Parkour

I've been thinking a lot over the last week or so about what parkour really is.

I've realized that parkour isn't just efficiency of movement, but also efficiency of the mind. If say a gap is 20 feet far but only 1 foot of the ground and another gap is 400 feet high but 2 foot far.

If I was able to precision that far the thing that would really push my mental capability is the precision so high up, thats real movement. It's all in the mind, you conidition your body and keep going with that but after you've reached a certain level all training is; is a mental struggle for certain things.

The thing that a lot of people do not understand is that parkour isn't just a physical thing but also a mental thing. The reason some traceurs are so very good at movement is because they keep pushing their mental barrier and keep pushing that barrier further and further.

If you know you can do a precision to a tiny rail then why not do it right there on the spot no hesitation? Thats right it's the mental side of you that is stopping you doing the movement. Your mind is saying "What happens if I fall", "What happens if I slip and break an ankle"
It's a matter of overcoming that mental bit that will allow you the freedom to do anything inside your physical ability or even pushing your physical ability further.

So when your sitting in class and not bothered about anything, think is this going to help my parkour? Taking in everything will expand your mind so that you know more and overcome fears more easily. Just use your brain everyday and learn how people react and what emotions are the best and worst etc. Using your mind to solve a maths puzzle is exactly the same as using your mind to solve the problem of overcoming your fear. Maybe the fear is a bit more extensive than a maths puzzle but at least you've had some practice to how to overcome obstacles mentally.
I leave you with a quote that i have been thinking about all week, I made it up.



"It's all in the mind, after you've freed your mind you can do anything to an extent"

Movement in different ways

So today I was training (along with Alex) in my area and at trestle arts base. As you all know, in England the sun goes down at about 4:00 in the winter and it's very dark around my area and trestle arts base.

A lot of people see this different weathers or levels of light an excuse for not training, but in actual fact it's actually making your standard of efficiency and movement much better. An example would be: I was doing a precision in the dark at trestle arts base (quite a big one) and it took quite a while for me to refine my senses and know exactly where to land. In the dry I don't think I would of taken much time to look where I'm going to land and to prepare if something goes wrong.

will post more later just can't be bothered atm

Parkour is here.

It's a new year and training is going to be sick this year. I have a feeling this year summer is going to be so good with TRACE and training in places like Cambs, London etc.
Felt really good to train in DRY weather last saturday even though it only was for an hour or so, really felt good to have all sense of movement back again and not drilling techniques but actually exploring techniques and movements. But this place i live in is called England and it started to rain..
Hellnight was great fun, I was expecting it to be harder but the exercises we did have to be suitable for everyone. Barefoot training was awesome in the cold and wet, really good to get that started again because I want to train barefoot a lot more so that I can make my touch and control better.

I'm starting to approach harder movements differently to what i usually would. I'm also training different things in parkour, such as getting away when lying on the ground. Or training with one arm behind my back (so hard , dunno how you do it max!) and so on. I'm going to find more ways of training like this to apply in different situations.

I feel all my movements are becoming more fluid and controlled, after Phil came down I've been working hard on precisions. I trained some precisions that I'd never done before because I couldn't get over the fear factor or wasn't strong enough yet. My kalenji's are really good and I've finally worn them in after wearing them loads in the xmas holidays.

On the media side of parkour I want to maybe make a small documentary on young traceurs in hertfordshire - that is still undecided. I might just film a proper training session.

And i actually conditioned today, i really want to train instead but it's too dark and wet and i have homework :(. But conditioning from now is going to be good and I'll do all the exercises on the day! IF I DON'T BEAT ME UP (try to anyway bro)

peace