Week 4: Day One
Until last night's class, I hadn't worked out since Saturday morning and my body was starting to feel anxious with all of that pent-up energy. I was psyched I finally got enough work done to go to parkour. In the 7pm class we worked on different kinds of vaults which are really fun for me. I guess I just like jumping over things. To clarify, vaulting in parkour is not like vaulting in gymnastics... well, not really. I guess you're still running towards a stationary object but the getting over it part is very different.
One of the vaults we were working on was the reverse safety vault which is ... yep, the safety vault but backwards. Why would you need to do this? Well, if you're ever being chased by zombies and you need to turn around to shoot at them, this move allows you to do just that. Seriously, that was the example T gave us... and then he didn't give us another example. So I actually have no idea under what circumstances I would need to use this vault. But it's pretty cool so I'll go with it.
It definitely feels a bit awkward at first, so it took me a few turns before I started running into it. Once I got the hang of it though it felt really smooth. Someone even told me I had nice flow after a turn which made me feel really great. Flow is the ultimate goal in parkour, and a lot of other movement arts when you think about it. There's nothing better than a smooth performance that makes your movement look effortless and comfortable.
After working a few more variations of vaults, I was stretching out and eyeing the beginning of the 8pm class (more advanced) when one of the guys asked T when I'd be able to stay for that class. T looked at the clock... 26 minutes ago? Woo! I finished stretching, chalked up and went over to the bars where the rest of the guys were training. They were working on laches:
Until last night's class, I hadn't worked out since Saturday morning and my body was starting to feel anxious with all of that pent-up energy. I was psyched I finally got enough work done to go to parkour. In the 7pm class we worked on different kinds of vaults which are really fun for me. I guess I just like jumping over things. To clarify, vaulting in parkour is not like vaulting in gymnastics... well, not really. I guess you're still running towards a stationary object but the getting over it part is very different.
One of the vaults we were working on was the reverse safety vault which is ... yep, the safety vault but backwards. Why would you need to do this? Well, if you're ever being chased by zombies and you need to turn around to shoot at them, this move allows you to do just that. Seriously, that was the example T gave us... and then he didn't give us another example. So I actually have no idea under what circumstances I would need to use this vault. But it's pretty cool so I'll go with it.
It definitely feels a bit awkward at first, so it took me a few turns before I started running into it. Once I got the hang of it though it felt really smooth. Someone even told me I had nice flow after a turn which made me feel really great. Flow is the ultimate goal in parkour, and a lot of other movement arts when you think about it. There's nothing better than a smooth performance that makes your movement look effortless and comfortable.
After working a few more variations of vaults, I was stretching out and eyeing the beginning of the 8pm class (more advanced) when one of the guys asked T when I'd be able to stay for that class. T looked at the clock... 26 minutes ago? Woo! I finished stretching, chalked up and went over to the bars where the rest of the guys were training. They were working on laches:
Basically getting from one bar to the next one. I may have been a gymnast at one point in life, but all of that fearless attitude managed to escape me sometime between then and now. I'm working on trusting my body and my instincts though and it's getting a lot better. Tonight we were trying to get from Bar A to Bar B to Bar C (Bar C is against the wall) and then backwards from Bar C to Bar B and end with Bar A. Some of the guys were working on doing it directly without a pause to swing to the next one. I just wanted to do it period. The first time I caught the bar was a huge triumph for me. It's been three years since I've played on the uneven bars and about 8 years since I've trained on them so yeah.. a little unsure how I was going to do. After realizing I was perfectly capable of swinging from bar to bar, my challenge became catching Bar C against the wall. Oh and then jump backwards from the wall to catch Bar B again. Finally, I managed to do the whole thing A to B to C to B to A and I was ecstatic. I dare you to try to wipe the smile off my face after that.
I took a break after that because I didn't want to put too much stress on my fingers while they were still healing. Such a minor injury but also an essential part of my body so I didn't want to risk further problems with it. Somehow our class then devolved into a wrestling match between two of the guys... erm, boys... and then we stretched for a while and relaxed.
Accomplishments tonight: flow, and completing the mini course on the bars
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