Bernie Blog - Movement and random stuff

The Minstrel Show (2005) - Little Brother

2008-08-18T11:07:00.002+01:00

Little Brother is one of my favourite hip hop groups - such fresh music.
The hip hop trio is made up of Phonte and rapper Big Pooh. 9th Wonder (producer) was part of the group since its beginning but left before recording the Album "Getback"

Preview
1.Welcome to the Minstrel Show
2.Beautiful Morning
3.The Becoming
4.Not Enough
5.Cheatin'
6.Hiding Place
7.Slow it Down
8.Say it Again
9.5th and Fashion
10.Lovin It
11.Diary of a mad Black Daddy
12.All for You
13.Watch me
14.Sincerely Yours
15. Still lives through
16. The Minstrel Show Closing theme
17. We Got Now

Download it off of Itunes or Buy it!

peace out

im lovin' it

2008-07-09T20:17:00.003+01:00

loving life, as always :D

trained with great mans. mike,toby,chris. WEEEEEEEE!

General update

2008-06-01T15:29:00.003+01:00

Basically Im gonna fully start conditioning as I feel my movements have become more solid and flowy but im lacking strength to do certain things. I'm trying to look at this as a whole thing not a "im going to get muscle ups" but rather as "gain overall strength through conditioning and parkour"

I feel that this strength is definitely something i want to do because it will help a lot with my parkour as well as make me feel good.

I reckon i might have a conditioning session next week so that everyone can come condition and maybe some light parkour

Parkour - is coming along nicely so far after my little fall and im fully back in swing 3 weeks after i broke my nose and damaged my quads.
My nose feels fine and my quads were reealllllyyyy tight but now i can do the heel to ass stretch without being in masses of pain (only minimal stretching pain)
I've also been doing lots of movement and it feels so bloody good to be back fully and training normally. I also nearly did a 180 to crane yesterday that is quite hard because the surface is slippery and the object i want to crane is quite high, nearly did it but I really need to kick hard and try it when im not so tired :P

So yeah life is good atm, probably make a trip up to cambridge to see phil, owen and other tct legends soon :D

Barefoot

2008-05-15T20:39:00.003+01:00

Recently I've been doing a lot of barefoot training. It really is awesome. Last sat i spent nearly the whole day barefoot and it was really great to be out in the warm sun training :D

My feet have really toughened up over the last week and I've noticed that my touch has gotten slightly better and my climb ups are much quicker (technique is sorted now yippeeeee)
On saturday I did the 180 at wagzi's barefoot, the smaller running armjump and various precisions etc which i am really happy with because before I didnt have the confidence nor the toughness of my feet. it is so sick

I've also been working on linking movements and full runs barefoot, been working on making dashes efficient and including them into runs. I've also started working on becoming more smooth with my techniques etc and want to improve my runs overall - becoming more creative.

and i really need to sesh at the quad!

Haven't been on here for agesssss - An Update

2008-05-05T08:09:00.004+01:00

Life is good, awesome actually. School work is loads better and I have a healthy balance of parkour and other things.

I've been working on flips etc and have now learnt:
Wall Flips
Fullbacks
Gainers
and im still working on gainer dismounts.

I went to decathlon to buy new shoes yesterday, got a normal Kalenji 'Success' and another pair which are the same as Rich's but one size bigger :D. Like they aren't very grippy atm but i'll wear them in and they will be awesome. I wanted to buy a bow and arrow hahaha.

At first my new kalenji's (not success type) needed wearing in and were really squeaky and the grip wasnt very good. But now i've started wearing them in loads and they are awesomeeeee!

training.

Training has been so awesome, the last few days have been so sunny resulting in me training everyday. On Wednesday I trained with Matt and Ben in town (nearly all of sapk..) which was pretty awesome. Did some lovely symmetrical muscle ups, worked on the alban arena running precision and varying movements after the precision. Had loads of fun and the chats on the way home was pretty sick.
At my area I have been working on loads of runs through the trees, got the runs really smooth as well as recovering really well from 3 stupid bails hahahaha
I've been working on my touch too and i've noticed a difference, trying to walk quietly to school at school to my house etc is really good for practising and also I really wanna start more barefoot in town not just my area so that will be safe.

overall, LIFE IS SWEEEEEEEET!

Parkour

2008-01-26T18:25:00.000Z

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

2008-01-24T19:25:00.001Z

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.

