Workouts in a winter wonderland...

Ah, winter break.  The time for holiday baking and sitting around sipping hot chocolate and playing board games by the fire.  Sounds like a Hallmark family portrait.  I'm all for relaxing, but I'm also trying to stay active to avoid those extra holiday pounds! Okay, and because I have trouble sitting still.

As soon as I arrived in Maine earlier this week, we headed into our woods to get the Christmas tree.  I have to say, for all my whining about being all the way up in Maine, it really is beautiful.  Wood stove, snow-covered woodsy landscape, and a tree from our own land.  It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Although I'm not usually a cold-weather girl, I do get a bit restless if I'm sitting around all day so I caved and went snowshoeing with my parents the other day.  There's a nice path that goes through the woods, along the river, and back up to the road.  In my head I was thinking, it's just like going for a walk but with things attached to your feet, right?  Well, I'm embarrassed to say it was a little more of a workout than I was expecting.  I was huffing and puffing by the end of the trail and was especially frustrated when I got stuck on a tree trunk and went flying backwards onto my butt.
Woods: 1 Adrienne: 0

Aside from walking in a winter wonderland and snowshoeing, I've been keeping busy with stacking wood (I know, shocking) and planks by the fire.  I started a 30-day plank challenge right around the end of finals and I've roped my family into doing it with me.  There's a few rest days built in, but basically you do a plank every day and the time increases as you progress.  So every afternoon we have "family plank time" where we all find a spot in the living room and do a plank together.  I've also tried to balance out the holiday baking by rewarding myself with an exercise every time I have a taste of whatever I'm making.  Little bite of dough, ten squats.  Another bite of dough, ten pushups.

There's a little too much snow outside to actually go trail running or anything, but I'll brave the cold soon and check out my dad's "gym" set-up in the barn.  Gotta keep myself busy up here in the woods! That is, when I'm not wrapping presents, playing with the animals, or reading by the fire.

Balancing on the left-over tree stump (no longer attached to the ground... much harder than it looks!)

Merry Christmas!
xo A

Zombie Tag

Short and sweet entry: I got to play zombie tag this weekend! We spent a few hours in the park on Saturday playing and filming, and P is already done editing because he is awesome like that.  Check it out:

Women's December Meetup

We had our fifth women's parkour meetup this past weekend! Last one outside for a little while since we're entering "winter."  I say that for all of my New England readers who are probably gawking at the fact that we've had two snow days this week and there's not even any snow sticking to the ground.

It wasn't bad on Saturday, probably in the low 40s and sunny.  We had a group of about ten women.  We started with a little jog around the park, running forwards, backwards, side to side, 360s, up and over things to get our bodies moving.  Then we did some dynamic stretching and joint mobility to finish the warm up.  Before the girls got there, M, K & I had created a course with jumps, vaults, strides across precisions over lava, and a staircase to get down without using the stairs.  We ran it a few times to get comfortable, then focused on different things each time.  Flow, minimum steps, speed, creative awkwardness.  I also timed some of the girls who wanted to work on their speed.

After running the course, we talked about parts of the course that were really challenging for us that we wanted to improve upon.  Almost everyone pointed towards a large jump that was within reach for most, but scary because it was higher than they were used to and took a lot of power to make it.  We worked on the jump for a while, practicing the same distance on the ground and then trying it from the wall-to-wall.  One of the women could definitely do it but she was thinking too much about it.  I kept trying to distract her.  What's your favorite color? I asked.  Teal, she replied.  Good, now jump! It almost worked...

For a change of scenery, we went over to a set of walls down a tall flight of stairs where the girls could get some balance work in that would challenge them mentally but was easily within reach physically.  The challenge was to get down to the ground without using the stairs, relying on the set of walls and railing alongside the set of stairs.  Everyone made it down to the bottom, and we headed back up—same rules, no stairs to get up the stairs.

We wrapped up with a game of Pac-Man tag on the course from earlier and a good stretch while we talked about our goals and accomplishments of the day.  Overall, a great session.

My roommates are cooler than yours

Week 35

I started the day frustrated and stressed out because, like every good college student, I waited until the last minute to prepare for a presentation and quiz today.  But apparently it was just the right amount of stress to get me through the day and do well on my assignments.  I was so excited when I got home early today after finishing all of my work that all I wanted to do was train.  My roommates (M & K) and I decided to explore the city a bit and then go to the late class at APK.

After dropping our stuff at the gym, we picked a direction and started jogging.  Reaching the end of a bike rack we had decided to jump on, we found a trail of large blue paw prints going around the building.  Naturally, we got on all fours and began to QM along the paw prints, only allowing ourselves to touch the blue.  Arriving at a set of stairs, we played on the railings a bit (too tempting) then found a new way to challenge ourselves.  I basically ski jumped the rest of the way down the path of paw prints while M and K found different ways to get across using only two feet.

Challenge complete.  Next!

We jogged by an apartment complex and did some climbing work before moving on to new, unexplored areas.  Somehow we wandered into a school with a really nice football field and fun things to play on.  We started tumbling on the field and M suggested doing cartwheels down the entire length of it.  Yeah, right K and I scoffed, already getting ready for the challenge.  No joke, we actually cartwheeled down the entire football field.  I tried to keep count but I got really dizzy.  I think it was about 30 total.  I don't know why we did that, but it was pretty awesome.

A little more exploring (once our heads stopped spinning) and then we started back towards the gym.  On our way, I spotted a bike rack that was made up of small (but large enough to fit through) circles pretty low to the ground.  The challenge was to get through without touching the hoops, and of course no knees or elbows on the ground.  As the three of us were casually squeezing ourselves through these rings on the sidewalk, a couple of older guys walked by and laughed, Don't y'all have anything better to do? No sir, I do not.

Feeling fresh and warmed up from our exploring, we headed back for class.  The first challenge was to walk across a row of kettlebells.  Some were surprisingly wobbly (I've never done this challenge before) and I found myself fighting with them.  I really wanted to do it so when one of them started wobbling underneath me, I started yelling no.. no! NO until the kettlebell won and I fell.  I really thought that would work.  Anyways, I only fell three times on my first try, which I felt pretty good about.  More determined the next time, I focused on my breathing and tuned everything else out.  Step, balance, focus.  Nearing the end, I got nervous that I would psych myself out but I managed to maintain my rhythm and made it all the way through without falling! Woohoo!

But wait.  Just as I was celebrating, P told us we had to carry two 20lb. weights next time through.  Seriously? I was just feeling good about myself.  I didn't make it through again, if you were wondering.  I lost count of how many times I fell while holding the weights.  But I'm holding on to my pride from the weight-less no-falls round.

We spent the rest of class doing various drop/landing challenges.  High enough that it was scary for me, but also achievable.  It was a good mental challenge.  I knew I could do it but I still had to think about it and calm my breathing beforehand.  Especially when P told us we had to land backwards dropping from one box to the next.  Backwards? I laughed nervously.  After several eternal seconds squatting and standing up and squatting again on top of the taller box, I finally jumped, did a 180, and landed backwards on the box, amazed with myself.  Phew.

There were lots of great, and some silly, challenges tonight.  I love starting my week like this.  I love my gym, I love the people I train with who encourage me and challenge me, and I love having two awesome roommates to go out and explore with! Thank you, guys.

Parkour and Dancercising: A Good Week

Week 33
What a great training week! Women's parkour meetup last Saturday, workout with my best friend on Jump Day, and training at APK on Thursday and Friday.

The meetup was great.  The group changes a little each time with newcomers and regulars getting to know each other and exploring their creative side with movement.  We had a small group last weekend, but the weather was beautiful and the girls were excited and determined so we had a great workout.  I really look forward to these meetups every month.  Just getting together with a group of kick-ass women, jumping around in the park and learning new ways to move.  Hopefully we can keep it up through the cold winter months of hibernation!

After the meetup last weekend, M, K and I went back to the gym to drop off some of the equipment they let us borrow (precision trainers and medicine balls).  There were a few people hanging out, listening to dance music at a normal volume and relaxing in between classes.  Naturally, we turned up the music and initiated a dance party.  Dancercising.  The best kind of exercise.  You simply make a fist with each hand, throw both hands in the air, and run around like a crazy person.  Flailing your arms adds to the experience.  Hip thrusting is encouraged.  Just a normal Saturday.

