Just looking at the videos... I'm guessing you don't normally put your wrists and shoulders through the range of motion used in escrima. I'm more of an escrima noob than you. My wife showed me a little cane, and I've tried that. It looks similar, but I think it's Chinese, not Filipino.

http://www.kalieskrima.com/eskrima_videos.htm has 2 very cool videos. Especially the "knife concepts" video.

Yeah - I'd try warming up first, then some conditioning to strengthen you for escrima, and the arm muscles you aren't using. Definitely do wrist mobility exercises, and shoulders. YouTube I see looks very cool.
Antidote doesn't need to be scaled up if you're using it for flex & joint mobility.
It's DEFENSE. Just what I was seeing is in Escrima they have you work with the sticks first, and then you go to open hand - totally opposite most martial arts

Escrima - they should show you some conditioning. Warm up your arms well so you're not pulling muscles. If they don't show you, go to the Frank Forencich thread here in "Going Natural" and start doing the Antidote - first with empty hands, but then with your sticks as you warm up.

If your arms are feeling fatigued after escrima, take it easier with lifting, carrying, throwing, arm defense [ie boxing], QM and climbing the next day. Give the muscles a chance to heal and get stronger, and then you should be good to go. If they're feeling stiff, try Antidote or some other joint mobilization routine like Pavel's "SuperJoints"

Vid looks cool, tho brutal. The parkour seems to be functional, tho bigger drops than what I'd want to do.
Per game info somewhere: SMART is context based, so if you're looking up, you'll jump, looking down, you'll slide.

http://www.brinkthegame.com/features/freedom/ shows FPS type footage ... not nearly as cool, but more freedom than if you were playing Halo. I'll probably try this game, and get beaten by 7 year old girls

"Kinetic art" doesn't work: it's already taken for something completely different
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinetic_art

MN is military training and includes boxing, kicking, and grappling. "Defense" would be the martial arts part of MN. The running, jumping and climbing parts can be to chase or escape, but aren't actual combat training. So that part [and parkour] aren't really a "martial art"... but the joke is still funny.

Ryan - http://www.thebackofthenapkin.com/

WHO or WHAT - to show qualities - use a PORTRAIT [hard when everyone's a traceur. Maybe use photo or short video?]
HOW MUCH - to show quantity - use a CHART
WHERE - to show space or how things fit together - use a MAP
WHEN - to show time - TIMELINE
HOW - cause and effect - FLOW CHART
WHY - deductions and predictions - [messy multi-variable plots]

There are some walk-throughs and some concepts. The one I just did might be considered an idea map of "WHERE" I am in regards to training. When I originally did it, I wasn't thinking of small v. big obstacles. I was thinking "How dependent is this sport on obstacles?" When I went to add MY training, I started thinking about the labels differently, and it changed where I put myself. That's a problem, but a bonus. As long as the person EXPLAINS where they put themselves, and why...

Like, I originally would put Dave from NP right on UTILITY, probably where the top of my green area is. Jackie Chan is a showman who relies on obstacles and tools, so I'd put him closer to SHOW, and very high on OBSTACLES. Michael from HIpk Maui -- I'm thinking somewhere between gymnastics and free running? Ishi from the band I'm in is a tricker - very much in the open/ show corner. With this way of thinking, I would put myself between MN and PK, but not extreme utility... it would still end up looking about the same because of the running and walking I do.

I can headstand to handstand [but not hold it very long]. You just have to be able to overhead press > body weight + balance. So I'm not so impressed with that

I work with a former stunt man, Greg. Saturday he was giving me the theory on doing "thrown from a car" or "hit by a car". We got talking about PK/ FR so we may try some stuff in 3 weeks, after he does/ recovers from half marathon.

Ryan - here's an example... from Rain Dance to Parkour thread


If the extremes are AESTHETICS [or SHOW] v UTILITY and OPEN v OBSTACLES, what does my training look like, and where would I place it?



Well, I'm not a STRICT utility person, like Dave from Northern Parkour. I'm not usually thinking about speed, efficiency or "is this useful". Most of my training is on open areas [beaches, roads], small to medium obstacles: rails, small walls. As the obstacles get more extreme [high trees, drops], I get more cautious and almost purely utilitarian. Also, as the obstacles get smaller, I also tend to just run, foot placement, etc. The little aesthetics kine I do is on small obstacles, but wearing costumes... hula girl, snorkel gear, robes beards and funny hats...

Note: Highlighter on napkin uses tons of ink

So FR and PK [or PKFR or ADD] are movement styles that require "obstacles". Neither of them are purely aesthetic or utilitarian.
After drawing this, I think I would put FR and PK closer together - there's quite a bit of overlap.

