Power Is Nothing Without Control

1 Mile of Rail Balance

2012-01-16T14:58:00.000Z

It was a year ago at the Christmas party and the day after the 1,000 muscle ups challenge.

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.

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.

It was one of those mysteries where you're not sure whether it's going to be next to impossible, or not too bad.

Either way, we quickly realised one of the biggest problems was going to be finding a long enough rail!

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.

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.

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.

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.

Let's try it again.

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.

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.

We worked out as we walked that it would take somewhere between 13 and 14 circuits to make a mile, and on we went.

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.

Joe fell off at some point and decided to carry on from that point and finish 13 lengths in total.

Leon fell off a little later.

Andy, Fizz and I were still going but Fizz had arrived a bit later so she was 5-6 circuits behind us.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

14 lengths. One to go.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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....

It's time to get stronger, faster and more powerful.

Blane

Again. Faster.

2012-01-02T22:50:00.001Z

My legs were destroyed.

The 500 jumps had broken my quads down to a place they haven't been in a long time, and stairs were once again my worst enemy.

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.

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.

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 1,000 muscle up challenge 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.

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...

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.

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.

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.

Just do your best.

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.

2.5 per minute, every minute... For 2 hours.

Right.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

162 muscle ups in one hour.

I couldn't drop to doubles, I was about 20 muscle ups behind schedule and felt pretty beaten up.

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.

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...

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.

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.

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.

Walking to the bar, I'd repeat "It's just three muscle ups, anybody can do three muscle ups", 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.

Muscle Ups 196-198:

I was down to being 9 muscle ups behind schedule. I had to claw back 9 more before I could drop to doubles.

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.

I had 25 minutes left to do 48 muscle ups, but I was a broken man.

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.

Muscle ups 285-286, shortly after dropping to doubles:

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.

With 10 minutes to go I had 14 left. I can do this.

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!

My failed double and obvious panic:

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?

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.

2 left. I finished them one at a time.

299:

I hit 300 muscle ups at 1 hour 58 minutes and 18 seconds.

1 minute and 42 seconds inside my desired time limit.

It was over...

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.

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.

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.

That feeling lasted a few moments.

...Then I remembered I had agreed to a challenge that Stephane suggested just over a year ago. There was two days left of 2011.

(write up of challenge #3 coming soon.)

The Forfeit

2012-01-01T19:48:00.006Z

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

Here's a clip of the jump, filmed almost two years ago on the day I managed it for the first time:

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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.

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.

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.

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?

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?

Jumps 52-55 of 500:

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.

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.

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...

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!

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.

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.

"If I miss the last jump, I'm going to start again."

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).

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.

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.

Training hard is good but training hard AND smart, is better.

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.

Write up coming very soon...

Blane

5/3/1 for Parkour

2011-01-06T19:37:00.028Z

Integrating an effective strength training program in to a Parkour schedule.

"The primary goal of your strength and conditioning program
is to make your athletes better football players."

- 5/3/1 For Football.

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Part 1 - Introduction

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.

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.

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.

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.

Part 2 - Why 5/3/1 and how does it work?

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.

Here is a brief description of the program, note that each training cycle lasts four weeks:

-The first week you will do 3 sets of 5 reps.

-The second week you will do 3 sets of 3 reps.

-The third week you will do 1 set of 5 reps, 1 set of 3 reps and 1 set of 1 rep.

-The fourth week is an easy deload week and you will do 3 sets of 5 reps.

After the fourth week you go back to week 1 and continue from there.

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.

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.

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:

Weight x Reps x .0333 + Weight = Estimated 1RM.

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:

85 x 8 x .0333 + 85 = 107.6

And this would mean your estimated 1RM for the squat would actually be 107.6kg.

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.

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 107.6kg and multiply it by 0.9, you get 96.84kg, which would be your starting weight for the program.

Taking this 96.84kg, here are the percentages of that you would lift each week:

Week 1 (3x5)

Set 1 - 65% of 96.84kg x 5 reps (62.95kg x 5)

Set 2 - 75% of 96.84kg x 5 reps (72.63kg x 5)

Set 3 - 85% of 96.84kg x 5+ reps (82.31kg x 5+)

Week 2 (3x3)

Set 1 - 70% of 96.84kg x 3 reps (67.79kg x 3)

Set 2 - 80% of 96.84kg x 3 reps (77.47kg x 3)

Set 3 - 90% of 96.84kg x 3+ reps (87.16kg x 3+)

Week 3 (1x5, 1x3, 1x1)

Set 1 - 75% of 96.84kg x 5 reps (72.63kg x 5)

Set 2 - 85% of 96.84kg x 3 reps (82.31kg x 3)

Set 3 - 95% of 96.84kg x 1+ reps (91.99kg x 1+)

Week 4 (3x5)

Set 1 - 40% of 96.84kg x 5 reps (38.74kg x 5)

Set 2 - 50% of 96.84kg x 5 reps (48.42kg x 5)

Set 3 - 60% of 96.84kg x 5 reps (58.1kg x 5)

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.

And that is the first cycle complete.

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 2.5kgs for your upper body exercises and 5kgs for your lower body exercises. 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.

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.

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 101.84kg, which is still less than our actual max and will allow plenty of time for adaptation and gradual progression.

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.

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.

Simple enough, right?

Part 3 - Assistance exercises and integrating 5/3/1 in to your training

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?

Jim Wendler also co-wrote 5/3/1 For Football 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, life does not have an on-season and an off-season, and neither should Parkour. 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.

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.

Below is a general overview of how a typical week might be scheduled for me.

Monday - Power training for legs, technical training and mobility exercises.

Tuesday - Overhead Press 5/3/1 and assistance exercises.

Wednesday - Technical training and/or climbing.

Thursday - Deadlift 5/3/1 and assistance exercises.

Friday - Light technical training and mobility exercises.

Saturday - Squat 5/3/1 and assistance exercises

Sunday - Active Recovery.

The 5/3/1 days will be Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday 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.

Assistance Exercises

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.

I'm going to add these assistance exercises in a logical place and split them in to sections.

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.

Assistance exercises for the Squat

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.

-Lunges

-Glute-ham raises

-Isometric holds (chair positions)

-Overhead Squats

-Front Squats

-Goblet Squats

-Bulgarian Split-Squats

-Pistols

-Kettlebell Swings

-Calf raises

Assistance exercises for the Overhead Press

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.

-Handstand pressups

-Push presses

-Rows

-Dips

-Chinups

-Pullups

-Pressups

-Quadrupedie

-Bench Press

-Cleans and Presses

-Snatches

-Muscle Ups

-Turkish Get Ups

-Windmills

Assistance exercises for the Deadlift

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.

-Romanian deadlifts

-Hack squats

-Farmer's walk

-Fat Gripz pulling exercises

-Squat

-Glute-ham raises

-Bridges

-Kettlebell swings

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.

Part 4 - Conclusion

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.

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.

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.

You can read more about Jim Wendler's 5/3/1 program here and you can buy the book here. I also highly recommend Mark Rippetoe's excellent book, Starting Strength, which you can buy here.

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.

-Blane

1,000 Muscle Ups

2010-12-22T19:11:00.009Z

"Alright, would you rather do 10,000 pressups… or 1,000 muscle ups?"

It wasn’t a surprising question to be asked since we ask each other these kinds of things all the time, like “Could you take that drop and walk away?”, or “If this balcony was going to collapse in 10 seconds, what would you do?” and in fact both questions I had answered in the last week.

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.

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.

Then I said something that I knew might as well be carved in stone, “I’m gonna do it”. 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.

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.

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.

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.

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…

255 muscle ups and 1 hour, 49 minutes.

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.

300 muscle ups and 2 hours, 9 minutes.

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.

363 muscle ups and I switch to doubles.

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.

401 muscle ups and 3 hours, 3 minutes.

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.

500 muscle ups and 4 hours, 54 minutes.

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.

600 muscle ups and 6 hours, 39 minutes.

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.

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.

700 muscle ups.

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.

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.

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 here.

800 muscle ups and 10 hours, 20 minutes.

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.

900 muscle ups and 13 hours.

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.

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.

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.

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.

1,001 muscle ups and 15 hours, 45 minutes.

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.

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.

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.

It was all over. Was it worth it?

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.

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?

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.

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.

Until the next crazy challenge, be sure to check out Andy's version of events and photographs here

Blane

Kettlebells

2010-06-18T14:35:00.009+01:00

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.

So a few months ago I ran a Parkour taster session with Dan at a new gym called OLF, or Optimal Life Fitness, in Hither Green, South London. 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.

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.

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.

This is a gym. In the same way Gym Jones is a gym. And this is the home of the Trojans Lifting Club.

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.

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.

So I'll start from scratch. I aim to begin with the basic two-handed swing and then progress on to the one-handed variations, switching between hands and repeating until I feel comfortable before experimenting with the cleans and snatches that these training tools are so famous for. Oh and of course, the infamous Turkish Get Up.

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.

And I can't wait!

Results and thoughts to follow..

Blane

Training and Teaching in 2010

2010-06-02T01:35:00.004+01:00

So it's been a while..

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

One of the biggest changes I’ve made is that I’ve started lifting weights.

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.

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.

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.

“HA! I told you so!” – I can hear them now. That’s great. I don’t care.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.’

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.

So my training plan at the moment sounds something like this –

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.
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.
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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

We start together, we finish together.

Blane

24 Hours

2009-04-15T22:21:00.003+01:00

(Originally posted on the Parkour Generations blog.)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Law of Averages

2009-01-30T10:30:00.005Z

(Originally posted on the Parkour Generations blog).

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

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

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

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

When I arrived at the spot where I planned to begin this experiment, I wasn't too happy to find the walls were soaked. Wet, dark and slippery with moss sprouting from between the cracks, the sharp-edged walls greeted me with a slick shine and were menacing to the touch. Great.

30 minutes later, after loosening off and warming up, an inner pressure I couldn't quite locate began to grow inside of me with each successful repetition. 3 became 20, 20 became 50, and the thought of having to start all over again began to haunt me, making each repetition a little more daunting than the last.
The only way to counter this building distraction was to force myself to treat each jump as if it was the first of the evening.
I would focus my full attention on connecting with the first wall cleanly, push just enough and land on the second, and remain there. For a while I felt things were going well, but as my confidence grew, so did my chances of complacency.

If there was indeed some unwritten law of averages, then how many times should I fall in 300 attempts at this, given wet and dark conditions?

Two hours had passed as I reached the half-way point. It was 9:30pm and I had managed 150 level cat-pass precisions and my forearms felt like lead. I hadn't even considered the physical toll this challenge would take. Shaking them off, I thought about the technique and realised it was like being in the pushup position and rocking on to your fingers with enough force to leave the ground temporarily, over and over again. I was tired, I was sore and I knew that although I might be able to reach the elusive 300, it would be a royal pain in the backside to have to start again any time soon.

Ten minutes later I restarted the process and the 151st repetition loomed. I wasn't sure how much I had recovered during the brief rest and the technique itself seemed suddenly unfamiliar in my head. Stop over thinking, this is just another simple technique.

I. can. not. miss. now.

200 reps. At this rate I should be finished by 11pm... 3 and a half hours after I started. If I miss now then I may well be watching the sunrise over my shoulder later today. I managed a quick smile as I thought that might dry the walls a little, if nothing else.

280 reps. My brain had switched off. There was no longer any pressure. The process was automatic and although my forearms begged for relief from the constant punishment, I had fallen in to a rhythm. I would pass over the first wall, land on the second, turn around, hop back, drop down to the floor and line myself up for another, repeating the phrase, "stay straight, medium power." in my head each time. That had become my curse, it had started twenty minutes earlier and I couldn't stop now, what if that was my lucky charm, my key to finishing this?

I honestly don't know if I would have started again had I missed then. Physically, I don't think I could have managed another 300. I'd learned my lesson already though...

There is no law that states one day we will miss. With enough concentration, enough focus, due care and attention, we can repeat a simple technique hundreds of times, for hours and not make a mistake. Accidents do happen and some things are beyond our control but we can greatly reduce our chances of messing up if we treat each and every movement as something important, something to be careful with.

I didn't do 300 level cat-pass precisions in the end.

The 301st was for the nice lady who had inspired my evening's activities.

-Blane

London Calling

2009-01-27T11:10:00.004Z

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!

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.

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.

The big move begins on the 16th February!

*B*

Frequently Asked Questions

2009-01-09T18:36:00.010Z

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.
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.
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.

+Who are you?
My name is Chris Rowat, I was born in 1986 and I’ve been practicing Parkour since 2003.

+What is this blog all about?
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.

+What is Parkour and why do you do it?
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.
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.

+What did you do before Parkour?
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.

+How did you discover Parkour and when did you begin training?
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.

+What are your personal training goals?
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.

+How do you approach physical training and conditioning?
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.
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.

+Is weight training suitable for Parkour?
Your body does not know what a dumbbell is. It simply responds to stresses on the muscles by rebuilding them to be stronger, to prevent them from as much damage during similar exercises in the future. So lifting weights is absolutely a good way to build muscle and increase strength and endurance.
I find the problem with weightlifting is that it can be difficult to directly judge how much the gains in strength and endurance are going to affect your movements.
With bodyweight exercises (which can be modified as you progress to become increasingly difficult), you are always working with your body and can feel your progression in a more natural manner, there is more regular feedback.
Doing squats with a heavy weight will doubtless improve my leg strength, but I wouldn't know how much further I could jump with this increase in strength, whereas if I'm training my legs with jump repetition I can see and feel the results directly as I increase the distance I can jump.
A lot of athletes use weights successfully but I prefer to train in the way that I do and have had great results from this so far.

+Can you describe a typical week of training for you?
Not easily! At the moment I tend to have one dedicated upper body training session and one lower body session per week. Whether they consist of traditional exercises, more sport specific repetitions or a mix of the two, I try to improvise and find new ways to challenge myself. I often just go out with the goal of pushing and pulling in different ways, using various methods for a certain amount of time or sometimes until I'm too tired to continue. It depends on my specific goals for the session.
I train abs/core/lower back around three times per week and go running for 20-30 minutes (changing speeds throughout) three times per week and spend the rest of my time training technically. I usually finish technical sessions with a little bit of additional conditioning too. I tend to take one day off from training per week to rest and relax.
My training methods are constantly changing and evolving and I experiment a lot to see what works best for me. I read to learn more about the body and retain the things that I find useful whilst discarding the rest and keep looking. Over time I’ve built up a method of training that suits me but this is an ongoing and organic process that must constantly be updated to ensure I continue to progress.

+What equipment do you make use of?
Mainly just some comfortable clothes that I don't mind getting dirty or torn and some running shoes. It is a common misunderstanding that you need special or expensive footwear to practice Parkour but this couldn't be further from the truth. Many people train without any shoes at all and whilst I prefer to use them most of the time, the ones I use are nothing special.
I recommend trying to find a pair that is comfortably within your budget, bearing in mind they are unlikely to last you a long time. I always look for shoes with good shock absorption, especially in the front half, some ankle support, a decent and durable rubber on the sole that offers a fair amount of grip even in the wettest conditions, and most importantly a light shoe, there is nothing worse than feeling weighed down by your footwear. Usually I wear Kalenjis (£10 per pair!) or Nike Darts (around £30). If money isn't an issue at all then I might recommend trying something from the Inov-8 range as they also make good shoes for training.
I also use a few additional pieces of equipment that I find help me with physical development, the two most valuable being a 10kg weighted vest and a 5 metre climbing rope.

