tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-370581602024-03-19T04:06:55.042+00:00Power Is Nothing Without ControlChris 'Blane' Rowathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13050917713159548998noreply@blogger.comBlogger56125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37058160.post-80979862076772040062013-12-19T20:54:00.000+00:002014-01-11T04:17:50.499+00:0050 Ways To Be and To Last in Parkour | Part 2 - Training The Mind<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b style="background-color: #141414; color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.39px;"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">(click the link to read this article in <a href="http://togethoughts.blogspot.gr/2014/01/50-parkour-2.html" target="_blank">Greek</a> or <a href="http://www.parkourgenerations.com/article/50-sposob%C3%B3w-na-by%C4%87-i-trwa%C4%87-w-parkour#two" target="_blank">Polish</a>)</span></i></b><br />
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In part two of this five part series I'm going to cover what I believe to be some of the more important aspects when it comes to training the mind to be strong for this practice. These topics are not in order of importance but just aim to provide some solid advice for developing and maintaining an effective mindset for training and improving in Parkour. Let's be clear, developing a strong mind is even harder than developing a strong body so it won't happen overnight. Parkour is not easy in any way, shape or form. It'll test you and often push you in ways you won't enjoy. You will get hurt now and again. Every time you train it'll expose and highlight your weaknesses, both physical and psychological, and give you a brutally honest answer if you ask, "<i>So what can I do today..?</i>".</div>
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To read an introduction to this article series and catch up with part 1, which covers training the body, you can click <a href="http://blane-parkour.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/50-ways-to-be-and-to-last-in-parkour_11.html" target="_blank">here</a>.</div>
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<b><u>14) The Art of War</u></b></div>
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Everyone is different but the way I look at it, when you strip all of the outer layers away Parkour at its core is about <i>physically</i> confronting challenges and obstacles and almost using movement as a type of weapon in this confrontation. In every conflict, to some extent one side will either win or lose and this is also the case in Parkour. When you are facing an inferior opponent then you have a greater chance of succeeding but you still need to be focused and calculating in your approach.. and the closer your opponent is to matching your skill, the more chance they have of defeating you. Of course, if you choose to face an opponent that outmatches you then you'd better have a damn good reason for it because you will probably lose.</div>
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To me, the jumps are the same in many ways. Even the easy ones require your attention and focus or they could kick your ass.. and even the easy ones have something to teach you. As you face more difficult jumps that are closer to your potential, you have to pay more attention and rely on your previous experience to figure out the best way to approach them. You need to be confident in yourself but at the same time do not underestimate them.</div>
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And when it comes to superior opponents.. facing jumps that are beyond your current ability is a recipe for disaster and you risk injury or worse. These opponents, or obstacles, should only be confronted as a last resort.</div>
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"<i>If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle</i>." - <b>Sun Tzu, The Art of War.</b></div>
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<b><u>15) Accept that sometimes the obstacles will win.</u></b></div>
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You will face jumps that are well within your ability that you just cannot seem to crack today and this is a true test of your humility and patience. In these situations you are generally faced with accepting one of two choices. You can either walk away and come back another day, or you can remain and chip away at the problem in the hope of cracking it. Sometimes you will, sometimes you won't.</div>
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When you first notice a scary jump there is usually a very brief window of opportunity, during which there is a positive internal dialogue going on in your head. This could last anywhere between a few seconds to minutes. You'll be comparing it to previous jumps, reassuring yourself of your ability, testing the landing area and the take-off point, you may rehearse the run up and the approach a few times.. but ultimately this window of opportunity will gradually begin to close as the doubts creep in. The longer you stay, the more likely you are to invite fear, anger and doubt in to the equation and the scarier the jump will become. You will begin to over-think the problem and dwell on the negative possibilities and it takes a certain type of person to break through that, to remain positive and pry open that window of opportunity again. My partner described this better than anyone I've known to date when she told me that in this situation, she feels like she's far out at sea and trying to get back to the shore. Occasionally a wave comes that promises to take her back if only she has the confidence to stand up on the board and ride it home.. but if she misses the opportunity then it can be a long wait until the next wave comes.</div>
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I've faced countless jumps like this and I know first hand the feeling of staying and succeeding.. and the feeling of walking away. If you wait too long then there's not often a happy ending to be found in either. Walking away might leave you feeling frustrated and disappointed, but succeeding after so long and finding that the jump was simple and easy can actually leave you feeling worse, as you realise you just wasted an hour and a half and should have just jumped when the first wave came. There is often no joy to be found in breaking a jump after so long.. it's like you spent all that time fighting for something you believe in only to be told your princess is in another castle..</div>
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If it's a jump I know I can do and I feel strong then generally I'll ride the wave back home sooner or later.. but sometimes I'll walk away thankful I wasn't dashed on the rocks today.</div>
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With experience I've learned to recognise a jump that won't happen and rather than seeing this as a negative thing I've tried to treat this a bit like playing a game with an old friend. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, but the real pleasure is in playing the game and there's always another wave to catch next week.</div>
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<b><u>16) The Power of Now</u></b></div>
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Right, gloves off.. let's drop the sissy talk about disappointment and emotions and get back in the fight.</div>
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I believe there are many advantages to slaying a dragon right here and now.. before it grows and becomes a different beast entirely. It's crucially important that as a strong human being you have the ability to rise to the occasion when you decide to. Life won't always wait for a good time before throwing the shit at the fan so you need to learn to, no.. train to ignite that spark and light that fire at a moment's notice. If this is something you never do in your training then it's going to be that much harder to draw upon the courage to in a situation that calls for it. But if you're familiar with the feeling of pushing back when you're pushed.. and if you're familiar with smashing through that window of opportunity and putting all of the bullshit in your head aside and if you manage to just TRY the jump with all of your heart, then you have broken that jump and slayed that dragon, regardless of what happens on the other side. For breaking a jump is different from making a jump. If you know you truly gave it your all and didn't hold back with a single fibre of your being then win or lose, crash or conquer you broke it and won the mental battle, if not the physical one.</div>
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You will learn more from doing a jump now, today, at this moment than you will by coming back when you're 'ready' and when it feels easy. Sure, you could find a scary challenge, go away for a few weeks and train similar jumps, go inside to your nice warm, dry gym and replicate it with a mat and finally come back and do it without a pause but you will have bypassed a vitally important part of the process, if not the most important part of Parkour, and that is to face challenges head on and choose the more difficult path when one is presented. Step out of your comfort zone, rise to the challenge and dig deep. Get angry if you need to, find a reason, a purpose and a driving force that will make you do the jump. The time is now damnit.</div>
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Hate the idea of not trying it more than you fear the consequences of not making it and you will find a way to break the jump.</div>
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<b><u>17) Do something that scares you every time you train </u></b></div>
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It doesn't have to be terrifying but do something that makes you uncomfortable every time you go out to train. This regular exposure to fear will drip feed it in to your system and almost build an immunity to its sharper edges. You'll learn to process and manage this fear more easily, creating habits and processes for going through the next scary experience, in life or in Parkour.</div>
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The ability to deal with fear is a technique that can be trained and improved just like any other technique, and just like any other technique in Parkour it must be trained regularly if you hope to maintain and improve it. </div>
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<b><u>18) Breaking jumps</u></b></div>
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This is worth talking about in some detail even if the actual mental process will be different for everyone. I've seen people approach scary jumps in many ways and have varying degrees of success. All that is certain is that there is no foolproof method for overcoming the fear felt when facing a new jump. What works for me might not work for you.. but I can give you a few examples and things to consider that might help.</div>
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The phrase 'breaking a jump' comes from a French term and it simply means to break through that barrier of fear and apprehension that can form in the moments before trying something scary. With practice, it can become easier to break jumps but it's a very complicated process that can actually become harder during certain periods of your training. The problem is that the more experience you have in Parkour, the more you understand how a jump can go wrong and how much even a minor injury can set you back. The more you gain in terms of ability, the more you have to lose if it all goes wrong. In the beginning this is not something you think about because you have no such experience to relate to which is why beginners often have an easier time just jumping at something and trying it. Ignorance is bliss...</div>
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The first thing you need to decide is whether you're a person who needs to be calm to break a jump or someone who needs to be pumped up. I'm a bit of a middle-man in this field but like many others I prefer a brief moment of complete calm right before the jump, where all of the doubts float away and I flick the switch to <b>GO</b>.</div>
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However you prefer to approach breaking a jump it's important than when you do flick the switch, you go all out and don't hold back. If for example it's a running jump then you need to decide to go before you even take the first step. Practice the run up as much as you like but don't run at it and then try to decide towards the end of the wall. Confidence and predictability minimise risk. Hesitation and unpredictability breed danger. When you run off the end of the wall and jump halfheartedly then there is so much more that can go wrong. The situation is unpredictable because you don't know how much you've pushed and need to deal with things on the fly, very quickly. But when you push with everything you have then even if you don't make it, you still know how far you can jump so you know roughly where you will land, and you will spend more time in the air, giving you precious time to process the situation and react to the landing.</div>
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For the vast majority of problems in Parkour and in life, if you know you can make it and go all out then you'll be fine.</div>
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Some people listen to the background noises. Others sing to themselves. Many pace up and down breathing hard and a few spin in circles so they can see the jump with a fresh perspective every few seconds. I'm one of the people who counts down in their head and if I get to 1 and everything still feels good, I go all out and push for it. This countdown process only begins after everything else has been considered and processed. At that time I've already checked out the take-off and landing areas, I've made a brief plan of what to do if I overshoot or undershoot and I've worked out my steps for the approach. If it's a really scary jump but I want to do it then often I've visualised a situation in which I <i>have</i> to do the jump. I convince myself that staying where I am is more risky than trying the jump and failing it. This is not natural, takes practice and hell, I wouldn't even recommend it as it's a bit extreme.. but it works for me.</div>
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Breaking jumps is a test of willpower, of self-control and self-knowledge but there is a big difference in someone who is careful and calculating and someone reckless. The actual jump might look the same but the difference is again in the details. The intention and motivation behind their choice to do it can be completely different.</div>
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Watching other people facing jumps that are close to their potential is an incredible experience. You can only appreciate it fully when the person and the jump are equally matched at that time and it's the next best thing to doing it yourself. At that exact moment you are looking at a person stripped of all of their pretension and all of their ego. They can no longer hide behind their words or false claims.. it is a time for action. Regardless of how many of their friends are with them, they are completely alone. Nobody else can do the jump for them and they know it. Time seems to stand still or ceases to exist completely, background noises fade out and all of their attention is on one tiny little point of the Earth. There is an invisible but undeniable energy in the air, a high-frequency vibration you can't quite hear and a tension that could be cut with a knife. Like a freight train that wave is coming and you wonder if they'll have the courage to stand up and go with this one. If they do then just before it hits, something special happens. A half-second of absolute still and calm. You can see when they've accepted it, when they've flicked the switch and when they're going. They're now a victim to the experience. It's over in the blink of an eye and with the landing the background noises come rushing back, and the laughter, the cheers and the long sighs or relief replace the palpable silence. The fear is instantly replaced with joy and elation.. and it is that feeling right there that makes Parkour so addictive.</div>
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However you approach the process, aim to make your method more efficient over time. Find something that works for you and stick with it, training it with repetition just like any other technique. Learn to trust your method and refine it over time. Overall, your goal should be to minimise the amount of time that passes between you finding a jump you want to do, and you doing it.. and this is only possible from hours of deliberate practice.</div>
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<b><u>19) Don't watch too many videos</u></b></div>
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YouTube has done a lot of good things for Parkour but it's a double-edged sword. Whilst it has allowed the practice to spread far and wide in a relatively short period of time and introduced Parkour to a massive audience, it has also managed to do so in a way that I don't believe best represents what it is I do. More than 90% of the Parkour videos I've seen on YouTube are terrible examples of the practice I know and love. You need to dig through a pile of crap to find the occasional gem and if you go by view count or popularity, you have no hope.</div>
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The truth is that the vast majority of the people I know who live and train Parkour with the same spirit and motivations as myself don't make videos every week. If they do at all then it'll be now and again when they think they have something worthwhile and meaningful to share. They release that video because they believe it could be of benefit to someone else and because it transmits a message to other like minded people.. not because they want the world to see their latest showreel that they spent more time editing than they did moving on the day they filmed it.</div>
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So if someone recommends a video to you or you have some free time then sure, go burn an hour on YouTube and get some ideas and inspiration or check out how the guys train in another country, but if the internet is filled with videos of people moving in a way that you don't, remember that you are definitely not alone and the reason you don't see many videos that represent the way you train is because the other guys who could make them are too busy training.</div>
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Decide what and how you want to train today and don't be concerned with the trends in the community. I've seen them go from rail precisions, to kong precisions and double kongs, to Justin Bieber haircuts with baggy pants and skinny t-shirts, to skinny jeans and baggy t-shirts then back to focus on some actual movements that were primarily 180 cat leaps. All of that shit is just surface turmoil but underneath the things that matter never change. Choose your own values and decide what movements you want to get better at.. and then train the hell out of them.</div>
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<b><u>20) Read</u></b></div>
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Read books and articles from reliable sources. Find out how your body works and grows. Ask questions and find answers. Read books that stir the mind as well as books that will teach you how to eat for performance and recovery. Read books on how to stretch, mobilise, move and train so that you can maintain and upgrade the most complex and important machine you will ever own. Learn why most sports-related injuries can be avoided and how chronic pain can be alleviated by making a few simple changes to your daily habits and routine.</div>
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If I had to pick just a few titles that have been most useful for me in the past few years then I'd probably recommend:</div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Starting-Strength-3rd-Mark-Rippetoe/dp/0982522738" target="_blank">Starting Strength</a> by Mark Rippetoe</div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Movement-Functional-Assessment-Corrective-Strategies/dp/1931046727" target="_blank">Movement </a>by Gray Cook</div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Supple-Leopard-Preventing-Performance/dp/1936608588/" target="_blank">Becoming a Supple Leopard</a> by Kelly Starrett</div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Hagakure-Book-Samurai-Yamamoto-Tsunetomo/dp/1590309855/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1387143832&sr=1-1&keywords=hagakure" target="_blank">Hagakure</a> by Yamamoto Tsunetomo (Author) and William Scott Wilson (Translator)</div>
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..and anything by Jim Wendler.</div>
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<b><u>21) Train on your own</u></b></div>
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There are advantages to training in small groups that I will discuss in Part 3 but when it comes to training the mind there is no better way to improve certain elements than by training alone. Even the humblest of souls harbour an ego that is only present when in the company of others. It's the reason you stand slightly differently when someone walks in to the room and change the way you're speaking depending on who you are addressing. It's the cause of your defensiveness when someone questions your actions, even if they have the best intentions in mind as your friend. It's the reason for your excuses when you don't want to admit to just being too scared to do a jump and what brings you to say "<i>I could do that easily if I didn't have this injury</i>".</div>
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But when we remove the external influences from the equation you are left with just you, with all of your weaknesses and flaws up on the surface again. We can be honest for once and relax a part of us. Our mindset is different and our way of thinking, moving and training changes. We no longer consider someone else's opinion on that landing or worry about hesitating over a jump and how that might seem to someone else. It's liberating! And it's also a bit scarier in some ways. Without your friend to support or encourage you and without the pressure of someone watching you, suddenly your motivations become entirely internal. No longer are you doing it partly because your friends expect you to be able to.. no, the only reason to do something now is because you want to, because you choose to, for you. Nobody will know if you do or don't so making the decision to do something scary at that moment is fueled solely by your self-will and internal drive. It is selfish but in the best possible way.</div>
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Perhaps you're reading this now and thinking I'm an egotistical asshole but I'm trying to point out that this is something that we all have inside of us, to some extent. Some more than others. We all know the guy with the ridiculous ego who just can't stop talking about himself and his accomplishments but even the quietest, most down to earth person has a tiny piece of the same thing inside of them. I actually think that when kept in check this is a good thing and a normal part of being human. It's courteous and polite to reign in your bad habits and be a little more thoughtful in the presence of others.. but please, go wild on your own sometimes and experience intense, scary situations alone. You won't regret it.</div>
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<u><b>22) Accept that your family and friends just won't get it</b></u></div>
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I'm sorry, but they just won't understand Parkour unless they try it for themselves for a significant period of time. You can talk about it all you like and describe it in the most fine detail but they will never truly understand the point of it and the psychological changes that occur over time through training unless they try it. They'll think they get it and you might even begin to believe they get it.. but Parkour needs to be lived to be understood. Accept that everyone is different and as much as you want all of your family to know why you do this 'crazy shit', sometimes ignorance really is bliss.</div>
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Good friends are made quickly in Parkour because you see people for who they really are. In a single day of training you might see the same person laugh, cry and bleed. You'll see them scared, determined, courageous, selfish and selfless, happy and sad. Because you're spending time with people in a high stress environment and sharing rich experiences together, bonds are made strong and fast with people you like. Seeing people for who they really are in training is a shortcut to getting to know them that might take months or years if you only see that person in day to day life at work or school. In fact, before you marry someone you would do well to put them in front of a scary jump if you want to see who they really are. They might not do it but their humility, honesty and assessment of the situation will reveal a lot about them.</div>
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<b><u>23) Now and again do something crazy</u></b></div>
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I'm no stranger to ridiculous physical challenges and I don't think you should be either. These make no sense as far as linear, progressive training goes and shouldn't be done every week, or even every month. It's important to understand that they're more for the mind than the body. Title fights make no sense in terms of linear, progressive training for boxing since you spend over an hour getting punched in the face by a steam train.. but they set the stage for a chance to give everything you have and test whether or not that's good enough on that day. Win or lose, pass or fail, you leave the experience knowing yourself, your capabilities and your limits more than ever before.</div>
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Once in a while step out of your comfort zone and see just how far you can push it, just how long you can hold on for before your body quits. To know what you are capable of you need to go further than you have before and further than what is reasonable, or recommended. You need to go to the place where your body says stop.. then keep going just a little further.</div>
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A strong body is vulnerable without a strong mind to control it and the experience, confidence and self-knowledge you will gain from these challenges will help you to become a stronger person.</div>
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So whether it's 3 hours of quadrupedie, 1,000 muscle ups, a mile of rail balance, 500 jumps in a row, running to the next city and back before it gets dark, carrying your friend to their house a few miles away, climbing a mountain in the dark or whatever you dream of.. choose something difficult, but something that you only <i>might</i> be able to achieve.. for a challenge is not a challenge if you know you can do it. Aim high and let doubt creep in to the equation. Now you have to fight for it.</div>
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<b><u>24) Empty your cup..</u></b></div>
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..and fill it with 80's action movies and their <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwPb7g_BlXQ" target="_blank">soundtracks</a>.</div>
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Chris 'Blane' Rowathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13050917713159548998noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37058160.post-82882702698226785392013-12-11T02:58:00.005+00:002014-01-11T04:16:59.410+00:0050 Ways To Be and To Last in Parkour | Part 1 - Training The Body<b><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">(click the links to read this article in <span id="goog_740464103"></span><span id="goog_740464104"></span><a href="http://umparkour.com/web/50-formas-para-ser-y-durar-en-el-parkour-parte-1-entrenando-el-cuerpo/" target="_blank">Spanish</a>, <a href="http://togethoughts.blogspot.gr/2013/12/50-ways-to-be-and-to-last-in-parkour.html" target="_blank">Greek</a> or <a href="http://www.parkourgenerations.com/article/50-sposob%C3%B3w-na-by%C4%87-i-trwa%C4%87-w-parkour#one" target="_blank">Polish</a>)</span></i></b><br />
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<i><b>To be and to last</b></i> is one of the more iconic phrases that you might have heard thrown around in traditional Parkour circles, but what does it actually mean? It depends on who you ask but most people will agree on the basic principles behind it. As I've come to understand it, it suggests that a person should train their body and their mind to be able and ready for anything, and train in such a way that will allow them to be able and ready for anything, for as long as possible.</div>
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It suggests that a person should aim to be strong, but not just in a physical sense. They should aim to be resilient, free thinking, confident and yet remain humble. They should learn to be self-sufficient and useful to their loved ones and they should be aiming to always progress in some way.</div>
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To last? That old lesson about the brightest flame burning the quickest is particularly true in Parkour. What use is a person who lasts five years and has to stop training due to bad knees and a broken ankle? How useful is a body that can't move pain free due to years of neglect and abuse? The journey of Parkour was never meant to be a brilliant flash of spectacle and show, it was always intended to be a lifelong pursuit of improvement and one that doesn't need to end once the body begins to show signs of age. No, not whilst the mind is still young. Not if the soul still seeks adventure, and challenge and play. One day you might not be able to make the same jumps you could as a kid but you'll be strong and confident enough to spot your granddaughter when she tries her first cat leap and asks for your help, right? You'll still have exceptional balance, judgement and knowledge, and be able to pull yourself over a high wall if you need to. You'll still be active and mobile enough to be self-sufficient and useful to yourself and your family and friends. That is what Parkour is really about, the jumps are just a part of this training. It's really about knowing what you can do with what you have and having the guts to do it when the situation calls for it. And that can be practiced until the day we die. Hell, my goal is still to be the old guy sitting at the table who is the only one that can open that stubborn jar of pickles...</div>
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My journey in Parkour began in September of 2003. Before this time, the number of new practitioners taking up the discipline each week could probably be counted on one hand and it wasn't until Jump London aired on Channel 4 in the UK that the period of great growth really began. Jump Britain, the sequel to Jump London that followed, caused another, bigger surge of interest that found hundreds, then thousands of people begin searching the Internet for more information about Parkour. There wasn't much information available at that time but times have changed. There are hundreds of good tutorials, articles and coaches making an effort to ensure that good content is out there to be found by those willing to dig for it. </div>
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Now the rate of growth is hard to keep up with. Every Hollywood action blockbuster has to have a fancy foot chase across the rooftops before or after the car chase, and the terms <i>Parkour</i> and <i>Freerunning</i> are familiar to what is fast becoming the majority of the Western world and far beyond.</div>
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So with all this I'm not concerned about the discipline's growth any more. I've met enough good coaches and practitioners around the world to know that Parkour is in good hands and even if the media shines a light only on its spectacular side, people are smart enough to dig a little deeper and find out what it's really about if they are serious. I trust that newcomers will find the communities in their countries and be able to make an educated decision as to who is trustworthy, who the humble, quiet majority are, and who is a fake. Those who venture beyond the thin veils of YouTube, Red Bull(shit) competitions, newspaper articles and adverts on TV will find a wealth of fine, reliable information and decent people who can show them the way. Almost any media exposure Parkour has is helping people to find the tip of the iceberg but the great mass of content and worth lies under the surface for beginners to feast on if they wish to venture there. </div>