[ie Kerbie: "I´ll just say this. Watch videos of David Belle and Sebastien Foucan. Now if David is supposed to represent pure parkour and Seb is supposed to represent free running, how comes Davids videos are all flips and acrobatics with parkour and Sebs are all pure parkour with the odd flips? I think those two picked the wrong sports haha."]

Rock climbing and bouldering would be more towards the UTILITY and OBSTACLE extreme corner. Sasuke/Ninja Warrior would be towards the extreme of OBSTACLE, because while the challenge is mostly about finishing, there's a lot of showmanship involved. [Levi especially]

I'm trying to think of something purely aesthetic, that totally relies on obstacles. Maybe some of the Cirque du Soleil acts, where they're climbing and rolling and hanging from a ribbon hanging from the ceiling.

Gymnastics is mostly about AESTHETICs. You're judged on how you look and how you move. You've got some events that concentrate more on one "obstacle" [rings, bars, beam] and others on the open floor.

MN is about UTILITY. Climb down this ladder, sprint over there, pick up that guy, and carry him over here. It can be in a field, an urban setting, or underwater. If there's an obstacle, figure out how to overcome it, so you can do what you need to do.

Dance depends on the dance and culture. It tends to rely more on open areas, tho certainly obstacles can be used [poles, couch in "Singing In the Rain", props, etc.] Should other people be considered obstacles? A ritual dance like a rain dance would be more towards utility, where a dance to attract the opposite sex is probably in the middle, and ballet is more about being beautiful or graceful.

Martial arts... kata and "graceful" forms towards aesthetics. Capoeira would be towards the center: utility disguised as art. MMA would be closer to pure utility. Jackie Chan would be a blend of aesthetics and utility, but way towards OBSTACLES.

Sorry, Ji... If you're still needing help with your monkey, try this:

Break it down into little parts. When you're comfy with one part, then add a little. Play with it until you feel comfortable, then add the next thing. If you're getting tired or frustrated, move on to something else until you have a chance to rest.

Find something wide and solid, maybe just a little lower than your hips to start. [table, loading dock, wide wall, bed?].

Bend over. Put your hands on the object close to the edge to start with.
Arms straight, hands a little in front of shoulders. Keep your head up and forward.
Practice jumping your hips above shoulder level. Start with single jumps, then increase it to 2 or 3 in a row. 
Add tucking your legs [like Michael said]. Again, start with singles.

Now your goal is to land your feet on the object [like Sala said].
You'll want to start with your hands a little more forward.
Instead of a straight up and down jump, you want to jump a bit more forward.
So land either in a QM position, or if you've got the power, land on your feet in squat position.

Then add the approach. Start with a single step. Then try a couple steps. Then walking up. Gradually increase the distance and the speed as you feel comfortable. Play with different objects, different heights, different angles of approach.

When you're comfortable monkeying ONTO things from a run, it won't take long until you're monkeying OVER things. Take your time. Have fun. Enjoy the process and the newness. Train safe, train hard. I'm sure it won't be long...

"Back of the Napkin" is a book. I can show you some of the basics by ummm... drawing on a napkin. Otherwise, go to the library and look at a copy. Time well invested.

Ask away!

Snapshots are good. So are short video clips.

Too bad there's not something that lets you know when friends are online. I mean... there is, but it isn't useful in any way. [Members list at the bottom of APK]. Sure, it's fun to "stalk" people through the forums. I was following Ozzi earlier. I know Ryan's on the forum, sitting on the main "Hawaii" page doing nothing. Derek's reading "Talk Story".

You have to be incredibly bored to do that, tho. On HIpk forum we used to play a stupid game, where we tried to post on a topic if we saw someone else was posting on it. I think Johnny must have nailed me 30 or 40 times because of my text walls.

Your schedule really moves around? What movie you thinking?

Talk story will work fine for some of your general questions... like the history of a scene, etc.
It's sitting around with a recorder and the leaders of the scene at supper. Then you only have 2 hours or so to analyze.

You're part of the HIpk scene, but you're also part of the other scenes, too. I still feel "researcher" is the wrong role, and that "talk story" is totally feasible. "Researcher" only takes, only observes. "Talk story" gives and takes.

Since you'll have HIpk done, use what you learn here to streamline the process. Use HIpk stuff as an example, so they can focus on what you want.

Seriously look at "Back of the Napkin" as a way to organize and present data. Think about using it as a way to record info too, especially things like timelines. If you've got 3 people sitting around with you, drawing on a napkin or scrap paper, you'll be able to flesh the WHEN out quickly.

