American Parkour has a feature on us on their front page. Check it out.
There are pictures of all of us training... and bleeding.
http://www.americanparkour.com/
A direct link to the images is
http://www.americanparkour.com/gallery2/v/jams/2008/primal_school/
enjoy!
Monday, April 21, 2008
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Day 5 The End
I am writing this post from my own home as opposed to Washington, DC. I assume the other two made it home safe and sound (I said goodbye at the airport)
Yesterday was awesome. We slept in and Mark picked us up at the home we were staying at so we could drive to various outdoor locations to practice parkour.
First stop…Zen Park. A playground made of huge wooden posts sticking out of the ground in various formations, great for precision jumps. There is also a regular playground where Mark taught us the Under Bar. That’s literally what it is. You swing underneath a bar lifting your legs up to clear and obstacle. Luke and Kai hit their biggest jumps yet in Zen Park.
Second Stop…Silver Spring Metro Station. A garden area with huge cement walls and boxes, sweet spot for cat leaps, qm landings, and a few precision jumps. We spent awhile here, Luke nailed himself pretty bad cutting his arm on one of the boxes. The cement was slippery so getting up the walls was pretty hard. Mark had us run a route through the course a few times.
Then we had a discussion. “Have we been ‘doing’ parkour?” Yes, no, we’re just practicing it. So mark had us “do” parkour to get to our next location about a block away. Once we got their Mark asked again… “Did you ‘do’ parkour?” Answer, some of us did. I had a vaulted a fence that I could have run straight past. A new definition of parkour, “Practicing the most inefficient route so that when it is your only option you can do it.”
Running around with us were Will and Skipper, two members of The Tribe so we got to watch them doing kongs into precision, which I wont even try to describe. Then the security for the parking lot asked us to move along…so we did.
We will be getting pictures from Mark later this coming week of us training and leaping around DC. Those will be posted soon There will be posts every time we train or find something super amazing that has to do with parkour.
So read on,
Ness
Yesterday was awesome. We slept in and Mark picked us up at the home we were staying at so we could drive to various outdoor locations to practice parkour.
First stop…Zen Park. A playground made of huge wooden posts sticking out of the ground in various formations, great for precision jumps. There is also a regular playground where Mark taught us the Under Bar. That’s literally what it is. You swing underneath a bar lifting your legs up to clear and obstacle. Luke and Kai hit their biggest jumps yet in Zen Park.
Second Stop…Silver Spring Metro Station. A garden area with huge cement walls and boxes, sweet spot for cat leaps, qm landings, and a few precision jumps. We spent awhile here, Luke nailed himself pretty bad cutting his arm on one of the boxes. The cement was slippery so getting up the walls was pretty hard. Mark had us run a route through the course a few times.
Then we had a discussion. “Have we been ‘doing’ parkour?” Yes, no, we’re just practicing it. So mark had us “do” parkour to get to our next location about a block away. Once we got their Mark asked again… “Did you ‘do’ parkour?” Answer, some of us did. I had a vaulted a fence that I could have run straight past. A new definition of parkour, “Practicing the most inefficient route so that when it is your only option you can do it.”
Running around with us were Will and Skipper, two members of The Tribe so we got to watch them doing kongs into precision, which I wont even try to describe. Then the security for the parking lot asked us to move along…so we did.
We will be getting pictures from Mark later this coming week of us training and leaping around DC. Those will be posted soon There will be posts every time we train or find something super amazing that has to do with parkour.
So read on,
Ness
Friday, April 18, 2008
Day 4 a Day Late
Yesterday was so amazing we forgot to write about it....
So here is yesterday's update.
We did vualts with Mark. First the speed vault, which allows you to pass over an obstacle as if it isn't even there. You have to turn your whole body sideways in mid air though and it is really fun to see the pictures of us in mid-air that Mark is taking. He's used pictures pretty much everyday of training to show us where we are and then an example of what it should look like. Feet together instead of apart, etc...
Kai took a huge spill at one point, smashing his right knee into the corner of the vault box. He rolled a few feet...and now he has a beautiful red line across his knee.