2008-01-10T19:27:00.000Z

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

Just to tell you how it's been.

2007-12-22T10:08:00.000Z

The last 4 weeks or so have been hectic as hell.
Haven't been able to come online as I haven't had internet for four weeks, wasn't too bad actually. Had plenty more to be doing.

I was also ill for a two weeks and have now recovered completely.

CONDITIONING
Conditioning has been hard with moving house and being ill, managed to condition a few times a week but sometimes only once a week.
I've found an alternative for a weighted vest - school books!
I just fill my bad with all my school books and do weighted pressups, chin ups, squats etc.
But this hasn't substituted my normal body weight conditioning, I'd do 100 body weight pressups and 20 weighted pressups.
I've started this because I felt I wasn't as strong as I could be and need to get back into shape!
I really need to get back into jogging again.
I'll be adding a Friday, Saturday and Sunday conditioning regime today or tomorrow.

PARKOUR
Ohh goodness...
I haven't been training much at all, haven't had a proper training session in quite a few weeks but that'll be lifted today.
I'm starting to work on making every movement I do silent, this will really benefit my overall training.
I really miss that scaffolding down the alley way, had great fun on it and I wish it could of stayed longer. But all good things must come to an end someday.
Barefoot training has almost completely gone out the day, today I'm spending a large chunk of the session working on barefoot training - this also helps in my training for silence of each movement. To be fair I hate winter training, but it will really help me with stabilizing my overall skill level and my mental attitude towards training. My current level of parkour is bad and at times it's my best but I really need to stabilize my training and my level of parkour.

SCHOOL
Funnily enough school has been very good, I've gotten high marks in all tests i've done and I'm working much harder than last year I'd think. I'm not slacking on homework and I'm doing loadsssss better in Maths and Science.

Ohh yeah- I got 99% in my last ever French test before we start the GCSE stuff.

SUMMARY
Keep doing well at schhool when I return.
Condition when I can and if not at least work much harder the next day.
Train whenever it fits. Don't slack when it's raining or icy.

<3 to everyone who read all this haha.

LIFE IS

2007-11-10T20:40:00.000Z

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD

RIGHT! Conditioning - NEEDS TO GET SORTED

2007-10-30T21:20:00.000Z

Monday:
30 seconds skipping as fast as I can. x 3
Go for a run, work on speed and stamina.
1 legged glute ham raises. reps of 5. x 4
Plank hold 30 secs. x 3
Superman hold (back) 20 secs. x 3

Tuesday:
squats. reps of 25. 2 sets
10 exlposive squats
200 shin raisers
50 calf raisers
ski sit (against wall) for 15 secs, 30 secs,45 secs and finally 60 secs

Wednesday:
Pullups- reps of 4 sets of 5 (20)
Dips - reps of 20 sets of 3 (60)
Chinups - reps of 3 sets of 4 (12)
Pressups - reps of 5 sets of 15 (75)
Handstand practice
Lifting heavy objects
Bicep curls using heavy items i can find - reps of 3 sets of 10

Thursday -
Sit Ups - reps of 10 sets of 10 (100)
Plank hold 60 seconds sets of 3
Crunch - reps of 5 sets of 5 (25)

CAMBRIDGE!

2007-10-25T20:31:00.000+01:00

SUCH A SICK DAY!

Although half way through the day it was raining and wet it was still a really good day. Did my first symmetrical muscle up - it was a pretty quick one too.

Learned a lot from Owen and the other two cambridge guys (can't remember their names) And was a really good day. Very glad that I got the chance to go and will definitely be returning soon!

CAMBS!

2007-10-25T09:28:00.000+01:00

I'm going to Cambridge today, full write up this evening.

It's going to be awesome.

BYE!

Tuesday

2007-10-02T21:39:00.000+01:00

Today I did my conditioning very late, but after I had finished my homework.

I figured today should be lower body because I do trampolining and thats all lower body strength I'm using.

TUESDAY:
squats. reps of 25. 2 sets
10 exlposive squats
200 shin raisers
50 calf raisers
ski sit (against wall) for 15 secs, 30 secs,45 secs and finally 60 secs

Stretching

Standing with my heels and bum against a wall. Then trying to reach down and touch my toes without moving my heels or bum. Quite hard :D (For me anyway)

1 min quad stretches
1 min calf stretches
1 min hamstring stretches
Then just shaking about, loosening my muscles and general stretching.

