3 days left!

Craziness.

I'll be doing a long post tomorrow about our last week homework assignments. Plus I will probably start writing my day 90 post ahead of time because I have so much to explain.

But for tonight I am off to get a TON of sleep because Patrick says that I should and that's way more permission than I need to sleep in after this crazy weekend.

I never thought it was possible for me to sleep any better but I do. I went from being a great sleeper to being a PRO!

And to continue the course of awesome tree climbing goodness here is a great video from someone in Washington. Absolutely stunning and I can't wait to try some of these techniques. Actually tomorrow I may go to Webster Park and try this out. Especially the work on smaller trees. However I will probably avoid doing it barefoot in this 40 degree weather. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Have a good night and sleep well!

Nature Parkour and PCP Day 90 closing in

So I mentioned before about how I want to do Parkour in nature. The great thing about PK is it can be done anywhere. It's simply getting from point a to b in the fastest most efficient way possible. And to be able to hone those abilities you can practice a certain set of defined movements anywhere. This allows you to become more proficient at getting form point a to point b. 

So here are some cool things my buddy Jason and I found today at the local Powder Mills park. Fallen trees make great places to practice cat-walks and balancing. Also I invented (well I've have never seen it anywhere else) the crab-walk. It's a cat-walk but upside-down. It's great for walking down inclined trees in a quadrupedal motion.

Also I have noticed the movements change a lot because of the environment. You have to use more caution than speed because limbs can break and bark can slip or break away. Also things are round an uneven not flat and sturdy. When you gorilla walk a tree or cat walk your feet have to curl and grasp around the trunk, more so the narrower it is.

So I look forward to doing this more and more. There were awesome rock walls, stairs, and railings at Letchworth to practice on too.

Also this winter I am going to start snow-shoeing and cross-country skiing. Also as soon as the snow melts my friend Doozer and I will start hiking trails and country roads with full packs preparing for our trip to Europe. The great thing about the PCP is when you are done and already in shape you can spice it up a ton and it all works to maintaining your fitness.

So here are some pics. Enjoy! It was a beautiful 65 degrees and sunny!

What we were dealing with. Plenty of fallen trees. Many of which connected to make long balancing courses.

The new Crab-Walk!

Jason Trying out a Cat-walk

Jason doing another Cat across a tree on a slope with a 10 foot drop underneath.

Awesome sitting spots we found!

Alright have a good one!

PCP Life

So I am pretty sure that the general feelings and approach to fitness I have developed are going to stay pretty unchanged for the future. I was thinking the other day that I am so content with the changes I have made it is amazing. The fact that so many people are out there trying and wanting to get into shape but go on the these cycles all the time really upsets me. I wish people would just take the time to be healthy because it doesn't take any time at all.

By that I mean the energy and positivity you get form getting in shape is priceless. And before you know it it is all habit, and second thought. 

I have noticed a higher confidence in myself. I feel taller when I stand. When I focus on posture I feel powerful and in charge. It is amazing. 

The other day I was in my back yard and I just started running full tilt and I don't think I have ever propelled myself that fast before it felt so nice. Post-PCP I definitely am going to focus more on running and biking. I htink it will be a lot of fun. Also as far as Parkour goes I was thinking that it is sometimes seen but not often in nature. I love trail running and that is my ultimate goal but the other day I thought why not take it a step further and do nature PK? After all PK is just getting form point A to point B as fast as humanly possible and it would be so cool to see what kind of movements would be best in a natural setting.

I actually think it would be harder than urban PK since not everything is right angles and firm surfaces.

So here's to the PCP life we have less than 2 weeks. It has gone my so fast but I am already content because I know that you can always improve. I might not have the rippling 6-pack I wanted by the end of the project but the progress I made is so great when I look back on my donut consuming, red-bull pounding, baconater eating past self!

You can only go up from the PCP and refine yourself further and I can;t wait to improve on all fronts of fitness. I am building the ultimate fantasy of running headlong through the woods jumping rocks, crossing streams and climbing trees as we speak.

Off to go day dream!

Have a goodnight everyone!

Less than a month left!

Crazy thought huh?

This weekend I'll be around with some interesting posts but this one is just to let everyone know I'm feeling a whole lot better. Just plugged up still. And I was able to do the whole workout no problem yesterday and I think my body was very happy to get to do that!

And also, we have less than 30 days left! 27 days left to be precise! That to me is incredible. I am so happy to be doing this project and I think finally my brain has switched from thinking "I am so happy to have this opportunity" from a student like standpoint to a I really understanding "I know what this is all about and it's part of me" type standpoint.

It's a great transformation to feel. 

