Topic: Michael "gecko" Chelewski's log

[parkouring_gecko]

hi everyone,
i have been doint parkour for bout 2 months.  i guess i will start this thread by saying wat i can do and then wat i am goin to work on next.

I learned:
*roll
*dash vault
*speed vault
*kong vault
*theif vault
*kash vault

Wat i am goin to work on next:
*reverse vault
*turn vault
*lazy vault
*percision vault
*cat leaps
*tic tac
*cat balance
*and then the flow of my moves

if anyone has any advice or thinks i am missing somthing plz comment cuz i want to be best i can be lol! thanks for reading!

[Gregg]

Hey, Michael...

It's great that you're learning the rolls and vaults. Keep up with that. Definitely work on your landings from 3-4 feet or so - get them as good as you can. Landing bad can seriously injure you.

A lot of people like to build up their upper and lower body strength. Squats, pushups, pullups, dips and stuff like that. Try APK warmup, How to construct a  workout, or you can build up to the Workout of the Day, if you like.

[parkouring_gecko]

ok thanks for the help.  i looked at that and i sumwat have a workout.  i do the physical training schedule on http://www.thesealteams.com/SEAL_workouts/index.html  i like that agility workout that it has on the APK warmup.  i'll add that to my workout thanks!

9/6/07

after i started writing my journal entry thing i went outside to practice sum more.  i worked on my dash vault, kong vault, theif vault, percision jumps, cat leap, tic tac, and wallrun.
i live on the farm so i went by are barn and there is a window 8'9'' from the ground.  i was thinking that i should try wallrun soon or a later.  i tried it on my first try and did it!  i scraped my arm a little tho but its all good. then i went over to this small building by a fence and i thought i could jump over to the building from the fence and do a cat leap.  and did it but i couldn't pull my self up as easy.  then i went over to our garages.  we have 2 set up right buy each other.  i did a tic tac from one of the sides of the barn to the roof of the other but then again i couldn't pull my self up as easy.  i think i might need to work on my upper body strength.  well it started to rain a little but i didn't want to stop so i went to our deck we have in front of our house and i did kongs, kashes, dashes, theifs, and speed vaults off of it for a while.  i also worked on my landings without rolling.  i still have yet to work on my reverse, turn, and lazy vault.  if anyone has any advice for me plz comment i could use the help.  thanks again btay for help!

[parkouring_gecko]

if i were to video tape myself doin all the moves i kno, could anyone possibly tell me wat to work on or anything i'm doing wrong?

[Steven Low]

Yup, post them up in the pics and vids section and ask for critique.

[parkouring_gecko]

9/7/07

i just got back from school(8th grade).  i think i hurt my ankle in football but i only kno that its killing me.  i'll try to do as much as i can but i don't want to risk injuring anymore than wat it is.  i think it is just sore.  after school i was messing around on the elementries playground.  it has this soft tar stuff so i was practicing rolls and stuff.  i was trying to do a back hand spring and i fell a few times.  but like after 20 times i finally landed it!!! my first one ever lol.  not sure if it is really a parkour move but it looks kool.  right not its like 4:00 so i'm goin to go and work on sum tricks.  i'll post sum in a little but later!

[parkouring_gecko]

9/8/07

forgot to make my last entry last nite.  ok i was up town w/ sum of my friends and we were getting on buildings and the cop started to circle the building.  we were trying to get down then there was a 13-14 foot drop.  it was the only way down so i hung from it and dropped and asorbed the landing and all that.  well were i landed there was a whole so over-extended my ankle and like i said before it was already hurting.  it doesn't feel that bad today but i'm goin to try to stay off of it for a while but i'll still practice and stuff just not as much.

[Steven Low]

It's not really a good idea to climb buildings or take drops that big especially when you're relatively new (not that it's a good idea to climb building regardless).

Also, you should ice your ankle and do rehab exercises for it instead of aggravating it constantly. If you keep doing that you're going to get permanently injured.

[parkouring_gecko]

i've taken that jump hundreds of times before even when i didn't kno bout parkour but it was just i wasn't focused on were i was goin to land mostly.  i am icing it and doin exercises for it and its helping cuz i can't feel any pain on it now but i kno if i go and do sum hard core training it will start to hurt so i'll lay off the hard training for now and just keep workin on my vaults.

[Muse_of_Fire]

Gecko, you should be conditioning as well. I'd be interested to see your conditioning routine here in your log as well as your parkour work.

