APK Alliance Blog

Motivation, Inspiration, Relocation!

2009-11-15T18:59:00.002-05:00

Last night, I relocated myself from Seattle to the East Coast to be able to work more effectively for APK. Wow, that's a helluva sentence. I never thought that parkour would take me to the places and send me the experiences it has. I've become close friends with people all over the states, flown all over the place to learn and perform, and done things I never anticipated I'd be capable of. It feels like this is just the beginning.

While it is bittersweet to leave Seattle just as Parkour Visions is really coming into it's own with the new gym, I know that they will be incredibly successful, even without my hands around.

5 years?

2009-11-06T06:39:00.005-05:00

When someone asks me how long I have been training, I rarely answer truthfully. My answer is usually about 3 years. In truth, I started 'training' parkour and freerunning in February 2004, over 5 (almost 6) years ago now. The reasoning for my deceitfulness is that while I was aware of parkour and freerunning, and while I went out and trained at least twice a week, I feel as though I was only doing it socially. When I trained, it was only with friends, and the goal was to see what sort of neat things we could do. There was very little conditioning done the first year or so. I look back and I am surprised that I did not immediately apply the lessons that I learned from training in the martial arts to my training in parkour. It was a revelation for me when U$F Volume 3 came out (I wish I could find a working link for this video) and Stephane Vigroux spoke about his training the way my master in the martial arts spoke about his training.

I feel as though this is the case for a lot of people starting out who don't have anyone to learn from directly and give them guidance on what they should be working on first. There is such a vast amount of good information on the internet now though because of sites like APK that I can't help but feel it's a little less common. It's good that almost every site that you visit now has some sort of disclaimer stating you need to condition, you need to be safe, you need to start with basics.

So I don't count my training up until 2006. It wasn't until then that I really buckled down, set some goals, and gave myself any direction as to what I wanted to do. That made a big difference. I can look back now, thanks to online videos, and see the difference in the way I moved, because early on the intent was just different.

At the beginning of the post, I mentioned starting in 2004. I thought of this because I was going through videos on Brian "Doc Ahk Horus" Belida's YouTube page and found the video he shot of us not too long after we started. The sound has been removed unfortunately but here is a link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eh0Vv2sT6bU
Viewer discretion advise.

I am glad that we had video of our early exploits. It allows me to put into perspective just how far we've come.

The Moment

2009-10-29T16:23:00.003-04:00

One of my life philosophies is any amount of time spent truly in the present moment is worth the effort it takes to get there. Sometimes the effort is just a matter of remembering to notice the small things and the beauty in everything. Other times it is a result of purposeful training.
The Zen concept "Mushin" or "mind of no mind" is a state in which the mind is open and receptive to whatever enters and exits, never sticking or clinging to any one moment or idea.
One of my favorite aspects of training parkour is when the drill forces me to find this state. Last night Frosti and I went out for a training session in front of the National Art Gallery.

The pillars in front of the building form a large circle around some oddly-shaped windows and a fountain. At first, I didn't even pay attention to the pillars because jumping from one to the other was an easy feat. However, running on the rounded tops for more than a few steps turned out to be much less simple a task. I set a goal for myself to complete an entire lap around the circle in each direction. For the next hour and a half I made attempts at the full lap. Sometimes after only 5 or 6 steps I would lose the balance and have to step off, other times I would find a good rhythm and make it half way around only to take one false step and lose it. I soon realized it was simply a matter of focus. When I made a less-than-satisfactory step I would grimace and feel disappointment; I would let my thoughts linger on that step and continue down a negative path of disappointment and embarrassment and soon would lose my balance. Reminding myself to take each stride one at a time and not let my mind get caught behind me, I re-focused, closed my eyes, took a deep breath and affirmed to myself I could run 100 laps. Beginning my run around the circle, my awareness felt expanded and pinpoint at the same time. This run looked and felt completely different. My strides were easy and light. Sometimes my foot would miss its intended spot on the target, but instead of dwelling on it I allowed it to leave my consciousness along with the step itself. Each pillar appeared to me one at a time, the whole run looked significantly different in my vision. There was never any doubt in my mind that I would make it all the way around and I finished the circuit in perfect balance atop the last pillar.

Staying in the moment and keeping the mind on the task at hand in each instant, never getting snagged on a small slip-up or misstep or mistake is a skill that requires practice but ends up being beneficial to movement and mind. I walked away from that session with a feeling of calm well-being, no doubt as much a result of my time spent immersed in the moment as having accomplished a difficult goal.

The Mirror

2009-10-28T10:34:00.001-04:00

Today I am looking at myself. I am staring at my legs. They are tired. They are weak. Well, weaker than they were before. Before when I ran, and jumped, flew, and fell, and made my way precisely and quickly through wood and concrete, step by step, strides and bounds, chasing an invisible finish line just in sight, just out of reach. Before my legs could carry my body, could propel it towards sky or earth, in any direction working as a team with my arms which could push or pull my frame over and through the ledges and rails that populate my path. But today they are weak as well. I look at my hands, they struggle to grip the utensils of life laid out before me, cup, phone, pen, spoon each present a new challenge to overcome with my tender digits and palms. They are torn and calloused, and the callouses are torn and calloused over. The nails are cracked. There are various pieces missing from various parts of various areas of my body. There is less of me today than there was before. Somewhere along my forgotten route there is my skin, and my blood, and my energy, and my fears, and my ideas, and my past, and I will not get them back. They will stay there and I will continue moving forward. Today I will grow new skin, I will heal and replenish my body, I will find new things to fear and to try and understand. Today is a new day, and I am tired and weak, but I can see that I am already starting to feel stronger. Today is only beginning and I will shake the slumber from my legs and arms and I will find a new finish line, because someday today will be before just as before was once today. Everyday a new finish line, everyday a new before, everyday a new today. Today I know myself a little better than I did before. I can only imagine what today will bring.

