Goals update.

Just a quick one to update my "current goals"   See left panel.

I was just down at the park for a "relaxed" workout (as I'm getting over a bit of a flu), and I decided to test my max reps for pullups.  I managed 16 in a row of good clean (albeit slow) pullups, no kip.  This means that I have acheived 1 more than a goal I'd set for myself quite some time ago, so it's time to set a new one.

New pullups goal:  5 reps with 20kg weight.

...and while I'm at it...

Dips goal:  5 reps wth 20kgs weight.

...and one more for good measure...

Dragon Flags:  5 reps, no hip bend.

That's all.

Rings at the Grange

I've lately been getting interested again in doing ring work thanks to Rich and Joe bringing theirs along to jams, and as it happens it was my birthday the other day, and I was lucky enough to receive a pair of rings of my very own.

Today I took them down to the park to try them out.  I found myself a nice tree to hang them from, and after warming up, I got into it.  My first observation was that I really need chalk.  I couldn't even stay in false grip, which means that muscle ups were out.
As I'm pretty much a novice, I went through some basics like pullups, dips, support position, L-sits in support etc.  I also got up into a dodgy tuck planche, and tried out some lever stuff too.
All in all I'm pretty happy with what I did, but I need some focus, stucture and goals pretty soon, (and chalk!) to make it worthwhile.

So as not to neglect my legs after all this ring work, I busted out a few sets of pistols, but I am now trying to do them explosively and jump out, rather than just rising up slowly.

I'm including a few pics of the equipment at Kilburn Grange... because I can.  These are of the uneven logs, and the paralell bars.

Tuesday.

I'm not able to get to the gym at the moment, so I'm concentrating on bodyweight conditioning.

I went out to Kilburn Grange today with specific things to train in mind:

Warmup:
50 raise leg pushups,
50 squats.

Strength:
At least 25 pullups - I did 8 explosive, 8 weighted, 5 explosive, 7 weighted.
At least 15 pistols - I did 10 on each leg, then 10 on each again.
At least 25 dips - I did 3 sets of 10, weighted.
Some kind of abs workout - I did 4 sets of ten leg raises... some extended, some knees bent. I need to work on these!

"Weighted" means with my backpack on, which holds a couple of litres of water and my wallet. 3 kgs all up maybe?

Skill:
I need to work on my running precisions, so I worked up to one I've been looking at for a while on the uneven logs. I started off with two foot plyo style hopping between the logs (which I've never really trained before, but I quite liked), then on to the running precision.
Afterwards, I just did some general mucking around stringing vaults together etc. on the logs.

I tried a handstand press, but when I did, I could feel that the tendons in my shoulders are still sore from ring MU's at the One Giant Leap jam on the weekend, so I'll leave them for a while.

I'm getting some rings of my own soon, but I'll have to start out slow and with plenty of rest so I don't overtrain like I've done before.

J

Quick goal update.

Over in the left panel of this blog, it states my current goals. These goals have been in place for quite a while, and may not represent quite what I'm aiming for at the moment, but I'll see how I'm going with them anyway.

15 pullups - Last workout I did 3 sets of pullups with 3 kg's of weight, 8, 8, and 6 reps. I'll work it up to 3x8, then increase the weight. I don't know my max reps with bodyweight only, but I reckon I could do 15.

Handstand 10 secs - I'm still working on handstands, although I've been negelecting balance work for press work, so my times haven't really improved.

10 handstand pushups - I might be able to do these against a wall... not sure how many reps.

Flag - I still suck at these!


AbWheel rolls from feet - I don't own an abwheel at the moment, but they're fairly cheap, so I might invest soon.

Handstand press - Working on these from a frog stand position. I'm building the strength to get vertical, but my balance is still dodgy. I may be overtraining a little, as I'm getting some pain down the edge of my triceps and lats when I do these.

Strict form muscleups - My MU's are coming along nicely due to the weighted PU's and Dips progression I'm doing. I can kip MU fairly well now, working on getting both elbows over simultaneously. Strict form is still a prime goal, and will only come with proper progression. I see too many people getting complacent with only doing kipping MU's, and never trying to go any further. I am not these people.