I was so energized after that, I went for a mini parkour run around the Capitol when I got home.  And the highlight of that run... I was walking across these little poles when a couple walked by and yelled, "hardcore parkour!"

Later in the week, on Jump Day, I went to my university's gym with my best friend, L.  She's trying to get into a regular fitness routine and I was happy to serve as a workout buddy.  Even if it means being in a "normal" gym.  Of course, I avoided normalcy by going into the padded wrestling room where I can get away with more parkour/gymnastics-styled workouts.

Last night, I finished up the week by making a delicious (and healthy!) home-cooked meal with my roommates then heading over to open gym at Primal.  We did some playing, flips and tricks, and a lot of handstands.  I'm still trying to get my one-handed handstand.  So much time upside down.

We also had another dance party.  Obviously.  I'm not energetic enough (thanks, Grad school) to actually go out dancing so spontaneous parkour dance parties and car dancing have been my substitutes... don't judge.  You wish you were that cool.

All in all, a great week.  Fitness-wise, anyways.  I'm currently drowning in schoolwork until Thanksgiving so any time I get at the gym is a relief.  Not just for the physical fitness part of it, but also the social aspect.  I may be biased, but most people I know who train parkour are pretty awesome.

That's just the warm-up...?

Week 32: Day One
I had a really great day and I was full of energy when I got home yesterday so, naturally, I was excited to get to the gym and expend said energy.  Which I did, about ten times over.

I'm not sure if I missed something before I got there (a reason for being punished) but our "warm-up" for the night was 25 wall runs.  Let me repeat that.  The warm up was 25 wall runs.  Now for my non-parkour readers, I want you to picture yourself running towards an 8ft. wall, running up the wall, and climbing your way on top of it.  Or look at this picture...

Now do that twenty five times.  Oh and throw in a few vaults and varying speeds before getting up the wall every couple of rounds.

As I rested briefly in between turns, I cursed myself for not running more regularly.  I tried to focus on catching my breath and prepare for each turn with determination.  I will finish this warm up.  I will get on top of that box.  I will not give up.  And even though about halfway through I thought I'd keel over  due to my lack of cardio, I finished with everyone else and only missed one thanks to poor foot placement.  Not only did I finish, but I didn't use my knees or elbows once.  I muscled that shit up.

I was so caught up and focused on completing the warm up that I didn't even realize what an accomplishment it was when I finished.  Not until P came up to me, gave me a high-five and was like You just did 25 wall runs, and you only missed one.  Four months ago, you couldn't even get on top of that thing.  I managed a thank you in between panting and drinking water but it felt really great to have someone notice and point out the progress I've made... more than that, to congratulate me on pushing so hard and getting somewhere.

Feeling pretty damn good, I prepared myself for the rest of class.  Next exercise: one minute of continuous movement on the obstacle course.  And if it wasn't your turn... Cindys (it's a cross-fit thing) (5 pull ups, 10 push ups, 15 squats).  Some people were beasting out and doing a Cindy per minute as each person went on the course.  I decided to try to stay conscious and did a Cindy every other minute... or so.  Okay, three in total.  But I still felt pretty good about that after adding it up.

I can't... feel... my legs!

Stairs.  So many stairs in my house.  Every step I take, I cringe while my muscles scream at me.  I try to walk without bending my knees in an attempt to minimize the pain.  I think about my love/hate relationship with soreness.  Last night, T told us he was going to make us cry after class with conditioning.  We all laughed nervously.

Before the crying conditioning, we had a great workout.  I worked through some mental challenges and really focused on my technique with quiet and precise landings, long and powerful strides rather than short and quick steps, and foot placement.  We were working on jumping, specifically jumping up and onto something from a tilted vault box, a rail, or other obstacle.  I remembered a previous training session when we were using the tilted vault box in a similar way, and I had so much trouble getting myself to just use one step on the box instead of fitting in two which was slowing me down.  So, last night I told myself I'd try it again and see what happened.  Trust, I thought.  Trust that my body can do it and commit.  I started running and my body took over for me, using one powerful step on the box and continuing up to a soft landing on my final target.  Bam.

After more running and jumping, handstands, and more running and jumping, the fun came to end and the conditioning began.  The challenge? Push a weighted sled down the room and back, broad jump down the room, broad jump backwards back to where you started.  Oh and if it wasn't your turn, you were holding a wall sit.  I think there were seven of us, and we were allowed 10-second rests in between each person's turn.

I went second-to-last so I had already been holding a wall sit for a bit by the time it was my turn.  My legs were actually shaking towards the end of the sitting.  I stepped up to the sled and got ready.  Everyone "sat" in their wall sit and I began pushing.  I made it to the other end and turned around to push back, but this time it was at a different angle and I had trouble at the beginning.  I finally started getting some speed and I was almost at the end when the sled caught and wouldn't go over one of the mats.  M@&#^F*@%#^! I pushed and pushed but it wouldn't budge.  Weakness was tapping me on the shoulder and laughing at me as I was cursing the sled and trying not to collapse.  Finally, I managed to lift it off the crack in the mats and went back to pushing it the last few squares to the end.

I stood up, panting, and wanted to cry as I started to jump.  I kept screaming/whimpering I can't feel my legs! while everyone in their wall-sit was cheering me on/begging me to continue so they could rest.  Trying to ignore the pain and force my muscles to function, I made it there and back, jumping forwards then backwards to the finish line.  One more wall-sit as the last person went and we were done.  Somehow I managed not to fall over before fitting in a nice, long stretch and heading home.

As painful as that was, I'm always thankful for T's intense sessions because it pushes me more than I usually push myself.  And even though I want to die at the time, later on when I'm resting I always think to myself I could've pushed a little harder.  I'm going to do better next time.

No Excuses

Apologies for neglecting my blog for the last month or so.  Due to a number of mishaps, I've been out of training for longer than I'm used to.  But I'm getting back to it, thank goodness.  It started the week before last when K and I got home and we were doing the whole it'sbeenalongweek=sweatpants+bed+mindlessactivity+food game when M started bouncing around the house yelling I'm going to go jump around! Are you coming?? I'm leaving in ten minutes! Get up! We're going to jump! Get up!

You can't really argue with that... No really, we tried.  No excuses would be accepted.

Giving into her energy, we threw on some sweats and headed over to a nearby building with fun things to jump on and interesting levels to experiment with.  It was a great session for me because even though I was tired and not at my usual 110%, I wasn't training to master a new skill or push myself too hard.  I was just there to get out of the house and move.  I felt perfectly free that day, something I hadn't felt in a while.  There was one beautiful moment when I had just finished a challenge, I stood up and looked around and thought what should I play on next? as if everything around us had been built as our playground.

Since then, I've slowly started getting back in shape.  A concept that is very different depending on who you talk to, I've noticed.  To me, that means getting back to my normal level, and then continuing to push myself further.  When I talk to N or V who are training for upcoming races (because they're awesome like that) or my other fitness-obsessed friends, they understand what being "in shape" means to me.  They understand that right now I'm less than my best self and I want to be better.

When I mention  it to someone who's not as fitness-oriented, they roll their eyes and mutter something along the lines of stop it, you look fine.  I could write a novel about how much this statement bothers me but I'll settle for a few lines.  There is a monumental difference between looking good and actually being fit.  Just because my butt looks good in these jeans, or I don't have a gut does not somehow magically result in me being in shape.  Some people just have good jeans... good genes.  Hmm...  The point is, I don't want to look "fine" or skinny or any of that nonsense.  I want to look fit.  I want to be strong and healthy.  I want to feel good.

I'm not usually one to make excuses, but after life kicking me in the face for a few weeks I gave in to weakness.  I guess everyone has their moments.  But M was so intent on getting us out the door that day.  And thank goodness for that.  I needed that little push.  That reminder that even if I wasn't as strong as usual, it was okay to just go outside and work on the little stuff as I gradually get my strength and my endurance back.  No excuses, play like a champion.  Or something like that..