Where has Levi been?

2009-10-27T19:25:00.003-04:00

I just figured I'd give you all a brief update on what I've been up to, since I've been rather low key lately. After the COPK jam I had a performance with Skipper, Adrian and Leon in Kansas City. It turned out really well, we just provided some entertainment during one of their corporate meetings. Craziest part was that we choreographed the whole thing in 40mins the night before the performance!

Also, I recently shot a commercial for Comcast, but I haven't seen it yet, so keep an eye out for it. And let me know when you see it because I dont watch TV!! Then there was a big Jam in LA, ironically put together by the SF Parkour guys. That was really cool and gave me some new ideas for movement. After that some friends, including some of Tempest and I did a shoot for the segment "This Morning Show" on the E! network. Hopefully that will air soon. The training/shoot session for that was just a blast! We hit up some new spots, and new challenges. There was a photo shoot I did in Long Beach for this photographer who took some sequence shots. Those are the awesome shots where its one scene but multiple images of the person, showing their different moments along the path. I love those kind of shots so Im looking forward to seeing those!

Other than that, have been training, and working on various projects, including creating a new version of the Tribe site: TribalMovement.com. It's interesting out here in LA, but definitely a lot of opportunity so I'm just kicking my own butt trying to pursue them all!

Not to mention the League Competition that APK is still working on. Thats why I havent showed up in the recent TV shows. They invited me to Barclaycard and WFPF, but I decided the one we've been working on is the best to associate myself with because we will have so much control over how the sports are represented, and how the contests are run so we can make sure that everything is done right!

So, lots of things still happenin. To get the latest about my various projects and appearances, join my facebook page here or twitter here.

Thanks for reading! Now get out and train!!

Rochester Parkour Girl's Jams

2009-10-18T12:58:00.003-04:00

One full year after the launch of www.RochesterParkour.com we now offer girl jams! The female only jams are designed to introduce new or interested traceuses to parkour in a more welcoming environment. Jams are lead by RocPK's own Jessie K who has been in the discipline for almost a year now.

Currently, Rochester Parkour's normal Saturday jams pull out ~30 people fairly consistently. While this is exciting for me, it can be rather intimidating to beginners, especially the females. The Girl Jams were set up and scheduled to provide a more beginner friendly environment to foster learning, play, and fun!

Yesterday, even through the cold and the rain, three new traceuses came out to explore and learn! Here are some pictures of the fun had last weekend:

Doing a great job girls! Keep up the good work! For more pictures, please visit my Flickr.

Good job RocPK girls!

The Journey

2009-10-12T18:52:00.000-04:00

Start. Middle. Finish. Three distinct phases recognized in all facets of life. Not a one can exist without the presence of the others, and yet all too often I see traceur after traceur fall into the trap of placing all the importance on one particular point: the finish.

As traceurs, we are all after the ability to execute a kong, or a wall climb, a kong to cat, or any of the other thousands of movements we drill day in and day out. Every beginner strives for the feeling of that first successful kong. But once it's attained, on you go to acquire the kong to precision! And on it goes. Make it smoother. Make it bigger. Make a video. Push, push, push.

To follow is a short excerpt from a talk given by a wonderful philosopher named Alan Watts. Here he outlines and illuminates the supreme irony of the modern concept of "success."

The irony of success is not absent in parkour and here is a reminder to everyone who may stumble on this article, never forget that growth is not a product of the finish. The end simply cannot be without having first journeyed.

As you are on your way to that first kong, first wall climb, first kong to cat or precision, whatever it may be, remember that all of these "accomplishments" are a part of the journey, and you should sing and dance along the way. Frustration and failure are inevitably a factor of the journey. Without them, "success" means nothing.

I've been thinking lately...

2009-10-10T10:25:00.005-04:00

This post will be very short and and straight to the point. I have realized that I have spent to much time recently working on team business (not saying my friends aren't important), watching videos, filming videos, updating sites, and things of that nature. Even though they are important to me, I've realized that I have neglected my training a bit. I used to train 5 days a week and 8 hours a day; 4 hours parkour and 4 hours conditioning. Now, I'm somewhere between 2 - 6 hours a day of whatever training I can get. What I'm saying is put down the camera, do the business later, stop arguing, and the updating can come afterward. I'm not saying stop them period, all I'm saying is...JUST GO TRAIN!!!

An Update!!

2009-10-06T18:34:00.002-04:00

Yup, its been a while. Am I unnactive, sick, injured... hell no! Just lazy to post I guess. Not much has changed, not much is new. Just training, dealing with the obstacles of life and working of a few new projects. Getting ready for the holidays and going on with what keeps me busy.

Have a new videos to share and hope that you enjoy. Will try to post more often as I believe I have to get back into creative writing. Still working on my Denver trip write up, will be finishing up soon.

