Make Moves

What stops us from doing what we want to do?

Try to figure out what that obstacle is and pass it.

Safety has EVERYTHING to do with Fitness

Based on a forum post where someone stated that advanced practitioners were more likely to get hurt than beginners:

Safety is largely a skill/mental attitude. You can go about a difficult jump with safety in mind, using spotters, progression, and building up to it - or you can just go for it. Most of us choose to go the route of safety - but sometimes someone doesn't know how to be safe. It's an inherent skill to some extent, but must be actively developed or TAUGHT (which is something all three gyms (APEX, Primal, PKV) focus on.) To address later points, these gyms don't just say "Do X and Y and never do A and B." They teach with safety in mind, and through that teaching style students learn how to be safe on their own.

However, I do think Rafe is right about the quote "Safety has got nothing to do with fitness." being incorrect. On Saturday, I took either the worst, or the second worst, bail of my life (parkour, flipping, gymnastics, martial arts, slacklining, firespinning, waterskiiing, wakeboarding all included). The only reason I am probably not paralyzed right now is because of my strength, fitness, skill, and experience.

I wasn't doing anything dangerous, just a simple step up to crane with my off leg. I stepped, leapt, my foot landed on the top, but I had a little bit too much forward momentum and I pitched forward, head first, feet in the air, toward the concrete on the other side. It was about a 4 foot drop, and all I remember is a snapshot of the concrete about 2 feet from my face, and my right arm outstretched toward the ground.

Based on the map of my (extremely minor) injuries and scrapes, I contacted the ground with the blade of my right hand and braced with the palm of my left, lowered myself down into a roll. I hit my thigh on the corner of the wall, and I must have hit my knee at some point - probably during the roll.

I ended on my back, eyes closed, on the concrete. My right leg was extended, and my left knee was bent about 45 degrees. The person I was training with came over, and I calmly asked her to extend my knee and help me unzip my jacket so I could breathe. I walked away about 2 minutes later, and now about 36 hours later the only remaining pain/tightness/soreness is in my thigh, which is greatly diminished.

I was doing something easy and simple. This was something a beginner could probably do. I am sure, however, that this was not something a beginner could have walked away from so easily. I consider myself somewhat strong, but I still do things that are largely not risky. I take great care not to put myself in any unnecessary or excessive danger. This was a technique that was not excessively dangerous. But just like any technique, if the right thing goes wrong at the perfect time...

Physical strength is JUST AS IMPORTANT as mental strength. You can not say that a beginner is exposed to less danger because it simply isn't true. You can not say that because I am stronger, I have to take more risks. Because I was stronger, I am able to move my fingers to type this right now. Life is a long road and we must be strong in order to walk it to it's destination.

All That Matters

I'm on the tip of a mountain. On my left a steep drop to the canyon below. On my right a similar view. Death lingers on the peripheral. And I'm sprinting. Chasing companions and a virally famous canine along the ridge of the crater. I imagine this strip of land without the trees and bushes growing up around the edges. It is a stark and terrifying image of vertigo and demise. And yet I run. Footsteps make bargains with fate in every stride. I am racing my confidence, only a single wavering breath behind. How? How and more so why? We slow as the trail grows thinner, more tangled with plant life and slims to the size of Ariakes so only one step at a time can be made.

"Let go," he says. "Let it out." As if the world is waiting for my presence to be known. And I realize that it is. I realize that this land is unaware of me and anything I've ever said, thought, or done. To this mountain I am invisible. And so I yell. At first short and succinct, just to test my voice in the air. But then, with some encouragement I let it ring out across the valley. I am here, now.

But the mountain says nothing. It refuses to acknowledge me or my voice or my footprints on its spine. It doesn't care. It doesn't matter. I can hear my voice as it echos its way down the slope and I care. It matters to me. I know. I am here, now.

And so I run, tired and slow, but onward. Until there is no more trail to chase and I reach the end. And then instead of shouting I sit. I rest my bones and my fears on the edge of the world and I know. I am here, now. And that is all that matters.

It's not about the trees.