After the speed vaults we did monkey vaults. Dive with hands out stretched towards the fault and pull your legs through where your hands were. Only it's less of a pulling motion, your legs swing if you get your hips up high enough. No bruises there but more tumbles for sure.
We didn't do any conditioning in the morning becuase in the evening we got to attend the Advanced Parkour class. SWEET!!! We got to train with people who can do this stuff. There were about 20 people in the class. One teen who is homeschooled, he does parkour for gym credit, and the rest were adults (20s through 40s). Conditioning for that class was crazy. Run the big block, qm push ups forward and back, and then 50 squats. Twice.
The class was about topping out, and cat leaps. A cat leap is landing with your feet on the wall and your hands on the edge. We did them a little on the first day of this week. First we did cat leaps from the ground onto the wall. Then a box, then a bigger box. Then the boxes started to move back. The distance getting bigger. Jumping 8 feet is not more forte so three different times I slammed into the wall. My knees look like Kai's now.
And then we went to dinner with Mark at this great greek restaurant. And yes, we had Saganaki!
Today we are meeting Mark at the _________ Metro Stop, I don't want to give away where we are going just yet, to do parkour where it belongs. In the outdoors.
Enjoy your day,
we will enjoy ours.
So here is yesterday's update.
We did vualts with Mark. First the speed vault, which allows you to pass over an obstacle as if it isn't even there. You have to turn your whole body sideways in mid air though and it is really fun to see the pictures of us in mid-air that Mark is taking. He's used pictures pretty much everyday of training to show us where we are and then an example of what it should look like. Feet together instead of apart, etc...
Kai took a huge spill at one point, smashing his right knee into the corner of the vault box. He rolled a few feet...and now he has a beautiful red line across his knee.
After the speed vaults we did monkey vaults. Dive with hands out stretched towards the fault and pull your legs through where your hands were. Only it's less of a pulling motion, your legs swing if you get your hips up high enough. No bruises there but more tumbles for sure.
We didn't do any conditioning in the morning becuase in the evening we got to attend the Advanced Parkour class. SWEET!!! We got to train with people who can do this stuff. There were about 20 people in the class. One teen who is homeschooled, he does parkour for gym credit, and the rest were adults (20s through 40s). Conditioning for that class was crazy. Run the big block, qm push ups forward and back, and then 50 squats. Twice.
The class was about topping out, and cat leaps. A cat leap is landing with your feet on the wall and your hands on the edge. We did them a little on the first day of this week. First we did cat leaps from the ground onto the wall. Then a box, then a bigger box. Then the boxes started to move back. The distance getting bigger. Jumping 8 feet is not more forte so three different times I slammed into the wall. My knees look like Kai's now.
And then we went to dinner with Mark at this great greek restaurant. And yes, we had Saganaki!
Today we are meeting Mark at the _________ Metro Stop, I don't want to give away where we are going just yet, to do parkour where it belongs. In the outdoors.
Enjoy your day,
we will enjoy ours.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Day 3 The Only Part
We are over the three day hump! Hurray we have been having so much fun. (and winding up so tired)
Another note about yesterday's workout...We each had to land 50 precision jumps, about 4 feet.
We had a different warmup this morning that Mark joined us on. Run the block, 3x down dog to the cobra, 10x jump ups, 2x samson stretch, and qm forward and back. Working out this many days in a row this hard burns. But looking back on what we have learned already feels like such an accomplishment.
After warm up we wroked on cadence. How can you jump off a wall if you put the wrong foot forward? So we jogged in a circle putting our right foot on one line and left foot on the next...etc... We jogged, and jogged. Mark says, "allright, im going to go get breakfast i'll be back when you guys have it down." so he walks out the door and we keep running...and running...and running.
Once we had the cadence down he showed us how to tic tac off of a vault box. Place one foot on the wall leap and wing both feet upards gaining height and distance. Next we tried it off a wall, then over a 3 foot rope, then 4 feet, then 5 feet. It was pretty crazy and mark caught some priceless photos of us all in mid air.
