Rochester Parkour Girl's Jams

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!

I've been thinking lately...

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!!!

Familiar Peaks

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.

Speed Restriction

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.

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 clip that started it all ... for me

I was searching Youtube the other day and found the media regarding parkour that eventually got me into training. Back in 2001, Ripley's Believe It or Not did a piece on the Yamikasi, and it was remembering that piece in 2004 and discussing it with then room mate Brian "Doc Akh Horus" Belida that got us both to start going out and training. Thanks to pkmbyte for posting this for us all to reminisce. Enjoy.

Making Time

In February I started working a full time job (8am to 5pm) after having worked "part time" in a couple of different jobs (driving a delivery van in DC, teaching Martial arts, office work) for two years. I immediately noticed that with the time at work itself plus the communte time (about 30 minutes one way), I was starting to find less and less time to train with others. I would get off work and have to run some errands, or I would head home and make dinner and spend time with my wife, or I would volunteer to teach an hour or so of martial arts, and before I knew it I had to hit the hey or I'd hate myself in the morning.

With the sudden cut in training, I decided that I had to 'make time' for myself to work on my parkour and martial arts training. So far I have been using my unpaid lunch hour to go out and train, as I am lucky enough to work in a building that has showering facilities. This however only leaves me maybe 35 or 40 minutes to train, as changing and showering and such take up the other 20 or so minutes. This really effects the way I train, as I used to take my time warming up, and then drill something for a while with no particular rush. Now I have to get right to work and try to squeeze as much into my weekly sessions as possible. Quite often I found myself finishing a warmup and workout and not getting any time in to train specific skills.

So the question becomes, what can I cut out next? Starting next week, I'll likely be getting up significantly earlier and going to train before work. Propapby going to try to get teh workout/conditioning done in teh morning, and then just train skills at lunch. We'll see how well and how long this lasts.

What sort of things do you do to 'make time' for yourself and your training?

(b)East Coast Reflection

(b)East Coast; a yearly Memorial Day weekend Parkour and Freerunning jam held in the Washington, D.C. Metro Area. I have participated in this event for the last 3 years. The first year I was there, there were perhaps 30 people at the event. Last year there were around 60 or so. This year there were over 130 people participating in the training and group events that the Beast had to offer!

This jam is usually my wake up call and my yearly reminder that no matter what I feel I have accomplished in the last year, there is so much out there that I have yet to see and do. Some of the places that we all trained in I have been to many times before, however people saw things at these spots that I hadn't thought of before. I saw people accomplish feats that inspired me to want to train harder. I saw people pushing themselves to accomplish amazing things, which made me proud to say that we were doing Parkour training.

I also met many, many people who I had only heard of or read posts by on APK. It was amzing seeing so many people get together and have so much in common for having never met each other face to face. I even saw some minor hero worship as new practitioners watched on as menbers of the Tribe who were in attendance worked on various routes and jumps. I can't blame them though, as I love getting the chance to watch Tribe members in action, and at the jam, everyone was encouraged to train with them.

I am not the biggest fan of large Jams, as I prefer training alone or with a small contingent of people. More seems to be accomplished in those settings. I will say this though; I am a fan of what these larger national Jams can do to inspire, open one's eyes, and to bring together teh community.

All for the want of a shoe

I'm going to say this right off the bat; I am not a big fan of corporate control. It upsets me when a company see something only as a means to profit as opposed to a possible venue for mutual benefit.

That being said, I have to speak about the possible ending of the K-Swiss Frerunning line of shoes. In my personal opinion, I have not seen any other company do so much for Parkour and Freerunning as K-Swiss has. The tours and demonstrations that they set up in an attempt to launch their line were staffed and run by experienced practitioners whose goal at each event that I have seen (both in the US and overseas) was only to safely and effectively spread proper knowledge of the discipline. The line was supported by a founder, Mr. Sebastian Foucan, and it's demonstrations featured absolutely awesome talent from around the world, including Levi Meewenberg and Daniel Illabaca. K-Swiss was even giving away tutorial DVD's to people so that they could assist in the proper education of people interested in these disciplines.

Unfortunately, the line is possibly going to be ended; K-Swiss has already removed most of the information regarding Frerunning and the associated line of shoes from it's site. I am not going to preach that the K-Swiss brand of shoes were the best shoes to train in, as I think that depends upon where you are and what you prefer. I will however say that the loss of this line is a step backwards in the advancement of these disciplines, because there are few companies out there willing to support traceurs, attempt to promote them in a positive light, and who will assist in having actual practitioners get face to face time with the public to promote these arts we love.