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It is my hope that this 5 part article series might be counted amongst the wealth of useful content already available to people who dive below the surface looking for more.</div>
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What will follow is more than 50 of the most useful pieces of advice I can hope to give to Parkour practitioners, of all abilities, for them to be and to last in this discipline. This is a collection of thoughts, experiences, and opinions both personal and as the result of conversations and time spent with many grizzled veterans in the trenches, both foreign and domestic, over the last decade. It will be released on a weekly basis to make it more easily digestible. So let's get down to business...</div>
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<b>Part 1: Training the Body</b></div>
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A big part of <i>being</i> and <i>lasting</i> is to do with how you train and hone your body and its physical capacities. The following points cover the major topics that I wish I had known more about when I first started training.</div>
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<b><u>1) Prioritise high quality movement</u></b> </div>
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It helps to remind yourself regularly that Parkour is about <b>movement</b>, not individual techniques. And whilst a well rounded strength and conditioning programme will help you to progress and protect your body from injuries, the whole point of becoming strong and protecting your body is so that you have a functional and capable machine to explore the environment with and use as you wish.</div>
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Seeking perfection in your locomotion and training to achieve an exceptional quality and standard in your movements, regardless of what they are, should always be a priority for the Parkour practitioner. It will take thousands of deliberate and precise repetitions to master even the simplest of movements but the more time you spend reinforcing the basic techniques, the greater your confidence and overall movement vocabulary will become.</div>
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Remember that Parkour movements themselves are excellent physical exercises. When the bio-mechanics of any movement are correct, the movement itself will strengthen the body and cause minimal damage. You use your entire body to travel over terrain and you can't beat actual movement when it comes to stressing the body in exactly the way you want it to adapt and improve for Parkour. High quality, regular movement training combined with a solid strength training plan will take you a long, long way.</div>
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<b><u>2) The pursuit of strength</u></b></div>
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Whether you're a beginner or have been in the trenches for years, your primary goal as far as physical training goes should be to become stronger. Rippetoe said it best when he reminded us that "<i>strong people are harder to kill than weak people, and more useful in general</i>".</div>
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Strength is the rich soil from which all other physical capacities flourish. If you want to jump further, prevent injuries, improve your endurance and increase your bone density then you need to get stronger. Yes, strength gains will improve your endurance. Someone who can do 50 push-ups will further improve and be able to do more once they increase their upper body strength.. since pushing their own body weight will feel like a lighter load to move.</div>
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And yes, strength gains will also allow you to jump further by improving your body's ability to exert force on an external object, so that when that that external object is the ground, we can push against it with more force and jump higher and further than before.</div>
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Now there have been thousands of books written on the fine details of increasing your strength but to summarise what the majority of them say, look to use multi-joint exercises that are scalable, and do them with perfect form… making them harder as you improve.</div>
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Compound lifts such as the squat and deadlift should be the staple diet here and will help systemic growth. Olympic lifting is another useful tool for those who want to maximise their power development. Learning the basics of how to power clean shouldn't take too long under a good coach and this will give you a low impact training method that will allow you to maximise your power gains as you get stronger.</div>
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Remember that any exercise is a strength exercise to someone. If you can't do one push-up then a good strength exercise for you will be using a band to assist you in pushing to the top with good form, whereas this will be useless for building strength to someone who can already do many push-ups. It's about honestly assessing and diagnosing where you are and what you're capable of, and choosing the best strength exercises for you at the time. Weightlifting and weighted vests are useful because they allow you to make incremental increases in the amount of load you are handling.</div>
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<b><u>3) Train like an athlete</u></b></div>
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If movement is our blueprint for training and strength is our foundation, then good conditioning levels provide the mortar that will hold all of our techniques together when things get tough.</div>
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Having good levels of conditioning will mean you can train for longer and recover faster, which means the amount of hours per week you can now train will increase. It will also mean that should you ever need to use Parkour in a life or death situation, you will not collapse on the floor after a minute of intense movement under pressure.</div>
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If you're serious about Parkour then there’s a good chance you already take enough impact and joint stress without wanting to add any more during your conditioning training, so choosing joint-friendly, effective, time-efficient exercises is the key here. Cardiovascular training is important but don't pound the concrete for hours with jogging.. run hard and fast on softer surfaces. Find a big, steep slope and inject a healthy dose of hill sprints in to your regime once or twice per week. Carrying, pushing, throwing or dragging heavy loads such as a sled, boulders or even cars will do more good for your fitness levels in 10 minutes than an hour on the treadmill will.</div>
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Go as hard as you can for 2 minutes, 4 minutes, or 10 minutes, with or without rest periods and you'll notice that not only does your work capacity and endurance increase, but you retain your strength levels along with it. That is not to say that longer, more steady state cardiovascular training is useless, it should just have its place in a healthy, well balanced training programme and not be something you do every day.</div>
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The body is not very good at adapting to multiple stressors at one time so you cannot significantly increase your strength levels if you’re also jogging long distances every day. Go through seasons or cycles of training where you focus on developing some areas whilst maintaining others.. But choose exercises carefully so that they don't undo the months of hard work you've put in elsewhere.</div>
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Look in to Tabata training and 'finishers' and use these as the staple for your physical conditioning work. A long set of heavy squats with good form will do you more good than a marathon.</div>
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<b><u>4) Find something difficult and repeat it until it's easy</u></b></div>
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Difficult means possible, but something that takes your full concentration, excellent technique and just the right amount of power to achieve. If you do it perfectly every time then it's not difficult enough for you. </div>
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The trick is to find such a difficult movement, jump or challenge and spend time with it. Repeat it, reflecting on each attempt objectively and making an effort to improve each time. If you jump too far on the first jump and continue to jump too far for five more attempts then you need to make a deliberate change and bring the power back gradually until either you make it to your satisfaction or you undershoot.</div>
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Attempt, analyse, adjust, attack, again and again. </div>
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Once you can repeat it with success almost every time and it becomes easy, then move on. Find a new challenge, jump or movement and repeat the process. Use your experience from the previous jumps to give you confidence. </div>
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The biggest mistake people tend to make is moving on too soon before they really nail something. Often there is much more to learn from a jump than people think and they float around from jump to jump improving at each one a little bit but never truly mastering any of them. Can you still do it in the rain? Can you do it when it's dark..?</div>
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<b><u>5) Train both sides</u></b></div>
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You don't need to be completely equal on both sides but at least aim to be competent on your weak side. I've known guys with massive running jumps and a fearless approach to using them completely freeze up at the idea of doing a simple one-footed jump to a rail on their weak leg. If the imbalances are this severe then there's an issue. Not only is an individual such as this severely limited technically, they are also risking a long list of muscular imbalance issues by being so dominant on the one side. Postural and structural issues leading to chronic pain will appear if they're not already present. It's a time bomb waiting to go off. </div>
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The good news is you can fix this quite easily before it becomes a problem and if it is a problem then you can take steps to rebalance your body. It's fine to have a dominant side and most people do, just be sure to spend time working on your weak side every week. I aim to train both sides equally 90% of the time and I accept that there will be some jumps or movements that fall in to the 10% category that are just not going to be done on the weak side today. Those big, scary, technical jumps that take everything you are to come out the other side in one piece? It's sometimes enough to just 'do them' rather than worry about doing them on your weak side too. Sometimes.</div>
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One really nice way to train this is to occasionally spend a whole training day only working on your weak side.. You'll be surprised by how much you'll improve. </div>
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<b><u>6) Find the strangest jumps you can and let the jump dictate the technique.</u></b> </div>
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Forget about the names. My favourite kind of jump is one that can't be categorised. It's the one where you need to jump high enough to clear the wall, but not too high that you hit your head on the branch and you must turn 74 degrees to your right and grab with your left hand around the corner on the hold you can't see.. Without your feet touching the ground. It's the jump so complex that thinking about it makes it harder. The kind where letting instinct take over reigns supreme and you just jump and adapt in the air.</div>
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"Wow, he just did a.. wait, what was that?"</div>
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"A jump."</div>
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The French guys have the right idea here. Listening to them talk about a route, they won't be talking about cat leaps, precision jumps, turn vaults and wall runs but they'll just be pointing and saying 'tac, tac, tac, tac... taaac!' To show where they will go, and this is great. They prioritise the obstacles, the course, the route and the direction rather than the techniques and it's a liberating way to think about Parkour. </div>
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I'm still amazed by the amount of practitioners who go to training spots looking for the jump they saw on that video and try to replicate it and film themselves doing it exactly the same way. Or they go to a spot and try to find the cat leaps or the kong to precisions instead of looking at what's there and letting the obstacles and terrain dictate the movements.</div>
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Focus on the obstacles!</div>
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<b><u>7) Test your CNS and adjust your training on a daily basis </u></b></div>
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If you're familiar with the term <i>autoregulation</i> in training then you'll know it's a useful tool. It's particularly useful in a Parkour context as it allows you to adjust your training plan for that day to get the most out of it.</div>
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Maybe you'll remember a training session where you just couldn't balance on a rail with the same ease as you usually can, or that it was just somehow harder to stick a rail precision that day. This is nothing to worry about and just one of those days where it might be worth training something less technically demanding.</div>
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The central nervous system is responsible for controlling every function of your body, including every movement you make, and just like the muscles in the body the CNS can become fatigued from training and needs time to recover between training sessions.</div>
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Different exercises impact the CNS to different degrees and if you've been doing a lot of heavy training over the past few days then it should be no surprise that you find it harder to balance today. Even if your muscles feel fine, your CNS could be fatigued and it's just finding it a bit harder to control the stabilising muscles responsible for helping you to balance.</div>
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So listen to your body and be aware that regardless of how fresh it might feel, it's worth using a few simple balancing tests as part of your warm-up to see how fresh your CNS is today.</div>
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<b><u>8) If in doubt, keep things simple</u></b></div>
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You don't have to over complicate your training to make progress. You will go a long way by just performing the basic exercises to a high standard, frequently. If in doubt, squat, sprint, climb and train your precision jumps. Those four exercises will have a lot of carry over to everything else in the discipline then you can add some complexity and variation when you want to.</div>
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<b><u>9) Train the simple things like your life depends on it. It might. </u></b></div>
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A lot of Parkour practitioners become very competent when it comes to moving at ground level but cannot express this potential when they are at height, even though there is no physical difference in the size of the jumps.</div>
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One good way of overcoming this common issue is to train every jump as if you were at height. With some practice you can actually begin to feel some of the same fears and doubts you experience at height but in a safe environment where there are no consequences. Combined with further training just outside of your comfort zone, you will gradually desensitise to the heights and you will also be training your body to make a jump first time, which is a very valuable and underrated skill.</div>
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<b><u>10) If a movement just doesn't work for you, don't do it</u></b></div>
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Just because all of your friends are training their '180 cat leap' techniques doesn't mean you have to. Think for yourself and if you don't enjoy a movement or if it is not something you want to use then don't do it. Parkour is about overcoming obstacles in a way that is safe and effective for the situation. Sometimes the situation will demand slow, deliberate and careful movement and sometimes you can inject much more speed in to it but the actual movements themselves are not important.</div>
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I know a couple of guys who just don't use the monkey/kong vault. They can do it.. they just don't like it and would prefer to run and jump over the obstacle instead. It works.</div>
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<b><u>11) Stop worrying about your shoes. </u></b></div>
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I've seen masters of this practice move well barefoot and in boots. If your technique is good then footwear isn't so important. Sure, some footwear is better suited to Parkour but if you follow a few general rules then you can't go wrong. </div>
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Aim to find shoes that have a good rubber compound on the bottom and offer a fair amount of grip in both dry and wet conditions, on concrete, wood and metal. Test them before you buy them. Avoid any plastic sections on the bottom of the shoe as plastic slips on metal too easily*. Depending on what you're used to, aim to minimise the amount of padding in the shoe and gradually aim to use thinner shoes as your feet become stronger and your landings improve over time. Avoid ankle support as this will limit natural ankle mobility and lead to more wear and tear on the knees, which will have to compensate for the restriction. And try to find a flat sole.. if there's a raised heel then you will shorten and weaken your Achilles tendons.</div>
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Apart from a few simple guidelines, it doesn't matter what you wear. The brand is irrelevant and don't believe all of their superior technology bullshit. There was a recent study that found a direct correlation between the price of running shoes and the chances of becoming injured whilst wearing them. The more footwear deviates from the natural shape of the human foot, the more problems occur. Go read Born To Run by Christopher McDougall for much more information on this topic.</div>
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Expect to replace your footwear on a semi regular basis but remember this is one of your only expenses in Parkour. As you improve you'll find that they begin to last you longer as your technique develops and you begin to minimise the impacts and wear and tear on them. </div>
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">*I once bought a pair of training shoes to train rail precisions that had a thick plastic section along the width of the sole, right in the middle.. just so that I <b>couldn't</b> land on the middle of the foot without serious consequences. Needless to say my technique improved quickly.</span></i></div>
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<b><u>12) Climb</u></b></div>
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If Parkour could be stripped down to just three types of movement, we would be left with running, jumping and climbing. Of those three, the vast majority of those who practice Parkour love the jumping, hate the running.. and neglect the climbing.</div>
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Most Parkour people are bad climbers because they rely on their upper body strength rather than technique. I'm not the best climber but I have been focusing more on this side of Parkour over the past couple of years and it's made a huge difference to my ability to move. Parkour is about passing obstacles, yes, but some obstacles can only be passed slowly and deliberately. And when the wall is too high to wall run then perhaps your only option will be to climb over. Spend some time working on your climbing technique, prioritise foot placement to reduce the amount of work your arms have to do. As a general safety rule, try to have three points of contact on the obstacle and only move one limb at a time as you climb.</div>
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<b><u>13) Master the climb-up and the muscle-up.</u></b></div>
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No exceptions.</div>
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Chris 'Blane' Rowathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13050917713159548998noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37058160.post-45655871334750392102013-04-05T15:41:00.002+01:002013-05-04T11:54:53.405+01:00'A Parkour Life' video series<div style="text-align: justify;">
I recently spent a few days filming with one of my good friends, <a href="http://www.julieangel.com/Julie_Angel_home_page.html" target="_blank">Dr Julie Angel</a> in and around London to make a short series of films talking about Parkour, the way I train, how my training has evolved over the years and how I think it is possible to last a long time in Parkour without getting seriously injured or burning out.</div>
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The three part series can be seen <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=SPy25Fo4sezXPCqvHJptz70hxLG6mldTjZ&feature=playlist-comment" target="_blank">here</a>:</div>
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More articles coming soon too! ;-)</div>
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All the best,</div>
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Blane</div>
Chris 'Blane' Rowathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13050917713159548998noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37058160.post-28298239844526836382012-11-16T13:56:00.000+00:002013-04-05T16:06:58.265+01:00A Call To Arms<div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">(Click to read this article in <a href="http://www.rhizai.it/2.0/index.php?sezione=Blog&art=135" target="_blank">Italian</a>, <a href="http://www.umparkour.com/llamadaalasarmas.html" target="_blank">Spanish</a>, <a href="http://parkour-movement-cologne.com/?p=2188" target="_blank">German</a>, <a href="http://duddupk.blogspot.com.br/2012/11/um-chamado-luta-traducao-do-texto-do.html" target="_blank">Portuguese</a>, <a href="http://www.poitiers-parkour.fr/a-call-to-arms/" target="_blank">French</a>, <a href="http://togethoughts.blogspot.gr/2012/11/a-call-to-arms.html" target="_blank">Greek</a> or <a href="http://bukansekedarloncatloncat.parkourbandung.com/post/36176353845/a-call-to-arms" target="_blank">Bahasa Indonesia</a>.)</span><br />
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When did a 30 metre traverse with a kid hanging off your back become less important than some 18ft jump between two sheds with a 'sandpit landing'?</div>
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I don't give a damn about your long and loud strides, that 43 year old guy over there is twice your age, twice as strong.. and just dropped from 2 metres and didn't make a sound.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikNkbD9jgL9Mvm-BTw9LNaN9rmLwuHNUmbA011c4yeqOfx2uH77wsJv9NuiMyh-nBWb0nzrcybUPQt4kCDsWWEW4Y12hwQ2OzL2XMMULI30Kv8ii8YmJpi77xy1yfbMoV08tltDg/s1600/digging+deep.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikNkbD9jgL9Mvm-BTw9LNaN9rmLwuHNUmbA011c4yeqOfx2uH77wsJv9NuiMyh-nBWb0nzrcybUPQt4kCDsWWEW4Y12hwQ2OzL2XMMULI30Kv8ii8YmJpi77xy1yfbMoV08tltDg/s320/digging+deep.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The things that should matter in Parkour, do not - and the things that are widely considered impressive are not, after you scratch the surface. Our value system is being corrupted. </div>
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I try to look at Parkour from a neutral point of view sometimes, as if I had never heard of it before.</div>
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What would I think if I found it now as a 17 year old, in late 2012? I imagine I'd think it looked like fun and I'd probably find myself being drawn to a part of it but I'd see something very different from what I saw nine years ago and I know it wouldn't appeal to me as much as it did then.</div>
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If you finish this article and believe in the values I believe are to be found in Parkour then you will hopefully agree that if we don't make more effort to share them, then they will be lost. Newcomers will just see big jumps and not an accessible and extremely versatile practice for anyone with a desire to challenge, test and better themselves.</div>
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<b><u>What I saw in Parkour in 2003, at 17:</u></b></div>
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<li style="text-align: justify;">An elite few with a quality of movement and attention to detail in every action that is only achievable through thousands of hours of deliberate practice and training.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">An unyielding warrior-like spirit in training and in approach to any challenge faced, whether physical, technical or mental.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">A flourishing, positive community inspired by those who went before them.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">A system of training and a community that valued all aspects of Parkour equally, and a collective consciousness interested in the practice of Parkour for a lifetime, not just a few months.</li>
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<u><b>What I see in 2012, at 26:</b></u></div>
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<li style="text-align: justify;">A massive increase in the amount of people training around the world.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Big jumps.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Bad landings.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Competitions.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">A precious few holding on to the old ways and doubting their reasons for doing so...</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">and ultimately, a shift in what is valued in Parkour.</li>
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It is those precious few and the shift in what is valued that I care about most.</div>
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I'm responsible for letting this shift happen unchallenged, as much as everyone else is from 'my generation'. We all stood by and let Parkour evolve and change and grow on the Internet without standing up and saying, "<i>Wait a minute, that's nice.. but what about all of the other parts of Parkour I fell in love with? Where are they</i>?"</div>
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I try to coach with these values I'm talking about in mind when I work with others and I know a lot of experienced men and women do the same, but it's not really enough to keep these values that some of us hold so dear contained to some Parkour classes in a few cities around the world. There is a need to show this on a bigger scale if we are to keep them alive, and more importantly we need to make a big enough statement that we can be found by those coming to Parkour for the first time looking for more than big jumps.</div>
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In the past few years, instead of holding on tight and believing in what we valued and appreciated in Parkour when we first found it, day-by-day, video-by-video our value system is being corrupted and even those few people who still believe Parkour is for everyone can end up feeling like they're falling behind in their training, not as good as this new guy, or that new guy because they can make that jump and you don't think you can, or maybe you don't even want to.</div>
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But if you remembered what it is you valued in the first place then you wouldn't care about not being able to jump as far as 'that new guy'. Remember what you once thought? What is any jump, great or small.. without a good landing? When did improving your climb up, your handstand push-up, your max squat, your quadrupedie and your dead-hang record become less satisfying than improving your running jump..?</div>
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I've seen groups of people training together and giving funny looks to the one dude in the background busting his ass with a weighted jacket trying to make his pull-up stronger. When did what he's doing become an inferior part of Parkour?</div>
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Physical challenges are nothing new in the Parkour world. For as long as there has been Parkour, physical challenges have been a part of it. In fact, as some of you will be well aware, long before the jumps took the spotlight, physical challenges <b>were</b> Parkour.</div>
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Not so much any more. Physical challenges (and hell, even physical training) are the endangered species of Parkour.</div>
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With a shift in emphasis over the past few years Parkour is no longer the perfect testing ground for finding out what a person is made of physically, technically, mentally.. and emotionally.</div>
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It is no longer about seeing if you can run to another town and back on an adventure before sunset, no longer about whether you can push that old car up the hill with the friends you have laughed and cried with all day.. and no longer about seeing value in being able to jump in to a wet tree in case you ever had to rescue one of those friends who was stuck in one.</div>
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It is now largely seen as a stage for the talented, an opportunity for people to show the world how they can jump further than everyone else, and how they flew half way across the world to do the same jump that some other guy did in that video he made last year, but wait, you can side-flip out of it.</div>
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I see competitions where the world's '<i>best Parkour athletes</i>' and '<i>world champions</i>' manage 37 seconds of running around trying to do something more impressive than the guy before him before the time runs out, or before they run out of stamina. 37 seconds of mediocre performance? I've known and trained with men and women who could last 37 minutes at that level of intensity.</div>
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Who let this bullshit creep in uncontested? When did this become such a focus? When did jumping further than someone else hold such value in Parkour? When did going to a spot and trying to replicate a movement someone else did become the goal? I hate to say it but we let this bullshit creep in. The day we began to doubt ourselves and wonder whether having a big jump <i>might</i> be important.</div>
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Here is Jesse Owens jumping 26ft (and 5/8ths of an inch) in 1936, Berlin, Germany...</div>
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That is a huge jump even by today's standards and advanced training methodologies.. and that jump is far, far further than any Parkour practitioner has ever jumped between two walls. So why is the Parkour community (and indeed the world) so impressed when someone jumps 18ft between two sheds and crumples as if there was a sandpit like the one Jesse landed in on the far side? Is it because they were <i>brave</i> enough to do it over a gap? In too many cases their fear of falling is only defeated by the thought of being immortalised on YouTube in front of thousands of people in their pyjamas. Is that your idea of bravery? If it is, please close this page now for there is nothing here for you.</div>
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But having a personal and worthwhile reason to do a jump with inherent risks to prove something to yourself and to overcome your own apprehension and doubts, to act when everything inside you wants to shut down and go home <b>JUST</b> to improve yourself shows courage and resolve.. and these are some of the very values Parkour was built on. The very same values disappearing before our eyes. Running and pushing as hard as you can hoping to make the other side for the Internet or because your friend did it only shows recklessness and promises a short lifespan in Parkour.</div>
