Charles’ Parkour Training Blog

This quarter, I decided to sign up for a public speaking course which also requires you enter in the quarterly Public Speaking competition. This quarter’s topic was health, a subject I feel I have a good grasp of, especially in the department of losing weight. My speech was an attack on the widespread belief that using elliptical and treadmills for hours on end will help you lose weight. Hopefully you readers of my blog know better, but for the sake of presentation, here is my speech. This presentation won me first place:

Weight Loss: Cardio vs HIIT from Charles Moreland on Vimeo.

2009 was filled with some big changes for me diet and lifestyle-wise. I learned of the benefits of locally grown produce, of interesting new foods, and also how to use foods to replace most of the products I use on a daily basis. I was recently reading this article from one of my favorite bloggers Richard of Free the Animal who wrote about his experiences with no shampoo’s, conditioners, soaps, or other chemically produced products that have leaked into our normal daily routine.

For me, this first started in August when I abandoned shampoo’s for a baking soda alternative, allowing the natural oils in my hair to stabilize and promote a healthier scalp. After keeping this up for over five months, I’ve decided to toss the baking soda altogether and see what happens. One thing I’ve been looking for, however, is a better way to keep care of my dry skin problem.

Dry skin is something I’ve dealt with my entire life; my skin just simply does not retain any moisture. I’ve always spent a lot of money on lotions, oils, special soaps, etc. Well I’m done with that too now and I think I have found a suitable alternative.

I found this bottle of coconut oil at my local natural foods mart for about $11. I’ve only just purchased it and used it yesterday and today, but so far I think I’m going to be sticking with this from now on. It smells really nice, spreads easy, feels lightweight and makes my skin feel very soft. In addition to that, I can cook with it! How splendid! Expect a follow up post on this in the future after some long term use/experimenting, but for right now, this is pretty wonderful.

Test post from my new posterous account. Hopefully this will double the amount of content coming into my site and make my new droid all the more functional.

Posted via email from charlesmoreland’s posterous

This post is a continuation from Part I.

Fear is a huge player in the discipline of parkour; There are dangers and risks, and everyone has the natural tendency to avoid physical harm. In the last section, I announced that I have always felt afraid doing the things I do and I outlined several strategies I use to mitigate the effect of that fear. Part II is not an outline of a problem, nor is it a guide as to how never to feel afraid. Instead, I want to pose a few questions and point out a couple factors that occur in American society that I feel have a great deal of influence in the psyche of our generation.

The biggest question I’m going to ask is, Why? I can no longer sit back and be content with the way society decides to manage itself or behave. Specifically for this topic, why is physical harm so intensely demonized at a young age?

The root of the problem is difficult to understand for some, mainly because there is no right or wrong answer; just choices and the effect of those choices. To develop this further, I give myself as an example:

I am by no means a scarless child. I’ve had my bumps and bruises, tears, rips, cuts, and scrapes. I’ve never broken a bone to this day. The most definitive thing I remember about my escapades as a child was, “don’t do that because ________.” With every caution, came a consequence. Time after time, year after year, I have become conditioned to address what consequences derive from my actions. I am not a psychologist, and I do not demonize my parents for raising me this way. I am who I am. But one thing I cannot get my head across is what life would be like if I never stressed about that next moment. What if, instead of constantly analyzing the future, I simply adapted and responded to events that occur in the present? What kind of psychological changes occur in a child who is raised with an approach of, “Try it. Explore! See what happens for yourself.”

Humans are wonderful creatures and we most certainly have advanced brains that allow us to do some very amazing things. However, to my knowledge, humans still do not possess the capability to peer into the future and know what outcomes will arise. The illusion is definitely there. I can take in all the senses around me and say with a feeling of certainty that in an hour I will no longer be in this coffee shop, because I have another appointment. But just because this is the most probable solution, does not discount other probable outcomes. What if my client cancels? What if the person next to me drops dead?

