Holiday progress

Unfortunately the healing process isn't going quite as well as I'd hoped... but this may have something to do with the small but relatively steady stream of alcohol that I have been consuming, thus slowing down the healing process.

I've been at the beach for 4 nights, relaxing and swimming mostly. Got a couple of beach runs in, but they didn't go as well as I would have liked. My shins are still giving me grief, and I'm not sure if the sand helped or hindered.

I met up with Eliot and one of his mates at the coast for a bit of rock training. We started with a run up and down the beach for a warmup, which I sucked at. Sore legs and a lack of cardiovascular fitness were the culprits... unfortunately it's hard to get better at running, when running hurts. (That's the end of my whinge).

We did a bit of rock jumping and climbing, including one climbing section that I wasn't at all comfortable with due to the rather large fall underneath - but I did it and felt better for it.

Did some vaults and a bit of rail balancing up at the lookout.

All in all a fairly relaxed jam, but it brought up some weaknesses that I need to work on.

Back at home now, gonna try keep the drink to a minimum (NYE oh noes!) and keep up with the foam rollering and stretching.

Old Woden town

Trained in Woden today with Eliot and Conan.

Mostly at the Library, did some rail work, a cat pass with a drop and roll, and worked up to a nice cat-pass to precision. I didn't think I was gonna get it as I kept on mini-bailing and couldn't commit to the landing, but in the end I landed it alright - but only once (is never)... so I'm gonna have to go back and get it down solid.

Going away to the Coast between Xmas and Newyears, and apparently so is Eliot! He's staying at a house at Merry Beach, so we're gonna hook up for some awesome beach/rock trainings.

XMAS slowdown

I've decided so slow down my training over the Xmas period, to let a few things heal, and basically get rested.

I'm going to give up the weights cold turkey for 2 weeks (am I addicted?), and do a lot of stretching and foam rollering on anything that's stiff or sore.
I may still do some planche training... but I'll see how I feel.

I had a good foam roller sesh last night, and did my arms for the first time ever. They were unexpectedly full of pain, and they feel pretty good today.

So good in fact, that I went around the back of my shed, and busted out the first bar muscleups I've ever done on my bar at home! It's a bit harder than anywhere else as the bar is quite fat, and it's hard to get good grip.

As you can see, I need to work on getting both elbows over at the same time... but not bad apart from that!

Workout 17-12-08

Bodyweight workout today.

Pistols - with 10kg, 2 sets of 10 each leg.

Handstands - no real breakthroughs today.

Planche - Did my 60 seconds in 7 reps!!! My wrists seemed a little my flexible today which enabled me to lean over a bit more, which seems to help.

Lever - Getting better at the advanced tuck lever. I'm keeping my back straight, but I'm not parallel to the ground. Gotta work on it.

I filmed pretty much my whole workout today, but the tape I used is fucked, and I only caught some of it.

Here's a short one of some of my planche and lever progressions.

Sensory deprivation and other stuff

I did some solo outdoor training at home on the weekend, but decided to add a twist and trained the whole time with earplugs in. This was to see what happened by reducing sensory input.

I did some tree work (found a new route), and vault work, and a few muscleups. I was sore from a previous workout, which I didn't heal from properly due to alcohol on the weekend. I still seem to be teetering on the edge of overuse injuries (shinsplints and arm soreness), and anything out of the ordinary pushes me over. I'm gonna have to take a couple of weeks off at some stage soon.

I only trained for an hour (I'd like to do it for longer at some stage), but nothing seemed too much different in that time. It was a bit distracting being able to hear not much other than my own breathing and heartbeat, which gave me a little more awareness of my own physical state, but not much help with anything else.

I can imagine it may be useful if you wanted to learn about and to control your breathing patterns while training particular techniques... but for me right now it's not that important.

I'm also learning to balance on one foot with my eyes closed, which increases the difficulty of balancing enormously. I'm doing it on hard ground right now, but I'd like to move up to doing it on a wobble board in the future.

Did a bodyweight workout last night.

Pistols - 3 x 5 each leg, holding 15kg. This is too much to hold out in front of me, so I'll go back to 10kg and if I add any more weight it'll be in a backpack.

