American Parkour

I'm a small town boy, living in a lonely world.
I'm taking a midnight train to Montreal, after a midnight plane to Venice.
Free Running is taking me from being the "kid that does martial arts and flips around" in a town of 1400 people with no gym access, to "That kid that is getting the f#ck out of this small dead end town by following his passion!"

I'm starting to get to travel around, meet new people and hopefully relocate to a place where I can join a community, instead of learning everything by myself on grass, lol.

BUT: I'm for sure going to Venice for free running, and Montreal after. (25 hour train ride, oh lawrd)
And I'm planning on Texas(Few towns, visit friends, etc), Tampa, Denver, and trumbull. (Shay!)
and i'm really hoping to travel as much as possible for this!

where will your passion take YOU guys?! where do you want to go, and do you think you'll make it your reality?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42z6YZy5ZrI

I've never had any parkour specific shoes or clothes, so I felt all decked out and cooler than i really am.
But really, I had an awesome fun day with my good friends.
I just want critique and comments on my form and how to improve it, honestly. I have no gym or training partners, so my form is off on almost everything, my only resource is the nets critique, please help if you can haha.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtzj8gs5fMg

I loved these times... wanted to share. Training disappeared for a very long time, I just kinda screwed around,but ever since November I've been trying to truly progress, I hate how comfortable I was without progression for a long time haha... it's mostly because of laziness compounded by a controlling girlfriend, but that's all done with hopefully now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ml7ZhupDLok&feature=channel_video_title
around 1:14.

It's awesome but also kinda depressing that someone so famous uses parkour in such a negative way, kinda adds to the 'parkour is like skating - SATANS SPAWN!!!!" idea.

My girlfriend said she doesn't like me doing free running.
After like 2 weeks of deliberation, I heavy heartedly told her I'd stop. For her.
It worries her sick because the only times I can train are late at night and by myself, and I've had some seizures before, and one lately.

I was going to slow down training for the winter and work on conditioning a ton anyways, but not going back to a ton of training actual parkour and free running will murder me. Parkour saved my life, literally, I believe. I can't stand seeing her worry, and I can't stand not free running. She cried because I told her I trained picnic table kongs at like 1 AM in the park.

I REALLY don't want to stop... but I basically already said I would for her.

Anybody else been in this situation?
What do you think are chances of me being able to help her gain more insight on it all and show her it's not dangerous when done right?
When we started dating I taught her to kong, she thought it was so cool till I clipped my foot and faceplanted on grass, now she freaks out about 'WHAT IF THAT WAS CONCRETE?!' and doesn't understand me when I say "If it was concrete I wouldn't have pushed it, it was just barely above my best I've done".

Gah...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZfuMghqtLM

First video I've ever posted of me I think.
The flips were all terrible, I usually land them much better.
Might be the jeans, I've never flipped more than a few times in jeans and they were pretty constricting but it could be just a bad day and the fact I knew a camera was on me for once. Dunno.

Not a showreel or progression or anything, just some small stuff from random places.
There's like 1 other place in this town I can do anything without the cops getting called on me. >_<

Really, I'd like input on my tic tac and cats form is my main reason for posting it here.

Quick overview of me:
-no clue when I started parkour really.
-I live in Centralia Illinois
-I have always loved jumping and climbing.
-Being below the poverty line with never any extra cash makes going to jams impossible without a ride currently - my car is in the shop (can't afford to fix) and nearest jams are 50+ minutes drive away.
-I have only ever even talked to another traceur in St. Louis twice
-I went through a deep depression which parkour was the main reason I got out of it.
-After the depression ended I didn't train near as much at all. been a month since I've gone out and trained.
-My girlfriend now occupied 100% of my life, where parkour was 100% before. Any time I'm not with my girlfriend, I'm gonna be training if I can help it. And sometimes with my girlfriend... first real date I taught her kong vaults.
-I REALLY want to improve myself massively before next summer and have REAL fun at jams.

Okay... a long quick overview done.

My goals before summer starts in 2011 AARREEE

front flip onto a skateboard current: got it a few times without trucks on grass
120 second elbow lever current: measuring soon
1. 5 second REAL planche current: less than 1 second
2. 20 second handstand current record: 5 seconds...
3. 3 handstand pushups current record: 1
4. human flag for 5+ seconds current record: 1
5. standing long jump of 10+ feet current record: 9.25
6. double kongs progress: some really low and small sloppy ones
7. WAY better dash current: can't even dash
8. side flips current: had them in sand for less than a day... fear came from nowhere
9. backflips current: haven't tried much of anything
10. ledge front flips current: biggest ledge was around a foot. working on between waist and shoulder height
11. strengthen my knees CONSIDERABLY
12. kong vault my skate parks box and land on the metal strip edge (pictures coming soon)
13. 20 pullups current: 13
14. muscle up
15. jog 5 miles without stopping current record: 2.5 (>_<)
16. get my six pack back current: can see six muscles evenly when i flex, but hardly anything at all non flexed

And adding on records, expanding them if I achieve them too easily as I go along.
My goal for all of these is to be achieved by May 27th 2011. My graduation from highschool day.
I am starting today, 10/20/2010

Starting next post will be my daily training, and progression.
Editing achievements here:

I'm decently sure I'm blocking the right way.
I feel a bit more shock lately with my flips I am taking a SWAG at it being because I'm still rotating when I land, so instead of just feeling the shock of landing from a small height, I feel the height + the rotational inertia added.