+How do you stay motivated to train through difficult times?
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.
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.

+How has Parkour affected other areas of your life?
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.
There is another side to the story though.
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.
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!

+Does Parkour help you to deal with problems in other areas of your life?
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.

+Does your training change in the winter?
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.
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!

+Who or what inspires you?
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.
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.
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.

+What advice would you give to someone wanting to improve their Parkour?
Regardless of what level you are at, the two main pieces of advice I would give to anyone wanting to improve their Parkour is:

Avoid injuries.
Find something difficult and repeat it until it is easy.

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.
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.
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.

+Why do you make videos?
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.

+Why do you not practice flips or acrobatics?
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.
I have every respect for people who train really hard and practice acrobatics but to me it’s a completely different activity.
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.

+What is your opinion on the differences between Parkour, Freerunning, L’art du deplacement and the politics that are so often argued over?
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.
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.
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.

-Blane

Loose Ends

2008-12-29T10:24:00.015Z

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.

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 here.

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.

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.

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.
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.
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.

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.
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.
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.

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.

Have a great start to 2009 and I'll see you all in the new year!

*B*

PINWC Domain

2008-11-25T16:19:00.005Z

Since I know you all value time saving and efficiency so much, I've just purchased this domain and forwarded it to my blog to save you all typing in the long '.blogspot.com' address - so update your bookmarks accordingly!

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.

That's it! Just wanted to let you guys know what the plan is. Keep training hard and remember, power is nothing without control...

-Blane

Common Denominators

2008-11-18T13:41:00.010Z

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.

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.

"What are you doing?" 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.
"Parkour." tends to be the default answer that I hear myself and others use most frequently. And, "Oh! That free running stuff where you jump off buildings, right? Do a backflip!" is unfortunately one of the more common retorts that the word Parkour prompts.
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?

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.

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.
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?

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.
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.

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.
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.
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.
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.
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.

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.

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.

'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.

And that is a good thing.

Be yourself; everyone else is already taken. - Oscar Wilde

-Blane

Origins

2008-08-31T21:33:00.005+01:00

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...

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.

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.
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.

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.

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.

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.

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.
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.

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.

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.
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.

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.

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.

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.

Download available here, thanks to Andeh.

-Blane

Moderation

2008-07-08T14:45:00.035+01:00

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.

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...

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.

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.

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.
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.
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.
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.

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.

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...

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?

One possible solution is to use what I will call a 'rotary system'. 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.

First, let us look at a handful of the various training aspects that I feel I should maintain and develop in equal measure…

1) Physical development and maintenance

1.1) Conditioning
1.1.1) Low-medium resistance exercises and a higher repetition count to promote the development of greater muscular endurance.
1.1.2) Isometric exercises to promote the development of greater muscular endurance.
1.1.3) Lower intensity exercises that raise the heart rate for a prolonged period to promote the development of cardiovascular endurance.

1.2) Strength training
1.2.1) Higher resistance exercises combined with a lower repetition count to promote the development of muscular strength.

1.3) Power training
1.3.1) Higher resistance exercises with an emphasis on performing less repetitions but at a quicker pace, to develop power.
1.3.2) Sport-specific power and resistance exercises employing dynamic Parkour techniques.

1.4) Stretching
1.4.1) Stretching the muscles to increase the safe range of motion permitted by specific joints.

2) Technical development and maintenance

2.1) Repetition
2.1.1) Perfect repetitions of a particular technique or sequence of techniques to a predetermined number.
2.1.2) Perfect repetitions of a particular route using various improvised techniques to predetermined number.

2.2) New movements
2.2.1) Training in old or new environments with a specific aim to achieve or 'break' new jumps and overcome new obstacles.

2.3) Improvised moving
2.3.1) Moving from one destination to another using improvised techniques best suited to the obstacles encountered.
2.3.2) 'Stealth' training with an emphasis on moving with minimal sound where speed is not a priority.
2.3.3) Moving around with no particular destination.

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.
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 'Sport-specific power and resistance exercises employing dynamic Parkour techniques' and 'Perfect repetitions of a particular technique or sequence of techniques to a predetermined number' 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.

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.

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.

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.
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.
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.

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.

Here is one possible rotary system based on the aforementioned plan:

Training when only the upper body is in good condition:

First session - Conditioning (1.1.1 + 1.1.2 + 1.1.3)
Second session - Strength training (1.2.1)
Third session - Power training (1.3.1 + 1.3.2)

Training rotation when only the lower body is in good condition:

First session - Conditioning (1.1.1 + 1.1.2 + 1.1.3)
Second session - Strength training (1.2.1)
Third session - Power training (1.3.1 + 1.3.2)

Training rotation when my entire body is fresh:

First session - Repetition (2.1.1 + 2.1.2)
Second session - New movements (2.2.1)
Third session - Improvised moving (2.3.1 + 2.3.2 + 2.3.3)

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.
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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

-Blane

Excelsior (ever upward)

2008-05-06T10:43:00.006+01:00

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.

Critical feedback is always welcome!

Download a better quality version here.

-Blane

24 Hour Parkour Takeover on Youtube

2008-05-02T14:24:00.004+01:00

I'm very proud to be part of a huge moment in Parkour history as Youtube is taken over by 'real' Parkour for 24 hours.

In an effort to show true training, discipline and the community, Parkour Generations 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 PINWC video will help spread a positive message alongside the other excellent videos.

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.

More details on the Parkour takeover can be found here.

-Blane

On The Road - Italy

2008-04-10T19:57:00.006+01:00

For a while now Thomas 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.

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...

We are also both delighted to be joined on this trip by our good friend Andy 'Kiell' 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!

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.

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.
Once on the East coast our idea is to travel to Vicenza and Verona before exploring the Dolomites and its collection of Via Ferrata, or Iron Roads. 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...

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.

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 here and we will see what we can do!

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.

Balancing to Failure

2008-03-03T10:33:00.003Z

Since 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.

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.

I wanted to find out how long it would take me to fall off the rail so I kept going.

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.

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.

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.

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!
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.

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.

To sum up:

Distance walked before first fall - 1360.8 meters.
Distance walked before second fall - 1788.48 meters.
Distance walked between the falls - 427.68 meters.
Total time crouched with arms straight out in front - 4.3 minutes.
Total time crouched on rail with hands clasped behind my back - 4.3 minutes.
Total distance walked - 2,021.76 meters // 1.26 miles.

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.

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.

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!

-Blane

Life at 9mph

2008-02-15T17:01:00.025Z

On 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.
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.

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.

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.

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.

^The woods we spent the first night camping in.

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.

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.

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.

13 punctures in one day!!!

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.

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.
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.

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.

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.

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, "Go to the pub and tell Mia that Richie said we could use their toilet!" Soon after he left laughing to himself and saying he would invite us to use his toilet but he lived too far away.

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.

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.

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.

^Snowdonia gradually coming in to view.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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!

^The final campsite.

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.

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.

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.

^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.

^Another view of Crib Goch, I've highlighted the route we scrambled across to get to where I took the photo.

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.

^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.

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.

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.

^Hanging on to a rock face with the summit in the background.

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!

^Part of Crib Goch from the Summit.

^On top of the world!

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.

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 "I have a child!!" 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

^Tired and sore on the way home.

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.

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.

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.

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.

-Blane

Snowdon

2008-01-28T09:07:00.000Z

A few weeks ago I decided that I needed a challenge and I sat down to consider some possibilities. Fairly quickly I came up with the idea of cycling somewhere, the question was where?
I also had the idea of climbing a mountain and began to look at the possibility of combining both a cycling and climbing trip.

Shortly afterwards Snowdon seemed like a great choice! I would cycle there, climb the mountain and cycle home, all I needed was some camping equipment.
I've since bought a tent, sleeping bag, a new bike and some other new camping gear to prepare for the trip which should take five days to complete. The great thing is the stuff will be used for future trips and challenges so although it was expensive, I know it will be worthwhile in the long run.

The total distance to cycle is around 300 miles (or 483km) and considering I have not cycled in a few years this seems like quite a worthy challenge.

Yesterday I cycled to a large public park in North Leicestershire known as Bradgate Park, both to test my new bike and its speedometer and to do some training for the Snowdon trip. My aim was to cycle there, hike up to the highest point in the park, where a folly called 'Old John' can be found, then cycle home. It was a nice ride and really hilly, which made some sections very difficult and tiring, especially on the way home but I was determined not to give up or walk even a metre of the uphill segments. I kept thinking "If you think this is hard, the Snowdon trip is going to be much harder!"

I left Hinckley at around 11:30 and I felt great to be flying along in the sun with the wind in my face. Using my map and a compass I negotiated my way through a range of small towns and villages and along some nice country roads along the way. The uphill sections were tough and the downhill sections were a lot of fun and often a welcome relief.

The total distance cycled was 36.88 miles (59.35km) and combined with the steep hike in the middle, I was really tired and hungry when I got back in to Hinckley around 17:00. Despite taking 5.5 hours I was quite pleased with this when I took in to account the amount of uphill sections that I came across and the hour or so spent at Bradgate Park.
My total cycling time was 3:36.09 hours and apparently I did an average of 10.24 miles per hour with a top speed of 29.4mph, which is useful to know for my Snowdon trip. The road that takes me 90% of the way to Snowdon never exceeds a 5% gradient so hopefully I can push that average up to around 12-14mph.

^Part of the approach up the hill towards Old John in Bradgate Park, which can be seen in the distance.

^Old John up close. From here you can see most of Leicestershire

I expected to feel sore and weak today but my legs feel just a little sensitive, other than that I feel fine.

When I begin the trip to Snowdon I will have to cover 75 miles (about 120km) per day on my bike, two days in a row, climb Snowdon (1085m above sea level) then cycle 75 miles per day home to make the whole trip in five days. My aim is to leave on the 9th February and return on the 13th.

Here are some of the views I will hopefully see on the 11th of February...

^The summit of Snowdon.

^Another view of the summit.

-Blane

The Inner Game of Parkour

2008-01-07T15:12:00.000Z

"The player of the inner game comes to value the art of relaxed concentration above all other skills... He aims at the kind of spontaneous performance which occurs only when the mind is calm and seems at one with the body, which finds its own surprising ways to surpass its own limits again and again... The player of the inner game uncovers a will to win which unlocks all his energy and which is never discouraged by losing"

- Timothy Gallwey, Introduction to The Inner Game of Tennis.

I was recently given the opportunity in France to read an interesting book called The Inner Game of Tennis. Despite having never played tennis for any more than 2-3 minutes in my entire life, I learnt a considerable amount about some mental aspects of sport, pressure and the concept of two selves that I had never previously considered. This book, combined with some other lessons that I learnt in Tours has resulted in a dramatic change in how I approach a new jump that I would typically find scary. I want to share that approach in this article to help other people deal with the doubts and fears they face before a new obstacle.

Whilst trying to subdue our fears and doubts in front of a new jump, we all have our own methods of dealing with an increased heart rate, pupil dilation, increased tension in our muscles and erratic breathing. Some people try to hold their breath, others count down from five, some people close their eyes and others shout reassuring words to themselves.
But regardless of how unique your preparation is for a new movement, there is something that we all have in common when it comes to dealing with this fear. An internal battle between two invisible selves begins and this is the reason we often feel such inner conflict and turmoil before a new obstacle.

Timothy Gallwey, author of The Inner Game of Tennis suggests there are three types of tennis player and I think there are similarly three types of practitioner to be found in Parkour:

1) The overly positive thinker, filled with self-esteem because of his superior game.
2) The overly negative thinker, constantly analyzing what is wrong with him and his game.
3) The player of the Inner Game, simply enjoying and doing that which seems sensible.

1) Now the overly positive practitioner of Parkour, who believes his or her abilities are superior to the people around them, place themselves under incredible pressure. Before a new jump their mind is filled with thoughts concerning the cost of failure and how they may appear to the less experienced people around them should they fail and miss the jump. They fear that people will judge them, begin to doubt their ability, laugh at them or talk behind their back. Just when they need to focus and concentrate, they find it difficult due to these potential dents to their ego distracting them. The other potentially dangerous practice this practitioner may regularly follow is underestimating a jump, thinking their superiority means they don't have to give a jump their full attention.

2) The negative thinker in Parkour faces a new jump with immediate doubts and a destructive lack in confidence. Before they even step up to face the jump they are remembering the last time they fell whilst trying a similar jump. They are worrying about how much sleep they had last night and wondering whether this could be the chance they deserve to turn their training around and fix it. When they finally look at the jump, they doubt their ability to judge the distance from experience, measuring it using their feet, feeling weak in the legs, heavy in the arms and becoming increasingly anxious. Contrary to the overly positive thinker, the negative thinker is often guilty of over-analysing jumps and underestimating their ability to complete them.

3) The ‘player of the inner game’ approaches every new jump with a fresh pair of eyes. They rely on training and previous experience to carry them through the new jump and have absolutely no consideration for their reputation, ego, the long-term costs of failure or success, telling their friend that they did the jump, filming it for their new video or getting injured and being out for a month. There is no negative or positive, past or future - just here and now and this challenge that they wish to complete. They are realistic about their ability and can give the jump their full attention whilst not over-analysing it.

If you fall in to either of the first two categories then there is a good chance you are regularly frustrated or even angry when you practice, fearing more than just obstacles. In this article I would like to help anybody stuck in those categories to change their mindsets, if they want to.

The solution is simple when you realise all of the potential problems mentioned exist because there is a conflict present. There are two selves at work and only one can eventually help you to complete the jump.

Self 1, ‘the teller’, is responsible for telling your mind and body what they should think and do. It is the voice inside you that is used to help set goals and targets, warn you of danger and make decisions. This is what reminds you of the cost of failure, success, injury, missing the jump and making the jump. But Self 1 also has trust issues and the other factor it tries to control is how we move. It floods your mind with thoughts such as “Make sure you bend your knees”, “Keep your left hand open until the last moment”, “Use plenty of power to make the jump” and “If I miss I will need to somehow save myself”. It can tell you “You’re useless, you’ll never be a great traceur” or tell you “I am great! I can do anything today”.

Self 2, ‘the doer’, is responsible for doing what it has been trained to do. It has no interest in external matters or opinions, no concept of the issues Self 1 tries to distract us with. It is simply the accumulation of past experience and training. Unfortunately it is rarely allowed to surface in front of a new jump as it is often bullied in to submission by Self 1.

As young children we exclusively relied on Self 2.

When we were learning to walk, we were never told by Self 1 to “Stay balanced, put one foot in front of the other, swing the arms, keep breathing… and keep the back straight” and we had no ego in place to warn us “If I fall, people could laugh at me. The other children might think less of me because I cannot walk”.
Instead, we trusted Self 2 - we simply experienced another person walking, tried to copy them, probably fell over… but deep inside us lessons were learnt. Maybe we fell to our left, so next time, without thinking about it, we will lean a little more to the right. By this simple process of testing, evaluating the result without ego, and deciding what should be done to improve, we learnt how to walk and if you are reading this, you are probably quite skilled at walking, thanks entirely to Self 2.

So when did we stop trusting this incredible learning tool?

As we grow older we learn lessons of shame, embarrassment and failure. Self 1 begins to surface and affects our every action, not just in sport but in all other aspects of our lives. Suddenly every action has a chain of consequences and based on the outcome, we label the result as either good or bad, positive or negative, right or wrong.
When we were learning to walk there was no good or bad, simply what worked and what did not. We did not consider falling as a bad thing, it was simply what was a natural part of learning how to stay upright more often in the future.