Handstands - still using the wall, but getting more control all the time. Learning new technique of extending my shoulders to control balance in conjunction with finger adjustments.

Planche progression - Got to 60 seconds tuck planche in 8 reps W00T! This is the first time I've held any reps for 10 seconds. Awesome. I realised that I wasn't tucking enough, so I really curled my back, and it was just easier.

All for now.

Castle and other places

Went training today.

Started off at EPIC rails with Guy and Pat. Played around a bit, drilled a few vaults, but it was just too hot with no shade, so we headed into town to meet up with some other dudes.

Trained at the Castle in Commonwealth Park with a bunch of guys. It was the first time I'd trained there in a long time, and was good fun. Got a nice cat to precision, but psyched myself out on another similar one. Lately I have a mental block on anything "big", even if I know it's within my limits like this vault. More speed?

Headed to the Family Courts next with Pat, Cimp, Rouf and Shane. Pulled a few muscleups, vaults and an arm jump, but was parched as, and drained from the heat.

Talked some shit with Rouf while we stretched... didn't bust out any mad philosophy though.

Floated the idea of having a carload of dudes out to our place for a day of bush training. Peeps seem keen.

p.s. Apparently I have 1 regular reader: Rouf. I might have to start writing something interesting now.... Is he worth it??? ;)

1/12/8

Shed training.

Pistols. 5 + 10 reps each leg, holding 11kg.
15 minute handstands with wall. Got a couple of good ones > 5 seconds.
Tuck planche, 1 minute total. 9 reps needed.
Front lever progression. 1 minute total. 5? reps needed.

I've added pistols to my bodyweight days, as I felt my legs were getting off without a proper workout. I need to find a way to load these as they are still too easy. Right now I am holding 11kgs out in front of me (handy as a counter balance), but I can't hold much more in that way. Maybe a backpack with weights in?

My front lever is somewhere between tuck and advanced tuck... I can't really tell while I'm doing it, so I need to take some footage.

I'm also feeling some progress in the tuck planche which is great.

I'm trying to do shin-ups and shin stretches every day, for my shin-spints. Massaging trigger points too.

Off day...

Headed out to Giralang Primary for a solo sesh.

Did some alright basic reverse vault practice, and tried to psych myself up for a level cat to precision, but my shin splints started to flare up and I lost my spring and motivation.

Went to try some muscleups on the play equipment... pulled off one dodgy one, and that was it.
Tried a couple of other things around the equipment, but nothing felt right and my legs were sore and I basically had a shit session.

Giralang really is a good place to train though, and I took some piccy's.

Rain solo

Was inspired by the "Around the world" video just released by some of the Sydney Parkour guys.

Trained for a hour this arvo, solo, at the Family courts.
It was raining for most of the time, but there was enough tree and roof cover to keep most of it off.

Decided to work on my "thief" vault, concentrating on distance(from launch to wall), and speed.
Got some good ones, but need to clean it up a bit and work on consistency. I was getting good distance though, and will try to push it further in the future.

I also experimented with with kick/launching off a wall from a hanging arm jump position - like when doing an "arm to arm" but without the second arm. Did a few with both legs, pushing off with the leg that's higher on the wall. I then tried another technique I've seen, where you start off swinging the bottom leg upwards like a climbup, but then place the swinging leg high on the wall and use it to kick off instead. This was not as difficult as I had expected, and gave better height and distance straight away.

Also managed 3 muscleups on one of the trees. Nice.

Yesterday did some bodyweight conditioning in the shed. I'm going back to wall handstands to sort out some issues that will hopefully yield results soon.

Back to the beginning

Met up with Pat for a jam on Saturday. Plan was to head to Giralang Primary, but when we got there, a siren was going off and we decided that we didn't want to hang around for security to pin it on us.

After a long drive around looking for new spots, we ended up at Kaleen High; a place that I'd trained at once before, near the beginning of my parkour "career" (nearly exactly 2 years ago actually). Here's the blog post about that day.