Enjoy these
A nice day for a sweet training session. Havent worked on wall ups in forever and they still need some more work. I also got palm flip outside and on concrete the first time. Playing with some effect as well. Hope you enjoy.

Yup, its been a while. Am I unnactive, sick, injured... hell no! Just lazy to post I guess. Not much has changed, not much is new. Just training, dealing with the obstacles of life and working of a few new projects. Getting ready for the holidays and going on with what keeps me busy.

Have a new videos to share and hope that you enjoy. Will try to post more often as I believe I have to get back into creative writing. Still working on my Denver trip write up, will be finishing up soon.

Enjoy these

A nice day for a sweet training session. Havent worked on wall ups in forever and they still need some more work. I also got palm flip outside and on concrete the first time. Playing with some effect as well. Hope you enjoy.

A nice beginning conditioning for females who want to start practicing the discipline of parkour. This can be done pretty much anywhere.

These drills focus on some of the techniques performed while training for parkour.
Precision, climbing, jumping and landing. These exercises isolates and recruit different muscle groups covering a full body workout. Lower body, core and upper body muscles. As well as grip strength, some jumping power and an overall coordination of motor skills.

In another attempt to help the community out, here in another tutorial for one of my favorite techniques. We really hope it helps.

Realize

2009-09-28T10:57:00.003-04:00

There are a lot of things I wish I could do. There are movements and moves and abilities I wish I possessed. There are people who I watch and wish I could replicate their skill, their courage, their success. There is a whole world of creativity I cannot even conceive of yet that I will never achieve, movements to be discovered that not a single one of us has even dreamt of exploring. I look to the past and see the growth of my own movement and the the overall growth of people's ability that has exponentially increased over the past few years and I can only wonder where it will go. Will it level out as we come closer to the edge of human limitations, ever stepping halfway closer to the wall? Will it expand beyond what we hold certain as impossible today and become the standard of tomorrow? Will it combine with newer technology, newer architecture, newer vision to something completely revolutionized? I cannot say, I can only imagine. Imagine and keep training, working to achieve the things I wish I could do. I must continue to work towards possessing the skills I desire, to absorb the abilities of those I admire by integrating their movements into my own. I cannot stop seeing a brand new world, full of possibility and creativity, because without our training, without our progress those days in the future will never come, those movements we will never be able to achieve will never be conceived. It is up to us, it is our duty to create, so that someday down the road someone can take the step beyond the farthest we went and realize our dreams.

At-home training, Hébert style

2009-09-17T09:57:00.006-04:00

I usually train in the gym in the evenings, or outside on the weekends, but lately I've been forced to cut back on my training time. I only manage to hit up the gym once or twice a week and I'm really feeling the change. I feel slow and stiff and I haven't been sleeping as well. Some of you out there may be experiencing similar issues, now that the summer training season is over, and you're going back to school, or back to work, or having your training time cut short by darkness.

Luckily, several members of the APK community, including Pilou of DCmPK and Gregg of HIPK and others have been working on translating some of Georges Hébert's Méthode Naturelle training, and many of Hébert's stretching and moving exercises are great for working out at home. I particularly like the QM variations as a way of stretching and conditioning my hips and back after a day spent sitting at the computer, and I can do the shoulder and arm exercises while sitting at my desk. These exercises can't replace a good workout, but they do help strengthen my joints, keep my muscles toned, and make my body happy on days when I can't train. They're also a great way of recovering after a hard training session. APK put an article with a link to Pilou's PDF here and you can also read Gregg's translation here. The pictures are invaluable for understanding the movements (and some of them are pretty amusing, too), so check out the original Google doc of Hébert's book here.

Checking in With Spruce Street

2009-09-15T23:38:00.004-04:00

It's going well, but sometimes the "kids" get to me.
Most of them don't want to be there, have other places (and other things) they'd rather be doing. They act out, cry for attention, and I'm happy to be the one to give it to them. To praise them, and celebrate with them when they learn new things, when they try parkour and find that they actually have fun doing it. Every once and a while, there's a "kid" who's just so obviously grateful to have a roof, and food, and peace that you wonder what the normal every day is like for them. They're the quiet ones, the ones that don't cry for attention. They don't want you to look too close.

You were the only girl I've ever seen in that place with mascara on
You smiled when I walked in.
You tried some vaults, and you were good when no-one was looking.
But you never said a word. Just played with your hair, and blushed, refused to eat, and jumped when someone spoke to you.

I know what it's like for the thoughts in your head to be so loud
you honestly can't hear the rest of the world
I know what it's like to be quiet but have something to say
but everyone else gets in the way
What?
Are my lights not on?
IS MY MIC NOT ON?
'Cause I'm here
and not just here, but kicking and screaming

And I know what it's like to be thought dumb
Mutestupid
I know what it's like to be there.
so don't be sorry I have to repeat myself
The things that you did
and the things that you didn't
The excuses you made
and the things that you've hidden
Don't hide
the fact that you're Beautiful

They asked if you were my little sister
we looked so similar
I said "I should be so lucky"
Instead, you seemed like a younger me

I know what it's like to be you
Abused
Misused
Confused

I want you to know what it's like to be me
Free

So here,
here's my email (no really)
my phone number (yes really)
a link to APK
when you get out of this place
hit me up, and we'll go play

This is for you,
Jane Doe
Nobody will ever know who you are
How beautiful you are
Unless you let them

So, she waited silently by as I put my shoes and socks on to leave. Never saying a word. I passed her a note as I left.