And I agree with Steve, you shouldn't be doing drops more than about half your body height for a good while. Steve's been doing this a long time, he knows what he's talking about.

[Gregg]

Hey, Michael... take it easy on your ankle before you really screw it up bad. Look at what Stryddz did.

When your ankle's healed, practice your drops from 3 to 4 feet. Actually, start from flat ground. Pick 2 spots on the ground, or use pennies. Practice landing precisely on them. Then practice precisely landing 2 inches to either side of them, but not on them. That will keep you from landing in holes.

Conditioning: The SEAL program looks like a good start. Where on the Schedule are you?

[parkouring_gecko]

ok thanks for the help.  i am starting week 2 on the seals program.  i'm trying to take it easy on my ankle but sumthin happened today but nothin bad bad.  there is this town garden think and i was working on my percision jumps and the ledges are like 4 inches off the ground.  well there are these fences and i was working on my balance and cat balance.  when i was doin my balance the rail wiggled and i slipped and i stuck out my bad foot out so i wouldn't wrack myself and i over-extended it again.  it doesn't hurt that bad but i'm goin to really have to watch wat i am doin and make sure i think of all the things that could happen.

[parkouring_gecko]

9/9/07

haven't done anythin today so far cuz of my ankle.  i taped it up and it wouldn't move and that helped a little not so much pain.  i'm goin to try btay's idea bout the pennies and then maybe work on my turn vault sum more.  anyone have any suggestions bout diving kongs?  and i'll lay off the high jumps.  i'll stick w/ 3-4 feet like u guys said before.  i'll post up my conditioning routine in a little bit.

[parkouring_gecko]

ok i haven't posted up my conditioning yet.  i do a thing called the county fair.  wat u do is:
bearcrawl 50 yards
jog 50 yards
10 situps
spider crawl 50 yards
10 pushups
bearcrawl 50 yards again
jog 50 yards again
10 mountain climbers
spider crawl 50 yards again
10 up downs
repeat 5 times

i learned this drill at football camp.  it is a real pain with pads on.  there is also another drill called the little drill.  its not that little lol.  i don't do that one very much i just do county fair.

[Gregg]

Sorry to hear you re-injured your ankle. Give it some time to heal. Watch Dogen's Titanium Ankle Tutorial. Also Skippy's Precision Tutorial He recommends 10-15 barefoot precisions of 7' +/- on a level hard surface as a way to strengthen your ankles and improve your precisions. Then, build up by 5 precisions a week.

I wouldn't jump that far right now. Find a distance that's super easy. If you feel any pain in your ankle, back down. If you still feel pain, back down more. If it hurts no matter what you do, lay off parkour for a week, and do something like elliptical machine, or some easy biking... something where you move your ankle in a gentle and controlled way.

[parkouring_gecko]

thanks for advice btay.  i can do sum percisions just not very far and i have been playing that penny game u invents.  i didn't do any running on my foot today but i did work on a few vaults but nothin that hurt my ankle.  i will probly just do my push-ups and sit-ups and then hang around.  other than that i didn't do anythin on my ankle that hurt it.  it feels tons better.

[parkouring_gecko]

9/11/07

just got back from school.  today will probly be my last day of not running for my ankle.  i will probly start conditioning again tomorrow.  i'm goin to go do sum vaults and wall climbs.  when i first started this training log i made a list.  i'll update on wat i can do and wat i want to learn next.

What I Know:
*roll
*dash vault
*speed vault
*kong vault
*thief vault
*kash vault
*reverse vault
*turn vault
*tic tac
*percision jumps
*worked more on my cat balance and normal balance

What I want to work on:
i'm not sure at this point wat else to learn.  could somone help me out?

[ursasmaller]

It might be a good idea to simply improve on what you already know.  For example, lengthening your kong, or improving your broad jump.  Maybe target climb-ups (these are a big problem for me) or perfect your roll until you can do it on concrete.

[Steven Low]

For goals it's a good idea to pick a few and drill the heck out of them. The body only can learn so much at once, and movement patterns need to be drilled into your brain. I would pick about ~2 that you already know to improve and then another ~2 to learn at the same time. Work on them a lot.

[Gregg]

Work on your landings and rolls. You need to get them DOWN. From there, pick a few vaults [speed, kong, turn], muscle ups and wall climbs. That will get you over most obstacles.