We finished out workout with holding handstands and foot elevated push ups (25) A pretty crazy and fun day. Tomorrow we do vaults and in the evening we get to train with the "Advanced Parkour" class. We can't wait.
Our homework assignment today was to research the difference between Parkour and Free Running. In a nutshell parkour is more direct where as free running involves excess moves like flips or tricks. For research we got to watch all the online videos that we haven't already seen.
Good night:)
~Ness
Another note about yesterday's workout...We each had to land 50 precision jumps, about 4 feet.
We had a different warmup this morning that Mark joined us on. Run the block, 3x down dog to the cobra, 10x jump ups, 2x samson stretch, and qm forward and back. Working out this many days in a row this hard burns. But looking back on what we have learned already feels like such an accomplishment.
After warm up we wroked on cadence. How can you jump off a wall if you put the wrong foot forward? So we jogged in a circle putting our right foot on one line and left foot on the next...etc... We jogged, and jogged. Mark says, "allright, im going to go get breakfast i'll be back when you guys have it down." so he walks out the door and we keep running...and running...and running.
Once we had the cadence down he showed us how to tic tac off of a vault box. Place one foot on the wall leap and wing both feet upards gaining height and distance. Next we tried it off a wall, then over a 3 foot rope, then 4 feet, then 5 feet. It was pretty crazy and mark caught some priceless photos of us all in mid air.
We finished out workout with holding handstands and foot elevated push ups (25) A pretty crazy and fun day. Tomorrow we do vaults and in the evening we get to train with the "Advanced Parkour" class. We can't wait.
Our homework assignment today was to research the difference between Parkour and Free Running. In a nutshell parkour is more direct where as free running involves excess moves like flips or tricks. For research we got to watch all the online videos that we haven't already seen.
Good night:)
~Ness
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Day 2 Part 2:
Our morning started at the gym around 9:00 am today. Sorry Ms. Grover, no 4:00 am starts. Our warm up was boosted up to three reps instead of two from yesterday. Running around the block, ten squats and ten burpees (see other post for description). Then we started our day with more precision jumping. I (ness) can land a jump from 7 and a half feet away, Luke can jump 8 feet and Kai can jump a crazy 9 feet or more.
Then we moved onto roles. First leading with the right, then leading with the left but mostly slapping out heads off the mats. As soon as we fixed our head position our legs were coming out wrong or our arms were to limp, etc... We are working so hard.
Picture yourself walking along a balance beam on all fours (no knees) and coming to a gap in the beam, leaping forward and continuing on, then do it multiple times. It's amazing how much balance it is possible to have if you really know how to use your body parts.
After concentrating on more roles for another hour or so we finished up the day with 10 reps on the right foot and then 10 reps on the left foot of these table top spring thingys. Put one foot on a block push up on your toes and jump off that block and then land back in your original position. All on one foot. Do that 10 times. It took us 11 minutes and 24 seconds with Mark (our trainer) grinning and filming at us the whole time.
It was hilarious watching the three of us attempting to walk down the sidewalk afterwards. Our legs kept buckling.
Nothing a cold bath can't fix right? I took mine at 7:00 and only now at 10:15 have i regained feeling in all my limbs. My thumbs seem to stay numb for a really long time...
Today we visited the Capital building and the Air and Space museum. Ron Paul was giving a speech on the mall and the sky was perfectly blue.
A beautiful day and way past our bed time.
Good night and good luck,
or just good night;) zzzzzzzzz
Then we moved onto roles. First leading with the right, then leading with the left but mostly slapping out heads off the mats. As soon as we fixed our head position our legs were coming out wrong or our arms were to limp, etc... We are working so hard.
Picture yourself walking along a balance beam on all fours (no knees) and coming to a gap in the beam, leaping forward and continuing on, then do it multiple times. It's amazing how much balance it is possible to have if you really know how to use your body parts.
After concentrating on more roles for another hour or so we finished up the day with 10 reps on the right foot and then 10 reps on the left foot of these table top spring thingys. Put one foot on a block push up on your toes and jump off that block and then land back in your original position. All on one foot. Do that 10 times. It took us 11 minutes and 24 seconds with Mark (our trainer) grinning and filming at us the whole time.