It said.

(name omitted),
You have no need to be so shy.
You are kind, and beautiful, and strong.
-Janine
(my phone number)

Familiar Peaks

2009-09-09T08:31:00.005-04:00

I hate it when you find truth in a cliché.

“You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone.” “Youth is wasted on the young.” “Don’t grow up too fast.”

My life seems to have gone about 180 degrees in the last year. From October 2007 to October 2008 I was living. I was teaching martial arts, training in the martial arts, training parkour, and doing performances and traveling because of parkour. I got to go to some amazing places I had never been to before; Chicago, Las Vegas, Hawaii. I was in the best shape of my life. I got to meet and be trained by some amazing people; Bill ‘Superfoot’ Wallace, and the Parkour Generations instructors Kazuma, Forest, Dan, and the Vigroux brothers. I got married to a wonderful woman who supported all of this, even letting me train on our honeymoon in Europe.
Unfortunately, life has its ups and downs and leads us all down different paths. I ended up getting an 8-5 job for various reasons, moving and buying a house, and finally “growing up” as some of my relatives so nicely stated. Needless to say, the time I have for training has been drastically cut short.

Where at one point I felt as though I was progressing, charging forward, ever expanding and improving, now I feel as though I am merely working to maintain. Strangely enough, that is just as exciting to me at this point. Having to work so hard to constantly achieve the same thing, while frustrating at first, afterwards provides the same liberating feeling each time I climb those familiar peaks. I now treasure each true training session, as long and difficult training seems to now be a more rare occurrence; most of my regular ‘training’ has become merely maintaining physical conditioning which rarely involves overcoming the fear and skill barriers that I have yet to rise above. Each instance where I find time to revisit, I walk away thinking “You’re not too old yet. You’re not past the point of no return.” It is a shame however that I did not work harder when I had the time, because if I had, these familiar peaks that I am constantly re-visiting would be a little higher.

Instead of Making Art...

2009-09-03T12:33:00.002-04:00

I found this a little while ago... take from it what you will.

"Most of us spend many hours each week watching celebrated athletes playing in enormous stadiums. Instead of making music, we listen to platinum records cut by millionaire musicians. Instead of making art, we go to admire paintings that brought in the highest bids at the latest auction. We do not run risks acting on our beliefs, but occupy hours each day watching actors who pretend to have adventures, engaged in mock-meaningful action.

This vicarious participation is able to mask, at least temporarily, the underlying emptiness of wasted time. But it is a very pale substitute for attention invested in real challenges. The flow experience that results from the use of skills leads to growth; passive entertainment leads nowhere. Collectively we are wasting each year the equivalent of millions of years of human consciousness. The energy that could be used to focus on complex goals, to provide enjoyable growth, is squandered on patterns of stimulation that only mimic reality."

— Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience

Making a Living

2009-08-27T13:41:00.002-04:00

We went out on a ninja mission. It was truly epic. Travis and I waited till after dark and made our way into the streets. We climbed, we ran, we trained, we balanced, we flipped, we conquered fears, we saw new possibilities, we drank really bad bubble tea. It was a good night. At the end of the night we stood on the edge of a building and felt the night breeze traverse the city and find our faces. But what we experienced, or at least I can confirm this for myself, had little to do with the obstacles we had overcome, with the challenges we faced, the interested looks of people who happened to catch a glimpse of our training, or even with the sense of accomplishment that follows achieving one's goals. Instead this was a feeling of completeness, of reality finding its way into the daily struggle of a life we shouldn't have taking over the way of life we were meant to live. In my bones I felt real for that moment, as if I was doing what I should be doing all the time, in being able to move and see the world around me, in being able to believe in something, even if it's only myself, in being able to be as I feel I should be, now with strength in my legs and confidence in my hands.

I am truly lucky, to have the life I have. A body that is capable, a mind that is active, a family that are supportive, friends that are motivational, a job that others dream of. Because of all these amazing things I can do what I ignored my teachers in class thinking about, what I spend everyday training to do, what I write about, dream about, think about every moment: Living. For me the mission wasn't just to practice parkour it was to live life. Parkour to me isn't a way of life, it's a way to live life. In a world that constantly realigns our beliefs of what is important, about what matters, and what it means to live, parkour offers a way to acknowledge the absurdity of existence and the opportunities we have and how we've accepted so many of them waltzing by in pursuit of what we like to think of as "making a living."

On that rooftop what I felt was that I had achieved, at least that night, was being alive.

Freerunnings Lesson for Life Choices

2009-08-26T17:40:00.003-04:00

I have sometimes thought about what I've learned from freerunning for my life in general. One of the biggest things it's taught me is how to make decisions with incomplete information and take calculated risks.

When I'm prepping for a new move or run that I've never done before, my mind goes through a certain procedure. First I look at all the objects I'm using and make sure they are strong and safe. Then I go over the maneuver numerous times in my head to make sure I remember every little flinch and timing perfectly. I also take a moment to analyze the state of my body; any lingering injuries, sore muscles, or overall tiredness or lack of focus that may affect my performance. Based upon all that I then have to make the decision whether I'm going to go for it or not. And the thing is, something unforeseen could still go wrong. A brick might come loose, or a hidden shard of metal appear. However because I took the time, I know that the chances of these things is very low. Though if something did happen I trust that I could react instinctively to protect myself. Even though I know there is still a chance of something going wrong, a risk, I also know that I cannot let that possibility scare me into submission. Because I also know that no matter how much time I take to practice, prepare, and analyze I will never be able to completely remove all possibility of risk.

