Topic: Balancing Conditioning vs Training

[Ian Simonson]

Sorry if this is in the wrong section, but I figured this was the best one so far.

I've been training for a month now, and for the most part that's been conditioning.  I go to the gym, do the APK warmup (well, not all the pullups, not that strong yet) do whatever conditioning I've decided I'm going to do that day and then go for a mile run or so.  Usually by the end of that I'm tired and done, though occasionally I go practice rolls and balancing on a rail with the odd precision thrown in here and there.  A lot of vault training, kong, lazy, thief, etc.  Of course I'm training on my own and so I don't push myself during conditioning as much as I probably would with others training with me, so it's been a much slower progress than I'd like.

However, the point is most days I'm just doing conditioning.  A few times a week I'll do a couple rolls (I can do rolls occasionally on concrete over my right shoulder, but not my left yet).  I've started to switch off days, a day of conditioning, and then a day of light conditioning and mostly "flow training" on one part of a rail.

How do you guys balance conditioning and training?  Do you plan your run and then just train/condition on obstacles you're not able to overcome during your run?  Or do you mostly do a lot of conditioning, and then go out and do parkour every now and then?  Or is it the same thing?  Right now I'm doing mostly conditioning (strength, and endurance) and I figure when I can do a proper wall climb (as in technique-wise, I can get on top of walls easily, just not very smoothly/properly) then I'll begin more outdoor conditioning/doing actual parkour. 

At what point does/did your training go from mostly conditioning to mostly parkour?

I probably repeated myself multiple times, sorry for that, I was just sitting here thinking about the last month and how I have not been "doing parkour" but rather just conditioning.

[Mr.WWII]

I lift weights to be stronger, everything else is just practicing parkour. Ya just gotta be light with the parkour on lifting days. Most of us here do strength training separate from regular parkour training and the traditional "conditioning" you speak of, either with weights or just bodyweight(gymnastics strength skills) This way we optimize our strength gains.

You should read the sticky and try to get a basic understanding of exercise physiology. If you want to get stronger you gotta overload the body with a very high intensity. You want to work on things that are really hard to do even just a few times, so 30 push ups won't help ya get stronger because it is not enough overload, if you could only do 2 push ups though than it would be useful. So in your conditioning, if you want to get stronger, don't do a 100 of something, it'll be a waste of time in terms of getting stronger (tho it can certainly be useful in technique practice)

[Joe Brock]

Mine turned out to be the exact opposite of what you're asking.  I noticed that my improvements in strength and speed were so closely tied to my "parkour ability," that my focus was driven more towards the strength & conditioning aspects.  After doing reps of weighted chins, pulling yourself up a wall is easier.

If we use DaveS's definition of parkour, it's all parkour to some degree.

[MedvisP]

Mine turned out to be the exact opposite of what you're asking.  I noticed that my improvements in strength and speed were so closely tied to my "parkour ability," that my focus was driven more towards the strength & conditioning aspects.  After doing reps of weighted chins, pulling yourself up a wall is easier.

If we use DaveS's definition of parkour, it's all parkour to some degree.

This. If you have the strength to do something, the technical aspects come easily most of the time (in my experience). If you don't have the strength you just won't be able to do it no matter how good your technique is, which is why I've been focusing most of my time on strength training.

[Ian Simonson]

Ok, so the fact I'm spending most of my time strength training/conditioning (for now at least) is fine, and I shouldn't worry too much that I'm not working on my techniques as much as my strength?

Alright, thanks guys, I'll just keep it up with the strength training then.

[Rafe]

Effective strength training shouldn't take more then 3 1-1.5 hour sessions a week unless being your an intermediate focused on being a strength athlete(not a traceur), that should give you plenty of time to practice parkour aside from it. Our most dedicated athletes usually do 2 1.5 hour sessions for strength a week with 3-5 1-2 hour session of skill training a week. In winter or when we have specific strenght goals we more frequently do 3 strenght sessions a week and fewer skill training sessions. Parkour can also be programed for development of power, speed, stamina, and endurance when those are goals.

Personally due to business obligations I usually get 4 30 minute sessions of strength training per week and 3 1 hour skill sessions thats allot less then I would like but I am still maintaining lower body strength while increasing upper body strength.

[Steven Low]

Strength work 2-3x a week.... rest of the time (2-3 days) you can get out and work on parkour stuff for an hour or two. Leave yourself 2 days of pure rest time

Rafe was more specific though so that works too.