More to come soon..

Just Move

Why is August always such a crazy month? I feel like I'm never organized in August.  No matter what's going on in my life.  Well, it's the end of the month now so things are starting to come together.  Classes start tomorrow and I'm excited to get back into a routine.  An essential part of that routine for me is movement.  I think my body is trying to tell me something after I gave it an unintentional break from exercise for a couple of weeks in early August.  Last night, I was trying to get some work done and I couldn't sit still so I threw on my sweatpants and ran out the door.

I headed down to Garfield Park which is really close to my house but I haven't had time to check it out.  It's great for upper body and balance.  Lots of bars and ropes to play on.  I shared the playground with the little ones who were looking at me like you're too big to play on this.  They were running various courses throughout the playground in a don't-touch-the-lava sort of way and I really wanted to join but I felt like that might be creepy so I did my own courses and challenges.  My favorite was trying to find as many ways as possible to get across the monkey bars.

When I started tiring out, I headed home.  I'm trying to get myself into better running shape, so I ran home stopping only when I saw something I wanted to jump on—bike racks, interesting walls, rails, etc.

Apparently that wasn't enough for my body, because this morning when I was in the middle of an email, I had the sudden urge to move again.  My body was itching to get up and jump around.  I stopped mid-email, threw on my sweatpants, and ran out the door with nothing but myself and my keys which were conveniently looped into my shoelaces (a trick I learned from my Dad).  I ran towards the same park, but noticed there were a lot more people this time so I decided to just go for a parkour run around my neighborhood.

I stopped to do some 180 precisions onto a stone wall and then QM down the wall.  Then I ran towards a staircase that looked long enough to be a challenge.  I like to follow R's philosophy that stairs are not meant to be walked on unless it's for conditioning purposes.  My chosen stair torture for the day was jump up three steps, jump down two.  A young man stopped me, box jumps? he asked.  Just jumping! I answered.

After the stairs, I started heading back up the road, wondering where it would take me.  I found myself back by a metro stop I recognized and looked around me for things to play on while I jogged.  I tried to change up my levels as much as I could, jumping on walls and ledges along the route.  After a few more turns, I found myself in front of some Federal building with one of those walls that changes height because the sidewalk slants as you walk up or down it.  I decided to test my max jumping height.  Why not?

I started with an easy height just to get my jumping shoes on.  Then I slowly inched to the left where the sidewalk got lower and the wall got higher.  This was an easy way of pushing my jumps little by little.  As I jumped, anytime I felt myself coming down onto the ledge with room to spare instead of just barely making it, I knew I could move down another inch or two.  The last jump I did was just over my belly-button and I did it three times to make it stick.  I don't think I've ever really tested my max height before.  I normally just jump until I can't anymore.  I don't like to measure distances, but I felt like measuring something with my body was fine.

I was excited that a security guard hadn't asked me to stop yet, but I didn't want to push my luck so I kept moving.  I started jogging in the direction I felt like jogging in, and eventually found myself back to a main road leading me home.  What a perfect way to start the day.  And I'm not even tired enough.  I still have this strong urge to move.  Maybe it's always there though, and I've just never noticed it before.  I'll have to find a way to balance that with my schoolwork now that classes are starting... I don't think "I'm sorry professor, I just needed to move" is a valid excuse for not completing an assignment.

Pause for the Puzzled Public

Week 20: Community Conversations

I've been training outside a lot more lately which is awesome for many reasons, but it's also allowing me to interact with the "public"/strangers/wandering souls a lot more.  Just from my office to the gym, with a training stop in between, I had four funny little interactions with people about parkour.

The first started at my office (so I guess it wasn't technically a stranger).  My supervisor's husband was there and when we were introduced he gave me an Ooh you're the parkour intern! Ha, yes yes I am.  We started talking about  my training briefly and he wanted to know where I do parkour.  That's the best part, I explained.  Anywhere and everywhere.  Hard to picture, I'm sure, for someone who hasn't seen it before.  And I always try to discourage anyone I talk to from using their YouTube imagination.  Not all of us jump off buildings or climb 90-foot cranes.  I like being in one piece.

Next, E and I were walking towards a park to workout after work and we were waiting at a crosswalk.  A young man leaving work looked at us in our athletic gear in a pool of suits and asked where we worked out.  I could've just said we were on our way to the gym but I like sharing what I do with curious strangers.  They always think it's so "different."  One of these days, I'll say I train parkour and the stranger will say Oh, that's awesome.  I know exactly what you're talking about!  Anyways, I explained to him that we do parkour and therefore where is wherever we can.

We made it to the Carnegie Library at Mt. Vernon Square and started warming up.  As part of our warm up, we were doing lunges up and down one of the walkways.  A suit walked by and our conversation went like this:

Suit: Lunges?
Me: Yeah!
Suit: Here?
Me: Why not?
(The suit shrugged.)
Suit: I agree!

We continued with our warm up, and then moved into some balance on the rails.  At this point, a nice gentleman from Events DC came out to inform E and I that we were on private property.  Uh oh.. I thought.  Preparing myself to get kicked out (after I got over my confusion that it was private property even though the building said "Public Library" on it)  I asked the man if we were allowed to be there.  Surprising us, he said he'd prefer if we stayed closer to the street but we could stay and do what we were doing.  What are you doing anyways? he asked.  I explained parkour and the different skills we were training (balance, jumping, getting over things, etc.) and he was fascinated.  In the end he told us not to hurt ourselves.  And don't sue them.  Sir, I don't plan on hurting myself.  I assured him we'd be safe.  He was satisfied and left us to our workout.  A bit later, we had a similar conversation with another Events DC employee-- Are you girls exercising? The woman asked.  Yup! Okay, well... just don't hurt yourselves! We'll be careful!

It seems that everyone in this city is extremely concerned for our safety.  And then there's the tourists who just clap excitedly when we do something cool.  Actually, it doesn't even have to be cool.  I missed a jump I was trying to make from one leg on the rail to a wall nearby and they started clapping.  I looked at them, confused, and smiled.

It was fun telling so many people about parkour in one day.  I also love when I can have positive interactions with property owners and managers who allow us to play on their buildings instead of shooing us away! I've noticed one of the guys I train with a lot always interacts with passersby when we're outside and I think it's important.  Some people won't want to talk to you but others slow down or even stop completely to stare at you curiously.  We could ignore them and keep training... or we could smile, say hi/how are you, and talk to them about what we're doing.  That doesn't mean we have to chase down everyone who walks by but even just a smile or a hello will encourage those who are genuinely interested to ask us about it.  I think it helps to build a good relationship with the community.

NYC Part 2: Conclusion of the Women's Jam

Week 19: NYC
Sunday morning, we did a group clean-up of the gym, thanked them for their generosity and headed towards Central Park which took about.... five transfers on the Subway.  Oy vey.  When we arrived, we went straight into the mini symposium.  We heard from four different women on various topics relating to parkour. The first (if I'm remembering correctly) was K who gave an empowering and motivating talk on our role as women, and how amazing it is that our group had taken it upon ourselves to get to NYC and to train parkour together.  She took an interesting perspective by reminding us of some of the very recent laws relating to women's rights.  She reminded us that it wasn't too long ago that we, as women, didn't have some very basic freedoms.

Next, we heard from M on various forms of movement and how they can contribute to our training, A on the physics of parkour (especially the parkour roll and how the center of mass on a male vs. female may affect our movement), and last but certainly not least, B read a beautiful and inspirational poem, On Growing Wings.

Unfortunately, a few of us had to take off at the end of the talks to head home, so we said our goodbyes and wished everyone well.  It was relatively painless getting back to my bus stop, and I only hit an hour of traffic on the way home.  Could be worse.

It felt so good to be as sore as I was the next two days, as I haven't had time to get a good ass-kicking workout in a while.  As usual, when I get an overdose (no such thing, really) of parkour, I have this feeling that I just want to stop everything I'm doing in life and train all the time.  It's just such an amazing art/discipline/movement/sport/whatever you want to call it.  I love it.

