Topic: Steve Zavitz's Training

[Steve Zavitz]

I was doing a lot of thinking lately about how parkour and freerunning have developed here in the United States.  On one hand, I think we have a thriving community of practitioners who are constantly pushing the boundaries of our discipline and propelling us to new levels.  On the other hand, we're a fairly new scene in the world community.  While I'm not trying to suggest that all American practitioners are naive (in fact, I've met plenty of mature traceurs and freerunners who take their training very seriously and are devoted to improvement), I think we are struggling with some of the many problems associated with newer organizations.  One of the questions I spend most of my time addressing is the perceived "split" between the two ideologies.  I don't want to point any fingers, but there are quite a few purists on either side who vehemently oppose a mixer between the two disciplines.  Despite my primary identification with the "parkour side" of the debate, I notice that most of the arguments are generated from my camp.  I'm not here to talk about the ideological differences between each approach or even to define what each means; everyone in the community has a different perspective on the matter, I don't want to put words in anyone's mouth.  However, I would like to address a few of my personal concerns on the topic.  First off, there are a lot of connotations that tend to follow the terms "freerunning" and "parkour."  We all know the stereotypes: Traceurs are hardcore and don't spend more time thinking about efficiency than fun or forget to work on techniques because they're so busy strength training.  Freerunners spend so much time working on flips that they ignore strength training or technique work or whatever.  I want to know where these stereotypes originated from!  Sebastien Foucan is considered the founder of freerunning, but I think he's known less for his flips than for his extraordinary strength and monster technique.  David Belle is usually viewed as the epitome of parkour, but a fair share of his videos also include gainer and backflip training.  Where did this stigma of training ideologies stem from?  Did we invent it?  Is this a common problem?  I may be naive in saying this, but I feel like the American scene puts much more effort in defining boundaries than any other community does.  Groups like Sydney Parkour don't seem to have any qualms with the occasional flip or spin.  The guys in the UK are fairly content doing whatever, as long as they're having fun.  It seems like we spend more time arguing about parkour and freerunning than actually training for it.  I'm not trying to tell people that they don't have do some strength training before they can jump off a building, but I think that coining separate terms is an arbitrary practice.  If anything, a responsible freerunner should be just as strong and capable as the average traceur.  Again, look at someone like Sebastien.  He's incredibly strong and his parkour is at another level.  He labels himself as a "freerunner," but I think you'd be hard-pressed to find any traceur that he couldn't keep up with.  Here is the crux of my argument.  I don't think there should be a difference between parkour and freerunning.  I think anyone who wants to flip should feel free to do so, or if you don't fancy rotational movement, that's cool too.  The only true comparison I think we should be making is the difference between the trained and the untrained or the responsible and the irresponsible.  Jumping off of a building for the sake of showmanship or YouTube views shouldn't be part of any discipline, whether you practice parkour, freerunning, methode naturelle, or l'art du deplacement.  I'm not saying that these individuals should be permanently barred from our community; I think most people (myself included) have no idea what their bodies are capable of when they first start.  Instead, we should strive to instruct and instill in them the dangers of improper conditioning and practicing.  From there, they can either choose to heed our advice or ignore it.  If they do ignore it, this is where we should make the proper distinction.  It's not our right to tell people how to train, but it is our prerogative to distance ourselves from those we view as reckless and dangerous.  I'm not sure how many of you share this perspective on the issues at hand, but I think it would be a healthy change from our current state of affairs.

[Duncan Hartrey]

Hey, I really enjoyed reading your views on parkour vs. freerunning. I completely agree with you on this. The disciplines we practice are supposedly non-competitive, why should there be elitism between the two? In the end, what's important to a traceur, freerunner, or combination thereof, is their dedication. Discovering your limits through responsible training and experimentation is what it's all about. ALso, good luck with the security issues.

[Steve Zavitz]

Thanks, Duncan.  I just felt like going on a bit of a rant there.

Haven't been updating this, so I'll do a recap.

5-3-09
Met with Shamas downtown.  Lindsey came along, but she was just there to watch (and tell us to be careful, heh).  We did a run of the first half of the gauntlet (the other portion couldn't be completed because the area is fenced off still).  I was finally able to do a decent palmspin on the tree from my right side.  I think all half palmspin training is finally paying off.  After that, I trained some drop cats!  I didn't expect them to go well, but I nailed them.  The distance was fairly short, but I still stuck them.  Following the drop cat training, I taught Shamas a few things I'd learned about 180 cats.  He's pretty much at the level I was at a few months ago; lacking the upward explosive power to get proper distance.  I think once he manages to get a muscle up, this will cease to be a problem, though.  I should show him that Teghead video on 180s; I think he'd get a better grasp of the technique if he saw it.  We did a bit of playing at the tall walls downtown.  I'm able to consistently get to the second highest ledge.  The tallest one is still just out of reach, but I think I'll be able to get it by the end of summer.  We finished off with a few flow drills at the auditorium.  Shamas and Lindsey left, but I decided to keep working.  I worked on some tic tacs and climb ups on one of the walls behind the middle school, and then I spent the rest of the time balancing along a long rail.  The end was wobbly, but I think my slackline training has paid off (Thanks, Chris!).  I'm currently working on chain balancing, but it's hard when the line isn't taut.

