Week 58
I don't often measure my training progress because I can usually feel my progress. I feel more confident. I feel smoother in my movement. I feel stronger when I climb and jump and in my tiny stabilizing muscles when I balance. I can do things I was not able to do a few months ago. But sometimes it is fun (and useful) to look back and see how far we've come.
When I started training parkour just over a year ago (has it really been that long?!), the classes were enough to kick my ass. Thanks to consistent training, my warm up today is what I used to consider an average workout a year ago. This is great, but it means I need to continue challenging myself so I don't get lazy. Not just in learning new skills and improving technique, but also in building strength. The PK LITE class (low impact/conditioning) at APK has given me just the right structure I need to keep pushing myself. (No, I'm not getting paid to say this—I will always offer an honest opinion!)
When I started the program in mid-October, I did baseline testing for climb-up strength and broad jumps. At the time, I felt good about an 81-inch jump and a two-step climb-up. My goal was to smooth out my climb-up into one fluid motion and to increase my jumping distance (no specific number in mind).
Well, the blood, sweat, and tears finally paid off. Okay, maybe just sweat. I have kept up with my program pretty well since I started and while I can feel that some progress has been made, I wanted to test my jumping strength to see how I was doing. Keeping my original number in mind, I just wanted to improve by a few inches. I had no idea how far I would get. When I started landing in the same range every time, T started measuring for me.
First number: 89 inches. Really?! I honestly thought that was it. I was so excited with those results that I almost stopped there. But since I was feeling great, I decided to keep pushing it and see what happened. Next jump: 90 inches. WHAT?!
Keep jumping! T said, matching my excitement. I maxed out at 91 inches. HOLY SHENANIGANS. NINETY-ONE, GUYS! I started spazzing out and jumping up and down in circles. That is TEN inches in the last four months just from doing weighted skater squats mixed in with more conditioning than before and my regular parkour training. TEN INCHES, GUYS. Can you tell I'm excited? I kept screaming, THAT'S AMAZING and T would respond, I KNOW! and I would yell at him again, BUT... BUT THAT'S AMAZING!
It's like I was watching someone else do something really cool and could not believe my eyes. It probably would have been less exciting if I had measured every month and slowly gained a couple of inches each time. But sometimes it is hard to see how far we've come until we take a step back and say Okay, this is where I was three-six-eight-twelve months ago and this is where I am now. It feels silly to religiously scribble my workouts in my training journal, but it really does help to know that my training is paying off. I mean, I feel stronger as a whole every time I train, but being able to measure my progress like this is really cool.
I don't often measure my training progress because I can usually feel my progress. I feel more confident. I feel smoother in my movement. I feel stronger when I climb and jump and in my tiny stabilizing muscles when I balance. I can do things I was not able to do a few months ago. But sometimes it is fun (and useful) to look back and see how far we've come.
When I started training parkour just over a year ago (has it really been that long?!), the classes were enough to kick my ass. Thanks to consistent training, my warm up today is what I used to consider an average workout a year ago. This is great, but it means I need to continue challenging myself so I don't get lazy. Not just in learning new skills and improving technique, but also in building strength. The PK LITE class (low impact/conditioning) at APK has given me just the right structure I need to keep pushing myself. (No, I'm not getting paid to say this—I will always offer an honest opinion!)
When I started the program in mid-October, I did baseline testing for climb-up strength and broad jumps. At the time, I felt good about an 81-inch jump and a two-step climb-up. My goal was to smooth out my climb-up into one fluid motion and to increase my jumping distance (no specific number in mind).
Well, the blood, sweat, and tears finally paid off. Okay, maybe just sweat. I have kept up with my program pretty well since I started and while I can feel that some progress has been made, I wanted to test my jumping strength to see how I was doing. Keeping my original number in mind, I just wanted to improve by a few inches. I had no idea how far I would get. When I started landing in the same range every time, T started measuring for me.
First number: 89 inches. Really?! I honestly thought that was it. I was so excited with those results that I almost stopped there. But since I was feeling great, I decided to keep pushing it and see what happened. Next jump: 90 inches. WHAT?!
Keep jumping! T said, matching my excitement. I maxed out at 91 inches. HOLY SHENANIGANS. NINETY-ONE, GUYS! I started spazzing out and jumping up and down in circles. That is TEN inches in the last four months just from doing weighted skater squats mixed in with more conditioning than before and my regular parkour training. TEN INCHES, GUYS. Can you tell I'm excited? I kept screaming, THAT'S AMAZING and T would respond, I KNOW! and I would yell at him again, BUT... BUT THAT'S AMAZING!
It's like I was watching someone else do something really cool and could not believe my eyes. It probably would have been less exciting if I had measured every month and slowly gained a couple of inches each time. But sometimes it is hard to see how far we've come until we take a step back and say Okay, this is where I was three-six-eight-twelve months ago and this is where I am now. It feels silly to religiously scribble my workouts in my training journal, but it really does help to know that my training is paying off. I mean, I feel stronger as a whole every time I train, but being able to measure my progress like this is really cool.
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