I found a great thing for warming down and relaxing.
Close your eye's and twist from one side (so if you're facing forwards you'd twist and face one side and then twist again to face the other side)
Start quickly, but then slow down until only your hands are moving (only your hands! at the start you want to be twisting your hips and moving your feet)

It'll help you relax. If you don't understnad i'll show u.

ADIOS

Right, It's time to get myself sorted out.

2007-09-30T19:51:00.000+01:00

Tomorrow is the 1st of October. I'm going to start conditioning PROPERLY. That means sticking to my routine (which I am in the process of making) ,not skipping out exercise and varying my workouts.

I'm also going to get school sorted out. From now on I'm going to try and do all my homework when I get home from school, or at least an hour after I get home. That way I can have the rest of the day to do what I want and not worry about homework. Also means more training time :). I'm gonna try and listen in class, do well in important subjects and focus on the task I have to do.

I feel my parkour skill level has gone done a lot so I'm going to train more and set myself goals for each time I go out and train.

My conditioning timetable will look like this:

MONDAY:
General fitness, posterior chain, core strength and back.

30 seconds skipping as fast as I can. x 3
Go for a run, work on speed and stamina.
1 legged glute ham raises. reps of 5. x 4
Plank hold 30 secs. x 3
Superman hold (back) 20 secs. x 3

I'll finish the rest of teh week later .

Small Video,

2007-09-26T16:33:00.000+01:00

..Of me and Charlie training a week or two back. Enjoy

Running

2007-09-19T18:19:00.000+01:00

Went to the gym today and ran. I started off just jogging and then went flat out for 2 mins and then just jogged for another 10 mins. Managed to do about 3.5km in 15 mins and then went on the cross trainer to cool down and get my heart rate down. Finished it all off my stretching and doing a few pressups.

I'm doing cross country tomorrow for school so wish me luck!

Training and Conditioning

2007-09-15T18:22:00.000+01:00

I had a good jam today, I forgot my hat at the Alban Arena so I hope some one picked it up to give yo me next Sat or something...

I brought my digicam to a training sesh on Tuesday with Charlie and got some footage, I have now edited it into a small 1 and a half minute video and it should hopefully be on Youtube in the next couple of days. t

My conditioning has really been lacking due to school and just plain laziness, I really want to get back into conditioning as I feel my strength has gone down quite a bit. I'm also going to in-cooperate new exercises with external weight.

At school I'm always doing flips into the sandpit and I think that this is damaging my shins and knees a bit (Only been doing it for the past week or so) so I'm going to stop and just chill with mates.

I'm off, peace

Friday

2007-09-15T18:19:00.000+01:00

I felt really bad yesterday, I felt really down and annoyed. I trained with guy, which has good.

I could sideflip over some one just bend slightly but now I'm too scared to go over something knee height and I don't know why :(

The rugby was good! [I'm South African for anyone who didn't know]

Back to school

2007-09-04T10:03:00.001+01:00

I'm back to school today, only for an hour and a half though. Should be good to see other people again. This also means that I won't have as much time for parkour and conditioning now but I will try and fit it into my week.

Cya!

Haven't posted in 4 days :O

2007-08-26T21:55:00.000+01:00

I haven't posted in 4 days...
My conditioning went a bit crap after Wednesday I did 50 of each thing on Thursday and then it just completely went to dust and i didn't condition again. But this week I'll be posting less and be less on the computer - I'll be conditioning nearly every day and I'll try to complete it each day. I went to bed at 3:00 on Friday so my parkour on Saturday wasn't good at all. Kept landing on my arches on rails and just wasn't up to my normal abilitys. But I was trying to do some new things and managed to do some stuff and i finally saw reece (chapman) again..YAY.
CYA

Tomorrows Conditioning

2007-08-22T21:19:00.001+01:00

Tomorrow I am doing a bit of everything (except abdominals and back)

15 pullups no reps - I want to see if I can do this many pullups in one set)
50 pressups reps of 10
50 dips reps of 25
50 squats reps of 25
50 calf raisers reps of 25
200 shin raisers reps of 50

Some handstand practice, plus light parkour. Work on symetrical muscle ups :)

Yup...It's post about today

2007-08-22T20:52:00.000+01:00

Today I just managed to do all my conditioning. It was actually tougher than I thought but I still managed it :)