Then you ask "Is this right?" Because you have several people giving feedback, your chances of error are way less.

It's not ALL going to be sitting around with a group. One to one can still be talking story. It's less formal, less clinical, but you can still ask the same questions.

Like, "I was inspired to start pk by watching "Jump Britain". A couple days later I started jumping things around work: gates, loading dock, my car... How did you start, and what was your early experience?" It's a guided question, because you're sharing your experience as a way to show them the kind of info you want. Then you can always ask for details or clarification. Does that make sense?

Please write up the areas I don't have yet.

Very cool. What's your work schedule going to be then?

Here's what I remember from the early days of HIpk. Ozzi, can you fill in the parts I wasn't there for?

Ryan: You've probably gotten the early history of HIpk from Ozzi? Keith, Beaner, Ozzi & Peter Parkour? I don't remember who else had tried it.

Geri caught "Jump Britain" on PBS when she was channel surfing. She called me over, and we sat on the floor and watched it. That was prob Nov 2006. I found APK early Feb 07, but there was a problem with it. You could register, but new people couldn't post. I wrote M2 and Demon, and the bug finally got fixed April 2.

The first things I remember vaulting were the hood of my Honda Accord, pop vaulting up a vegetation Dumpster, going up a 7' wall by loading dock at work, gate vault at work. My first injury was hamstring, from trying that wall without warming up. Second was ankle from landing kinda sideways after vaulting Honda. When you're older, healing takes a lot longer. I probably reinjured that ankle 3 or 4 times before I finally took off enough time to let it really heal.

There was NOBODY else on Hawaii forum. Frosti was the mod. I'd missed Lorin Ball visiting Maui Oct 06.
As a joke I took the nickname "btay" = Parkay is to butter like btay is to parkour.


Aug 27 07 Ozzi made like 4 posts about a forum at kalakupua.com he was starting up. [No longer exists]
If I remember, it was a meet-up site, kinda like Craigslist personals. I don't remember if I made a reply there. I think I did - said I was on Maui and we just left it at that.

Sept 12 Ozzi posted

Ozzi tried to get in touch with me, and missed me in teaching cert thread. I know we hooked up on .net and I eventually made it over to HawaiiParkour.com ... The forum was like brick red, with black writing, yellow and white. Some people said it was the most unreadable site.

Keith was admin, and already by the end of Sept Ozzi was the only one posting there. When I posted he told me the site was dead. Keith was no longer posting. I think he may have posted ONCE in the time I was on that forum. After talking, we decided to keep HawaiiParkour.com going until we either got Keith to give Ozzi admin rights or we got a new site up.

We couldn't get any help from Keith. Ozzi talked to [kaos from New England PK, currently SFPK?], and he set up HawaiiPK.com for us. First forum post was Dec 8, advertising the HIPK First Annual BBQ Bash. From spelling and grammar you could tell it was Ozzi post. 

This was the first post on front page of the new site:

Wednesday, 02 January 2008
Happy New Year
It's 2008. We've got a brand new site. The sun's shining. No, it's overcast. Shining. Raining. Whatevers. We live Hawaii.

We made the switch over Jan 4 2008. First 10 members were AdamMc, Ozzi, Richard "Peter Parkour", me, M2 [to say Hi], Urban Kung Fool from Pearl City, Drake Maddix [J Martinez 1 post], Oni [Shaun from the band BariBari 13, before he moved to Japan], Beaner [1 post], Chopsybobo [Avi 2 posts]

Huge text wall, really belongs in Talk Story, so I'll put it there.

That's the problem. You're thinking "researcher/ subjects" where the researcher comes in as a stranger, asks all the questions, then leaves with a bunch of answers and writes up his conclusions in a dissertation.

I'm suggesting you turn it sideways. Come in as a relative, sit down with the family, and talk story. Share a couple sentences as an example of what you're looking for. "This is me. Who are you?" Then listen and ask questions. "Here's a short story of HIpk. What are your stories?"

You tell your hiking Nu'uanu story. I tell you my hiking Kanaio story. We laugh at how stupid we were, and the whole group learns from the process. Hopefully.

"Did you pray when you were writing your dissertation?" That's one thing that was wrong with Tengan. He went to Hale Mua, but I get the feeling that he mostly stayed in observer mode. I'm sure he sparred, and probably participated in ritual. He didn't take the lessons to heart, tho. He watched "Punia" but didn't get to know him until after he'd offended him.

So instead of interviewing me, let's share stories, in this thread or in Talk Story. No worries. I'll be right back...

I like cat crawl, but when people from Mainland come, they look at me funny. I think they do more rail walking/ balance.