If you are interested in saving the K-Swiss freerunning line, Mark Toorock would like to hear from you. He is meeting with K-Swiss on Wednesday, May 20 to discuss the end of their support for Parkour and Freerunning. He would appreciate if anyone willing would send "Ariake Love Letters" that detail why you like the K-Swiss line of shoes, and what it means to you that they are discontinuing them. It would be appreciated if you could include a picture of your shoes and you training in them with your letter. You can mail it to: m2@americanparkour.com

Flow Jam

Hey just wanted to talk a bit about a great training session we put together in NY. A little over ten people came out to train, a few of them doing parkour for the first time but had trained extensively in other disciplines. and a couple completely new people. We started it all off with a proper warm up and it was great to see some of these new guys trudging on right behind me on all of this QM they hadn't tried before. Everyone managed to push out every step and everyone ended it off feeling satisfied.
From there we broke the big group down into 3 smaller ones led by Nikkie, Irish, and myself. Nikkie led an extensive railwork section teaching people how to flow and weave through rails. One of the guys there would have no problem doing muscle up after muscle up, but when it came to those underbars he was working up a sweat. Irish led a section on vaulting, teaching people to keep tempo and to transition well between vaults. He put everyone through some time trials on some circuits he made up. I led a section on plyometric work, teaching people to better bound and rebound through their environment and of course stressing to always use proper landing technique and never train plyometrics too frequently. To finish it all off we broke down in to two groups and each set up their own circuits incorporating what they had learned.
It was a really positive experience, it's great to have new people coming and training hard and striving for self improvement.

Videos and Parkour

I started training because I saw a Ripley's Believe It or Not with the Yamakasi featured in it. It was brought up in conversation with Brian while I was in college, but it wasn't until I saw videos of it online that I started thinking "maybe I should go out and try this."

Part of the fun of training when I started was filming what we were doing because we loved editing video and I think we all wanted to be Jackie Chan at heart. I look back now and think "Why would you even film that, it is so ... bad." The answer though is very simple ... because it was fun.

When we started, training was all about fun. We had a good time together and we were getting better at something we enjoyed. As we got more serious, the training became more serious, but it was still fun to train and to do it together. We stopped filming as much because it got in the way of the training, but every once and a while we’d pull the camera out to review what we were doing.

I have heard and read a lot of comments saying that internet videos (usually YouTube is singled out here) are a leading proponent in the defamation of parkour and the creation of negative viewpoints on it, but I can’t help to think where I’d be if there weren’t videos (and quite a few that we saw when we started were not good by any means) on the internet to spark interest and lead people to find more or better information on what we do.

I bring this up because Brian and I read about the film festival that Skipper is having at (b)EAST Coast this year and we thought, "Why not have a little fun?" I don't know if we'll be able to get together and film and edit anything between now and then, but we will try. It actually makes me kind of excited because this activity has made me remember all the good times had when we were just jumping around trying to be creative, both with training and with filming. And while I can guarantee we won’t be putting out an amazing video like those from Levi or Frosti, perhaps something we do will inspire someone on some level.

Regardless, we’ll have fun.

Johnny Parkour Appleseed

As a member of the APK Alliance, I set a lot of expectations and goals for myself. I'm always trying to improve APK as a website, organization, and community. The Alliance is composed of strong local community leaders though, and so I spend a lot of time working on my local community in Rochester, New York.

That being said, I'm in a fairly unique position. I've been involved with APK and NYPK for most of my parkour-life, and I've created a very strong community in Rochester out of nothing. Through other non-parkour projects too, I have a lot of experience building/rebuilding organizations and making them far more effective.

I was looking at the Google Analytics map for New York State the other day, and I realized that there were bubbles of activity around a lot of major cities (Albany, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, etc) in Upstate. I realized that there are a lot of people interested in parkour in these areas... they just don't know where to go.

That's when I came up with my New York State Area Reps program. This program has two functions:

1. It designates a specific "Go-To" person, essentially an official community leader, for each city. This gives newcomers an official person to contact. If for some reason the two parties can't meet up, the Rep might know other people in the area that they can connect with.

2. It provides a network of support for all the area reps. The reps can give each other suggestions and advice, and learn from each others' successes and mistakes. It will be easier to plan cross-city events and implement a "traveling traceur" program.

That's what I've been keeping busy with here in New York while I'm at school. However, the school year is coming to a close, and then I'll be back in Maryland for the summer.