The solution then is to find a way to deal with the trust issues of Self 1 and give Self 2 a little more credit, it did afterall teach you how to walk. But remember Self 1 is still useful to us because it has an ability to set goals and new challenges for us, as well as warn us of danger. So ideally Self 1 should set a realistic goal and then allow Self 2 to achieve it with complete confidence in its other halves’ ability. When both selves work in harmony and do their job, the outcome is highly rewarding.

What I have been training to do recently and explaining to the people I train with is to place more trust in Self 2 when faced with a new jump. To do this you need to find a way to quieten your mind, distract Self 1, and let Self 2 take complete control, just like it did so successfully when you were a child. Self 2 does not need to think about distances or heights and provide you with words and numbers as feedback, it just adapts to the obstacle based on previous training and experience. No specific thoughts of the required power, speed or techniques are necessary - Self 2 basically receives a goal and does whatever is required to achieve it.

Most people feel a certain pressure before a new jump, a tension or a tightness. They are trying to force themselves to do the jump but this is not the approach I recommend. You need to think of this process as a release rather than a force. Let your body do what it already knows how to do. If you drop a ball from a roof and want it to hit the floor, you ‘let it go’ and trust it to hit the floor - you don’t push it towards the floor whilst your mind is full of calculations and theories.

So how does Self 2 work?

It works due to the complex methods of learning from experience. Every repetition, exercise and past movement has taught you something that no book, spoken word or video can. It has strengthened pathways between your brain and your muscles and given your body experience and knowledge with which to better perform similar actions in the future. It is far more reliable than trusting Self 1, because Self 2's nature does not change depending on your mood, preferences and opinions of yourself or whether you think you have something to gain or lose from the new jump. Simply put, it is unbiased and reliable.

Obviously it is important to have plenty of previous experience and training to rely on for a new jump so this is why training must be gradual and a steady progression is vital to stay safe and healthy.

The idea of two selves at work can apply to everything in life but the other main purpose it has in relation to Parkour is when it comes to teaching others what you know.

Self 2 learns by example and experience. We were never told how to walk, we watched an adult walk then tried to copy them when we realised it is a more efficient way to move. Leading primarily by example is the best way to teach Parkour. If you describe any way to pass an obstacle to a student using only words and instructions, the student will panic and try to memorise everything and ultimately fail to understand the necessary movements required.

If we simply ask the student to casually observe whilst you pass the obstacle, they will pick up and process thousands of lessons without thinking. They will see your posture before you jump, the order in which your limbs move, how you land and where you were looking during each stage. They may not remember everything but it has still been much more productive than simply describing the movements.

After a few demonstrations and observations, if the student wishes to try to replicate the technique they will exhibit a number of similar traits to the example they observed. Some traits may be incorrect and some might be absent, but this is natural since they can’t expect to learn everything immediately.

It is now the job of the teacher to be a Self 2 teacher and not a Self 1 teacher. We were not told to lean more to one side when we fell over whilst learning how to walk, this was obvious when we looked again at the adult examples around us.
The teacher should not be a ‘teller’, they should be a ‘doer’.

Instead of telling the student “don’t move your arm that way, move your arm this way…” The student should be encouraged to “watch my arm, and consider how I move it and how moving it in this way helps me to do this technique”.
This way the student is not given a distraction from the overall technique. If you point out that only their arms need to be corrected, they will place so much emphasis on correcting the arm positioning that they will not be considering the rest of the movement. Whereas if you simply add another visual layer to their experience they will find it much easier to integrate this in to their overall progress with the technique.

This also helps to eliminate ego since you are not telling the student they are doing something ‘good’ or ‘bad’, simply advising them to focus on a certain part of the movement and synchronising their movement with yours piece by piece.

If you have ever asked another traceur how they managed to do something and they answered "I'm not sure, I just did it", don't think of this answer as useless to you or think they're bring rude, it's probably the truth. They just let themselves do it and so can you.

Joe, a good friend of mine, recently had some trouble with a new jump that was within his ability. He was becoming frustrated with himself and wanted to leave it for another day. I asked him if he was sure he wanted to walk away and he came back for another look and decided he wanted to do it today after all. He spent some time sizing the jump up but was listening to Self 1 too much. His head was full of thoughts about where his arms should be, where his legs should be, how much power he should apply, how much he had to turn in the air etc. I decided now would be a good time to introduce the lessons I had learnt to him.

There were some similar jumps nearby that were simpler and Joe had done in the past many times so my aim was to point out the differences in mindsets when faced with the different obstacles.

Standing before the old jumps he had done many times, Self 2 was clearly in control. There were no distracting thoughts and his mind was not busy, he simply looked where he wanted to be and allowed Self 2 to get him there. He relied on his training and considerable amount of past repetitions.

Immediately after he would go back and stand before the new jump but the mindset would change, it was like a big switch was flicked between the two selves. Suddenly he was thinking again about how much power he would need, where his limbs should be and many other distractions entered in to his head.

I asked him to watch me do the new jump a few times but not to pay particular attention to one part of the movement, just casually observe the jump. I didn't tell him how to do the jump, just showed him how it could be done.

Joe felt much more confident about the jump now and could clearly see the differences in mindset depending on which obstacle he was looking at, it was obvious to him this is where the problem was. He just needed to silence Self 1 and he managed to do this using a simple piece of card.
I held a piece of card on the landing areas of the old jumps and time and time again told him not to think, just do whatever it takes to reach the card. I moved the card just before Joe landed and every time he landed where the card had been just before. After a while of doing this and managing to completely switch off Self 1, distracting it with a simple piece of card, we moved over to the new jump and I placed the piece of card on the landing area. Without thinking Joe did the new jump with ease. His arms, his legs, his power, his position in the air were all flawless. The card was not important, it was simply a distraction to temporarily silence Self 1. Many other methods could be used to switch off or distract Self 1 but this particular one worked for Joe on this jump. Afterwards he said the difference was that he didn't over-analyse it and think about the specifics, simply decided where he wanted to be and let his body take him there.

It is important to note he was not wreckless and just jumping wildly, he had already made all the calculations and decided he could do it safely, this was just a different way of actually doing it.

You can experiment with different methods of distracting Self 1 and gradually you will learn how powerful Self 2 is and how reliable it really is. Instinct and ‘feeling’ a new jump is based on experience and you should know as soon as you look at a new jump whether you can do it or not… if you decide that it is time and you can do it then it is time to switch mindsets and let your body do it.

Another useful tool in combating a busy mind is to convince yourself that this is in fact not a new jump, you have done it before. If you remember the last scary jump you did, you will recall how it was much easier the second time you did it. This confidence is simply a switch in mindset and if you can convince yourself this is not the first time for you and just another repetition, the new jump will be much easier. You are not being over-confident, simply using this method to distract Self 1 and trick it in to letting go.

It is worth mentioning that a degree of sensibility is necessary before you begin experimenting with these mindsets - do not try to eliminate Self 1 altogether because it does a good job of keeping you safe and reminding you of any dangers in a new jump. It is the voice of experience, but not experience itself.

Listen to Self 1 as you decide whether it is time to try this jump and if you are ready for it, give yourself a clear goal and visualise where you want to be in as much detail as possible - then allow Self 2 to take control and achieve the goal without interference.

Mastering this ability to switch mindsets on demand will greatly benefit your progression and although I am not entirely able to switch between the mindsets just yet, this is what I've been working hard with recently and already I have noticed big differences. In the moments where I have successfully trusted Self 2 in its entirety to complete a new goal, I have been much more aware of each split second throughout a technique and been able to adjust accordingly to any variation as though time itself had slowed down a little... Of course it had not but it was all thanks to having a clear and focused, tranquil mind.

So who wants to play the Inner Game?

-Blane

Huge thanks to Tim Gallwey and his book, The Inner Game of Tennis and to Thomas Des Bois for opening my mind to these concepts and ideas. Credit also has to be given to Plato who explored the idea of the tripartite soul over two millennia ago.

Tours

2007-12-17T10:28:00.000Z

I was going to write a day-to-day report of my trip to Tours but that would be quite boring to read and would only make sense if you could see the places I was describing. Instead I'm just going to mention a few important things and keep it short.

I had high expectations of the trip but the reality far surpassed those hopes. In short it was the most progressive week in my training so far and I really pushed myself, especially mentally. I've come home with a greater understanding of what I should be focusing on, how to deal with fears, how to let my body adapt to new obstacles, how to trust my instincts and how to teach others. The most important thing I did during the week was to bring my mental level in tune with my technical and physical capacities. I feel much more comfortable knowing exactly what I can do and what I can't yet.

A great deal was learnt from training and spending time with Thomas and I thank him for everything he said and showed me but also for everything he didn't say - to allow me work certain things out for myself. He found a great way of communicating with me when I was thinking too much about a new jump, sometimes using encouragement and sometimes helping me to become angry at the obstacle. He said just enough and just the right things to help change my mindset and 'flick the switch to green'.

I wish to also thank his mother for the incredible hospitality, I can't begin to describe how appreciated it was (Hi to Nemo and Nissy too!).

The highlight of the week for me, and perhaps both of us, was a jump to a tree that was rooted in a wide and fast-flowing river. The conditions were very difficult with no way to test the landing surfaces, the stability or grip of the tree. The take off was less than great too, with wet leaves and an unstable ground that threatened to fall in to the river at any moment. We made a decision to go for it and after a lot of mental battling we both made it to the tree and back without falling in. To face a jump in such difficult conditions with a real incentive for not messing up was refreshing to me and I felt so alive when I caught the branch I aimed for. The jump was not particularly big and the video really does not do it justice, but it will forever hold a special place in my mind for being the greatest obstacle I overcame during my trip to Tours.

Other notable moments worth a mention included a long and arduous off-ground challenge that truly tested a wide range of technical and physical elements (kudos to Thomas who did the vast majority of it with 4 litres of water and a camera in a backpack!) and a really tough finger shimmy on a tough rounded ledge that had my forearms in spasms and my heart racing!

We only filmed a small portion of what we got up to and even then it was mainly single techniques and small technical movements. Although it is not at all a fair representation of the excellent week, I've put together 7 minutes of the best footage to share with people, hope you enjoy it.

-Blane

Back to the Parkour

2007-12-10T14:07:00.002Z

Tomorrow morning I am travelling to Tours to spend some time with my friend Thomas. As many of you will already know, Thomas is a very experienced traceur, a really nice guy and an inspiration to many. I feel privileged to have an opportunity to spend time with him in his home environment and I'm going there with a large 'empty cup' to fill it with as much as knowledge as possible. I'm sure it will be a greatly positive experience and will affect me in many ways - but I most look forward to just getting to know the man and forging a solid friendship with a very like-minded individual.

I'll be home on Saturday with a few stories.

*B*

Rendezvous II

2007-12-10T14:07:00.001Z

On Saturday evening I attended the second major Parkour gathering held by Parkour Generations. In my opinion it far surpassed the first in terms of organisation, structure, intensity and value. Not that the first rendezvous was lacking in any of those areas but it seems the guys over there have greatly honed their teaching abilities during the few months between each meeting and they managed to squeeze so much more in to only three and a half hours.

The seminar started with a 30 minute warm up consisting of lots of jogging, running up and down stairs, running outdoors, running indoors and then a fair few circuits of skipping, running sideways and running backwards. Next we were exposed to a healthy dose of bouncing on the spot on our toes, on one leg and side to side which really got the blood pumping and the calves burning. Finally we did lots of quadrupedal crawling variations, weighted squats with a partner on our back, joint preparation and general loosening off.

Now the real work began. There were a total of five different stations; four in the gym and one outside. We were split in to groups of around 10-15 people and spent 25 minutes at each station where a whole host of interesting challenges awaited us. We were presented with a series of obstacles and shown a possible route through them then encouraged to find a way past them that suited us. With each lap of the station we were encouraged by the veteran French traceurs present to try something new and more challenging. All the time they were constantly giving us personal feedback and advice with each lap of the station. This format worked very well and although there were a lot of people present, I never felt like it was too crowded due to the space management and station system.

The time flew past and before we all knew it we had been training for three hours without rest and without realising how we had been moving past physical obstacles that both challenged and inspired us, as well as mental barriers of fatigue. I was pleased that the intensity of this session was nothing new to me as I have long become used to the feeling of 3-4 hour training sessions without rest.

To finish the session we warmed down with Laurent who led us through a series of very relaxing stretches and I felt my core temperature gradually return to normal resting rate using the breathing exercises. Finally we spent five minutes lying flat on our backs with our eyes closed focusing on our breathing and letting the blood flow through our bodies. I nearly fell asleep as a wave of comfort just washed over me.

Sadly the day was coming to a close but before leaving there was a 'question and answer' opportunity with the Yamakasi, Forrest and Stephane really expressing their opinions and giving everyone some valuable advice and encouragement for the future.

I wish to thank everyone who made this day possible - everyone at Parkour Generations, the additional French traceurs who travelled over for the event, everyone who attended and worked hard and in particular Laurent - who I feel left everyone going home with a new sense of personal purpose and a deep spirited question resounding through our minds: 'why do you practice?'. Indeed every action must have a purpose, or it is simply a wasted effort.

Five Weeks

2007-12-10T09:56:00.000Z

I promised I would return with some reactions and results to my recent changes in training methodology and I can happily confirm the outcome of using more technically relevant exercises to improve my Parkour has been nothing but positive.

In five weeks I've added 4 inches to my horizontal standing jump distance, which may not sound like a lot but I feel it is considering I also 'felt' this progression bit by bit in my mind. My legs feel stronger than they have ever been, not only in their ability to propel my body forwards and upwards, but in their ability to resist impacts and landings.

My upper body feels so much more coordinated and less like a series of individually functioning parts. My grip strength and endurance have improved and although it's hard to measure these I feel a lot more comfortable traversing with just my arms.

Perhaps the most important development has been in my mental state. Not that physical training and conditioning has ever been considered a burden but it is so much more rewarding to know I'm not only building strength and endurance, but I'm fine tuning technical aspects and keeping the work rate high to also benefit my cardiovascular system. The other refreshing aspect is being able to vary my surroundings a lot more and work with a different set of obstacles each time I train.

BUT.

There are some important issues that I need to highlight with this method of training.

1) I feel you must have a very solid foundation level of fitness before you consider trying this. I know if I had not devoted so much time to gradual leg development in the past then these past five weeks could have given me a severe case of shin splints and other overtraining symptoms. The same can be said for the upper body training. It has been so much more intense and demanding that I feel I would have done some damage to my shoulders or elbows if I had jumped in to this training before I was ready. Some people might disagree but I would not recommend this method of training to anyone with less than a year or two of experience in more traditional strength training methods.

2) You need to learn how to rest. I recommend you work really hard during your training sessions, give 100% effort then rest sufficiently to allow the muscles, joints and tendons to repair and recover. This might take two days, it might even take three. This is fine. Your old routine might demand you train legs Monday and Wednesday but your body does not understand 'days', it sometimes takes longer to heal from a very intense session. Drink plenty of water and stretch regularly.

3) Be disciplined and well-rounded. Don't let this type of training break your overall focus and don't give in to temptation. It would be easy to fall in to the trap of only training the traditional muscle groups and in the same way each time because you enjoy a certain exercise. But you must remember that Parkour is simultaneously all-inclusive and all-exclusive in its demands for fitness. In principal it's a perfect method of training the body. There are no limits or constraints to the possible dimensions of an obstacle so we need to train every muscle and fibre in our bodies equally and in proportion to avoid muscular imbalances, neurological weaknesses and general weak-links in the overall chain.
We are not training our bodies for arm jumps, precisions and passes - we are training our bodies for every conceivable obstacle and those techniques are merely potential solutions, not the solutions, so remember to vary your training for every eventuality.

