American Parkour

After reading a couple other training logs, I came to the conclusion that this is something I really need to do, both so I can look back on what I have done and to get advice from others. Thanks for taking the time to read!

So, a little bit of background info first. I'm a 16 year old male and I live in Washington and spend summers in austria. I'm around 6'0" 155 lbs. I am a type one diabetic (juvenile onset). This does not really interfere with my exercising though, just htought I'd mention.
I began competitive running this year and found I am quite good at it (considering it's first year ever). 3 miles X-country in 18 minutes. 1 mile in 5.25 (in track, I was doing 5 FLAT back in cross-country season in fall; rather depressing). That being said I feel i have good lower body strength, BUT, I defineately need to work on upper body strength. (For example, I probably bench 110-120 TOPS)

I've been doing a modified apk workout for the last 2 weeks consisting of
(3 or 4 reps)
-20 squats or 1-1.30 minute wall sit (with 24 extra lbs)
-15-20 reps of something or other with 12 lb dumbells
-20 situps/ russian twists (side situps)
-15 pushups
Afterward I go do some pullups on a tree outside and then climb up it once or twice

I really need some advice on improving pullups, I can do 5-7 starting with my arms at 90 degree angles(no pushoff from legs, but standing on them at start)

Monday 5/5:

Track Practice:
-5 sets of hill sprints (VERY steep hill,  maybe 100-120 meters) [beat the rest of team]
-Fast Paced (maybe 6 or 6.30 minute mile) 1.5 miles [had trouble keeping up with someone who i usually keep up with/beat by a little bit]
going on a run after hill sprints... is really hard

Strenth:
-Climbed the tree
-9-7-5-5-5 of the pullups starting @ 90 degrees.
-Also going to do the aforementioned "modified apk workout" tonight


Parkour:
-Tried to do some rolls. Especially ones to the left... Really need to improve on rolls overall. Any advice? It's really making me angry because a couple of weeks when i first tried rolls I could do them pretty well. AND... i know it's stupid. But i was on the school roof to get my hackey-sack... and.. i had to get off. So, I jumped off the 12-13 ft drop and rolled onto the grass. Not the most perfect roll I'm sure but i ended up on my feet and felt decent, minor pain subsided within a minute or two. Then, practicing on a 3 ft picnic table and jumping up and then rolling i hit my head into the ground once and it was rather painful. Now it seems I've completely lost the ability to roll, very frustrating. Realize how lucky i was jumping off the roof, if i tried it again i think i would really F myself up. Anyways, advice/references for learning rolls (other than ALOT more practice)? And YES, now I Do realize how stupid my actions were
-Played around on the aforementioned picnic table (it's in my yard). Did a couple vaults.. not really sure what kind, just the get over the table without dying kind i guess.
-Did a Kong vault over the picnic table. Have not been able to do them previously because the picnic table top is 3-4 ft wide and then there's the benches so i land right on the edge of top and then jump off. So i was doing that and trying to practice my footing.. and without me thinking about it I went over. Badass! lol.

Nutrition:
 -I ate lots of crappy food today, nothing really good. Trying to get a better handle on my Nutrion. Also important being that I'm a type one (juvenile onset) diabetic. Another note, my perceptions of "crappy food" may be different than yours, my family tends to eat very healthy. crappy food means a couple hot dogs (natural/organic/no nitrates) and lots of white pasta and too much ranch dip. Recommendations for good protein/complex carbohydrate meals or snacks?

Sorry this was so long, got carried away (too excited I guess). They'll be shorter in the future.
Aah, being single and actually getting into shape/doing something with life... Feels so good!!

Tuesday May 6th

General: Pretty decent day. it's 10.30 now, so i won't be in bed until 11. I am going to set some goals tonight first though.
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• Do workout quicker / less rest time (it's not necessary, just not that motivated when I'm alone)
• Really focus on getting down the landing and roll
• Practice Handstand endurance (w/ wall), Handstand Balance, and ... Handstand pushups (I can kind of do one
• Do lots more pullups, today was a sweet day though!!
• Practice pushups with hands closer together (I suck at these).
• Better food. Especially all the ****mn salt
• OVERCOME some injuries. Minor shin splints, which are now fading; no doubt caused by the track. Also, severe pain at the front 'knob' of hip. Has alternated sides for a month. Very bad right now, on left side. Nearly non-existant on right. NEED TO STRETCH (my last goal)