2 x bodyweight deadlift - My DL is at 115kg right now, after not having trained it for a while... Irregular gym sessions mean that it will take a while to get back to where I want to be. My bodyweight is around 72kgs right now, so I need to pull 144 for my goal. I've done 140 before, for 5 reps, so this is a very realistic goal.

1.5 x bodyweight squat - My squat has suffered a blow very recently as I received some form critique from a huge guy (strength coach apparently) at the gym who incidentally was front squatting 140. Basically my thoracic extension has gone to shit, and I'm losing all rigidity in my spine as I come out of the hole, and it's generally not pretty. This is due to gradual form creep, and needs to be fixed. I think that one of my problems is that I'm pushing my ass too far backwards, which means I have to counterbalance by leaning too far forwards. This leads to a position at the bottom of the squat where I don't have the flexibility or strength to lock my spine, and it just bends.
I'm dealing with this problem in the following ways:

1. Thoracic flexibility exercises. Some of these involve tennis balls and pain.
2. Dropping 20 or 30 kgs off my squat until I can do it right.
3. Beaking down my form, and concentrating on cues to make sure I break at the knee and hip at the same time, and not "good morning" out of the hole.
4. Maybe doing some front squats, as without proper extension, you drop the bar.

As for getting it up to 1.5 x my bodyweight (108kg), It is within my grasp, but not at the cost of proper form.

I'll report back with my progress.

Training, training.

Just trained both days of the weekend, and I'm a little tired.

Saturday was a leaving jam for Panos, who I didn't know very well, but it turned out to be quite a good jam. We started off at Vauxhall, and for a while it was just me and Panos, Robin, and a few other guys. There is scaffolding up around the building there right now, which was too good to resist, and I trained a few laches (which I haven't done much of at all before) and tried some fluid movement through the bars. It was fun, but hell on the hands. Panos showed us a few wall runs, which I did (surprisingly) first time! It may have something to do with the supershoe grip of my FiveTens, but I was happy none the less! Also trained some catpass precisions, arm jumps, precisions (Vauxhall is very versatile).

Lauri and Dave arrived soon after, and by this time the area was becoming quite crowded. Apparently it was the 3Run Family Jam that day, so London was full of out-of-towners, sessioning all of the best spots.

We got together a small group of us and headed off toward Southbank, finding spots along the way. here was a huge catpass over a big block that I was very close to clearing... maybe next time. We made is o Jubilee Garden (I think?) just next to the Eye, and hung around for a while sizing up a cat to arm, which I couldn't commit to... so I went and practiced my handstand press that Lauri has been teaching me. It's from a frog stand position, but it's a good step in the progression. I was at this point that I found out that Lauri lives in Kilburn, which is quite close to me, so we organised to train together the following day.

Sunday I met up with Lauri at a park next to Kilburn Park tube station. It's a nice little park with some solid equipment, some picnic tables, and some nice walls. We warmed up, stretched, and found ourselves a nice couple of catpass precisions which we both had to work up to. After we both got it solidly, I began sizing up what it would take to clear the wall we were precisioning to, and nearly got the balls to do it... but left it for next time.
We played around a bit on the walls, and equipment, until a friend of Lauri's - Jo(?) - turned up to join us. Jo wanted to show us a little fitness area she had found at Primrose Hill, so we set off walking, stopping off along the way at various spots. By the time we made it there, my energy levels were waning, but I'm glad we made it. It's basically a little area with various fitness apparatus including bars (high, and parallel), rings, etc with some good spots to drill rail precisions at a safe height, and do quite a few other things.
It was a good couple of days training.

It's been a few days since if been to the gym, but my latest numbers are as follows:
Squat - 100kg 3x5
Press - 45kg 3x5
Dead - 115kg 1x5
PowerClean - 57.5kg 5x3
PullUps - 2kg 3x8
Dips - 4kg 10-10-8

Quick update

Still going to the gym, and concentrating on MU progression.
I am up to doing 3 sets of 10 pullups with 1kg of weight, and 3 sets of 10 dips with 2 kgs.

Went for a jam on the weekend which I was invited to by John Bourne (Brisbane ex-pat in London). Trained around Elephant and Castle area with a good group of guys. Will continue training with them as much as I can.

All for now.

5/7/9

Haven't posted in a while as I've got a big post in the making that I've been working on, that may never get finished!