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I'd like to think that the majority of people reading this will agree that Parkour is just not Parkour without some of these values. Values like courage, resolve, endurance, strength, discipline, dedication and longevity. Values like humility, and altruism. Integrity.</div>
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There are many ways that we can help to positively channel the future of the discipline but refusing to allow values like these to be lost to the practice is a good start, and an easy place to start.</div>
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We can inspire the next generation of practitioners and allow them to see that Parkour is more than big jumps by not letting our opinions lie dormant.</div>
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Comment on videos, upload your own, write articles, coach, talk, travel and train the way you believe Parkour should be trained and let people see that side of it wherever you go. Represent it. Be it.</div>
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These values don't have to manifest themselves as challenges like those I mentioned earlier, but ultimately the only way we can significantly grow is to face hardship and adapt to overcome it. This might be in the form of 'breaking' a jump, in doing something that scares you because you believe it is worth the risk to overcome your fear and test your ability.</div>
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Maybe it will be technical. Maybe it'll be repeating a running jump to a thin railing and trying to land it perfectly 3 times in a row. 10 times in a row. 50.</div>
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Or perhaps it will be a physical challenge after all. Perhaps you will take one of your favourite exercises and test yourself and see how far you can take it. See how many repetitions you can do in 10 minutes or how much more weight you can lift after 6 months of dedicated training in it.</div>
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It doesn't really matter what the challenge is, what matters is that you face challenges regularly if you really want to test yourself and see what you are made of. This confrontation and will to overcome challenge is the heart of the beast that is Parkour and it is beating more slowly with each passing year in the community. But it is this regular exposure to challenges such as these that builds and instils these values in people.</div>
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What people don't seem to realise is that the 19 year old kid who can jump 18ft between those two walls after one year of training will more than likely not be here in a few years. Very few people last more than a handful of years in this game, either due to injury, fading interest or countless other obstacles. So whilst what he's doing is impressive, yes.. what you are training to do, 'to be and to last', for the next 10 years, 20 years... and more, still strong, still progressing, still training and enjoying Parkour.. is much more impressive to me. These are the values and the goals that impressed me about those elite few I mentioned before and these are the things I will not see lost as the years pass.</div>
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Don't apologise for the values you believe in and most importantly don't allow Parkour to lose them if you do believe in them. Parkour will evolve and become what it will in the public eye, but hold on tight to that which you consider important because you are not alone.</div>
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Don't let it die or the next generation might never see or experience what you saw and did when you found Parkour. Let challenge and longevity shape your training, your goals and your motivations. Set your own personal challenges, even some that might be impossible, for even in those you will learn a lot. Remember a challenge is not a challenge if you know you can make it. Push the envelope, invite doubt and disbelief in like old enemies and make them your friends. Face seemingly insurmountable odds, often.. and you will grow to be a stronger person.</div>
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If you want to repeat that little jump at an angle to a moss covered wall all day until you can do it with your eyes closed.. well my friend, you are not alone. I want to repeat that jump with you. But let's do 50, just to be sure. And one more for the others who can't join us. That'll do us both more good than that big roof gap whilst you hold the camera.</div>
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We are the minority now, but together we are still an influential percentage of those who say they practice Parkour. We can still let our message be heard for all of those coming to Parkour now, and in the next few years.</div>
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This is a call to arms for those I still consider to be the vanguard of Parkour. The time is now. Make a difference by showing and sharing and being the other sides of Parkour that you know and love. The sides that some would see forgotten as the discipline grows.</div>
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Blane</div>
Chris 'Blane' Rowathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13050917713159548998noreply@blogger.com64tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37058160.post-45403115363244239812012-01-16T14:58:00.000+00:002012-01-16T14:58:59.959+00:001 Mile of Rail Balance<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6LAAbGAJJUspEPQTpfiLO06J68kdRYUkuoJADAbMi1dega4Ja0JyqLmJpZq4YfqpHhCfOVYjed4Ba70e2J3XtL4Jx40kAfes1-l4g5YpxnjRwFrUwcK_Ck6Rquh1_zMrkR7Bbfw/s1600/44683_455836061387_618436387_6157343_4364609_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6LAAbGAJJUspEPQTpfiLO06J68kdRYUkuoJADAbMi1dega4Ja0JyqLmJpZq4YfqpHhCfOVYjed4Ba70e2J3XtL4Jx40kAfes1-l4g5YpxnjRwFrUwcK_Ck6Rquh1_zMrkR7Bbfw/s320/44683_455836061387_618436387_6157343_4364609_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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It was a year ago at the Christmas party and the day after the 1,000 muscle ups challenge. </div>
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I was so tired and sore that the never ending stream of amazing food arriving in front of us just tasted like bland toast. And besides, I had almost no appetite.</div>
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We were joking around about the next big challenge and how we could better this one. Unsurprisingly, everyone liked Stephane's idea of making it more of a technical or mental challenge, rather than a physical one... and his idea was 1 mile of rail balance without touching the ground. And if you did happen to touch the ground, then you had to start again.</div>
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It was one of those mysteries where you're not sure whether it's going to be next to impossible, or not too bad. </div>
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Either way, we quickly realised one of the biggest problems was going to be finding a long enough rail!</div>
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It was new year's eve 2011 and a few of us met up for some training to end the year. Still a bit tight from the 300 muscle ups just two days earlier, I decided to have a light day and just work on some short routes, basic techniques and balance work. </div>
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We were at Earlsfield and moved on to a nearby training spot towards Tooting Bec when someone remembered there's a low rail there that might do the job. It was indeed a good length, and more importantly, unbroken, to form a large sweeping circular shape with a few L-shaped corners thrown in to fit the shape of the grass.</div>
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We talked a bit about the challenge and agreed it would be a suitable place. The rail was slightly thicker than the average hand rail but that advantage was balanced out by the fact that it was very low to the ground, so if you should wobble then you had no hope of dropping to a hang to stay off the ground.</div>
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Andy measured it out and it was about 120 metres in total. Andy, Kush and I then walked a complete circuit to see how it felt and it wasn't that bad. Sure, it took a bit of concentration but there was no pressure and we all made it around. </div>
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Let's try it again.</div>
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It wasn't until 4 or 5 circuits later that I decided it was a pretty good rail for the challenge and maybe I should just keep walking and see how far I get... It'll be good practice for the mile.</div>
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How many times would we need to complete the circuit to hit a mile anyway? We were spaced out along the rail and Fizz, Leon and Joe had all joined in on our little experiment so there were quite a few of us now, and Dan was playing around with the idea of doing a circuit on all fours.</div>
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We worked out as we walked that it would take somewhere between 13 and 14 circuits to make a mile, and on we went.</div>
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After about 6 lengths, Kush wobbled a bit and tried to correct himself by speeding up, which took him off the rail. He stepped off, and knowing he wouldn't have time before work to start again and complete the 13, he decided to leave it until another day. </div>
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Joe fell off at some point and decided to carry on from that point and finish 13 lengths in total.</div>
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Leon fell off a little later.</div>
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Andy, Fizz and I were still going but Fizz had arrived a bit later so she was 5-6 circuits behind us. </div>
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I was at 10 when I remember thinking that I didn't want to fall off now and wanted to tick off the mile today - challenge number 3 of the week.</div>
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Being a bit of a weirdo, I decided I'd try for 15 since it was a nice round number and would guarantee that I was over the mile mark.</div>
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I was half way around the long sweeping half of the course, on my 13th circuit when I wobbled. It was an almighty wobble and I seized up so tight that I got a cramp in my hamstring trying to fight for stability... Somehow I corrected it and after a few cautious steps I was back in the rhythm of putting one foot in front of the other, albeit with a bit more apprehension than before. </div>
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There are two things that you quickly notice after any long period of time spent balancing on a rail. The first is that it's quite a good workout for the shoulders, as you constantly use the arms to balance.</div>
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The second is that looking down and focusing on a bar as you walk forwards makes the background lose focus and move at a different speed, so your vision goes a bit strange and when you stop and look around you, the world is made up of moving waves. It's cool, but also a bit inconvenient when you need all of your senses at high alert for such a long period of time. </div>
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14 lengths. One to go.</div>
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At 3 different sections around the circuit there was an L-shaped corner where you could distribute your weight evenly between two directions on the rail and 'rest'. People would tend to get to one of these, take a few seconds to stretch the shoulders out, shake the legs and take a few deep breaths, before moving on to the next identical checkpoint.</div>
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I was at the second L-shaped corner piece on the 15th length and it was getting dark now. I knew I'd probably be fine since I was almost finished but Fizz was going to be finishing her last few laps in darkness. </div>
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When I reached the end of the 15th, I balanced a little further and cat leaped to a nearby wall, climbed up and relaxed a bit to wait for Andy who was a little behind me. He finished it without much trouble.</div>
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The mile was done in around an hour and twenty minutes or so, and although it wasn't easy, it was easier than we expected it to be and a lot easier than the previous two challenges of the week. </div>
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Fizz was doing great but wobbled, and fell off on her 12th or 13th circuit... We were all gutted for her since she had worked so hard for it and deserved to finish. She vowed to come back and conquer it soon. </div>
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A few of us headed for food and a few others stayed. We met up later to learn that Joe had finished his 13 laps and Leon had started again and done the whole mile off the ground without falling, after getting half way there in a previous attempt - awesome. </div>
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It was a great end to the year, but as I mentioned in the previous post, I'm going to take a break from these long haul challenges and focus on some other goals....</div>
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<b>It's time to get stronger, faster and more powerful.</b></div>
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Blane</div>Chris 'Blane' Rowathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13050917713159548998noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37058160.post-21858804751611050372012-01-02T22:50:00.001+00:002012-01-03T03:56:18.977+00:00Again. Faster.<div style="text-align: justify;">
My legs were destroyed. </div>
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The <a href="http://blane-parkour.blogspot.com/2012/01/forfeit.html" target="_blank">500 jumps</a> had broken my quads down to a place they haven't been in a long time, and stairs were once again my worst enemy.</div>
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Everyone remembers trying to walk up or down the stairs following their first few training sessions, and it ain't pretty. That stiff 'Thunderbird-casual' walk you try to pull off as you approach the stairs and the straight face that tries to project "I'm cool bro, I got this." It lasts until you hit the first step and then it's like someone's wedged a slice of lemon in your cheek as the horror springs across your face. It ain't cool bro, and you should've called the elevator.</div>
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But, it didn't last long and by Thursday I felt almost 100% again. Three days of Thunderbird-casual isn't a bad price to pay for getting that forfeit out of the way. </div>
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Now, on to the next challenge. It was also back in 2009 that I first attempted the now infamous '300 challenge', that is 300 muscle ups in under 2 hours and 30 minutes. It was tough, but I finished it in 2 hours and 11 minutes on my first attempt and during the <a href="http://blane-parkour.blogspot.com/2010/12/1000-muscle-ups.html" target="_blank">1,000 muscle up challenge</a> just over a year ago, I shaved 2 minutes off to make my personal best 2 hours and 9 minutes. I was happy with that but I saw something that day that I knew I would one day be facing. </div>
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My good friend Joe Boyle not only finished the 300 challenge in under 2 hours (1 hour, 56 minutes), but he also went on to finish the 1,000 muscle ups in around 8 hours... An incredible achievement. Now, I was happy just to finish the 1,000 muscle ups in one piece, but one thing I did want to tick off was a sub 2 hour 300...</div>
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I'd need to do it 9 minutes faster. It doesn't sound like much but when I sat down to do the maths it turned out to be quite intimidating. I'd need to do at least 2.5 per minute, every minute, for 2 hours straight to make 300 in 2 hours.</div>
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I'd enjoyed Christmas like everyone else back home with my family, and I'd eaten a lot of food, both good and bad. I'd soaked most of it up healing from the 500 jumps but I felt a bit bloated and not quite on top form as I went to bed on the eve of war. </div>
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Thursday. Even on the train to Leicester from Hinckley, I was doubtful. I didn't feel much better than last night and it was wet. Not raining, but everything was dripping, dark, cold and grey. </div>
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Just do your best. </div>
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The scaffolding was good. Tim, my old friend from Leicester had found us a fine set and he planned to attempt as many as he could in a 2 hour time limit too. </div>
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2.5 per minute, every minute... For 2 hours. </div>
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Right.</div>
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I started with sets of 3. I'd learned a valuable lesson for endurance challenges like this during the 1,000 and that was to listen to my body, rather than being too strict on timing. </div>
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I'd do 3, walk around, and when I felt good I'd do another 3. Shirley, my master tactician for the afternoon was helping me to keep track of the numbers and was working out how many I'd need to do to catch up if I had to, or how much I could relax when I got tired. </div>
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I had to hit 150 in an hour, but ideally I'd be at least a little ahead to give me some breathing space towards the end. My goal was to hit 180 muscle ups in an hour, which is 3 per minute for an hour, and this would allow me to drop down to doubles for the last hour. </div>
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The problem with that plan was that it relied on completing 3 within the minute, not on the minute, so rest times would be limited. </div>
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I'd stuck to 3 per set but I wasn't going fast enough. I hit half way after 56 minutes, 20 seconds, which only gave me 3 minutes, 40 seconds in the bank to slow down later. </div>
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162 muscle ups in one hour. </div>
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I couldn't drop to doubles, I was about 20 muscle ups behind schedule and felt pretty beaten up.</div>
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I was working hard and not resting as much as I wanted to, and yet I knew I had to somehow increase my workload if I was to finish this in under 2 hours.</div>
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It was around this point that I had an internal conversation with myself that revolved around me not wanting to do this again. I'm tired, this hurts and I'm just not enjoying these challenges any more. Dealing with pain is a necessity when you train hard, but dealing with pain for 2 hours, 5 hours, 10 hours, 15 hours, is just not nice. I've done so many of these long haul killer sessions that it's time to do something else, time to test myself in other ways...</div>
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I don't want to fail and have to come back and try again another day, I don't want to go to sleep tonight wondering if I could've given more. </div>
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So let's frickin' do this. Let's step it up, increase my effort, reduce my rest times and tear this whole goddamn scaffolding down if I need to. Whatever it takes to finish this in the time limit. </div>
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I stuck with sets of 3. The first two felt ok each time but the third was taking a toll. I had to claw back 20 muscle ups using 3 at a time to allow me to drop to doubles. I had to fight for the privilege to drop to doubles. </div>
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Walking to the bar, I'd repeat "<i>It's just three muscle ups, anybody can do three muscle ups</i>", under my breath, I'd manage two... fight for a third, drop, update my counter and walk around for 30 seconds or so then head back to the bar. It was hell. Again.</div>
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Muscle Ups 196-198:</div>
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I was down to being 9 muscle ups behind schedule. I had to claw back 9 more before I could drop to doubles. </div>
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4.</div>
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1.</div>
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Suddenly I was two ahead of schedule. I'd done 252 after 1 hour, 35 minutes, by reducing my rest times and pushing harder when I was on the bar.</div>
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<b>I had 25 minutes left to do 48 muscle ups, but I was a broken man.</b></div>
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At 1 hour, 40 minutes, and after 264 muscle ups, I dropped to doubles. Time was quickly running out but I had five muscle ups in the bank and could afford to drop down to doing two per set, as long as I did at least one set per minute. </div>
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Muscle ups 285-286, shortly after dropping to doubles:</div>
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I remember looking at my watch and having 15 minutes left, and I had 25 muscle ups to do... This was going to be tight. </div>
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With 10 minutes to go I had 14 left. I can do this. </div>
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I had 3 muscle ups left and 5 minutes on the clock, I've got this. But then, I failed a double and managed just one muscle up for that set. OH... SH*T!</div>
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My failed double and obvious panic:</div>
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It was my first failed rep and suddenly a lightning bolt of fear shot up my spine. What if that was it? What if that was as much as my body had in the tank and I couldn't do any more?</div>
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I walked around, came back screaming "JUST ONE REP!" in my head and ripped up as hard as I could. My body was grateful and perhaps surprised that it was just a single rep, and I made it.</div>
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2 left. I finished them one at a time. </div>
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299:</div>
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I hit 300 muscle ups at 1 hour 58 minutes and 18 seconds.</div>
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1 minute and 42 seconds inside my desired time limit.</div>
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It was over...</div>
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With a little time left and with Tim still battling away, I did three more singles before the 2 hour time limit. 1 for Shirley for managing my time, 1 for Tim for his Herculean effort alongside me, and 1 for luck. </div>
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We went to a Chinese restaurant a couple of hours later and spent an hour and a half hammering the buffet service and refueling. As we ate, relaxed, chatted and caught up on news, there was a moment where I knew this was the last endurance challenge I was going to do for a while. Perhaps for a long while. I've spent the best part of eight years doing this kind of thing, and it's time to work on some other goals now. Of course, they're still Parkour/training related... but this kind of challenge with ridiculous amounts of repetitions, with time limits, without time limits, without missing, with forfeits, without, and with various other stipulations involved, they no longer interest me as much and I think I've gone as far as I want to with them, for now at least.</div>
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It was Thursday 29th December, almost the beginning of a whole new year, and I'd ticked off two items on my to-do list. I felt good.</div>
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That feeling lasted a few moments.</div>
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...Then I remembered I had agreed to a challenge that Stephane suggested just over a year ago. There was two days left of 2011.</div>
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(<i>write up of challenge #3 coming soon.</i>)</div>Chris 'Blane' Rowathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13050917713159548998noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37058160.post-38587519668294318182012-01-01T19:48:00.006+00:002012-01-01T21:27:52.435+00:00The Forfeit<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
Soon after I moved to London in February of 2009, I found myself at a housing estate in Earlsfield training with Dan. This being his local training spot, he showed me around some of the various jumps and challenges in the area and we worked on some running and standing jump drills on a set of stairs. It was a good session, short and dynamic.</div>
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Afterwards, Dan pointed out a standing jump that he had been drilling recently and he wanted me to take a look at it since it was a big push for him, and he thought it might be a good challenge for me too. It was big, and with tired legs from the drills and having not focused on max standing jumps for quite a while, it was well out of my range for that day. Confident that if I was fresh and got back in to the groove of standing jumps I could probably make it, I vowed to do the jump within a week, and in typical PKG tradition, I added an incentive of having to do 500 repetitions of a smaller jump in the area should I not make the deadline.</div>
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It was a busy week and I didn't get a chance to go back to Earlsfield when I wanted to. I managed to squeeze in a short power session for the legs elsewhere and hoped I'd be ok when I returned to Earlsfield a week after my first encounter with the jump.</div>
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Before I knew it, it was D-Day. Deadline day, and I had to make the jump. After warming up, the jump still looked big but I felt that if I pushed with everything I had then I could probably make it. I bounced off after getting two feet on the wall. And again. And again. I rested a little longer and tried again. And I bounced off again. It was one of those days where the body isn't quite fresh or firing on all cylinders... great timing!</div>
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I made the big standing jump to the wall a couple of days later but it wasn't within the agreed time, so at some point I had fo face the forfeit.</div>
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Here's a clip of the jump, filmed almost two years ago on the day I managed it for the first time:</div>
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Fast forward almost two years and those jumps were still hanging over my head. I'm not normally one to avoid a good physical challenge but I'd been working on other skills, focusing more on strength and power, over endurance (except for the 1,000 muscle up day!), and I'd been forgetting about the forfeit for a month here and there. There never seemed like a good time to do such a large number of jumps.</div>
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But it had to be done. I'd given my word that I would do it and even though almost everyone else had forgotten about it, it was eating away at me and invading my thoughts when I was going to sleep at night and it was popping in to my head on the tube.</div>
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Alright, screw it... time to do those jumps! Christmas Eve, 2011. Why not? Let's get it out of the way before the new year and tick it off the to-do list.</div>
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I warmed up, looked at the jump and realised it was slightly bigger than I remembered. It's nothing compared to its big brother next door that caused me all this trouble in the first place, but it's a respectable jump, about 9ft across and half a foot down. With 500 to do, I thought I might as well make a start. I'd decided to only count the jumps where I landed and stayed on the wall, and for every jump I missed I would add another repetition on to the final count. How long could this take... three hours? Four?</div>
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I'd soon settled in to a routine of lining up the jump, leaning forwards and pushing, landing as quietly as I could and walking back around to the take-off wall. I'd been working in sets of 10, taking a 30 second break and then going for 10 more, and had rattled out the first 100 in 30 minutes. So far, I hadn't missed and it crossed my mind that it might be possible to complete the challenge without missing one jump. Why must we always make things harder than they already are?</div>
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Jumps 52-55 of 500:</div>
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200 in just over 1 hour, no misses. My quads feel a little interesting and are clearly asking me when I plan to stop this madness. The little voice in my head again asks if it's possible to finish this with no misses. I'm approaching half way and I'm not having much fun, and now I'm seriously thinking about not missing.</div>
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250. Half way and 1 hour, 19 minutes have passed. My glutes have joined the queue of body parts waiting to complain and my calves feel slow... But what's really starting to take a toll is the building pressure of having not missed. My mind flashes back to the 300 kong to precisions I did back in 2008 and the feeling is exactly the same, that dread that builds with each successful repetition that needs to be forced down and controlled to leave a focused and clear mind for the next attempt.</div>
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300 in 1 hour 37 minutes. I have spaghetti quads. I'm so tense on the landings trying not to make a mistake that I'm adding unnecessary difficulty to each jump. I could just deliberately overshoot and end this madness, take a break and finish the last 200 without the added stress...</div>
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Of course I can't, what are you? A bleeder? This will all be over in an hour and you can go home and eat, rest and sleep. Focus on the jumps... relax... BUT DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT MISSING!</div>
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400. 2 hours 15 minutes. I'm incapable of judging distances now and I think I'm going to miss every time. Luckily my body is running on auto pilot and taking care of the push for me and somehow managing to factor in my failing quads and depleted calves. I glance to my right and see the big jump that I couldn't do that led me to this day.</div>
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495. The first thing that happens when you try not to think about how close you are to finishing is you immediately think about how close you are to finishing. Alright, shut up and finish this... You won't miss now. Oh really? Yep. REALLY? YEP. And in a moment of stupidity, I did it again... I made a decision that was as ridiculous, as it was plain stupid.</div>
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"<i><b>If I miss the last jump, I'm going to start again.</b></i>"</div>
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This would be a much better story and I would have learned a much better lesson if I'd missed that last jump, but fortunately I didn't. I finished 503 jumps in 2 hours, 53 minutes (500 + 1 for Dan, 1 for Shirley who had been supporting me with her own jump challenge nearby, and 1 for luck).</div>
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Done. I sat down on the wall for a minute and realised I hadn't touched the floor in nearly 3 hours. It was almost ceremonial to step down from the walls and as soon as I did my legs went from spaghetti, to jelly, as they breathed a huge sigh of relief.</div>
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I made a new pact with myself at that moment. Never again will I accept a forfeit, or challenge, or endurance marathon of doom, without giving it much deeper consideration first.</div>