Well crap.. that's alot of goals, all are relatively achievable/short-term for now.. except the rolls, those I want to master.. but that will take long time

That said the training log..
Track:

• 4 * 100 meter sprints (about one minute recovery. harder than i would have thought
• After 5 mins stretching/rest, 400 meter at fast pace (60-65; resulted in being pretty dizzy)
• 'Slothed' out to begin a mile. Ended up being one of my progressive mile workouts (I kind of made it up, thought I'm sure it exists; I simply keep increasing. Jog-->All out). Pushed the last 400 meters pretty good, all out on the last 100

Quite satisfied. Tomorrow is a halfday @ school and I won't make the am practice due to a dentist appointment but it's all out 350 m (2 or 3)

Parkour

• Kong Vaults. Just 7 or 8  :'(
• Tried some rolls but they hurt my hip.. so i laid off it

Very frustrated with this hip thing!, going to stretch really good tonight for 15 mins. Going to dedicate at least one day a week to no strength training. All stretch training.

Strength:

• 2 Climbs up tree
• lots of pullups. 12-7-5-5.. Then I did 3 dead hang (I was tired by this time) Starting to think my 90 degree pullups aren't that much easier.. so that's cool. Also didn't know I could do 12, it was like 5 literally 3 days ago. Needless to say, pretty happy.
• 3 circuits of:
  
  • 1.30-1.45 Wallsits with extra 24#
  • 20 crunches and 10-15 Russian Twists (side sit ups)
  • 10 Pushups with arms close together(doing on one foot incline, must improve), 10-12 (doing on one foot decline.. those really feel good)
    

All in all. Today just felt pretty good. 16 is a good age to be.. Hoping to really stay dedicated..
Questions about the salt: "Why is it so bad?" and "There is salt in everything wholly ****, what can i do?"
Also the average american eats 2 to 3 times the Daily Reccomended Allowance of sodium. That is ridiculous. I drank a CARROT juice and that has 300 mg (12%). Which brings me too...

Nutrition
I ate soo much food, if i were to list it all here it would probably cause the server to slow down alot so I wont. Good news: It was all healthy food, no refined sugars, and I think my body needed it. I've actually lost like an inch around the waist in the last month (Was never a goal.. fine with my image weight-wise). So ya.. like 3500 calories Probably. But you know what they say "I'm a growin' boi". HaHa. And, i do not know how popular it is, But "Kombucha" is a probiotic culture, and you ferment a tea with it and it's apparently really healthy (old oriental medicine). Anyone heard of? Anyways, doing that as well now. Heard it really speeds muscle recovery, but i just like the taste and it's healthy. (It's not a steriod by ANY means)

And again, I get carried away, write too much, and no one will read it (not sure if that was going to originally happen though). Least it motivates me.

OK, you're off to a good start, but you'll need help

Rolls: What kind of surface are you practicing rolls on? If you're just starting out, you should be working on a rug, a matt, or preferrably, grass.

Goals: Try to be more specific.
    I.E: Do workout quicker: Should be something more like: Finish complete workout in 40 minutes
          Really focus on getting down landing and roll more like: Do 30 landings with roll per day until so they'll be nearly perfect by end of month
          Practice handstand endurance more like: Sustain handstands for 20 seconds by end of month and perform 5 handstand push-ups

You get the idea. If not, "Focus on getting down landing" will be just that. You focussed, so mission accomplished, yes?

Good luck!

Don't do jumps off high places. That's just dumb especially if you're new.

Anyway, determine where you want to go with your goals.. and be more specific like Cptbongue said. Wallsits, crunches and pushups are all very poor exercises especially if you're looking to build up your strength. For example, if you're working towards strong climbups and muscle ups these will not be effective at all for what you want to do.

First of all, a couple quickies:
-Yes, I know it's dumb to jump off high places as a beginner (I wrote that) I got lucky and won't do it again
-I do not doubt that you are correct, but can you give some constructive criticism, what would be better than wallsits, crunches and pushups. Pullups are good though, correct?