5-5-09
Slow day.  We got kicked out of every single place we tried to train in today.  For some reason the parking security guards (a.k.a. meter maids) kept on telling us to get off "their wall."  This is the first time we've ever been told to get off the wall that surrounds the library parking lot.  I'm going to have a talk with Rick Hulsey (the director of the library) to try to get this mess straightened out.  No matter where we went, these guys followed us in their little electric car.  No sooner would I put my bag down would they come driving up behind us to kick us out.  I don't understand these people.  Are they afraid we're going to break their cement wall?  We're not disrupting anyone; I make a deliberate effort to pick places that are away from pedestrians and cars.  Why do they hate us so much?  This is such a growing trend around in Battle Creek.  I've tried my best to be absolutely courteous and respectful to local security, but this is getting ridiculous.  If we're not allowed in any of the public areas, where are we supposed to train?  The school's shut us out, the parks are closed to us, we're banned from the playground, we're not allowed to precision to the rocks by the river, we get yelled at if we climb on the chest-high wall around the parking lot, we're turned away as soon as we even enter a parking garage.  The strangest this is that the police don't seem to care.  We've only been stopped once by a Battle Creek police officer, and that was because we were using a traffic pole as a pull up bar.  Perhaps we are approaching this from the wrong direction.  If the police don't give a damn, maybe we should focus all of our energy on the local security.

Tomorrow is another training day downtown, and I think I'm going to be a little more assertive with the guards.  I'm going to take down first and last names, supervisors, and companies.  I've been respectful and passive with them so far, but we have rights, too.  When a sign says "public" on it, who are they to tell us we're not allowed there?  We're not damaging anything, we're responsible, and we don't get in the way.  What reasons do they have for insisting that we leave?

[Shamas]

PARKOUR LIBERATION FRONT HAS BEGUN!!!!

[Steve Zavitz]

I don't know about that...

5-7-09
First gym session out at Branch Gymnastics in Kalamazoo.  It was a pretty long drive, but the facility is decent.  I still miss Champions out in Ann Arbor, but this place might have to do for the time being.  It's an hour-long open gym.  They've got two pits, two spring floors, several sets of uneven bars, high bar training areas, trampolines, bounce runways, rings, climbing rope, vaulting horses, parallel bars, high beams, racks, etc.  In summary, anything a freerunner or tricker would need is here.  I trained my muscle ups and tried to teach Shamas a few things.  I'm still struggling with bar muscle ups, though.  I think it just has to do with my kip and the timing of my shrug.  Once I get my pull up bar installed, I should be able to train them on a regular basis.  Anyway, we did a few other things.  I worked on front tucks (I'm untucking too soon), b-twists (just horrible, I don't even know what I'm doing wrong), side flips (also bad, I'm twisting my torso rather than tucking in to rotate; I should probably work on double legs before I do side flips), and gainers (let's just say that you should never use your head to break a fall).  I finally ended up doing some parkour-related training.  I wanted to do some double kongs, but I couldn't find a suitable block.  For some reason this gym has no velcro to hold their vaulting blocks down.  Thus, every vault came with the fear of the top block sliding completely off.

I'm not sure if this will be a regular thing.  It's a bit expensive for the distance of the drive and the duration of the session.  Maybe once or twice a month would be appropriated.  I don't see myself mastering any flips anytime soon (especially not gainers), so I think I'd rather just focus on strength training and parkour.

On a side-note, I'm finally starting to work on my one-year.  I need a lot of footage still, but I'm happy with what I've captured so far.  I'm using Jessy Greene's "Time Bomb" for the first half of the video.  I'm considering a few other songs, but I've only got about a minute of footage right now.  I'm not really big on "teasers," so you'll just have to wait until it's finished.  I'll keep you all updated.