The last time I was there, I had tried to cat pass a concrete box, and failed. It became my long term goal to successfully do the vault, and it was in my mind nearly every time I trained cat passes for the year or so following, but I'd never been back to defeat it.
So it was the first thing I did when I got there.
3 times straight away, no worries. This particular obstacle is comfortably easy at my present skill level... feels good to progress.

The chest high wall I "monkeyed" up the first time I'd been there was the second thing on my agenda.
This wall is actually one side of a long thin garden bed, with the opposite wall being about 3-4 feet away at the same height, which set up a nice cat pass to precision.
Just getting up the first wall is pretty easy for me now, but getting to the far wall was a good challenge. It took me about 20 minutes or so to get it 3 times in a row (once is never), and the secret was - more speed!
It seems as though I have a comfortable running speed at which I approach most obstacles. This speed is fast enough to get me up and over most things, but still allows me to make corrections mid run-up.
This cat-to-precision had to be approached faster, and meant that I had to commit to the move well in advance, without the option of a safe bailout.
This was a good thing to practice, and I'm gonna try to add more speed to my run-ups where I can from now on.

Another thing I tried was this HUGE wallrun. It's gotta be 16 feet high, with a smaller wall jutting out at right angles. The tall wall is totally impossible to reach, but the smaller wall is just out of my reach, and makes for a good tictac up to the small wall, then climb up to the big one.

I tried it for 15 minutes or so, but remained a couple of inches shy of grabbing on.
This wall is now my new nemesis. My next benchmark to break.

I also practiced some rolls on the concrete. Still need to work on these ;)

Meanwhile, Paddy had pulled his first ever cat pass, over a log fence, which was awesome.
He then preceded to catpass everything in site, and now wonders why it took him so long to get it! It's like something just clicked, and that was it: mental block gone.


I continued on with my planche training last night. I am getting a bit better, but progression is slow.

All for now.

Saturday jam

Jammed in civic with a bunch of peeps.
Worked on some flow, and got a nice run at the Childrens Court involving 5 vaults over about 20 metres.

Also got a cat pass at Toast that I've been trying for a while. It's fairly high with a bit of a gap, over a rail... will lead to bigger and better things.

J

Melbourne cup day jam

Went to a bit of a jam on Tuesday at Belco. Attending were me, Paddy, Raven, Larkin and a few other young fellows.

I got a cat to precision that I'm proud of - not huge, but has a drop under it - and is a stepping stone to a big cat-to-arm with a drop.

I also worked on my concrete rolls from a catpass with a 5" drop. Feeling pretty good about them, but only on one side so far.

Annoyingly, I got a massive cramp in my left calf a couple of hours into a fairly non-strenuous day of training. I was jumping up to a bar in prep for a muscleup attempt, and BAM!
It's still sore and tight 24 hours later... I'm gonna get some deep-heat and foam roll action into it soon.

Out.

Handstand update

Did another bodyweight workout on Monday night.

Hit my handstand balance point awesome, and stayed up for over 5 seconds a few times.

Feelin' a bit shit today... might have to forgo tonight's workout.

J

Change

I've decided to alter my workouts again. I'm aiming to do two strength session per week at the gym, and one session at home.
Sessions at the gym will be carrying on with my pullups focused Starting Strength style workouts, but my home sessions will be focusing on bodyweight skills such as handstands, planche progression and the like, utilising my paralettes and rings where I can.

I am yet to finalise a strict routine for these bodyweight sessions, but if/when I do, I'll post it up here.

Last night was the first of these session and it went something like this:

Warmup:
500m jog, dynamic stretches and some quadrupedal movement.

Workout:
10 minutes of handstands including rests. I'm still fairly shit at these, and if I'm lucky I can stay up for 4 seconds or so... I just realised however, that looking directly at the ground during handstands makes it heaps easier, so I expect to improve soon. Also working on consistent kickup.
Annoyingly I have a muscle knot or tense spot in my back to the right of my upper spine just above the shoulderblade, which gets very sore fairly quickly whilst in a handstand. I believe it is created from all of the computer based mouse work I do every day. I am trying to break it down by getting into it with a tennis ball jammed in between myself and a wall and giving myself a "massage" - torture more like it.