In the mean time I've been back at the gym, trying to build my strength back up to where it was. I've lost a fair few kilos off all of my lifts, and I've also lost about 6kg's myself... so time to start eating and lifting as much as possible.

MuscleUp progression is going OK. I'm doing 3x10 pullups and 3x12 dips, so it's about time to start adding weight. I've been looking to purchase a small backpack that I can put extra weight in.

Trained by myself at Abbey Road and Kilburn Grange Park again today. I got a couple of nice arm jumps that I'd never attempted before at AR, and worked on some new jumping and vaulting combo's over the uneven logs at KG.

Abbey Road

I've bee sick for the past week and a half - on top of aforementioned injuries - but am feeling better, so went out for some light training.

I've been back to the park a few times over the past few days, but they've just removed the monkeybars and chinup bars! WTF? There's some new equipment going in, but I'm not sure if it'll be a kids playground or something else... just have to wait and see.

I've got most of my shoulder movement back and am able to do dips and pullups, although not as many as before. Something to work on. I'm starting a structured muscleup progression to clean up my form, and my goal is to do strict no kip muscleups for reps.

I recently realised that famed London training spot at Abbey Road is literally 5 minutes walk from my house, so I went down there this arvo to check it out and do some light movement training.
It's a very cool spot, with heaps of room for progression. I trialled a range of movements and linked them together, but due to the remnants of my cold, my stamina was not great, and I gassed fairly quickly.

I ended the session after I ripped what was left of a callus after not having trained for ages... need to toughen up the hands again.

Will be training down there more often.

There's a big monthly London "Off The Wall" jam on this Sunday that I'm gonna try to attend... maybe meet some locals to train with.

J

Went for a run today.

My shoulder is not ready for punishment yet. It's still a bit stiff, weak, and can't take any weight from some directions, but it's at the point where I can start building it back up again.

I've been doing some indoors bodyweight style workouts as my time is limited due to the job hunting, that started off a little something like this:

100 squats in a row (now 120)
1:45 Plank (now 2:15)
1:15 wall sit (now 2:45)

It's not much, but I've been doing it every second day, and I'm improving every time. Progression is the key. I'm targetting muscular endurance so my body doesn't get as much of a shock next time I head to class.

So I went for a run to a local park (about 300m from my house) I found on Google Earth (yay technology), and the park turned out to be exactly what I'm looking for.
It's got a running path, around which are scattered "fitness apparatus" like monkey bars, chinup bars, wooden logs at various heights etc. Everything I need to build up confidence in my basic movements again.
There's also a kids playground (surrounded by a nice solid metal fence... a bit over waist height), with some interesting equipment that I'd like to explore... unfortunately today being Saturday, it was full of kids.
There's also a cat to arm that I'd like to try.

So I busted out some precisions and basic vaults, testing my capabilities, and also snuck in a couple of chinups.

It feels good to move again.

I'll post up some pics of the park soon.

Lessons learned.

I start this post exactly 24 hours after I began my first outdoor class with Parkour Generations, London. Running the class were instructors Stephane and Johann Vigroux, and Chris 'Blane' Rowat was floating around giving assistance also.
I am tired, sore, and broken... but I have learned some valuable lessons, and things about myself.

1. You are not tough.

Granted, I hadn't done real physical activity since I left Canberra 1.5 months ago, but even so, just getting through the first part of the warm up was one of the hardest things I've ever done, and brought back memories of the APA workshop a few months ago. First up was five different types of quadrupedie, each type forwards and backwards, no resting, waiting in the push up position for your turn - there were around 15 attendees. Some of these versions required more flexibility than I have, which made it even harder - looks like I've got some homework -, I nearly puked and was bleeding due to glass, but I made it.

2. You are not strong.

We moved on to some scaffolding: the aim was to grab hold and climb along to the end, without touching the ground or using your feet. I managed to get to the end of the bar... however the last 2 feet was wooden planks with metal edges... at this point I couldn't feel or move my hands, and the planks got the better of me, at least I was done. What was that??? Now do it the other way?

Afterwards, it took about 10 minutes to get the tension and shaking out of my forearms, and feeling back into my fingers. I asked one of the regular students "does it get easier?" He replies "not really... it's different every week, so you don't really have a chance to get good at one thing".

