Courage is only an accumulation of small steps.
~ unknown
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Yes you can
Hello there! Welcome!
This post is where I’ve dumped a bunch of things intended to convince YOU that you really can do Parkour.
Why do I think you can do Parkour? Because, basically, everything the general public has heard about Parkour is wrong. You could totally do Parkour because…
I’m too old, over-weight, out of shape…
I did it, so can you.
I simply mean that when I started, I was very over-weight (BMI well over 30, definitely “obese”), very out of shape, and I was just over 40 years old. That combination is probably “worse off” than most people who end up reading this.
However, if you are older, in worse shape, or fatter than that, I do still think you can do it . . .
Do you think you can improve yourself?
Parkour is about improving yourself through challenge. So whatever is challenging for you, that’s going to be your practice. Maybe for you, it’s a warmup and then start working on some shoulder strength, but you spend a majority of the time watching class so you’re not over-exherting yourself. Maybe it’s a long talk about nutrition and diet (generally what you eat, not a specific diet fad) combined with your initial Parkour efforts.
What about that crazy stuff on TouYube?
It is NOT about big jumps! Why does everyone see the EXTREME movements, and then assume ALL Parkour has to be like that?
You can drive a car without getting into auto racing. You can do a cart wheel without being an Olympic gymnast. You can go for a jog without running a marathon. You can practice Parkour without jumping between roof-tops across an alley!
There’s nothing wrong with the extremes (in the “ultimate level of performance” sense) in any of those activities, but those extremes are NOT representative of the average activity of “driving”, “cart wheeling”, “running” or “Parkour”.
And anyway, here’s a link to my all-time favorite video of some Parkour. I think it’s spectacular, but not in the “huge jumps”, “extreme movement” sense: Julie Angel’s, Movement of Three (2’33”) Movement of Three – YouTube
But I’m a woman…
The answer is still: Yes. Yes you can.
I do understand that there are issues (not just in Parkour) that only women face. But those issues are either societal norms, or other bullshit caused by men. That has nothing to do with Parkour per se. (It’s about men. Actually it’s about boys. Real men don’t pull misogynistic crap.)
HOWEVER, do not take my word about anything regarding the woman’s point of view. Instead, go read this:
«http://www.risingtraceuse.com/2015/03/5-thoughts-that-keep-women-from-trying.html»
And the question almost no one asks…
How do I figure out where and with whom to train?
This is ACTUALLY the hard part. It’s always the same: finding the right coach is mission critical. And you have to perfom this most-important step BEFORE you know much about the thing you want to learn.
So here’s how you do it: You find the nearest place/people/group that purports to teach the thing. You go there. You put your “vibe radar” on and you don’t go back if anything weirds you out. If anything is high pressure (“Jump this! NOW!”, “Sign up for a year! NOW!”) then you back away slowly, and never return. They should be welcoming, intelligent and you should feel supported by most (if not literally) everyone in the class.
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Grand Canyon
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7230: I surrender
I surrendered yesterday with a heavy heart.
Since July 20th, 2015, it has been a long year of ups and downs. I’ve made some massive improvements in strength, and form, for the activities I’d chosen. But I still have much work left to do — both in terms of the number of reps left before the 10,000 goal, and in terms of the quality of the activities I had hoped to reach along the way.
A few weeks ago, I started a sprint to the finish. In an attempt to make the 10,000 goal within the dwindling days, I would need to do approximately 200 reps of everything every-other-day for several weeks. I started using a resistance band to ease the strain on my shoulder during the pull-ups, but even that was not enough to preserve my shoulder. This past weekend, at a Parkour event in Boston, it became painfully(!) clear that my shoulder injury was returning.
I have a Parkour trip planned in August, and I must begin that with my shoulder at 100%. I am forced to choose between a good shoulder for my trip, or the remaining 2770 pull-ups. I am choosing my shoulder.
Now, I find I have to write the “wrap this series up” post sooner than expected. So, what have I learned?
Anyone can put a challenge in front of themselves that they are unable to do. How well do you know what you are capable of? How well do you know how to make yourself capable of more. I train to know who I am and how I can improve.
