Usually, one only sees the highlights of a journey; The best photos, best stories, and best experiences are shown which paint the journey in its best light. Here, I’m trying to honestly show my journey by sharing my challenges, bumps, advances and failures.
Fun with controlled precisions: I finally got around letting the camera run while repeating a jump. Here’s two that I was working on yesterday. These were just a wee bit odd for me to sort out. This is the aspect of indoor gyms that I love; being able to set up something very specific. This was taken at Innate Movement Parkour -Kingston, NY.
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I’ve been working on coming up with a fewest-parts/lowest-cost set of scaf. (Which turned into an entire series of posts on getting started with scaf.) So far, this is the best set. Saturday I’m going to assemble all the different things you can make from this [relatively] small pile of parts.
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Maybe some day… soon. 45 pounds lighter than when I started Parkour; just a wee bit stronger too.
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I’ve recently started thinking about 2016 goals. These aren’t “New Year’s Resolutions”; When I pick up a goal, it’s only after a lot of thinking and planning. Most importantly, I only commit if I believe the result of reaching the goal is worth it.
I’m considering things like the following:
…and then a bunch of non-physical training things:
Allez! Allez!
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Pushing the old comfort zone tonight in Brooklyn!
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I clearly remember thinking this seemed inconceivable less than a year ago. Pullups and hard work for the win!
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Back at the end of October, I decided I was going to try Ido Portal’s 30/30 Squat Challenge. Basically, attempting to sit (a rest position) in a deep squat for a total of 30 minutes, every day for the month of November.
How did I do? Actually, not so well. I only racked up an average of 11 minutes per day. A few days had only a few minutes, and only on TWO days did I get the full 30 minutes in. It turns out, that making time to sit (squat) down isn’t easy. Most of the time, I just plain forgot. I did best when I set a timer while working at my desk. Every 10 or 15 minutes, the timer would go off and I’d do a one-minute squat.
But, I can see/feel the improvement in ankle and hip flexibility. Initially, I could only manage to squat on the balls of my feet, or rest flat footed if I held onto something VERY sturdy to keep from falling over backwards. Now, it only takes a gentle assistance to sit flat footed. So I think with another, more serious, go at this challenge in December — I’ve gotten all 30 minutes in for the first three days of December — I can finally reach a flat footed, deep squat.
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Of this I am certain: Unless you take the time to study how your body’s biology and chemistry work, you will never figure out what you should actually be eating. Your health is your number one priority — your children, your parents, your spouse/significant-other… you cannot help them if you don’t have your own health.
Take just a bit of time to start reading about metabolism, diet (the general idea of what you should consume, not a specific set of instructions to lose weight), biology, and chemistry. Just spend a little bit of time reading to investigate the things you believe are true, and to verify the things you believe are false.
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I already have several health and fitness “projects” going on. But for November, I’m taking on another relatively easy one as an experiment:
Ido Portal’s “30/30 squat challenge”
It’s simple: For thirty days, spend 30 minutes in a squatting position. (It’s 30 total minutes via many short duration sitting positions; it’s not a 30 minute endurance sit challenge.)
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Gee, what could we do in here??
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