We moved on to a playground next, finally done with the warm ups and conditioning. We were given the choice of 3 different sizes of precision to choose from, and since the idea was repetition, not limit distance (and 'cause I was pretty screwed physically already), I chose the middle distance, between 2 low walls, which was easily within my range. We concentrated on technique: jumping up, getting the legs high, and landing softly. There was another Aussie at the class (Daryll, an Adelaidian), who was sketching out a bit as he's not too good with precisions... he progressed well though, and when the class went on to test our limit lengths at ground level, his standing jump was huge - only just shy of Stephane!


3. You are not invincible.

We were nearing the end of the class, and a run was set up for us all to follow: over a fence, small precision, small drop, small climb, over a wall, back over the wall, arm jump to play equipment, drop and roll.
It was fairly straight forward, but you could tell that people were tired and some basic mistakes and minor mishaps occurred.
I was no exception.
I got through most of it fine, and all I had left was to drop about 1.5m off the play equipment, and go into a roll. At this point I had a few niggling thoughts going on in the back of my mind:

1. It's been 2 months since you've done this... you didn't even warm up using rolls!
2. You're pretty tired already... your landing is bound to be a bit sketchy.
3. Which is my good rolling side again?

These thoughts went through my head in a split second, and I chose to ignore them all.

I dropped down, landed wobbly, rolled to the wrong side, threw technique out the window, and drove my left shoulder straight into the ground... it made a funny noise.
I got up cradling my arm, and made the "I'm out" motion. The instructors and a few others came over and had a look... not broken, not dislocated... give it a rest for a few days, and see a doc if it doesn't get better.

Long story short: "Acromioclavicular sublaxation" - in layman's terms, I've torn some ligaments, and will know more when a specialist looks at it. It shouldn't require surgery, and function will be near normal with proper rehab, which can start fairly soon.

4. Man up and get on with it.

So I've got some time out from upper body work and rolling. Meanwhile, I've got some flexibility homework, legs to work on, and some shoulder rehab to get stuck into.

I have to chuck my ego out the window, and start listening to the back of my mind... also warm up properly - joints, muscles, and movements.

I'll be back at class as soon as I can.

London update.

Well I've been over here for a bit over a month now, and between looking for work, accommodation, sightseeing and just being lazy, I haven't actually done any training!

That's not strictly true actually... Abou 5 days ago I went for a run near Kensington Palace Gardens... and forgot that I hadn't done any running for a while. I was feeling good, so I did some jogging, followed by sets of sprints. Long story short, I destroyed myself with insane calf DOMS, and couldn't put tension down them for days. I can now walk properly again, but it's still sore.

I've got in touch with Spidermonkey (an aussie traceur living in London), and I'm gonna call him up when I'm ready to train. It will be nice to have someone to show me around a bit, but I don't think it'll be hard to find people to train with over here. PKGen run heaps of classes also, so I'm going to pop along to some of those.

We're finally moving into a proper sharehouse tomorrow, and the stability will make it easier to get out and about.

There's also what looks like a pretty good gym just down the road, so I can get back into weights also.

I've lost a bit of weight due to eating cheap (not sure how much), but hopefully it's mostly insulation.

peace out

J

Parkour Workshop with Harley and Rhys

Two weeks ago I attended an APA Parkour Workshop located at Clear Vision Films in Mitchell. This was taught by Harley from Melbourne, and Rhys from Sydney - both APA instructors and members of Trace Elements.
Clear Vision "is an action film producer and stunt training company", run by a guy called Warren. They have a large studio space which has a sprung floor, various training apparatus, and today, some vaulting boxes - supplied by Harley.

The facility is a work in progress, and Warren says he is always trying to improve the space... and if I were staying in Canberra, I'd be trying to get out there as much as possible, and suggesting additional features. (Ropes, pullups bars etc).

The workshop was a 2 day event, with the Saturday as an "open" Parkour day, and Sunday as a more advanced day targeted towards those who wish to learn how to teach, and covering some more advanced techniques.
I would have liked to attend both days, but I had other commitments. The first day was, however, by no means "easy".

People rocked up at about 10:00 or so, and signed forms and introduced themselves. There were a few of the regular Canberra crew, some interstaters, and a few first-timers.
The first-timers seemed to be mostly from a stunt/martial arts backgound, and picked up the movements quickly.