~ Jesse Danger
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This 10k project is the largest challenge that I can ever recall attempting. It is the only thing I’ve ever tried to accomplish which spanned the course of one entire year. It was ambitious, huge and has taught me a lot about my ability to stay motivated over a long time frame. (Pro tip: I suck at staying motivated.) I learned (or refined) several new skills involving daily and weekly planning of workouts, planning for road-blocks (winter weather, holidays, trips) and recovering from injury.
It is certainly not the first thing at which I’ve failed. It is certainly not the last thing at which I’ll fail.
Perhaps one day I will do it again and make the goal. But for now, I have other things to do.
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Change simply is
Change is neither good nor bad. It simply is.
~ Don Draper, in Mad Men (“Love Among the Ruins”), (s3e2, 2009 TV series)
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This kid
This guy still remembers how to play! I’ve been in this bus terminal countless times and I’ve never thought to play with this rail gap. He’s got the foot-hook sorted already! #notadulting
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Pig ‘n Whistle
Side trip to an Irish pub! Bit toasty in NYC… must. resist. guiness.
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I work like a gardener
I work like a gardener… Things come slowly… Things follow their natural course. They grow, they ripen. I must graft. I must water… Ripening goes on in my mind. So I’m always working at a great many things at the same time.
~ Joan Miro from, I Work Like a Gardener: Joan Miró on Art, Motionless Movement, and the Proper Pace of Creative Labor – The Marginalian
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In the beginning, my Parkour practice was simply “push. push! PUSH!” with the only moderating factor being to avoid serious injury.
Fortunately, I soon found my own way to the concept of auto-regulation (although I didn’t know the word at the time). Now, at each practice session, I simply start moving and practicing. Then depending on how I am actually performing (physically, mentally) I dial up or down the intensity, and level of challenge, to correspond to the moment/hour/day. The critical point being that I assess how I am actually performing. It’s not, “I roll out of bed, decide I feel sore (or lazy) and then skip the workout/class.”
Lately, I’m noticing there’s a seasonal component. (It’s one thing to say that. It’s another thing to really experience it over a few years.) In the Spring I charge ahead on new plans and goals, and by Summer I find I’m making progress by leaps and bounds. (See what I did there? #sorrynonotsorry.) Then Fall rolls around and I’m starting to chillax and really enjoy things; Meals with friends, vistas, the moments between gonzo training sessions, etc. By the time winter descends, I’m ready to burrow into reading and cooking up new schemes for the coming year.
Obviously, part of that is just the natural rhythm of life in an area that has four clear seasons.
…but part of it is exactly what Joan said about working like a gardener.
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ARDV in Boston
Tracy’s new #skochypstiks
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Grand Canyon
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En route to Boston and Somerville
Our original colonists wanted freedom from English rule.? …yeup! New town names? …not so much.
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Immortality
Based on what I know about software without deadlines, humans achieving immortality would be a disaster.
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Why is everyone so darned happy!?!
I think it may be the sun exposure.
When I started Parkour, I wasn’t even aware that I was generally UNhappy. But I sure did notice that everyone I met WAS happy. At first I just marked this down to “everyone is young”, and I set about simply enjoying training and playing with a mob of fun people.
Then, slowly, I realized I was becoming happy.
Now sure, some of this has to be due to my changing — some life-style changes, some dietary, some weight, some exercise, etc. But the more I’ve been reading, the more I’m inclined to blame some of it on the sun.
You see, it’s been shown that Vitamin D supplementation works wonders, and I’d bet that getting my Vitamin D the natural way is even better.
«http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/supplements/sunshine-superman/»
«http://www.drbriffa.com/2007/09/12/vitamin-d-supplementation-appears-to-save-lives/»
«http://www.drbriffa.com/2010/04/29/can-sunlight-and-vitamin-d-help-to-preserve-physical-function-and-independence-as-we-age/»
Male Depression: How to Deal With It | The Art of Manliness
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Grand Canyon
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Maximum effort
This past week counts as MAXIMUM EFFORT.