"Peak condition" is an interesting term. What I mean is the human body can always improve none of us at the end of this project will be as strong or fast or fit as our heroes, so we won't be at a literal ultimate "peak." But the interesting thing is our heroes are at no way at a "peak" either. No one is. 

But this project is all about that climb to the top. The search for improvement. The lack of "settling" and the search for healthy, strong, fit bodies. It's also about being in the best mental state possible to never lose the want to carry out those goals, for life. 

I really feel that today. I feel like I am already in a peak condition of sorts. I mean 2 days of being sick really threw off my diet and workout schedule and it impressed me so much how easy it was to pick it back up. At the end of 90 days I'm sure it will be that much more solidified. 

And that is peak condition.

So I'm sure my final post will talk a lot more about this theme. But I just wanted to tell everyone it's easier to change than you might think. Jut do something. Right now. Don't wait.

Have a great day everyone!

P.S. Great quote from a recent PK video I saw "Share your inspirations, but keep your fears to yourself."

Also there is officially a Rochester Parkour group now! I am sending them an e-mail today and I really hope I can learn a lot and maybe one day contribute to the growth of PK in the Rochester community. They have training sessions that are beginner friendly every saturday so I can't wait to meet up with these guys!

Chin-ups and Quadrupedal Movement

So guys finally here are the pictures of the chin-up bar I got for my home. It's pretty cool. It sets up in 1 second and come down even faster. Uses my door-frame or any door-frame really. Does no damage. And has upgrades I can purchase later. It's really neat and I see know way that I can wear it out ever so it seems like a good purchase for just 45 bucks. Not to mention it took 5 minutes to build.

So here is the bar and what it looks like not on the door

And here it is set up from the front

And the back. 

You can see how it works now. The rectangular bar sets on top of the trim in the back and the front cross-bar sets on the sides for the trim on the front. When you get on it the cantilevered effect holds it in place and can support 300+ pounds depending on the door. So here it is being used in action!

Cool huh? It's pretty neat I think I really dig it. 

So I also wanted to talk a little bit about Quadrupedal movement. Which is using your hands and feet (arms & legs) to propel yourself. They work together to improve speed, reach, balance, or strength.  

Basically it is mimicking certain animal movements in nature and naturally these quadrupedal movements are a huge skill in Parkour to develop.

So on the days that I have to do the creep walk in our work-outs I do other things out on my driveway. Among them being . . .

Cat Walk

Gorilla Walk/Run

Monkey Walk/Run

Rolls

and/or Monkey Crawl Mix-up

So I'll give some brief definitions and then hopefully later I can post some pictures.

Cat Walk - See Adrian & Emiko blog since Emiko did a great job doing this on a railing and they have video! Basically you go left hand, right foot, right hand, left foot, repeat. Keep your back straight and head up to see where you are going. It can be practiced on flat surfaces but is great for railing or narrow surfaces as your balance is much easier to hold with at least 3 point of contact at all times. 

Gorilla Walk/Run - Basically start by sitting like a frog. If you reach out in front and put your hands down you can get a feel for your "reach" the faster you want to go the farther you will reach. And the stronger you have to be. Beginners use your palms but if you want to make it tough use only your finger tips. If you use your finger tips your hand should look like you are holding a big grapefruit. Fingers curved, no knuckles buckling, or bending toward the ground. If you can't keep your hand like that do it with your whole hand, kind of slap your palms down.

So you reach forward place and shift your weight forward by giving a little leap with your legs. All weight will go to your arms in that place right before being able to somersault if you wanted. Then your legs drop back down next to your hands and you repeat form there. It's a great way to travel fast and work great muscles. Also it a great way to learn the movements for a kong vault and getting used your your butt being over your head. 

Monkey Walk/Run - Harder to describe in words but I have seen it described as a cross between a cat walk and a gorilla walk. you can lead with your right or left  side and you run like a chimp! You know how they kind of do that sideways shuffle? Well that's what thing is!

You place your leading arm followed by the next right behind it. then swing your legs forward in the same way as you did your hands. and your leading foot should be the farthest thing forward. Repeat. 

Rolls - Well I cannot explain it as good as the instructional videos out there so go watch some! But basically I have been practicing rolling over both left and right shoulders so I do not favor any side. The basic principles are dispersing impact. Not rolling directly along the spine. Avoid hitting your head. And conserving energy and speed. It's a lot of fun but when you are first starting boy are you sore after doing a few dozen on asphalt.

Monkey Crawl Mix-up - This is my name for it and there a ton out there. It's basic quadrupedal warm-ups and stretches. Slow everything down to an easy speed and move from form to form. Do anything that feels natural and stretches you in a healthy way. Throw in some rolls and hand stands even. Some pistol squats or even down-dog pose and up-dog. Anything really just be like a monkey having a good time and fooling a round. Who knew working out could be so fun!