2 minutes total held in tuck planche on parallettes. Mostly in 10-15 second bursts. When I can do 1 minute at a time, I'll progress to the next stage of this skill.
Due to forearm pain I am unable to do this skill with the parallettes parallel to each other, but have to have them turned out more than 100 degrees from each other for it to be comfortable for me. This means my fists are angled across my body rather than up and down my body... I'll post pics.

2 minutes total held in tuck front lever using rings. Mostly in 10-15 second bursts.

Also did some back tuck lever work, but mostly just playing around on the rings.

That's about it. We'll see how it goes...

J

NatSoc

Went to NatSoc (National Social) on the weekend.
The annual gathering of Traceurs (more than 60 in all this year) from all over Australia (and a couple from NZ) happened in Canberra this year. It's a good chance to get together with people from all over, to train, and to share ideas & techniques, basically and have a good time.
People began arriving in Canberra part-way through the week, so training started early, but I only attended the official training days on Saturday and Sunday.

We trained at many of our best spots, mostly in Civic, but I there were sessions run in Belconnen and Woden also.

Much good training was done, and I progressed in my precisions and arm jumps. Also pulled a couple of muscleups on a nice tree branch at the Family courts.

I'm keen to train more with the Canberra guys using the momentum created from this great weekend.

On another note, I turned 27 yesterday... and am in the best shape of my life.

J

Sydney

Spent a week in Sydney for a work conference... drank too much!

I had planned to meet up with a local Traceur or two for some training but it didn't eventuate. Next time maybe. I spent a lot of time walking around Darling Harbour, and it looks like an awesome place to train.

The hotel I stayed at had a gym, and I had planned to work out a couple of times. I made it up there once, but all they had was one of those huge multi station machines, a treadmill, a cycling machine, and a chins/dips tower. Not a freeweight in sight. I tried to use the equipment, but it totally sucked. I don't know how anyone expects to do any serious training on something like that.

Speaking of weights, I've just changed my routine:
Squats 3 times a week, alternate between bench and press each workout, pullups on the first and last workouts of the week, and alternating deads and powercleans on the middle workout.
I'm trying to increase my pullups.

Weights today:
Squat: 102.5kg 3x5, bench 82.5kg 3x5, pullups 3 sets to failure: 11/8/5.

Out.

J

Woden town

Sammy and Antek from Sydney were in town, and there was training happening at Woden.
I haven't trained properly in Woden, so I figured this was as good a time as any.

I got a nice couple of arm jumps, and did some rail work, a few precisions and a tictac to arm.
I really need to work on my climbups... there's a weird leg thing the sydney guys do, using the momentum from pulling one leg up to help with upwards thrust. You gotta time it right, but I totally sucked. Probably didn't help that I did weights last night, and am recovering.
I also pussied out on practising concrete rolls... really gotta get over that one.

On the plus side, my legs feel pretty good after the session, just a little tender down the shins.

Out.

J

Stuff

Did a bit of training with Jo on Sunday arvo at Torrens Primary (I think). He was hung over and recovering from an illness, so the training was short.
Went home and decided to do a bit more.
Practised climbups, sprints, quadrupedal movement in all directions, and rolls both sides. Also did some explosive pullups where I would explode up, then change grip from pullup to chinup in mid air, then vice versa.
Felt good after.

Weights tonight:
Squat: 105kg (failed last rep of last set), OH Press: 50kg (Woohoo!), Powercleans: 55kg - still trying to clean up my form.
Sorted a couple of form issues with my press also, which made a difference.

I want to focus a bit more on my Parkour skills over the next month, to be in good shape for NatSoc.

20/8/8

Weights last night:

Squat: 1 and a half sets @ 110kg, 1 and a half sets @ 100kg.
Press: 48.5kg
Powerclean: 50kg

Explanation:

For the first time in a long time, I couldn't make one of my squat reps. I didn't have the power out of the hole, so I had to dump the bar on the safety rails in the squat cage. Squat cages are awesome.
I finished the sets at 100kg, but was totally rooted at the end.
I think this was mostly because of not enough sleep leading to sub-optimal recovery from my 107.5kg effort two days previous.
I got more than 8 hours sleep last night, and I feel good this morning. Gotta get more sleep.