This past week I rearranged my entire life around the workouts. M/W/F were each 5+ hours of just grueling slogging away at it. It was horrid. However, no accute injuries. My forearms seem to be holding up because of the assistance band, but also because I’m managing more/most of the pullups barehanded giving a better grip. (So less forearm pulling. With gloves, the grip slips on the fat bars and you get that hard pull at the elbow from using a different part of the grip muscles.)
The goal was 200 reps [of everything] on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday (today.) Instead I absolutely crushed it M/W/F, and today was an easy 70 reps of everything with some friends (after our usual short run and 45 minutes of QM.) Resting the remainder of today… by the pool in the A/C etc.
Here’s the numbers for this week. Next week, I’ll do the 250 reps again Mon/Wed, and then I’m off to Boston so no 10k workouts Thursday through Monday (only a huge Parkour event all day Saturday/Sunday :) If I can keep up these 250s M/W/F, then the places where there has to be a back-to-back workout (basically every Saturday), it can be simplay a 50-reps workout, and that’s like a “limbering up” sessions compared to 250 reps.
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To the pool!
Did all my ‘work’ this morning, time for a swim. #notadulting for the win on a B E A utiful day!
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§7 – Lemons
“Lemons” simply reminds us that sometimes we need to make lemonade from whatever lemons we find before us.
I am acutely aware of this aspect of Parkour; This searching what is right in front of me for something to do. Initially I felt like a one trick pony. Every time I’d be faced with some little area, I’d stare at it thinking, “I can only do, literally, a step vault. What am I going to do here?!” Yet somehow, I manage to force myself to stand in the face of my ineptitude and to search for inspiration.
Eventually I came up with a sort of “wedge” for the problem. I would seize on, literally, the first thing I could think of. Often that would be something even I felt was ludicrous. But this first ludicrous movement, got me moving. (That’s the wedge.) From there, I invariably saw something else.
Usually the second thing was also ludicrous, but sometimes it was better (whatever “better” might mean to me at the time). So I’d change to doing the second thing. I’d throw my shame and ego to the wind and start doing repitions of whatever that first ludicrous thing was, then the second thing if it was better, and so on. Sometimes, I could only see a single thing which I feared, and so I’d start with ludicrously simple progressions to the thing I feared.
In my mind, I called this “busting rocks”. Pick the biggest, ludicrous rock and smash it. Pick the next biggest rock, and so on. As I smashed, I’d remind myself of something I’d written years ago: “Parkour is the grueling work of self destruction.”
One day, I participated in the most surreal jam session. On a sign. It was just a slightly sloped, big flat sign with a map on it and four skinny legs into the ground. One person did something near it, “interesting,” I thought. Then a second person did a little sliding thing across it. And I thought, “I wish I could do something on there.” And the wedge happened automatically and I thought, “I can try this ludicrous move.” And I tried it, and someone said, “Craig, what are you doing?”. And I failed. And someone else said, “OH! That’s totally a thing!” And in the blink of an eye a dozen world-class traceurs — people whose abilities all boggle my mind — LINED UP to play on this little sign. And for what seemed like eternity, we all took turns trying crazy stuff on a sign, at night, in a busy public square. And passers-by stopped and some even applauded or cheered. And we all ate ice cream and drank milk-shakes as we waited our turn and pondered our next go. And I for one wanted it to never end.
It was the greatest lemon pie I have ever tasted.
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Eyes half-closed
Keep your eyes wide open before marriage, half-closed afterwards.
~ unknown
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The little box on my desk
A long long time ago I began collecting inspirational quotes and aphorisms. I kept them on the first version of my web site, where they were displayed randomly. But as time went on, I realized I wanted them where I would see them. Eventually I copied the fledgeling collection onto 3×5 cards and put them in a small box. As I find new ones, I add cards.
I keep the box on my desk with one card showing — just wedged in so it stands up readable. I change the card randomly, whenever the urge strikes.
Countless times I’ve pulled another card and found it eerily appropriate to the challenges of the day.
Countless times I’ve returned to my desk and felt inspired upon rediscovering an old card’s whispered counsel.
Countless times, just as I was about to throw in the towel, I was saved by an echo from the little box on my desk.
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Dinner
Trout w sauteed sheooms n turnips, baked sweet taters, brown rice quinoa lentils, salad… all the veggies are from the local CSA :D
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