Throughout all my childhood, whenever a potentially physically threatening situation presented itself, I was told by an authority NOT to do something because this specific thing will happen to me. But who is to judge what will happen in the future? “Don’t touch that hot stove! It will burn your hand!” Anyone can agree with this statement. The stove is obviously hot and touching it will obviously burn the child’s hand. What I want to ask is: what happens if you instead say, “Try it. See what happens.” You’ve done something very remarkable there. You’ve changed that child’s pattern of thinking and exploring. They will surely burn their hand, but in the grand scheme of things, a burn is a burn. There is no authority dictating probable outcomes to that child, rather, they learn for themselves the power of certain physical and natural laws; the only true authority.

It is necessary to prove to a child that they are the masters of their own decisions for them to act that way later in life. Heinlein once wrote (through the words of Lazarus Long), “I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do.” Morally and physically, I am responsible for my own actions. But with my background and the mental conditioning I have, how can I possibly be expected to attack the future with a free mind? Am I truly a free thinker/mover? Or am I only as free as my calculations allow me to be?

If my shoes have a high coefficient of friction with the rail, the distance is within my abilities, and the rail is sturdy and strong, I can safely assume that I will make the precision successfully. But what is the difference between an assumption and a prediction? In my opinion, too many people believe that the world is predictable until it proves unpredictable. But after the world proves itself unpredictable, no one comes to the conclusion that perhaps, maybe, the world is simply inherently unpredictable. Everyone continues to believe that they can predict outcomes based on limited data.

I have come to the realization that I have spent way too much of my life worrying about situations and outcomes that I can’t possibly know the answers to, especially when it comes to parkour. My past mentality has surely helped me progress as effectively and safely as possible. It has also helped me take on and accomplish new tasks slowly, something I strive to promote in all beginners. But the time needs to come where I mature and finally accept that I have certain abilities, gifts, talents, and limitations and that these do not mean I need to worry constantly about what will happen in the future. I have all the tools I need to properly adapt to whatever physical situation presents itself, whether predicted or not. That is true self-confidence. The ability to say nothing is set in stone and I know that I cannot predict what is going to happen next, but instead of waiting, pondering, and worrying about how I will respond to a potentially bad situation, I will simply continue doing what I do best: adapt.

I want to end by saying that recently I’ve become extremely intrigued in watching experienced practitioners bail. I feel that in these few precious moments, true pakour is demonstrated. There is no time for calculation. No time for worry or anxiety. There is simply reaction in its pure form. Imagine what it would feel like to be in that state of mind every minute; to have complete acceptance of the natural/physical laws that guide us, and although we don’t know what’s going to happen next, confide in our training and our personal abilities to guide us and keep us safe.

This past gymnastics session, I decided to meditate on all the worries, fears, and anxieties I have with tumbling, manipulate them into a ball, and cast them away. I am aware of my limitations, my strengths and weaknesses, and through this knowledge I can act accordingly. Last Sunday I did my first roundoff backhandspring, roundoff back tuck, four backhandsprings in a row, and a side sumi. I had never attempted any of them before simply because I was always afraid of what might happen.

I’m not calculating anymore. I’m done being a slave to my own imagination.

Mobile upload coming your way! This right here is my “office” located in the RIT fitness center. I spend quite a good deal of my time here, watching the lemmings race their time and calories away on cardio equipment that could pay for a semester of my college tuition!

I came across this video from the American Parkour forums. At first I just dismissed it, called it stupid recklessness, and went on my way. However, then I came to the full video which shows not only the first jump, but also the second. Here it is:

The jump was performed “to spread the word of parkour” and that is why I feel a need to comment. This jump was reckless and simply put, a dumb idea. It’s a dumb idea in any situation, let alone in front of cameras. As I keep saying to everyone, if you are not 120% confident in your technique, do not do it front of cameras. This video read “amateur who is not ready to do this jump” all over it.