The day was divided into two sessions. The first in the facility at Mitchell, and the second half outside at a regular training spot in Belconnen.

Started off with some breathing exercises, warmups and joint mobility drills. Then on to quadrupedal movement, where we went right back to basics, and learned the technique from the ground up, so to speak. This was to be a feature of the days training, and I found it very beneficial to deconstruct the basics and iron out technique.

We did some drills to reinforce proper rolling technique, and how to avoid all the bony bits. We moved on to concrete after 15 minutes or so... which is a fairly quick progression! Harley mentioned it took him 2 years before he rolled on concrete... I think this time frame isn't uncommon, so it's good to get people doing it as soon as possible.

We moved on to obstacle work, using a couple of custom built wooden vaulting boxes. Precisions, catpasses, and speed vaults were taught, but I thought the difficulty of the movements was ramped up fairly quickly, and I reckon some people would have benefited more from working longer at lower difficulty levels.

Lunch was called at around 12:15 and everyone headed into Belconnen. Mmmmm curry.

We met up again after lunch near the Belconnen Library - one of our regular training spots.

We started off with some rail balancing - standing, quadrupedal and "duck walk" style, which is in a squatting position.

Next up we moved on to turn vaults, APA style. Apparently Rhys developed this technique while on a job where he had to climb down 4 stories of balconies. The technique stresses safety by taking away the possibility of losing your grip and falling.

The remaining technique drills involved climbups, armjumps, and a wall run.

We pieced it all together by running through 2 runs, 5 times each. Each run took about 30 seconds to complete per lap, and involved around 10 techniques each. This wasn't as easy as it sounds... especially after 3 hours of training. I (and some of the others) was totally wrecked by the end of it, which was when someone said the word which brought up mixed emotions: Conditioning.

The conditioning session was held at a nearby set of stairs, maybe 30 steps in all. First up was quadrupedal movement, forward down the stairs, and backwards up them.
Then we partnered up and took turns to "fireman's carry" each other up the stairs, then did the same thing sitting on each others shoulders.
The last drill was also done with a partner, in the wheel barrow position, with one person holding the legs of the other, who supports himself on his hands. You then had to bounce (not walk) up the stairs on your hands with your partner trailing behind with your legs. This exercise involves a good combination of strength, power, timing, and coordination with your partner.

For me it was a great days training, and I learned a lot. It also highlighted for me the great job that the APA are doing in the field of Parkour teaching.

I hope that the Canberra scene can use this session as a starting point to continue similar workshops on a regular basis.

Toast for breakfast

Went for a jam in civic on Saturday. Started off at Toast @ 0900 as it was heading towards 38 degrees. Max rocked up and we warmed up for a while before getting into it. I trained some cat to precisions at different levels and distances.
I also worked up to a cat pass that I've been trying for ages: it's a fairly tall cat pass over a rail with a gap in front, and it was easier then I expected once I'd got over the mental block.
We also did a few rail precisions which I've never really done before... was good to get into it.

After nearly 2 hours rouF and Thunderbox rocked up. We headed up to the Noisewall where I trained for height on my catpasses, concentrating on getting distance and speed while clearing the wall. It seems that my "explode" has gotten more powerful recently, and I was clearing it more smoothly the previously.

Last on the list was the Family court. Trained the arm jump a couple of times but by this stage it was getting HOT! so I mostly just stretched out while Adam tried to get the arm jump... and he woulda made it if he'd just commit! He's only 13 or so though, but he'll get it next time for sure.

That's all for now.

Planche technique

I've not been progressing as fast as I'd like in my planche work, mostly due to wrist discomfort.
Basically I can't lean forward enough to balance properly as my wrists start hurting under the pressure.
I did some reading on this problem, and tried out a couple of new things today.

1. I went back to the paralettes. I've been avoiding them for ages now due to forearm pain, but this seems to have subsided, and I got though 30 seconds in 3 reps without too much discomfort.

2. I then went back to my hands on the ground, fingers poiting forward like normal, but I scrunched up my fingers so the middle knuckles are off the ground. I'm not sure exactly why this works, but it seems to reduce to wrist strain.

I got through my 60 seconds in just 7 reps!

Also did some pistols, handstands and lever rows to round out the workout.

Sunday in Tuggers

Went for a jam in Tuggeranong on Sunday with Paddy, Hunts, Trav and Alex(?).

