Topic: Ash's Training Journal (Comments Welcome)

[-Ash-]

This is my training journal where I will be writing about my training.

I recently started training again after a three month break for my knees and such.

My main goals as of now are...

Ambidextrous Lazy Vaults (left hand is awful)
Correct Climb-Up
Focusing more on just getting over the obstacle fast instead of worrying if my form is perfect. This is efficiency, it doesn't have to be impressive.

[-Ash-]

Breakfast/Wake-up Warm-up:

Handful of frozen blueberries
Bowl of cheerios with milk

10 Push-ups
10 Sit-ups

Snack:
1/4 bag chex mix
1/6 Bag peanuts
About five fries with ketchup

Lunch/Session One:

Small piece of Lasagna
1 Cup Oatmeal with Cinnamon
2 Cups Milk
Small slice of chocolate cake

20 Push-ups x2
10 Sit-ups x2
30 Squats
10 Pistols (alt legs) x2
Practiced vaults
Practiced roll
Searched for area to practice wall runs and cat grabs

Dinner/Session Two:

1 Small Slice Lasagna
1/4 cup frozen blueberries
1 Small Slice Chocolate Cake
1 Cup Milk

I didn't practice due to a headache.

[-Ash-]

Breakfast/Wake-up Warm-up:

Handful of frozen blueberries
Medium bowl of cheerios w/ 1 cup milk

Too tired to warm-up.  DANG ME!

Snack:

1 Small Bag Chex-Mix
1 Pack Peanut Butter Crackers

Lunch/Session One:

1 Filet O' Fish (McDonalds) No Cheese
1 Small Dr. Pepper
1 Small Piece of Chocolate Cake

And to make up for that awful lunch...

30 Push-ups
30 Sit-ups
20 Pistols
50 Squats
Lifting 20lb weights (20 lifts...pulls...whatever it's called)
Ran at 6MPH for 2min on treadmill (ooo...that's bad)
Practiced vaults, rolls, and jumps for 2hrs

Dinner/Session Two:

2 Pieces Thin Crust Pizza from Local Pizzeria
1/10 Caesar Salad
2 cups Milk

10 Push-ups
Practiced flowing lazy vaults
Practiced roll x 10

[-Ash-]

I forgot to log this...and I forgot what I did that day. ;_;

[-Ash-]

Forgot to log this AGAIN. I had some friends over, and we played parkour tag outside. (or at least they tried. )

[-Ash-]

Breakfast/Warm-up:

1 Small Bowl Cheerios

No warm-up

Snack:

1 Bag Goldfish

Lunch/Session 1:

1 McDonalds Filet 'O Fish No Cheese
1 Small Dr. Pepper
(oh god, that's bad.)

20 Pushups x 2
20 Situps
10 Kong vaults (2'7")
10 Lazy Vaults, Left Leg (2'7")
10 Lazy Vaults, Right Leg (2'7")
Practiced roll 5min

Snack:

1 cup blueberry banana smoothie (home made)

Dinner/Session Two:

2 cups chicken noodle soup

20 Pushups
20 Sit ups
17 Kongs (3'2")

Well, I sprained my ankle or something on the 17th kong. I can't really walk on it now... Guess I'll have to stick to push-ups and stuff.

[-Ash-]

Breakfast/Warm-up:

1 Cup Blueberry Banana Smoothie (home made)
1/2 Cup Milk

No warm-up.

Snack:

1 Slice Pizza
1 Bag Chips

Lunch/Session One:

1 McDonalds Filet O' Fish (no cheese)
4 McNuggets
1 cup water

Searched for a good place to practice, unsuccessfully.

30 Squats
20 Pistols

Dinner/Session Two:

Mashed potatoes with gravy, green beans, and chicken. (small serving of each)
1 Slice bad pizza
3 Shortbread Cookies
1 Cup Milk
1 Pack Fruit Chews (10?)

20 Pushups x 2
20 Situps x 2
30 Squats
20 Pistols
(couldn't really practice anything else due to foot)

[-Ash-]

My foot feels better today. 

Breakfast/Warm-up:

Three spoonfuls of cheerios. I didn't feel good this morning. 

No warm-up.

Snack:

4 McNuggets (they were gross)

Lunch/Session One:

4 Crackers with Smokey Swiss Cheese
10 Shortbread Cookies
2 Cups Milk

20 Pushups x 3
20 Clapping Push-ups
30 Situps
20 Situps
50 Squats
20 Pistols
Leg Lifted (whatever it's called) 20lbs 20 times
Lifted 40lbs x 10
Lifted 20lbs x 20
Practiced Kongs/Lazy Vaults on Couch (it snowed more today.  )
Practiced Vertical Jump up Stairs x 3

Dinner/Session Two:

Beans and Rice
Chips and Cheese
5 shortbread cookies
1 cup milk
1 cup Coffee Ice Cream 

No work-out.

[-Ash-]

Forgot to log this. 

[-Ash-]

TODAY, I made huge improvement on everything.  I have conquered you, mighty railing!

Breakfast/Warm-up:

Three Spoonfuls of Cheerios (felt like shit this morning)

20 Push-ups
20 Sit-ups

Snack:

1 Bag Barbeque Lays
1 Bag Cheez Nips
Ooo, that's a bad one.

Lunch/Session One:

1 McDonalds Filet O' Fish
1 Small Dr. Pepper

20 Pushups
20 Situps

Dinner/Session Two:

2 Cups Orange Juice/ V8 Berry Blend/ Blueberry/ Banana Smoothie (homemade) (YUMMM SOOO GOOOD!)
1 Teaspoon Peanut Butter
1/4 Taco Bell Mexican Pizza (gross)
2 DQ Chicken Fingers (OK)

30 Situps x 2
20 Pushups x 2
10 Ab Curls 20lbs
5 Lat Pulldowns 40lbs
10 Lat Pulldowns 30lbs x 2
20 Lat Pulldowns 20lbs x 2
30 Lat Pulldowns 10lbs
Lazy Vaults/Speed Vaults over couch Left and Right (about 30 times?)
Kongs over couch (20 times?)
10 Lazy Vaults over railing  (left and right alt)
10 Kongs over railing
Practiced Jumps Over Couch x 5 (MADE IT EVERY TIME!)