Sometimes I'm so focused on work and school and responsibilities that I forget to enjoy myself and just get away for the weekend and have some fun.  I almost didn't go this year because I had so much work to do, but I managed to wake up and realize that would be...well, pathetic.  I needed to put work down for a few days, clear my head, and just enjoy life.  And so I did.  I'm glad I made it to NYC this year.  So many beautiful and powerful women of all different ages and backgrounds, come together to train with their fellow traceuses.  It inspires me to keep pushing myself and reaching for new goals.  I hope to train with them all again someday.

But now it's back to the grind... just over a week left at my internship and then I'll have a few weeks to play and train and get organized before school starts back up! Where has the summer gone?!

NYC Part 1: Exploring & Women's Jam

Week 19: NYC
Life has been crazy lately but I want to get this post out while I'm still sore from the event! (And while I can still remember everything we did).  This past weekend was the Third Annual Northeast Women's Jam in New York City.  There were about 25-30 women this year from all over the U.S. and Canada who came together to support each other in our unique position as women in the parkour community.  This year's schedule included Tompkins Square Park, the Brooklyn Museum, a BBQ and sleepover at Gym Park, a mini symposium, and training at Central Park including Bethesda Terrace, the Ramble and Sanctuary.

I haven't been to NYC since the 8th grade (which was super touristy) so I thought I'd start my trip a little early and go visit my friend, AR, who lives in Brooklyn.  I took a bus up from DC and got there around lunch on Friday.  My friend met me at the bus stop so I wouldn't get lost in the big bad city.  Back in Brooklyn, we walked around her neighborhood and had lunch at the delicious Cafe Ghia where I ordered a potato bowl (basically all of the deliciousness of brunch--eggs, potatos, bacon, cheese--mixed together in a bowl) and enjoyed a Bee's Knees Honey Latte.  Yum.  Next, we headed into the city.

On the L into Manhattan, my friend and I were talking when all of a sudden she interrupted me, they're gonna dance... pointing to the other end of the car.  Eyebrows raised, I turned to see a group of four guys about 12-17 years old gathering everyone's attention and setting down a boombox.  And then, sure enough, they started dancing.  Doing tricks with their hats, hip hop-style movement, and playing with the poles to swing and flip around.  Most people on the train were uninterested, probably used to this sort of performance, but I couldn't get enough.  This would never happen in Washington, D.C. and if it did, I'm sure a security officer somewhere would find a reason to stop it ASAP.

Already feeling a bit overwhelmed by the city, I was relieved to find myself on the elevated train tracks turned beautiful green space called the High Line.  It was perfectly calm and refreshing with lots of plants and trees and grassy spots and benches.  A wonderful escape.

After a lazy happy hour with friends and dinner back at AR's flat, I got in bed early to be well-rested for my adventures the next day!

Saturday
We started the day at Tompkins Square Park which has three different bar set ups that provide an awesome place to train.  You can climb in and out, on top of, around, under and over the bars.  I learned a few new moves and we played a really fun new game that's a creative version of tag.  I want to bring it back to the gym in DC--giving credit to the creator, of course!

After playing at TSP for a couple of hours, we headed out to grab some lunch, but not before stopping at Pogopalooza! You heard me, Pogopalooza is a thing.  Extreme pogo-ing.  They had a whole obstacle course set up (that we would have loved to use for parkour training) that the contestants were pogo-ing on.  Backflips.  Kick flips.  Jumping and other craziness.  There was even a kid from St. Petersburg.  This is serious sh**.  Not part of the original plan, but we couldn't resist once we saw it.

Next, we went to play at the Brooklyn Museum.  There were lots of things to do there including wall runs, balance, and jumping.  I learned a new vault on the rails and after what felt like hours of playing with jumps in the grassy step area, I finally managed to plyo the entire set.  It was an awesome feeling because after doing precisions up and down the steps for a while, I was convinced I couldn't do it without a pause in between.  But after resting and going back to it, I finally did it! Woohoo!

As the group started tiring out, some of us got fro-yo from a nearby food truck and we all hungout by the wall before heading towards Gym Park to BBQ and spend the night.

Gym Park was a little gymnastics center that was possibly the cleanest gym I've ever seen.  Seriously.  So.  Clean.  I was ecstatic as usual to play on the spring floor and we set up a couple of really cool obstacle courses using the mats, rings, bars, balance beams, and the big round mat with a hole in the center... which is surprisingly difficult to land inside when swinging past it on the rings.

Finally, it was time for lights out and I settled into my bed... err... the gym floor... with a sweatshirt as my pillow and my body in front of the fan.  This was not very well thought out because I woke up in the middle of the night freezing with the fan blowing on my toes.  Luckily, one of the girls noticed me curled up in the fetal position and offered me her blanket.  Thank you!!

To Be Continued...

Girls Parkour Meet Up #1

For the last several weeks, K and I have been in the process of planning the first ever DC girls parkour meet up.  It finally became a reality this weekend (Saturday 7/20) at Gateway Park in Rossylyn, VA.  It took a surprising amount of work for a small get together, but we made it through the hiccups and were able to put on an awesome event.  There were about a dozen of us which was the perfect size for our first meet up.  Most girls were from the nearby DC/VA area but we had one come all the way from Harpers Ferry!

There were a lot of first-timers so we started with a fun warm up and then went into the basics.  We had several different stations in various parts of the park working on jumping & landing, rolling, don't-fall-in-the-lava, vaults, balance, and cats.  The park is an awesome location because there's so many things you can play on and there's a lot of space to spread out.  You just have to please the park police and help them understand you're not there to reenact a crazy Russian parkour video... I actually had to tell them we weren't planning on jumping off the catwalks or doing anything "extreme, dangerous, or risky".  I do not have a death wish, Ma'am.  We're here to train, play and have fun in a safe and respectful manner.  It took a few conversations, but I think we're almost on the same page...

It was weird being in a "coaching"/leading role instead of training with everyone.  While I wasn't standing still the whole time, it was different for me to be focused on everyone else's skills rather than my own.  It was fun to watch others make progress though, and to get feedback from them.  I loved being able to create such a fun event for everyone.  K and I worked really well together, switching back and forth as we taught the next skill and introduced the next game.  Overall just a really fun and awesome day! And very hot and sweaty... we picked one of the hottest days of the summer.  Oops.

The meet up lasted about two and a half hours, concluding with a stretch in the shade.  I think the girls who came had a great experience.  A couple admitted that it wasn't their thing but they were glad they tried it, while others said they couldn't wait to come back for next month's meet up! Yay!

"Do a Backwards Giraffe!"

Week 18: Day One

This week's theme is jumping.  So tonight, we worked on rolling.

Class started with a jogging lap around the block while passing balls to each other along the way.  We only dropped a ball once (totally not my fault... okay, maybe) and had to do one burpee.  Afterwards, we each settled into a corner and started to work on our rolls.  Forwards, right, and left.  We focused a lot on form and proper technique.

While learning the sideways rolls, someone pointed out that it was a lot like a video game roll that you would use so you can continue shooting.  Playing off of this idea, a game was created.  One person would be in the spotlight, awaiting directions to roll one way or the other.  But as soon as they were told which way to roll, we could throw balls at where they were standing so if they hesitated too long they'd get hit.  And when they completed their roll, they had a ball to throw back at us.

Things got confusing when we started using backwards rolls and two rolls at once and then somebody yelled Giraffe! and this really confused the roller.  How does one do a giraffe? A better question is how does one do a backwards giraffe?

Moving on to slightly more serious things... as we were working on dive rolls on the big red mat, I remembered I made a deal with R, one of the instructors, that I would get my kong vault on the box downstairs (big square about waist-chest high and a few feet wide).

Since we made this pact (he agreed to help me achieve this goal), I've been practicing a lot of ground kongs, and doing a standing hip drive (standing in front of a box, then bending my knees slightly and driving my hips up to the ceiling), and working on my split foot take off.  Apparently it paid off.

I went downstairs with R to work on it at the end of class tonight.  I started with 10 standing hip drives to get in the zone and then started taking off from a few steps away, just focusing on getting my hips up and onto the box, not trying to clear it yet.  My feet were going way farther than where I planted my hands which means I was getting the hip part right.  I kept getting closer and closer to the other side of the box which was awesome, but then I freaked out a bit.  I got to the point where I could totally clear it but my left foot kept tapping down, like I was scared to just fly forwards and trust my feet to follow.

