'll be sure to take my camera along again.

#24The Law of Averages.

2009-01-29T13:41:00.021Z

300 level cat-pass precisions. That'll do! It sounded like a fair challenge for later that day. It had been a while since I'd focused on this technique so I felt I should pay it a little more attention tonight.

Throughout the day, the thought of the upcoming training session often crossed my mind but my attention was more often found wandering to what someone had said to me earlier in the week, as I had landed a precision. "You're going to fall and hurt yourself one of these days!" she had said with a smile, and I couldn't help wondering... was she right? Was I a victim to a law of averages that stated some day, somewhere, I was going to mess up a basic technique and seriously hurt myself? Was this an inevitability that was beyond my control? It wasn't a pleasant thought.

It's often told that the most dangerous moments in your training occur whilst you are executing the simplest of techniques and just not paying enough attention. I've rarely heard of anyone being badly injured or missing a big jump where they were fully focused and concentrating, so what could I do to prove to myself that I was not a victim? That I was in fact in control of this situation? The answer came quickly, tonight I would not miss!

So 300, became 300 in a row. If I missed the landing wall, if I overshot, undershot, missed with my hands or if both feet did not land on the second wall and remain there, I would start again from the beginning. Call it quality control or madness - it was probably a bit of both.

When I arrived at the spot where I planned to begin this experiment, I wasn't too happy to find the walls were soaked. Wet, dark and slippery with moss sprouting from between the cracks, the sharp-edged walls greeted me with a slick shine and were menacing to the touch. Great.

30 minutes later, after loosening off and warming up, an inner pressure I couldn't quite locate began to grow inside of me with each successful repetition. 3 became 20, 20 became 50, and the thought of having to start all over again began to haunt me, making each repetition a little more daunting than the last.
The only way to counter this building distraction was to force myself to treat each jump as if it was the first of the evening.
I would focus my full attention on connecting with the first wall cleanly, push just enough and land on the second, and remain there. For a while I felt things were going well, but as my confidence grew, so did my chances of complacency.

If there was indeed some unwritten law of averages, then how many times should I fall in 300 attempts at this, given wet and dark conditions?

Two hours had passed as I reached the half-way point. It was 9:30pm and I had managed 150 level cat-pass precisions and my forearms felt like lead. I hadn't even considered the physical toll this challenge would take. Shaking them off, I thought about the technique and realised it was like being in the pushup position and rocking on to your fingers with enough force to leave the ground temporarily, over and over again. I was tired, I was sore and I knew that although I might be able to reach the elusive 300, it would be a royal pain in the backside to have to start again any time soon.

Ten minutes later I restarted the process and the 151st repetition loomed. I wasn't sure how much I had recovered during the brief rest and the technique itself seemed suddenly unfamiliar in my head. Stop over thinking, this is just another simple technique.

I. can. not. miss. now.

200 reps. At this rate I should be finished by 11pm... 3 and a half hours after I started. If I miss now then I may well be watching the sunrise over my shoulder later today. I managed a quick smile as I thought that might dry the walls a little, if nothing else.

280 reps. My brain had switched off. There was no longer any pressure. The process was automatic and although my forearms begged for relief from the constant punishment, I had fallen in to a rhythm. I would pass over the first wall, land on the second, turn around, hop back, drop down to the floor and line myself up for another, repeating the phrase, "Stay straight, medium power." in my head each time. That had become my curse, it had started twenty minutes earlier and I couldn't stop now, what if that was my lucky charm, my key to finishing this?

I honestly don't know if I would have started again had I missed then. Physically, I don't think I could have managed another 300. I'd learned my lesson already though...

There is no law that states one day we will miss. With enough concentration, enough focus, due care and attention, we can repeat a simple technique hundreds of times, for hours and not make a mistake. Accidents do happen and some things are beyond our control but we can greatly reduce our chances of messing up if we treat each and every movement as something important, something to be careful with.

I didn't do 300 level cat-pass precisions in the end.

The 301st was for the nice lady who had inspired my evening's activities.

-Blane