[Steve Zavitz]

5-9-09 to 5-10-09
Made it for the tail-end of the Rochester Hills jam.  That three-hour drive really took a lot out of me, though.  I'd forgotten how much I hate driving long distances.  When I got there, everyone was eating.  KC and his group were in Beyond Juice getting smoothies while Chris, Mike, and Aubrey made a pit stop at Subway for something more substantial.  I caught a ride with Chris to the next training spot (parkour-style, lying in the back of his truck bed).  It was a big playground with a ton of different things to work on.  I warmed up with Chris by doing some laps, QM, push ups, and tuck jumps.  This was mostly a play day, so we just jammed around for a couple hours.  I managed to land this awkward cat leap from a rail to a mini climbing wall.  I was pretty happy about that.  I mostly just messed around with flow and some strength stuff.  A few laches here, a kong-to-precision there, and some precision work rounded off the evening.  We went to get some dinner (I rode in Chris' truck bed again) at Hooters.  Well, I guess we didn't actually eat at Hooters.  KC wanted to go there, but the other half of the group wanted something cheaper.  Jack's group and the MIPK guys split from KC and went over to Qdoba for some burritos.  After eating, we played around in the parking area while we waited for KC and his friends to finish eating.  Once we were all together, we went back to KC's house for the night.  We ate some peanut butter cup s'mores (pure awesome) and burned stuff.  It was a fun evening to say the least.

The next day, we went to Extreme Gymnastics for a tricking session.  I'm usually not too excited about gyms, but I still had a lot of fun.  Turns out my back tucks are better than I thought they were.  I was over-rotating and landing almost exactly where I took off.  Who knew?  With a bit more tweaking, I should be able to land some without mats.  I also worked on double kongs.  It took me a couple tries to get them right, but I'm extremely pleased with the result.  I was able to nail a ton of them throughout the session.  I also got a chance to work on my front tucks.  Suffice it to say that they need some work.  I need to get my set and block correct.  For some reason I'm not extending upwards.  I understand the concept, but my body won't let me jump upwards.  I think I only got one decent landing out of about 30.  The last thing I spent some time on was wall spins.  I'd tried them before, but that was outside and on concrete.  I had a little less fear this time, so I actually committed.  Turns out they're not so bad!  I got it on the first try.  I think I'll find a wall and try it outside soon.  Besides the tricking, I also did some muscle ups on rings and attempted a few on the uneven bars (not so nice).  I did some laches, kongs over the vaulting horse, handstands, planches, handstand presses, L-sits, precisions, and flow work.  It was a fun day and I was pretty pleased with what I'd accomplished.

5-12-09
Met with Shamas for a bit of outdoor training.  He had to leave early, and I was still a little stiff from the weekend training session (sitting in a car for four hours after you've just trained isn't a very bright idea), so we took it easy.  The main thing we did was work on handstands.  Now, the last time I'd devoted my time to actually working on handstands was several months ago.  Thus, my shoulders were weaker and I had horrendous balance.  Now, I'm actually able to balance and can walk a significant distance on my hands.  I actually made it about 15 feet near the end of the session.  I think I'll actually start spending some time working on my hand balance.  It's a great workout for the shoulders, and I think it will help me with my handstand press (just in terms of balance and control).  I'll have to time myself to give my improvement some quantitative significance.  Other than that, we didn't do a whole lot.  It was mostly hanging out and doing a few techniques.

[Kyle Gouch 'Triple K']

Lol, glad you learned some stuff Steve. Hope to see you back again. Any Sunday you maybe in Ann Arbor, you can come in from 12noon-6pm. Since I believe its closer drive than from Battle Creek where I believe you live 0-o. But anyways I can help you on any flips you need to learn. Also, there is one coach, Shane, that's always there hanging around and he's a godly coach. xD, But yea, glad you had fun and see ya around.

[Steve Zavitz]

5-14-09
Drove out to Marshall to train with Shamas.  We trained at a playground for a little while (neither of us felt too comfortable jumping around with small children around, but I think Shamas was being a bit too paranoid) and drove around looking for better spots in the downtown area.  That didn't go so well, so we eventually gave up and headed back home.  I wasn't happy with the training we did, so I continued to do some light stuff back in Battle Creek.  Luckily, I stumbled across a brand new spot!  It's one of those basement stairwells that have cement walls surrounding the steps and the landing area.  It made for some awesome cat leaps.  I actually nailed the leap from the top step (I think there were seven steps, and I counted about ten of my feet from the edge to the lip of the wall).  It was really exciting, but it took me about half an hour to work up to the full leap.  Also, my climb ups are feel extremely smooth lately.  I'm really seeing some improvement on that end.  I did a little more work out at the Sojourner Truth memorial (i.e. tried to create a circuit like the one at Dental, but the rails were too widely spaced to do that one-armed push up to the railing).  After a few cat hangs and climb ups (my new shoes leave blue streak marks on the white walls, how bizarre), I called it a day and stretched out.