GOALS:

• Assisted Handstand 90 seconds
• Free Handstand for 30 seconds
• Heel-walk * 500 Daily.
• Rolls. Each side 25 times (bare minimum) Daily
• 5 consecutive Handstand Pushups
• Break the habit of 2-foot Kong take-offs now, so i won't struggle with it later. (Begin practicing Split foot)
  
• Find a more steady fitness regime

No Track Practice Today (for me)
Strength:

• Lots of pullups/chinups. Don't have the numbers
• Heel-walk * 250 (To cure the shin  splints)
  
• Holding handstands (with wall for support). Longest was prob. 30 seconds. Also managed to do 2 by 2 for handstand pushups. Then did a couple single ones.

That was really it.. and I climbed the tree twice, and I'll probably do a little bit of wallsitting and some pushups. My lower back is pretty sore so I think I'm gonna scratch the situps, they always hurt my lower back.
Parkour:

• Kongs: 25-30. Made it over every time (picnic table)
• Lots of free handstands. New Record of like 8 seconds..
• Practiced some rolls, feeling better, still not many due to hip

Really got stretched out today too which felt nice.. And I never went to school with it being a half-day and me having a dentist's appointment in the morning. Fun day, but also got in some good practice and a little strength training.
Nutrition is really going great. Between eating healthy in the first place and now having motivation to eat even healthier I'm getting alot of good food. I can feel the difference in all sorts of aspects... However, I still need to sleep more, so the post cuts of here...

Thurs. May 8th

Track:
Easy day, League Champ meet tomorrow. (I have to run the 400m, the 800 (or 1600)m, and the 4*400m)

• ran a 800 @ 85%
• jogs/stretches/etc/no hard work

Parkour:

• Couple of Kongs, got frustrated with splitfoot, need to do more
• Lots of rolls. 50-75 to EACH side... left is still a little different, but catching up. My abs are still a little sore from the rolls (I believe) is that normal? Just using new muscles? Feels like a decent ab workout does, suppose thats good... unless it's my appendix j/k.

Strength:

• 35 pullups
• couple short handstand and some handstand pushups. I can do like 3 or 4 if I assist slightly with my feet and don't quite go all the way down. Want to be able to do 5 consecutive by end of month. No help from feet, all the way down
• Probably do some decline pushups right now, then get some sleep for tomorrow.. o boy.. track is ..

Nutrition:
Today was interesting... I got my dose of lean protein times 2 or 3. Nothing real bad. One questions though? Can you O.D. on cliff bars.... eaten like 4 today, just no other food. And, since I need to do a food log for health class anyways.
B: Cracked Wheat (similar to oatmeal), Tea
L: Cliff Bar, Almonds, Raisons, Stir Fry (no rice, veggies + chicken)
Snack: 2 Cliff Bars (I was hungry..)
D: Rice and Tofu, small portion of salad

Long Day. Big League Track meet. We won the meet with 160 points, next team had like 100.
I ran the
400m-->58.8; 800m-->2:23; Also ran the 4*400m relay, don't know my time. Did lots of warmups/stretches/cooldowns all day long. Pretty decent workout, actually quite tired now. Minor Pain in shins, pretty major in hips :-[
Didn't get anything else done, excited about tomorrow (no school) work on handstands/pullups/rolls
Nutrition:
B:Oatmeal
L:Cliff Bar, Pizza
D:On the way back from track... pretty much grease.
Didn't get enough water today. Probably only 4-6 cups.

You want everything in your routine to be in line with your goals. If your goals are to get a handstand and HSPU then you want most of your pressing work to be compound movements like dips, overhead press, assisted HSPUs, HSPU negatives, handstand holds assisted, etc. Pushups.. are primarily endurance once you can do more than 10+ so they're not gonna help you with the strength to get a HSPU just like any exercise that you can do a lot of.

If you find you're putting stuff in just randomly like pullups and don't have any goals regarding anything pulling.. then you should shoot for a good pulling goal maybe like muscle up or one arm pullup or something. Something to strive after means you will not be just doing aimless reps just because.

Sorry, but I must disagree Steve.
once you can do 20 pushups, go to 20 elevated pushups, and then finally to 20 HSPU.
you can also wear weight vest and belts to your pushups, and that will make you stronger.