That's all guys. Have a great one!

PARKOUR HEROS: David Belle

So this is the last of my PK heros post that I am going to do. I figured since David Belle is the hero I chose to work towards for the PCP he deserved 2 posts. In this post I'm gonna show you a little bit about PK and how it's not always safe. And it is certainly not easy. 

For everyone out there new to PK or those that think it's just the next dare-devil risky thing to do beware of stupid videos online of kids just "tricking" that have no training or discipline. 

Parkour CAN be dangerous.

But everyone who takes it's seriously knows that you never do anything that you do not think you can do. And the second you do something that you feel uncomfortable doing that's when you get hurt. Naturally you get all sorts of bumps and bruises all the time but we are talking injuries. As you will see in one of the videos below even David Belle and fall sometimes. 

So please be careful if you are going to practice PK and work at YOUR OWN PACE. Never someone else's. PK and Free-running are trying so hard to gain a strong footing and a good reputation we don't need people breaking or killing themselves because they were stupid and then PK gets a bad rep. 

The other video is from a movie he did. The videos of David Belle are sadly in short supply, especially because so man of the interviews are in french. But I still think it's awesome what he did in that movie and the stunt work involved. You saw in previous posts how he does quality real life PK. So enjoy the bit of entertainment.

So enjoy the videos and learning from David Belle as I have. His years, no decades really, of practice allows him to jump building to building, and I'm sure it also helps him fall better and recover from injury. Go slow, have fun, do PK.

Updates for Week 6!

So we have successfully finished 5 weeks and are into our Sixth! Almost half -way done which is unbelievable. Patrick mentioned that around day 40 is really when the last fat starts to go and the muscles we have made starts really standing out. I hope that holds true for me over the next week!

So I have a couple more Parkour Heros to post and some other interesting stuff as well but for today I'm just doing some basic updates. New diet. New work-outs. And how I feel.

Adrian & Emiko were talking about being in a recent PCP valley and I felt the same way for a few days. Rather discouraged etc about not seeing and recent progress but Patrick's e-mail came at the right time about visceral fat holding on to the last and how we will start to see changes soon. Especially because "we have taken the training wheels off" and are really kicking it into high gear. So bring it on changes!

Today however I'm upset because I have a random hive-like rash all over like I had an allergic reaction to something. But I didn't eat anything out of the norm and had no contact with animals I may be allergic too. It's really weird. And itchy.

On a sad note my guinea pig Sketcher of 6 years is dying and doesn't have long to go so that's sad but she lived a long healthy life. 

So without further ado here is some new info!

Patrick asked for us not to share the specifics of our workout routine at this point of the PCP since it's so close to his final product and we all certainly respect that. So I will list the workouts we are doing and my projected ability. But I'm not posting how they are structured day-to-day since when we do the exercises are what's most important right now. (If I post too much Patrick just let me know and I'll take it down)

Workout Plan

Jumprope 6 sets of 2 mins (every day: and it come to about 1500-1800 skips depending on how fast I do them with a 30 sec break in between sets)

Pistol Squat 4 x 3-5 (max, great PK training)

Creep 4 x 12 (max, great PK training)

Pull-up 4 x 3-5 (max, the real deal now!)

Pull-down 4 x 15 (max)

Triceps Dip 3 x 8-10 (max)

Triceps Extension 4 x 15 (max)

V-sit 5 x 10-12 (12-12-10-10-10, or hopefully max)

Side-crunch 4 x 10 (max, finally some oblique work!)

Chest Dip 5 x 4-6 (not sure, never attempted before)

Push-up 4 x 10-12 (max)

Outside Curl 4 x 10-15 (not sure, never attempted before)

One-arm curl 4 x 10-15 (15-15-12-10, the most over-rated muscle is the bicep (since so many people think having them makes them fit) but I can't wait to pump em!)

Forward Shoulder Raise 4 x 16-18 (16-16-16-16, I still despise shoulder work, I am not up to par)

Shoulder-fly 4 x 15-18 (not sure, probably minimum, never attempted before)

Leg-up 4 x 20 (max)

Plank 4 x 50 seconds (max, I love them, "meditation on pain" lol)

So again keep in mind Patrick is not having us do every day but broken up through the week. But that's all I can say.

Diet Plan

Breakfast  100g carb 100g veg 2egg 150ml yogurt (same)

Morning Tea  80g fruit (same)

Lunch  100g carb 100g meat 150g veg 1egg white (down 20g meat, up 1 egg white)

Afternoon Tea 80g fruit (same)

Dinner 1egg white 1apple 1banana 150ml milk 1spoon rice/granola (down 1 egg white)

Night Tea 80g veg  1egg white  50g fruit (up 30g veg, up 50g fruit)

Before Workout  eat 50g carb  

After Workout  eat  1egg white (up 1 egg white)

Notes: I am up to 6 eggs a day now and other than that no significant changes except for the added fruit and veggies at night which will actually be hard to eat because I usually am not hungry after 7 pm anymore at all.