I've reset my powercleans back to 50kg to work on form.

All for now.

J

Back to it.

Weights last night:
Squat: 107.5
Bench: 80
Dead: 140

Last squat reps were a little dodgy... gotta keep my chest up, and head down.
Bench was a little scary with no spotter, but it meant that I had to commit or pain would ensue.
Funny thing is it was only about 6 months ago (I think) that I tried to press 70kg, and I couldn't even get the bar off the rack, and now I'm pushing out 3x5 @ 80kg.
Awesome.

I've been stretching my lowerback/glutes, and it's not as sore anymore. I think I just pulled something earlier and now it's healing. No major upset.

Another note: a dude I know just blew out hi ACL, and tore the cartilage in his knee playing football. And they say that weights and Parkour is dangerous!

J

Solo

Trained solo today around the property.
Took more of a conditioning approach, and it looked kinda like this:

10 x sprints (30m sprint-30m walk) no rest between.
10 sets of quadrupedal sideways movements - (each 3 steps right, then 3 left)
30m quadrupedal forward, 30m backward.
15 x wall climbups
Tree climbing - found a couple of routes through the branches, and did 12 circuits alternating routes.
Jump to roll practice - Jumping off log to ground, roll 10 times each side.
Muscleup practice on tree branch - 10 attempts, some successful. Trying to get both elbows over at the same time.
Jogged in between stations.

This all took me about 2 hours from start to finish.

Interesting note on today's sesh, I nearly spewed after the sprints and quadrupedal movement. I had a pretty big breakfast (6 Weetbix + 1 egg on muffin), which may have contributed, even though I trained 3 hours after I ate.
Either way, I have to get better at sprints and other sustained intense exercise.

I'm thinking of changing up my weights routine... maybe cut down on the amount of deadlifts I'm doing, and add in some more chinups and pullups.
This is because I've been having stiffness and soreness in my lower back, especially after big deadlifting sessions combined with heavy squats. I'm resting it for the moment, but if it doesn't heal fully, I'll make the change.

All.

J

11/8/8

Weights last night:

squat: 105, Bench: 78.5, Dead: 137.5

I'm fast on the way to a 1.5x bodyweight squat (112.5kgs) and a 2xBW Deadlift (150kg).
These have been goals for a while, and it will be awesome to finally get there.

My form has been a little sketchy on heavy squats and deads, so I'm reducing the size of my weight increases for these lifts. I will still increase, just not as quickly.

I'm gonna try to concentrate on shinsplints recovery and prevention over the next couple of months... I've got a calendar/reminder system and everything.

out.

J

The big ton

I hit the big 100kg squat today, WOOT!
A couple of reps were sketchy, with the bar trying to roll forward, so I have to remember to keep my chest up next time. I think that it was mainly psychological as my brain thinks "WTF! I have 100kg across my back!".

I also hit 77.5kg benchpress and a 135kg deadlift.
I've been raising my deadlift by 5kg increments per workout, but I'm not sure how long I can keep that pace up, so I might have to only put 2.5kg extra on the bar soon.
A 135kg deadlift gives your butt one hell of a workout!

peace

J

All is well

Went to the class on Sunday with Jo. Was just doing casual training, not going hard - testing out my knees. On a positive note, the knees seems fine! Now I just gotta sort out the shin splints issue...
Also my muscular endurance epic failed in the warmups during the sideways quadrupedal thing! Something to work on...

Weights last night.
Squat: 97.5kg (next up the big 100!), OH Press: 45kg, Powerclean: 67.5kg.

I filmed my workout last night with a view to checking my form on powercleans, but the video camera started wigging out about half way through (it was COOOOLD out in the shed) and it looks like it didn't catch the powercleans. ARG. At least I can check if my squat form has drifted.

J

and again...

Gym again tonight.

Squat: 95kg, Bench: 76kg, Dead: 130kg Still gaining, W00T!