I am aware that some people have criticised both myself and this method recently, stating it is dangerous and non-complete and will lead to weaknesses and overtraining symptoms. I urge these people to be even more scientific in their responses and judge this method by the results, not by the theories. Look at the long-term results of this method not by studying me or by comparing it to other activities, but by studying the guys who have been using it for over 10 years and are the best in the world at what they do. It is unfair to begin to judge this method if you do not first understand what Parkour is - to understand it takes a considerable amount of time practicing it.

It is obvious that the most effective way to build raw strength is by putting the muscle under gradually greater tension and this is more easily achievable and manageable by lifting weights... but this is irrelevant in a discipline that requires at least as much mental development and strengthening as it does physical. Most competitive sports focus entirely on physical performance but Parkour is easily and often misunderstood as just an activity where being able to jump the furthest and run the fastest is the goal.

When Worlds Collide

2007-11-02T11:13:00.000Z

My bedroom walls may well have seen more blood, sweat and tears than the Saw and Hostel franchises combined over the past 4 years.

In this torture chamber/laboratory, that also has a bed, I have tried and tested many different exercises, apparatus, angles, reps, weights and a vest, on a quest, to find the absolute way to prepare my body for Parkour. The problem was always having to wait to see what effect these exercises would have on my ability to move when I went outside to train technically.

Through speaking and training with more experienced traceurs, experimenting on my own and reading a lot of material on the subject, I have finally settled my mind on the best way to prepare my body for Parkour. This is not some new discovery or a secret being unveiled, as many people will already practice this form of training and you can find details about this elsewhere, but this information seems to be fragmented and spread across a dozen forums amongst the arguments and hostilities often found there. The reason that I am writing this is just to bring the information together and share the method with people who do not know about it or have been scared to give up their current training plan to try it (as I was). It is also to state that I think it is the best way to train physically for Parkour. This is not so much a recommendation for newer practitioners to Parkour, as it will take a solid strength foundation to train in the way I am suggesting in this post. If you undertake any of the advice in this post without a certain amount of prior training and conditioning then you are very likely to pick up injuries and cause more damage in the long run.

I have received many emails in the past asking for physical training advice and even requests to create an entire weekly training plan for people to follow but it is nearly impossible to really help these people without meeting them and knowing their current level and ability. This article should help all of them to progress physically without having to worry or even think about it too much. It should hopefully provide a simple solution that is better in the long run than a fixed schedule.

When I was beginning my training and up until around 2005, everyone in the UK was still experimenting with physical training and its relationship to technical ability in Parkour. Compared to the information, videos, articles and advice available now, 2003 was effectively the dark ages of Parkour in this country. It would have been even worse for guys like the Saiyans who started quite some time before me, so I have a lot of respect for those guys who were slugging it out and trying their best with minimal help from any sources in France.

Most of you have probably heard of (or may even taken part in a) Hell Night. These were physical battles alone or alongside some fellow warriors and these training sessions really developed my strength and endurance. But it also had a negative consequence, which is why I stopped doing them. I was gaining a lot of bulk that I did not really need. Although I thought this increase in size was good at the time and would improve my technical ability in the long run, time has proven that I did not need this extra muscle, as I am leaner now than I was following the 20+ week program, yet stronger and faster than ever before. That is not to say that I regret creating Hell Night - quite the opposite in fact, I think that I needed it to develop an understanding of my body, my limits and most importantly to build the mental fortress that is still with me today when it comes to pushing through pain barriers.

Although I would still recommend some type of loose weekly program to people who are just beginning their training and need to concentrate on building an initial foundation, I think a more organic approach to this is necessary rather than ‘X’ sets of ‘Y’ reps of ‘Z’ exercise.

Being a bit of a planner when it comes to this kind of thing, I used to create very complex and diverse weekly training plans to stick to, where I would train legs on a certain day, arms on another and train technically on certain days. Using this method, everything was structured and being controlled. It had its advantages as I could record progression by counting the reps and sets and seeing a gradual increase in my ability but it had more serious disadvantages. The main problem was that if a body part was still sore and tired when it came to the day that I planned to exercise it, the training I did on that day was damaging to my muscles, which were still in need of rest and repair. I was following a regime more suited to a predictable machine than an ever-changing and complex organism.

The mistake that I was making was not listening to my body. I understand better now that the body is very good at letting the brain know its current condition and we should always listen to it to see how we feel and adjust our training accordingly. If something hurts or feels stiff then it needs rest and/or time to repair. If you exercise fatigued muscles then all you are going to gain is an injury and you are wasting time and energy.

Rest is equally as important as work in Parkour. Finding the balance is vital to your progression and longevity.

The other problem with such a strict and planned approach to training is that you end up doing the same exercises each week. The body loves to be active and it is good at rebuilding muscles after they have been broken down, but when you target the same muscles from the same angles every week, the tendons and joints surrounding those muscles begin to suffer as they can not heal in the same way that muscles do. It is therefore important to really vary your exercises when you train to avoid overuse injuries such as tendonitis.
Not only is performing the same exercises each time determimental to your health, it can be very laborious for the mind. You should regularly challenge both your body and mind by keeping the exercises spontaneous and interesting. If you can, train and spend time in new environments and you will begin to notice new technical possibilities too, all things to keep your mind busy and your routine fresh. There is nothing worse than dreading an upcoming workout because you know how hard it was last week. Do something new this week, surprise yourself with improvisation and as long as you work hard, this is a positive and productive way to train.

Before newcomers to the discipline discover the benefits of additional strength training and conditioning exercises to improve their Parkour, they just move around doing new jumps and finding new challenges. This is fine for a while but when they reach their first plateaus, most begin searching to find a tool to speed up the conveyor belt that is transporting their level onwards and upwards. This theoretical conveyor belt used to travel at a furious pace in the first few months of training, and they want that back when they hit the plateaus. Once they find the tool to do this (additional strength training), many put all of their energy in to this new solution hoping it will bring them the same rewards that they used to see when they first started training. The reality is that we never progress as fast as we did back in those first few months, when our minds were sponges and we were plunged in to the Parkour pool head first. Just like children learn more in the first few years of their lives than they will when they enter adulthood, there are no preconceptions and everything is absorbed.

But this is hard to realise at the time of our first slow down period and we become desperate to get our training ‘back on track’ – even though there is actually nothing wrong with it and this period is completely normal.

Once the benefits of strength training and conditioning are discovered and we begin to make progress with it, we notice how this is affecting our technical ability, as we can suddenly jump higher, swing further and run faster once more. New doors and possibilities open up to us and we find ourselves progressing at a faster rate again.

Eventually on this path I came across another difficult, yet well concealed obstacle that proved a challenge for me to overcome until recently. An obstacle that I can best describe as a colourful tree called ‘S.A.C’ that sat on the edge of a vast and dark forest called ‘Parkour’. As I walked towards this metaphorical forest (my first few months of training), overcoming smaller trees and obstacles on the way, I was suddenly faced with the imposing forest itself (my first plateaus). My initial reaction was to walk the perimeter to find an easy way in (to find a fix to that which is slowing my progression) until I came across the S.A.C tree. The Strength And Conditioning tree offered a path deeper in to forest. This is a bright, attractive and healthy way to progress further in Parkour so it is an obvious route for many people to take. But what we need to remember is that this tree is still an obstacle regardless of how attractive it is.

It can be very easy once we reach the forest to stand too close to the Strength And Conditioning tree because it seems to offer us so much. But what we need to remember is the reason we approached the forest in the first place when we were learned of its existence. When you first saw Parkour or heard of it, you did not consider the brutal training needed to become the best you can be, you wanted to fly, to be set free and be able to do all of these amazing things that these other people were doing, whether for your yourself or for other people.

I once stood so close to this tree that I could no longer see the forest behind it. My mind was consumed with my body becoming stronger that I almost lost sight of the overall goal, which was to progress deeper in to the forest and develop my ability to move and overcome all obstacles in my path. My technical ability suffered a bit of a setback and I was becoming nothing more than a guy who worked out a lot and occasionally did some proper Parkour - this was not right and obviously did not last long. I had to rethink and shift the balance as I was spending around 80% of my time strengthening and conditioning my body, overtraining and not having any energy to train techniques. By week 20 of Hell Night perhaps only 20% of my time was spent training technically. So I stopped Hell Nights and began to explore what my new body could do technically and it took a while to synchronise everything again.

For a while quite recently I followed a slightly more organic regime in which I would train either upper or lower body depending on which felt ready - and if they were both tired, I would simply practice balance and foot placement drills. I trained technically on a regular basis too but I still felt that there was a distinct difference being made between the physical and technical training days and that they were not being integrated enough.

But now my training has changed yet again and it has been simplified even further. My physical training is directly linked to my technical training in a way that is so obvious, I am surprised that it took me this long to subscribe to its many benefits.

My new training regime allows me to progress deeper in to the forest towards my goals but with deeply ingrained lessons carved in to my calloused hands to remind me of what I learnt back at the perimeter, climbing around in the S.A.C tree for so long. It taught me that I needed to find the balance in my training.

This method that I am talking about states that the body becomes good at doing what it does. Repetition of technical movements, done in a controlled and focused manner is the best way to get better at those technical movements, but at the same time, this repetition of technique is the best way to build the muscles needed to do the technique better.

Take the following as examples...

-To improve your Parkour ability, doing 50 precision jumps near your maximum distance is more beneficial for you than doing 50 squats, it is also a great deal harder and will target exactly the muscles you want to build.

-Doing 25 arm jumps followed by a climb up each time is more beneficial to your Parkour than doing 25 pullups and then doing 25 pushups or dips.

-Repeating many laches is the best way to prepare your body for, and improve, your laches.

-Repeating running jumps is the best way to prepare your body for, and improve, your running jumps.

This list could go on and on.

Drilling a lache immediately followed by a muscle up is much more beneficial than just repeating the muscle up. Just by adding something simple to it turns it from being just a physical exercise in to a physical exercise AND a technical one, since a lache followed by a muscle up is something you could well be called upon to do in an emergency situation. It is unlikely that you would suddenly find yourself hanging from a bar or branch ready to muscle up, you have to arrive there somehow so we should bear this in mind and practice this too.

If we focus on what we are doing and really work hard on these repetitions, training like this physically is in my opinion far more beneficial than doing singular bodyweight exercises. You will use more muscle groups in unison, develop your technical ability, have more fun and be less likely to reach a plateaus in your training due to the almost infinite variations of exercises you now have available to you with no additional equipment needed.

In the past I trained my legs using pistols, squats, one-legged glute raises, calf raises and a whole host of other exercises. These have all no doubt contributed to my current jump distance but in a less efficient way than if I had targeted the exact muscles used in the way they would be called upon during Parkour training itself. It would have been more efficient to repeat the actual jumps I wished to do over and over again.

I had tried repeating jumps in the past with moderate success but never really committed to it fully or considered it as a viable or complete replacement of my old regime of using bodyweight exercises. So on Wednesday of this week I decided not to do any pistols, calf raises or any other singular motion. I would simply repeat jumps. It is now Friday and my leg muscles still ache from that session. Climbing or descending stairs is quickly met with fresh reminders that I worked my ass off in that session and targeted specific muscles that had never before been worked the way they were that night.

In the image below I have illustrated the jumps that I repeated...

+First I repeated the standing jump on the red line 100 times, 50 times in each direction. Going from the lower wall to the higher one is quite close to my maximum jump distance.

++Then I repeated the standing jump on the yellow line 100 times, 50 times in each direction.

+++Finally I repeated the standing jump on the white line from the floor to the higher wall 50 times.

This type of training was extremely refreshing to me and it was amazing to think that I was working my muscles harder than before and in a way that was also directly beneficial to my technical progression.

Another way you could implement this concept of training and see immediate results, is to find a rail that you can only just jump on to from standing and repeat jumps on to it from the floor each week. When you can jump over the rail, you have progressed and need to find a higher rail. How much simpler can training towards a goal become than that? It is an instant way to monitor your physical and technical progression without having to wait and go outside to test your new muscle gains after a gym workout or doing lots of pistols. It is using all of the muscles you need to use to develop your standing jump ability, without adding unnecessary bulk.

Also, your body does not know what Tuesday, March or 3pm is. It has no concept of the system we use to record and organise our time so it is completely unnatural for it to stress the same muscles on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 6pm every week and expect the best results. The body does not work this way. If you really broke them down on Monday with a new exercise then it might take until Thursday before they have healed completely and you should not try to force them in to more training when they are not ready. It is now my opinion that strict training schedules and plans can be dangerous things if taken too seriously.

Not only does your body have no concept of the time that our brains do, it has no idea what a pushup or a weight is. It simply breaks down when in use and rebuilds itself stronger to protect itself from the same abuse next time. So with that in mind, doing pushups will make you better at pushups... doing pistols will make you better at pistols... and therefore it is no real surprise that doing precision jumps will make you better and doing and resisting precision jumps.

I am now completely stopping the conventional singular exercises as a test. No more sets or reps of pushups, pullups, chinups, pistols or glute raises etc. Just repetitions of basic movements that use exactly the same muscles used in those exercises mentioned, but in a way that will directly benefit my technical ability. Sure, my climbups can become better by doing pushups and pullups, but not as good as they can become by actually doing climbups. This principle will be applied to all techniques and exercises. I will still use those movements to warm up my body as they are simple, quick and less stressful for the body than many other techniques, but my focus will be shifting to much more repetition of technical movements.

The method was talked about by Stephane Vigroux in 'Le Singe Est De Retour' but despite having seen that so many times, it never really occurred to me just how widely used and successful this method was for him. I know from other sources that this is a very popular way to train in Lisses and the one that David Belle has taught other people who came to train with him.

I am not completely against the traditional exercises that have brought me this far in Parkour, they certainly have their uses in building strength, endurance and speed. I also definitely see the benefits of certain exercises such as quadrupedal walking, the muscle up and shimmying or climbing. I just aim to avoid the singular, more isolated exercises that make it very difficult to see whether they are actually helping or hindering your progression.

It is at this time in my training that I feel the need to connect what was previously two conflicting worlds for me. I need to amalgamate my physical and technical training for the benefit of my overall goals.

I think this method of training could benefit a lot of other people who are still searching for the perfect way to train for Parkour, so I wanted to bring together all of these ideas in to one place for people to look at. Read it if you like, take from it what you wish and discard anything that you don't feel will work for you. Good luck and feel free to leave your opinions here!

Here are some quotes in support of the concepts and methods mentioned in this post:

Stephane Vigroux - "There is one jump there. But if you repeat it many, many times, you are working physically."

Stephane Vigroux - "When I'm training everyday, first thing I just do a little check up of me, and my body, so ok today, how I feel? How is my mind first? Am I lazy or not? How are my legs? My arms? And when I've checked everything, I plan, not the training, I just plan the way I'm going to train. I mean more leg exercise today or more arm exercise and I define if I'm going to train physically or more technically."

Thomas Des Bois - "be careful of rigid training programs, they can get you injured if you train too much. I prefer "listening" to my body and seeing what i can work on presently. If my arms feel tired, i'm not going to work on them. That way, you can prevent long term injuries."