Look at how the first traceur handles himself in the air. Does that look like a person who is in control of his body? His limbs flail, his legs in particular go in every which way and it is very apparent that they are not ready to take the landing. The landing was ill-prepared, technically deficient, and horribly sloppy. Thank god he had mats. He most certainly would have destroyed at least one of his limbs.

The second traceur got hurt. He tries to play it off, but look at the guys face directly after impact. He is in shock and he’s lucky he was able to get up and walk after a landing that bad.

I’m writing this article to drill in a point: drops are not parkour, as is a go big or go home attitude. Big drops, crazy stunts, and death defying tricks are not how we want to expose parkour to the mainstream media. It’s simply not worth it. I’d rather see him do a simple kong than risk his life for the sake of a media story. Also, if you need a mat, chances are you shouldn’t be doing it, or are not ready for it.

Train safe and train smart. It really hurts me when I see media pieces like this coming out more and more every day.

This is a test of WPtogo, a mobile wordpress app for the droid. If this works I’m going to be extremely happy!

I want to start this article by first prefacing that I do not know Sean Hannah personally, nor do I have detailed knowledge on his training programs or knowledge of parkour.

The reason for this article is to give my personal response to CNN.com’s recent feature of parkour classes taught by Sean Hannah. To get another perspective, I want to refer readers to APK’s response which came out several days ago.

I first want to address CNN, in particular the author, Val Willingham, for publishing one of the most misleading pieces of journalism I have read as of late. To trained eyes, it is very apparent that Val did little research on the subject and also took extreme liberty with wording. Because of the many mistakes, I want to go through this article piece by piece:

(CNN) — Most people know him as Sean. But to his best friends, Sean Hannah is “Spiderman.” Since he was a child, Hannah has been scaling fences, climbing trees and skinning knees — all in the name of fun. He says he just likes to keep moving. “I am very active. I like to change my routine. Keep it different,” he says.

First off, his best friends may call him “spiderman”, but to the rest of the parkour community, they call him “reckless.” The parkour shown in the video reel is sub-par at best and demonstrates a severe lack of basic concepts.

Now 27, with a degree in kinesiology, Hannah has taken his rambunctious childhood pastime to a new level: Using the skills he developed as a kid, Hannah has parlayed his passion for motion into mastery of a popular physical discipline known as parkour, which he has started teaching to others.

Here Val alludes to Hannah’s degree in kinesiology, a clause which inadvertently symbolizes authority. The fact of the matter is, although a background in exercise science, kinesiology, or physiology is helpful, that alone doesn’t translate into aptitude. Some of the best martial arts trainers have had no formal education in strength or conditioning and are still capable of teaching martial arts in a very practical and safe manner. A degree in kinesiology implies a higher potential for understanding, however, does not necessarily mean he knows what he is doing.

Next up? “Mastery.” You must be kidding me. Who paid you to say this, Val? I feel extremely sorry for Mr. Hannah because no doubt is he going to get a lot of negative NATIONAL attention for this one statement. Mastery in anything takes decades of practice. I know personally most of the leading traceurs in the country, and I can assure you, not a one of them will call themselves a master. Any sort of research would have brought you to the yamakasi or early pioneers of the discipline who are the only one’s at this moment who may be called masters.

This statement not only undermines parkour and Sean, it also makes a very dangerous claim that Hannah’s class is something that it simply isn’t.

Parkour, which in English means the “art of moving,” is a physically challenging practice designed by French athlete extraordinaire David Belle. The idea is to have participants run along a route or course while navigating obstacles that may be in the way, such as walls, tree branches, steps — even buildings. The obstacles can be (and often are) used to propel the runner and gain speed. The idea is to get from one place to another using only your body and the objects around you.

Parkour does not mean the “art of moving.” It is an adaptation of the French word “parcours.”