I trained with MattNick at the quad and the park today. I hadn't been to the park since it was re-done so it was quite a treat seeing a new spot. We started off warming up and training a bit at the front of the quad. I nearly did a symetrical muscle up, I did the transaction fine but it was just the dip at the end that i couldn't do so I just fell straight back down. Also did an armjump to the quad tree which isn't very big just quite tricky as you have to get your hands right round the tree. I managed to do it landing with one foot but I need to come back to it another day to do it two footed because by the time I was doing it two footed I just slid down the tree because it was wet.
I also told Matt about going up a staircase backwards on all fours. It's a pretty fun exercise to do so we found some dry stairs and were just traversing backwards on them. Also did a bit of training there such as barefoot armjumps,precisions and drilling landings.
Next we went to the park, were there was plenty to do. I hurt my ankle a bit jumping on a small bouncy trampoline thing and landing with half my foot on the bouncy thing and half of my foot on the ground causing it to roll inwards a bit and lightly spraining it.(but i'm resting it and iceing it so it'll be fine, I've done this before and know what to do) From then on I was doing one footed precisions as well as doing some balancing work and doing dips and such on bars.

Was a good day Matt.

Todays Conditioning

2007-08-21T20:49:00.000+01:00

Today I did all my conditioning exercises.
Doing:
200 shin raisers
150 calf raisers
20 exlposive squats
and the rest of the excercises I did the amount I said i'd do in yesterday's post.
And then to top the day off I went for a nice relaxing swim, just cooling down and resting.

I found hopping up the stairs really difficult, it's something I'm going to incoperate more into my training and conditioning.

Tomorrow: Abs and Back
50 sit ups
30 secs plank hold x 3 (might go to 1 min depending on how i feel)
25 Bicycle Exercises See Link
Superman 1 min x 3 (i'll post a pic another time, it is basically just lieing on your front and lifting off all other parts of body off of the ground)
50 crunches
25 V raisers

I'll do some more exercises if i feel up to it :)

Today and tomorrow - Conditioning & Stretching

2007-08-20T16:52:00.001+01:00

Today has been quite a lazy day, i've been stencilling and conditioning..

I did all the conditioning exercises for today except for 20 chinups because I remebered that my right elbow hurts at the bottom of a rep so I did 20 pressups instead because I do not want to injure myself. I also held a handstand against a wall for a minute twice (total= 2mins).I'm pleased today because I actually did what I planned for the day.
Tomorrow I'll be doing lower body conditioning and it'll go like this:

50 squats
1min x 3 ski sit
50 calf raisers
50 shin raisers
1 min continuous step ups (step onto step one foot after another and then down)
10 explosive squats (at the botoom of squat, jump up as high as i can)
Hopping up stairs 3 times on each leg

I've started stretching every single morning now even if I'm not going to do much exercise on that day. I feel after I've stretched my quads, hamstrings and achilles tendons that my knees feel much more relaxed and less tense. It's mainly because I'm growing or if I've overdone it the dya before (which is rarely). I never feel pain in my knees, just the muscles around them so I've figured if i keep on stretching them everyday that they'll become less tense.

Bit about today and tomorrow

2007-08-19T19:40:00.000+01:00

Today Alex called me and asked if I could come round and I said I would be there in 15 mins. We trained climb ups and I did one of my fastest climb ups ever, so I am going to try and make all my climb ups as fast as that particular one. I also did a few running armjumps onto a wall where the take off gets further away along the wall and I managed to make a running armjump about as big as the small wagamama running armjump. I've done that armjump at wagzi's before but not very well so I'm very happy that i achieved this nice armjump :)
I also conquered my fear of level catpass precisions, it was a catpass from a bin onto a rail and I was just landing on the bar with one foot and my other foot on the ground and then the next try BAM i land both feet and stuck it incredibly well.

Tomorrow I start my proper conditioning since i haven't properly conditioned in a while. Wish me luck!

Conditioning feat. Jogging

2007-08-18T17:01:00.000+01:00

I feel that my conditioning isn't up to scratch and that I haven't been conditioning enough. I'm not always focused because of school and homework and other activities.
So starting from this Monday I'll be doing my full conditioning schedule and sticking to it.

Monday:
100 press ups - reps of 20
50 dips - reps of 25
10 wide press ups
10 close press ups
30 pull ups - reps of 10
20 chin ups - reps of 10

I'm only posting this for Monday because on Monday I'll post my regime for Tuesday.
I'm gently easing into more and more sets because I haven't been conditioning much recently so I need to get back in Form.