I've already been contacted by a traceur from Baltimore and a traceur from my hometown. They're both looking to legitimize their communities a bit more - hold Beginner's Workshops and more structured training sessions. I'm going to be spending a lot of time working with them and really building up their communities.

I realized that a few days ago that I've become the Johnny Appleseed of Parkour communities. Coming into a new city, planting the seeds of structure and leadership and community, and then moving on when they become self-sustaining.

Not a bad way to pass the time...

Rain

To train or not to train, that was the question. Whether tis nobler to combat the elements and persevere in the pursuit of a thought, nay a dream.

Needless to say it was raining today, and I had to make that choice that everyone has before them at one time or another ... should I go train in this weather? I usually train for 40 minutes in lieu of a lunch break, and the thought of going out in the rain when it is 45 degrees out and then coming back to work was not an appealing one.

So I went out and trained. I remember having discussions on the internet when I first started about whether it was safe and responsible to train when conditions aren't safe. You just have to think about what you are going to practice that session and plan accordingly.

I ended up running for 15 minutes, then doing some work on nearby stairs (sprints up, QM or bunny hops down) for another 10 minutes or so, and I finished by practicing precisions on the lines in the parking lot. It was miserable while I was outside, however when all was said and done, I felt good. I was glad I went out and trained, because I enjoy knowing that I can push myself and work on something I enjoy no matter what obstacle may try to get in my way.

Now I just have to hope I haven't caught a cold.

PK Awareness Month, First Meet.

Brief review.

So our first Parkour Awareness Party meet at Kapiolani Park was a great hit. With a line that went as far as David and I could scream while going over the techniques and people from HIpk as well as others who just walked by and joined the fun (including a few homeless)

Everyone had a taste of what parkour was, JC, Ian and a few others, were active and alert to invited those who stood there and just observe. Quickly reacting and doing their best to explain what it was we were doing.

It was a great sunny day full of fun and PK, what else could we all ask for? Footage of the event will be all put together at the end of the month.

Next meet will be next Sunday the in Waikiki and we cant wait.

Thursday Training at CF.

CF WOD

"Josh"
I replace the 24" box jump with jumping onto the "tank" 40"

40 wall slam 20#
10 box jump
30 ball slam
15 box jump
20 ball slam
20 box jump
10 ball slam
25 box jump
1000mt row.

17:02

The box jump was intense.

PK class.

Free flow warm-up, did a bunch of vaults and techniques using the Tank and soft trapezoids

Double kong, kong precision, kong to cat, kong handstand and others.

Tic-Tac training
worked on tic-tacs, everyone got it really quickly.

Did a bunch of tic-tac experimentation
Tic-tac to reverse
Tic-tac to kong
Tic-tac to dash
Tic-tac to speed
Tic-tac to wall spin

During the free session I did a kong to precision and got it but the trapezoid I was precisioning onto moved and I felt back. Landing on my lower back on the big plate area above the collar bone. Same area I landed at during the BBQ. It is not something that has happened often but really didnt feel good. It is stiff and hinders my movement I nutch. It was a silly fall, but even the silliest of falls cant cause real damage. Fortunately it was nothing to bad but it did stop me for a few mins and bugged me while we were stretching.

Hopefully it will be ok for tomorrow.

HIpk BBQ

So last Sunday we had a Training BBQ as a warm to the April - PK Awareness Month that we are planning. Brought a bunch of "toys" to train and play with and it was a success, we had a nice set up and lots of food. Several people came from the community and other new faces I have not seen but were happy to participate. We got lots of footage video will be up soon.

As far as training, a did several vaulting but mainly flips. My side flips are getting better and better but need to work on step off sideflips and summit. Did several fronts which hadnt done in a while and a few back layouts. Need to work on getting more distance with my kongs and need to work on longer double kongs as well. Did some gainers, everything god but working on getting further forward. Gotta remember to throw my hips out more.

Getting ready for next weekend, that is going to be wild. Ordered a banner and some flyers to promote PK and HIpk. We are expecting great Hawaii weather and great turn out. We just hope we gets lots of attention and participation from the spectators. Should be an awesome day.

Check out the flyer.




Ozzi

Indiana National Jam

Had a great time at the Indiana jam, met tons of new traceurs and familiar faces. Had a good two day session, along with some training in the rain and helping out the newer guys. A ton of Chicago traceurs and traceuses from made it down there to enjoy the experience. Hope to train again with you guys soon.