So that's about it. I'm gonna blog about one more Parkour Hero, and also a final David Belle post and where I plan to go with Parkour sometime get a pic up of me training. Also I will blog about the neat pull-up bar I bought and this awesome blender that my mom go me that blends my whole dinner smoothie into a giant mug, no clean up! It's great.

Have a great weekend everyone!

PARKOUR HEROS: The Ladies of Parkour

So I have been chatting with Adrian and Emiko a bit about PK. And not only Adrian is super enthused about PK but Emiko is too. So I thought it would be sweet to post some clips I have found about PK and the women who are really amazing and deserve a ton of respect for what they do.

Females are definitely the minority among traceurs, most likely for general interest and also because women naturally lack a lot of the upper body strength required without, of course, the proper training. They faces some pros and cons though in my opinion.

CONS: Lack a certain level of natural strength and speed. Also girls are generally shorter and have weaker grips. A number of other things can be frustrating, long hair, not wanting to get calloused hands, and I would definitely be less inclined to want to run and jump everywhere if I had boobs.

PROS: I feel women have naturally better balance, dexterity, and flexibility. Also once the proper strength is achieved you can have an easier job of somethings, less shock on joints from a smaller frame/weight, and since most girls are smaller than most guys you can fit under rails and through gaps that we can get into. 

Despite any pros and cons girls that practice are undoubtedly awesome and deserve a ton of respect. Hopefully we will see more in the years to come. Below are 2 videos on of Karen Palmer who talks a lot of what PK means and how it's so awesome, also about training and how the metal achievement is just as great as the physical one. And another of Kat from the Urban Monkeys crew in Mexico.

Enjoy and have a good one I hope the weather is just as beautiful as it is here!

PARKOUR HEROS: Sebastian Foucan

So another featured Parkour Hero.

To give you a little bit of knowledge of Sebastian. He was one of the original advocates and founders of making Parkour into a discipline. He and David Belle used to work very closely together but for various reasons to unimportant to mention here they have parted ways. David is purist and practices Parkour, which is only about movement and fluidity with no waste of energy. Sebastian parted on the philosophy of l'art du natural and turned his focus toward Free-running. Which is Parkour with added flare and moves to make it more visually appealing and some say fun. It is not harder or easier just a different approach. 

You will probably recognize the one scene from 007: Casino Royale. Sebastian did an amazing job with the scene no? He is a versatile Traceur and has done much to spread the knowledge and availability of Parkour/Free-running, hosting many training seminars and opening many academies throughout Europe. (Also for any nay-sayers I'm sure that in parts Sebastian did have a stunt double, it's hollywood they have too, but this is more about being proud the PK is getting acclaim in the entertainment industry) 

The other video is with MAdonna and organizing her on-stage performance with PK. I think that's really cool. Sebastian is everywhere!

And finally a video of why free-running is different than PK. Parkour purists would not focus on something like this but this video is awesome and finally you get to see how Seb is involved in training others but that he is not perfect. Also you get to see his great physique as well and that once the man gets something. He gets it DOWN.

That's all for today have a good one everybody!

PARKOUR HEROS: Stephane Vigroux

I am going to feature a string of Parkour Hero's. For those that are new to my blog, Parkour is a goal of mine in conjunction with the PCP. 

What is Parkour?

It is a discipline. An art. It is fluid movement through, over, or under any series of obstacles. It's a mindset as much as it is physical function. If there is anything in the world that requires a Peak Condition both mentally and physically it is Parkour.

And I hope the PCP sets me on the path to being a good, and eventually great, Traceur (The one who practices Parkour).

Here is Stephane Vigroux. He was trained by David Belle the founder of Parkour. Is a great speaker, teacher, and advocate of safe and effective Parkour. Enjoy these videos and search around for some more. He is very animated and does a great job of expressing in words the freedom of Parkour

Enjoy and have a nice afternoon!

David Belle

So as everyone know (or maybe you don't) my Hero for the PCP is David Belle. I thought I would take a little time to tell show you some things about him so you can respect the discipline he follows as much as I do. The work he does is incredible and I feel he is someone who has the PCP mindset and body. So enjoy a couple of these vids!

This one is some highlight's of his work. Gives me chills.

This is an interview with David. It's translated with subtitles but the fact he can talk at all while doing this stuff is . . . insane.

So enjoy the vids. Have a nice day everyone I hope the sun is shining where you are. If not make it shine!