Topic: 10 year old I need help

[mccowen]

ok so im 10 years old i love parkour omly started a few days/week ago my friends enjoy it two but as i live in england it rains alot and we have been having alot of snow atm so i cant go outside and train much so iv set up a drill thing in my house and normaly this is how i do it:

1:get up off my computer
2:jump onto a chair jump off it and open door at the same time
3:go to the stairs jump up 3 steps at a time until the middle landing bit thing
4:hold onto the banister end (has bit sticky out the top) swing round land on the step above it go back to the landing park bit put 1 hand on the wall the other on the banister jump up onto the 2nd floor about 4-5 steps away
5:them i do a vault over an invisible wall lol
6:run through into my parents bedroom vault jump or roll over the bed
7:run out vault over the invisivle wall
8:put my hands on the wall and banister and jump over a higher invisible wall sometimes a stick or somthing
9:jump down the stairs 3 at a time as a persision jump
10:put my hand on the banister vault over another invisible wall
11:them come back to computer

I just wanted to know how i could improve it and get more exersize in to make me better sort of faster

[John VO]

Hold up. Calm down.

It's great that you're so enthusiastic about starting parkour, but, again, calm down. Slow down. Don't just get up from the computer and do a burst exercise. Try to work at it for a long period of time.

And please be careful. I don't want people to get hurt in accidents.

[Jake Vigil]

You can be one of the greats if you train properly.

First off, DONT JUMP OFF ANYTHING! And by that I mean dont go see how high of something you can jump off, because that Isn't Parkour.

Watch all of the tutorials you can find, as well. There are tutorials here, on www.urbanfreeflow.com, www.parkourelements.com etc. Read those. Read everything on those sites.
You want to start conditioning your body, especially your legs, to be able to take the stress of Parkour. Start doing Squats (look up proper form so you dont do more harm than good).

[Shamas]

I know that the attention span with the hyper-active energy that you contain needs to be directed properly. Maybe use it to less vaults and jumps and more conditioning and rolls. Be proud of your flow and definitely work on it. But I also strongly suggest that you maybe put your focus in more of a competitive way, but compete with yourself. If you can do 5 push-ups today how many can you do 3 days from now? How many squats, sit-ups, how far can you jump precisely? etc.etc...

Everyone is different I know, but try to do alot of low impact stuff to get your body prepared and going.

[mccowen]

wow thanks guys i dont realy just go up go it dosent tire me but i am moramaly warmed up anyway i printed off a sheet of how to warm up from a site and i do that before anything still thants alot for the info

[Stephanie Belle Hagan]

Whoa, ten years old? You have a great big head start. You could very well be the next David Belle.

Well, maybe. 

My advice? Chill out, man. Peace. Build up your muscles before you start hopping around like a mexican jumping bean. You'll be less likely to get hurt, and you'll improve a lot faster. Stretch whenever you can, even if you're not training that day.

Maybe you could find someone else to train with that's around your age? It's always good, regardless of skill/age/experience, to have someone to train with. Good luck and safe training. 

[Matthew Wang]

You dont need to attempt things in a specific order. Just practice whatever gets your attention. You near a wall and want to vault it? vault it! that was fun? Keep doing it until you get better!

[mccowen]

cool ok i normally try to do as much of that lap as i can them go go some other activities like squats, sit ups etc... and i try to go out with my friends and do things with them as much as i can

EDIT: oh and how could i become the next david belle

[Mathew C]

If you are really serious about parkour, there are two things you should do right now:

1) Start learning about the body as much as possible

2) Sign up for a martial arts class with an experienced instructor

There's so much for you to learn, and right now, it would be best for you to have people who can show you what to do and answer your questions. A lot of people on this website are smart, but we can't see you with our eyes, we are not there with you, so we can't be sure that we are giving good information.

[Steven Low]

If you are really serious about parkour, there are two things you should do right now:

1) Start learning about the body as much as possible

2) Sign up for a martial arts class with an experienced instructor

There's so much for you to learn, and right now, it would be best for you to have people who can show you what to do and answer your questions. A lot of people on this website are smart, but we can't see you with our eyes, we are not there with you, so we can't be sure that we are giving good information.

2. Should be sign up for gymnastics classes... not martial arts.

[Stephanie Belle Hagan]

If you are really serious about parkour, there are two things you should do right now:

1) Start learning about the body as much as possible

2) Sign up for a martial arts class with an experienced instructor

There's so much for you to learn, and right now, it would be best for you to have people who can show you what to do and answer your questions. A lot of people on this website are smart, but we can't see you with our eyes, we are not there with you, so we can't be sure that we are giving good information.

2. Should be sign up for gymnastics classes... not martial arts.

But martial arts wouldn't hurt. 

[Mathew C]

If you are really serious about parkour, there are two things you should do right now:

1) Start learning about the body as much as possible

2) Sign up for a martial arts class with an experienced instructor

There's so much for you to learn, and right now, it would be best for you to have people who can show you what to do and answer your questions. A lot of people on this website are smart, but we can't see you with our eyes, we are not there with you, so we can't be sure that we are giving good information.

2. Should be sign up for gymnastics classes... not martial arts.

Gymnastics gets way too competitive, way too early. It's why David Belle stopped pursuing it (though clearly he kept practicing it and improving). It also lacks the teachings of discipline, patience, self-control, and self-awareness that are learned through a longtime dedication to almost any martial art.

EDIT: typo; changed 'self-aware' to 'self-awareness'

[Mathew C]

mccowen, can you ask your parents about signing up for a martial arts class? It can be karate, or tae kwon doe, or something else.

