Charles’ Parkour Training Blog

Yes, that’s right. Career’s are nonsensical in that they are 20th century inventions based on an outdated system of control. In fact, I think the entire concept of a career, or at least the mental connotations connected with the word, set everyone up for stress, hardship, or even failure. The idea is based on a linear system not unlike the linear system we have regarding material production: Resources are harvested, refined, molded, shipped, bought, used, and then thrown away. It’s a very unnatural system because as anyone can see, the world never works this way, but rather in elegant cycles that continuously flow. In this same way, a career is a modern invention that turns a human being into a product that can be used and thrown away.

On paper this sounds horrible. No one enjoys being used, however, the system is perpetuated on a made up societal idea of what “success” or what “happiness” is. Many people believe it’s money; others believe it’s material possessions (which is essentially another form of money); some conceptualize it as power. But the fact of the matter is, in the words of Alan Watts, “Life is a musical thing, and we are supposed to sing and dance while the music is being played.”

Too many people get wrapped up in this false idea of success and the problem is compounded by the societal belief that a career is the only vessel to get you there. Because of this, I don’t believe in retirement either. Retirement seems to me to be a concept very similar to heaven. If heaven is what keeps your heart beating every morning, then good for you. Everyone needs something. But when that concept takes over your feelings and emotions in the now, it becomes a virus or an infection. It festers and ruins your entire perception of the beauty that surrounds you at each passing second.

The system is set up under the premise of logic, but fails to prove true. The idea that there is some end to structured learning is evidence enough for me that the system is broken. I see this more and more especially being in the environment that I am in, that being a technical/job-oriented institute. I see software engineers, computer scientists, pre-med students, all going down the same exact path: debt. The reality of debt is a powerful tool. You owe something to someone else, and you must work hard to make ends meet. Today, millions of students in the United States are entering college by way of massive student loans which will help them land that job which will pay off the loans (and hopefully then some). You get far enough in quicksand, and there’s no hope of getting out unless you fully commit, sink, and find the bottom. Still then, few manage to survive. The kind of debt that haunts a vast majority of college graduates is astronomical in size and forces hand of the student to find a job and work it off. You -must- work. How wonderful a concept?

In this same way, back in the boom of capitalism, job seekers would often put out wanted ads proclaiming: Wanted! Married men. Usually they would exclaim that a married man is more capable of handling responsibility than one who is not. But with marriage comes figurative ties of debt. A married man has people counting on him. During that era, he would have a housewife, potentially with children who relied on him having a well paying job that would keep their lives easy. A man in this predicament isn’t very likely to quit a job, not show up on time, do a lousy job, etc because people are counting on him.

And yet this world is not set in stone and, in fact, is constantly changing. It’s how the world functions. Humans don’t like this, or rather we’ve evolved in some way not to like this, and modern society is a blatant disregard of nature’s law which states that everything changes. We may not like it, but people change. Tendencies change, ideas change, perceptions and hobbies change. So if you grow to change, and no longer appreciate the kind of work you do, what can you do?

At this point in the game, nothing.

There are no tools given to you by the system to help you. Go back to school? Who will give you a loan? You have a spouse and kids you need to support. A mortgage to pay off. You can’t afford to pause time. Again I say, debt is an extremely powerful tool. Do you think you will be happy when this happens?

For many, the problems that arise from a shitty job are buffered by the idea of retirement. Retirement calendars, which track the -years- you have left until you can quit and finally enjoy life, prove that this is a real problem. A person in retirement is essentially an ultimate consumer. It is socially accepted that “you did your time and now you are free to do whatever your heart desires!” Go travel! See the world! Do nothing for the rest of your life. But is that really what people want? I don’t agree. I see too many people who are so ready and willing to give up 20+ years of their to something they don’t particularly enjoy, simply so they can enjoy life more later on. There is a wonderful group of people who study for years to become doctors because they absolutely adore the job. They deal with the stressful environment not because of the paycheck, but because the smile that comes from their patients when they are told that they are going to recover rips at their heart strings. Still, too many see the paycheck and the easy way of life by way of an early retirement.

You can’t spend a quarter of your life doing something you dislike day-in and day-out and expect there to be no repercussions later in life. A quarter of your life is gone. Missing. Time will not rewind to recover those precious moments. The failures and the hardships; the experiences you should have had; the wonderful emotions happy or sad; You are a fool for having tried to sleep for 20 years straight in the hopes of never having to sleep again. And yet, you are not a fool. You did nothing wrong. You were told by society that this was the way. You were tricked. Everyone was tricked; Suckered into this marvelous scheme that no one can take credit for because even the “mastermind” has become drunk on the punch. It is now a self-sustaining cancer in our minds. How tragic…

Music is the ultimate analogy for life. It has a specific start and end and it even has rhythm – a designated pattern that all beats must follow. But the start and the end are no more important than the middle. The middle is no more important that the beginning and the end. All the notes are constantly changing, tumbling and twisting up and down along this scale. They change, but every solitary note is in harmony with the notes around it. How many musicians do you see recognized for composing a symphony with a disorganized, chaotic middle, but the most beautiful end this world has ever heard? Is that piece successful?

Take it upon yourself to re-evaluate your life and address why you are doing what you are doing. Why do you move in this way? Learn this particular subject? Believe in this particular thing? Live the way you do? If the answer involves no value, responsibility or immediate satisfaction then perhaps you are part of this epidemic of unhappiness (or will be soon). Do not fall for the trap that happiness can somehow arise from perpetual unhappiness.

I haven’t blogged in some time. I sincerely apologize for this, however, I have only four months left before I get my degree and move on to bigger and better things. I have some articles that I’d like to publish, but I’d like to return with a quick update on myself.

These last three or so months I’ve been somewhat on my own. Zac Cohn left the apartment to work for APK headquarters for the Winter, I found myself single again, and the weather here is definitely hard to deal with (in-conjunction with school). This past quarter was one of the most challenging for me academically. I was enrolled in Anatomy & Physiology II, Grantwriting and Marketing for Non-profits, Public Speaking, and Grassroots Movements & the Global Economy. In addition to this, my duties in the APK Alliance have kicked up a notch, as has my involvement in the boys gymnastics program at Zenith Gymnastics. All in all, it has been quite a busy Winter. No hibernation for me.

A & P was potentially one of the most challenging academic adventures I’ve undertaken in a while. