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.