Hannah became so good at the “art of moving” he recently began teaching a class in parkour at The Sports Club/LA in Washington. Starting with the basics, he helps his students work their way up to performing parkour routines that are not just fun, but safe as well. Judah Kelly, a client of Hannah’s who played football in college, says he loves parkour because it’s different. “It’s tough but cool,” says Kelly. “I’m not used to throwing my body around that way.”

Again, an empty statement of quality. Just because someone begins teaching classes, does not automatically make someone an authority. I feel a statement on this needs to be announced because CNN’s audience is a community who knows nothing to little about parkour. This article, no doubt, reached a very large, very diverse audience who’s first visual experience of parkour is Hannah’s very reckless and juvenile technique. I have worked hard to ensure that the media only sees safe, effective, and technically proficient examples of parkour. In one foul swoop, this was potentially destroyed by a man I have never heard of before.

Neither are most people; that’s why classes can help. “You just can’t start a parkour routine. You have to train for it,” Hannah warns. “There are parkour moves that can help you break a fall, and avoid injury. That’s important.”

Classes can help! They can indeed, and so can FREE JAM SESSIONS hosted by almost any local community. How will you find these communities? By visiting www.AmericanParkour.com. But sadly, APK was never mentioned in this article.

I want to be very direct with this next statement: Anyone can start a parkour routine. Anyone. As a fitness professional, I will be the first to denote Hannah’s claim. This is a clever trick you will find used in the fitness industry. By telling potential new-comer’s that not anyone can start a prospective fitness routine, it implies that you must utilize a professional, or a trainer, to help you start out. This creates demand where there may be none. Seeing a professional or learning from an experienced individual is definitely a path, but it is not the only one. I can think of many examples where my direct instruction has actually limited an individual’s progress in parkour.

Hannah should know. In his quest for the perfect parkour routine, he’s suffered a few injuries. “I broke my hand, pulled muscles in my feet,” he says. “But that was before I started really conditioning for my routines.”

Once again we see journalistic liberty come into play with the word “perfect,” implying that Hannah has “discovered” parkour perfection. I assure you, there is no such thing.

To provide a different angle, in my two and half years I have sustained zero injuries from parkour. I’ve definitely done some stupid stuff in my 22 years, but I am still broken bone free, strain and sprain free, and dislocation free. Parkour can be as safe, or as dangerous, as you make it.

Former Olympian and orthopedic surgeon Dr. David Johnson says the activity is risky. “One wrong step or one wrong jump can lead to a serious injury. It’s not for the weekend warrior,” he says.

On the contrary, Rochester Parkour has numerous “weekend warriors” who participate in the weekly jams. They come and train techniques, run circuits, and crawl and climb with the rest of us. The age of these weekend warriors range from 18-65. We have had one minor injury in the past.

Not everything in this article is bad. I want to outline some parts where I really think Hannah has hit the nail on the head:

Hannah says it’s a full workout. “You need agility, you need endurance, you need strength, you need power, you need balance and coordination, you need a lot of mental focus. Parkour forces you to move intelligently.”

“You need to be focused with each movement that you take and never second-guess yourself.”

“It’s like being a kid again,” beams Hannah. “I love it.”

Very good quotes here, Sean. If you come across this article, I hope you realize that I am not personally attacking you. I hope you take this criticism with an open mind and learn from this experience. First and foremost, NEVER TRUST THE MEDIA. Val screwed you, I’m sorry.

Second, whenever a camera is involved, never do anything you are not 120% confident with. I’ve had this problem come up several times in the past year as Rochester Parkour gets more and more media attention. Everyone wants to show off for the cameras, but you need to resist this urge. Parkour is going to be met by a lot of scrutiny from the public and it is of utmost importance to only show them the best parkour you can possibly do.

To address trainers as a whole, unless you can demonstrate complete control and aptitude in the basics of parkour, you should not be teaching. I’m sorry to say, that from my perspective, Hannah should not have beginner’s in his hands.