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Training hard is good but training hard AND smart, is better.</div>
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All that being said, there was one more challenge in my mind that I was considering trying before the new year. Something I'd been thinking about for a while and thought I might just be able to do. One last all-out war with my body that needed to be played out.. and like all good wars, it involved muscle ups.</div>
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Write up coming very soon...</div>
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Blane</div>
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<br /></div>Chris 'Blane' Rowathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13050917713159548998noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37058160.post-24989863632772746492011-01-06T19:37:00.028+00:002011-01-08T21:14:22.589+00:005/3/1 for Parkour<span style="font-weight:bold;">Integrating an effective strength training program in to a Parkour schedule.</span><br /><br /><blockquote>"<span style="font-style:italic;">The primary goal of your strength and conditioning program<br />is to make your athletes better football players</span>."</blockquote> - <span style="font-weight:bold;">5/3/1 For Football.</span><div><b><br /></b></div><div><span></span><b>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /></b><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Part 1 - Introduction</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">After taking a couple of 1 rep max tests this week I'm about to begin Jim Wendler's much acclaimed 5/3/1 program for building strength.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I've been weight training on a weekly basis for around seven or eight months now and although I'm still very much a beginner in the field, I'm noticing progress in both technique and strength and feel like I'm definitely moving forward and making worthwhile gains that carry across to my technical training.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Whether or not a Parkour practitioner should lift weights to supplement their other training has been an issue of some debate for as long as I can remember and although I was a long time advocate of doing bodyweight training and building strength in other ways, I admit that I was just worried and misinformed about the facts of lifting weights. Now I wholeheartedly believe that if done properly, weight lifting is not going to add useless bulk to one's frame and will in fact be of great benefit to both one's power and speed potential.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibeTRsJfGIrNIfZBiuKXF5SygIrBzhJntKEO-ySqlaudeOkqmiU_ItEQNN4mTBffKsB568z4H0oJQZ47XkcfiJ0QiVS1vIPhJY0nUq78xgBcy-DmsGmzBKliKC1hm42uaz-wN9xg/s1600/deepsquat.jpg"><img style="text-align: justify;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 353px; " src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibeTRsJfGIrNIfZBiuKXF5SygIrBzhJntKEO-ySqlaudeOkqmiU_ItEQNN4mTBffKsB568z4H0oJQZ47XkcfiJ0QiVS1vIPhJY0nUq78xgBcy-DmsGmzBKliKC1hm42uaz-wN9xg/s400/deepsquat.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5559899491332594114" /></a><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">One of the more noticeable benefits that come from regular training of some of the big compound lifts such as the squat or deadlift is that I notice my body feels much more like one solid unit rather than a combination of different parts. My landings feel lighter and my legs more resistant to the impacts and drops when I move and it has definitely made my power training more productive, with gains coming quicker than they have for a long time.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><span style="font-weight:bold;"><div style="text-align: justify;">Part 2 - Why 5/3/1 and how does it work?</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Although I've come to thoroughly enjoy the process of lifting, my methodology has so far been quite basic with a traditional 5x5 approach being employed, that is 5 sets with a weight that I can lift for 5 repetitions, for 25 reps in total. The sessions are quite long and I find that I'm never sure how much weight to add or the best way to progress. So after reading a lot about different programs, I've decided that the 5/3/1 program is my best option for increasing strength whilst giving me plenty of time to train other things.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4qz5yR49a0txSro5NCUMVpGiq434CcQmd5bihys7TffOv3A4hmm588YWy8mwBi2tyTvPmnlX1JB9eRU1ywrf_XwhCAAPu22kQfn5e_J0IkAWqnBC9d_AAGUU_yMe03MV2-hOl_g/s1600/deadlift.jpg"><img style="text-align: justify;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 291px; " src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4qz5yR49a0txSro5NCUMVpGiq434CcQmd5bihys7TffOv3A4hmm588YWy8mwBi2tyTvPmnlX1JB9eRU1ywrf_XwhCAAPu22kQfn5e_J0IkAWqnBC9d_AAGUU_yMe03MV2-hOl_g/s400/deadlift.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5559900009964618994" /></a><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Here is a brief description of the program, note that each training cycle lasts four weeks:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><span style="font-weight:bold;"><div style="text-align: justify;">-The first week you will do 3 sets of 5 reps.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">-The second week you will do 3 sets of 3 reps.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">-The third week you will do 1 set of 5 reps, 1 set of 3 reps and 1 set of 1 rep.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">-The fourth week is an easy deload week and you will do 3 sets of 5 reps.</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">After the fourth week you go back to week 1 and continue from there.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The best part about this program is that since all of the percentages are worked out beforehand based on my 1 rep max, there is no more guess work involved and I know exactly how much I should lift before I begin the training. The sessions will also be quite short, leaving me more time to do other things.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Now this program will apparently work for any strength based exercise but I'm only going to be using it for the lifts that I currently do which are the squat, the overhead press and the deadlift. So, the first thing I had to do was workout my 1 rep max for each of these exercises, that is the maximum amount I could lift one time. There are a few ways to do this but since I'd never tried to lift as much as I could before, I decided that actually trying it would be the most fun way to do it.</div><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv49iQh_jXjtPNcYexBiZG80c4ICSAjIOJXz_2UiC7CeurPzCb4zrt4YQO_Ud0uhIfVPlW4Ft3ebe3ZDd0GlDsiyw2zN8TlQS-6iIueiQz6uyp0zcw3T4qtinzNh8k-Q3n_x2KnQ/s1600/OP.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 250px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv49iQh_jXjtPNcYexBiZG80c4ICSAjIOJXz_2UiC7CeurPzCb4zrt4YQO_Ud0uhIfVPlW4Ft3ebe3ZDd0GlDsiyw2zN8TlQS-6iIueiQz6uyp0zcw3T4qtinzNh8k-Q3n_x2KnQ/s400/OP.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5559922917003408114" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">There is another more sensible way to do it which relies on estimating your 1 rep max first then taking 85% of this and performing as many repetitions as possible. You then use the following formula to calculate your 1RM:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><span style="font-weight:bold;"><div style="text-align: justify;">Weight x Reps x .0333 + Weight = Estimated 1RM.</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">So if your estimated 1RM for the squat was 100kg, you would take 85% of this, which is 85kg, and perform as many repetitions as possible. Supposing you managed eight, your formula would be:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><span style="font-weight:bold;"><div style="text-align: justify;">85 x 8 x .0333 + 85 = 107.6</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">And this would mean your estimated 1RM for the squat would actually be <span style="font-weight:bold;">107.6kg.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Now obviously it's not ideal to just lift the most you can all of the time to progress as this would put an incredible amount of strain on your body and quickly lead to overtraining symptoms so this is where the 5/3/1 program comes in to take care of the percentages.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Jim Wendler, the author of the 5/3/1 program recommends taking 90% of your actual training max to start the program with so if we take our theoretical <span style="font-weight:bold;">107.6kg</span> and multiply it by <span style="font-weight:bold;">0.9</span>, you get <span style="font-weight:bold;">96.84kg</span>, which would be your starting weight for the program.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Taking this <span style="font-weight:bold;">96.84kg</span>, here are the percentages of that you would lift each week:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Week 1 (3x5)</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Set 1 - 65% of 96.84kg x 5 reps (62.95kg x 5)</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Set 2 - 75% of 96.84kg x 5 reps (72.63kg x 5)</div><span style="font-weight:bold;"><div style="text-align: justify;">Set 3 - 85% of 96.84kg x 5+ reps (82.31kg x 5+)</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Week 2 (3x3)</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Set 1 - 70% of 96.84kg x 3 reps (67.79kg x 3)</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Set 2 - 80% of 96.84kg x 3 reps (77.47kg x 3)</div><span style="font-weight:bold;"><div style="text-align: justify;">Set 3 - 90% of 96.84kg x 3+ reps (87.16kg x 3+)</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Week 3 (1x5, 1x3, 1x1)</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Set 1 - 75% of 96.84kg x 5 reps (72.63kg x 5)</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Set 2 - 85% of 96.84kg x 3 reps (82.31kg x 3)</div><span style="font-weight:bold;"><div style="text-align: justify;">Set 3 - 95% of 96.84kg x 1+ reps (91.99kg x 1+)</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Week 4 (3x5)</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Set 1 - 40% of 96.84kg x 5 reps (38.74kg x 5)</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Set 2 - 50% of 96.84kg x 5 reps (48.42kg x 5)</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Set 3 - 60% of 96.84kg x 5 reps (58.1kg x 5)</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">You will notice that the last sets of weeks 1, 2 and 3 are bold and have a + sign next to the rep requirement and this is important since this is where you will dig deep and give it everything you have. On this set, since it is your last of the day and last of the week for this exercise, you do as many repetitions as possible with good form at the prescribed weight. Note also that the last week, the deload week, does not have a set going to failure and this is important. This is your rest and recovery week so just do the prescribed reps and call it a day for that particular exercise.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">And that is the first cycle complete.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">On the subsequent cycle, so on the second month, this is where you begin to add a little weight and the 5/3/1 program recommends adding <span style="font-weight:bold;">2.5kgs for your upper body exercises and 5kgs for your lower body exercises.</span> Why so little? Because it's a gradual increase and you have to be patient for this to work. By making small incremental increases you will continue to progress for a longer period of time and end up eventually lifting more weight, and therefore become stronger.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Note that it is a 2.5kg or 5kg increase to your theoretical max, from which you work out the new weights based on the above percentages.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">So using our initial 96.84kg starting max for the squat (which was 90% of our actual 1RM in the example if you remember), we add just 5kg (or just 2.5 to an upper body exercise) to this and start our next cycle with <span style="font-weight:bold;">101.84kg</span>, which is still less than our actual max and will allow plenty of time for adaptation and gradual progression.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Using this monthly plan you will add just 5kg to your squat per month which might seem laborious but can you imagine adding 60kg to your squat in a year? Sounds good to me.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Now there's no guarantee that it will lead to such gains and you will of course hit plateaus along the way, but at this point there is a very simple solution in the program that relies on simply taking 90% of your current 1RM and starting over again when you hit a wall.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Simple enough, right?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><span style="font-weight:bold;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Part 3 - Assistance exercises and integrating 5/3/1 in to your training</span></div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Now here is the important part. How do we integrate such a program in to our current training and what assistance exercises should we use to be of most benefit to us as Parkour practitioners?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgupPlSwFQ_EcAA6wZCxwjmX-FTKoiO1z9vaw5iQmDdqxjX5OhL1Z3ec-ASgIQkZTs_2R53LWOyatDJFTpe0Cn0Eb_wKj1jhxsRaQQEmjktKeCUb71YZoDaabicOgYIICClROT7A/s1600/gymnastics2009a.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgupPlSwFQ_EcAA6wZCxwjmX-FTKoiO1z9vaw5iQmDdqxjX5OhL1Z3ec-ASgIQkZTs_2R53LWOyatDJFTpe0Cn0Eb_wKj1jhxsRaQQEmjktKeCUb71YZoDaabicOgYIICClROT7A/s400/gymnastics2009a.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5559912917439254962" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Jim Wendler also co-wrote <span style="font-weight:bold;">5/3/1 For Football</span> with Bob Fitzgerald and that has helped me to write this article too since it is based around how to fit this strength training program in and around a sport. But unlike many sports, including football, <span style="font-weight:bold;">life does not have an on-season and an off-season, and neither should Parkour</span>. We should be able to move in all conditions, at any time of the year and be as capable as we can at all times. That's the whole point. So with that in mind I'm not going to have an off-season where I reduce my technical training and hibernate in the gym. Instead I need a more practical solution and a strength training program that integrates seamlessly in to my other training.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I also plan on splitting the three exercises up and doing them on separate days, which has a few advantages. The first is that it allows me to be fresh for the main lift of the day and get the most out of the session. The second is that the workout will be much shorter than if I were to do them on the same day and thirdly it is also going to keep me fresh and I shouldn't experience too much stiffness or soreness the day after these sessions.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Below is a general overview of how a typical week might be scheduled for me.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><span style="font-weight:bold;"><div style="text-align: justify;">Monday - Power training for legs, technical training and mobility exercises.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Tuesday - Overhead Press 5/3/1 and assistance exercises.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Wednesday - Technical training and/or climbing.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Thursday - Deadlift 5/3/1 and assistance exercises.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Friday - Light technical training and mobility exercises.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Saturday - Squat 5/3/1 and assistance exercises</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Sunday - Active Recovery.</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><span style="font-weight:bold;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; "><span style="font-weight:bold;">The 5/3/1 days will be Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday</span> and those will be fixed, but the other training will be flexible and based around what I feel my weaknesses are at the time and what I feel like doing that day. I wanted to fill in the other days just to demonstrate how you might adapt your training to accommodate a strength program such as this.</span></div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><span style="font-weight:bold;"><div style="text-align: justify;">Assistance Exercises</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;">Now if you haven't guessed already, I really like to train. So lifting for 20 minutes, 3 times per week just isn't enough for me and I have a whole bunch of other stuff I want to do and get better at. I love my kettlebell, I love cleans and presses, I love dips, I love (AND HATE) glute-ham raises and I love muscle ups and heavy pullups. I love throwing rocks. I love carrying awkward shit. So where do these fit in? The answer is after the compound lifts.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I'm going to add these assistance exercises in a logical place and split them in to sections.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Since I'm doing three lifts (the squat, overhead press, and the deadlift) and each of these are quite different, I'm going to make a list of exercises that will assist those lifts and do three or four of them each time I lift.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxa3NKwymhmZIJfBV7HpJcEH-iWWkgPaaFE6XY7QNh7E8JW_VaoheMK7N1tSO5J_i8O3-AZXarYkfGsmzsAnNDxF-brnJ-c5nInEgHLJmqT3ol6QF_C3CaKjFbh2aIZcSuGSOqEw/s1600/Prowler_380.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 380px; height: 289px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxa3NKwymhmZIJfBV7HpJcEH-iWWkgPaaFE6XY7QNh7E8JW_VaoheMK7N1tSO5J_i8O3-AZXarYkfGsmzsAnNDxF-brnJ-c5nInEgHLJmqT3ol6QF_C3CaKjFbh2aIZcSuGSOqEw/s400/Prowler_380.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5559924016908051490" /></a><br /><br /></div><span style="font-weight:bold;"><div style="text-align: justify;">Assistance exercises for the Squat</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;">Here is a list of exercises that will benefit my squat and build more strength and endurance in my legs. On my squat day, which will be a Saturday, I will pick three or four of these to add on to the end of my lifting session and do what I please with them. Maybe I'll add weight to them, maybe I won't. It depends on how the main lift went and how I feel.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">-Lunges</div><div style="text-align: justify;">-Glute-ham raises</div><div style="text-align: justify;">-Isometric holds (chair positions)</div><div style="text-align: justify;">-Overhead Squats</div><div style="text-align: justify;">-Front Squats</div><div style="text-align: justify;">-Goblet Squats</div><div style="text-align: justify;">-Bulgarian Split-Squats</div><div style="text-align: justify;">-Pistols</div><div style="text-align: justify;">-Kettlebell Swings</div><div style="text-align: justify;">-Calf raises</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><span style="font-weight:bold;"><div style="text-align: justify;">Assistance exercises for the Overhead Press</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;">Below is a list of assistance exercises that will benefit my Overhead Press training on a Tuesday. Even if they're not pushing exercises, it makes sense to do them on the same day as my main upper body training. Once again some of these I will add weight to, some of them I won't, some of them will be for endurance and some will be for max strength. It will depend on how I feel at the time or my other goals outside of 5/3/1.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">-Handstand pressups</div><div style="text-align: justify;">-Push presses</div><div style="text-align: justify;">-Rows</div><div style="text-align: justify;">-Dips</div><div style="text-align: justify;">-Chinups</div><div style="text-align: justify;">-Pullups</div><div style="text-align: justify;">-Pressups</div><div style="text-align: justify;">-Quadrupedie</div><div style="text-align: justify;">-Bench Press</div><div style="text-align: justify;">-Cleans and Presses</div><div style="text-align: justify;">-Snatches</div><div style="text-align: justify;">-Muscle Ups</div><div style="text-align: justify;">-Turkish Get Ups</div><div style="text-align: justify;">-Windmills</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><span style="font-weight:bold;"><div style="text-align: justify;">Assistance exercises for the Deadlift</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;">These will be quite similar to the assistance exercises for the squat and will once again be chosen three or four at a time to be done after my deadlift sessions on a Thursday as I please. Some will be weighted, some won't.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">-Romanian deadlifts</div><div style="text-align: justify;">-Hack squats</div><div style="text-align: justify;">-Farmer's walk</div><div style="text-align: justify;">-Fat Gripz pulling exercises</div><div style="text-align: justify;">-Squat</div><div style="text-align: justify;">-Glute-ham raises</div><div style="text-align: justify;">-Bridges</div><div style="text-align: justify;">-Kettlebell swings</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Now those lists are not complete and were just typed off the top of my head and there are of course countless exercises that I've missed that would be useful. But it will give you an idea of the kind of work I will be doing and where you could fit in certain exercises of your own around this program.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><span><div style="text-align: justify; font-weight: bold; "><span class="Apple-style-span">Part 4 - Conclusion</span></div><div style="text-align: justify; font-weight: bold; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span class="Apple-style-span">Strength training is a vital part of your development in Parkour and it will do more than improve your performance by strengthening your posterior chain. It will help to keep you safe and build a resistance to the drops and impacts found in our practice and help to ensure a long and injury free future. Most importantly it will help to maintain symmetry throughout your skeletal muscles to prevent imbalances.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span class="Apple-style-span">The problem with a lot of strength programs is that they can demand a lot of your time and require significant periods of recovery between sessions, meaning less time to train technically to the best of our ability.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span class="Apple-style-span">5/3/1 is the most effective system I have found for building strength using compound lifts such as the squat, the deadlift, the bench press and the overhead press. It requires little of your time, ensures a steady and gradual progression, eliminates the need for guess work when it comes to adding weight, and even includes a chance for you to go all out and dig deep with extra reps on the last set of each exercise.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span class="Apple-style-span">You can read more about Jim Wendler's 5/3/1 program <a href="http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/how_to_build_pure_strength">here</a> and you can buy the book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Simplest-Effective-Training-Increase-Strength/dp/0557248299/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1294517451&sr=1-1">here</a>. I also highly recommend Mark Rippetoe's excellent book, Starting Strength, which you can buy <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Starting-Strength-2nd-Mark-Rippetoe/dp/0976805421/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1294521209&sr=1-1">here</a>.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">I will be posting my ongoing results with this program in the near future but in the meantime feel free to add your own thoughts on lifting weights for Parkour and the 5/3/1 program in the comments box and I wish you all a very happy new year.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span class="Apple-style-span">-Blane</span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div></span></div>Chris 'Blane' Rowathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13050917713159548998noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37058160.post-81399677982751517752010-12-22T19:11:00.009+00:002010-12-22T19:32:09.224+00:001,000 Muscle Ups<blockquote>"Alright, would you rather do 10,000 pressups… or 1,000 muscle ups?"</blockquote><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzlhajx_te_SsTAWrFShT609j-iwIC0U_clh8tja-P8pPOWKb6vmHve_MSQFTn7D1HRgqiFx3lNOA-L0Sq7ovYufRoTzt75Zj7fOBeMZEdFvpYmWhV9cMMSPS5XGNPfSkhf195hw/s1600/one_thousand_32.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzlhajx_te_SsTAWrFShT609j-iwIC0U_clh8tja-P8pPOWKb6vmHve_MSQFTn7D1HRgqiFx3lNOA-L0Sq7ovYufRoTzt75Zj7fOBeMZEdFvpYmWhV9cMMSPS5XGNPfSkhf195hw/s400/one_thousand_32.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5553587948987407826" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">It wasn’t a surprising question to be asked since we ask each other these kinds of things all the time, like “<span style="font-style:italic;">Could you take that drop and walk away?</span>”, or <span style="font-style:italic;">“If this balcony was going to collapse in 10 seconds, what would you do?</span>” and in fact both questions I had answered in the last week.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">But even though these questions are always being circulated amongst us and might raise a smile, they’re always deadly serious, and your answer is expected to be also. If the next day that balcony did begin to collapse and you found yourself standing on it, what WOULD you do? That’s the point, to get you thinking and to make you find an answer so that if it happens, well you have the answer already, there’s no more thought needed.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Anyway, after a few minutes I said I’d rather do 1,000 muscle ups and we went back to eating our food in the Brazilian Chinese restaurant… that is, a restaurant in Brazil that serves Chinese food. Then I really began to think about it and we talked it over a little more, estimating the time it might take, how it would compare to the three hundred muscle ups we had done the year before, whether it would be possible or not within 24 hours etc.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Then I said something that I knew might as well be carved in stone, <span style="font-style:italic;">“I’m gonna do it</span>”. I knew I’d have to keep my word, with these guys it’s always the same and if you say you’ll do it then you have to do it. Within fifteen minutes, Dan was in too, and within the hour, Stephane had committed himself, then Bruno. We laughed over dinner at the idea of it but in the backs of our minds we knew we’d just signed up for something we would probably regret.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Although we were bound by PKG law to try and complete the thousand anyway, we wanted a good cause to do it for as we thought we might be able to raise some money for this craziness. It quickly became obvious that we should try to raise more funding for Naoki and his family to cover their hospital fees from the Summer and so our planning was complete.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Six months later and I’m standing in a chilly converted warehouse gym known as OLF, or the Optimal Life Fitness Centre, in East London. I’m excited and glad that we’re about to begin the challenge and as I look around I see nervous smiles, focused eyes, chalked hands, people taping their fingers and everyone making last minute preparations in the area they had chosen to face this beast. Everyone’s plan is slightly different and everyone’s training was slightly different but what is the same for all of us is that we’re staring down the barrel at 1,000 muscle ups each. I think it’s fair to say that 95% of the human population couldn’t execute a single muscle up and here we were, planning on doing 1,000. Each. Our team of four had grown to a team of eight over the months and it was time for us all to get this underway.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The highly anticipated start was a relief in some ways and made me smile not just because I was with my friends facing another crazy challenge but because the big build up only lasted about 10 seconds as we all jumped up and grabbed the bar and did no more than three or four muscle ups each, before dropping down and resting. This was a strategic and tactical move that we’d all seemed to agree on for pacing yourself was going to be the key to completion. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">We were on the way and what follows from here is a very one sided account as I have little idea of what went on around me for the next sixteen hours…</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5wjR4vT66WE0LeBECUfZY4vq-0oQMYgNm2mTSX-Qzr_zWGbS3mt7XxH-D8Lr2ePIJoWATVMN7pI8WL-UgXpeRfstbS9RaDgBcJqH783FG5pxCHJmFnLpHWHH9IMhmQXBg7DXGeQ/s1600/one_thousand_08.jpg"><img style="text-align: justify;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px; " src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5wjR4vT66WE0LeBECUfZY4vq-0oQMYgNm2mTSX-Qzr_zWGbS3mt7XxH-D8Lr2ePIJoWATVMN7pI8WL-UgXpeRfstbS9RaDgBcJqH783FG5pxCHJmFnLpHWHH9IMhmQXBg7DXGeQ/s400/one_thousand_08.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5553588968773948610" /></a><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><span style="font-weight:bold;"><div style="text-align: justify;">255 muscle ups and 1 hour, 49 minutes.</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;">I’m feeling good, hands are taped, chalked and still in one piece. I briefly think about the 300 challenge which I did quite a while ago and remember it took me 2 hours and 11 minutes last time. Even though this is a very different kind of challenge, I think I’d like to beat that by just a minute or so to improve my time but I don’t want to push myself too much.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><span style="font-weight:bold;"><div style="text-align: justify;">300 muscle ups and 2 hours, 9 minutes.</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;">Two minutes faster than last time and I’m still feeling not too bad. I had begun today by doing three muscle ups in a row then dropping and resting a whole minute before doing the same again and repeating the process. It was working well but I was beginning to feel that it wasn’t going to be long before I failed to complete a set of three.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><span style="font-weight:bold;"><div style="text-align: justify;">363 muscle ups and I switch to doubles.</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;">I’m over a third of the way and change my pattern to two every minute. A few of the guys had also completed the 300 challenge within the two hour thirty minute time limit and I was happy to take a two minute break to shake their hands and congratulate them.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><span style="font-weight:bold;"><div style="text-align: justify;">401 muscle ups and 3 hours, 3 minutes.</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;">It had been building up for a while but so slowly and steadily that I hadn’t really heard my body telling me that I felt a bit sick. Whether it was low blood sugar, plain hunger or just the sustained effort, I needed a break and food. It was worrying to stop because I feared I might seize up, get cold and find it hard to restart but I had to deal with this feeling now or I might not be able to continue at all.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimLR9vwxxuTnAgQ5l6dS8zWf-AqaW_nDeRy_rbc0wfA5-wRJYm9jb1IqkovW599hk4mlCeS9jijnUh9dZuocMHHgGqAufYak2IGSlKI0Yjr2mJXRivJUJd-GlfsZxJv7b99gmHRg/s1600/one_thousand_17.jpg"><img style="text-align: justify;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px; " src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimLR9vwxxuTnAgQ5l6dS8zWf-AqaW_nDeRy_rbc0wfA5-wRJYm9jb1IqkovW599hk4mlCeS9jijnUh9dZuocMHHgGqAufYak2IGSlKI0Yjr2mJXRivJUJd-GlfsZxJv7b99gmHRg/s400/one_thousand_17.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5553589605260075506" /></a><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><span style="font-weight:bold;"><div style="text-align: justify;">500 muscle ups and 4 hours, 54 minutes.