A question.

I posted this on the Pk gen discussion board....I'm curious as to the responses...

if Parkour is a creative art...generative, sustainable, organic why do we have a culture that trains as if we are going to war...hierachical, unforgiving, militant?...

is it the only way to be strong enough to do what Parkour demands?

Structure and logic plus moaning about the weather.

Yesterday, struggling back through London with my parkour burkha in position (1 hat, 2 hoods,and fleece zipped to the eyeballs) I started to wonder what possessed me almost a year previously to go out into this hostile wilderness and start Outdoor Parkour classes?. Looking at sleet dripping off the railings (and also wouldyoubloodybelieveit snow!), the improbability of a fluid and economical motion passing over them (steady now not that kind of motion :.))was not only unlikely because of slippage and that unpleasant ache you get off cold metal but because the chances of anything removing my hands from the folded positions in my armpits was sodding slim. I went on to wonder...how do they do Parkour in Russia?! which led me to wonder further still....why can't folk like PK Gen stop spreading the love in other cold places like Russia and for that matter Finland and Canada and get to work on some holiday destination communities (Brazil is too far)..PK camp Morrocco please....Bootcamp Egypt....etc.....

Wingeing aside, I had some warm fronts in my heart recently as I remembered that (apart from the sadist instructors:.)) the PK comunity is made up of alot of patient and generous folk with a lot of secret (not to mention overlooked and under used) knowledge that they will happily share to assist your training if you seem in need. Another thing that struck me is how often people have encountered similar problems to the ones I have written about in this blog. It honestly really suprises me to hear someone tell me that they have had the same difficulties as it seems from outside that other folk are progressing along with nothing but enthusiasm and enjoyment.However it seems they may be struggling with more physical or mental demons than one could guess. That's part of the package of problems; they have the potential to make you feel isolated and alone if you believe lets say for example that you are inherently predisposed to be the only one to repeatedly mess up a tic tac.

I was reminded of the solution to Parkour stuggles after conversation with Mr Kong to Couch. After sharing experiences of coming back from broken limbs (his way more serious than mine) the common theme is the necessity to train slowly and systematically. Just as it's a total buzz to master something new, it's a total bum to lose it again either to injury or mind ghosts or even lack of use. You are forced to relearn, and just as everything can be learnt, everything can be relearnt as well. Being systematic by breaking movements down to their consituent parts and addressing where the diffculty lies really pays off and old moves eventually come back. If you think back to when you were a child this is how you first learnt to move, you wriggled on your back and stomach, you rocked, pulled, pushed, slid, reached, crawled, and eventually one day stood....and then things really did start to get interesting. All movement can be categorised as one of more of the following patterns, naval raditation, body half/side to side, body half upper/lower and contralateral and as a baby your curious little form explored each of these patterns mastering one in order to support the next. If you can trace where you are lacking the movement foundation to support a movement (not necesssarily back to infancy although sometimes there can be an issue!)either through strength, flexibility or coordination and then train it, in theory you naturally build a bridge to the next level. I guess its where the truth of the phrase "don't run before you can walk" comes from because even though its thrilling to feel like you made a huge leap but you may never fully realise what you have missed out on along the way.

I still intend to write some stuff about goal setting as I read some useful stuff. Remind me!!!

love to all things that movex

hot tip

ive been ill all week so no training ergo no blogging.
Learnt a cool thing from the physio regarding trying to train chin ups but my wrists and elbows getting knackered very quickly and that is; tape the chin up bar so you have a wider surface to grip releasing some of the tension from the forearms....the same solution that gets applied to a tennis racket when people have tennis elbow.

thats all....going to the PK Gen Jam on Sunday with the focus of enjoying, keeping an open mind, playing and keeping moving.Lets see.

PISS EASY

im corpsing from the reality check of that last post by Sola......regarding find some piss easy moves and have some fun....YOU ARE SO RIGHT!.:.)

Currently most specified Parkour moves have now become scrambled...the paralysis of analysis my teacher used to say when we got tangled up in long dance sequences of 36 counts of 3 with 300 different variations of body shape rather than letting it flow. I literally can't slide monkey...cannot ......brain haemorrhage territory. So Sola; no i wont be doing any slide monkeys, though sadly not through choice:.). The upside of this paralysis is that if this is how effective my brain is when it focuses on crap things imagine what a tool it could be if I could turn it around and harness it for good?!.

The only move i'm enjoying right now is 2ft to 2ft precision between walls. Broke a nice one that was very high for me around Oval on Monday night with much support from Mr Bourne. Apparently he has never seen anyone quite so animated, or indeed acting quite so stangely before a jump. (We aim to please..if someone is going to wait around in the cold for an hour at least you can provide some entertainment:.) The cool thing about the difference between going for a jump and not is a weird shift of perception that my dancer/martial arts/tai chi trained friend pointed out on their first ever PK session.If you push your face forward so that you can't see the rest of your body in your peripheral vision and see the wall you are jumping to flowing toward you I get this feeling (when i'm really focused) that part of me has jumped already and i'm almost supposed when reality snaps back and I find myself still on the first wall. This is opposed to the anxious watching of a wall that is sliding ever further away from you and I now know when that happens there is no way i'm jumping unless i adjust something.

