Slowin' Down

When I talk about Parkour, people keep asking me why I do all this "crazy stuff," but I'm wondering why more people don't. We all did it at kids but at some point stopped. On the days I know I'm going to class, I wake up excited about it and look forward to it all day. How many people can say that about their workouts?

The front entrance of the Parkour gym has this sign up for the new year and I think it perfectly describes some of the more specific reasons I do Parkour.

I love how pretty much every reason on the board is something that applies to me, or at least can make me laugh. During one class we "prepared for the zombie apocalypse" by seeing how quietly we could complete the course. One of the instructors followed each person and kept track of how many loud noises they made. Ironically, the first time I saw this sign we had eaten waffles that morning, so the waffle binge totally applied. Eric has been perfecting his homemade waffle recipe and I am more than happy to help him with the eating part.

Since the Air Inversion Workshop, I've been practicing the upside down reason, and I would like to go to the tricking class. Eric has been twice on his own and has been working on back handsprings, back flips, side flips, and variations of the front flip, which are all things I would love to learn.

I have also been working on improving my speed through the obstacle courses. I have a lot of the individual skills, but I often have to psych myself up first and that slows down my times. It is amazing to me how encouraging everyone is. During one course, the guys were achieving times of 12 - 15 seconds. During my turn, I was really struggling and at one point fell while attempting to do a precision drop from one box to another. I kept going and the final obstacle required me to jump into a cat hang and pull myself onto the side of the foam pit. I felt like I was flailing, but I finally made it. The second I stood up at the top, everyone in my class clapped and cheered for me. It's still amazing to me how encouraging everyone is. Even though my time was closer to two minutes, no one seemed to care and instead high-fived me for my accomplishment. It definitely creates an environment where I feel comfortable and willing to try new things. Check off the think positive, be happy, and encourage others more.


Unfortunately I'm going to have to take a break from Parkour for a few weeks. At my last class I was working on vault precision jumps and smacked my knee on the vault on the way over. Don't let the injury discourage you from doing it. I was trying to keep up with the boys, and instead of taking it slow the first time, I went harder than I ever had before, and didn't get my feet all the way up. At least I had a nice gash to prove how much it hurt!

After almost two weeks, I still can't bend it all the way and I'm feeling lot of popping and cracking when I move it. I finally went to the doctor and while it's not too serious, she said it would likely be another three weeks before it was healed enough to go back. Basically the impact caused my kneecap to hit my leg bone. While I know it could be much worse, it's still frustrating to be so excited about something and not be able to do it. Luckily they are letting me pause my six month membership until I am healed. I think now I'll be more likely to let it heal all the way before returning because I know I won't lose any of my classes. Until then I'm making Eric tell me what they learned at each class and living vicariously through him.

As a side note, It's Not My Time by Three Doors Down has been one of my favorite songs since it came out. The lyrics have an incredibly personal meaning for me and the music video is awesome. How could it not be when it includes Parkour?

Lovin' Parkour

I am officially obsessed with Parkour. We have been four times this week and have plans to go again tomorrow.

The remainder of the intro course included rail balancing, vaulting, precision jumping, bar work, cat leaps, wall spins, obstacle courses, and flips into the foam pit. Here's a brief listing of what we did in each Level 1 class.

On the last night of Level 1 we also revisited the benchmark skills from the first night. I was excited to beat all my original numbers, including doing six pull ups. (My original was zero!) One of the first new moves I was able to get was the lache between two bars.

Four Foot Lache

Moving up to Level 2 felt like a big jump. Not only are the workouts more demanding, the obstacles are much more challenging. A big part of Level 2 is overcoming fear and working through challenges. One of the most challenging obstacles so far involved getting across eight foot bars (the same ones I'm hanging from in the video above). I was so relieved when I made it to the other side, and then realized I needed to do a precision jump down about four feet onto a vault. It took some time and reassurance, but I finally jumped and made it no problem.

The instructors have been great about helping me work through the progressions and I've seen huge improvements in my abilities and confidence. I love how encouraging everyone is and how they make a point to celebrate your successes. It doesn't matter if it takes me twice as long as some of the guys to complete a course, they still congratulate me at the end and find something positive to point out. In our most recent class, we were warming up with climb ups onto a six foot box. I could do it, but I kept using my elbow to help me up. The instructor pulled me aside and gave me a different exercise to work on to help with the correct motion, and by the end of the night I was able to do the move without my elbow.

We participated in an Air Awareness workshop a few weeks ago where we learned how to do front flips. We've been practicing and I finally feel like I'm consistently getting it without having to think through every single step.

Front Flip on the Air Trick

Some of the skills I would like to continue to improve upon include wall spins, tacs, cat hangs to climb ups, and flips. We just signed up for a six month membership, so I'm sure I'll have plenty of opportunities to practice.