I will post again with my findings in this training method when I have fully explored it and tried it for a while. You may have noticed I also made a few template change to my blog, I thought I should tidy it up a little bit in celebration of its first birthday, it has been exactly a year since my first post!

-Blane

How often do you train?

2007-10-05T12:57:00.000+01:00

Or would it be easier for you to answer, 'How often don't you train?'

You might be counting up the hours and days now and coming up with an answer along the lines of "twice per week", "4 times per week but I do a bit everyday" or even "I train every day". What I want to explore and explain here are some things that I have noticed mentioned here and there in forums and in bits and pieces of articles, but I have never found it talked about in great detail or emphasised enough to reveal it to possibly be the easiest way to improve your Parkour.

The secret to improving in this discipline quickly becomes obvious to beginners. The formula is simple; the more you practice, the better you become. So how can we practice more when our demanding lifestyles and jobs seem to swallow more and more of our time each week?

When people begin their training, they often focus on the movements that they have seen either in videos, or in person of (particularly good) traceurs, that are out of the ordinary - and why not! They look so spectacular and different. But what they all regularly fail to notice are the movements that they, themselves, already do every day, also being done in a superior way in front of their eyes.

I was lucky enough to be invited along to a gym session earlier this week, near to where I live, to teach, answer questions and offer advice to a group of perhaps 25, 10-18 year olds who had been training for various amounts of time. Some had just started, others had perhaps two years or more training behind them already.

One of the things that I realised quite quickly is that everybody who asked for advice, asked how to do a particular part of a technique better, or for advice on a specific moment of the movement, but nobody asked what to do before the movement, after the movement or what to do whilst in the air.

It got me thinking back to when I started and I was exactly the same. I would focus on the split second of spectacular action when I watched a movement. Whether it was the contact of hands on the wall, the clearing of a rail or the moment where the hands grabbed a branch. That was the impressive part for me and the part I was trying to learn. I wasn't even considering the foot placement for the run up, my posture in the air or the landing.

At the session, nobody asked me how to land after a cat pass or how to begin the run up - only how to do the cat pass itself when they reach the obstacle. Which was interesting. This is completely normal and I'm glad it happened because it encouraged me to write this article and taught me a lot about my own progression and training.

I've mentioned before how frequently that I find people who have been practicing for a year or two who think they are very good now and mastering techniques, ready for bigger, higher, further challenges. But it is only after those first few years that people begin to appreciate just just how deep the Parkour root grows, underground, hidden where you cannot see it at first.

Over time I have come to realise that from the moment I begin my run up for a jump, every single step, swing of the arm and intake of air, up until the moment I stop moving after the obstacle(s), is a part of the technique I am doing and should be treated with equal importance. This is why precision and perfection is so important to me and why I repeat things over and over until I'm happy. The passing of the obstacle might be fine but perhaps there was a stutter in my run up or maybe I held my breath unconsciously half way through. If so, I need to do it again properly. I wouldn't consider something perfect until all of these issues are considered and addressed. Only then will I be satisfied.

I went on holiday two weeks ago with my parents and we spent a great deal of time going to different places, walking around and visiting local places of interest. Whilst out walking one evening by the beach, my mum asked me if I missed training as much as I usually do at home and she was surprised when I answered that I was training right at that moment. We were on a completely flat pavement just next to the beach with nothing that could really be considered an obstacle or obstruction for at least 100m in every direction (unless you include the sea).
She seemed confused and when I explained that I was working on my foot placement, and that when we reach that coke can around 10 metres ahead of us on the ground, I will be on my right leg, and the ball of my foot will be in line with it, she smiled and for a brief second was given a glimpse of just how deep the practice of Parkour can go. It was nice to hear her say that she never realised I trained so often. I reached the can with my right leg, ball of foot in line with it and picked it up to put in the next bin we found (for recycling, of course :P).

To get to the point, the purpose of this article is to express how I believe we can practice Parkour all day, every day. There is absolutely no excuse for not having enough time to practice, since I believe we can practice every time we 'do' anything.

Although I am not very good at this yet, lately I have been working on concentrating on my every movement, whilst doing an everyday task, such as eating, driving my car and walking around my room. I find that I can only keep this up for around ten to twenty minutes at a time before something distracts me momentarily, but that period of time is incredible. I feel more connected with my surroundings and the world in a way that is very refreshing to me. It seems to create more awareness and I feel very calm and centred during these times.

The idea is to pay more attention than usual and maintain a state of higher awareness as to what your body is doing and where you fit in to your surroundings. I was once introduced to a concept known as, 'Zanshin', through Shotokan Karate. It refers to a state of awareness - a state of relaxed alertness. I believe I have more use for this concept now in Parkour than I did practicing martial arts.

You can try this now if you like, from wherever you are reading this. Consider walking to the nearest door. What is in the way? Perhaps there are people or chairs, a bed, a ball or stairs. Walk to the door and from the time you look away from the screen, focus on every single thing. Feel the intake of air as you prepare to move, focus on each muscle contracting as you stand, with just only enough force to shift the weight of your body on to your feet. Why have your arms moved? Return them to a neutral position. Turn purposefully, using the least amount of energy possible without unnecessary movement. How many steps will you need to take until you reach the first obstacle? Plan the distance of your steps appropriately so that you know which foot will be nearest to the obstacle when you reach it, decide how to move past it, move past it and continue to repeat this process until you reach the door. Now do it again from the beginning but with predetermined thought, simply move and be aware of everything your body is doing to get there. Move slowly but smoothly to begin with. It's almost a machine-like routine. If you look at Arnold Schwarzenegger's movements in Terminator 2, everything is ruthlessly efficient and every part of him seems to be moving for a reason, with purpose. No flailing limbs, no faltering on uneven ground, no reason to move at all unless that movement has a purpose to help him to achieve his goal.

I'm not suggesting that we all walk around like robots but this is a good example of a being moving with precision and purpose. It is this precision and purposeful movement that I am trying to practice every time I move, but it is difficult. I soon forget what I'm trying to do and lose concentration a little, but each time I try it I find I can do it for a little longer than the time before.

The benefits are numerous as they are vast. Not only will you conserve energy and be less likely to get injured as you move, you will also be improving every aspect of your Parkour, as your limbs learn to move with more precision. Most of us are guilty of using too much energy to complete every day tasks. Even to open a door, most of us open it more than we need to. Stop using handrails, you don't need them. Stop using elevators and escalators, you don't need them. They rob you of the one thing that we are trying to regain here, time to practice. If you must use an elevator, push the button with only enough force to make it light up. This kind of attitude and train of thought can be carried over in to every aspect of your life. Be methodical in everything that you choose to do.

For more examples of individuals moving with precision, watch Tom Cruise in Collateral or Matt Damon in the Bourne movies. It seems that actors can be very good at being precise when they want to thanks to their study of the human body in motion.

My ultimate goal is to move with precision and purpose, all day, every day. Whether I'm lifting a pen, practicing arm jumps or shopping for... bananas. This would conserve a great deal of energy, help to avoid accidents, teach me more about my body and generally allow me to train my body for up to 16 hours per day in a way that would directly improve my Parkour. Some might even argue that this is the very essence of Parkour itself. I would be simply trying to move with efficiency and precision all of the time, with no difference in mindset between going to the bathroom and passing a rail. Both should be done with equal concentration and precision by the student who wishes to achieve their potential in controlling their body whilst it is in motion.

I like to look around me when I am out in busy streets, I look at the way people walk and I often notice people who seem less caught up in bottlenecks and less likely to bump in to someone as they are moving through the sea of people. They move with more grace than the people around them. I wonder whether they are a martial artists or a dancers perhaps... for it seems that people who spend more time focusing on their movements, even through a hobby, move more efficiently even when they are not thinking about it.

If they could be conscious of this superior grace and realise why they reached their destinations quicker than the average person then they could truly begin to progress to elite levels in their chosen fields, by simply practicing more than other people do.

Perhaps we can do the same.

-Blane

EscApe Artist

2007-09-09T22:51:00.000+01:00

Well it's been a while since I updated this and quite a lot had happened since the last entry. I had a fairly major training accident that saw 5 stitches in my shin to hide the bone that showed itself about a month ago.

I was doing a routine climbup on the end of a wall and some bricks fell off, I fell back and landed on my back - which was fine - but then I was really unlucky to have 3 bricks cemented together smash in to my shin, edge first, and cut my skin open all the way down to the bone.

A few hours later and after an injection that went RIGHT inside my leg next to the bone (OUCH!), I was stitched up and limping home. The timing couldn't have been worse as I missed out on the Trace Gathering that I was really looking forward to. I guess it wasn't meant to be... sorry to the people who expected me there! Thanks to Timmy, Joe and Ian for looking after me in the hospital, much appreciated.

I didn't get any photos of it before the nurse did a tidy sewing job but here's the morning after...

Besides that I've been filming some new clips and slowly making a new video. It all came together tonight, just in time for my 4th year anniversary of training.

The four years have flown past at a scary speed and so much has happened in that time. I wish to thank everyone I've met through this amazing discipline, every one of you have helped to shape me in to who I am today and for that I'm very grateful.

I'll be quiet now and show you the video, I hope you enjoy it...

Apologies to everyone that has emailed me or posted on my blog recently and not got a reply yet, I've not had as much time on the Internet to browse through them recently but I'll answer them all this week, thanks for your patience!

-Blane

First clip of a OAC

2007-07-13T13:30:00.000+01:00

Here's a quick clip showing my first filmed one-armed chinup. They're progressing not too badly but I've been focusing on other things recently. I'm currently able to do 2 on my left arm and 1 on my right when I'm fresh and I'm working on building up to 5 on each arm.

-Blane

The Descent

2007-06-21T11:21:00.000+01:00

Following on from my previous post and the discussions that concluded it, I'm staying on a similar track with this one and I want to talk about how pressure can affect us when we face danger and how we can deal with that pressure by making simple decisions right now, that will increase our chances of survival.

When faced with the stress of a life-threatening engagement, we don't rise to the occasion, we descend to our level of training.

I think this is very important for everyone involved in a discipline such as our own or even martial arts to consider - and I wanted to share it with everyone that reads my blog.

If you don't think your training is thorough in preparing you to save your life and escape from dangerous scenarios then perhaps there are some things in this entry that might help you - and if you do think that your training is thorough enough then I really would appreciate your input so please leave a comment after reading this.

As some of you will know, my current understanding and practice of Parkour is different to some other people's and I really see Parkour as being much more than simply the movements we see in so many videos... I believe Parkour is about being strong in every sense of the word and being able to survive when the going gets tough which is why my studies extend beyond that of learning how to move efficiently.

To quote my friend Thomas Couetdic,

I believe that Parkour, however wide it may be, is not a discipline in itself, but a piece of a bigger thing. If you follow the idea of Parkour (at least as it was when i got into it) to the extreme (being able to save your skin from any dangerous situation), then you should not only train to jump, run, climb, etc... You should also be learning about survival techniques, escape techniques, fighting, and things like this.

You can read some more of Thomas' thoughts here but it is this 'extreme' mentioned above that I am following and interested in discussing in this post.

Most of the time we train in comfortable environments, perhaps with friends, not really in any more danger than we put ourselves in. In these circumstances we can put all of our focus and attention in to our techniques and movements without having to worry about any other danger such as coping with the chemical changes in the body that occur when we are faced with danger.

When we are faced with the stress of a life-threatening situation, our body's natural defenses are engaged and frankly most of us, myself included, are not prepared for this.

Here in the Western world, we have become a generation of protected individuals; protected by law enforcement, CCTV, prison systems, physical deterrences and satellites. It's easy to become complacent under these circumstances but all of today's and tomorrow's technology cannot (yet?) change human nature. There will always be murder, theft, rape and crime in general, not to mention natural disasters - and this is why I find it's important to always be aware of our surroundings and to prepare for dangerous situations. But the likelihood of us preparing for these things are slim until we've experienced them for ourselves. It is not until we have become a victim ourselves that we realise that we are not as protected as we think and I think we need to make more of an individual effort to train ourselves more thoroughly.

All of our modern-day advantages become truly useless when we are faced with danger. We even forget all about our family and friends (unless they are directly involved) and what might scare you is that we also forget a significant portion of our training in a crisis.

When we have plenty of time to think and plan and calculate, we are capable of amazing things during our training sessions. We can use our experience and physical ability to decide on the best course of action to tackle a new obstacle but this generally takes some time to take everything in to account and plan the new jump. But what if we remove that period of time from the equation?

If we were being chased by a crazy man with an axe who was trying to kill us, our best chance of survival would be to put a worthy obstacle between ourselves and the man, be that a large wall, a drop that he would struggle to take without breaking a leg or a massive arm jump over a ravine. The bottom line is, an experienced traceur would have the best chance of survival if they could employ their training and experience effectively.

However, the techniques that we are still trying to perfect, the ones we haven't done thousands of times before are immediately considered unreliable by the brain and therefore are not instinctual in our escape process, we can't naturally do them without thinking about it.

Now if we were chased by this psycho in a place we knew, a place we trained at every week and a place we were comfortable moving in then the chances are we would escape. We already know the distances, surfaces, loose bricks and paths to escape and all we would have to do is feed off of the adrenaline to heighten our senses and try to stay calm to some extent to allow our training to be useful.

Now I think we would all agree that these chances are significantly reduced in an unfamiliar environment but there are things we can do to overall improve our chances of survival in these new circumstances, besides regularly drilling the usual techniques in new areas.

So how can we replicate these conditions to prepare for these situations? It is very difficult but it seems possible to some extent since some martial arts, such as Krav Maga, attempt to prepare the student of their combat system more effectively by simulating more realistic situations than a dojo, such as sparring in a darkened room with flashing lights and deafening music. This simulates a nightclub, where there is obviously the potential for danger and gives the student experience in defending themselves in a situation where it is likely to be necessary.

We can't force the body to release adrenaline when we know it is only our friend chasing us when we play tag, but things like this can help you learn how to stay calm under pressure and to act when there is someone behind you putting pressure on you.

Here is an example of a good training session you could have to prepare for a potentially life-threatening situation:

Get a friend to get a big black permanent marker pen and get him to chase you, trying to draw on you... this might sound really funny and I laughed when I thought of it, but this is fairly effective training for escaping someone with a knife, a situation where you couldn't afford to be hit even once. At the end of the game, if you have any ink on you then your peruser could have potentially stabbed or slashed you in that location.
You might think this will be easy for the pursuer since he only has to hit you once but think of the advantages you have! Unless they can do a one-armed climbup, which probably results in less than 2% of the entire world population, then a simple medium sized wall pass would be sufficient in slowing down your friend as they will have to put the pen in their pocket or attempt to struggle over whilst still holding the pen.
The great thing is, the majority of the population are not trained for overcoming obstacles so if you can escape your traceur friend, you can easily escape a random thug.

With this simple experiment we can experience how a knife gives a pursuer at least one major and immediate disadvantage during a chase. It is experience like this that can give us the confidence to remain calm in a real life-threatening situation as we know first-hand the likely benefits you are going to have as you flee. It is all well and good to simply read these things but go out and try it so you experience it rather than imagine it.

Without this type of training and others like it, I believe we are severely limiting ourselves and lying to ourselves that our training is thoroughly preparing us for the day we may have to save our lives.

'We descend to our level of training' is the key to my earlier statement since our brain's will disregard anything that it considers unreliable and untested. Any 'maybes' will be considered not worth trying and we will be left with a very watered down version of our level.

By training in more realistic scenarios we can succeed in turning more 'maybes' in to facts, that the brain will have confidence employing if/when the time comes to put it in to action.