I kept pushing though and when I finally cleared that box (and did it five more times so it would stick) I screamed with excitement and jumped in the air.  WOOHOO!! I DID IT!! It's been about four months since I started training and it's taken me just about that amount of time to get a good kong vault.  I talked to four different instructors for help, and several other traceurs tried to help me during that time too.  Finally, some combination of their advice and my training paid off.  It definitely made my night.  Now I just have to practice it often enough that I don't go back to my fearful ways.

Note: If my grammar & syntax has gone out the window lately, it's because I'm so busy at work that I can't even remember that someone gave me money for a taxi unless I write it down.  True story.

Making the Impossible Possible

I recently stumbled upon an article written in 2011, 4 Reasons Why Trying Parkour Can Ruin Your Self-Esteem, about a man who tries parkour to fulfill his dreams of becoming Spider-Man and is frustrated and overwhelmed when he realizes that parkour is... well, difficult.  I realize the article is two years old, but I think the themes are still relevant, even as parkour becomes more popular.  I posted the article on my Facebook because there was a snippet of it that I found endlessly amusing.  You can read that excerpt here:

Person: Excuse me, are you going to do anything on that wall?

Me: I'm just- I don't- Not really- I'm, like, just looking at it right now, trying to find out what kind of ... how to do it. What sort of angle I should take when I do ... something, at this wall. And if I should, maybe, use hands? Or feet? On it? I don't- We don't have walls at my other gym, or we do, but they're not part of anyone's routine, ever, they just do ... like, wall stuff. So I guess- No, I'm not going to do anything on this wall, because I don't actually understand the question.

Person: Well I'm going to run up that wall and do a back flip off it.

Me: That sounds good, you should do that. I'm just going to go lean on this pole over here, out of your way.

Other Person: Hey, you doing anything with that pole? I was about to walk straight up it, using a method that I understand, somehow.

Me: That's cool. I was probably just going to go ... sit on a toilet until the gym closes.

Third Person: I'm actually next for the toilet, I'm gonna do handstands on it, maybe flush it with my delts or whatever.

Me: Cool. Very cool.

I thought it was funny because I've often found myself spinning around like an idiot trying to find somewhere to stand so I won't be in the way.  However, a pk instructor I know commented that reading about these experiences make him sad—particularly statements like "a lot of the skills you need for parkour can't really be taught".  I agreed with him, but then his comment stuck with me.  He's right.  It is really sad that someone had this experience.  That as traceurs/traceuses we have somehow failed and made parkour seem like this unattainable mystical talent that not everyone can have.  And that's just not true.

Some of the the article is accurate—people are watching you, there's nowhere to hide, and everything hurts in uniquely humiliating ways.  Three of his four reasons.  I'll get to the fourth in a moment but first I want to address the first three.

Yes, people are watching you.  Some gyms (just like gymnastics centers) have an observation area.  And chances are, the other people training are watching you too.  But in my experience, they're watching because a) what you're doing is awesome or b) they want to help you do it better or maybe even c) they want to try it too.  We can't all be awesome all the time.  But if I mess up while people are watching, no one points and laughs or gets bored and walks away.  Usually they're laughing with me because I'm laughing at myself or they're making sure I'm alive and can keep training.

Next, there's nowhere to hide (as shown through the excerpt above).  This is very true.  Sometimes if I want to just take a break, I have no idea where I should sit/stand because I'm probably in the way unless I leave the room entirely.  This happens in other sports too.  Surfers drop in on each other's waves or don't have patience for the newbie who's been sitting on their board in the line up for the last 30 minutes making friends with the fish instead of riding waves.  But advanced traceurs and beginners have equal right to the space and a beginner should never feel like they're in the way.  The best part about parkour is you can do it anywhere so yes, you're always in the way but the flip side of that is there's always another way to go.

And then there's the aptly named "Parkour Muscle".  His best explanation of why your entire body will hurt after training.  I don't have much to say on this other than yes, you will be sore.  But I don't see that as a reason to deter anyone from training.  If anything, it shows you you're not as fit as you could be.

And finally, the reason that I disagree with: no one can help you.  He mentions that unlike in conventional gyms, parkour "equipment" (your surroundings: walls, stairs, railings, etc.) does not have instructions.  Because you don't need instructions.  Parkour is not supposed to be complicated.  It's supposed to be about interacting with your environment and finding the most efficient way to overcome obstacles in your path.  You don't need a manual to do that.  You just need to be able to move.  It may come more naturally to some people.  It may take a person three weeks to learn a movement that takes someone else one hour.  But I do not believe that there is anyone in the world who flat out cannot do parkour.

Whether you're a dancer, a hockey player, a tuba player, or a painter.  A lot of people roll their eyes at me and say well of course you can do parkour, you were a gymnast/cheerleader.  Sure, I have strength and flexibility and I have the ability to set goals and learn physical movement.  But there are also disadvantages, like the way traceuses absorb their momentum rather than "sticking it" or rebounding the way a gymnast would.  A trapeze artist might excel in drills that require upper body strength but struggle when it comes to leg strength.  And an adult may struggle with controlling their fears more than a 15-year old.  But that doesn't mean they can't overcome it.  More than physical background, what matters is mindset, and a willingness to fail.  You are not going to walk in the gym and walk out as a ninja.  I fall.  I get bruises.  I get calluses and rips.. and more rips.  I try and fail.  I try and fail again.  But I keep trying.  And eventually I make it.  And that's the best feeling in the world.

I didn't expect to have so much to say on this but as soon as I started typing, my thoughts started flooding out.  Because where I train, community is important.  Helping each other and supporting each other is important.  And most of all, we believe that anyone can do what we do.  That being said, please don't go outside and try to run up your neighbor's wall or roll over the hood of your car.  What you should do is find a local training center or certified instructor who can teach you the basics in a safe and encouraging way.  And if you're still not convinced, if you're sitting there thinking that's nice, A, but I'm just not in shape/coordinated/badass/etc. enough to do this then please tell me how I can change your mind.

Power and Flow

Week 16: Day Two
The warm up started with 50 split foot "dunks" using tennis balls and the high bars.  This was perfect for me because my split foot take off needs some serious TLC.  It's still a bit of a struggle but I'm not outright failing anymore so there's progress.  To complete our warm up, we did some joint mobility and got ready for our first exercise.

Vault, touch the wall, turn and vault.  First for speed.  Then for minimum steps leading up to and in between the vaults.  This helped us focus on efficiency and flow.  Then we combined these concepts and aimed for speed and flow.  While trying to find the most efficient way to do this route without slowing down, I figured out that tic tac-ing off the wall was easier than halting enough to touch it and push off to go back the other direction.

Our course was expanded to include a few more obstacles—some rails, vault boxes, and mats. Again, we went through for speed, minimum steps, flow, and efficiency.  Because most of us were still struggling with the flow concept, P gave us 1 burpee for every awkward momentum-killing pause we took on the course.  I was trying not to kill my flow so I was very focused on continuing my momentum no matter what.  So focused that when I mentally paused at the rail, my body did not and I got completely tangled up.  After laughing at myself, I was able to get myself back on top of the bar and finish out the course while the class cheered me on.

After we finished playing with that, P announced that we were going to work on his (least) favorite vault—dash vaults.  I actually got so excited I started bouncing a little bit.  I love dash vaults.  As P started explaining the mechanics of the vault to some of the class, I started running dashes with a few others.  We started taking off from farther away to challenge ourselves.  To really push this concept, P turned the vault box so there was more obstacle for us to clear.  This worked really well because it forced me to lean back a little more which helped me fly over the box.  Next, we tried a couple of dashes for height instead of distance.

We had four of the squishy blocks on top of each other.  I didn't know if I'd make it over but the first one I tried I flew across the obstacle, bouncing a teensy bit off the end.  Holy S***! I yelled as I came out of it.  P wanted to catch it on film, but I couldn't do it again.  I get weird when I know the camera is watching for something specific.  If it's there and filming in general, that's fine.  But when it's like okay, do move x then I get distracted.  I did it a couple more times but kept bouncing my butt off the end.  It was still a very impressive butt bounce.