But....as Sola added it is great to move from the perspective that you are blessed to have the body you have as one day you that could all change in an instant and so a good old leapyjumpskipabout with an open mind and a grateful spirit is the best challenge I have ever been posted. Thankyou v.much.

Bad habits.

Training schedule recent weeks:
1 or 2 Outdoor classes a wk
3 Outdoor sessions with friends or alone from 1- 4hrs
Running
Dance and acro classes. (acro is new partly for my job but also for the fear and for the strength)
Hours and hours of lying on tennis balls and stretching and breathing because Im waking up in knots walking like a geriatric.

I'll admit i'm in a training slump at the moment as although i'm moving alot and parkouring every second day I feel (or did feel )disheartened.
I know its not helpful or productive but lets admit it;most of us have had a moment where the thought "i am just so sh*t at this" has crossed their mind. I know I have spoken to a lot of girls about this.....maybe girls are more open about their inscurities or maybe they are more inclined to doubt themselves physical capabilities but either way at the point where you feel you need motivational rescuing what can you do.....??

Finding out where and when the thought arose is quite helpful. In my case it came from making comparisons between my technique and others. Bad habit. BAAAADDD habit. I wonder if all confidence failures come from comparison?. Left alone in a landscape and learning to run, jump and climb either for fun or for survival, comparison would'nt be an issue, progress would still be made and possibly goals made and achieved aswell. Comparing yourself with anyone will always potentially end unfavourably and it seems tempting as comparison (seems) to give you a frame of reference for your progress. However actually it is a distraction that is a waste of time so i'm going to stop doing it. More thoughts on healthy goal setting soon. Im still addressing the pull up challenge although somewhat held back by pretendonitius symptons in my elbows. Hopefully by the end of this week I will have a proper plan of how to train after seeking advice from various professional types with body know how.

Bitesize Parkour

.....it takes me exactly 6 times longer than the typical outdoor student to get a new movement.........

Took my usual friday outdoor class, was introduced to the technique for a pop vault, a much needed nut and bolt of many potential routes, did a few things I wouldn't have looked at in January (precision to a lampost and back). Overall I feel i have a 'to do' list as long as the round rail at Kilburn of things that I take six times longer to achieve and have only tried with varying sucsess 5 times. This is neither depressing nor exciting, it is just an inevitability that needs addressing. I have been watching students overtake me (for want of a better phrase) in that they started after me and can now do everything I can do and more. However for the first time I am not in the slightest bit bothered, which I find very heartening. Normally I'm a very competitive soul but I feel like I have genuinely tried as hard as I can, and I'm at where I'm at so any comparison to another person is irrelevant. Its not a race etc. For now its me and my to do list, much of which I feel I have to start on alone and so I'm considering taking a 'revision break' and not go to class.

Its kind of an autuminal, new pencil case, got a huge textbook that you need to have absorbed by May for an exam kind of vibe.

Bitesize Parkour; here we come.

Slowly slowly catchy monkey.

Things Done, Attempted or Achieved since Sunday..lets keep this brief i have; turkey steaks to cook....(!)

climbed a small tree near my flat...
trained with Dolphin,faced up to long rail at kilburn for the first time in the wet...
did lots of vaults at Kilburn, Vauxhall, over ballet bars, on the way back from tescos, on that damn blue beam at indoor classes....
revisited a few exercises outdoors and indoors e.g turning 2 foot precisions, swinging around on scaffolding, wall runs, standing on the walls at Vauxhall and leaning into neighbouring walls with my eyes closed whilst trembling....
took the stairs twice rather than the lift to the 20th floor. Caught some 'rad air' so to speak whilst passing hoodies chillin in the corridor.:.)
always took the direct route over the small wall to the bus stop rather than the long way round (the same route that I shied from and then missed the bus a few weeks ago)
practised balancing on railings, ballet bars again, wobble boards, during a nice balance sequence in my technique classes that im currently teaching.
picked the blood blisters off my hands. (GGROSSSSSSS not an achievement but fun nevertheless)
got my first Parkour name, Laura Who Jumps Over Stuff. not catchy at all.

Little and often is my current approach as the blitzing it all or nothing left me reeling...
no adrenaline rushes sadly but a slow burn approach seems wise. The same goes for my 4 outstanding arm challenges, little often and cumulative rather than overuse injuries thankyou. I'm also sneakily working precision, touch, jumping, balance and quadrepedie elements into my dance teaching (smiles smugly... no emoticon for that).

So although i'm not blazing any trails my injury count is nil and progress is steady. I read a training tip posted by Kat from Mexico about focusing on commiting to training regularly rather than getting fixated on a goal and progress will come naturally. I have found that having goals had pushed sucsess away as often as it has brought it. I can't help but be aware that Rendevous is coming up and I would love to celebrate my 12th month of Parkour by entering the room konging everything in sight and leaving a trail of dust behind me but realistically this won't happen and i must confess this is motivated by fantasy and ego rather than anything useful (although imagination and self belief are in contrast very valuable). Its really important for me to remember that Rendevous is just another opportunity to learn something new, to challenge myself and to enjoy moving and nothing more or less. Am I getting more mature? aaagghghhg hope not. :.)

DINNER!!!!!