When one reaches that point they have to make a choice about how they will live their life. Are they going to sit around in indecision waiting and waiting for the "final figures" to come in and make the results of their decision a sure thing? Or will they accept that there is some risk and whatever happens, they know that they did their best to prevent it, but in order to live a life worth living, it's necessary to take these risks on occasion.

Where this seems to fall apart for me, is when the risk itself could end my life. The problem here is that if you're dead, you wont have learned anything from the mistake or mess-up! Making the choice to commit to a risky act for the sake of leading a certain kind of life is rendered irrelevant if that life no longer exists.

I've found that this realization has helped me with many other situations in life. For instance making the choice to go on a trip, or the choice to commit my time and effort to one endeavor over another. Life is a big complex mess! So in order to lead a rewarding life, I believe it's essential to master the art of making rational choices based on incomplete information. And freerunning has helped me immensely with this.

Ozzi 2yrs Training Mark Trip

2009-08-24T17:39:00.002-04:00

This month of August marked my two years of training. As a way of celebrating I had the great opportunity of making it to the National Jam in Denver, CO. Also had a chance to go to SF to take care of some personal stuff, I while there I took the time to train with SFpk as well. Although I was to busy having fun and training, I did my best to document the trip getting everyone involved. This was a great opportunity to meet the people that i usually interact with online while being challenged by new spots and possibilities.

Expect a more in depth write up soon.

How to I get "good" in Parkour?

2009-08-20T18:01:00.001-04:00

I was asked in 07 on how to get better at Parkour and it stirred something in me at that specific time, for whatever reason, and this is the result of it.

It's all about goals, and you have to be willing to achieve that goal no matter what, you need to have the drive, determination, and discipline to make something out of yourself.

If you want to become good in Parkour your sole reason can't be to "be good", "be better than people" or "Get stronger". You need to make Parkour your life if you intend to be good at it, almost to the point where you hold it's importance above all others. Of course this doesn't mean hold this above your friends, family or any one you may care for. I don't mean this in a physical sense only at all, not by a long shot. To progress, the ideas and mindset of Parkour need to be engraved in your soul. You can get strong, you can get fast, you can learn and make yourself agile enough to move over obstacles, but if you have no direction, if you have no mindset, if you have no goal, what are you running for? You must find a direction, and go for it with every fiber of your being. Sure there will be times in training that you don't train hard, maybe not train at all, but just know that even though you may not be moving physically, or conditioning that you don't need to move your body to train your mind.

On the physical side when you do train though do it SAFELY, SMART, and as hard as you can, as often as you can. Don't be in a rush, it only leads to injury. Listen to your body there is a thin line between progressing and destroying your body, but you must learn to know the difference, know when the only thing keeping your from a movement is your rational and irrational fear, you can train your body to achieve amazing things but it takes time. Showing discipline and staying healthy is more important than making due with an injury. Try and Emphasize these things in your training; Silence, sound is a byproduct of wasted energy, less sound, less wasted energy; Control, not just in your body but in ALL things; Precision, think what your body is doing in EVERYTHING, master your body, train to make it do what you want as often as possible, reach for perfection. Train often but listen to your body, not resting does more harm than good to your body. there may be a time when you will be sore and you may have to use what you train though so make your training thorough, you will not always have the luxury of being at the top of your present abilities if you have to use what you've learned, train yourself in bad circumstances, STAY SAFE, but train them to be ready. Awareness is also very important, try and be aware of your surroundings as often as possible, people, places, etc. TAKE CARE OF YOUR BODY.

More than anything you must show discipline, you may have the ability to do any number of things but that doesn't mean you always should. Discretion and Courtesy show mastery of emotions, this is important. You can't just focus on the physical manifestation of Parkour, to truly excel you must make it a part of you, make it a part of your mind, body and soul. Achieving this, making yourself as whole as possible, as able as possible, for not only yourself but for OTHERS. Love, Hope, Discipline...this is what drives me.

This is a constant road, a hard road, one you most likely will never find the end to but thats the beauty of it.

Take it slow there is no rush, train and it will come, being physically strong enough is not the main goal, try not to get too caught up in it. These are just my ideas, there are many others, some similar, some different, learn what you can and use what is useful, Find your way. Strive for Perfection, but its not the destination that is most important, its the journey, the changes you've made in the lives of others and yourself that make you stronger, or weaker, depending on your choices, they all have an effect. "People may forget what you've said or done but they will never forget how you made them feel"

Train Hard, Live well, and Best of Luck

Jereme Sanders

Hawaii Parkour Mascot - Roxy's TV debut!!

2009-08-16T03:06:00.000-04:00

Our little Roxy had her first Media appearance, featuring her skills as the only legit parkour dog. She was also finalist for the Cover of the Hawaii Pet Magazine, they are currently deciding which of the finalist will make it to the cover. Leave some comment here for the judges to check out as I will be sending them this.

Rehabilitating Human Movement

2009-08-11T17:28:00.001-04:00

Here's an article I wrote last year, but I'll re-post it for those of you who did not read it.

