Parkour Experiment

     So i'm experimenting with my training by stopping all deliberate conditioning. This includes classical approaches involving reps and sets, periodization, deloading, volume, interval training. I want to throw most of the exercise theory out the window for a little bit. I'm not throwing out obviously helpful principles involving technique, efficiency, and mobility but I feel like parkour is a different approach altogether. The more we get sucked into the "exercise and fitness" world the more we lose the playful spirit of moving one's body.
     My greatest gains in strength came from pursuing skills with a constant enthusiasm. High frequency training of skills resulted in some damn good conditioning despite not doing any other kind of conditioning. There is going to be a lot of carryover in this kind of approach. For example, if I work on muscle ups for a while without bothering with counting reps, it is still the case that reps have occurred and if one were to observe the total volume of muscle up training, we would get a figure that accords with my current fitness level. This works so much better than a cookie cutter routine or another rep scheme prescription that I'll probably fail due to being too tired, unmotivated, and or bored with said rep scheme. I've come to the conclusion that this is a better path due to my own experience with it in the past. Ever since I got on with the weight training and other static conditioning protocols i've felt the slow death of my training coming on. It has only increased with having to bike everywhere and working at gyms to teach and train parkour. I don't get out as much as I used to and that's such an important part of parkour.
     It also helps to see that some of the best people out there probably don't even know how to spell periodization (at least not in english). These, ahem, russians, train constantly to achieve certain skills. They do some bar calisthenics but even then it's quite free form. I'm going to give this approach a month or so and see how it goes. The nicest thing about it is that I feel like I don't have to wait anymore to work on certain skills. I was trying to get some perfect muscle ups by increasing my pull up capacity to twenty solid reps (I got to 17).  I realize now that I just have to work on the specific details. Parkour is not bodybuilding or powerlifting. The physique and strength should come as a side affect of the training. It does no practitioner any good to get that mixed up and start focusing on all the numbers rather than movements themselves. That's what 'm thinking right now anyways. I might be completely wrong about this but time will tell. I'll be training every day working on different aspects of my discipline.

Edit: So I've posted why I was wrong  in: Rehabbing Years of a Sedentary Lifestyle

It's been awhile

For the last year or so a lot of things have happened with training and life. Some updates:
-Finished school
-Got Married
-Started working at FreeFlow Academy training kids to be awesome
-Stopped weight training
-Went vegan

So that's a lot of change in a relatively short time. I haven't stopped training parkour and acro but the volume has gone down. This last week has been a rest week. I bike everywhere so my stamina is pretty good and I recover a lot quicker. I like challenging people with acro stuff especially the gymnastics coaches at the other gym I work at because they are much more advanced. I can go longer with combos and recover much quicker due to my conditioning though. Stamina/conditioning/aerobic endurance is a crucial component of parkour training but is often neglected for short burst high powered tricks. Just long enough to get video of it. Anyways, I'm continuing this blog as a general training idea bouncer offer, tutorial, and life log . I've made a lot of observations and changes in my training that need to be logged. More coming soon.

Just Bike

Stop driving around people! if you live within 10 miles of your workplace, there's pretty much no good reason for why you should be driving a huge car, especially by yourself. I bike everywhere and I hardly see anyone else on bikes when I go out. When I am stopped at a light, however, I watch car after car speed on by with carrying only one occupant. Giant SUVs, hummers, and some raised trucks. I would be amazed if it wasn't so frustrating and sad. People are having problems with keeping weight off, stress, insomnia, anger, depression, etc. It could all be handled with a nice little bike ride. I often find it takes a little less than twice the time to get somewhere on a bike than it does to drive due to the traffic. Sometimes I can get somewhere in about the same amount of time or sooner. it's often even faster than a bus.

Downside of vehicles: -a vehicle sucks up money even without you driving it(insurance,registration, towing...)
-gas costs a fuckton, you're burning money every time you drive
-cost of maintenance is insane -disconnects you from the environment around you as you speed by at an unnatural 60mph pace
-disconnects from others around you. all it takes to shut others out is a quick window roll up. people aren't people anymore, just giant metal beasts who don't know what they're doing
-pollutes the environment both visually and actually

 Some Benefits of vehicles:
-can go longer distances faster, with multiple people
-emergency situation helper outer

Benefits of the bike:
-get some exercise in and strengthen heart, lungs, etc
-connect with people and the environment -get some fresh air and sun -save tons of money (can buy a good bike for under $500)
- doesn't cost you a thing every time you ride it. the money you save you can spend on fresh fruit with money to spare -get to show that you respect the environment with your actions rather than just talking about it

Downsides of biking:
-if you're an athlete it will take a bit of time to adjust to the extra conditioning
-it will take longer to go further and you may have to depend on others for longer trips, like camping trips. but not necessarily if you're willing to put the work in.
-sweating (eat a cleaner diet and you don't have to worry about smell though)

 Anyways a lot of the downsides that come with biking can really just be construed as benefits. It's good to slow down a bit and not get sucked into the uber fast paced, stressed out, gas guzzling world of automobiles. If you can run or walk that's even better than biking. Remember if your body works, use it. It's a privilege to be able to use your body. Don't neglect it.