I hope to make the class on Sunday arvo this week, so I can see how my knees go after some impact work. Hopefully should be sweet!

J

Experiments

Weights last night...

Squat: 92.5kg 3x5, OH Press: 42.5kg 3x5, PowerClean: 67.5 3x5-ish.

I failed on a few of my PC attempts in the second and third sets, due to what felt more like cardiovascular failure rather than muscular failure. Next time I'm gonna try doing 5 sets of 3 instead of 3 sets of 5, and see if that helps.

I'm also embarking on a diet experiment. Since I've reached my PR on all of my lifts, I'm gonna try and use the momentum to push through the ceiling that has beaten me a couple of times before. I think that the only way to get through is to put on a bit of size and weight, and to do that I need to eat. Lots. All the time.

This should also help with recovery times, and avoiding injury. I may put on a bit of fat as well, but I'm gonna try to eat as clean as I can to keep it to a minimum.

Basically I'm gonna eat mostly what I usually do, but up the serving sizes, and snack on fruit and nuts between meals.

I'll see how I go after 2 weeks. I definitely wouldn't mind putting on a kilo or two.

J

Bodyweight bench

Did a weights sesh in the shed last night.

Squat: 90 3x5, Bench: 75 3x5, Dead: 125 1x5

That's a bodyweight bench press right there people!

Also, the DL is equal to my previous PR, and the squat is 2.5kg under my previous PR.

That's all.

J

Epic rails

Saturday arvo I met up with Jo and we had a bit of a sesh out at EPIC rails. Some good balancing, continuous vaulting and underbar work was done.

All landings are grass, and my knees seem fine (woot). I will continue to foam roll every day though to keep 'em good.

J

24/7/08

Went to the gym again last night. I'm very much enjoying the heavy weights room at the ANU gym, as it's got an olympic lifting platform and bumper plates, so I can dump the weights on heavy powercleans, and use chalk etc. They also have 2 squat cages and a bunch of free standing squat stands, so there's always equipment free. I chucked in a couple of explosiv pullups at the end

I've nearly got my squats back up to my PR (I'm at 87.5kg 3x5, aiming for 92.5kg), and am still gaining on all lifts. Overhead press is going slow, and I'm at 3x5 @ 41kg, but I just gotta increase it slowly and I should be fine.

I'm foam rollering my legs every night (as wells as the exercises from the physio), to help with rehab for shinsplints and ITBS.
I'm thinking of going for a jam of some sort this weekend to see how I feel.

All for now.

The knees

Well I've been out of action for a month or two with knee issues which have been diagnosed by my physio as Iliotibial band syndrome. This sucks, but it could have been worse. It means that I have a few exercises to do, and some foam roller work to get things back in shape, and I will soon start easing back into impact work. In the long run, it means a conscious change in the way I move my lower body... i.e. using my glutes more, to reduce the work my knees are doing.

I've still been able to lift though, and my latest numbers go like this:
Squat: 85kg 3x5, Deadlift: 125kg 1x5, Bench: 72.5kg 3x5, Powerclean: 62.5kg 3x5, OHPress: 40kg 3x5.

all for now.

J

A year in the making...

So it's been about a year since I posted last... so here's a short list of what's gone on since then:

Went to Europe and didn't keep up my planned training routine at all! Did make it to Lisses though... which was awesome.

Have been doing a Starting Strength program 2 days a week, making good progress. Max numbers so far look like this: Squat - 90kg 3x5, Deadlift - 125kg 1x5, Bench - 70kg 3x5, OH Press 42.5kg 3x5, PowerClean - 50kg 3x5.

Built some rings, and have managed to bust out some kipping muscleups.

Continuing Parkour training (trying to ramp up coming up to this years NatJam) and building up good skills. Trying to work on rolling...

I had a bunch of overuse injuries... In my arms due to smashing too many muscleups, and also shinsplints, which I'm trying to treat now by strengthening my shin muscles(?). Hope to have it under control by NatJam as it is the first thing to slow me down on hard surfaces.

Next posts will try to concentrate on what I do at each training sesh.

word

J