Rehabilitating Human Movement

By MaxCalder

Over the last few days I visited the zoo to observe the different primates moving, hoping to learn something from them I could apply to my training. I particularly found the Siamang apes and the Chinese monkeys (I cant remember the name of the species) the most interesting because I saw them playing. They moved and explored their environment, they play fought, they chased each other this was their training. I watched a young monkey stare down a jump to a piece of rope, this was challenging obstacle for it because it took a few seconds to concentrate before jumping. It jumped landed overshot and almost flipped over but was able to save itself from injury by twisting in mid air and landing on its feet. This was him learning.
The more mature monkeys had a sense or an aura of comfort in their movements, they seem 100% confident in their movements, and they too played. Although not as much as the young monkeys, but they still played and moved. And in nature they apply the knowledge learned by playing in order to survive and live.

Now we as humans have a social stigma about playing, we believe it to be immature or not proper for adults to do. So around the preteen age most humans stop playing and thus stop moving, with the exception of basic bi pedal movement (walking, running). Take the average human and ask them to do any movement other than walking and it will seem rather awkward if not impossible for them to do, even their walking is sometimes questionable. They do not have the Aura of comfort I talked about earlier.

I have only trained with only one person who had over 10 years training in parkour and that was David Belle at the New Yorker event. When I watched his movements he had the same aura of comfort about him, he seemed to float over the smallest things with 100% confidence. This was far more impressive to me than the big jump he did at the top of two 20 foot towers. The fact that he possessed something I had only seen animals in nature have was very amazing to me, and this inspired me greatly.

David has been training for about 20 years; this is the age when humans reach maturity. So by this standard he is mature in his movements, most of us reading this are still only children in terms of movement. So this brings us to my next point.

Rehabilitate: Verb)
A) To restore to a condition of good health, ability to work, or the like.
B) To restore to good condition, operation, or management, as a bankrupt business.

Now whenever someone is unable to move for a period of time, usually due to injury, they must go through a rehabilitation process to relearn how to perform basic motor functions.
Say an athlete was unable to walk for several months due to an injury. Upon recovery he attempted to go full pace back into action the next day the likely outcome would be an injury. The athlete must slowly build back their strength before coming back to their previous state by doing various
exercises to bring them where they need to be to move safely and normally.

This is exactly why we as traceurs condition and drill movements, because it is in a sense rehabilitation. We were dormant from playing and natural human growth so we must ease back into it slowly and safely to restrengthen ourselves physically and mentally for advanced movement. If we didn't there would be serious injury. That is why we all preach no big drops, condition, progress slowly. We are artificially training something that should come natural to us. We mimic the repetition and conditioning that comes with many years of play.

Animals who don't behave like the others and do not move are looked at by us as sick or mentally impaired. Why do we not look at our lack of movement as unhealthy?

Well recently we have been.

In an age where PE classes are being cut and playgrounds are being torn down, we as a people are starting to notice how unhealthy and ridiculous this is. A friend of mine who is a major in microbiology told me that there was a study that children who play at a young age and get dirty, build better immune systems and live healthier and happier lives than those who don't. This is common sense but is something we have sadly forgotten.

In the end David Belle and the other OT's (original traceurs) are nothing special, they are just normal. But they are special in a way because they ignored the system, they continued to move and keep moving despite what others told them. We all need to live with movement in our lives just as all animals do. We are no different than animals and we too have the desire to move and keep healthy but it has been forgotten by us as a species.

Speed Restriction

2009-08-11T15:05:00.002-04:00

Recently in my training I've been incorporating a new method that I have found to greatly increase my confidence in a technique and also boost my explosive power. I've been calling it Speed Restriction.

The idea is simple, approach an object that you normally use during your regular training, and force yourself to do the same vault, tic-tac, precision, or wall pass with only two steps.

The other day I approached a wall I usually train on that is about 90% of my max height, and employed this method. Try after try, I would explode my right leg up the wall as hard as I could, yet still fail. Days later, I would try again with the same outcome. Recently, however, I have been able to succeed at this 11 some foot high wall using only two steps.

The ability to do most of your skills and abilities with such a narrow distance opens up many new areas for you and I feel is a very important, and often neglected, aspect of regular parkour training.

All I want to do is have some fun.

2009-08-02T14:01:00.003-04:00

And I've got a feeling that I'm not the only one...

The driving factor behind pretty much anything and everything kids do is the desire to "have fun." They haven't developed mentally enough to separate things they "have to do" from things they "want to do." There are lots of ways kids can have fun, but over the past 20 years what kids end up "wanting to do" has experienced a significant paradigm shift.

They used to want to play - they wanted to go outside, make believe, be cowboys and princesses, space captains or jump rope queens. Now when parents let kids "have fun" it's generally "Go watch four hours of cartoons" or "Go play XBox for the night." Instead of getting dirty, meeting the neighborhood kids, or expanding the imagination, it's all about the latest and greatest graphics and special effects.

Before the argument comes up that (some) games and (some) television shows can expand the imagination, there is such a huge difference between SHOWING and TELLING.