The time is coming when parkour makes its big boom in the American economy, and no doubt there’s going to be a lot more of this coming about. American Parkour is preparing for this by getting a certification in place as soon as possible. However until this happens, be extremely critical of anyone who asks for money for formal parkour training.

©Koehl Ehlers 2009

As per the realm of a traceur, I am frequently approached by random street folk who are intrigued as to what the hell I’m doing. Usually they just want to ask what or why and move on their way. However, most will stick around, watch a little more, and inevitably ask the follow up question: “How do you not get scared?!”

Here’s my secret:

I have always felt fear when practicing parkour.

I’m coming up on three years in the discipline, and I have always felt or experienced fear doing the things that I do. For me, this feeling is something that can only be countered by endless hours of repetition; solidifying more and more my confidence in the technique. However, sometimes repetition doesn’t work. Rail precisions, no matter what distance, have always instilled hair-raising fear. Same with anything done on metal or on uneven ground. Recently I’ve been wondering more as to why this is, and some interesting things came to my head.

Here are three things I’ve come to realize that are beneficial in tackling the mental demons that keep us from achieving our true potential. They are not in any particular order, just the order that I decided to write them.

First, knowledge is empowering. With knowledge comes confidence. A backtuck used to be the thing I feared most. In my early years, whenever I would attempt to work myself up to a backtuck, I would focus on the technique a little, but mostly on the high potential to land on my head. Think about what you are doing and what needs to happen. A backtuck is second nature to me at this point in the game because the knowledge of how a backtuck works mitigates any feeling of fear. The physics of the technique is perfectly logical and sound and worrying is no longer a rational option. Learn the technique, but also learn why the technique works.

Along the same lines, with strength comes confidence. Knowing you can control your own body instills a certain peace of mind that even if something goes wrong, you will be alright. Strength allows a cushion for beginners to mess up a technique but still keep their joints and their body safe.

Second, don’t waste your beginner years. The beginning years of parkour are vital to further success and safety. The more time you spend with the mind set that you are a beginner, the more potential you have for success later in the game. Solving a quadratic equation once does not mean that you are prepared to handle calculus. You need to practice new problems and be presented with new quadratics consistently to completely understand how to go about a solution. In parkour, performing a kong once on one obstacle does not mean you are ready to progress to bigger and better things. Being able to perform a kong was never the goal. The goal was adaptability and application: being able to apply a kong to any number of variable obstacles. The lack of this basic understanding is what contributes to injuries later on.

Lastly, learn from your bails. Failure is by far one of the best tools we can use to achieve success. Failure in a technique provides you with intimate information as to what factors of success you still lack. Because of this, failure should be something that is accepted and respected. In this same way, the more you encounter failure, the more you become comfortable with it. In a sense, you become a better failure; you can mentally prepare for failure when a new technique goes wrong, plan escape routes on the fly, or become more adept at controlling the panic reaction that a bail might induce.

For me, fear is a constant occurrence but something I’m becoming better at understanding and utilizing in my training. In these past few months, I believe I have come to identify the stem of this problem, which I will address in Part II of this article.

The one armed handstand has been a goal of mine for quite some time now. After becoming rather proficient in it last year, I developed a right shoulder over-use injury affecting my levator muscle. Since addressing the issue, I am slowly coming back and have regained my one armed handstand.

It is not the prettiest nor the longest and I still have a long ways to go before I am satisfied, however I wanted to make a post to mark my current progression.

One Armed Handstand progress from Charles Moreland on Vimeo.

I’m still sure that my legs are my limiting factor here. The weight on my shoulder is easy to handle and the stress on my right arm is minimal. My left leg is currently slightly more flexible than my right and causes my hip to torque out of alignment. Also, although it is hard to tell in this video, I tend to lose my straight lower back ~2 seconds into any OAHS.

After I achieve a solid 10 second I will feel comfortable enough to write a thorough tutorial for this movement.