</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;">I’m halfway there and the break had been perfectly timed. I had sat down for 20 minutes, eaten a beef burger that had been grilled at 6am that morning and munched on some biscuits, had some tea, some water, an apple and half a banana. At first I felt cold but the food really helped me to feel better and ward off the sick feeling. Five minutes on the rowing machine had warmed me back up but not tired me out and the time between 400 and 500 went quite quickly. Time, in general, was moving quickly. I couldn’t believe we’d been going for almost five hours already and my original goal of completing the challenge in around ten hours was still on track.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><span style="font-weight:bold;"><div style="text-align: justify;">600 muscle ups and 6 hours, 39 minutes.</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;">And there it was. The good times were over, the fun had stopped and everything was not ok. It was far from ok. I had some pain in my elbows as the tendons were becoming inflamed and every repetition was beginning to hurt. Shirley and Andy had taped, and re-taped my hands countless times and I was resting more and more between sets. It was time to be honest with myself. 600 sounds like a lot and on any other day it would be, but when you’re left with 400 muscle ups, you are far from done. This is where the line was drawn and it was becoming obvious which techniques worked best, whose training methods had been most effective for this challenge and just how much we wanted to finish this.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I decided that if the pain got much worse, then I would think about stopping but right now I was going to keep going, one muscle up at a time, and one minute at a time.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZhkdx9xv2b-tWtWgbS8VckIAbEEmmFg1R6OWqJcYZV5jJLQPD_0H5NO5X3cbY4eOsHaN5UG29XIRyAmsEYOUpnu4Q4dChtA5j57lXbavDVDakTOKymAeMTsOgoqmDTnx4FygzaA/s1600/one_thousand_21.jpg"><img style="text-align: justify;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px; " src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZhkdx9xv2b-tWtWgbS8VckIAbEEmmFg1R6OWqJcYZV5jJLQPD_0H5NO5X3cbY4eOsHaN5UG29XIRyAmsEYOUpnu4Q4dChtA5j57lXbavDVDakTOKymAeMTsOgoqmDTnx4FygzaA/s400/one_thousand_21.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5553590282789417026" /></a><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><span style="font-weight:bold;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; "><span style="font-weight:bold;">700 muscle ups.</span> </span></div></span><div style="text-align: justify;">I have no record on my paper as to when I reached 700. It wasn’t a relief or significant enough to remember to make a note and I just remember the pain in my elbows had become worse. Andy had managed to tape my hands up in a way that the tape seemed to fuse together and hold tight for the rest of the night, which I was very grateful for, and Joe had just finished his last muscle up of the 1,000 which was a fantastic moment and gave us all hope that the end was near. Joe’s plan had been to abandon any kind of timing and just feel it all out. When he felt good, he did a bit more, when he felt bad, he did a bit less and by listening to his body throughout the whole process and sticking with a technique that worked for him, he blasted through the whole thing in around eight and a half hours – an incredible achievement.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">There were many peaks and valleys throughout the day and if I could have started again I decided I would have increased my pace during the peaks and just relaxed a bit in the valleys to reserve my strength. I had been too regimented in my approach and by doing three each time then resting a whole minute, I was pushing too much when I was tiring but not really doing very much at all whilst I was fresh.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Andy had also finished his 300 reps around this time and this was a fantastic achievement. His original plan had been to try and hit 100, and when he got there he just kept going and then he aimed for 200. When he informed me that he had to leave soon to attend his work’s Christmas dinner, but felt like he could have perhaps reached 300, I couldn’t help but ask him which he would remember more in ten years time… doing 300 muscle ups or going to his work dinner, and sure enough after some thought, he stayed and polished off all 300 with good form. We were all really happy for him and proud to see him reach his goal. You can read his version of events and check out more photos of the day <a href="http://www.kiell.com/the_one_thousand/index.html">here</a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><span style="font-weight:bold;"><div style="text-align: justify;">800 muscle ups and 10 hours, 20 minutes.</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;">I’d lost any sense of time and progress had all but stopped. I would walk up to the bar, jump and grab, pull up, lean forward and push only to experience pain in my elbows above and beyond any I’ve felt before and on the way down it hurt just as much, if not more. I would drop, walk around for a minute or two, come back and repeat the process. It was murder. Constant pain, fatigue, tightness and the feeling of never getting any closer to finishing enveloped me. The problem with this kind of thing is that the more time you take, the more the magnitude of everything is multiplied. As the hours pass and the body is denied rest and forced to work on and on, the mind is also driven to places it hasn’t been before. I knew this moment would come but wasn’t sure when and it was fast becoming just as much of a mental battle as a physical one.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><span style="font-weight:bold;"><div style="text-align: justify;">900 muscle ups and 13 hours.</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;">It had taken me almost three hours to do the last 100 muscle ups and I was aware that there was a good chance it could take longer than that for the last 100. The pain hadn’t increased but it was ever present and substantial. The difference was that now it hurt all of the time, not just during the muscle up. I couldn’t fully bend my arms due to the tight muscles, my neck and traps felt like knotted lead and oddly enough my abs were destroyed. I walked around and began laughing to myself at how ridiculous the whole situation was. Why do we do this? Why am I continuing to endure this? I could just stop now, go home and sleep. Nobody would think any less of me, it’s not a matter of ego… it was something else. Despite feeling the way I did and being in the amount of pain I was in, it was a rush to feel so alive and be aware of it.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Yao was a massive help in massaging my elbows, neck and shoulders a few times during the night, which would relieve the worst of the pain for about twenty minutes or so before everything returned to the way it was. The simple cups of tea from Naomi, Tracey and Shirley were the sweetest and greatest things I was sure I’d ever tasted and with nothing else to be happy about, I really began to appreciate and enjoy the little things… like a short text message from a friend wishing me luck or a few words from one of the other guys.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Chris had just finished his last rep of his hard fought campaign across the scaffolding from me and it was another landmark moment for the guys still fighting on as we were getting closer to reaching the end too. Another brief pause to congratulate him was followed by another trip to the bar to grind a repetition out.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It was also around now that I came out of my bubble a little bit and looked around. For the past couple of hours I’d heard a rhythmic pounding in the background somewhere every minute or so and hadn’t thought much of it even though I knew what had been happening. Brian was in the background with a sledgehammer and was smashing a tractor tyre to pieces with it every minute or so. I found out he was aiming for 1,000 tyre slams with the hammer and could see it was taking a toll on him. I’d been so consumed in my own little world that I hadn’t realised just what all the noise had been about. We talked for a few minutes then went back to work but there seemed to have been an unspoken agreement made during our brief moment together… we’d both finish this. He would hammer, I would do a muscle up. I would do a muscle up, he would hammer. When one went for it, the other one did and it helped a great deal to work with someone even if it was just for a little while. I was alone on the scaffolding at this point as the others had either finished, stopped or were taking a break and as the minutes and hours passed I could taste the end. We both could.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><span style="font-weight:bold;"><div style="text-align: justify;">1,001 muscle ups and 15 hours, 45 minutes.</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;">The last 30 had been slow, but knowing I didn’t have to hold anything back now, I was speeding up a little toward the end. Words of encouragement and the steady music in the background which had gone from death metal to hip-hop to movie soundtracks and back, three times, helped to see me through and I remember the moment where I had three reps left. No matter what happened, I would finish. It would all be over soon. With one left, I wandered around and knew that as always, this was never going to finish on 1,000 and that there is always enough left in you for one more repetition to dedicate to the others around me to thank them for their support and to the other guys who had been battling alongside me. We start together, we finish together, as always.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">It was also for everyone who had donated over the last couple of weeks, whether it had been in blood or otherwise. The thousandth rep and the one after were done back to back and as I dropped down there wasn’t much to feel. Nothing really changed but as I was congratulated by the people around me I knew a lot had changed inside. I needed food, water and rest more than anything else but I just wanted to sit down for a minute and breathe. I spent the next half hour slowly eating a Chinese takeaway that Annty and Shirley had gone to pick up a while ago. Nothing else had been open at that time of night but nothing could have tasted better, I was sure of it.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">After Annty carefully cut me out of my taped up hands, I lay on the gym floor wearing all of my clothes and drifted in and out of a light sleep. I woke up to congratulate Jun for finishing his last rep and went back to lying down again as standing up was too much effort. Everything from the waist upwards ached more than it has ever before and my muscles were so tight I felt like I was wearing a straight jacket. Not everyone had finished so we opted to stay overnight on the gym floor and try to get some sleep but a never ending hunger kept me awake and munching on food on the floor. At some point I passed out and came around as the last few reps of the day were being polished off at 9am, twenty-three hours after the first few were completed.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>It was all over. Was it worth it?</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">My muscle up technique probably hasn’t improved and I doubt my max reps have increased much, if it all. I won’t be stronger after this challenge. My tendons and ligaments are only just feeling normal now, eleven days later and I still get tired quickly from exercise.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">It wasn’t functional or efficient but yes, it was worth it. In the same way running a marathon is worth it. Just like winning a heavyweight title is worth it. Training is for something and you train to meet a goal or to get closer to where you want to be. If all we ever did was train when we were fresh and have short, effective sessions then yes, we would progress quickly but to what end? Where is the challenge? Where is the doubt? Where is the growth? </div><div style="text-align: justify;">Knowing that I can complete 1,000 muscle ups back to back in one session and more importantly that I can push through levels of sustained pain that I hadn’t experienced before, made it worth it. Without chaos, nothing evolves. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">My biggest thanks go to everyone who came to support us at OLF, from BJ and Tommy for letting us use the gym and to Julie for giving us a lift in the car bright and early in the morning. To Naomi, Tracey, Shirley and Annty for keeping the kettle full and the never ending support and to Brian for keeping the rhythm with his hammer. Thanks to Andy for helping me tape my hands and to CJ for dropping by to offer his support. Thanks to Yao and Bruno for their massages and encouragement. Thanks to Peter and Alli for dropping by later to continue the support. Thanks to Joe for the bite of chocolate cheese cake and for showing us the way and to Chris for generally battling through but mostly for his ‘power hour’ with Disturbed that lifted the mood. Thanks to everyone who donated in muscle ups or otherwise but my greatest thanks to all the guys who were next to me on the scaffolding, it would’ve been a far tougher challenge without you.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Until the next crazy challenge, be sure to check out Andy's version of events and photographs <a href="http://www.kiell.com/the_one_thousand/index.html">here</a></div><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrwf9Ya1zzfg0traw374u6cKthgNZhkt0hjRkcb_hjTQU9AgCVu5Z6tzFlBg2NvK_VlnEJ0WjnAA78Hj_euEmGJxKp4UbnNedg9NXcsNaBdbf_Kpe-gG8ujyUkGjN4j-yorWx7mg/s1600/one_thousand_18.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrwf9Ya1zzfg0traw374u6cKthgNZhkt0hjRkcb_hjTQU9AgCVu5Z6tzFlBg2NvK_VlnEJ0WjnAA78Hj_euEmGJxKp4UbnNedg9NXcsNaBdbf_Kpe-gG8ujyUkGjN4j-yorWx7mg/s400/one_thousand_18.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5553588621800541666" /></a><br /><br /><br />BlaneChris 'Blane' Rowathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13050917713159548998noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37058160.post-44416438508090378262010-06-18T14:35:00.009+01:002010-12-22T19:38:06.351+00:00Kettlebells<div><div style="text-align: justify;">It's my birthday next week and I've been lucky enough to receive an early present in the form of a 24kg pro-grade kettlebell from my girlfriend. I've known about kettlebells and had a vague interest in them for a while but have never really had the time or inclination to find out more about them until recently.</div><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">So a few months ago I ran a Parkour taster session with Dan at a new gym called OLF, or Optimal Life Fitness, in <a href="http://www.parkourgenerations.com/classes.php?p=indoor">Hither Green, South London</a>. On the day, we met BJ, who runs the place with his business partner, and a bunch of other guys who had come for the opening day to try Parkour, Muay Thai, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Kettlebell sport or any of the other sessions being introduced that day.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Now I'm not a big fan of gyms or places where you can go and watch TV, or enjoy air-conditioned treadmill sessions whilst listening to muzak or pan pipes. Give me a cold, dark, abandoned carpark with a rusty pipe and a weight vest and I'll be more at home.. but OLF? Well, this was no ordinary gym.</div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.optimallifefitness.com/images/olf_training_centre.jpg"><img style="text-align: justify;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px; " src="http://www.optimallifefitness.com/olfblog/uploaded_images/IMG_2524-754885.JPG" border="0" alt="" /></a><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A converted warehouse, the first thing you notice when you walk in is the towering scaffold structure that is bolted in to the side wall and submerged 6ft in to the concrete to support even the biggest guys swinging around on it.. quickly followed by the climbing rope hanging from the rafters, a power rack, some benches and an armada of kettlbells. Not to mention the Bulgarian wrestling bags, rings, gladiator walls, straps and, well, the list goes on. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This is a gym. In the same way <a href="http://www.gymjones.com/">Gym Jones</a> is a gym. And this is the home of the <a href="http://www.trojansliftingclub.com/">Trojans Lifting Club</a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The taster was successful enough to allow for a regular Parkour session there that I've been running and I've enjoyed getting to know BJ and Tommy there who are both very intelligent in their approach to training, and strong because of it. It was BJ that introduced me to kettlebells and some basic weightlifting skills and I've been hooked ever since.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Fast forward a couple of months and here I am with my very own kettlebell and feeling humbled by this monster sitting next to me. Just picking the kettlebell up makes me think and when you actually start to try the basic swings and techniques you struggle to understand how someone can repeat this for a few minutes, never mind ten, which would be the typical amount of time you'd be swinging this beast for in a kettlebell competition.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.olfstore.com/images/uploads/24kg%20small.jpg"><img style="text-align: justify;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 230px; height: 330px; " src="http://www.olfstore.com/images/uploads/24kg%20small.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">So I'll start from scratch. I aim to begin with the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNaoELYlLfw&feature=related">basic two-handed swing</a> and then progress on to the one-handed variations, switching between hands and repeating until I feel comfortable before experimenting with the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ubc4uJdyB8">cleans and snatches</a> that these training tools are so famous for. Oh and of course, the infamous <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztTOn0rSMis">Turkish Get Up</a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It's going to be a busy month ahead with next week in Leicester, then out to Nicaragua for a week followed by Brazil for a fortnight for teaching and training, so I won't get much chance to use the kettlebell until after that, but it'll be waiting for me when I get back.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">And I can't wait!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Results and thoughts to follow..</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Blane</div>Chris 'Blane' Rowathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13050917713159548998noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37058160.post-6481968503487478042010-06-02T01:35:00.004+01:002010-06-02T01:48:51.432+01:00Training and Teaching in 2010<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0exwTpn-iN-Bv4xio9dmYDlUpRa8XyS9zV8b3aOnJTFUwuxRkBm3CvQwXMnlh7dNdk_g6ceHZ4LrPoI34Q4CW_Q5rC_7n5i_5Q-QMkWY3ooB4Qf3qeWZyKMRAWa7kaMEREi1vVQ/s1600/869603589_VAJP9-L.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0exwTpn-iN-Bv4xio9dmYDlUpRa8XyS9zV8b3aOnJTFUwuxRkBm3CvQwXMnlh7dNdk_g6ceHZ4LrPoI34Q4CW_Q5rC_7n5i_5Q-QMkWY3ooB4Qf3qeWZyKMRAWa7kaMEREi1vVQ/s400/869603589_VAJP9-L.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5477971331153726242" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://contactfront.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/i-told-you-so1.jpg"><br /></a><br /><div>So it's been a while..</div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">I’ve posted a few entries on the Parkour Generations blog but the main reason I’ve been so quiet on here is that when I do something, I like to do it properly and I’ve just not had the time or the motivation to update this on a regular basis. But, after taking a few trips recently and speaking to people from Mexico, Copenhagen, Rome, Ohio and various other places around the world, I’ve realised that more people read this thing than I could have imagined, so it’s to give this blog a bit more effort.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Now just because I’ve not been updating things here doesn’t mean things haven’t been happening. More than I can remember has changed since my last update and this entry will be more of a lengthy catch up than a discussion about anything in particular.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">In future, I’m going to post smaller updates with what I’m doing, what I’m thinking about, what I’m training, where I’m going, what I’ve learned there and generally just make a little more effort to share my journey with all of you crazy people who choose to read this babble!</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">So, to the point and to the most important thing.. the reason I started writing in the first place, Parkour. Things here in the UK are huge now and the number of practitioners just keeps rising worldwide; but rather than fragmenting and growing too quickly, the worldwide community just keeps on becoming better and better, with more organisations keeping things.. well, organised. The vast majority of communities are doing their best to ensure that Parkour is spreading in a positive way in their own regions. With very few exceptions, I’m happy and proud with the way Parkour is developing on a worldwide scale.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">On a more personal level, I’m satisfied with my training at the moment and whilst some things have changed drastically, others have remained the same or have been tweaked just slightly to continue challenging me.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">One of the biggest changes I’ve made is that I’ve started lifting weights.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Adding resistance for upper body exercises is easy, you can take away one arm for all of the basic exercises, jump on the rings or train gymnastic techniques, or elevate your body. But for the legs? They’re that much stronger that it’s quite hard to add a great deal of resistance using just your bodyweight.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">So my first (slightly reluctant) experience with weightlifting was maybe eight or nine months ago but it’s only in these past two or three that I’ve been taking it much more seriously after moving in to a new house and having access to an Olympic weight set.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">I’ll admit it, I was wrong and I was uneducated about weightlifting. I realise now that used properly, weights can be extremely functional in increasing strength and especially in targeting that all important posterior chain.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">HA! I told you so!”</i> – I can hear them now. That’s great. I don’t care.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">So for around three months I’ve been including some heavy lifts in my training schedule and twice per week I squat, deadlift, overhead press and slip on the bag for some heavy pulls. I spent a long time researching before I touched the iron and thought I owed it to myself to try it and see what would happen. My biggest fear was gaining useless bulk and affecting my explosive power, and I knew the importance of muscular endurance for those long traverses, so I didn’t want to lose that either.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">I can say now that both my power and endurance have improved since I started adding more resistance to my training and I feel much more complete. I struggle to describe it in one word but I feel much more comfortable with impacts and more protected in general from the forces generated by the movements in Parkour.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Of course, an increase in strength gives you more potential for power and endurance too so I’ve been careful in balancing things and trying to progress in all directions at the same time, which surprisingly hasn’t been as tough as I thought it would be as long as I mix the training up regularly.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">It all seems so obvious now but it’s often hard to change when you’re stuck in your ways and reluctant to risk a step backwards. In the end though, there isn’t a sport in the world, endurance based or not, where the top level athletes in that field don’t lift heavy to make gains. Sprinters are some of the most explosive athletes on the planet and they squat twice their bodyweight. Lance Armstrong? An elite level endurance athlete? Also squats his saddle-sore ass off with heavy iron. I had to get over myself and accept that iron is just another form of resistance, and increased resistance is what you need for strength gains.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">The way I think about it now is that I’ve spent five years doing pushup marathons, thousands of lunges, thousands of squats, miles of quadrupedie and traversing so muscular endurance was the primary focus for so long that I forgot the old phrase – ‘the best exercise for you is the one you’re not doing.’</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">I have to admit, it felt strange to do just five reps of anything and feel destroyed after just thirty minutes of training and I almost felt like I was cheating something, but this was the bizarre new world of strength training for Parkour and it’s become a good friend of mine since then.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">So my training plan at the moment sounds something like this –</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"></p><ul><li>Mondays and Fridays I’ll squat, deadlift, overhead press and do weighted pullups with as much weight as I can handle for five sets of five reps. If I don’t have access to the weights then I’ll do other heavy resistance work such as rope climbing with the vest, one-arm chinup training, levers, pistols with the vest holding a big rock or some other suitable form of resistance training.</li><li>On Wednesdays I run, jump and climb as hard as I can with a mix of plyometric drills, max precisions, strides and sprints, muscle ups, double tap drills, climbups and generally work on my explosive power with some time spent working towards breaking new jumps.</li><li>Tuesdays, Thursdays and on the weekends I work on light movement drills. I play, I stretch, I balance and try to be creative and vary those days as much as I can, working on whatever feels right at the time. Some clever chap would probably call them active rest days but they’re just good fun to me.</li></ul><p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">What’s that, you say? No quadrupedie? Where’s the muscular endurance work? Of course I still see a need for endurance marathons and training to failure because after all, this isn’t a competitive sport – I’m not trying to be the best athlete I can and win gold, I’m trying to grow as a person and push myself and if that means sacrificing performance then that’s fine, because performance is not everything. So once or twice per month if I’m away from home or just feel like something different then I’ll work through a long quadrupedie block, pushup ladder, lunge marathon, traverse to failure or something similar. It still has a place to me but its priority has just shifted for me at this time in my training, where I feel my weaknesses lie in other areas.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Training and teaching are two completely different things and it’s been proven time and time again that sometimes the ‘best’ practitioners can make the worst teachers in any practice, and Parkour is no exception. Teaching is another skill that has to be learned and improved constantly so I’ve really been enjoying that challenge too.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Finding ways to pass on the values and techniques of Parkour to a huge variety of students with different learning styles is challenging and forces you to understand everything on a much deeper level rather than just having a superficial familiarity with things. I also feel incredibly lucky to travel to other countries and teach but it comes with a huge responsibility since what you do out there can drastically change a Parkour community and the way they train forever. The result though is an incredibly rewarding experience when you see a student shine and do something they never imagined was possible for them.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Here in London, Parkour Generations is going from strength to strength and with our ADAPT course becoming increasingly popular, we’ve been busy delivering the teaching qualification to different parts of the UK. From next month, we take the show on the road with the first of many international trips to deliver the qualification in Brazil and ensure that, globally, continues to be taught and spread safely around the world, preserving the core values whilst encouraging groups to maintain their individuality and unique approach.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">ADAPT itself was meticulously built from scratch by the founders of the discipline who realised that they had a duty to ensure that Parkour, Freerunning, Art Du Deplacement – whatever you wish to call it – has a standard of coaching and that a new student has the option to choose a coach who is recognised by the founders of the discipline to be competent. A good coach must deliver safe and accurate information to their students and set a good example, they must live the discipline, not just know it.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">To summarise, teaching and training are both going well and I love my life and all its challenges. Typing this, I’m thirty-seven thousand feet in the air travelling at five-hundred and fifty miles per hour, half way between Toronto and London (and able to tell you that thanks to the handy computer built in to the headrest in front).</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">After spending the last week in Ohio running a seminar with the Yamakasi and a bunch of our guys, there’s one thing I can’t get out of my head and that’s the increasing size of this huge international family of practitioners all working together to improve ourselves, each other and push the boundaries of what was previously believed possible.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">We start together, we finish together.<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; "><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><o:p> </o:p></b></span></b></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; ">Blane</span></o:p></b></p>Chris 'Blane' Rowathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13050917713159548998noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37058160.post-58564056183015198182009-04-15T22:21:00.003+01:002009-04-16T00:08:09.886+01:0024 Hours<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">(Originally posted on the Parkour Generations </span><a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.parkourgenerations.com/blog/">blog</a><span style="font-weight: bold;">.)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The following takes place between 7:00am and 8:00am.</span><br />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.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The following takes place between 8:00am and 9:00am.</span><br />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.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The following takes place between 9:00am and 10:00am.</span><br />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.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The following takes place between 10:00am and 11:00am.</span><br />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.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The following takes place between 11:00am and 12:00pm.</span><br />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.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The following takes place between 12:00pm and 1:00pm.</span><br />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.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The following takes place between 1:00pm and 2:00pm.</span><br />Lunch is over and I'm upside down in a park, practicing handstands and balancing in the sun with an old friend.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The following takes place between 2:00pm and 3:00pm.</span><br />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.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The following takes place between 3:00pm and 5:00pm.</span><br />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.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The following takes place between 7:00pm and 8:00pm.</span><br />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.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The following takes place between 9:00pm and 10:00pm</span><br />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.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The following takes place all day, every day.</span><br />The Oyster card is at the bottom of my bag when the bus arrives.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The following takes place between 10:00pm and 11:00pm.</span><br />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.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The following takes place between 11:00pm and 12:00pm.</span><br />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.<br /><br />---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The following takes place between 7:00am and 8:00am.</span><br />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...</div>Chris 'Blane' Rowathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13050917713159548998noreply@blogger.com36tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37058160.post-3717271391095127022009-01-30T10:30:00.005+00:002009-01-30T16:24:21.983+00:00The Law of Averages<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">(Originally posted on the Parkour Generations </span><a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.parkourgenerations.com/blog.php">blog</a><span style="font-weight: bold;">).</span><br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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!<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br />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.<br />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.<br /><br />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?<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />I. can. not. miss. now.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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?<br /><br />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...<br /><br />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.<br /><br />I didn't do 300 level cat-pass precisions in the end.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP1hASYNokHt5YlLF1mMVKcRjZaM7tl_GASrpcAn3FswlAQ8KqjCOMQr-AzSMRNaEHR_GBoY3PUVlAUzmMpD2abHU0tlLj3ENr7RX0YR9Fw6nOe3YwX2X2SF3ZR2Sdtm2wyvRTVw/s1600-h/hanz-703260.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 230px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP1hASYNokHt5YlLF1mMVKcRjZaM7tl_GASrpcAn3FswlAQ8KqjCOMQr-AzSMRNaEHR_GBoY3PUVlAUzmMpD2abHU0tlLj3ENr7RX0YR9Fw6nOe3YwX2X2SF3ZR2Sdtm2wyvRTVw/s400/hanz-703260.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5297121864545476146" border="0" /></a><br />The 301st was for the nice lady who had inspired my evening's activities.<br /><br />-Blane</div>Chris 'Blane' Rowathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13050917713159548998noreply@blogger.com41tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37058160.post-90847663282528068622009-01-27T11:10:00.004+00:002009-01-27T15:30:29.076+00:00London Calling<div style="text-align: justify;">It seems to be becoming a trend that I make a big change to my life every eleven years. When I was eleven years old I relocated to England and now, eleven years later at twenty-two years of age, I'm preparing to move to London to live on my own for the first time and begin teaching Parkour on a more regular basis. I wonder what turn my life will take when I'm thirty-three!<br /><br />With Thomas readying himself to head off on yet another crazy adventure around the world with his 'special' shirt, I'll be taking on his classes down in the capital and I look forward to finding myself with a lot more free time to train, travel and explore. Practicing regularly with the rest of the team is something I'm particularly looking forward to and it will no doubt help me to improve and push my own level in new directions.<br /><br />I understand that being a good teacher means you need to forever be a student of your chosen practice and refine your methods, to learn and adapt all of the time. I hope that whilst passing on my experiences and helping other practitioners on their Parkour journeys, I can learn a lot more about myself and the best ways to do that.<br /><br />The big move begins on the 16th February!<br /><br />*B*</div>Chris 'Blane' Rowathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13050917713159548998noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37058160.post-53305658434564886992009-01-09T18:36:00.010+00:002013-12-11T13:29:18.160+00:00Frequently Asked Questions<div style="text-align: justify;">
