LLOONNGG story short : I landed my first few butterfly twists today thanks to parkour. Also I landed my first but only front handspring.
From The Beginning: I had heard of 'tricking' a lot earlier than parkour. (Tricking:Just over a year ago; Parkour: Less than three weeks ago) It all started from late last year, as I was really inquisitive then I spent unhealthy periods of time searching on search engine and the new youtube - which was becoming popular at an exponential rate. But then saw this video by the lines of 'Urban Ninja'. Halfway through the video I saw these horizontal spins. I was interested so i decided to try one without even knowing the technique.
After several attempts, with me landing on my stomach, shoulder or back , I decided to look it up. I came across the awesome site known as trickstutorials. Even though the tutorials were somewhat derogatory and demoralizing they still had very useful information. I got one of my friends to try it out with me and we both failed miserably. So I decided to learn the prerequisite. The butterfly kick wasn't hard to learn and I got it pretty quickly (well not really, they were terribly low and my legs weren't entirely straight). From that I stopped trying to 'trick'.
The next year I decided to retry my failure of a butterfly twist in July. As with my previous attempts I had never really practiced or drilled anything to prepare me for it. Considering I was rather pretentious at that time it usually used as a show offy thing during sport. Growing tired of it I stopped.
Less than three weeks ago discovered parkour and this site. I practiced in parks and picnic tables. I was able to learn the elementary vaults and gain height and distance for vaults. I started two weeks ago but took it seriously only a week ago. It was during then I had this strange tight and slightly painful stomach. Two days ago I saw the change in the mirror as I had less fat and more muscle in the the abdominal area.
Just a few hours ago I felt confident and I went to the park and tried butterfly twists. I started with my usual approach. I still landed on my knees. I then tried a tip I read about kicking up higher with the back leg. I tried this a few times and I landed my first butterfly twist. I was tired and I took a small break. I then tried it again I discovered I still had a bit of trouble sometimes (mainly from underrotation) , so I decided to tense my stomach while twisting. This helped a ton and I was able to land a few more b twists with a 35% success rate.
One of the best Christmas gifts that I have gotten in my life ( I am only teenager so I haven't had anything too good).
For anyone who need help in b twists i suggest to practice kong and monkey vaults. These will train the appropriate muscles needed for a twist (according to my theory)
Merry Christmas everyone!!!