We headed downstairs for the second part of class where we brought out pretty much everything you can vault over to set up a course.  After one practice run, we started running the course for time.  It always takes me a couple of times before I'm really comfortable and flowy, which means it took me a few rounds to shave my time down from 20+ seconds to 19+ seconds and finally to my best time which was a little over 17 seconds.  To give you an idea of what on earth that means... P and B were the most efficient on the course last night and they were running just under 15 seconds.

It was a cool exercise because it pushes your strength physically and mentally.  Physically, because you're running at max. speed while staying in control.  Mentally, because there were some obstacles that I knew there were more efficient ways to get over, but I wasn't quite comfortable trying those ways.  I knew I could do it, but it freaked me out.  Especially when I was going so fast.  Something I'm constantly working on.  Controlling my fear and trusting my body.

Check out this awesome video of class on the APK Academy Facebook Page.  I'm the one in the green shirt and obnoxiously bright shoes :)

Bring Your Fellow Intern to Class Day

Week 15: Day Two
This shouldn't come as a surprise, but I talk about parkour pretty often at work.  And at home... and to my friends... and to random store clerks at lululemon... Anyways.  My fellow intern, E, gets to hear from me particularly often because her desk is right next to mine.  I've been trying to get her to come out and try it sometime and I finally succeeded the other night.  She ended up loving it which made me happy and she came back in one piece so that's good.  Although, she's only a little bit sore so maybe we were too easy on her!

Class started with some QM movement at which point E looked at me like hello, are you going to teach me what this means? so I forced myself to start thinking like a teacher (I say forced because I'm horrible at explaining things sometimes so I usually defer to someone else when I'm asked for help).  I found various opportunities throughout class to take E aside and teach her some of the basics so she could keep up: parkour landings, QM (frontwards and sideways), parkour rolls, balance technique, cat leaps, and precision jumps.  It was a lot for her to take in in one night but she was a quick learner.  If you didn't know her, you would've thought she had been training for months already! I'm going to give myself a teeny bit of the credit for teaching her, but she's clearly naturally awesome.  It was cool for me to see her do a movement (and do it well) after I explained the technique or the general concept of the move.  I was really excited for her.  I was also really excited for myself when I figured out that I'm not totally incompetent when it comes to teaching.  Yay!

Back to class... we did a field games-style warm up of leapfrog, piggy-back rides and wheelbarrow racing down to the other side of the room and back.  Then, continuing with our theme of balance for the week, we moved on to some fun challenges on the bars.  We broke off into teams of two and during each round, one partner held a position on the ground (hollow hold, plank, handstands, frog plank) while the other took on R's various balance challenges.

The first round was just balancing in a squat on the rail, but soon we moved on to harder positions and transitions.  Balance standing up.  Squat then stand and turn.  Balance in a cat-like position on all fours.  Go from that position to standing without falling.  If something looked too easy for one of us then our instructor, R, would give us something new to try.  Points for each round were given to the last one standing, or the first to do something without falling.  I was really excited that I got two points (E got two... too) until we got to the last challenge of class which was walking around the set of rails... with objects in your hands to match the number of points you had.  I was given two foam rollers, one in each hand.  I didn't realize how much I relied on my hands for balance.  Not necessarily for holding onto anything but just to stabilize myself in the air.  Plus, in order to keep myself balanced I had to keep the foam rollers balanced in their own way so they didn't throw me off.  It was an interesting exercise.

I like mixing in game days like this with the hardcore training days.  Especially childhood games like leapfrog.  It's a nice reminder that you're there to play and have fun on top of the workout.  When was the last time you had a wheelbarrow race?

Here are a couple of photos from class, courtesy of one of our awesome instructors:

Leapfrog! (I promise I didn't land on her)

Pistol Squat on the Rail

Diving, Rolling & Flying

Week 14: Day One
This week's focus is jumping and landing.  Tuesday night, we had a very interesting warm up with QM of all different kinds up and down the room: forwards, backwards, sideways, monkey/kong, and create your own.  We focused a lot on form which I haven't thought about as much since I learned QM movement.  Our instructor for the night, P, went over the purpose of QM and the scenarios we might be in when we would want to use it.  We talked about our center of gravity and stability and I think this helped all of us a lot in thinking about our QM form.

After the warm up, we moved on to our focus for the first hour: dive rolls! Dive rolls are really important because sometimes you get caught up in something and you need to be able to fall into a roll from higher up and/or farther out.  Like when you're doing running rail precisions from max distance and your foot gets caught on the rail and you go plummeting towards the ground.  If you don't roll properly or to the right side, you might smack your head on the ground and get a concussion.  Not that I know through experience...

We had a couple of blocks set up in front of the big mat to start so we could get comfortable with the idea of diving and rolling.  Then we increased the height.  Once we were all comfortable with this, P wanted to simulate the tripping/falling scenario which is when we might use a dive roll.  He started by having us kneel on the blocks and then fall forwards and roll to one side or the other, depending on what he called out as we fell.  Some of us took too long staring at the ground on the other side, not wanting to fall which gave P an idea.  He told us to line up again and just vault over the blocks.  Then P grabbed a foam roller and sat next to the blocks with an evil smile.  The first person started running, and P clipped their feet with the foam roller mid-vault, forcing them to use their dive-roll instincts.  We were all laughing hysterically.  Until it was our turn.  I was so scared of getting hit that when P yelled out as he swung his foam roller-bat, I jumped right over it and rolled anyways, essentially tripping over the air.  He continued his tripping method for a few rounds and then we moved the mat away and went back to tripping ourselves or falling from the top of the blocks into our roll.

We moved the class downstairs afterwards to work on some power jumps.  P had a mini course set up with some boxes leading up to a gap with a tall box on the other side.  We took turns experimenting with different speeds as we ran across the boxes into a cat leap across the gap.  Then P would make the gap a little wider, and a little wider.  I had enough space for about 3 or 4 steps before taking off from one foot and flying through the air to my cat position on the tall box.  Every time I landed it, I had a huge smile on my face, pumped up for the next round.  Ready for P to move it just a few inches farther away.  I couldn't get enough of that feeling of flying through the air.  That moment when I was just soaring - like when Dad would push us on the tire swing and it would go so high the rope was horizontal, or even higher.  But instead of swinging back down with a tire underneath me, I came back to reality when my feet hit the wall and I absorbed the impact, hanging out in my cat position for a second.  Then I'd pop down and get ready for the next round.

It's no use crying over spilled milk..err..coffee

Week 13: Day Two

My day started off like I was starring in a bad sitcom.  I forgot my breakfast at home, I got on the metro and realized I forgot my badge, turned around to get my badge only to realize I didn’t need it to get in our building, turned back around to get on the metro, and then, after arriving late to work, I proceeded to spill my entire much needed triple-shot latte ALL over my desk giving it a fresh new sticky scent.  I almost cried.  Okay, maybe I did tear up a little bit.  But only because the secretary gave me a big mama bear hug and I couldn’t help it.  Anyways, the world was not on my side.  I thought for sure I was going to be struck by lightning on my way home or washed away in the “severe weather” we were supposed to have.  Even though I was hesitant as I prepared myself for the next disaster, I decided I would still go to the gym that night and let my body uncoil and stretch out after the massive amount of work we had at the office all week.

It was one of my favorite “themes” for the week: bars & climbing.  We started with an intense warm up including something called Russian death squats.  They lived up to their name.  Afterwards, we started our workout which was based off a couple of different stations.  One station was focused on wall runs.  Then wall climbs and top-outs at another.   And the third station was over at the bars where T had a number of different challenges waiting for us.  I started with the challenges.  T would propose a path, each one a little harder than the one before it, and we took turns finding our way through.  These challenges allowed for a variety of creative bar movement including monkey swinging from bar to bar, clinging onto vertical bars as we moved from A to B... trying not to fall as our chalky grip slipped away with our sweat and of course, the sloth climb.  It's exactly what it sounds like, but maybe a little faster.  In case you're having trouble picturing it, watch the adorable video of a baby sloth learning to climb below.  It's a pretty good depiction of some of us learning to climb...although I don't think I've reached the point where I can take a nap in that position.