One of my favorite authors of all time is HP Lovecraft, a horror writer from the 20s and 30s. He wrote differently from almost everyone else though, and helped define the "strange fiction" genre. Instead of his stories describing ghosts and goblins and monsters and aliens terrorizing the world, his stories took a different route. While there certainly were ghosts and monsters, his stories were not about the creature - they were about the person. Mostly told in first person, his stories often followed a character's descent into insanity and madness. He rarely described the creature, and instead described the character's reaction to seeing it. He let you use your imagination to create the details, and in doing so the creature was different for every single person - and each person's image of the creature was terrifying to them personally. What freaks my friend out might not even phase me, but because my image of the creature is different from my friend's, we were both terrified.

Extrapolate this imagination-exercise into a child's situation: They're being shown what the aliens in Halo look like, versus going out into their back yard and imagining they're fighting off aliens that they've created. In order to stimulate imagination, kids need to go outside and play. Give a kid with a good imagination a stick and they should be able to entertain themselves for a whole day.

To help combat society's diminishing emphasis on play, an organization called KaBOOM! has sponsored a "National Play Day" week. September 19th-27th, over 300 organizations will be sponsoring events designed to encourage children to turn off the electronics, get outside, and just play!

Rochester Parkour will be doing their part. We will be sponsoring a free event at Manhattan Square Park, our usual training grounds, for ages 7-13. We will be focusing on the "play" side of Parkour - games, follow the leader, and exploring your environment - and we will be teaching kids about the importance of picking up after themselves, cleaning up trash, and leaving their playgrounds cleaner than they found them. You can find out more information about our event on our Playday Organization Page.

I know another one of these is happening in Madison, and Parkour Visions is considering hosting on in Seattle. Will these three communities be the only ones to help save play, or will you join the cause and host your own?

The Alignment

2009-07-27T21:46:00.003-04:00

Once in a very rare while, the craziest coincidences happen where many random events fall into place perfectly. Such an occurrence happened recently. I just moved from Michigan to Los Angeles, CA about a month ago, and although I already have a lot of great friends here, I inevitably missed those friends and training buddies back in the midwest.

Both Travis Graves, originally from Michigan, but now a trainer at Primal Fitness, and Cloud Cousins from Chicago had told me they would be visiting LA sometime this summer. Just before the 4th of July weekend I suddenly received word that a couple Chicago, Aero guys were coming this weekend, and it was Thursday. Soon after, I found out that Cloud and a bunch of his friends and roommates from Chicago was also going to be in LA that same weekend! If that wasn't enough, Travis decided to come that very same weekend as well!

First I picked up Cody and Emmanuel from Chicago, who were staying downtown for an anime expo. We hit Santa Monica beach and did a little training and a little sightseeing. Travis's flight was coming in that same day so afterwards we went and picked him and Jessica up. They were going to take a train to San Diego, but they just missed it, so they decided to stay the night and hang out with us. Once we all crammed into my little subaru, we puttered our way up north to my place, and Gymnastics Olympica where team Tempest was training as well. Although we were mostly beat from the training and traveling, it's always nice just to move.

We said goodbye to Travis and Jessica the next morning as they boarded their train to San Diego. For the fourth of July Cloud and his posse were having a barbeque on the beach and invited us. So Brenda and I went and met up with the gang, and had a great time, and enjoyed the great food. I love BBQs. Despite it's being a little cool out, we jumped in the water and wrestled with the big waves for a while. Good times! Later, as Brenda and I were leaving we pulled over near a stadium and watched the fireworks through the window. It was a great show, car alarms kept getting set off. We saw many other fireworks shows taking place all around us as we drove home on the freeway.

Cloud, Cody, Emmanuel, and I were able to squeeze in a quick training session at UCLA before the guys had to go. UCLA is a great training ground because there's just so much great architecture to use.

The rest of the Chicago crew were able to stay and go to a gym session at White Lotus Kung Fu. There was a Korean news reporter who came to do a piece on freerunning, so he filmed and interviewed us while we trained there.

By this time, Travis came back from San Diego and stayed for a few days, including my birthday! We got in a lot of training, and just fun while he was here. One morning we went out into the mountains with OJ and climbed all over the huge rock structures. It was a blast, though quite dry.

We also got a chance to go see Santa Monica and Venice beach with Travis. He aced the flying rings on his first try, of course, since he's a beast.

At night for my birthday, we made some amazing nachos, then an amazing cake: Brownie and Chocolate Chip cookie mixed, with a layer of chocolate frosting, then a layer of vanilla, then another layer of chocolate. As soon as it touched your tongue it would make you giggle at how unbelievably sweet it was!

We also got a chance to jump into the pool at my place. Conveniently the second floor balcony in right over the deep end, so we took full advantage of that great setup.

Later that week I had some friends from Tempest over to my place again for a BBQ and pool party. They also got a kick out of the setup....

Eventually Travis, Cloud and the gang all went back home but it was really nice to see the midwest crew again. It was like being back home in the Michigan! Thanks guys! Ill see you at Denver!

Just Move

2009-07-27T17:44:00.003-04:00

I was talking to a girl last night, she'd never heard of parkour until she met me. Thanks to APK, facebook, and youtube she got some solid internet stalking done and so she began to describe what she saw when she watched the videos she found.

"It's so simple. You're just moving. It's art though, the art of moving, I guess. Yeah, the art of movement."