There is another problem that lies in the brain having too many options! You may have perhaps 5 different techniques that you consider effective in passing an average height hand-rail so how can you pick one in a crisis over another? Can you do that quickly if you haven't already thought about the possible consequences? Are you certain that you will just be able to adapt to the situation and pick a technique at the time?

What if you can't..?

Many hand-to-hand combat experts have recommended learning as many combat techniques as possible to prepare for every eventuality - but many of the same experts also recommend spending time deciding on simply 3-4 different techniques that you are certain you can execute with adequate power, speed and confidence to end the confrontation... so that you're not faced with the 3,000 techniques you learnt in the dojo running through your mind and trying to pick one in the heat of the moment.

I think it is in times of safety that we must consider these things logically so that we don't have to suddenly make the decision under pressure. Don't give the brain so many options as this causes it to panic - give it solid, concrete decisions and training based on previous logical thought so that it can lose all doubt in your ability to successfully employ this technique to save your life. Your brain has enough jobs to do during a crisis as it's trying to manage chemicals, muscles, oxygen intake etc. Give it one less thing to worry about, today.

Decide now which ONE pass you can use most effectively when faced with the average hand-rail so that when the time comes you're not faced with such thoughts as, "SHALL I CAT? SPEED? JUMP OVER?!" as you approach the obstacle.

These decisions today, might just save your life tomorrow, as you descend to your level of training.

-Blane

2,400 - The magical number of repetitions

2007-05-30T12:40:00.000+01:00

This short entry is just to express some of my opinions on repetition.

2,400... That's how many repetitions it takes for a movement to become instinctual (according to experts who worked with the British SAS to determine how much training they needed in certain combat techniques).

Now this might not sound like too much hard work - most of you reading this are probably now pondering whether they have done over 2,400 cat passes, 2,400 arm jumps and 2,400 metres of balancing on a rail etc. But what we have to remember is that every single obstacle is slightly different.

Think of every cat pass you have ever done and I'll bet you cannot think of two that were absolutely identical. Take in to account the approach, the heights, the widths, the distances, the weather, the dust, the humidity, the cuts on your hands at the time, the lunch you had to affect your weight and it is very unlikely that you have ever done two identical cat passes on different obstacles (or even the same one!).

So these magical 2,400 repetitions suddenly seem not so simple to complete.

According to those experts' findings based on a LOT of research, an SAS soldier in training would have to repeat a particular knife attack technique 2,400 times before it was drilled in to them and an instinctual reaction. This couldn't be done in a day since this relies on the soldier being fresh and perfectly executing the techinque whilst under realistic training conditions and in the mindset of actually killing someone.

So to bring this to the interest of us, the traceurs, this would mean that just ONE movement on ONE obstacle would need to be repeated 2,400 times whilst you were fresh and completely focused, before that ONE movement on that ONE obstacle might be considered an instinctual movement!

This hammers home the point of repetition being key, something that we've all heard from Parkour veterans time and time again but perhaps we fail to fully comprehend the messages' magnitude.

I'm sure I've done over 2,400 repetitions of every type of pass that I practice but I honestly don't think I could say I've done that amount on one obstacle whilst I was fresh and fully focused in the mindset of doing it to save my life. In fact, I know I haven't.

So for anybody who thinks they have 'mastered' a particular technique, it might come as a surprise to hear this is almost impossible since it would require around 2,400 repetitions of the technique on every single obstacle, ever created plus every one being created every day... not to mention the maintenance of that perfection.

I believe a man could spend an entire lifetime training just one technique on one obstacle and never develop it to the level of every one being 100% perfect without exception. Which is why it's funny to read lists of techniques on forums that people have 'mastered' in their first month of Parkour.

But don't worry or become disheartened with never being able to perfect your favourite technique - strive towards perfection by all means - but just remember that you can only ever finish somewhere on the path towards perfection, never at the destination itself.

There is always room for improvement.

-Blane

Pulling Power and Diet Update

2007-05-21T14:57:00.000+01:00

Well the one-armed chinups are coming along. I have done a few on my right (weaker) arm but they're not consistent yet and I need to be 100% fresh to do them. With a bit more work I should be able to get it up to the level of the left arm with which I can do a repetition and a slow negative with relative ease.

When I first started training these I was also working towards a one-armed pullup, which I abandoned since I didn't want to overload myself. I was therefore surprised to find that I could do a one-armed pullup with my left arm with no additional training. It seems the muscles built to achieve the one-armed chinups were enough to allow me to do the same with a pronated grip. I'm really happy with this since I was thinking this would be another while down the line and require specialised training.

So as it stands I can pullup and chinup with my left arm consistently and chinup with my right arm when I'm fresh... the obvious next step is to work towards being able to chinup and pullup on both arms individually, whenever I please.

Once I have achieved this benchmark in pulling power them I'm going to cease progressing with it for a while and just maintain that level, whilst switching my focus to pushing power in the form of handstand practice, elephant lifts, weighted pushups for endurance, gymnastics planche and ultimately in this period, 10 one-armed pushups per arm with perfect form (feet together, body straight).

My leg progression is going well too, I've implemented a few new training techniques in to my leg training such as isometric holds similar to martial arts stances, jump repetitions, weighted pistols and generally focusing on jumping ability in my technical sessions.

One thing that I've been really happy with recently is my diet. It has always been 'ok' in that 5 or 6 days per week I was completely strict with what I ate and then at the weekend I tended to splurge a little and indulge myself. But recently, in the last two or three weeks I've been completely aware and careful with what I put in my mouth and I've noticed a big difference in my ability as a result.

My diet over the past three weeks has consisted of fruit (ridiculous amounts), vegetables, chicken, turkey, soup, wholemeal bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, fish, weetabix, oats, yogurt, nuts and that's pretty much all I can think of. I've been drinking water, milk and fruit smoothies/juice exclusively. That is all that I've consumed and I feel a lot better for it, I think I've lowered my body fat percentage further than ever before and I never feel bloated or hungry anymore... all of the processed chemicals seemed to be gone from my body and it feels good to be in control of the situation (I still supplement with whey protein, cod liver oil, glucosamine sulphate and a multivitamin).

I've never counted calories or weighed my meals and I don't plan to start now - I prefer to just listen to my body. The occasional cravings for something sweet or chocolaty still happen at the weekend but so far I've resisted and gradually my palette is changing. I'm going to try for two months without anything 'bad' in my diet then hopefully I'll be fully converted to healthy eating and lose the cravings for sweet foods!

Hope you're all training hard and seeing lots of progression, I'm off to eat an apple or four. ;-)

-Blane

Planche Progression

2007-05-02T23:45:00.000+01:00

Just a quick post to say I managed 21 muscle ups (planche) tonight in one set.

It's been a long while since I went for my max number of repetitions and I shouldn't really have tried it tonight since I had an extreme arm session last night... I think I could have got 25 if i had been fresh.

So that's a goal for the next little while, to push my maximum muscle up repetitions in one set up to the 25-30 mark.

I've still not managed a full one-armed chin up with my right arm yet but my left arm ones are now quite consistant - I think I'll start with weighted negative repetitions to help my overall control with them.

-Blane

Bananaman Joins The OAC Club

2007-04-16T09:38:00.000+01:00

Firstly, I wish to thank everyone who visited my blog over the past couple of weeks and left comments on my article. The amount of feedback was very unexpected and I'm really glad the post had such a positive impact on so many people in the community. For those who contacted me via Email, Myspace, Youtube, by phone and in person regarding the article, I appreciated all of your kind words. Thanks also to the various organisations who contacted me asking to publish the article on their respective websites, it helped spread the word.

Just a quick update on my training:

Some of you may be familiar with Bananaman, the fictional schoolboy also known as Eric, who turns in to a superhero when he eats a banana. If you are not, please click here.

"...For when Eric eats a banana, an amazing transformation occurs. Eric is Bananaman. Ever alert for the call to action."

I reached one of my training goals yesterday by completing a one-armed chin up through the full range of motion. My secret? Just like Eric, all it took was a banana!

Half-way through the session I took a quick break from training on this new scaffolding tower, had a drink, peeled a banana and took a bite... with the banana still in my right hand I walked around a bit and jumped up to grab a horizontal bar with my left hand. I started pulling and for the first time, didn't stop until my chin was right over the bar. It must have been a funny sight to see my face straining, chewing, smiling and laughing at the same time whilst waving this half-eaten banana around, but it was worth it.

I did 3 complete repetitions throughout the rest of the day and plenty of partial repetitions. Although I could only do a complete one with my left arm, I'm sure the right arm isn't too far behind as I can also do 90% of one with that arm and it felt a little closer than ever yesterday.

So if ever there was a secret to breaking through that barrier and achieving something that is just beyond your reach, think of Eric and consider a banana might be the solution...

The one-armed chin ups have been on my mind since I last visited Lisses and met Thomas Des Bois for the first time. He inspired me to begin training for them and I began the process on Monday 19th February 2007. I started using a belt around my chin up bar and used that to support the pulling arm. This, combined with slow negative repetitions formed the basis for my training and I set a goal to complete one complete repetition with each arm by 1st May 2007. I now have 14 days to complete one with my right arm to meet my goal.

And this was not the end of my banana-powered adventures for the day, later on I rescued a football from a tall tree that some guys in the park kicked a little too hard. I believe that if everybody in the world completed just one random act of kindness everyday then the world would be a much better place. Whether this is helping an old lady cross the road, retrieving a ball from a roof or pushing a old man and his wheelchair up a steep hill (Nice one Jin - hahaha), we should be using our skills and training experience to aid others as well as ourselves.

Tune in next week for more adventures of Bananaman!

-Blane

Dilution

2007-04-03T11:27:00.000+01:00

Dilution:

a) The process of making weaker or less concentrated
b) A dilute or weakened condition.
c) A diluted substance.

I've not posted for a while as my mind has been busy and it's only now that I feel I want to share the outcome of my thoughts. This entry may offend you, it may seem like it's directed at you and maybe it is.

I can live with being disliked for telling the truth, but I can not continue living with this opinion and not sharing it with the people I think it might help. I know I am not the only one who shares the following opinions and I feel it is worthwhile voicing them if it changes just one person's mindset and helps them. This is primarily for a friend of mine who I haven't trained with in a little while. A friend who seems to have become a little down with his training, a little distant, a little worried that he's not as good as other people. This is for him and all of the other people who feel disheartened watching the people around them do things they cannot... and also for the newcomers to Parkour.

Yesterday was my 1300th day of practicing Parkour. I'm not a big believer in anniversaries but it was on this day that the thoughts of two weeks came together and fused to become solid in my head.

I started training 1301 days ago on September 10, 2003, the day after Jump London aired for the first time on Channel 4 and it's amazing to think how much has happened and how much my life has changed since then.

I vividly remember the very first training session I had, 185 weeks and 6 days ago. It was with my good friend at the time, Tom, and we were both so excited from watching Jump London and wanted to jump right in and get started! I remember trying some vaults, small jumps through a gap in a moving swing and I remember the first real experience of fear in Parkour as I jumped off the roof of a local gymnastics club and rolled on the grass. It was terrifying at the time and I think it was around 12ft high. I did this because I thought this is what Parkour was, jumping off high things and living to tell the tale the next day. Oh how far we’ve all come since then... or have we?

Now as most people will tell you, the days after your first session are hellish. Who remembers that unspeakable sensation of pain just walking up a flight of stairs in the days following your first real hardcore session? I remember my quads feeling like they had been assaulted by a gang of angry thugs with baseball bats for 2 weeks.

These days there is a wealth of great information available for people starting out in the discipline that I did not have access to in the beginning of my training. It was mostly trial and error, with a large dose of the latter. But despite the benefits that learning from past experiences of veteran traceurs can bring, I can't help but wonder if there are consequences to this.

I realise how difficult it must have been for David Belle and all of the other original traceurs of Lisses as they plunged forward in darkness over 15 years ago having no idea what they were doing or where it would lead. They slowly carved a path in a new direction and lit it up along the way for people to follow. It took many years for those guys to create the most basic movements and refine them to the extent that almost any obstacle could be overcome using just a handful of varying techniques and it is a truly remarkable accomplishment. An epic journey that a new traceur of today can bypass, almost, as they learn 10 new techniques in 2 months, that would have taken perhaps 5 years worth of training back in Lisses in the early 90's to achieve.

So at the rate we are developing, progressing and learning, surely we will catch up to them carving in the distance and be able to help them light up the path, right?

No, I don't think so.

I think we are travelling so quickly along that same path that we are going to run out of fuel before we reach them. They are looking behind them and see us in the distance and I think they are probably hoping we reach them to help the discipline grow, but I don't think many people of future generations ever will.
To quote Stephane Vigroux, "I think for many people it has to be more personal... everybody's moving... I'm really happy for them... but too quickly, too fast, too easy, too much show... too much."

There are guys who have been training for less than a year that are doing bigger and further things than guys who have been training for four years and I believe this is mainly due to the library of knowledge available now. This may sound good in principle, that as the generations go on, we will have new guys able to sidestep the trial and error process and just stick to what has been proven to work, to get to a good level in Parkour. But I'm worried.

I think that the trial and error approach taught the original traceurs of Lisses a vast amount about themselves and injected them with a creativity and passion and courage that is being forgotten today and is being replaced with 'by the book' training. Not only do I believe that their mental and physical adeptness is far superior to my own, I believe this will be further diluted as the generations go by and the future traceurs begin their training. People now have lists of movements to learn and tick them off as they do them and quickly move on to something new, something bigger, something more impressive.

The best way to get respected in the Parkour community today seems to be doing the biggest and best things with the minimum amount of training to get there. As long as you do it, it doesn't matter how sloppy it was, how slow the climb up was, how precise the landing was or how much damage it did to the person. Everybody spreads the word that "X" did "Y" so they must be better than “Z” since they have only been training for “W” months! This approach can quickly escalate and recently I feel it has been destroying the true nature of Parkour. People are doing things to be recognised by other people and it’s tough for the people working hard and progressing steadily to see this going on around them. They feel pressured in to attempting things beyond their level when they see it happening and that’s not their fault.

To me, Parkour is a long and worthwhile campaign - not one short, epic battle.

I'm not only worried about the mental progression and creativity of new practitioners being sacrificed, I'm equally concerned about the physical costs of such textbook progression.

Like myself, some of you may have memories of a granddad who was the only one in the family that could open the pickle jar at dinner time, despite his advanced years. This 'granddad strength' I speak of was no miracle - it was the product of 60 years of manual labour and a strength produced from many years of repetitive muscle use.

I'm concerned that the shortcuts available to today's practitioners might rob them of the irreplaceable muscular development that the Lisses traceurs have, the deep rooted neurological pathways and the vast amount of muscle memory that no book, article or spoken word can give to them. The granddad strength.

We all know you can condition your body from the beginning of your training and this will help your technical ability but I still feel people are moving too quickly and progressing too fast. I regularly see things being done by newer traceurs that guys with years of experience haven't done and sometimes the more experienced guys feel bad... often they find themselves questioning their training and wondering why they aren't as good, wondering where they got left behind and wondering why everybody seems to be better than them.

People have come to me, literally depressed about their training and looking for advice and asking where they went wrong, wondering what the newer guys have that they don't. The answer I've given to these people is simple. The new practitioners doing the massive jumps, the impressive techniques, the big, the hard, the long, the far etc. have ignited a fuse that will see them burn out years before they might want to, simply because their bodies are not ready for what they are doing. It's not just a question of knees, what about the damage being done to the shoulders of new guys doing big drops from branch to branch? What about their elbows?