[-Ash-]

Found a nice area to practice in. Well, it's somebody's backyard and stuff and they're on vacation...so, for now it's a good place to practice. I invited some friends over and taught them how to kong and lazy vault, and then lands and rolls over a fence. (the fence had spiky things on top, so it was incentive to get over)

[-Ash-]

I'm gonna take this up again... I've been feeling really discouraged, and maybe this'll help out.

First, before I start logging again, here's what I've been up to:

20 Crunches x 2 a day
20 Elevated Crunches x 2 a day
20 Leg Lifts a Day x 2 (just started yesterday on that one)
20 Shin raises...whatever they're called x 3 a day
20 Calf Raises x 3 a day
10 CORRECT Push-ups x 1 a day
5 dips x 2 a day
5 second L-Sit x 3-5 a day
5 Chin-ups x 1 a day
1 Pull-up (very bad pull-up) x 1 a day

Then, I've been going outside and doing wall runs/kongs.

I AM DISCOURAGED BECAUSE...

Despite all this, I seem to have made no improvements since the day I started parkour. I still can't do a long kong, I still can't do a wall-climb, and my legs feel weaker. I mean, drops that I used to do all the time seem to be huge. I just feel lousy about my skills. My form is awful...everything is choppy, and I'm scared I'm going to break my arm when I do a diving kong. I just feel like such a loser. 

[Sai Chikine]

If your legs hurt and you're afraid of taking drops, DON'T take drops!! Large drops accomplish nothing! i would suggest that you stick to only 2-3 foot drops to drill your landings. Also, lay off training. There's such thing as OVERTRAINING. Lay off for two weeks and you'll feel amazing when you're done. I know it's hard to wait but it's definitely worth it.

[-Ash-]

It's not that I'm afraid of them...my huge, I mean feel huge. As in, impact on my legs. Just a broad jump hurts. It seems to be getting better, though...

Oh, really? I never thought of that... I'd hate to try that now with spring break a day away and all, though.

[Sai Chikine]

If your legs hurt don't do drops. Large drops aren't good at all. They don't do ANYTHING for you. Lay off drops PERMANANTLY. You should really rest though. You can condition over the break or whatever but don't strain yourself.

[-Ash-]

Okay. I try to stay away from anything above four feet...but sometimes that's unsuccessful.  I never strain myself, for the most part.

[-Ash-]

'ere goes.

Morning:

20 Crunches
10 Elevated Crunches
20 Leg Lifts
12 Push-ups


Afternoon:


About a mile of jogging/sprinting...tripped, cut my hand, stopped.
Made a make-shift pull-up bar out of a tree branch and two trees.
Put on gloves (because of the cut that is small but stings a lot) and did duct-tape under bars with the make shift pull-up bar. I'm getting pretty good at those!

NEW MOVE LEARNED: 360 Underbar
Duct Tape Used Today: 1 1/2 Roll (so far)

I just practiced some more under bars... Wow, those are fun. (probably because I can actually do them)

Hopefully tonight I'm gonna find some rails to practice vaults on. I have a spot in mind where I could practically practice under bars... And I'm gonna try to fix my monkey... I let go of one hand before the other and it looks sloppy. I could hold on longer, but I don't think I'm supposed to...it feels right though.

Night:

Just rested.

[-Ash-]

Today I'm going to work on my diving kong. I set up a dresser and some cushions in my basement to practice on. Maybe I'll even try out the palm spin...just because it looks so awesome. 

Morning:

30 Crunches
10 Elevated Crunches
20 Leg Lifts
20 Squats

Gonna practice my roll on the wood floor instead of carpet. Hopefully I won't bruise my shoulder. 
Didn't have the guts to try the roll on the wood floor. Back to the carpet...

10 Second L-Sit

Afternoon:

A little diving kong practice. Still can't get over my dresser...

Night:

10 Elevated Push-ups
5 Inverted Rows

My arms still hurt from yesterday's training.

[-Ash-]

I went down to Louisville today to practice. I'm going to go there more often, it's really nice.

Basically, I just did some kongs, lazies, and underbars. I attempted some wall-runs but I couldn't climb up. My monkies and kongs are crooked, which I thought I had fixed, but I know the problem. I just need to practice and get my hips higher as well as letting go with both of my hands at the same time. I'm feeling pretty discouraged about that one...

[-Ash-]

I'm going to try to get some practice in today before it starts to rain.

Today has been awesome. I practiced monkeys, lazies, and kongs. Then I found a wall a good two feet higher than me and climbed it easily. My upper body strength has greatly improved.

I have officially climbed nearly every wall that has troubled me since I started parkour.  And my wallrun is now at 8'. I measured how high I could touch.

I worked a little on my gate vault, and I'm still letting go to early; that can be fixed. I let go of one hand before the other on my kong vault... Also can be fixed pretty easily. Just a little more practice. And I almost forgot, I was looking at these bike rack things, and they were too rounded and small width wise to be monkey/kong vaulted. This resulted in me accidentally learning the straddle vault...lawlz.

Injuries:

Hit knee doing a diving kong. Top of knee is bruised...

Just did some precision jumps. (5')

I finally did a diving kong over my dresser. Maybe I'm not so bad after all.