Jogging-Endurance - 800metre
I've found that a year ago (when i hadn't started parkour) I found that my endurance was pretty good and I was an alright long distance athlete. Achieving about 3min50secs in 800 metres which was pretty good for me.

But now since I've started parkour and actually properly running. I've gone into quite alot of school competitions coming 3rd or 4th every time.
And constantly getting a time of 2min35sec - 2min45sec

With one great thing, comes many more great things.

BACK

2007-08-18T14:48:00.000+01:00

I'm back *yay*. Came back earlier from Cornwall as it was just raining and really windy most of the time.

Managed to do loads of rock training aswell as training in the cities (plymouth etc.)
The rocks were amazing, there is sooo much to do there and i really want to go back and do more training. It had an awsome feeling to it, as you had to adjust every movement a bit because rocks aren't like walls in the city. They are all kinds of sizes and different surfaces. I mainly did barefoot training on the rocks as I want to incorporate more barefoot stuff into my training.

Training in the towns and cities was quite good, there wasn't really much but there was a bit. A nice catpass precision and a armjump to precision (like armjump to armjump but to a precision) from a tree. I've been working on the tech for Armjump to Armjump and I'm trying to get more height on the and to be more explosive.

Pics:

Bernie

I'm off!

2007-08-14T13:28:00.000+01:00

I'm going to cornwall. Lots of rock training!

Have fun anyone in SA

Lots of <3 form Bernie.

Changed Blog a bit

2007-08-14T13:02:00.001+01:00

I've changed my blog around a bit, and instead of posting my good video in a post I've put it at the side for easy viewing. Just click on it and you'll be able to watch the video, clicking on the video won't take you to the youtube site, it'll just appear on my blog.

SA:PK V2

2007-08-14T12:17:00.000+01:00

On May the 3rd, MattNick sent me a a PM saying that I was invited to join SA:PK V2

"Recently me and the rest of the SAPK have been analysising your performance and dedication to the parkour scene, You have an extremly promising talent that we wish to help you unleash as part of our team."

The opening paragraph, I was stoked. Josh had said to me earlier in the week that Matt had told him about a sub group in SA:PK called V2. All I had done was to train and condition. I wasn't training to be the best and get into SA:PK. I was practising parkour because I LOVE IT. I was (still am) training to become efficient and great things followed.

I think alot of children in the UK at the mo see all these videos of people jumping of 11 foot high walls, and then they go out and do the same because the look "cool" and "hard". I was lucky to have good traceurs around me to guide me in the right way.

Thats were V2 comes in, i don't see v2 as an oppurtunity to show off and say "hahaha i'm in V2 and you're not" I see V2 as an oppurtunity for young guys to come to me and say "look I can't get this movement right" and then i'll help them with the movement, give them tips and so on. I won't say "You're rubbish, go away idiot"

I'm happy to help..

"In closing its my great pleasure to invite you to join the newly formed SA:PKv2, please get back to me ASAP with any questions and confirmations on whether you wish to join our project.

Keep up the training Bernie and keeping representing our community."

I immediately PM'ed Matt back and said "I deffinitely except"

The last word "Community" I feel this word is the word i just want to yell when some one says "What's parkour" Yes it's about being efficient. But it's also about being a community; standing together. If traceurs were't a community then we'd all be saying different things,

If you've read all that and know me. Give me a hug next time i see you ;)

Bernie: Intro

2007-08-14T12:02:00.000+01:00

Yo, I'm Bernie. I'm South African, I've lived in England for the past 6 years. The weather is awful here haha.
I've been doing training for about 11 and a half months now, my lifestyle has completly changed in the last 11 months. I'm eating more healthily, I am much more active and alot fitter. Through parkour I've met loads of different people, I owe a great deal to those that train with me and teach me. My strength, endurance and explosive power has increased dramatically.

Parkour has affected my schoolwork, i'm not always completing work and in some of my end of year tests I didn't do well at all. (Even though i'm very good at those subjects normally)

In September, I'm going to change a heck of alot.
More conditioning.
More training
Better schoolwork
Focus more- I'll take what i've learnt from parkour and put it into practice in other areas, namely school.. That means focussing and concerntrating.

First Post:

2007-08-14T12:00:00.000+01:00

I used to have a blog, I've forgotten the name and the email adress i used... SO i've created a new blog :].