What will be the long-term effects of this?

What will be the long-term effects of doing 12ft level arm jumps when the shoulders haven't experienced 10,000 smaller ones?

What will be the long-term effects of dropping 15ft to concrete when the legs haven't experienced 10,000, 5ft drops?

Time will tell.

Look at the best traceurs in the world. Go to Lisses and see them, talk to them, train with them and learn from them. They are not the best because they are genetically gifted or were crazy to try all the new things when they were younger and they are not the best because they progressed quickly. They are the best and the strongest because the progressed steadily. They built layer upon layer of armour on their bodies over years and years, repeating things thousands of times and not rushing the process. They have deep rooted granddad strength and resilience and resistance to injury that comes from gradual progression.

Various interviews with David have all asked about injuries and David has shaken his head and said his knees are fine, his arms are fine, he has no pain. This is after 18 years of training. By contrast, today we have guys with one year of training behind them taking months out with knee problems, shoulder dislocations, tendonitis... surgery to repair the body before 20 years of age. Is this a coincidence? Or is this because we are pushing too hard, too fast, trying to be the best and compare to others?

Parkour is a personal journey and one that is hard work. There are no shortcuts and there are no quick fixes. If you want 'to be and to last' then I suggest you take a long hard look at your training and ask yourself if you are doing this for fun, for a few years until you can settle down and get a job, get married, have kids and retire. If so then do what you want, do the massive jumps, do everything you want to do and don't look back. Just be aware that you are having an effect on the others who are in this for the long haul and working hard to get strong. Try to bear this in mind when you say “I did this, so why don’t you?” to them.

But if you want to truly discipline your body, become strong and last in Parkour then you must not compare yourself to anybody else. It can be too tempting to get talked in to doing something beyond your level when you see less experienced people doing it. Be the bigger man/woman and realise the damage they are doing to themselves and take pride in knowing you didn't succumb to peer pressure. In 10 years when they're walking with a cane, you will be able to do that jump a hundred times without generating a bead of sweat.

I’m not sure how we can help the future generations of traceurs and the future of Parkour. By providing them with our experience we can prepare them but it must not become a substitute for trial and error or we will all become clones of our teachers. There must remain an element of trial and error and an element of exploration. They must also be allowed to progress in their own time without feeling the pressure of people around them. I’m going to make it a personal goal of mine to help the people I see feeling pressured in to doing something they don’t want to, it would be great if some people reading this could take the time to join me.

To summarise the two points in the above article...

1) If you’re new to Parkour, research as much as possible and learn from the people who have walked the path before you, but do not lose your creativity and ability to think for yourself. Try new things, explore different methods and progress at your own pace. What you need to remember is that the people before you have more physical experience that has built what I refer to as ‘granddad strength’ and that cannot be taught or passed on. You can rush the theory but you cannot take shortcuts on the practical stage if you want to last in this discipline.

2) If you are more experienced in Parkour and feel like newer people are better than you, do not feel pressured in to pushing yourself too hard or doing things just because they are. Try to warn them of the dangers of trying things beyond their bodies’ conditioned state - even if they can do something, doesn’t mean they should. They are learning faster than you due to the wealth of information before them, due to your hard work.

If you care for the future of Parkour then it is your duty to help them to progress sensibly and remind them that they should slow down when you think they are going too fast. If we do not do this, Parkour will slowly die as its practitioners become weaker and weaker duplicates of past traceurs due to injury, overtraining and joint destruction.

Are you going to help to dilute Parkour and the new traceurs, Or are you going help to concentrate it and strengthen them?

"Tread softly because you tread on my dreams." - William Butler Yeats

-Blane

Lisses 2007 Video

2007-03-19T17:40:00.000Z

I finally finished editing the video from the trip to Lisses.

We should have planned things a little better but ended up training hard all week then realised we hadn't filmed anything! So on the last two days we tried to capture what our bodies would allow us to do after a week of punishment.

It will mean more to the people who were there than it will to the general public but I thought I would share it with those who are interested...

-Blane

The one-armed bandit

2007-03-06T14:44:00.000Z

Having become obsessed with one-armed chinups and one-armed pullups three weeks ago I wanted to post a quick update on the situation...

I'm currently focusing all of my upper body workout days on my one-armed pulling power. At present I'm able to complete 6-8 'one arm and one pinkie*' chinups on both arms. That is one arm and the pinkie* of the other hand on the branch/bar/whatever. I'm also able to do 12-15 second controlled negatives now that have improved from my 4-5 second ones 4 weeks ago when I experimented to see what level I was starting at.

I've also explored working with a belt wrapped around the bar for my other arm and also tried locking off at various points.

I think the gains in grip strength and pulling power in just 3 weeks of training this technique is pretty amazing. I've noticed definite improvement in my chest, lats, forearms, biceps, triceps and abs just from working towards the goal of one-armed chinups and that's all good.

Other ways I'm testing my one-armed strength is by drilling one-armed arm jumps at the weekends which simply involves doing as many different arm jumps as possible and using only one arm to control the landing. I currently can't to a one-armed climbup but that's something else I'll be working on in the next little while.

Once I can do 10 'one arm, one pinkie' chinups per arm and 20 second negatives then I'm going to add my weighted vest for resistance and begin the process again starting with 8 second negatives and 4-5 'one arm, one pinkie' chinups with weight.

My goal is to be able to do 1 unaided chin up with either arm by 1st May 2007, giving me about 8 weeks to achieve this. I'll keep updating my blog with my progress.

I think this will be the third milestone in my upper body development, the first one being the planche (muscle up) and the second being the planche-en-force (muscle up from strength).

*I'm unable to find a definitive answer as to whether it's a pinky or a pinkie! I think I prefer pinkie because it's longer than pinky and my pinkies or pinkys are quite long.

The Evolution of Hell Night

2007-02-23T11:36:00.000Z

With time, it's now obvious to me that Hell Night needs to evolve into something else. A more personal battle.

It's been over 20 weeks since the first Hell Night in Leicester and on Wednesday of this weeek we tried something different. The idea I had was to take each individual's personal weaknesses in to account and suggest that each person focus on that weakness.

Hell Night was an essential programme to condition my body and mind to a higher standard. I'm stronger and faster than I've ever been and my body fat percentage has dropped. But I have to admit I was perhaps being a little selfish by shaping the exercises around my personal goals of increased upper body strength and power.

Since most people have much stronger legs than they have arms anyway, everyone was happy with the program and saw results. Fast.

But after 20 weeks of conditioning, all of the people who weren't mentally tough enough to push through the pain barriers, keep going when they could hardly breathe and do that one final rep when it felt like their heads would explode have stopped coming. We're now left with the hardcore warriors who know what it means to work hard to achieve results and have a great mindset to make the most of those 4 hours.

So I think it's only now with almost 6 months of experience that we're all ready to step away from the group element and focus on training in the areas we each need to improve on individually. For example, on Wednesday I spent 4 hours doing pushups, muscle ups, dips, cat crawling, climbups, shimmying across sharp ledges and running on my own because at the time my upper body felt strong and I wanted to break it down and test it's ability to heal. The next day I had only minor stiffness in my shoulders and today I'll be training one armed negative chin ups and pull ups. Next Wednesday I'll work the various leg muscles for 4 hours.

I think in the old programme, a major motivator to keep going was to see the man in front and the man behind sweating and suffering the same pain as you so it was a test to push myself just as hard when I knew it was just me suffering in that particular exercise. But afterwards we all got together again and agreed it was a brilliant session and people were happy they could work on their weaknesses. Nobody had trouble driving themselves as hard as usual.

We had tested the idea of not using the group for support before when on a couple of occassions we completed the 4 hours in total silence without bellowing "COME ON, KEEP PUSHING" or "AAAAAAAAARGH!" every few minutes (hahahaha) but this was a bigger step.

I think it takes a very disciplined person to exercise and push themselves for 4 hours with no encouragement so if you've recently started your own Hell Nights in your area then I would suggest continuing with the group training and supporting each other in a general body strengthening programme until the minds and bodies are collectively strong enough and just need some refinement in certain areas. When you get to that stage (I would recommend 20 weeks as it seemed like a natural time for us) then look into what your weaknesses are and focus on them without relying on your unit for support.

Hope you all have a great weekend, I'm in the mood to train arm jumps galore! I'm hoping there's gale force winds and heavy rain so I can drill the jumps I'm comfortable with in harsh conditions.

-Blane

Lisses

2007-02-19T11:06:00.000Z

As I expected - my return to Lisses was just what I needed to refresh my mind, body and understanding of Parkour.

We were lucky enough to spend a great deal of time with Thomas-Des-Bois throughout the week and getting to know him, his training and his motivations has been one of the most defining moments in my training to date. It has changed my views on physical training once again and reminded me that to be useful able to use our ability in a 'real' situation, we need to broaden our training methods and imagine more extreme scenarios when we practice. I also picked up some very useful psychological techniques for overcoming fear and progressed more technically in that week, that I think I could do in 3 months at home.

It was also cool to catch up and train with other friends such as Jerome, Gouda, Bruce and Alex. I'm forever grateful for the 'always welcome' reception in Lisses and it's a true testament to their attitudes that they're still so open to visitors even after seeing their discipline exploited by various worldwide associations.

We trained every single day and night and having just done a quick count, I've worked out that we trained for just under 60 hours of a possible 154! Take into account the hour or so we spent eating per day and the 8 we did sleeping each night, and it truly was a case of doing nothing but eating, sleeping and training our asses off.

One of the most important parts of the trip for me was getting to know the guys I regularly train with week in, week out. I've known one of them for over 2 years and the others for over a year but you don't really know someone when you only spend two days per week with them so living with these guys for a week was truly a test of our friendship and I can happily say we all grew much closer during the week. I've not laughed that much in a LONG time.

So despite having written a long article on a training plan I was trying just before going to Lisses, I've decided to abandon that plan and train on a more day to day basis depending on what parts of my body are tired and what parts are feeling fresh. I've learnt in the past week that learning how to listen to your body and adapt your days' training around that is more productive and less likely to result in overuse injuries than sticking to a strict regime. Although regimes have worked very well for me in the past, I think that it's only now with that experience that I can trust my body to tell me what needs work rather than plan equal amounts of exercise for each body part during the week. If however you feel your training is lacking structure and it's what you might need more of until you can trust your body, then check out my article on Periodised Training for an alternate method of progression I researched over the past couple of months.

Having realised my strength level and ability in Lisses, my goal for now is to develop serious leg power and resistance by training repetitions of landings from a height (I'll carefully discover the height I'm comfortable landing from without a roll). Once per week I plan to do 50-100 repetitions of landings from this height then over time I'll very slowly increase the height until I notice my leg power improving significantly. Having spoken to Thomas about this in detail he advised me of how to do this in a safe manner and how to land and 'resist' the shock properly using muscles rather than trying to absorb it and risk damaging joints.

I am also going to work on my one-armed strength techniques such as pullups, chinups, hanging at different lock angles and of course pushups.

I'll let you all know how this training plan is working out for me and list the advantages and any disadvantages I come across.

-Blane

'Snow Doubt I'll Be Back...

2007-02-09T14:16:00.000Z

...but it won't be for a week. :P (Terrible play on words and the current weather, I know).

So I'm off to Lisses with 6 of my good friends to train, learn, recollect my thoughts and just ground myself again by realising how weak I really am compared to the French.

See you all when I get back, take care and train hard.

-Blane

Back To Business and... Lisses.

2007-01-26T09:10:00.000Z

Filming for the past four or five weeks has been fun at times but mostly it was a chore to carry around a camera and tripod with me. I'm looking forward to getting back to just moving around without worrying about my stuff.

I'm going to Lisses again in 15 days with all the guys I train with regularly. There will be 7 of us and we'll spend a week developing ourselves as traceurs in the best possible company. Although it's my third time visiting Lisses, I still look forward to it just as much as ever - as each time I go, I come back with a new understanding of Parkour, how I should be training and with a refreshed and focused mind.

Over the next two weeks leading up to Lisses I'll be focusing on balance, foot placement drills, strength maintainance and very simple basics so that I'm 100% when the time comes.

I'd like to thank everyone who contacted me and left messages for me on forums, by email and by leaving comments on my blog about my video... I'm glad you all enjoyed it. My next goal is to capture Hell Night some time in the near future to help all of the people contacting me with questions about it, to set up a similar program in their local area. :)

Have a good weekend, train hard and eat well.

-Blane

Video Release

2007-01-22T10:07:00.000Z

I'll finish editing the footage and release it tonight...

EDIT: It's up! YouTube link - Docendo Discimus

40mb Permanent Host (right click save as) - Thanks to Andeh for the hosting.

Enjoy.

-Blane

Stepping it up with protein!

2007-01-16T09:57:00.000Z

It seems as though it's time to step my strength training up again - last night I completed the most demanding workout of the week (besides Hell Night) and at the end I hadn't broke a sweat! It's obvious that Hell Nights are truly doing great things for my body but it's becoming harder and harder to challenge my body on the other nights that I focus on conditioning. I may need to invest in the 20kg weighted vest as I don't think the 10kg version is tough enough now for pushups, pullups, chinups etc.

I think another contributing factor to my increased strength and recovery is that I've started taking whey protein shakes after my workouts to maximise muscle recovery and feed my muscles with high quality protein when they need it most. I highly recommend investing in a tub of whey protein if you take strength training and conditioning seriously. I bought mine from Holland and Barrett for about £20... if you wait until there is a sale (usually every two months or so) and stock up then apparently you can get the same big tub for as little as £8. I started taking the supplement a week ago and there's no doubt I'm recovering faster and gaining lean muscle mass and definition with no side effects.
If you're worried about taking supplements to boost your training then there's no need with whey protein, there's no steroids or 'weight gain' involved, all it's doing is whacking 40g of protein into your bloodstream to feed your muscles after a workout. It also comes in four flavours; strawberry (I can vouch for this one being gorgeous), banana, vanilla and chocolate to suit your personal tastes.

So if you're struggling to eat enough chicken, turkey, eggs etc. during the day to keep your protein levels high, then consider looking into protein shakes - you won't be dissapointed.

Video Update: It's 90% done. I have 2.5 minutes of edited video ready to go and with another 30 seconds of footage and some polishing off, I'll whack it all together and release it. ETA - 1 week.

-Blane

Busy Busy Bumble Bee

2007-01-08T10:55:00.000Z

Although still in very early stages, I attended a meeting in London about the discussion and formation of a governing body to oversee and maintain the quality of coaching for Parkour in Britain.

It's dissapointing to see and hear of many people getting injured at organised events and hopefully the creation of this body will help to bring about a standard of teaching and emphasis on safety, never before seen in this country.

The goal is to create a qualification that people can earn to become a certified coach, so that new traceurs have the facts in front of them and an option to choose a quality and trusted teacher over someone who may not have their best interests at heart.

Being a non-profit organisation, aimed solely at trying to guide the development of Parkour in Britain (and perhaps other countries in the future) in a decent direction, I trust it will grow into a solid building block for the future of our discipline.

Representitives from experienced groups all over the UK were present at the meeting and it was very refreshing and satisfying to see we all had the same goals and hopes for the future. It was also great to catch up with some people I hadn't seen in years, such as the Saiyans (link to their blog on the right).