Baby sloths aside, my workout continued at the wall run station.  This has not always been my specialty as it requires strength that I did not have when I started training.  It also requires technique in terms of foot placement, and body awareness as you try to use your momentum to get yourself up and on top of the wall as smoothly as possible.  The last time I really focused on wall runs in the gym, I usually got myself halfway up with my arms still bent, and from there it was a serious struggle pushing myself up to a position where my arms were straight and I was leaning over the edge of the wall – without using my elbows to scramble onto the top.  This time, it was entirely different.  I was going straight up the wall to that straight-armed position.  It was so smooth.  I felt amazing.  Even as my hands continued to rip into pieces from all the bar/climbing work that week, I was so excited by my newly noticed strength.  This was even more exaggerated when I got to the wall climb/top out station.  Here, we started in a cat hang on the box, and then the "wall climb" part is basically doing a pull up from that position, and then a top out using our legs to pop up on top of the box.  Again, doing static wall climbs from a cat was an extreme struggle for me even a few weeks ago.  I could barely get up.  Now, I could do it in one smooth movement.  I wouldn’t necessarily get the easy button out, but I could do it.  And it’s incredible how excited I was just for being able to do a wall climb without feeling like I was going to die.  I wanted to keep doing them all night.  I felt so good, so accomplished.  It was exactly what I needed to improve my day.  

Office Zombie by Day, Ninja by Night

Week 12: Coping with life as a "suit"

I haven't written anything in over a week because I've been drowning in this 8am-5pm nonsense society forces us into.  I mean seriously, whose idea was it to sit one place for 8 hours staring at documents or computer screens? That sounds like a terrible idea.  And just to ensure we're actually working for 8 hours, they've extended the work day to include our lunch break.  Sneaky suits.  Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love the work I'm doing and I find it really interesting, but the structure is forcing me to do strange things like have a stretching session in the corner or take my shoes off and play with a ball under my desk when no one is looking.  I'm constantly searching for new excuses to go walk around.  By the time it's 5pm, I'm just as aggressive as all the other metro users elbowing for a spot on the train.  But rather than heading home like everyone else, I eagerly head towards the gym where I can shake off the cobwebs and allow my body the freedom to move once more.

A friend visiting the city a few weeks ago told me he didn't like DC because everyone looked so unhappy all the time.  I started to look for this after he mentioned it and I did notice, especially on the metro to and from work.  But I don't think it's because they're actually unhappy.  I think everyone just takes themselves too seriously here.  We think that work is the most important thing we're doing and it's a constant competition of whose workload is more significant than the next person's.  As a city, we don't spend enough time doing things for ourselves or having pure, childish fun.

I finally understand the other guys I train with who do parkour just for the workout.  At first this didn't make sense to me.  You mean, you come here just to get a good workout? You're not completely obsessed with parkour? You don't live to move? But after sitting in an office all day, I can see how going to a "normal" gym for a workout would not suffice.  Parkour allows us to get a little fresh air and free our minds.  It allows us to interact with others while we exercise instead of checking out and watching TV on the machines or staring at ourselves in the mirror while we lift (I see people do this all the time at the AU gym and I find it endlessly amusing).  Most importantly, parkour gives us the opportunity to have fun—a concept a lot of office zombies may have forgotten about.  For example, the other night we played an exciting version of dodgeball that had us all running around, up and over things, into each other (oops), and jumping in the air to throw or catch the ball.  Try to do that in a conventional gym.  People would probably assume you've gone mad.  Stop acting like a child, they might think.  Why? I like acting like a child.  It keeps me grounded.  Granted, there's a time and a place to be an adult.  But we have to let loose every once in a while, don't we?

It makes my days a little longer, but it's absolutely worth it to me to keep up with my training.  Because the gym is the opposite direction of home for me, I head straight there from the office.  The guys didn't even recognize me the first time I rolled up in a skirt and a button-down instead of sweats and a tee.  Once I drop my stuff, I lie down for a few minutes to disconnect then eventually get back the energy to change and warm up.  As soon as I'm moving again, my mind completely relieves itself of all thoughts related to work or life in general.  The only thing I'm thinking about is my body and the concept of movement.  Nothing else.  When I'm training, when I'm moving, I'm completely at peace with myself and my environment.

Weirdness & Willpower

Week 11: Day Three

I cannot get enough of parkour right now.  It’s so hot that I’m sweating just sitting here and I’m still looking forward to training.  Now that’s love.  Anyways, we had another really fun and awkward session Thursday night.  We started with QM up and down rails which is pretty difficult.  Every tiny little stabilizing muscle is working to keep you up there.  A lot more tiring than it looks.  In between working on downwards rail QM, I played mirror with T.  I was proud of myself for being able to keep up (for the most part) because he has like... several years on me when it comes to balance.  Mirror on a rail is great because you're focused on what the other person is doing while also trying to keep your balance.

After a little while, we took a break from balance to work on landings from a staircase.  We moved up each step, jumping off and working on a good, soft and quiet landing.  Someone made a joke about jumping over each other so we could all fit on the stairs at the same time.  Note to self: don’t make jokes like that around T.  He’ll take it as a challenge.  As I’m standing on one of the stairs, facing away from T (thank God), R tells me not to move.  And then a flying T comes into my line of vision from above and he lands in front of me.  He actually jumped over me, standing straight up, from the top of the stairs.  Thanks for not killing me, T.  One of the guys leans over, he was pretty close.  It’s a good thing I wasn’t looking at him when he jumped.  I really don’t want to know how close he was to my head.

After landings, we went back to balancing on the rails in different ways.  I played around with it, testing my comfort.  One foot.  Two feet.  Twisting side to side.  Jumping up and down.  Walking forwards.  Walking backwards.  Squats on the rail.  Pistol squats on the rail.  I even pulled a scorpion for a minute before falling.

After that, we headed to a different spot where we had a balance challenge with the class.  We each had to pick a challenging position on the rail to balance in for as long as we could.  Last one standing got to pick the reward.  I decided to hold a plank on the rail (a lot harder than I thought... which seems to be a trend with me).  I was one of the last two standing until I tried to shift my weight and my foot slipped.  Oh well, I still held it for a while.  The reward from our winner? Burpees on the top of a nearby wall.  Then R got creative and had us do burpees down the stairs.  I actually really liked this exercise.  It was definitely not easy, but it was different and interesting.  I embraced the weirdness.

Because working out for two hours is never enough, R made us sprint back to the gym.  I might have wanted to collapse.  Just a little.  We did some partner stretching which was a bit of a challenge considering we were dripping sweat thanks to the weather, and covered in dirt from doing rolls earlier.  M and I could barely hold on to each other to stretch.  We needed to be hosed down.

Balance & Landing: Tumbling with a Twist

Week 11: Day Two
After (B)East Coast, I took a couple of days to rest and then I was more than ready to go back to training.  The event inspired me to train harder and push myself mentally and physically.  Not to give up so easily, but to keep trying until I get something.  I don't know if it's this renewed drive to get a little farther outside my comfort zone, or that everyone is feeling a little playful, but I've been having so much fun with my training this week.  I mean, I always have fun training.  But sometimes it’s a little more playtime, a little less intense workout.  We’ve been getting very weird this week and experimenting with awkward movement.  Definitely requires an open mind but it’s a lot of fun.

On Wednesday, we worked on air awareness.  The ultimate goal was to be like a cat—if someone holds you upside down by your hands and feet and drops you from the second story window, you want to be able to correct yourself in the air and land on your feet, or hands and feet.  No, they didn't actually throw us out the window to test our cat-like abilities.

We started by doing some basic tumbling—cartwheels, rolls, round-offs, etc.  Then we threw in some weirdness.  Cartwheel, 180, roll.  Roll, 180, cartwheel.  Round-off, 360, roll.  Lots of twisting, jumping, tumbling and trying to confuse our bodies.  We also worked on doing 180s and 360s from a higher surface to a lower surface.  We were trying to train our bodies to always be square with our momentum to prevent messing up our knees, for example, by landing incorrectly.  It was all a little disorienting but definitely a useful exercise.