Quite often I receive emails asking questions about Parkour or my training and I wish I had as much time to answer them all as I used to.<br />It's becoming harder to keep up with them as this blog grows and I get less free time so I've had to think of some kind of alternative that I hope will take care of some of the more frequently asked questions. All of the following questions are ones I've been asked recently in emails or private messages and a couple I've added from older messages that I thought might be interesting to talk about.<br />
I'll update this as necessary and if there is anything you'd like me to add then feel free to mention it. There will be a link on the right hand menu to the FAQ too, to make it easier to navigate to as more posts are added.<br />
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+<span style="font-weight: bold;">Who are you?</span><br />
My name is Chris Rowat, I was born in 1986 and I’ve been practicing Parkour since 2003.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">+What is this blog all about?</span><br />
This blog is a way for me to record and share my experiences in Parkour. It started off as a personal way for me to log my progress and to keep a few friends up to date with what I was doing and gradually grew to include articles and other things that I hope might help other people with their training. I plan to expand it further to include more useful content as time goes by.<br />
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<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">+What is Parkour and why do you do it?</span><br />
Parkour is a method of training your mind and body to quickly find ways of overcoming physical obstacles in a safe and efficient manner. The skills learned through the discipline can then be put to use in a range of circumstances, from aiding you in simple daily tasks to the more extreme possibilities of needing to escape from danger or reach and rescue someone in need of help. It is a pursuit to become strong in every sense of the word in order for the individual to become more useful to themselves and the people around them.<br />
We are each given an amazing tool that is the human body and can choose to do with it whatever we wish but I feel an overwhelming obligation to use mine to better the lives of the people I care about and I feel this can best be achieved by practicing Parkour.<br />
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<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">+What did you do before Parkour?</span><br />
I used to play various team sports such as football and basketball and generally enjoyed being active. I began training in Shotokan Karate at about 13 years of age because I wanted to learn how to defend myself and I continued this for four years before stopping to dedicate more time to Parkour.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">+How did you discover Parkour and when did you begin training?</span><br />
My first experience of Parkour was seeing the BBC advert known as Rush Hour, featuring David Belle. It immediately sparked my interest but at the time I had limited Internet access and couldn't find any further information about it or what this athlete was doing. I later read a short article about Parkour in a magazine and it gave the impression that this was something that only a few people could do. Knowing I had no way of going to France to see these guys and learn something, I forgot about it. I later saw a trailer for a documentary called Jump London and realised that this was the same thing I had seen before. I watched the documentary and knew that this is what I had been searching for through my years of sports and martial arts. I believed that this might be something I could do after all, so began my training the next day.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">+What are your personal training goals?</span><br />
My long term physical goal is simply to continue on the same path of increasing my strength and to improve my technical skills. But for me, the mental aspect is something that I find more interesting than the physical. Will is everything and with the right mindset I feel I can achieve anything, even things that at first might seem impossible. I feel there is no point in having a strong body if I haven't trained my mind to use it to its potential. If I'm too scared to act in a dangerous situation then all of my physical training will be useless so I try to continually challenge my mind and do things that scare me.<br />
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<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">+How do you approach physical training and conditioning?</span><br />
My goal with physical training is to increase my strength, speed, power, cardiovascular endurance, muscular endurance and flexibility. I try to be intelligent in my approach. I choose exercises that will have a direct positive impact on my ability to move and supplementary exercises to maintain muscular balance, prevent injury and protect my body.<br />
Regular training of your entire body will help to strengthen and protect all of the muscles, joints and bones from the impacts and stresses found in Parkour. My physical preparation and maintenance amounts to over half of my total time spent training.<br />
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<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">+Is weight training suitable for Parkour?</span><br />
Yes!<br />
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<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">+How do you stay motivated to train through difficult times?</span><br />
When I’m tired or when it’s wet and cold outside, or if I have other things on my mind, training can sometimes seem less appealing. At times like this I remind myself of my goals and think about the other people in my life that might need me to be stronger than I am right now. This train of thought alone drives me to go outside and improve regardless of what the circumstances are.<br />
If you constantly ask yourself why you are training and answer them honestly, you can prioritise it appropriately and dedicate the necessary amount of time to it.<br />
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<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">+How has Parkour affected other areas of your life?</span><br />
Parkour has had a huge influence in shaping who I am and my life today. It has made me a healthier, more confident person and introduced me to many great people, some of whom have since become my closest friends. The travelling, the camaraderie and the feeling of being part of something positive is rewarding and it’s a really exciting thing to be a part of.<br />
There is another side to the story though.<br />
Parkour demands a lot of you and you quickly begin to realise just what you would need to sacrifice to reach a good level. It begins to affect everything in your life from your diet, to how much free time you have, your relationships with your family and friends and like anything worthwhile it takes a huge amount of time, hard work and dedication to excel in.<br />
I carry the calloused hands of a coalminer twice my age and live with almost constant muscular pain from some part of my body healing from a training session. The blood lost over the years would feed a small nation of vampires and I spend a lot of time explaining that bruise, this scar, or some hole in my leg. When I think about everything I’ve given so far and look ahead at what I’m going to need to do to get to where I want to be, it’s not a pretty outlook, but one that is worthwhile, rewarding and a LOT of fun at times. The good points outweigh the bad!<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">+Does Parkour help you to deal with problems in other areas of your life?</span><br />
Yes, when you think about some of the obstacles you’ve overcome and the process you used to do that, you begin to treat other problems in the same way. They are no longer met with panic or dread - you just begin to look for ways to overcome them. You think of how you managed to bring yourself to jump so far from a wobbling wet rail to a far off branch and realise that this problem in comparison is not so bad at all. If you stop and think about it, break it down and analyse it rationally, you can come up with a solution to this too and move past it in a similar way.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">+Does your training change in the winter?</span><br />
Yes. Not so much my methods but there are additional things that become important in the winter. I spend more time warming up, double check any surfaces I'm working with for moisture or ice and since it's darker I know my depth perception will be altered and I need to compensate for that. I don't have an interest in training in gyms, even when it gets cold, wet or generally unpleasant outside. There is always a way to train and in the winter, even the smallest, simplest things are suddenly great challenges for you to face. Use it to your advantage, realise that if you can do this jump now when it is so difficult, you will learn more than if you wait until it's easy.<br />
Sometimes I think that I would prefer to live somewhere where the weather is hot and dry for most of the year but the truth is I don't. Parkour is a discipline that revolves around facing obstacles and finding ways to overcome them and I can think of no greater obstacle than a harsh winter!<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">+Who or what inspires you?</span><br />
I'm inspired by a variety of sources and can relate to a lot of other athletes, disciplines and sports. Even a short sentence I read or hear can spark my imagination and help to fuel a training session. Music can be inspiring and interviews or advice from professional sportsmen often give me ideas.<br />
In Parkour, I'm inspired by other practitioners, particularly the original French traceurs who I thank for their hard work and dedication throughout the years, without their efforts I wouldn't be doing what I do today.<br />
Less experienced practitioners often inspire me too, anyone who shows a lot of passion for what they do and works hard to achieve their goals has my immediate admiration and respect.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />+What advice would you give to someone wanting to improve their Parkour?</span><br />
Regardless of what level you are at, the two main pieces of advice I would give to anyone wanting to improve their Parkour is:</div>
<ol style="text-align: justify;">
<li>Avoid injuries.</li>
<li>Find something difficult and repeat it until it is easy.</li>
</ol>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
They sound simple but can be expanded on. To avoid injuries, you need to be careful and focused at all times, know your limits, condition your body to protect yourself and listen to your body when it needs to stop and rest.<br />
Finding something difficult and repeating it until it's easy applies to almost everything. Whether it's a new jump that is on your limit or a certain number of pushup repetitions, confront what you find difficult and work on it until you find it easy. Then find something new! This ensures you're always pushing yourself to improve at everything and should help you to avoid plateaus. Once anything becomes easy then it's time to find a new challenge to stop your training becoming stale and boring.<br />
There are no shortcuts I’m afraid, just keep training hard and try to improve a little each time you go outside and the rest will take care of itself.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">+Why do you make videos?</span><br />
I enjoy making videos and sharing ideas with people. It was video that inspired me to begin training so I value the power of that and if someone sees a video of mine and likes it then they might want to find out more or tell their friends about it. Either way I hope it helps the growth of Parkour and if other people make videos too then we can all share ideas, training locations and methods.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">+Why do you not practice flips or acrobatics?</span><br />
I’d rather spend my time training other things. These things look good and seem like fun but I’m not doing this to impress people. I have a goal of learning how to move as safely, efficiently and as quickly as possible over obstacles and to me, acrobatics just add unnecessary dangers to that.<br />
I have every respect for people who train really hard and practice acrobatics but to me it’s a completely different activity.<br />
In the same way that a lion wouldn’t consider adding any unnecessary flair or danger to crossing a fast-flowing river, I try to find challenging jumps, obstacles and routes that force me to face my fears and push my limits using just the most basic of techniques.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">+What is your opinion on the differences between Parkour, Freerunning, L’art du deplacement and the politics that are so often argued over?</span><br />
I try not to get involved with or think about these things too often. They all stemmed from the same place, the same people and essentially they are all very similar, with slightly different ideas behind them depending on who you ask.<br />
I know what it is that I want to do now and have my own goals and ways of getting there, so whether someone else calls that Parkour, Freerunning or L’art du deplacement is not important to me. I personally train in a way that I believe is very close to what Parkour was intended to be when it was developed, and yes, I call it Parkour, but the name is not important to me, only that I continue towards my goals.<br />
The real issue I have problems with is when people do reckless things that can then influence other people to think that is what it is we all do. We do not do stunts, daredevil jumps or jackass pranks and that is not Parkour.<br />
<br />
-Blane</div>
Chris 'Blane' Rowathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13050917713159548998noreply@blogger.com31tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37058160.post-29648234812106212012008-12-29T10:24:00.015+00:002008-12-29T11:52:43.829+00:00Loose Ends<div style="text-align: justify;">The last couple of months or so have been fairly hectic with plenty going on to keep me busy so it has been nice to spend a couple of days over the Christmas period resting and relaxing with family. That said, I did seem to find myself sneaking out on at least three different occasions just to keep things ticking over.<br /><br />Rendezvous III was a huge success and everyone involved enjoyed the weekend, despite the British weather throwing its worst at us on the Saturday. The Sunday was a much easier affair in comparison but with a healthy dose of hard work to remind us all that the weekend wasn't over yet. My thanks to Chris and Thomas for the accommodation and everyone involved in the careful planning of the event that ensured the large number of attendees were kept safe, had fun and hopefully learned a few things to go home with and integrate in to their training. You can read a more detailed report about the weekend's events <a href="http://www.parkourgenerations.com/articles.php?id_cat=4&idart=40">here</a>.<br /><br />The weekend before the third Rendezvous I had travelled to Lisses on a whim, with a couple of friends just to get away and return to where it all started. It was a whirlwind weekend and there was barely enough time to settle down before it was time to leave again but it was great to meet up with Gouda, Kaz and Cisco, as always. It's a real pleasure to know you can travel hundreds of miles to a foreign country and instantly have something in common with someone that defeats any language barriers there might be. It was my fourth visit to Lisses and passed by far too quickly, but I don't doubt I'll be back soon... there's certainly something special in the air there that leaves you with a renewed energy to feed from when you return home, and this trip was no exception.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI71wxfPlXgXpMF_4GrBKw6e_pfKgSvHjcBscJHRJQSoxo8HL9p3j2LbZVdhW7PqjTbvrXToRQ9Onb8x_DmgNRAiXGzyWi-SGeEu9z4JL7zGhid8JJdt9Qlr_tqoNOQJ7Var7RQQ/s1600-h/n619960643_5174791_4232.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI71wxfPlXgXpMF_4GrBKw6e_pfKgSvHjcBscJHRJQSoxo8HL9p3j2LbZVdhW7PqjTbvrXToRQ9Onb8x_DmgNRAiXGzyWi-SGeEu9z4JL7zGhid8JJdt9Qlr_tqoNOQJ7Var7RQQ/s400/n619960643_5174791_4232.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5285169484836300290" border="0" /></a><br />Training over the past few days has been great. I've been making the most of the difficult Winter conditions and using them to my advantage.<br /><br />On Friday I trained with my friend Joe in the night and it was freezing, with ice covering everything that didn't move - and even most of what did move. We proceeded with great care and repeated simple jumps that were suddenly not so simple knowing that anything less than a perfect landing was asking for trouble.<br />One particular standing arm jump we had found was teasing me and I was battling with myself trying to decide whether I should do it now or come back when it was light, dry and when ice wasn't an issue. It was high enough to make the thought of missing unpleasant and the take off had a damp, icy feel to it underfoot, with patches of moss not helping matters. The landing roof was in line with my knees some 11ft or so away and after I'd checked that out I realised it was difficult enough to walk on nevermind catch from a jump! I had to do it. I knew it would be simple in better conditions, so the real challenge was doing it right now when things couldn't get much worse. I made sure my technique was as textbook as possible and got plenty of height to give my hands time to spot the landing and adjust to any last minute patches of ice that jumped out to greet me.<br />All went well enough and although my foot placement wasn't perfect, since I had expected them to slide much more than they did, I was quite pleased. I had more confidence for the next two repetitions which I used to improve the landing before we moved on and continued our careful training around the eerily quiet, ghost-like town on a grim boxing day's eve.<br /><br />The next night I had another opportunity to take advantage of difficult conditions. Joe had mentioned a particular arm jump on a rooftop that we had both done before but he warned me that it was a whole different story at night and he was right! What had been a relatively simple jump in the daylight when we had done it together months before was now one of the most intimidating things I've seen in a long time.<br />The jump is a fair size but the wall where your feet land is set back about a foot from where your arms need to grab and although you could see the wall without too much trouble, the roof where your arms were supposed to grab was pitch black, and impossible to pick out from the darkness behind it. With some lights on the ground to your right that killed any potential night-adjusted vision you could hope to develop, this was not going to get any easier.<br />After another mental battle and dragging out all of the old motivations and reasons why I had to do this now, rather than later, I forced myself to just focus on having the best take off possible to give me plenty of time to find the roof when I reached it. When I reached the roof I realised it wasn't any easier to spot the landing but I had remembered how the jump had felt in the day time and based my hand position on that, found my hands connecting with something and held on like my life depended on it. It didn't - missing would simply have meant doing your best to land on a dark roof somewhere a few feet below but the thought of hurling myself in to complete darkness and relying solely on memory made me all the more inclined to hold on and treat this as a 'do or die' moment. Repetitions two and three were as always, much easier and I could approach them with more confidence after the first had filled me with a rush of adrenaline and had my heart beating like an angry drum.<br /><br />So yes, I hope you're all making the most of Winter and not limiting yourselves to gyms or indoor training... now is an ideal time to get out there and really push your boundaries and limits, especially your mental side. Take extra care in difficult conditions and work with smaller, simpler jumps, you will find that they are suddenly much more challenging when you add factors such as limited light, ice, rain, fog, damp, cold and anything else you might meet at this time of year.<br /><br />Have a great start to 2009 and I'll see you all in the new year!<br /></div><br />*B*Chris 'Blane' Rowathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13050917713159548998noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37058160.post-16954963666854568892008-11-25T16:19:00.005+00:002008-11-25T18:26:51.948+00:00PINWC Domain<div style="text-align: justify;">Since I know you all value time saving and efficiency so much, I've just purchased <a href="http://www.pinwc.com/">this</a> domain and forwarded it to my blog to save you all typing in the long '.blogspot.com' address - so update your bookmarks accordingly!<br /><br />Yes, after deciding I wanted to put more effort in to this blog by padding it out with more content I thought that should be my first step... and over the next little while I'm going to try and make the blog much easier to navigate and have different sections for articles, videos, training plans etc. I'm also going to experiment with tutorial style videos for techniques and conditioning exercises in the near future.<br /><br />That's it! Just wanted to let you guys know what the plan is. Keep training hard and remember, power is nothing without control...<br /><br />-Blane</div>Chris 'Blane' Rowathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13050917713159548998noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37058160.post-88796548506039992642008-11-18T13:41:00.010+00:002008-11-24T21:01:32.111+00:00Common Denominators<div style="text-align: justify;">It is becoming increasingly clear to me that from the outside, every practitioner of Parkour is seen to be part of one large collective under the same umbrella. It is only upon closer inspection that it becomes possible to see that so many of us are doing different things and just choosing to use the same word to define what we actually do.<br /><br />Now in my opinion not one of these definitions, motivations or reasons to practice are more righteous or better than any other, for I think it is important that we all follow our own paths and do what makes us happy. But it is interesting that as individuals we have all found something that draws us to this one word, that we then twist to mean something slightly different to each of us.<br /><br />"<span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">What are you doing?</span>" is a question I often find myself answering when I am training and each time that I do, I tend to answer a little differently. There is no definitive, simple answer to this question for me and I would imagine most of you have felt the same way when someone has inquired as to what it is you are doing.<br />"<span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Parkour.</span>" tends to be the default answer that I hear myself and others use most frequently. And, "<span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Oh! That free running stuff where you jump off buildings, right? Do a backflip!</span>" is unfortunately one of the more common retorts that the word Parkour prompts.<br />But if we ourselves cannot agree on what we are doing, as a community, then how can we really expect members of the general public to?<br /><br />You have to admit, the word itself is not particularly attractive or easy to say, so I think it is obvious that there is something else within the discipline itself that attracts all of these people to attach themselves to it and label themselves as practitioners of Parkour. A common denominator that unites us, if you like.<br /><br />Extreme sports are relatively new and have become more and more popular as people have found themselves in increasingly dull and unsatisfying jobs. 'Weekend Warriors' are everywhere and you will know some of them, I'm sure. They're the ones who work Monday to Friday and use their weekends to escape and try to compensate for their tedious weeks by jumping out of aeroplanes or abseiling down cliff faces, in Wales.<br />With levels of obesity and depression at all time highs, alcoholism and drug use everywhere and everyone being told what to wear, where to go and how to think by a select few… is it any surprise that so many of us are looking for an outlet and way to escape all of this?<br /><br />Could it be the freedom associated with Parkour that unites us, then? The fact that we don't make use of any special equipment means there is no board, wheel, bearing or handle to break, or restrict us. There is no need to avoid certain surfaces, weather conditions or locations. There is nowhere we cannot go, nothing we cannot make use of - the variables that spoil other sports and bring some activities to a halt, are the things we actively look for to challenge us. We strive in what would often be considered as difficult conditions and this makes Parkour very attractive and accessible to the masses.<br />If we are all just trying to quench some primal thirst for adventure and freedom, it is only natural that so many of us would be drawn to something where such freedom, physicality, self-improvement and courage are so widely employed and valued.<br /><br />Most of us are social beings and enjoy interacting with others. We like being a part of something… so after their initial experience of Parkour, individuals often find themselves on one of the many forums or online communities that grow in number by the day, trying to find more answers.<br />Tragically, their new-found sense of freedom and excitement that is inherent in their discovery of Parkour is so often destroyed when they join our communities. They are told by everyone else what it is they are doing and what they should be doing. No longer are they on their own path, fueled by a moment of inspiration, but they are suddenly redirected on to one paved by everyone else.<br />Why they stood up and decided to explore their potential to move in the beginning is no longer their driving force, their goals are adjusted and purpose refined as they find out more and more about Parkour.<br />Ironically, instead of retaining their individuality and pursuing their own goals, these people try to conform to an ideal that nobody can agree on in the first place! But there is comfort in a crowd, strength in numbers and a satisfaction felt when one is part of something.<br />I'm as guilty of this as anyone. I wanted to find the 'secrets' to becoming great at Parkour and to find out more and more about the discipline, rather than exploring how I can become great at what it is I want to do... and succeed in being who I want to be.<br /><br />So the reason I believe that we have so many different definitions of Parkour is due to us all retaining a part of our individuality and trying to do our own thing - but at the same time wanting to hold on to our place in the community so we can claim to be part of something bigger. 'Parkour' becomes what we all do, despite us all actually moving in different ways, for different reasons.<br /><br />We do have something in common with each other though. What unites us is movement. It is what we do with this movement and our reasons for developing our mental and physical capacities, through movement, that is unique to us all. Whether we call it Parkour, Freerunning, L'art du deplacement or even 'Rage Froobling' is irrelevant. Words are overrated and poorly used. In the end I think all that matters is that we all retain our individuality and do what makes us happy, and avoid getting too caught up in definitions and terms.<br /><br />'I practice Parkour', and to this day I think what I'm doing is very close to what the founder(s) intended that to be, but if an official definition was released tomorrow and it differed from my goals, it wouldn't bother me to call what I do something else. I enjoy being a part of a community who share a passion for movement but I think less than 5% of the people I have met and trained with practice for the same reasons, and to the same end, as myself.