Topic: Conditioning Vs. Muscle Density Vs. Daring

[--Edge]

This question mostly relates to Freerunning...

But anyways, I was wondering how much of being able to backflip, or front flip, wall flip, etc is well developed muscle, how much of it is simple muscle memory or conditioning, and how much of it is the mental confidence that you CAN do these things....

For instance, if somebody is athletic, but never trained in gymnastic feats, would they have a decent chance of accomplishing things like this? or would it take weeks or even months of muscle development, working out, stretching, and practicing in a gym before they could perform them?

The reason I ask is that I went to an open gym for the first time on Saturday, and I was able to wall flip the first time I ever tried. I had a pad on the wall, and a mat on ground, then I took off the mat, and still used to the pad on the wall, then took the pad away. But by that time I was pretty tired. So I was landing on my knees mostly. As well I was able to backflip off a raised mat and land on my feet. (Height of about 3 feet) So I was wondering if you need a significant amount of conditioning in order to perform these on ground, or if it just muscle memory and such.

Thanks.

[Steven Low]

I'd say most is technique. If your vertical is at least 12 inches with good technique you can probably do a back flip on flat ground (e.g. all those little kids in gymnastics can do back flips well). Front flip since it's slower rotating might need a bit more if not a lot especially for standing fronts. Wall flip you barely need a vertical to do one since that's mostly technique.

Muscle can help compensate for technique.. although this is not recommend especially if you want to learn to twist or do high level moves. Daring, to an extent, does help because it's not good to half commit to skill = land on your head.

[Oni]

Yeah, I need to work on wall flips too... I know I can do them, but I don't have mats.

[--Edge]

That's what I was thinking. Errr, hoping rather. Because for awhile I had this mental block that kept telling me, "You can't do this stuff until you've spent months working out intensely! Rawhwhh!!!!"

Thanks for the reply, but what did you mean by,

Muscle can help compensate for technique.. although this is not recommend especially if you want to learn to twist or do high level moves.

Do you mean that it's not good to only compensate muscle for technique when trying higher level moves? Or that it's not good to work on muscle too much. I'm a bit confused, sorry.

And Oni, you should go to an Open Gym man, that's the first time I had ever tried it. And you can build up confidence very easily there. Then after you're comfortable, try it on normal objects, walls, trees, etc. Plus Open Gyms are so much fun it's insane.

[Steven Low]

Do you mean that it's not good to only compensate muscle for technique when trying higher level moves? Or that it's not good to work on muscle too much. I'm a bit confused, sorry.

I'm saying you should learn the technique well first. If you try to compensate anything with muscle, it usually looks sloppy and you won't be able to even try to attempt learning advanced techniques successfully unless you're really lucky with chucking stuff.

[--Edge]

Trippy, thanks.

[Oni]

Yeah, sounds like it would be fun.

I don't know where one is though. Haha... =/

[--Edge]

Dude, mapquest your address, then type in "Gymnastics" in the "Find around me" search field. Then look them up online and see when their open gym is. That's what I did. Or if you live in Denver or Houston I can tell where one is.

[Oni]

Alright, I found several in Oregon... that are fairly close to me.

Thanks, Edge.

[--Edge]

No worries mate.

And believe me, you'll be glad you went.

[Oni]

Sad story.. all the gyms I found either don't have an "Open Gym", or they're only for little kids.

It's really lame.

[--Edge]

Well contact them directly and ask if there's a time when you could use their equipment for a few hours if you sign a waiver. Most gymnastics people are pretty flexible.

Yeah that was lame.

[Oni]

Mmkay, I'll try that.

Does it normally cost money? 

[--Edge]

Never more than 10 dollars, it was 6 for non members at the one I go to.

Are there people around you that Parkour as well? Perhaps you could get a group, they would probably be more inclined to let a group go for an open Gym session. But I'd just talk to them and see.

Also, do you have any universities around you? Sometimes they have gymnastics programs.

[Oni]

Hmm.. I think I can manage six dollars.

Uhmmm... two other people that I know of.

One, but... I don't think they do.