I'm still adjusting to living somewhere new, and walking around this city tonight made me realize a bit just what I'm learning.

You know it's strange, the trees here are so different. They're spikey, and impulsive- like so many gangly teenagers- always reaching needy-fingered upwards. Aching greedily, they grab more sky, and more and more. I don't remember trees back home doing any of that. They were calmer, brushing downwards, stable-like and generous. They nodded deeply in the winds, satisfied that we were so lost.

The snow here covers the forks and joining places like scrambling toddlers cover the knees of patient uncles.. and the bows don't break. Back home, one little ice-storm laid fields of tree-bits scattered like confetti.

So maybe there's a bit more here than trees. Maybe it's less that they're different, and more that I am. Perhaps being satisfied doesn't teach you to be strong, and the trials that come with ambition do.

Fighting the Good FIght

Some say ignorance is bliss. I disagree. I believe that ignorance, in particular those who choose ignorance, is a demonstration of a lack to persevere through that which is arduous. I see this to be a flaw; Another barrier in the mental journey of life and understanding.

I write this post today because recently I've been finding that my knowledge has been causing me unhappiness. Perhaps it's just the winter or my best friend moving away, but I have come to realize that these last few weeks I have been avoiding certain situations regarding health and fitness related topics due to frustration and denial that society is as misguided as it truly is.

I write this not as a simple blog post, but as a contract to myself to step up through those hard times and fight the good fight. Say what needs to be said and be an acting figure of change in the world. An ignorant man is a tragedy. An educated but idle man is a crime. You are where you where. It's time to take in your reality and play the game with the dices loaded against you. And above all that, you will smile.

Crazy Cold

So, here in Maryland it was ridiculously could this past weekend ... like 20 degrees with a wind chill making it feel like single digits and winds that almost ripped my wife's car door off. So where was I for 60 minutes Sunday? Outside ... freezing.

I will admit that I am usually what people call a "fair weather" tracuer, as I prefer to train when the conditions outside are more favorable. There are occasions though when I look outside and it is freezing, or raining, and a voice asks me "Are you really going to let that stop you? What if you had to?" As I stated, I don't do it often, but I try to put myself in uncomfortable conditions often enough to remind me that you should be able to adapt. Adapt to the weather, the surfaces, what you are wearing, etc.

How was it? Horrible. I put on a few extra layers, but my extremities and exposed skin on my face was very upset afterward. I stuck with precisions and transitions into and out of precisions while mixing in push ups to try to keep everything moving. The training was good though, as I had to be very mindful not to become sloppy due to the conditions. I felt good afterward knowing that I was able to force myself to do something that I needed to do and wanted to do, despite the fact that ... well ... I didn't really want to do it. It was a good day.

Traveling for Parkour - It's a Must for Community

Yesterday I drove from my house in Maryland up to Atlantic City. Jaimin, a local traceur, was holding a very special training session. It was designed to teach people about four things: RRDD. Respect, Responsibility, Dedication, and Discipline.

Jesse Danger and I wanted to use this to start a new effort we're promoting - visiting other cities to attend their events more regularly. It's normally a 3 hour drive to Atlantic City, but Janine Cundy, Charles Moreland and I all drove up, and Jesse Danger his friend Rick came down from New York City.

I ended up missing an exit on the New Jersey turnpike, and we got there 3 hours late... so I ended up missing the training session. But you know what - that's okay. I still met up with Jaimin, and after hanging out for a little while, we drove home.

9 hours in the car yesterday, about $25 in tolls, about $40 in gas, and we trained for maybe 20 minutes. And I feel like yesterday was a total success. I got out, I supported a new project a friend of mine was working on, and I had fun.

More people need this attitude. You don't need to drive 3 hours every week, but your community should make an effort, at least once a month, to take a roadtrip somewhere. Wake up at 6am, get back at 10pm, and go visit another community.

We always talk about how important community is to traceurs and in parkour - so lets show the world instead of just talking about it. Get out there, sacrifice some time and money, go somewhere, visit old friends and make new ones.