<br /><br />And that is a good thing.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Be yourself; everyone else is already taken. - Oscar Wilde</span><br /><br />-Blane</div>Chris 'Blane' Rowathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13050917713159548998noreply@blogger.com28tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37058160.post-67508172725047491002008-08-31T21:33:00.005+01:002008-09-05T10:37:52.925+01:00Origins<div style="text-align: justify;">On the 10th of September 2008, I will have been practicing Parkour for five years. It seems like just yesterday I watched Jump London and I can still remember my first training session the day after. It is as fresh in my mind today as it was back then and I can almost smell the freshly cut grass that I dropped and rolled on to from the roof of a gymnastics club near my house...<br /><br />It had taken seventeen years for me to find something that finally ticked all of my boxes. At the time I had been practicing shotokan karate for four years and although I did enjoy it, there was always something missing - I would go to the classes because I felt like I had to become stronger and learn how to look after myself and the people I cared about... but couldn't help feeling unsatisfied. Competition never interested me, scoring points was not important and katas seemed redundant. I'm very thankful for everything I was taught by Mr Weatherby, my sensei and teacher, but I don't think karate was my calling.<br /><br />In Parkour I had found something that looked so fresh and exciting, something that was entirely non-competitive, an activity that was so simple to begin, but impossible to perfect... something that would challenge me but give me a freedom that martial arts could not.<br />I think those are the qualities that attract most people to Parkour in the beginning - they see the spectacular jumps, the smooth combinations and the seemingly impossible becoming not just possible, but simple, to these men and women who don't seem too different to themselves.<br /><br />This honeymoon period is one of excitement, fun and a feeling that they are recapturing a part of their childhood, playing and exploring and meeting some great new friends. But there comes a time, not too long after this honeymoon period where suddenly they realise just what it would take to truly excel in Parkour. Because behind the veil of nice jumps and quiet landings of the more experienced traceurs, is a person who has invested considerable time, dedication and effort to reach the level they are at.<br /><br />I've seen a lot of people come and go over the years - some have turned up once or twice, others for a month or two and a few for a couple of years, before deciding they didn't want to continue with their training. Parkour is not for everyone, it takes a certain type of person to prevail through the hard times and come out the other end of them, ready for more.<br /><br />Everyone enjoys that honeymoon period and it lasts for different amounts of time for different people, but afterwards they are all faced with asking themselves if they really want to sacrifice as much as they will have to, to reach a really good level. Although I was attracted to Parkour for the reasons I mentioned earlier, it is not the reason I continued to train, day after day, week after week. My honeymoon period ended and my reason for training changed quite quickly.<br /><br />Growing up I was a very active child and obsessed with action films, I would watch Schwarzenegger, Van Damme and Jackie Chan films over and over and what was obvious to me was that these guys were the heroes because they were strong and capable of looking after themselves, their families and their friends... they were honorouble and prepared physically for whatever the baddies could throw at them.<br />That stayed with me as I grew up and I became interested in many different sports, martial arts... anything physical that would help me to become stronger but I didn't really know to what end.<br /><br />It wasn't until I found Parkour that I understood the importance of training your mind, as well as your body. Without a strong mind and a will to act and use your physical capacities, then we are useless. What use is having big, strong arms if you are too scared to enter that burning building to carry someone you love to safety? That's an extreme example but highlights the need to train your mind along with your body.<br /><br />So when I found Parkour and understood this massive hole in my preperation to be 'strong', I never looked back. I face my fears and doubts and push myself to do jumps and movements that scare me because I want to have the physical and mental strength to face my fears and doubts in an emergency situation, should one ever arise around me. That is the reason I train today and what keeps me motivated and willing to go out in the rain, alone, in the dark, to push myself in difficult conditions.<br />There are no medals to be won, no trophies will ever sit on my shelf with my name engraved on the base and my family and friends may never fully understand why I do, what I do - and I am fine with that. Knowing that I am more capable of looking after the people I care about than I was yesterday, is enough for me.<br /><br />So those are my origins in Parkour... my reasons for starting, my reasons for continuing and the reason I will continue to do what I do for as long as I can. Five years sounds like a long time, but I have so far to go and I can become so much more than I am, so much more useful.<br /><br />I can't imagine what the next five years has in store for me but if it's half as good as the first five, I'll be a happy man.<br /><br />I edited a video from all of the footage I have captured to look back on in time to come, if you would like to see it then I've included it below.<br /></div><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/5QSegpGxucM&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/5QSegpGxucM&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />Download available <a href="http://www.norwich-parkour.co.uk/videos/origins.wmv%20">here</a>, thanks to Andeh.<br /><br />-BlaneChris 'Blane' Rowathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13050917713159548998noreply@blogger.com26tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37058160.post-51425875861779200902008-07-08T14:45:00.035+01:002008-07-09T16:17:38.327+01:00Moderation<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-style: italic;">I realise it has been a while since I updated my blog and a lot has happened since my last entry. Although I won't go in to all of that just now, I promise to post a full write-up of the Italy trip along with a video and photos when I have time, which should be in the next couple of weeks.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">For now, the following article came together after I noted down some potential solutions to the worry that despite training hard and often, I might be neglecting certain aspects of Parkour in favour of others. This one is a combination of my training ideas, methods and thoughts of late and is primarily aimed at slightly more experienced traceurs, although there might be some ideas in here for everyone...</span><br /><br /><br />I find that one of the toughest obstacles I regularly face in Parkour is not a physical barrier, but the challenge of managing my time and ensuring that I am progressing as a balanced and complete practitioner. With so many different aspects of training needing equal attention it can be tough to manage your time so that you can keep on top of the various technical and physical goals that you might have.<br /><br />Never have I claimed to have found the ultimate method of training for Parkour and everything I have shared on my blog thus far is a work in progress that will hopefully continue to evolve and improve as time goes by. With each evolution of my training I try to strip away that which I have tried, tested and then found useless... whilst holding on to that which helps me the most, to ensure my training remains as productive as possible.<br /><br />When I began my training in Parkour I would simply go out and try to do as many new jumps as I could. I quickly realised that this was not the best way to progress and knew that I needed some kind of structure to my training that would allow me to grow stronger whilst continuing to develop my technical ability.<br />So for a long time I created complex and rigid training plans that would have me training certain things on certain days and it worked quite well, until I began to suffer from small overuse injuries, frustration, plateaus and I found that my training had become very mundane.<br />I then threw my rule book out of the window and simply listened to my body, mainly using careful technical repetition to condition and strengthen my body, specifically for Parkour.<br />Now, I find that the best way for me to train is to employ a variety of different training methods and make each training session very different from the last, to prepare for the widest range of circumstances and keep my body guessing.<br /><br />But one issue I find with such an open-minded approach to my training is that it can be difficult to ensure that I am training everything I need to in equal proportion. When you allow yourself to listen to your body all of the time it can become easy to subconsciously choose the exercises and training that you enjoy the most, perhaps to the extent of neglecting some other important aspects.<br /><br />If you find yourself facing a similar dilemma then as I once tried you could come up with a precise plan that sees you training specific things at specific times on specific days and this would work well in an ideal world where we did not have to factor in the various drawbacks that accompany such an unyielding routine. If you fall sick one day and cannot train then suddenly you have a hole in your wonderful new plan and will miss out on a particular type of training for that week...<br /><br />So how can you maintain a flexible and sympathetic training approach that allows you to listen to your body, yet simultaneously organise your time to cover each aspect of your training?<br /><br />One possible solution is to use what I will call a '<span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">rotary system</span>'. This rotary system will allow us to organise our training despite the various obstacles life might suddenly throw at us in the form of injuries, illness, work, studies, family, friends and the other countless things that require our attention.<br /><br />First, let us look at a handful of the various training aspects that I feel I should maintain and develop in equal measure…<br /><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">1) </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Physical development and maintenance</span><br /></div><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">1.1) <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Conditioning</span></span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">1.1.1</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">)</span> Low-medium resistance exercises and a higher repetition count to promote the development of greater muscular endurance.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">1.1.2</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">)</span> Isometric exercises to promote the development of greater muscular endurance.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">1.1.3</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">)</span> Lower intensity exercises that raise the heart rate for a prolonged period to promote the development of cardiovascular endurance.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">1.2) <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Strength training</span></span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">1.2.1</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">)</span> Higher resistance exercises combined with a lower repetition count to promote the development of muscular strength.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">1.3) <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Power training</span></span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">1.3.1</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">)</span> Higher resistance exercises with an emphasis on performing less repetitions but at a quicker pace, to develop power.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">1.3.2</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">)</span> Sport-specific power and resistance exercises employing dynamic Parkour techniques.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">1.4) <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Stretching</span></span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">1.4.1</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">)</span> Stretching the muscles to increase the safe range of motion permitted by specific joints.<br /></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">2) Technical development and maintenance</span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">2.1) </span><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">Repetition</span><br /> <span style="font-weight: bold;">2.1.1</span>) Perfect repetitions of a particular technique or sequence of techniques to a predetermined number.<br /> <span style="font-weight: bold;">2.1.2)</span> Perfect repetitions of a particular route using various improvised techniques to predetermined number.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">2.2) </span><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">New movements</span><br /> <span style="font-weight: bold;">2.2.1)</span> Training in old or new environments with a specific aim to achieve or 'break' new jumps and overcome new obstacles.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">2.3) <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Improvised moving</span></span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">2.3.1)</span> Moving from one destination to another using improvised techniques best suited to the obstacles encountered.<br /> <span style="font-weight: bold;">2.3.2)</span> 'Stealth' training with an emphasis on moving with minimal sound where speed is not a priority.<br /> <span style="font-weight: bold;">2.3.3)</span> Moving around with no particular destination.<br /></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">That is just a simplified version of what could become a very complex list of things I should be training and I have not taken specific techniques or exercises in to account simply because it would take too long and there are too many variables. If you are interested in testing this training method then I encourage you to create your own list of things that you wish to train in equal measure and plan around that.<br />You may notice some of these training aspects cross over in to more than one category, for example it would be quite possible to train '<span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Sport-specific power and resistance exercises employing dynamic Parkour techniques</span>' and '<span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Perfect repetitions of a particular technique or sequence of techniques to a predetermined number</span>' at the same time if you happened to be repeating a precision jump. Nonetheless I included them separately for they could either be classed as technical or physical training methods.<br /><br />I normally begin my training sessions with an analysis of my current condition to determine which parts of my body are ready to train and which may benefit more from rest. Based on this analysis I will then look at my rotary system and decide what to train.<br /><br />Since the vast majority of technical training demands the whole body to function as one unit, I tend to only train technically on the occasions when my whole body is feeling good. If you train technically when you are tired and not at your best then there is a good chance you will be sacrificing form and committing poor technique to muscle memory, which is not good. However, it can be beneficial to occasionally train certain techniques whilst you are tired because you can never predict your physical condition in the unlikely event that you may need to do a technically demanding jump to save your life.<br /><br />Although it does not matter where in the rotary system we begin, for the sake of simplicity I will follow the order I described in the earlier example to describe the process in more detail.<br />After the initial analysis, if only my upper body is fresh then I would spend that session conditioning. Next time I feel that only my upper body is ready to train, whether that be two days, four days or one week later, then I will spend that session developing my strength. The next time only my upper body feels good, I will focus on power training. After that session I will return to the beginning of the rotary and condition. This will ensure all aspects of my upper body training are being developed equally regardless of how little or often I find the time to practice.<br />Similarly, if only my legs feel fresh and my upper body is needing rest, then I can condition them, then next time I can work on developing my leg strength and finally my power... before returning to conditioning.<br /><br />When your whole body feels good then this is a great time to train technically and really make the most of your fine condition. You can repeat techniques, go looking for new challenges and obstacles or just move around freely, improving every aspect of your training. Once again you could use a rotary system here to ensure you are training all that is important to you.<br /><br />Here is one possible rotary system based on the aforementioned plan:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Training when only the upper body is in good condition</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">:</span><br /></div><ul><li>First session - Conditioning (<span style="font-weight: bold;">1.1.1</span> + <span style="font-weight: bold;">1.1.2</span> + <span style="font-weight: bold;">1.1.3</span>)</li><li>Second session - Strength training (<span style="font-weight: bold;">1.2.1</span>)</li><li>Third session - Power training (<span style="font-weight: bold;">1.3.1</span> + <span style="font-weight: bold;">1.3.2</span>)<br /></li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">Training rotation when only the lower body is in good condition</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">:</span><br /><ul><li>First session - Conditioning (<span style="font-weight: bold;">1.1.1</span> + <span style="font-weight: bold;">1.1.2</span> + <span style="font-weight: bold;">1.1.3</span>)</li><li>Second session - Strength training (<span style="font-weight: bold;">1.2.1</span>)</li><li>Third session - Power training (<span style="font-weight: bold;">1.3.1</span> + <span style="font-weight: bold;">1.3.2</span>)<br /></li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">Training rotation when my entire body is fresh</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">:</span><br /><ul><li>First session - Repetition (<span style="font-weight: bold;">2.1.1</span> + <span style="font-weight: bold;">2.1.2</span>)</li><li>Second session - New movements (<span style="font-weight: bold;">2.2.1</span>)</li><li>Third session - Improvised moving (<span style="font-weight: bold;">2.3.1</span> + <span style="font-weight: bold;">2.3.2</span> + <span style="font-weight: bold;">2.3.3</span>)</li></ul><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"> With regards to balance training and stretching, I personally prefer to include these to some degree in every training session and sometimes I dedicate a whole session to just improving my balance if my body is needing rest, therefore I don't include this separately in the example above. I also spend time at the end of most training sessions stretching, except on the rare occasion that I may pull a muscle or injure myself in which case stretching that area can be detrimental to its healing or can even damage it further.<br />The core muscles are worth a special mention too since these can be greatly affected by both upper and lower body training and are involved to some extent in almost every movement we make, acting like a hinge between both halves of your body. I tend to spend some time training my core muscles whenever they feel good, which normally works out to be three or four times per week.<br /><br />If you would prefer then it is possible to further break down the rotary system above and rotate around at least six aspects of training for upper and lower body, by only training one specific kind of conditioning or power training each time you practice, but I prefer to include different types of exercises even when I only work on one aspect of my training. If you wish to adopt a similar rotary system then feel free to adapt mine to suit your needs and preferences, making it as simple or as complex as you require.<br /><br />The reason this system works so well is that it is a sympathetic yet complete method of training specific to your goals. Used alongside a training diary you can easily keep track of your place in the rotary and clearly see what has not been trained in a while.<br /><br />Below is a simple flow chart to explain more or less how I tend to plan my training sessions. The chart does not take stretching, balance, core development or various other particular training aspects in to account and is just just intended to be a general guide.<br /><br /></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvRB0kgc3be1bZ7NsHukwNXJWG2Yr1zqHG8DiosJQrBkTGWEy91UD83-4aMXvExKEzeoexm23wmin0gPF3WNZNuHB7q_pUIJLrRTS78Gn6DV3y69dLCwcXT606_YJ0Y93Vi7IN1Q/s1600-h/flow.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvRB0kgc3be1bZ7NsHukwNXJWG2Yr1zqHG8DiosJQrBkTGWEy91UD83-4aMXvExKEzeoexm23wmin0gPF3WNZNuHB7q_pUIJLrRTS78Gn6DV3y69dLCwcXT606_YJ0Y93Vi7IN1Q/s400/flow.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5220663078846649378" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: justify;">I will road test this system thoroughly over the next couple of months and come back with my thoughts... I just wanted to share my ideas on the matter first.<br /><br />-Blane<br /></div></div>Chris 'Blane' Rowathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13050917713159548998noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37058160.post-18356640804114429442008-05-06T10:43:00.006+01:002008-05-08T09:27:07.693+01:00Excelsior (ever upward)I wanted to step up my technical training before heading to Italy and decided I may as well film some things along the way. I filmed on 4 different days over the past couple of weeks and the vast majority of movements in here were done for the first time during this period.<br /><br />Critical feedback is always welcome!<br /><br /><object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/1hNKp7keiIo&hl=en"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/1hNKp7keiIo&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object><br /><br />Download a better quality version <a href="http://www.norwich-parkour.co.uk/videos/Excelsior.wmv">here</a>.<br /><br />-BlaneChris 'Blane' Rowathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13050917713159548998noreply@blogger.com34tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37058160.post-76129692914941884392008-05-02T14:24:00.004+01:002008-05-02T14:56:58.488+01:0024 Hour Parkour Takeover on YoutubeI'm very proud to be part of a huge moment in Parkour history as <a href="http://www.youtube.com">Youtube</a> is taken over by 'real' Parkour for 24 hours.<br /><br />In an effort to show true training, discipline and the community, <a href="http://www.parkourgenerations.com">Parkour Generations</a> have assembled a collection of 12 videos to put forward to Youtube that will feature on the main home page and at least 18 other local countries' home pages until midnight tonight. I was honoured to be invited to be a part of this and hopefully my old <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1xDy-aK75I">PINWC</a> video will help spread a positive message alongside the other excellent videos.<br /><br />It's a great opportunity for millions of people to see what Parkour is really about and will go a long way towards informing the masses as to what it is we actually do... hopefully changing people's opinions of it being outdoor gymnastics, acrobatics, crazy stunts or roof jumping.<br /><br />More details on the Parkour takeover can be found <a href="http://www.parkourgenerations.com/news.php#335">here</a>.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBwp9z6hoDzpb_P_HoSJXWGyA89-MObVUu3P7GOPRzEG_GpZOW3sB_UGKcatwXkvz5nIkyBAqZrSFa8PeL_dLhdJ-VjAhVCfyAwNJPROsNhoYrDmVijewYnQZx0ToMje8ilg6YNg/s1600-h/youtube.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBwp9z6hoDzpb_P_HoSJXWGyA89-MObVUu3P7GOPRzEG_GpZOW3sB_UGKcatwXkvz5nIkyBAqZrSFa8PeL_dLhdJ-VjAhVCfyAwNJPROsNhoYrDmVijewYnQZx0ToMje8ilg6YNg/s320/youtube.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5195777736557216242" /></a><br /><br />-BlaneChris 'Blane' Rowathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13050917713159548998noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37058160.post-41224773865430787782008-04-10T19:57:00.006+01:002008-04-10T21:19:54.918+01:00On The Road - ItalyFor a while now <a href="http://www.thomadventures.blogspot.com/">Thomas</a> and I have been planning a trip to Italy that will see us setting off on an adventure from his home town in Tours and embarking on an exciting road trip that will take us across the Northern half of Italy. Along the way our plan is simply to train, share methods and ideas with the local traceurs, explore and have fun.<br /><br />Chosen for it's natural beauty, various delights and attractions, Italy will be the perfect place to explore in style from the airy open-top of Thomas' version of the legendary Citroën 2CV, as seen in the photo below...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirLcdRWgjJdUZK2kx0-26E3yd9CwGxsArC3WVJLvYavWS45cmGf4iKEnV23ADfY4bXzbILss7Y8_EC8Zp87lbXP-Be_NWSpQef7nlwkIZpQTtNRhOtRcR24QLXn1FTjE9B1CE7Wg/s1600-h/2cv.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirLcdRWgjJdUZK2kx0-26E3yd9CwGxsArC3WVJLvYavWS45cmGf4iKEnV23ADfY4bXzbILss7Y8_EC8Zp87lbXP-Be_NWSpQef7nlwkIZpQTtNRhOtRcR24QLXn1FTjE9B1CE7Wg/s320/2cv.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5187700902822932562" /></a><br /><br />We are also both delighted to be joined on this trip by our good friend Andy '<a href="http://kiell.com/">Kiell</a>' Day, who will be there every step (and leap) of the way to capture the many special moments with his considerable photography skill - as well as teaching us a thing or two around the Dolomites with all his recent climbing experience I'm sure!<br /><br />Our plan is loosely in place now and with the aid of many generous locals who have already been in contact with us to offer some very kind hospitality, we know it's going to be a very memorable and positive experience.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8hoMj52yB4N802lXtzWeGLkH1vUZNqbokIHjZOgAdWTVw46mJsjRFN1r8WmwBTt3-h9Pz8lEXyyslk5oyYtisf7lhgcp8dsUH5PeTalnLOBdmoHVv1ovA5GAhA2EW9Lt3-OKIAA/s1600-h/roughplan1of7.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8hoMj52yB4N802lXtzWeGLkH1vUZNqbokIHjZOgAdWTVw46mJsjRFN1r8WmwBTt3-h9Pz8lEXyyslk5oyYtisf7lhgcp8dsUH5PeTalnLOBdmoHVv1ovA5GAhA2EW9Lt3-OKIAA/s320/roughplan1of7.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5187700700959469634" /></a><br /><br />Above is a rough map of our planned route. Starting in Tours we will navigate anti-clockwise around Italy with the first scheduled stop being Torino, then moving on to Genova, The Cinque Terre (La Spezia), Pisa, Florence, Sienna, Roma, Napoli and Pompei, before heading North again alongside the East coast of Italy.<br />Once on the East coast our idea is to travel to Vicenza and Verona before exploring the Dolomites and its collection of <span style="font-style:italic;">Via Ferrata</span>, or <span style="font-style:italic;">Iron Roads</span>. These consist of a network of iron ladders and rope bridges secured in to the sides of the mountains and they were first built during World War I to support troop movement throughout the area. I'm particularly excited about this section of the trip as the photographs I've seen from other climbers have been really whetting my appetite and sparking my sense of adventure...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJb4CmX8OjpITBbf0ZzrlSfiVxYHl6JPSxBWjb4P25cigm2nzTKvyAWn59GpAniG0YzOFkpMYndLKg59AsL1PtZSpGdaV6ckG2BKf1aji4FF-ZkLv_fS-S2LdpZafHFFj_i0JI6w/s1600-h/STB_2128-731039.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJb4CmX8OjpITBbf0ZzrlSfiVxYHl6JPSxBWjb4P25cigm2nzTKvyAWn59GpAniG0YzOFkpMYndLKg59AsL1PtZSpGdaV6ckG2BKf1aji4FF-ZkLv_fS-S2LdpZafHFFj_i0JI6w/s320/STB_2128-731039.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5187706615129436258" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnRGFhTEnvlMYmWaJsdjhjtWfeTSB5VLX6KaqYxT9VSQzOxVdM7Q0DTxbRUiXpqyh_xam4W0kr17ghmloQLYK3sV2XropUbLryBPtY_ipPB1skqoRo_1ZXC8C0yOB9iWgQ8yGC3A/s1600-h/via-ferrata-vigneaux-(25)-742872.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnRGFhTEnvlMYmWaJsdjhjtWfeTSB5VLX6KaqYxT9VSQzOxVdM7Q0DTxbRUiXpqyh_xam4W0kr17ghmloQLYK3sV2XropUbLryBPtY_ipPB1skqoRo_1ZXC8C0yOB9iWgQ8yGC3A/s320/via-ferrata-vigneaux-(25)-742872.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5187706619424403570" /></a><br /><br />Before or after the Dolomites we will be stopping off at Lago di Garda (Lake Garda) and finally Milano before beginning our journey back to Tours.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBgKSfrRb8yJ5AYYItNWCUb5JzM7jaa59OOJ-XRXnVXOdalnVj4YPWlG-ScXWTO2iHtheDIDtu9PiS4RJXGdxIhQr8Zi1-suUNmHAoF2AdA-Y3ceP6W9RsZpIfZOliEvpHAzcTKw/s1600-h/lake-garda-sunset-bird-on-post-b.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBgKSfrRb8yJ5AYYItNWCUb5JzM7jaa59OOJ-XRXnVXOdalnVj4YPWlG-ScXWTO2iHtheDIDtu9PiS4RJXGdxIhQr8Zi1-suUNmHAoF2AdA-Y3ceP6W9RsZpIfZOliEvpHAzcTKw/s320/lake-garda-sunset-bird-on-post-b.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5187713869329199234" /></a><br /><br />Right now our plans are all just that - in the planning stage - and although this is the rough guide we will be following, there will remain an element of flexibility and freedom throughout. Therefore it is very difficult to say right now which days we will be visiting which cities. If you like the idea of our trip and reside in any of the cities or destinations we have mentioned, or if you have any other suggestions for places we might like to visit... feel free to contact either Thomas or I <a href="http://parkour.net/Trip-Italy-t527.html">here</a> and we will see what we can do!<br /><br />Our trip will begin during the end of May, beginning of June time and will finish when it is finished! We don't want to put a strict time limit on this trip but we hope it will take 2-3 weeks to complete.Chris 'Blane' Rowathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13050917713159548998noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37058160.post-21541323675941436262008-03-03T10:33:00.003+00:002008-03-03T12:50:44.034+00:00Balancing to FailureSince I trained my legs hard on Saturday and my arms were still recovering from a previous training session, I decided to have a few hours of easy training yesterday and work on my balance. I found a nice long rail a little over waist height and decided this would make a good training tool for today.<br /><br />My original plan was just to walk along the rail, turn to one side, crouch down, hold my arms out straight to the front for 5 seconds, then clasped behind my back for 5 seconds, stand back up and walk back. I found myself enjoying this and didn't feel ready to drop off when I reached the start again so I kept going, repeating the same walking, turning, crouching, standing, turning, walking process each time.<br /><br />I wanted to find out how long it would take me to fall off the rail so I kept going.<br /><br />The length of the rail was 144 of my feet, heel to toe and since my feet are 27cm long I later found out the rail was 38.88m long.<br /><br />After 35 lengths I fell off, it was during one of the crouches I lost balance and dropped backwards to my feet. I was quite disappointed as it seemed careless and a lapse in concentration. I decided I would keep going to 50 lengths and do one additional barefooted length for every time I fell off since the rail was very cold and it seemed a small incentive not to fall off again.<br /><br />I fell off again during a crouch around the 46-47th length and I can't put my finger on what I did differently which is frustrating, if I knew what I did wrong then I could fix it, but it just suddenly happened.<br /><br />The other strange thing that I noticed with my focus on the rail for so long and an out of focus ground below it, is that after half a mile or so my vision was affected. When I would reach the end of the rail and crouch, turning to the side and looking ahead, the ground would appear to warp and ripple in waves!