Easy as that. With fresh eyes to our oldest question she stated simply and elegantly the idea of what we do. Now I know many people consider parkour and freerunning and ADD different things and that's true, they do have different definitions for the words, but to me it all comes down to one simple idea: What do we do? Not what do we call what we do, not what it means to do what we do, just simply what do we actually do? Now I'm not trying to deny the existence of differing disciplines and that some may only be interested one idea and not another, but what I do want to recognize is just what connects us all. What is it that allows hundreds of strangers to gather in one city and open their doors to one another? What is it that drives people to run and jump and climb? What is it that makes us, this family, exist? What brought us to this place we're at today? I remember the animosity and separation that divided the community only a few years ago. What is it that softened those tempers, that bridged those gaps? To me I think it was a simple realization, that no matter what you call yourself, it's only a word, but what we do that is more than a word, it's an understanding. A shared desire to just move, for whatever reason you give, to whatever end or goal, it's all just movement.

I am constantly in awe of what this community has accomplished, how it has grown, how it has helped to build itself, the image it has presented to the rest of the world. All the efforts of each individual member and every local community, hosting jams, running Leave No Trace days, posting videos, offering helpful posts, every little action has proved to me time and time again that whatever it is that we call ourselves, we've all found a way to connect, to work together, to build something incredible, and most importantly to just move.

Chicago Colossal Jam 2009

2009-07-26T07:34:00.000-04:00

The American Parkour scene is starting off strong this summer. First (B)East coast with a record of over 120 people, and now Colossal with 147 Traceurs! Each year the numbers keep growing and who knows when they will reach a limit. Aero hosted its first national jam in 2006 with 30 people…

With the majority of the out of town traceurs coming in Thursday night; Friday started off with a taste of a local pancake house which soon lead to an impromptu tricking session outside of a Trader Joe’s… The official welcome and night training session kicked off at 7:30pm in a local park with introductions and a rail balancing challenge to begin the night with. Training lasted until around 10:00 or so with Cloud and Fresh getting all the out of town guys places to sleep. Some choose to stay up into the hours of the morning, while others tried to maximize on their sleep knowing full well that an 8 hour jam was about to commence….

The day started off with poor weather reports and all signs pointed to rain. Rain or shine Colossal was going to happen, and luckily the clouds decided to hold back. The jam was ideally starting at 10am over at University of Illinois Chicago, but unfortunately Cloud showed up to his own jam 30 minutes late… Introductions were in order and the teachers for the day were introduced. Frosti and Jake Carlson went over rolls and landings, Leon went over precisions, Cody Beltramo and Syn worked on flown and putting movements together, Chris Price and Spyder (Chris Wachtman) went over Climb ups, and Cloud and Mike Metze taught vault fundamentals. The day started off great with everyone training and almost no problems. Ryan Thill (a local) pulled of a nice tac to wall run, and after an hour or two we gathered in the Quad and began some more workshops and general jamming. Crain Tutorials, Wall Smash techniques, PDQ, Circle pushups, and more general awesomeness continued for a few more hours. Logan from Colorado and Syn pulled off a massive Kong to precision that many instantly doubted when judging the distance. Around 1pm we took a group photo and broke for lunch. Thai Bowl has never seen so many customers….. Around 2pm we all left to head downtown for the second half of the jam.

A quick hop on the train and by the time we arrived at Vietnam Memorial our numbers had increased. Everyone was already in full swing with Cats on the right and Wall runs on the left. Cory from Team Pandora started off the wall run session nailing a massive 16 foot wall run… The rest of the day many others tested the wall as well. The massive Kong to Precision was revisited by Leonn and Chad Zwadlo. Security came shortly later and politely told us to stay off the walls, we finished up our session and headed down the Chicago River to hit up a few spots along the River Front. Some more jamming and new spots were discovered, while we pressed on for the beach.

Once we arrived at Navy pier most were exhausted and already pushing 6 hours of colossalawesomeness… A large group of us still continued to push on and turned the beach into a nice tricking session. There was a nice ledge off to the side for various interpretations of how we like to manipulate our center of gravity. Finally, the sun was setting on the Colossal Jam, and 95 percent of the practitioners were wiped. So it was time to call in the big guns… Muse of Fire was our special guest from Madison and she was happy to lead a stretching session to finish the day with. Last minute housing was figured out and we all headed home for some Chicago deep dish pizza. It was glorious and we headed to bed early enough to try and recharge whatever we could for the next day of the Jam.

Sunday started off with Cloud and his group getting lost and showing up 2 hours late again….. The Dunes jam was already in full swing and by the time we got there, I could easily spot Traceurs climbing the sand dunes in the distance. They aren’t your typical dunes, these had sections that acted has platforms to jump off of. The landings ranged from a story or two with a drop into the softest sand you could possibly imagine. You could literally run as fast as you could on top of the dunes and try to jump as far as possible with no worries. Cloud took a hilarious fall that resulted in him rolling multiple times down the side of the dune due to a missed step right before takeoff. The day was cool and the water was a pleasant temperature after a long day of training. After a long day of training in the sand everyone was parched and with one less car (decided to breakdown) we called it quits and headed back home. The last few stayed at my house for one last night and headed home the next day. All in all 147 practitioners dominated Chicago and helped make it a truly epic jam of the summer.

The Chicago Colossal Jam is an annual event held by Aero. Once a year, Aero invites all traceurs from around the nation; west, midwest, and east, to come out to the city for a weekend of nonstop Parkour and Freerunning training.