Trying to get more height so I'm untucking mid height so I can work on 180 fronts in the sand.
I noticed by watching a million(exaggerraattiiooonn) videos in play-pause-play click spamming (home made slow mo for other peoples videos <_<) that the REALLY high fronts, the knees were hardly bent at all from take off in a lot of them, I was always told bend them deep. D:
Is the knees not bending something important for vert height?

No, not website down times. xD
Parkour down times.
(Warning: sob story approacheth)

Well basically for me, I keep going up and down with how much I train and how much I'm motivated.
I cannot stand this. I live in a small town and I'm the only free runner here, and the only person who's even remotely interested has a dictator parent who told him it's too dangerous. (They also think baseball is too dangerous, that basketball is pushing it, and track you could break an ankle) and he even told me he kinda doesn't want to anyways.

I had a car so I could meet up with people, I went to two St. Louis jams, and joined the Southern Illinois Parkour site. I was having to save up gas money for a LONG time for jams, because there are days I can't even afford to eat that day, let alone gas twice  or once a month to an hour away.
But I was so damn happy being able to go jam, be with free runners. I go to a preppy ass school full of stuck up snobs, they mostly like me, but I don't ever hang out with them. I can't go to the public school here, so switching schools to save money is a no. But I feel like I'm suffocating in this entire town, it's ridiculous. No one is barely close to being like me in so many ways.

But at least I could save up and skip some days of eating for gas money to go to St. Lo- oh shit never mind I got ran off the road and hit a ditch and some trees - no more car. I am losing my mind, and in that way, I am slowly losing how much I love parkour, and how much it practically defines me. My conditioning dropped, my training stalled, and nothing makes me happy anymore. I've had like the best weekend ever so far, but I'm just not truly happy. The only thing besides parkour and TRUE friends that makes me happy is a true girlfriend, and that around here is pretty much impossible... believe me I've tried. <_<

GAAAAHHH, I am not rage quitting parkour, I did that once for like two weeks. Worst two weeks of my life. I'm just curious, and as pathetic and desperate as this blatantly is, what are your guys stories about down times and how you got past it?
I need some real motivation...

I'm not really sure what is going to happen.

Got caught with my girlfriend at school. (Not my idea, but hell if I didn't quite like the idea)
They haven't informed my parental unit yet, but I can hazard a guess at lockdown whenever they do.

Just posting this just in case I randomly disappear you all know I didn't like fail some flip and die or something.
I screwed up really bad, the school practically threatened to nuke my life.
This girls parents are really, REALLY strict, and I had no doubt she'd be like homeschooled and never let out of the house again, so I was trying to make it fall on me and try to keep her as safe as possible.

Apparently though, they told her I sold her out, then she told them it was my idea, and she didn't want to.
She started the idea, and was the first to mention in school. Her parents wont let her hang out with people unless they are in a big group and they know the group. Impossible outside of school, basically.

I've lately just not cared about much at all... just lost interest in well, everything. I think free running and p90x is keeping me tethered to sanity...
I have no idea what the HELL I was thinking.

Here's what people have heard, it's the talk of the entire school apparently...

Me
Hey, midn telling me what rumors are going around about that whole thing? I keep hearing a ton of different things from every person. Not really anyone has the real story
NAME REMOVED
someone told me u and bay had sex in art.

Me
Hey, do you mind telling me any rumors you've heard about me today? I've heard like five variations, been told there's more. =\
NAME REMOVED
that you two wanted to have sex and that you said you could please her in the gym closet too
Me
Gym closet, that's new.


Me
Hey, do you mind telling me any rumors you've heard about me today? I've heard like five variations, been told there's more. =\
NAME REMOVED
 um, i heard tht u nd baylee wwere gonna meet uo in the janitors closet durng art while some =one stood guard and then i also heard tht excapt tht u had condoms in ur locker...

Me
Hey, can you tell me any rumors you've heard about me today? No one seems o have the full real story and I'm trying to figure out what all is going around
NAME REMOVED
well i didnt know anything till after school when i just heard lydia found a note about you and baylee and how you were going to skip art or some class and go in the janitors closet and do it and thats all i heard. like i said i didnt even think it was you. i thought it was about baylee and carson.
Me
Have you heard anything else really?
NAME REMOVED
no i promise
thats really all i heard.
NAME REMOVED is offline.
^Yeah, she knows more.

Me
What have you heard?
NAME REMOVED
well i heard that lydia walked in art first hour to you and baylee *******

Me
Hey, you by chance wanna tell me what all rumors you've heard about today? There's a million variations, I'm trying to find them all
NAME REMOVED
i just heard u had condoms in your locker and u were planning on doing it with baylee
Me
You haven't heard any other details than that?
NAME REMOVED
well that u were going to do it in art in the janitors closet
and there was a note sayin you were
NAME REMOVED is offline.


I'm asking tons of people what they've heard, lol.