<br />This was very strange to me and didn't seem to affect performance but it was quite surreal and interesting to note that after enough time balancing my vision will be temporarily affected. It didn't last very long and settled down quickly but for the first few seconds of each crouch the ground was moving like the sea. I imagine it's just confusing to the brain for the eyes to focus on a rail moving backwards and the ground below out of focus doing the same.<br /><br />After 50 lengths I jumped off the rail and removed my shoes and socks and repeated the walk up and down once again for the 2 falls, it felt nice and fresh and I noticed it was easier barefooted, your feet can grab the rail and wrap around it slightly.<br /><br />To sum up:<br /><br />Distance walked before first fall - 1360.8 meters.<br />Distance walked before second fall - 1788.48 meters.<br />Distance walked between the falls - 427.68 meters.<br />Total time crouched with arms straight out in front - 4.3 minutes.<br />Total time crouched on rail with hands clasped behind my back - 4.3 minutes.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Total distance walked - 2,021.76 meters // 1.26 miles</span>.<br /><br />This is by far the longest distance I've walked on a rail in one session and it was good training. My goal for next time is to do the 50 lengths barefooted without falling off once - and if I do I will start again from 0.<br /><br />I felt as though I could have continued longer too, there was no strain felt on my body. Maybe I will build up to 100 lengths in one go or start doing them sideways, crouched, backwards etc.<br /><br />The reason for this entry is just to highlight that after a while (hours) of balancing, it might affect your vision. If you give it a try it then let me know what you find!<br /><br />-BlaneChris 'Blane' Rowathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13050917713159548998noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37058160.post-8371565467901873472008-02-15T17:01:00.025+00:002008-02-18T12:37:21.058+00:00Life at 9mphOn the morning of Saturday 9th February at 07:45 I left my house with my bicycle and heavy rucksack towards the train station to meet with Joe and Tim. I was feeling excited and happy to be beginning my first real adventure, the first of many I'm now sure.<br /><br />The night before I had been packing my bag and trying to be ruthless with what I should take with me since I had limited space and I would need to carry everything on my back the whole way. Maybe I should have bought some panniers to carry some of the weight but it was too late. I only packed 2 pairs of socks, one spare jumper and a couple of pairs of underwear. Those and a set of waterproofs should be all I need in terms of clothes and besides, the weather was supposed to be good so hopefully I would stay dry.<br /><br />Around 08:00 I met the other guys at the train station and we were all excited yet a little apprehensive about what lay ahead, none of us had ever attempted anything like this before. Our goal was to cover 75-80 miles both today (128km) and tomorrow, climb the second highest mountain the UK on day three and cycle home over the next two days.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxelqh1fuNXkoiRC6I1uwq5R92wNFqXXSJH9-qKmzUu02AghfCrPu18YlTk7d91lOweAgyH8ht91BIKQhSjoBPKmj4rvZv8n1RJEMzWUkNdlZqUkB74ROyFGOOV1xN_cdle0dosQ/s1600-h/readytogo.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxelqh1fuNXkoiRC6I1uwq5R92wNFqXXSJH9-qKmzUu02AghfCrPu18YlTk7d91lOweAgyH8ht91BIKQhSjoBPKmj4rvZv8n1RJEMzWUkNdlZqUkB74ROyFGOOV1xN_cdle0dosQ/s320/readytogo.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5167260377817375970" /></a><br /><br />The ride started out great with the sun heating up as we progressed and the roads stayed fairly flat, giving us plenty of confidence and energy. Shortly after, as we reached the 10 mile marker, we had our first technical problem when my back tyre was pierced and we spent a little time at the side of the road changing the inner tube for one of our spares. Here, a really nice guy stopped his car and offered to help us since he could sympathise with our bike problems after cycling all around the UK for years. He told us a few stories, wished us luck and went on his way. It was a unique and unexpected moment, his generosity surprised us all. We never did catch your name but thank you for stopping and offering to help.<br /><br />Our plan from that moment on was to replace all of the inner tubes if/when they broke with our spares, then repair the broken ones at night when we set up camp. This would keep us moving forwards and save us time. It was a good plan but in practice it proved to be futile.<br /><br />We were making good time and were moving forward at a good pace but I was finding the riding particularly hard and I didn't know why. I thought I should be fit and strong enough to at least complete the first day without any trouble but on the uphill sections I was really struggling. It wasn't until day 2 that I realised I had cycled the first 40 miles with my front brake half on! Halfords, having made the stupid mistake of actually selling my bicycle to another customer, had to build another one for me whilst I waited and they obviously didn't do a thorough service and check of my new bike. In their hurry they didn't set up the brakes properly and all this way I had been cycling against the friction of having my front brake rubbing on the rims. Since I wasn't an experienced cyclist I just thought this was how it was supposed to be and kept going as best I could.<br />By day 2 my gears had also shown signs of a poor setup and from this point on I was also reduced to 4 reliable gears, the others would make the chain grind and jump around... not great considering the hills we would soon face.<br /><br />It wasn't long before we reached Penkridge - about 40 miles from Hinckley, where we left that morning. It was around 12pm by this time and we were feeling good when we faced our second punture. If you had told me we would also be repairing our 13th puncture here in Penkridge I would have laughed at you, but you would have been correct.<br /><br />Joe had 3 punctures in the space of 10 minutes or less. This was pretty funny and we were laughing about it but just after we fixed those, we carried on down a country lane where some fallen stealth branches leapt out of nowhere and destroyed our morale and inner tubes yet again! Unbelievable.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr0hjZv8rq1dRSL7P0YSm3bGSBDSQHFJU3fs6K2MTyhtO6w8r0br8mDVkIqlso9R-MLVAS1SnH-dtl3xpndd1yiL1ybR2GCF7uoVRCPz8ksQwCfOGrTYrw_rTjLUS33MI-qdVo_Q/s1600-h/joebike.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr0hjZv8rq1dRSL7P0YSm3bGSBDSQHFJU3fs6K2MTyhtO6w8r0br8mDVkIqlso9R-MLVAS1SnH-dtl3xpndd1yiL1ybR2GCF7uoVRCPz8ksQwCfOGrTYrw_rTjLUS33MI-qdVo_Q/s320/joebike.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5167272429495608562" /></a><br /><br />By the time we found all of the holes and repaired them it was late afternoon and we hadn't had much experience setting up our tents and equipment before, so we decided we should make camp here, fix all of the punctures properly and get some food. We soon found some woods in a nearby field and thought it would make a great place to camp for the first night. It took us an hour or so to set up camp and build a small fire to keep us warm later on.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFZGEn8A-__Vd9Ip1x8Dj8buKZMw-UuEhEycurrFqvlTpI1ukSWhgaEy1557cDfAUFkw-fm0RyhtspT5un0huVkuU90V174TeEtuSWSmr861RSDVj9kzLHQmXFyx5FBGNqCynwHw/s1600-h/PICT0035.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFZGEn8A-__Vd9Ip1x8Dj8buKZMw-UuEhEycurrFqvlTpI1ukSWhgaEy1557cDfAUFkw-fm0RyhtspT5un0huVkuU90V174TeEtuSWSmr861RSDVj9kzLHQmXFyx5FBGNqCynwHw/s320/PICT0035.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5167346191263950290" /></a><br />^The woods we spent the first night camping in.<br /><br />Joe and I headed out for supplies whilst Tim stayed to watch the tents. We headed out and walked to the nearby village where we were told there was a garage 200 yards down the road, great news. 4-5 miles later, after more terrible advice and directions from locals, 2 cyclists who ignored us, a van that also completely underestimated the distance and even a police car ignoring us as we tried to ask him for advice - we finally came across a little shopping area with a garage, a Somerfield, a chip shop and everything else we could possibly want. We stocked up and after cycling all day then walking all this way, we were really tired and decided to get a taxi back to the field we were camping in. Nobody seemed to know any local taxi numbers but finally a really kind and generous lady offered to drive us to the town centre where we found a taxi firm and another chip shop. Here we bought fish and chips and then took a taxi back to our field. It was really funny to see the driver's reaction when we told him to stop in the middle of nowhere and as he watched us disappear in to a big field with purpose, he must have been wondering where the hell we were going.<br /><br />When we returned to the woods we started the fire and ate our food which tasted so good! We used some water to look for bubbles in our inner tubes and after an hour or so we thought we had fixed them all, little did we know the next morning would bring yet more repair work.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2Amoh85oPn8IThBPP0-GardDNbUobRQkMjn9S0QaHT_LJWxEUM2DEVkROeAjdLGFMsEAGSW25o6jtyYurR-ajivCV7M6HoYTAGw0o97-3Y0Nh0MFoP6fTn6wqoD3YU3m0zfVTfQ/s1600-h/1stcampsite.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2Amoh85oPn8IThBPP0-GardDNbUobRQkMjn9S0QaHT_LJWxEUM2DEVkROeAjdLGFMsEAGSW25o6jtyYurR-ajivCV7M6HoYTAGw0o97-3Y0Nh0MFoP6fTn6wqoD3YU3m0zfVTfQ/s320/1stcampsite.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5167286637247423746" /></a><br /><br />We woke up early and packed up before realising our tyres were still flat and it was only then we realised my front brake had been on this whole way. Failing to fix it we just disabled it altogether. A couple of hours later and we just couldn't understand why our inner tubes would seem to be fixed then miraculously go down again just moments after we put them back in our tyres. It turned out there was the smallest thorn buried in the tyre wall that would pierce the tube every time we pumped it up to a certain pressure! When we finally got rid of this everything was fine and we got back on the road - but it was about 1pm by this time and we were still only 40 miles from home, already beginning day 2 where we were scheduled to hit the 150 mile mark that night.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">13 punctures in one day!!!</span><br /><br />We cycled as hard as we could but with only 4 hours of daylight and lots of uphill sections, we only managed to cover another 35-40 miles. We had covered in two days, what we had planned to cover in one. Not a great start.<br /><br />That night we stocked up on food again and camped in a huge farmers field where we found more woods and set up the tents there. We failed to keep the fire alive thanks to all of the damp wood but just running around trying kept us warm enough and passed some time. I managed to zap myself on an electric fence designed to keep sheep out of the woods, much to the amusement of Joe. The previous night Joe and I had slept in my two-man tent and Tim had slept with all of the bags and equipment in the 3 man tent but tonight we tried two men in the bigger tent so Tim had some additional body heat to keep him warm.<br />So I was alone in my tent that night and it was absolutely freezing. I had all my clothes on, my hat and my sleeping bag zipped right up but the cold stopped me from getting much sleep. Every time I did manage to sleep I had the weirdest dreams that were really happy and colourful... it was a very long and strange night.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3mD7Dv8EN82lfk3AVGpK2ddrtWWqgm2KaIXwPlCoX2dkApwXZ0W_KI2NcHGncV2bsoZ6WJukigeYeXCxC6rOSPMV6cYDGsBTzKlCxjEXW2JR61AtPmN59RtmoyEfBFJdY6mdL5w/s1600-h/campsite2.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3mD7Dv8EN82lfk3AVGpK2ddrtWWqgm2KaIXwPlCoX2dkApwXZ0W_KI2NcHGncV2bsoZ6WJukigeYeXCxC6rOSPMV6cYDGsBTzKlCxjEXW2JR61AtPmN59RtmoyEfBFJdY6mdL5w/s320/campsite2.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5167306402686919954" /></a><br /><br />The next morning day three began well. We packed up and got back on the road determined to make it to Llanberis, which according to my map was about 65 miles away. We faced some monster hills today and when we reached the tops hoping for an fair downhill segment, we were simply faced with a long slightly uphill slope that forced us to keep peddling or face rolling backwards. It's surprising how much this takes out of you and I just tried to look down and push one leg forward, then the other and try not to think about it too much.<br /><br />Entering Wales gave us a lot of hope as it was the first time any of us had ever travelled to another country entirely by our own power and effort. As soon as we got in to Wales we noticed sheep everywhere and began to be followed by fighter jets overhead flying around for training purposes. It was funny to see people moving so quickly overhead whilst we moved forward so slowly up these hills.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOZ97DcM1tL5rC9P7D9PiASKF7hKVbYYHu_a4tETrnOkMlVLbNAE8xGkIZdC60LdojPjkB2aeViHNPmJ8B0MSI6skiv6RoXVGrbJfp9GqnTau7W2rpeMgCp9t77CrFun_0FAtQ6A/s1600-h/wales.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOZ97DcM1tL5rC9P7D9PiASKF7hKVbYYHu_a4tETrnOkMlVLbNAE8xGkIZdC60LdojPjkB2aeViHNPmJ8B0MSI6skiv6RoXVGrbJfp9GqnTau7W2rpeMgCp9t77CrFun_0FAtQ6A/s320/wales.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5167319330538480930" /></a><br /><br />Tired, smelly, hungry and thirsty we hit the 40 mile mark and seemed to have been riding uphill the whole time. We stopped in a little town and stocked up yet again on food and gorged ourselves. I asked a really nice old guy who was on his way home from the pub if there were any public toilets nearby and he laughed, informing us there was not, but he then told us to, "<span style="font-style:italic;">Go to the pub and tell Mia that Richie said we could use their toilet!</span>" Soon after he left laughing to himself and saying he would invite us to use his toilet but he lived too far away.<br /><br />We headed down to the pub but didn't find a Mia working there, we just used their toilet anyway then got back on the road thinking we had only another 25 miles to travel. Since we were really sore and tired we decided to walk up any big hills we faced and ride the flatter sections. Many hours later we were cycling in pitch darkness along A-roads and the stars gave us so much hope and energy. Thinking we should fall on Llanberis very soon, we stopped at a late-night shop for more food and were devastated to hear my map was misleading and that we were still another 45 miles from Llanberis! Our morale and hope of completing the trip in the original time was shot to pieces and we were stunned to silence for a few moments before deciding to just keep pushing forwards in to the darkness and see what we could do.<br /><br />That night we covered another 10-15 miles through complete darkness, with more punctures, my back brake failing completely and the cold biting at our faces. Finally we came to a halt having cycled for 11 hours with only 1 proper break for lunch. We were about to set up in a field when I shined my torch in to the corner and saw 50 little eyes staring back at us! The sheep looked like possessed dogs ready to devour our kneecaps and bikes. We moved to another field and set up as quickly as possible, using my tent for the supplies and bundling in to the bigger tent to share body heat. We were all completely exhausted and although we hadn't made it to Llanberis we were proud of our achievement that day.<br /><br />Day 4 was a slow start, we were all tired and sore from our cycling but knew for sure this time we only had around 30 miles to cover. The day went well but we still had to face so many huge hills without any significant downhill stretches to rest. It was soon obvious that it was impossible to get home in time now so we decided we would still climb Snowdon but get a train home if possible.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU6hLoZP4cy4ZerZ6LQ_f3G4Ozi2xsCZxfvDi-fYVnmvKgjDePFQNKugAXYitXqwxyshmwzLgfzSsPtSvnIJ7UYI50_jbQ_SzQq58FXX3WdchR4kwCkhQ4cNoWvjAcvtS2zz95IA/s1600-h/snowdonia.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU6hLoZP4cy4ZerZ6LQ_f3G4Ozi2xsCZxfvDi-fYVnmvKgjDePFQNKugAXYitXqwxyshmwzLgfzSsPtSvnIJ7UYI50_jbQ_SzQq58FXX3WdchR4kwCkhQ4cNoWvjAcvtS2zz95IA/s320/snowdonia.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5167335806033028514" /></a><br />^Snowdonia gradually coming in to view.<br /><br />But half way through today's journey our luck changed when we came across the most incredible downhill stretch. It took us through a winding series of roads high up in the mountains and we zipped through the quiet roads with the trees and nature all around us. This downhill section seemed to last for ages and it was by far the most scenic and beautiful terrain we had met so far. Things were picking up!<br /><br />At the bottom of this stretch we reached Betws-y-Coed and found a railway station where we would come back to after we climbed Snowdon. We had a brief rest here then began the last 17 miles of our journey to Llanberis. This was exclusively uphill yet again and took us a long time but we were happy in the knowledge it would be all downhill on the way back to the station. As we reached the last five miles or so we came across the road leading up to the Pen-y-Pass which is a long and winding road, uphill of course but by this time we didn't care. We just kept going and soaked in the inspiring views of Snowdonia, walking up the steep slope pushing our bikes. When we finally reached the top and arrived at the well-known Pen-y-Pass, we paused here for a moment to admire the summit of Snowdon, just visible over the mountains before continuing.<br /><br />None of us were expecting the most ridiculous downhill section imaginable on the other side of the Pen-y-Pass. It was long and windy and such a relief, even after the slope finished the speed carried us in to Nant Peris and it wasn't long before we reached Llanberis, our final campsite due to its proximity to Snowdon and the Pen-y-Pass. Here we found a campsite near to the youth hostel and we should really have expected it to be at top of another long steep hill! Half way up the hill we met another local called Richie who was a drunken guy that lived in a caravan in the next field with his dog. He said he would go to the shop and get some beers and come and have a drink with us, we laughed it off and continued wondering if we would ever see him again.<br /><br />After booking in for the night we set up our tents and sure enough, Richie soon kept his word and came up with beers, some cups and a torch/radio combo that he soon tuned in to Radio 1 and turned up loud.<br /><br />Not wanting to offend him we spoke to him for a while whilst he tried to get us to 'rave' with him to radio 1, drink his beer and smoke with him! After we kindly refused all of the above, he sat down and fell straight in the pre-built fire in a drunken mess... thankfully we hadn't lit the fire yet but I had to help him get out and he soon went home. We never saw him again but I wish to thank him for making us all smile, we hope we didn't offend you by not accepting your gifts Richie!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin2o-lIjwefrBqoJWCsDZ297FcCOr7pLok7xrpv43zUg1MAhvJKVwDadmox0IOctIJskhTv5jB1grzDq0IiTxo0u2RXeByPUqLUc5hyM2Ga6o2BImKek-b4MWGC9mSGa7fjUNIyQ/s1600-h/PICT0113.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin2o-lIjwefrBqoJWCsDZ297FcCOr7pLok7xrpv43zUg1MAhvJKVwDadmox0IOctIJskhTv5jB1grzDq0IiTxo0u2RXeByPUqLUc5hyM2Ga6o2BImKek-b4MWGC9mSGa7fjUNIyQ/s320/PICT0113.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5167346212738786786" /></a><br />^The final campsite.<br /><br />We all slept well that night and the next morning we woke up early and headed in to Llanberis town centre to find a bus to the top of the hill we had rode down last night. At the top we walked over to the beginning of the Miner's path and decided we'd try the other first, the Pyg. This would give us the choice of tackling the toughest route on Snowdon, Crib Goch, should we feel capable.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghlWxBRpFqROPpXWWnaymZsYWbLs7vtkf4l9hyphenhyphenFkbiMlSEhL7tMZQPkgSY5uOtbj_9rVTMPaqbJHSvAi7dWEMP36z-SltVCZheiP_W4bd60FjsbeNbKICQpNe_8kbJspQBJZaKFQ/s1600-h/pyg.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghlWxBRpFqROPpXWWnaymZsYWbLs7vtkf4l9hyphenhyphenFkbiMlSEhL7tMZQPkgSY5uOtbj_9rVTMPaqbJHSvAi7dWEMP36z-SltVCZheiP_W4bd60FjsbeNbKICQpNe_8kbJspQBJZaKFQ/s320/pyg.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5167327353537389874" /></a><br /><br />The route started out easily enough and it's fairly well maintained. Despite cycling for 4 days we were overtaking most groups we met along the way which felt nice, all of our physical training seemed to help us to go on and on without too much trouble. About 40 minutes later it was decision time, either we continued on the Pyg track or we tackle the infamous Crib Goch.<br /><br />In the end we chose the Crib Goch. It started off fairly simple but soon we were faced with steep climbing sections where slipping was just not an option and some proper climbing situations that were made harder with rucksacks and our depleted physical state. Nevertheless we pressed on again and again until we reached the first ridge.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjaTurCAbfCF5C_I_27ddT-Gm9Xmqa28y3w2qXwx4aogMaOgRQhfalUOtbVeDq6IqR7e9noygU4nplYTZBJWPU2u8VG3aA49nKGN1O54BawKArXnbUaDW3_vhIF42niMx61xG6yQ/s1600-h/crib.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjaTurCAbfCF5C_I_27ddT-Gm9Xmqa28y3w2qXwx4aogMaOgRQhfalUOtbVeDq6IqR7e9noygU4nplYTZBJWPU2u8VG3aA49nKGN1O54BawKArXnbUaDW3_vhIF42niMx61xG6yQ/s320/crib.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5167328457343984962" /></a><br />^The group in front as we looked on at what was to come. The knife-edge ridge of Crib Goch is considered the hardest route to the Summit of Snowdon and I can fully appreciate why so many people need to be rescued and air-lifted off the mountain during these final stages. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinS737fUBUhe90m7XFybTujOSELEsbbCwuIhpMj2ncjCffmk6x3DVknLmZLTzoY5C440ErjIXMIpDCIhcwjudcCkm96IdVCkdXCNfgmE2r6inc_FJGJsO89B7cdLdOxta0Fjp4Fg/s1600-h/crib2.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinS737fUBUhe90m7XFybTujOSELEsbbCwuIhpMj2ncjCffmk6x3DVknLmZLTzoY5C440ErjIXMIpDCIhcwjudcCkm96IdVCkdXCNfgmE2r6inc_FJGJsO89B7cdLdOxta0Fjp4Fg/s320/crib2.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5167328624847709522" /></a><br />^Another view of Crib Goch, I've highlighted the route we scrambled across to get to where I took the photo.<br /><br />The ridge itself was quite dangerous. You need to scramble across the top of the ridge that is never more than a metre wide, often much less. Sometimes you find yourself using the top as a hand rail and looking for foot holds as you keep moving sideways, focusing on everything but the lethal drop either side of you. We had all experienced heights and moving at height before in Parkour training so this didn't phase us much at all, as long as our hands were firmly planted on a handhold then we knew we could hold on should our feet slip. After half an hour or so of moving across the long ridge we faced the first tower that was quite a challenging climb.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0vLToUfy-4s7q_eiKg3Zfosgm_uoZYD0J4rNbhT2pTGW9zQzFHiZ3qbBymAfH0IQ5qYtjkYkdYrO0ZKzh4yKssHtvGDpQteQYgJlnYtEc8JhUHFovEiT7xO-d_OazcWMN8ckyhA/s1600-h/DSC00231.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0vLToUfy-4s7q_eiKg3Zfosgm_uoZYD0J4rNbhT2pTGW9zQzFHiZ3qbBymAfH0IQ5qYtjkYkdYrO0ZKzh4yKssHtvGDpQteQYgJlnYtEc8JhUHFovEiT7xO-d_OazcWMN8ckyhA/s320/DSC00231.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5167337012918838706" /></a><br />^Scaling this tricky rock tower with a massive drop just next to us proved one of the harder parts of the route. Failure was not an option and going back was out of the question. We just pressed on and kept going up, looking for hand holds and hoping they would hold - we had found plenty of loose rock sections so far.<br /><br />Beyond the ridges and towers there were a few more tricky sections and steep or vertical climbs with big drops all around us, we had to stay fully focused and be careful as the wind sometimes picked up and threatened to pluck us off the mountain. Some of the sections had loose rocks and hand holds and at one stage a fairly large boulder began to slide as I passed it and I only just managed to get my foot around it to stop it dislodging completely and heading straight for Tim's head. A close call for sure.<br /><br />Proud and happy that we'd conquered the hardest route on Snowdon we continued towards the summit. As we got close there were a lot of people all walking towards one of the highest places in the UK, second only to Ben Nevis in Scotland. It was strange to see everyone moving in the same direction towards a small stone compass in the distance on top of the peak.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_cU_aOJRNehQlaKKVHz9u0wpEZrku7c8PiUk4xWT0LVW2Jg4GzjVoP2Y1T_lOuq0gxt6X6q0ZLfrianNp7Ahf2xrZFCRXm78SeJfULdET_q-xseouQpzeXoPdXvMTGKYDraXnng/s1600-h/summit2.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_cU_aOJRNehQlaKKVHz9u0wpEZrku7c8PiUk4xWT0LVW2Jg4GzjVoP2Y1T_lOuq0gxt6X6q0ZLfrianNp7Ahf2xrZFCRXm78SeJfULdET_q-xseouQpzeXoPdXvMTGKYDraXnng/s320/summit2.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5167332249800107362" /></a><br />^Hanging on to a rock face with the summit in the background.<br /><br />The summit itself is special, on a clear day you can see England, Ireland and Scotland and today was a very clear and sunny day. For as far as the eye could see, everything was below us and we could even see a large portion of the route we had cycled to get to this point. It made it all worthwhile; all the uphill struggles, the punctures, the cold nights and the compromises. We had made it!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyQpzXbqnOslyafP_oAKfa4JA74E-eZD7YVqnz-psiTagtmmSvHaXbsiZwBCydXfqMRyYuSq2OG18k2kr6C07_9rQhFKrbt8D7dWA5WvmKtBfCSRYLKuK9gXMsIPR9pQEbv0taYw/s1600-h/crib_top.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyQpzXbqnOslyafP_oAKfa4JA74E-eZD7YVqnz-psiTagtmmSvHaXbsiZwBCydXfqMRyYuSq2OG18k2kr6C07_9rQhFKrbt8D7dWA5WvmKtBfCSRYLKuK9gXMsIPR9pQEbv0taYw/s320/crib_top.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5167334702226433426" /></a><br />^Part of Crib Goch from the Summit.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUvn11MkH_0D3-Lf1NoXI1kWiIrEfgU7HOQzHIAaPAGpKjOfbDOJ7Up5pzOTCqlmO-Px5SIoLMGnhpZsU1O_DIaVSCA5AuRxjQ_azkH6-BzpzhMSFzx-2IUE108pIdw1RqStEVwg/s1600-h/3.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUvn11MkH_0D3-Lf1NoXI1kWiIrEfgU7HOQzHIAaPAGpKjOfbDOJ7Up5pzOTCqlmO-Px5SIoLMGnhpZsU1O_DIaVSCA5AuRxjQ_azkH6-BzpzhMSFzx-2IUE108pIdw1RqStEVwg/s320/3.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5167334238369965442" /></a><br />^On top of the world!<br /><br />The walk down from the top was long and hard as our quadriceps were really feeling the descent, trying to slow us down and stop us falling all the way down the Miner's track. A quarter of the way down we came across a stream running down the mountain face and filled out water bottles with the cleanest, clearest water I've ever tasted, it seemed so pure. We found the resting place of the stream near the bottom and it was a gorgeous blue-green coloured river surrounded by picturesque mountains and a view back up to the summit.<br /><br />We pressed on and after another hour or so and we were back at Pen-y-Pass waiting for an hour for a bus that never came. Some other people had been waiting even longer and nobody knows what happened to the buses that night. Some kind driver stopped to offer some us a lift down to Llanberis and a guy who had been whining about the public transport and some woman who came past everyone shouting "<span style="font-style:italic;">I have a child!!</span>" decided that gave her priority, and they got in the car. We were too tired to protest and didn't really mind. The woman later came back for two girls, an American and a Scot that we had been talking to and they promised to come back for us when they got their car! We were so grateful for that and after 20 minutes or so they kept their promise and showed up, giving us a lift down in to Llanberis.<br /><br />That night I bought and ate an entire chicken and loads of snacks as we all tried to pack in the recovery food whilst we phoned every local taxi company in the yellow pages to try and get one to take 3 bikes and 3 people to Betws-y-Coed for 7am the next morning to catch the train. None of them were interested in running a minibus for that time so we were faced with getting up at 2am the next morning and cycling 17 miles to Betws-y-Coed.<br /><br />After 5 hours of sleep we woke up and in the dark, disassembled our tents, packed up our gear and headed for the Llanberis pass through deserted streets and under the stars, it was eerily quiet. When we reached the pass itself there were no street lights and we were dwarved by the mountains all around us and feeling really insignificant under the beautiful stars. It was the last real test of the trip to get up the Llanberis pass, pushing our bikes with all our gear on our backs and fighting to put one foot in front of the other over and over. An hour and a half later we reached the top and had a 5 minute break before rolling down the long hill on the other side - which was interesting with a half-working brake - I'm just glad there was no traffic at the bottom as I veered on to the junction at 20mph with white knuckles trying to get the brake to work.<br /><br />We spent the next hour flying down the hills in the darkness and really enjoying ourselves, reflecting and laughing about the 5 days behind us and lessons learned.<br /><br />We arrived at the train station 30 minutes early and just tried to stay warm until the time came when our train should arrive - unfortunately it didn't. Faced with the thought of spending another day in Wales we were really disheartened and ready to collapse when we saw a light in the distance. It was the train! It was late and caused us to miss all our connecting trains but the main thing was we were sitting down and travelling towards home, it felt great.<br /><br />We changed at Llandudno junction, then again at Chester, then Crewe, Birmingham and I left the guys at Nuneaton to catch a train to Hinckley as they continued on to Leicester.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjERQnivJe-KCHAljLGJCIqc7QRDARyeOn4Mv9Wn_1YbRiSM4YBl0yE_kYIJXNeCmaj3XoxWkNWyCq0tWdlxuuoYzhkYUqayxYpna7O1JPQZKUElwq-fUwOhSBnnByk08GSzR1mqw/s1600-h/miner.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjERQnivJe-KCHAljLGJCIqc7QRDARyeOn4Mv9Wn_1YbRiSM4YBl0yE_kYIJXNeCmaj3XoxWkNWyCq0tWdlxuuoYzhkYUqayxYpna7O1JPQZKUElwq-fUwOhSBnnByk08GSzR1mqw/s320/miner.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5167342360153122242" /></a><br />^Tired and sore on the way home.<br /><br />And so I arrived home around 1pm on Thursday 14th February. After 170 miles (273km) almost all of which was uphill, 18 hours, 9 minutes and 21 seconds of cycling, 5 nights camping under the stars, a maximum speed of 28mph and an average of around 9mph, I was at home and felt happy to have completed my first adventure but sad that it was over.<br /><br />The trip was a real eye-opener and a taster in to a lifestyle I wish to live more of in the future; travelling and experiencing new things with friends, testing myself physically and mentally and seeing the world. I value greatly the ability to be self-sufficient and not only survive, but thrive in difficult conditions and situations. I learned a lot of useful things during this trip that will stay with me as I tackle future obstacles.<br /><br />This was a just the beginning of my adventures and I proved to myself I could cope with this kind of thing. The most important result of this trip is that it has given me confidence and valuable experience for bigger and better things to come.<br /><br />Thanks to Joe and Tim for coming with me and helping me laugh through the hard times, whilst giving me company to share the good times with. It would have been a lot harder without you guys.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix9-rQFrrlunZVD2XqQI7pKw2Rz7hBK4bTw0HJxLb3uvFbTteumDDEgBgnqTeL7Xu8orsbRkgz1-yHrg9tUl6NBp0v4iy3Kna22XL97xWwtZatKmz6F4CaPMJ9AInl8rVcyAozkQ/s1600-h/n619960643_2340406_5461.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix9-rQFrrlunZVD2XqQI7pKw2Rz7hBK4bTw0HJxLb3uvFbTteumDDEgBgnqTeL7Xu8orsbRkgz1-yHrg9tUl6NBp0v4iy3Kna22XL97xWwtZatKmz6F4CaPMJ9AInl8rVcyAozkQ/s320/n619960643_2340406_5461.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5168298213714781698" /></a><br /><br />-BlaneChris 'Blane' Rowathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13050917713159548998noreply@blogger.com14