It was hilarious watching the three of us attempting to walk down the sidewalk afterwards. Our legs kept buckling.
Nothing a cold bath can't fix right? I took mine at 7:00 and only now at 10:15 have i regained feeling in all my limbs. My thumbs seem to stay numb for a really long time...
Today we visited the Capital building and the Air and Space museum. Ron Paul was giving a speech on the mall and the sky was perfectly blue.
A beautiful day and way past our bed time.
Good night and good luck,
or just good night;) zzzzzzzzz
Day 2 Part 1:
Our trusty plane...
The metro ride, who knew those seats were so comfortable?
Kai and Ness working on our first essay...Early History of Parkour
Kai making tomorrow's lunches, what a great cook:)
and the second essay, first draft unedited...
photos that we have managed to upload so far.... I know, none of us actually doing any parkour. Tomorrow we will be taking pictures of our workout.
Monday, April 14, 2008
First Day Part 2
Luke - "I like tinfoil in my wraps!"
Luke - "What's this?"
Ness - "Luke, it's a fork."
Luke - "oh! it's for eating!"
Clearing up a few things from past comments. Yes, there was a weed reference in the second post. And Saganaki is our team name. It has nothing to do with cougars, in fact it is a cheese dish from the greek kitchen.
We finally finished out first homework assignment, new rule start homework before you get tired, we have tied Parkour to skateboarding, martial arts, and black and white films. I think all of our papers will be posted later this week or after we get back.
We all took ice baths tonight. You'd think being from Maine we'd be able to stand it. But a bath full of cold water is something i have never quite experienced before. The cold water is supposed to prevent swelling, it also seems to create headaches though.
Tomorrow we will be training more, non of us can remember what it is that we are learning tomorrow so you will have to wait till tomorrow afternoon to here about it.
good night!
your constant blogger,
ness
Luke - "What's this?"
Ness - "Luke, it's a fork."
Luke - "oh! it's for eating!"
Clearing up a few things from past comments. Yes, there was a weed reference in the second post. And Saganaki is our team name. It has nothing to do with cougars, in fact it is a cheese dish from the greek kitchen.
We finally finished out first homework assignment, new rule start homework before you get tired, we have tied Parkour to skateboarding, martial arts, and black and white films. I think all of our papers will be posted later this week or after we get back.
We all took ice baths tonight. You'd think being from Maine we'd be able to stand it. But a bath full of cold water is something i have never quite experienced before. The cold water is supposed to prevent swelling, it also seems to create headaches though.
Tomorrow we will be training more, non of us can remember what it is that we are learning tomorrow so you will have to wait till tomorrow afternoon to here about it.
good night!
your constant blogger,
ness
First Day Part 1
Well,
we completed our first day of physical training. We showed up at the gym at 8 am, and were immediately put to work. A short jog for warm up, and then a wall climb. How fast can you get up an 8 feet wall? Will, a trainer and part of The Tribe, showed us how to do a "kip" a kick that allows you to flip up the lower half of your body onto the top of a wall... no more getting stuck in awkward positions!!!
Mark and Jesse showed up later and for much of the morning we had all three of them showing us techniques and then refining them. We worked on precession jumping, leaping from a distance onto a small area (2 by 4 or a pipe) it's crazy how little i know about how to use my body... "there's a muscle there?" Everything we did was corrected, not just how we did squats but the foot position of a squat, or the exact hip placement for a perfect push up. "Basically find the way that hurts the most, thats probably the right way." - Luke just tried to walk across the room, we are so sore, he is limping... -
Went to lunch around 11:30 walked a ton of blocks (DC blocks are huge) and arrived on the steps of the nations capital. Literally, lunch consisted of veggie wraps (with raw, fresh Kale) and peanut butter and jelly sandwhiches.
We returned to the gym to end the day with what felt like a crazy work out but in reality was nothing. During lunch we had all frozen up and so doing the wheelbarrow and burpees (for reference a burpee is a jump up drop down into a push up and back again, I think that name is local) was hard.