I am going off of a site that I have no reference for, I'm searching for it, but haven't found it yet.
Also if you totally kill your arms and chest some pushups would result in strength training, but possibly overtraining so be careful.

Just to let you know. Right now I'm doing 15-20 elevated (about 1 ft) pushups. Also, the reason I'm just kindof throwing together all this upper body work is just because I have never been very strong upper body wise, and I know that will be very necessary in many aspects in parkour. Also, new goal:
-Hang up a rope and begin rope climbs. Goal of 30 feet up and down.

elevate more until you can do HSPU's

Well, you're pretty much wrong then..

MORE strength is built the closer you get towards 1 RM. Above 10-15+ it's mostly endurance work. Yes, it will build little to some strength.. but not as much as working tougher reps (elevating feet more) and working in < 5 RM.

And no with the overtraining. If you don't know how overtraining is caused please don't talk about how something might cause overtraining. Overtraining is systemic overload of the muscles and/or CNS with insufficient recovery. Doing lots of pushups is most likely not going to put you in an overtrained state because the muscles involved are small although you may experienced decreased performance in those muscles.

Hmmh. the argument gets a little over my head. Doing pushups on a larger decline is a good idea thou. Today was  pretty easy. Got my first split-foot kong over the picnic table.
Practiced
-rolls
-Kongs (split foot)
-balance
Did 10-5-8-5 of pullups  couple of pushups, and climbed a tree. Also went on a long hike, lots of balance work on the way down jumping down a field of moving rocks...

f-ing internet lies...

thanks.

Sun 5/11
Six sets of:
5 pullups
10 pushups

Practiced frontflips on trampoline... STILL too scared to do a backflip totally planning on doing one...  :-\ I guess I just need to go find a good spotter... That was mostly it.. had other stuff to do
...How am i supposed to remember my diet???

Mon 5/12

10 sets of:
5 pullups
10 pushups on a 1ft decline...(news below)
Climbed the tree as well(once).

Hate to inform, but it turns out I've been cheating a bit on pushups. I've been doing them with too wide of hand placement... that's why i can do 20 decline and only 1 good HSPU's...Realized I need to get alot more serious about my training if I'm going anywhere... especially need to be self motivated when track starts. Doing the pushups RIGHT from now on.

Track:
5 hill runs (the usual one...) roughly 100m
2* 350m. I really died on the second 350 because i went all out on the hill runs and the previous 350m... I bearly managed to make up for it at the end and catch up to the middle of the group...

Injuries:
My hip hurts... alot... Rolls hurt because of it. Can't even do a kong of any sort over the picnic table because it's too tight.
Shin Splints are ok... still shin splints and all, not major pain, I'm really giving them a chance to heal after track ends this friday... Practice at 7 am... which is d**n early when you are my age..
and, to re-itterate, I need to STOP SLACKING... and actually get somewhere.. K, that's all for now.

Diet has still been ok, extremely healthy compared to the "american standards". Slight improvement over my past diet.
That being said I'm going to go stretch, do some handstands and maybe try a couple vaults/rolls

EDIT: Last time, when i commented my abs hurt after 60-100 rolls to each side... it turns out they really hurt... Like to the point of me not wanting to move period... took extra hour to get to sleep. so my question. Is that just the body getting used to new movement or did i do something wrong? Btw, its was slightly sore the next day(bearly), and fine the day after. Thanks

Short Update

Track:
2  400meters @ 66 seconds
2  400 meters @ 80
1.5 miles run (hard)

This was AWESOME morning... started @ 7.00 am... New goal of waking daily before 6.30 to stretch and run.. that being said, I have to go

5 sets:
5 pullups
10 pushups

3 sets:
1 minute wallsit (+24 lb)
20 crunches
15 decline pushups

Weds 5/14

Track:

1 mile. 1st 400 @ 1:35, 2nd+3rd @ 70-75, 4th @ 1:35

Strength:
5 reps
-5 pullups
-10 pushups

Skills:
Did lots of handstands, cart-wheels, and practiced some rolls. Measure my longest handstand against wall. Got 55 seconds. 35 more to my goal... Hope to be there by the end of the month.

5/15 Thurs

Track:
1.5 mile run

Didn't do much otherwise... Have to set up my whole running start schedule for next year... just not in the mood.