I am trying to train as many places as I can before we leave for the UK, and Tuggers is one of the places I haven't been to yet, but wanted to try out.

Started off at the "Ten Stair". This is a nice area next to the lake with multiple cat to precisions, standing precisions, arm jumps, and a Tic Tac that I only managed once. I hurt one of my knuckles on an arm jump, which meant I wasn't able to do any more of that movement on the day, which was unfortunate as there's quite a few good ones I would have liked to try.
There's a few things there which will require a lot of working up to... so I'll have to go back at some stage.

We then went to a place around the corner named SandStone, so called for the many walls made out of the grippy stone. Lots of precisions, vaults, and some good wall runs. There's a really good place to train arm-to-arms, with tanbark underneath, so no fear of dropping.

Had a good day of training, but it was nearly 30 degrees, so energy levels waned quickly.

Bodyweight workout 12/1/9

Bodyweight workout:

Pistols: 1 x 10 + 1 x 5 reps each leg.
I'm going back to doing these unweighted, as it requires a bit more flexibility and balance.

Wall handstands: 5 minutes worth... a bit dodgy.

Tuck planche: Got up to 1 minute in total over 8 reps.

Giralang and Belco training 10-01-09

Trained yesterday with Paddy, and a few others.

Started off at Giralang Primary School.
As you may know, I'm nursing some overuse injuries, and have been trying to heal them up. These include shinsplints, and a similar condition in my right forearm, which had become aggravated over the past week by returning to work, and doing lots of mouse based computer stuff.

My strategy was to spend twice as long on my warmup, and really get the blood flowing before I got into the training.
I did dynamic stretching on all of my joints, rotating both directions, a bunch of forward and backward quadrupedal work, divebomber pushups, rolls on both sides, and squats.

Then I started training. It worked. I had basically no pain, and was training for over 3 hours. My right arm still feels awesome today.

We met up with Juzza at Giralang, and trained some basic vaults first up. Juzza then showed us a huge arm jump that he's been eyeing off... out of my range though, and the wall is painted, so the landing will be slippery. Add it to the list...

We then walked around the school and I did a few precisions, before coming to a nearly level cat to precision I've been trying to get. After about 15 minutes, both Juzza and I surpassed the obstacle, which was a good start to the day.

Paddy and I left Giralang heading for Belco, and Juzza went home.

We met up with Max and Isaac at the Library. Trained the usual stuff, and I looked at doing the cat to arm off the overpass. I first tried dropping to the arm jump from the top of the railing that I'd be cat-passing, but I realised that I'd need more work on my level arm jumps before I could do it confidentally. Add it to the list.

We went down around the back of the Library, trained a few precisions on the way, then stayed at the ramp for a while. I worked out a nice underbar sequence, concentrating on speed and flow. I did it alright, but not totally happy. A few more precision, and the day was over.

I think I have progressed more in the past few jams than I did in the months before. I have consistently overcome mind-blocks on certain obstacles and movements, and have become better at finding things to push my limits. I seem to be becoming more confident in my own abilities, which is a good thing. I'll just have to watch out for overconfidence.

I did a bunch of filming at this jam... After reviewing the footage, there's a few things in my technique I want to clean up, like getting both elbows over at the same time in my climbup.

I'll put out a vid at some stage.

J

Weights 7-1-09

Weight tonight:

Squat: 92.5kg 3x5
Press: 42.5kg 3x5
Back Extension: 1x10 @ 5kg, 1x10 @ 10kg, 1x10@5kg

I think I have further refined a solution to my hip flexor pain issue when squatting.
I have widened my stance a little, and the pain is gone.

Might hit the town this weekend to get back into the Parkour training.

Back, from outer space.

Weights last night for the first time in nearly a month.

Squat: 90kg 5x3
Bench: 70kg 5x3
Powerclean: 50kg 5x3

I dropped 10kg off my lifts so I can ease back into it. Still sore today though.

I think I may have figured out the pain in my left hip flexor after squatting... apparently it can happen if you let the knee slide forward at the bottom of the squat, and with me it seems as hough my hips are sliding or twisting clockwise as I hit the hole, making only my left knee slide forward. To correct this I have to think about sliding my hips to the right as I go down to even it out.