Metro ride back to home base and a nap.... - Kai just cut himself cooking dinner, what are practically packed first aid kits for? Way to go Luke. -
We are making a burrito dinner and afterwards will be writing a two page paper on the early history of Parkour.
and then....a cold bath (no hot water, supposedly cold is better, who knew?)
We are so sore, and so happy, we've all agreed that already this trip has been worth while, just what we learned today was incredible.
we completed our first day of physical training. We showed up at the gym at 8 am, and were immediately put to work. A short jog for warm up, and then a wall climb. How fast can you get up an 8 feet wall? Will, a trainer and part of The Tribe, showed us how to do a "kip" a kick that allows you to flip up the lower half of your body onto the top of a wall... no more getting stuck in awkward positions!!!
Mark and Jesse showed up later and for much of the morning we had all three of them showing us techniques and then refining them. We worked on precession jumping, leaping from a distance onto a small area (2 by 4 or a pipe) it's crazy how little i know about how to use my body... "there's a muscle there?" Everything we did was corrected, not just how we did squats but the foot position of a squat, or the exact hip placement for a perfect push up. "Basically find the way that hurts the most, thats probably the right way." - Luke just tried to walk across the room, we are so sore, he is limping... -
Went to lunch around 11:30 walked a ton of blocks (DC blocks are huge) and arrived on the steps of the nations capital. Literally, lunch consisted of veggie wraps (with raw, fresh Kale) and peanut butter and jelly sandwhiches.
We returned to the gym to end the day with what felt like a crazy work out but in reality was nothing. During lunch we had all frozen up and so doing the wheelbarrow and burpees (for reference a burpee is a jump up drop down into a push up and back again, I think that name is local) was hard.
Metro ride back to home base and a nap.... - Kai just cut himself cooking dinner, what are practically packed first aid kits for? Way to go Luke. -
We are making a burrito dinner and afterwards will be writing a two page paper on the early history of Parkour.
and then....a cold bath (no hot water, supposedly cold is better, who knew?)
We are so sore, and so happy, we've all agreed that already this trip has been worth while, just what we learned today was incredible.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Crazy fun trip
Quotes from the trip down:
Pilot-"The plane ahead of us at our terminal has broken down, better at the gate then in the air, right?"
Ness-"Kai, there's is no time difference between Portland and DC."
Kai-"Prove it!"
Ness-"..."
Luke-"And we can just get cheapest kind, Oakhurst milk"
Kai-"Where are we gonna get our protien??"
Ness -"TOFU!!!"
Kai and Ness - "nooooo..."
Ness - "Allright, we have a choice, we can spend our money on food or weed this week."
Luke - "food!"
Kai - "but can't we eat the weed?"
Kai- "I had a good one but I forgot it..." regarding the writing of the qoutes
Pilot-"The plane ahead of us at our terminal has broken down, better at the gate then in the air, right?"
Ness-"Kai, there's is no time difference between Portland and DC."
Kai-"Prove it!"
Ness-"..."
Luke-"And we can just get cheapest kind, Oakhurst milk"
Kai-"Where are we gonna get our protien??"
Ness -"TOFU!!!"
Kai and Ness - "nooooo..."
Ness - "Allright, we have a choice, we can spend our money on food or weed this week."
Luke - "food!"
Kai - "but can't we eat the weed?"
Kai- "I had a good one but I forgot it..." regarding the writing of the qoutes
We Can't Believe We're Here
First post, from three tired fellows sitting on a couch in Washington, DC. We are about to start our week of intense parkour training at Primal Fitness with Mark Toorock. By the end of this week we plan to have the skills to make a parkour video in Portland, ME when we return. After an uneventful trip down (plain ride, bus, metro, ride) we are happy to have a slow afternoon ahead of us.
Hope everyone back home and everyone reading this is having a great day and looking forward to a good week,
Ness, Luke, and Kai
p.s. More info about name/team/plans later!!
Hope everyone back home and everyone reading this is having a great day and looking forward to a good week,
Ness, Luke, and Kai
p.s. More info about name/team/plans later!!
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