[mccowen]

yeah im gunna start a judo club soon

[Kyle Gouch 'Triple K']

If you are really serious about parkour, there are two things you should do right now:

1) Start learning about the body as much as possible

2) Sign up for a martial arts class with an experienced instructor

There's so much for you to learn, and right now, it would be best for you to have people who can show you what to do and answer your questions. A lot of people on this website are smart, but we can't see you with our eyes, we are not there with you, so we can't be sure that we are giving good information.

2. Should be sign up for gymnastics classes... not martial arts.

Gymnastics gets way too competitive, way too early. It's why David Belle stopped pursuing it (though clearly he kept practicing it and improving). It also lacks the teachings of discipline, patience, self-control, and self-awareness that are learned through a longtime dedication to almost any martial art.

EDIT: typo; changed 'self-aware' to 'self-awareness'

I strongly disagree with you stating that gymnastics lacks all those things. I, for one, am a gymnastics coach, and out of all the sports I did, gymnastics is probably the most toughest one too stick with. This being, because these kids need physical and mental toughness to stick with it. The coaches are firm but fair, and we allow no lazyness. Patience is truly a virtue with us. Also, if you have no self-control, we either tell you too come back tomorow, or just make you do push-ups. Also, about it being too competitive. That's only if you choose to join the team, you can also just join classes, just like any other Karate class, you joing too learn it. Even most people, join the team, JUST to learn those traits you've listed above, and not for the competition.

[Stephanie Belle Hagan]

Gymnastics isn't bad at all. It sounds like you're a good coach, and it's no wonder that you're interested in parkour. I'm sure that all of your students, comrades, and other teachers have the same set of value goals and dicipline as you. I'm serious. 

HOWEVER a lot of people end up getting competitive even if they started out just to learn the skills. I remember when I took gymnastics.. I got very competitive, very quickly, because my coach put a lot of pressure on me to win. She always told me "I raise my students to be winners, not losers. If you lose, then perhaps you should return right back to where you started."

She sort of scared me. I can remember a lot of other girls crying if they lost because they were afraid that my coach was going to yell at them. Thus, I quit.

Sorry, personal rant. Gymnastics is great, martial arts is great... just be sure to investigate everything throughly first. Lets not forget there is competition on martial arts, as well guys. 

[Kyle Gouch 'Triple K']

Gymnastics isn't bad at all. It sounds like you're a good coach, and it's no wonder that you're interested in parkour. I'm sure that all of your students, comrades, and other teachers have the same set of value goals and dicipline as you. I'm serious. 

HOWEVER a lot of people end up getting competitive even if they started out just to learn the skills. I remember when I took gymnastics.. I got very competitive, very quickly, because my coach put a lot of pressure on me to win. She always told me "I raise my students to be winners, not losers. If you lose, then perhaps you should return right back to where you started."

She sort of scared me. I can remember a lot of other girls crying if they lost because they were afraid that my coach was going to yell at them. Thus, I quit.

Sorry, personal rant. Gymnastics is great, martial arts is great... just be sure to investigate everything throughly first. Lets not forget there is competition on martial arts, as well guys. 

Yeah, sorry if it sounded like I was attacking Mathew on his opinion lol. Yeah, today I asked my friend/co-worker, about gymnastics being competitive, and he says, when your real young and you join gymnastics, they first, try to make it seem like its all fun but once you start getting good, they try to make it super serious, and competitive. He's been working at that gym for 7 years, so he basically knows how everything works.

And thanks snow, I kinda got defensive there in my first post, because me being a coach and all, iit made it seem that he was attacking me on how I make gymnastics too competitive and serious for the kids. I know that he wasn't just pointing me out.

But, I'm known as the nice, fun coach, because I try to make it as more fun and less competitive as I can. I just teach them what they want to learn and thats about it. Lol, now look at me, going on and on about my personal life, I'm gonna stop typing now...

ALSO, on a side note, I'm trying to start teaching a Parkour Class at my gym, so hopefully that works out well.

[Mathew C]

Sorry if you took it as my attacking gymnastics. I have nothing against it at all. I just don't like some of the attitudes that seem to go with it, but even so, that doesn't mean someone shouldn't do it (I skateboard after all - just where it's allowed, respectfully, and so on).

[Joeson Wong]

I personally believe that gymnastics is a pretty competitive sport.

Most coaches over train the students and I see kids that are 8 years old training more than 12 hours a week! So I do say it gets a bit competitive. This is why I prefer parkour... It all about self improvement and it's totally against competition. I still do gymnastics, but not for the actual sport, but to increase my self-awareness and my creativity. It's just like me joining the track team. I run track but I don't do it for the competition or because I necessarily like running, I join it because it'll benefit my parkour which is the thing I ultimately love to do. (I mean, isn't that why we're all on a parkour based forum?) Anyway no offense Kyle, since I know you're a coach now and all, but gymnastics is kind of... against all things parkour is, even though many of the moves originated from or are correlated to gymnastic moves. It kind of reminds me of UFF

Sorry if you took it as my attacking gymnastics. I have nothing against it at all. I just don't like some of the attitudes that seem to go with it, but even so, that doesn't mean someone shouldn't do it (I skateboard after all - just where it's allowed, respectfully, and so on).

I agree with you Mathew, It's like how most people think as football players as jocks and that all skateboarders vandalize property. It's just that most of the "stereotypes" are true, which is why I generally think that gymnastics is competitive. But, there are people who just do gymnastics for the thrill and pure enjoyment of the sport which I think is how someone should approach gymnastics if they were to join it.

[Chris Salvato]

Do any of you think any of this is helping a 10 year old learn to train better?