After class, we started experimenting with what we had learned.  I played on the bars a bit and then went back to tumbling.  I tried to work my aerial but I kept putting my left hand down.  I probably didn’t need to, but it just really wanted to touch the ground.  Then I decided to stop being a wimp and work on my standing tucks.  This literally took about 20 minutes.  Seriously.  I wandered around the room trying to convince myself to just throw it.  Every time, I’d find an excuse not to do it or distract myself with some other challenge.  Finally, I wandered over to a line on the floor that I liked for some reason, set, and went for it.  I touched my hands down the first couple of times but by the third or fourth try I was landing on my feet without reaching towards the ground.  Standing tuck on non-spring floor: check.  I was more relieved than excited.  As if I knew I could do it already, I just had to get it out of the way.  I have to keep working them though so my body gets used to it again.

Next stop: wall spins.  One of the other girls, M, was working on them and invited me to try it with her.  Sure, why not? It’s one of those moves that looks really simple.  They’re just spinning around their hand.  Easy.  Not easy.  It honestly didn’t occur to me that you still have to go upside down to do it.  The first time I ran up to the wall, I placed my hand on the mat leaning against the wall, jumped and... nothing.  This is scarier than I thought.  I tried again.  Ran up to the wall, placed my hand on it, flipped upside down, realized I was upside down, and froze.  Splat on the mat beneath me.  At least I got the upside down part this time, I’m halfway there! I finally managed to get somewhere close to landing on my feet when M2 drew me a picture to help explain what I was doing wrong.  I was traveling too much instead of staying in one spot.  His picture worked miracles.  After a few more tries, I felt comfortable moving the crash mat away so I would be forced to land on my feet.  It worked.  I did a few really good ones before wrapping up for the night.  Wall spin on a mat: check.  Next stop: harder surfaces.

(B)East Coast Jam 2013: Part 2

Day two of the event was held at Great Falls (VA) where we had a cookout, relaxed, and did some hiking/bouldering.  I’ve been going to Great Falls since I was a little kid and I’ve always loved climbing around and playing in the woods, so it was cool for me to go and play with this new awareness of my body, natural movement and my own capabilities.  Before, I was just messing around when I jumped from rock to rock or balanced on a fallen tree.  Now, I was thinking about it in the context of my parkour training.

I realized that I’m a lot more comfortable moving out in the woods than I am in the city.  While we were hiking later in the day, we came across a fallen tree that we used to cross a big drop with nothing but rocks and dirt beneath us.  As I was balancing my way across, I did what you’re never supposed to do and I looked down.  It didn’t throw me off or send me plummeting to my death, but I did see how high we were and what was below us.  I thought to myself would I cross something this high on a narrow surface in an urban setting? I’m not sure I would.  I don’t know why but falling in the concrete jungle is a lot scarier to me than falling on the rocks and dirt.  Even at the exact same height.  I experienced the same thing with climbing.  There are lots of trees and intimidating rock faces that I would climb before I’d climb a similar challenge in the city.  Maybe I should include more nature in my training.  Or some nature at all, considering this is the first time I’ve been hiking since I started training pk.  Anyways, we had a lot of fun climbing around and finding the challenging ways to get up and over the rocks.

Back at the picnic area, people were lying in the grass, exhausted from the day before.  Meanwhile, others proved to be a never-ending ball of energy, continuously flipping and playing around.  After lying in the sun for hours and going for a mini hike, I felt lazy enough so I got up and went to watch some people play on the backyard rails they brought.  Then one of the guys turned to me and said do a flip.  Excuse me? Come on, do a flip.  I can’t do a flip out here.  I need a spot.  He then proceeded to list all of his certifications and put his hand on my back, ready to spot me.  And then he waited in that position until I was ready.  When I realized he was not going to let me walk away without flipping, I finally decided to get over my fears of flipping outside and did a tuck.  Hey, that wasn’t so bad.  He immediately went into instructor mode and started giving me pointers.  We worked on it for a few minutes until I got scared again because he was going to make me do it without a spot.  Baby steps.

As afternoon became evening and people started trickling out, I had to begin saying goodbye.  It was weird not knowing when I’d see most of them again, but there’s always next year!  I had such an amazing time this weekend training and meeting new people in the community.  I have never felt so welcome and so much a part of something before.  I loved bonding with the other pk girls.  I loved being pushed to try new things and connect with people.  I can be really shy in large groups sometimes but I never felt uncomfortable this weekend.  I was always making new friends and everyone I talked to was so nice and excited to be there.  It was really a great experience.  Thanks again to APK, The Tribe & M2 for putting on such an amazing event! Looking forward to next year!

(B)East Coast Jam 2013: Part 1

This weekend, the parkour community gathered to train, learn, and play together at the annual (B)east Coast Jam held here in Washington, D.C.  The whole APK crew and The Tribe put in a lot of time and energy into making this a fun-filled weekend for all.  I know I'm supposed to be young and never run out of energy but (B)east Coast completely wiped me out.  In a good way.  But I'm definitely in need of a rest & recovery day.

The first day of the event started at Gateway Park, just over the bridge in Virginia.  We had a permit for the park this year (which means the city supports pk! woo!) so APK was able to bring their own obstacles to set up a crazy course for the fast competition and some other fun stuff for the community.  This was my first parkour jam and while I was excited, I was definitely a little overwhelmed.  There were so many people of all different backgrounds and skill levels.  We were also outnumbered by guys as usual, but there were a dozen or so girls at the event this year.  I brought my friend, N, who had never trained parkour before but is really into fitness so I thought she'd like it.  She ended up loving it (yay!) and we had a lot of fun before she had to go to work later that afternoon.  We also managed to find the other girls pretty quickly, introduce ourselves and bond as a group over our unique love for pk.  Talking to other girls in the parkour community made me think about it for the first time.  We’re doing something incredibly unique and it’s important to recognize that and support each other as we train and grow.

We also took a few awesome photos (ladies only).  Here is one of us on the “awkward bars”:

After playing at Gateway Park all morning, watching the fast competition, saying hi to people and making new friends, we broke into smaller groups to train in different parts of the city.  I was so caught up in the day’s events that I never left to get lunch so I hoped all the Vita Coco (one of this year’s sponsors) would keep me alive enough to keep training.  I headed to Georgetown University with one of the breakout groups because I realized I had never walked around the campus before.  It’s freaking beautiful.  In that old-school prestigious kind of way.  They also have some interesting training spots.

I worked on a few cool challenges including a set of rails I wanted to precision.  There were four railings in a row across a wide set of stairs with just enough room at the bottom for me to perch my feet on.  Although I've become pretty comfortable with rail precisions, I've never actually tried to do more than one in a row so I thought it'd be a good challenge for me.  I always landed the first one, but it was a matter of staying up once I landed, or transitioning quickly enough to take off again before I lost my balance.  I told one of the guys, T2, about my challenge and of course he does it in one try.  Your turn, he says, looking at me expectantly.  Well now that you've made it look so easy, I'm thinking, irritated.  I tried a few more times, but my foot started slipping and I was worried about hurting myself so I took a break.  I'm determined to go back on a good day and train until I nail those precisions.  I can't leave a challenge incomplete like that.  Even if it takes more than one session, I want to do it.

I hadn’t thought much about it before but now I’m noticing the word challenge more when people train.  Everyone is constantly thinking of challenges for themselves and for each other... and asking me to think of them.  A traceur will look at their environment, “trace” a path in their head (see what I did there?), and then present it to someone as a challenge.  I guess it’s a fun way to engage others and not just challenge yourself.  It’s also a way of sharing the way you see your environment, whereas another traceur might have chosen a different course.  You want to think of something that will push you, but also something within your reach.  And within the reach of the person you’re challenging.  It’s very different than any other physical discipline I’ve trained.

After a couple of hours at Georgetown, we headed back to the park to wrap up and get some food before the rock climbing event later that night.  I was so tired I couldn't even force myself to go.  I was home by 10pm and in bed within the hour.  I know, I'm an old lady.  But I had to rest up for day two!

To be continued...