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

Video Update: I now have almost two minutes of edited footage for my new video but there's still loads I want to capture - most of the stuff I have so far hasn't been planned - I've just spotted the movement, drilled it until it's clean and filmed it on the day.
The majority has been filmed at a new spot recently discovered near Leicester that is absolutely brilliant. It is entirely under cover so everything stays dry even when the weather is at its worst. Not only is this a great place to go and train when it is wet, it is also a very good spot in itself. I would have been happy to find somewhere with a couple of dry walls and a dry rail but this place has so much to offer... Finally I have a reason to smile when I see rain on a Saturday morning!

With a couple of dry weekends (fingers crossed) to film the rest of the stuff I want, my video should be finished some time this month. Expect plenty of weird scaffolding variations, strange underbar 'things' and hopefully a big improvement on previous videos that will inspire and give some people ideas on new ways to move other than the usual 'cat precision' epidemic I've seen recently (I think I was temporarily infected myself).

Remember - when travelling to a new spot try to find an obstacle and practice passing it, rather than trying to find a place to do your favourite technique.

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

Trace: I'm happy to announce I'm now officially a member of the newly formed Trace team alongside a handful of very talented and exciting traceurs.

Trace has been created to provide practitioners with quality clothing and equipment for Parkour training for a good price. Profits will be used to produce tutorials, physical training guides, diet advice and run workshops to help new guys and girls get started in the discipline.

Check out Tracehq.com for more information.

-Blane

Diary

2007-01-02T09:19:00.000Z

Happy new year everybody!

Just a quick update to say I thought the new year was a good opportunity to start a training diary; detailing my daily training, thoughts, progression etc. I'm going to spend 5-10 minutes every night writing and it should be fun to look back on in years to come.

Why not start your own diary? You only have two days to catch up on and from there it will only take a few minutes per day...

Filming for my new video began last week and I'm happy with the movements I've captured. Once edited, it will be about 20 seconds long - so there's still a long way to go to get that up to around 3-4 minutes that I'm satisfied enough with to release.
There's a lot of new stuff I have planned that will not only be fun to film, but will mark a definite progression in my ability as I refuse to just repeat movements I've shown in previous videos.
Half of the movements I want to show in this video I haven't ever done before but I feel ready for them now, more than ever (one thing in particular I've been looking at for over two years).

More filming this weekend...

-Blane

New Video

2006-12-27T12:37:00.000Z

Well it's been a while since PINWC was released and although I did say I was planning on waiting a year or so before releasing another video... I feel the time is right to start work on another one.

The main reason I plan to begin filming another sampler is that there are currently many temporary obstacles in my area, ones that will disappear in the near future so I may lose the chance to capture some movements in these areas if I don't do it soon.

Another reason to get it done now is that I feel 2007 is going to be a very progressive year and I would like to make a fresh start on training without the urge to make a video.

Filming will begin tomorrow and will continue through to Sunday, with perhaps another couple of weekends to wrap up bits and bobs. Add to that editing and the possibility of bad weather and you're looking at an early/mid January ETA.

Check back soon for updates.

-Blane

Direction

2006-11-21T15:35:00.000Z

Just a short entry to let everyone know what I'm going to be working on...

-Scaffolding and Trees
I've been neglecting this a little recently so I'm planning on focusing my efforts on trees and scaffolding more during my training sessions. I'm going to be focusing on generating momentum for laches and building up my sustained grip strength and shoulders for more controlled and bigger body drops.
Besides using my arms I want to build up confidence in my balance in trees just using my feet... right now I feel more comfortable landing on a rail than I do a branch, with my feet - which is odd.

-Underbars
These need some more work, I'm going to be aiming to reduce the amount of space needed for me to get through gaps in rails, walls, branches etc. I also need to work on my exiting technique for this movement as I'm currently only completely comfortable with ones where I can place my feet on the ground when I get my lower body through. Underbars with a drop greater than my height is not something I've spent much time practicing.

-Handstands
I've recently been convinced of the benefits of handstands. An excellent exercise in balance, coordination and strength, I've really not spent any great deal of time trying to improve them. They're also fun, so I'll be spending 10-15 minutes per day upside down battling against gravity (or trying to develop a healthy relationship with it perhaps).
Interestingly, without ever focusing on the technique itself, it seems I've built up the necessary muscles to be able to go from L-sit to tucked planche to a handstand... the handstand is wobbly and I do fall over a lot but it's good to know the power is there. A month from now I want reasonable control over a 10 second stationary handstand from tucked planche.

-Planche en force
Although I'm now quite happy banging these out with a 10kg weighted vest, I've never paid any attention to repetitions. I'm going to work on building up to being able to do 10 slow, weighted, muscle-ups and 20 unweighted. Wish me luck!

-Blane

Current Training Regime

2006-11-06T09:37:00.000Z

After an intense 3 month period of focused strength training, I'm sticking to the following regime for a while - not to develop my strength but to maintain it at its current level whilst I concentrate on progressing technically.

Monday - Upper Body:

-4 x 25 pushups with hands spread wide to focus on chest
-4 x 25 pushups with hands touching to focus on triceps
^All done using 10kg weighted vest.

-4 x 15 crunches on the '6 second abs' machine
-4 x 10 second maximum contraction on '6 second abs' machine

-10 x chinups with hands as wide as possible
-10 x chinups with hands quite wide
-10 x chinups with hands quite close
-10 x chinups with hands touching
^All done using 10kg weighted vest.

-Balance exercises and a few basic drills

Tuesday - Lower Body:

-4 x 25 calf raises
^All done using 10kg weighted vest.

-4 x 15 pistols on each leg (30 per set)
^All done using 10kg weighted vest.

-100 8-9ft precisions

-Balance exercises and a few basic drills

Wednesday - Back and Abs:

-10 pullups with hands as wide as possible
-10 pullups with hands quite wide
-10 pullups with hands quite close
-10 pullups with hands touching
^All done using 10kg weighted vest.

-4 x 26 alternate leg raises on the 'Abdo Board'

-4 x 30 second 'V' sits to 10 second tucked planche.

-Balance exercises and a few basic drills

Thursday: Hell Night

-This varies week to week but it's an entire body workout and a very demanding cardio session. See the 'Hell Night' entry below for more details.

Friday: Lower Body:

-4 x 25 calf raises
^All done using 10kg weighted vest.

-4 x 15 pistols on each leg (30 per set)
^All done using 10kg weighted vest.

-100 8-9ft precisions

-Balance exercises and a few basic drills

Saturday and Sunday: Parkour

I avoid strength training on these two days and focus entirely on technical movements. I practice all the basics in different combinations at different speeds and emphasis is placed on speed and accuracy of movement.

Hell Night

2006-11-05T18:32:00.000Z

It's now almost week 7 of Hell Night and with many people asking me to give them more details about it, I've finally sat down with the hope of explaining what we do every Thursday. Cameras are frowned upon at Hell Night as you can't train your hardest when you stop to take photos, so there is not one photo of one of these sessions available... I've had to add photos from my collection to help explain what we are doing.

We start the night at 7pm with a simple loosening up period just so we don't go into the first phase cold. Immediately after that we head to a nearby rugby field and run laps around it for a while until our blood's pumping and core temperature has raised...
We then walk another lap of the field whilst holding our arms out the sides, above us, and stretching them thoroughly.

Our first physical activity of the night is on the rugby posts - we climb up one side just using our arms, swing across the top, and climb down the other side only using our legs to generate momentum on the swing across the top.

A jog to the nearby war memorial and we spend 10-15 minutes here stretching thoroughly and preparing ourselves for the night to come. After everyone is ready and feeling loose, we walk to the other side of the university by the front gates. It's at this point we all split up and go our seperate ways, with the goal of getting back to the memorial in the quietest way possible. The emphasis is on silent movements and controlled muscle contractions especially on climbups, deep landings and crawling where necessary. Everything is controlled and speed is the least important part of this exercise. It usually takes everyone 15 minutes to get back to the start if they're really focusing on moving with minimal sound.

As soon as we're all back together the main phase of the night begins and everyone knows the easy parts are now finished. Everything from this point on is going to hurt.

This main phase changes every week and gets harder and harder as the weeks go on. I'll explain what week 6 consisted of...

-The group waits in the pushup position as each of us in turn jump up to a branch of a tree and do 10 pullups, grabbing a higher branch, lowering ourselves down to the bottom branch again slowly, and repeat until we've each done 10. Once a person completes this pullup challenge, they wait for the others once again in the pushup position.

-When everyone is finished, we're all in the pushup position and whilst we're down there, we do 25 pushups.

-A quick jog around the corner and we climb up onto a roof with a slight overhang, 10 climbups here followed by a 1 minute hang straight after the last climbup. If you finish early, you wait in the pushup position for the rest of the group regardless of how long it takes for them to do 10 climbups and hang for a total of 60 seconds. The burn on this exercise is great!

-As soon as we're all done there, we move onto some parallel bike rails and do 1 dip, followed by 1 stomach crunch and repeat 10 times. By this point after the pushups, climbups and pullups, this can be quite testing on the triceps and chest...

-Straight from there onto two parallel blue rails in an L shape. We put our hands on one side and our feet on the other, and shimmy along until we reach the corner, from here we need to stretch out to the corner with our feet whilst keeping our hand in position until we end up on the other straight. Another shimmy uphill takes us to the end and we do this entire obstacle twice in a row without rest.

-Next up is a climb up a vertical lamp post to the top, touch the light and climb back down. This one proves particularly hard when it's raining!

-From there, onto a flat wall with a sharp edge, and we shimmy across the top of that to the other end, only 20ft or so. We climb down a drainpipe to the ground and wait in the pushup position for the others to catch up.

-Next up, we all start at the bottom of a flight of steep stairs on all fours, and climb up them backwards, when we reach the top we climb all the way back down again head first. If that wasn't enough fun, we climb all the way to the top once more, and all the way back down - again.

-Carrying exercises now, where we lift a partner on to our shoulders and run 200m as fast as we can, then we swap around and the other person does 200m with their partner on their shoulders.

-This next exercise is similar to the blue rail obstacle but this one is a lot longer. It's roughly 100m and the gap between your feet and hands gets bigger and bigger as you can see below. This is one hell of a great forearm workout! When you get near the end, no one is tall enough to reach with both hands and feet so we drop into the arm jump position and shimmy to the end that way.

-We wait in the pushup position until everyone is finished that then immediately crawl the length of those black rails to the other end.

-Back muscles and shoulders are now put to the test again when we climb horizontally along a series of 12 window ledges without touching the floor, takes about 4-5 minutes.

-Straight after it's muscle up time! We do a muscle up on a FAT bar (A) which is sometimes tough after the onslaught before, but once we've muscled up, we climb onto the bar and climb down a metal staircase underneath the stairs just using our arms (B).

-Under the stairs we do more pushups, this time we take 10 seconds to do one pushup and pause halfway for a while, at the bottom we pause again, lean to our left hand, lean to our right, back to the centre and push back to the top, taking 10 seconds to get to the top. This is repeated for 5-8 minutes or so until our arms are shaking and we can taste our dinner again.... yum.

-Then we hang from the metal staircase and L sit for 20 seconds.

-Possibly the toughest exercise of the night now, it's 1 climbup on the bottom wall below, shimmy across to the other side of it at waist height, climb down into the arm jump position, climb up again, then climb down and repeat x 5. In total it's 10 flat wall climbups, with waist shimmying in between and after all the previous exercises, you really feel this one in the arms.

Next up we climb up some rails covering a window onto the edge of a roof and shimmy under some barbed wire then climb down another window ledge at the other end of the roof. On the photo below, the barbed wire had yet to be added to the roof.

-Time to crawl again... after climbing up the outside of the stair case (or the inside if you have to), we crawl the length of the roof... near the other end there's some dips to do, so we do 10 whilst we're up there then crawl down an identical staircase on the other side of the building head first.

...and that's 1 lap, we then get a quick drink and run back to the start by the tree and begin the course again. We don't rest in between each exercise as we're waiting in the pushup position for people to finish so it really is a gruelling session of constant exercise. We usually only get through 3 laps of the course due to that taking around 4 hours to complete.

Although it was literally hell to begin with, the benefits of such harsh training is evident, everyone who regularly attends is now becoming comfortable with all of the above to a certain extent which is why I'm making it harder each and every week so we're always stepping out of our comfort zones.

Hell Night has helped us to become so much stronger and our stamina levels have shot up drastically. Everyone agrees that their Parkour has benefited from it immensely.
After the 4th or 5th week of Hell Night, my usual weekly training which I used to find tough, was not even causing me to break a sweat so it just shows how effective this kind of training is for your body.

The other benefit of this type of training is a mental one, since Winter is closing in, the nights have been very cold and dark and 3 of the weeks saw it raining for the duration of the session. You need to be prepared for this mentally and just accept that you are going to be pushing yourself to the limits regardless of the weather conditions.

I highly recommend starting your own Hell Night in your area... meet up once per week with some friends with the goal of completely breaking yourselves down and tiring yourselves out until you fail to function properly. Repeat this week after week and I promise it will change your body completely and give you so much more power and confidence in your Parkour.

Early in the new year I'll post the latest version of what we're doing with proper photos of one of the nights... we'll probably be using weighted vests for the exercises by then.

-Blane

Past, Present and Future

2006-11-03T09:56:00.000Z

After following Jin's advice, I've decided to create a blog to let everyone know what I'm up to, how my training is going and what my current thoughts and goals are. It will also be a good place for me to record my progress and look back on in time to come.

Since this is my first entry to the blog I'll bring you all up to speed with a fairly lengthy entry...

A few months ago after almost 3 years of training in Parkour I hit a plateux and noticed a significant invisible wall that I seemed to run in to and couldn't get past. My technical ability had come across a barrier and I realised that if I were to further progress technically, I had to first change the very thing that was limiting me - my body.

I had watched some fairly inspirational videos that made me want to just go out and try all this new stuff but knowing there was a long-term progression to think about, I pushed all that aside and decided to focus on getting stronger.

Over the past three months I've transformed my body and seriously pushed the envelope in terms of muscular endurance, power, speed and stamina. It was difficult to almost completely stop technical training (with the exception of balance and drilling the basics) and dedicate so much time to physical development but it has been worth it and the gains are now obvious.

I'm at a stage where I feel very confident in my self and I'm now easing back into the technical side of the discipline. I don't doubt there will be a transition period where I'll need to refresh my memory in some of the finer details of technical movements but I know this will be a quick process and that I'll surpass my old stale state very quickly with the added strength.

One major contributor to the maintenance of my condition is 'Hell Night' - a weekly session that I started when I realised that there were more traceurs in Leicester who really wanted to knuckle down and put their bodies through hell to achieve a higher level in Parkour. We meet up every Thursday night at 7pm and train for about 4 hours in non-stop parkour-orientated conditioning and isometric resistance work. It's also very mentally challenging due to the winter months rolling in, it's been very wet, cold and damp but this only adds to its appeal and difficulty so there's never any complaints. Come snow, hail, wind and rain, we will be out in force facing the elements in a battle to progress. Now only six weeks old, the course is becoming harder each week with less rest in between each set, a faster pace and more reps thrown into the exercises.

To track our progress I'm updating a spreadsheet every week with a list of everyone who turns up, how many laps of the course we do, what specific exercises we concentrate on and any other details such as warm-ups, dates and notes, it will be very interesting to look back on in six months time to see how much it has helped us.

I'll cut off there and give your eyes a rest, check back here soon for updates including:
-My current weekly training regime
-More details on the specifics of Hell Night
-What I'm focusing on to push my technical ability

Until then; train hard, eat well and rest.

-Blane