Other training:  Mostly just handstands.  My wrists were shot on Thursday, but they're much better now.  My foot is a little sore, though.

5-15-09
Gymnastic Bodies WOD

Four sets:
-5 Cast Wall Walks
-10 Pseudo-Planche push ups (there's no way in hell I can manage to do 10 Germans http://gymnasticbodies.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=815&highlight=#p3483)
-20 Wallabys (I misread this as 20 reps, not 20 feet)

Finish with:
-2x10 Wrist Push ups (I couldn't do the full extension to the knuckle position, so I just pushed up while still on my wrists)

Thoughts: That workout was tougher than it looked.  Those cast wall walks were brutal!  This is just a reminder that I need to keep on conditioning, even when I'm home.  I think I'll start doing the Gymnastic Bodies WOD on my off days.  I may have to modify it (Germans, seriously?), but I think it will be beneficial in the end.  Now that Jimmy's gone, I hope I can keep myself motivated.  Thing should begin to improve, though.  Now that I'm getting a job, I should be waking up earlier and setting a more structured schedule.  Also, I'm looking into buying a new video camera.  As much as I'd like a Sony SR model, I don't think it will fit in my budget.  I'm also wary of really cheap cameras.  However, I've been looking into the Aiptek Action HD GVS model.  It's about $200, which is still pretty cheap, but it's got a lot of pretty decent features.  1080p (I know, ridiculous) in 30 fps and 720p in 60 fps (that's one of the main features I wanted, it's quick enough to reduce choppiness when slowing down, but I won't get any super-slow shots), flash memory (I just bought an 8GB card), and an external mic input (although it's an eighth inch input, not XLR).  For $200 (actually, it's $180 on Amazon), what do I have to lose?  I'm not swimming in money, but I don't think it will kill me if the camera isn't the best.  I'll mull it over for a while longer.  I'll probably decide within the next month or so.

[Steve Zavitz]

5-17-09
Showed Shamas the new spot over by the church.  We went out early, though, so it was a bit of a struggled workout for me.  I managed to nail the top step again three or four times, but I wasn't feel very loose, so I toned it down a bit.  We walked back to the parking lot, where I tried to hit that same drop cat I'd done a few weeks ago.  Unfortunately, this time it didn't go so well.  My hands slipped at the top and I landed straight on my butt.  Luckily, I didn't hit my tail bone, but my left cheek was extremely sore.  Following the training session, Shamas convinced me to go to Gold's Gym with him.  We got some chinese food (I know, bad right?) before we hit the gym.  I started out with some warm up handstands (like I said before, I've been doing handstands in my free time.  They're getting easier and you can do them anywhere) in the parking lot while I waited for Shamas to arrive.  After that, I set up my rings on a squat rack.  I managed to do about five muscle ups (I was sore from the fall and I still wasn't feeling up to the workout).  I also worked on front and back lever (advanced tuck front for about 10 seconds, leg out for about four seconds, back tuck for about 20).  I did a military press of 80 + bar for 10.  After that, I tried to do pistols (not so great, my glutes were so tight from the bruising that it hurt to go down past 90 degrees).  Other notable exercises: Iron cross work with 15 pound weights, finger pull ups (three and two fingers on both sides), cable punches, bar muscle ups (with 30 pounds resistance), 2 x 10 lat pulls with 130 pounds, 15 hanging crunches, and 25 minutes of running (I think it was a little over 2 miles).  It wasn't a bad workout, but I was a little limited.  I wanted to do some handstand work, but they didn't have any open walls.

5-19-09
Light training in Battle Creek.  My butt was still injured, so I took it really easy.  I got kicked out by Amptech Systems Parking again, so I decided to talk to their manager.  He told me I needed to go to the City Clerk in Marshall to get some kind of liability form.  I'm not even sure it exists, and I bet it will be hard to get if it does.  I'll try, but I don't think I'll get any results.  After that, I scouted some new areas.  I found a cool tree near the park as well as a few other obstacles near the St. Phillip Parking Lot.  I also did a few climb ups at the wall behind the plaza.  I received a call from Shamas, telling me that Nate was supposed to come out for a session.  I waited at the auditorium for an hour, working on handstands (I got nearly halfway across the main entrance) and chain balancing (three steps!).  I felt ill, so I just left.  If Nate did show up, I didn't see him.

5-20-09
Handstand work with walking and static holds.

