Heh. This will be spotty at best until I can work a schedule. But hopefully this will make me more accountable. If any mods or gurus/experienced people feel like "drill sergeanting" me, have at it. I'll appreciate it.

First, some background:

32 year old female, in moderate to good shape (I'm in better shape than most of my peers but am an absolute slug compared to most of you people).

Professional-level ballet training since age 4 (with about a 10 year gap between ages 17-25; recovering from bulimia)
Daily weightlifting between ages 20-24
Northern Shaolin kung fu, including forms, weapons, and full-contact sparring, 2 years; 3-5x/week
On and off running on 2-month to 2-year streaks as the mood strikes me (I hate running... booooring!)
On and off aerobics/step/body pump classes in 20s
More or less daily yoga practice (motivation pending)
Current ballet training: approx 10 hours/week at professional level (more during performance season)

I've been doing the WODs; mostly just the APK warmup, for about 2 weeks, on days when I am not dancing. This normally ends up being Mondays, Fridays, and some Thursdays. I dance all morning Saturdays and keep Sunday as a rest day. Saturday dance training also tends to be lighter. I walk/run about a mile as time permits.

I modify the APK warmup as I don't have access to a chin-up bar, so I do lat pulldowns with dumbbells and incline/decline (whichever one has the legs above the head) pushups instead. I also do the agility ladder stuff up and down my apartment hallway (my downstairs neighbors must love it), without an agility ladder. I have no ladder, but I suspect my ballet training takes care of a lot of the footwork-type coordination, so I mostly do the APK warmup agility ladder stuff for the cardio endurance (which ballet doesn't build very well), more than for any footwork. This is not ideal but it's a start.

As I see it, my strengths going in to beginning parkour training are:

-agility and coordination from dance and martial arts training
-strong proprioceptive ability
-internal "body understanding" of mechanics of jumps

My weaknesses/challenges/limitations as a beginner are:

-overtraining in ballet makes it hard to move in other ways (e.g. allowing myself to bend the torso out of alignment, flex feet, and other "ballet no-no's")
-age makes me more fearful to push my limits (can also be a strength but I see it as a weakness mostly)
-age makes me more easily tired/longer recovery time (also a factor of a lifetime of inconsistent, on-again/off-again training)
-inconsistent schedule makes a full commitment to training difficult (will I really find it in myself to follow through with this?)...I have a full-time job and a part-time job; both of which take much more out of me than the required hours--in a mental/emotional sense as well as a physical (ballet dancer and teacher, and public school teacher), so often the energy isn't there.
-I am a *very* social person and so solo training is unmotivating for me. This is where I see this forum helping a lot; although nothing beats having a training buddy or two.

Mostly I'm worried I'll run out of steam. Hopefully this forum, and this journal thread, will help.

Oh, today I did absolutely nothing in terms of working out. My parents are in town and wanted to meet for dinner. I did cook something very light though: broiled chicken and bell pepper kebabs, sauteed cabbage, and Asian cucumber-onion salad. So that was something, I guess.

Advice, motivational harangues, and general ass-kickery welcome.

Merci! Do you ever sleep?! O.o

Can I post the training logs in here for you or should I send them via email (or some other way)?

That said, I present today's training log:

90-minute advanced level ballet class:

45-minute barre, emphasis on footwork, back strengthening, and sustained leg extensions.
45-minute centre, emphasis on placement and turns. No jumps today.

I also taught a 75-minute beginner level ballet class, and a 90-minute advanced level ballet class after that. Teaching doesn't work me as well as taking class does, so I don't really count it as "training" in a physical sense.

20 minutes of yoga afterwards, emphasis on flexibility.

Thank you, sir, can I have another?

Somebody's watching

Today I took advantage of the gorgeous weather and did the following:

APK Warmup, with the following substitutions:

1. With dumbbells, mix-n-match sets of lat pullovers, bicep curls, and tricep presses instead of pullups (I have no chinup bar and no access to one)
2. 1/4 mile run (more like a jog :-/ ) instead of agility ladder work

I also finished with a full coccyx balance series. They are killer on the abs, and my new favorite exercise!

My diet has been steadily improving also. I've always eaten well; fast food *maybe* twice a year, lots of veggies, lean protein, whole grains; but I have an ability to justify all sorts of things to myself so I cheat a lot and sneak sweets and fatty foods in more often than I should. Granted, most of my fatty "cheats" are in the form of fine cheeses, so at least they're not totally devoid of nutrition, but cheats are cheats all the same.

The past few days I think I've eaten my weight in vegetables and haven't had many of my normal urges to cheat. Wahoo!

Thanks, Demon!

I had forgotten about deadlifts. Love those! We did a bunch of handstands and inverted movement in modern class last night. Should I incorporate them into my APK warmup in place of the pullups, then? I dig what you're saying about compound exercises vs. isolation. I used to weight train pretty seriously in college. It's fun to do these exercises again!

And here I must admit a bit of an embarrassing fear: Part of the reason I'm so dedicated to not doing any parkour until I condition first (besides not wanting to break my neck), is that I'm self-conscious. I keep thinking I should go down to the park by my place and clamber around on the bars and do pullups there, but... I'm kind of embarrassed. Isn't that silly? Any time I think "Yeah! I'll go to the park!" this little voice says, "But people will see you, and you suck!" It's so dumb. I perform in front of thousands of people in a world-class performing arts center all the time. Why can't I get myself to run around on playground equipment? I mean, that's supposed to be fun!

Any suggestions for that?

Heh. I figured you would say that. :-) I'll start scoping parks in my neighborhood.

ARG! God does not want me to do parkour, apparently. Apparently God wants me totally unfit and slothful. I have not been able to work out since Saturday. To recap, and update:

Saturday: 45 minutes of QM and general improvisation, jumps, etc. Intended APK warmup and run thwarted by a killer migraine.

Sunday: Rest day

Monday: Intended APK warmup and run thwarted by massive abdominal and back pains, and shooting pains down my legs (apparently an allergic reaction to something in my lunch)

Tuesday: Intended 90-minute advanced level ballet class thwarted by my artistic director asking, "Can you please teach for me tonight?" as I was walking into the studio. He's the boss. I can't say no. :-/ I moved around a little while teaching, but teaching a class isn't the same as taking a class.

*shakes fist*

This is getting irritating.

It's not God that's stopping you - It's the Enemy and that old lizard is trying to hold you up. Don't let him.

Think about it like this: with out resistance how will you gain strength? If you understand how flight works then you'll understand that it is not possible for anything to fly with out resistance. Sometimes a desire delayed helps you to know that that desire is truely for you. Some of the greatest men and women in history had some of the greatest resistances and problems. If you are familiar with Baseball then you are familiar with Babe Ruth. He at one time was known as the "Home-Run King". He also struck out more then anyone else.

Congrats on breaking through and keep on fighting!!!