Longest title ever right?
Anyway, this is where my training journal/blog is going to go. I am notoriously sporatic in my postings and updates but I'll try to keep this as up-to-date as possible. Also expect to see everything and anything I want to write about parkour, fitness, and philosophy put here. It might be practically unreadable and wacky sometimes but eh, if you do parkour/freerunning you're obviously a bit different and um...wacky. So here goes!
Oh! I almost forgot! You might be asking, what is a "Warrior Poet"? Here's the answer...
"The Warrior-Poet is the several thousand-year-old tradition of dedication to developing the body and the mind as one. The bushido warrior code of ancient Japan, the Shambhala teachings of Tibet, the chivalrous knights of medievil Europe, and the ancient Greek warriors are all examples of this proud tradition. The Warrior-Poet retains a myeriously ancient auora, a member of the leadership class who guides with wisdom and courage. They are defined by their dedication to their crafts of warfare, and intellectual study and reflection.
The Warrior-Poet learns to develop the mind and the body as one, using each to guide the other. The Warrior-Poet is also a spiritual warrior. The warrior-poet understands their true relationship to the heaven and the earth. They understand that they embody the heavenly representation to the earth, and the earthly representation to the heavens. In other words, it is up to the warrior-poet to balance the cruel realities of the earth, while living by the standards of the heavens"
Oct 1, 2008 (10-2-08)
STATS
Name - SKY (Gabe)
Height - 6'0"
Weight - Between 180 - 185 pounds
...more to come as I record distances, weights, etc.
"Session session who's got the session?"
> Today was a Wednesday and that meant my parkour 'class' here on the Rowan campus met today. We meet at noon in front of the bookstore and as I brought everyone together I am the defacto 'leader' of the group. Today five people showed up to train, a new record attendance, with three of them being repeats from other sessions. We started off with our usual light warm up run, half street and half cross-country. After a few stretches and warm up exercises led by yours truly I worked them through a few drills. Standing precisions, QM, climb-ups, a few rail balances.
With that all done we moved out of structured mode and we played around on a few of the spots I've mentally memorized the locations of around campus. The one guy is an accomplished break dancer and picks things up VERY quickly. He's more interested in freerunning than parkour and he will become very good if he sticks with it, excellent control and strength. The others pick things up slower but still rather quickly, though stringing techniques together is always a challenge. Endurance needs work too, me especially.
Highlights of the 2-hour day include landing a tricky running precision without a spotter, learning my aerials actually look more like weird Tekken-style flip kicks and getting chased off the football field. As I was climbing a wall I heard a coach yelling "Not an intelligent manuver! Get off!" After realizing the irony of calling a wall tap climb up an 'unintelligent' manuver, we moved on without incident. No need to ruffle feathers, we're outlaws as it is. Soon after this we broke off. I hope to see them again on Saturday, the next day for sessions.
The Count-Off
+ Known Tricks: Cartwheels (2 and 1 Handed), Front Handspring, a Poor Front Tuck (on ground), Handstand Walking
+ Wanted Tricks: Aerial, Back Tuck, Side Flip, Back Handspring
+ Current Parkour Goal: Increase endurance and keep the flow smooth and without hesitation.
+ Current Overall Goal: Have parkour become recognized around campus, hope that the newspaper article they've written about me, parkour, and the sessions is received well.
Musing of the Day
What is the best way to teach parkour? Can you even teach something like this? I think it is less about teaching parkour and more about helping to release parkour. Everyone knows and can perform parkour. It's just a matter of helping them understand it and conditioning them to be able to use it.