Altered Gymnastic Bodies WOD:
5 Minutes HS Wall Runs (This took forever, and it was extremely difficult!  I didn't think it would be that bad, but I had to cut it down from 10 minutes to 5.  Also, my hand started to go numb after the first 2 minutes.  That's probably a bad sign; I'll look into it)
2 x 6 Wall Tucked Headstand Presses (straight arms)

Finished with 2 x 10 wrist push ups (I had to alternate one wrist one full hand because of the numbness and pain in my left wrist).

[Shamas]

you sure do write alot, Mister

[Steve Zavitz]

Sorry it's been such a long time since I've updated this.  Things have been crazy lately what with Shamas suddenly quitting the club and dealing with a bunch of other little issues here and there.  Still no word from security, although I don't even know where that state of affairs is without Shamas as a contact.  I'll probably have to start over with most of the local officers as they won't recognize my name.  It might be better off that way, though.  We haven't really seen any gains in the past few months anyway, so maybe a fresh start will help.

Since I've started doing solo training, I've shifted most of the focus to conditioning.  I'll probably design a few traversal routes throughout Battle Creek and work them through on various days of the week.  I've got a couple good drills with a tree near the church, and I came up with a small vault circuit at the St. Phillip parking lot.  I'm currently working on a new set of drills at the Sojourner Truth memorial structure.  It's got several ramps and railings around, so I think I might be able to make some interesting upper body and balance workouts.  I'll fill more of this in when I get a chance.

I've been seeing a lot of gains lately in my training.  I hit a period of heavy stagnation for a while, but I'm pretty pleased with where I'm at right now.  My handstands have improved one hundred fold and I can now consistently hit a freestanding handstand press from a frog stand.  I'm shifting my focus to tucked planche to handstand press now.  My balance has also improved a lot.  After learning slacklining, I took it upon myself to improve my chain walking technique.  I managed to make it across a series of about seven chains spanning about thirty feet.  I was extremely proud of myself.  I think I'll try to get that same stretch twice now.  As far as other goals are concerned, I've added a few new fitness and parkour goals.  I nailed the running cat at Dental during National Parkour Day over in Ann Arbor, and I found a few new spots on North Campus that I want to go back to.  I'm getting closer to the MLB wall, but I've still got quite a ways to go.  I'm just below the metal belt above the first ledge.  Maybe a few more months of intensive wall run training will help me get those last few inches.  The Bell Tower Circuit was also pretty easy for me when I tried it last weekend.  The shimmying was actually fairly tame.  My endurance must be getting better or I'm getting much stronger.  Maybe it's a combination of both.

Last, but not least, I'm still working on my sampler.  I've got several clips edited together, and I've got some new stuff from my camera.  It's just a matter of getting the time to put them in.  I'm not really that big on teasers, so you'll just have to wait until I finish it.  I won't make any promises, but I hope to have it completed by the end of summer.

I'll update this again if anything big happens.

[Steve Zavitz]

This isn't a specific entry, but I've got a few updates.  My handstand presses are now really solid.  I can do multiple presses from a tucked planche position, and my stability on my hands has only become better with time.  I'm still struggling a bit with keeping still (i.e. not taking "steps"), but it's getting better.  In other news, I managed to nail a massive 180 cat that I'd been looking at since I first started doing parkour in Battle Creek.  I was under the impression that it wasn't possible until I managed to get a foot up the other day.  After that, I worked on it for a few minutes until I finally managed to get both legs up.  I was proud of myself.

I'm still filming stuff for my sampler.  I've been having a lot of issues with my computer and the HD footage that I shot with my new camera.  I might just end up sticking with VGA format to keep the preview window from lagging.  At any rate, I'd like to get it finished as soon as possible, but I think I might just wait until after Colorado.  If I get some awesome footage down there, I'll want to put it in my sampler.  I think it's shaping up nicely, though.  I'll let you all know when it's finished (not that anyone reads this log).

Training has been slow lately.  The weather's been keeping me down with drizzle and rain, so it's been hard to fit in outdoor work.  It's also hard when you haven't got a group to push you to your limits.  With Sam and Dexter out, I've had to dream up lots of drills and circuits to keep myself occupied.  It's just not as fun if you haven't got guys constantly challenging you and bringing you up to the next level.  I suppose I've only got myself to blame, though.  I've had a lot of side-projects and other hobbies that have been taking up my tame as of late.  When you have to split your priorities up, you lose some of that motivation.  Hopefully things will improve, though.  I know that I'll feel better once I get back to Ann Arbor, but that's not for a few more months.  Until then, I guess I'll have to tough it out here and try to make the best of the situation.

[Shamas]

you have progressed quite a bit. Very Impressive. I admit I haven't been checking the forums.

When you get back we should discuss getting training going.