O crap  ::) Been putting this off for a little while
thurs:5/15
ran 1.5 miles, hard

fri:5/16
jogged 1.5 miles, dips in the park(found nice set of bars!)
Got to play around a bit with parkour in town. Got the Hackey sack stuck on the roof (recurring theme) @ the running start meeting and we were gonna climb on the roof and get it... but the "authorities" didn't like that.. so the janitor got it.

sat:5/17
walked 1.5 miles to park; jogged 1.5 miles to park
5 set of 5 pullups, 10 decline pushups.

Issueing major diet changes. They include:
Fish-oil capsules
Protein Powder
HFCS awareness (I eat something containing it once a week, if that)
Refined sugar awareness (still eat some[nearly impossible not to in our society] but way less)
No more junk food (including energy drinks.) Fresh juice when I'm at store.
No more artifical sweetners (sucralose, splenda, aspartame.. etc)
Smoothies.. (the one I"m drinking right now is a bit of a failure.. tastes awful)
Eating foods low in GI.. need to do this anyways as a diabetic.. doesn't mean i do it so well.
Also, trying to learn more about nutrition in general, going to take a college course next fall/winter. Very excited about running start. classes 2 days a week. Possibly 4 but the other two days would be weight-lifting/pilates... possibly some yoga..

Can already see effects of diet. My acne is going away... Not sure if that's due to fish oil capsules (only started 3-4 days ago) or due to eating less ref. sugars/HFCS. Going to make a strong habit of eating good food.

Uhm.. nutrition going fairly good... exercise more moderate/decent...

Sun 5/18:
uhm... i walked like 5 miles.. no running cause impact bad for shins
Mon 5/19
something i forget... oops
Tues 5/20
Went to do a workout with my mom... was intended to be a fat burning workout.. Killed my arms with lots of arm reps... took 45 minutes.
Weds 5/21
Climbed some rope.. great improvement over last month
did lots of frontflips... lost my form by the end (into a sand landing)..
my shins hurt still though.. stupid decisions.
Going to do some diamond pushups / HSPU's

I'll try to actually kinda sorta update this

good job, but remember nutrition is #1 Rest #2 and your workouts come 3rd
keep it up man!

Thurs 5/22: sat around.. tried to do pushups/pullups but turns out that hurts my left tricep/bicep. (Thats feeling better on saturday. And i spent 10$ on 20 feet of rope which I intended to climb but my hand slips.. didn't really have anywhere to hang it up anyways... BUT 10$

Fri: 5/23
Washed dishes?? Staying off the arm.. my back is sore.. trying to heal from all this running injuries.. bummer.. gay.. Have to keep up with diet/flexibily and sleep. (o ya, i went to bed at 2.30 am)

Sat 5/24
... No one ever explained to me mixing/pouring concrete was so difficult... almost 5 hours long.. Carrying 5 gallon buckets of sand/gravel and lifting them UP into mixer... amazing workout.. but with I hadn't for my left bicep/triceps' sake.

Just curious... but I'm feeling EXTREMELY lopsided... my whole left side is a little off (My left leg is little bit longer) examples include
-I can do pistols right legged but not left
-My right upper arm looks alot bigger than it was but my left doesn't really... (quite noticeable) and I'm not a thrower
-My left hip hurts pretty bad from running injury. Left knee and shin both minor pain..
Damnit... I shouldn't have ran that many laps counterclockwise around the track without running one clockwise.. Why does no one tell me this?
MAIN question i need answered is should i try right/left arm equally (mostly do with bodyweight exercises) or should I give my left arm more attention?

Goals...
HEAL.. all the way
Eat good food.. all the time
Then work on handstands/pushups/pullups... all around upper body.. even thought I can see the improvement both visually and in reps / max weight.

Thanks! Nice to have feedback.. And defineately agree.. Nutrition is going well.. rest was.. now isn't.. but will be ? and workouts are on back burner because of arm

as tempting as it may be just rest and keep off of everything for two weeks, if you need more time only you will know, but just do this and your body will be able to heal sufficiently. Work on your flexibility in the meantime. Then work on conditioning your body with bodyweight exercises


EAT PLENTY! SLEEP WELL!

.. Boredom.. haven't done anything.. Healing is really boring...

don't forget to stretch

you can also work on balance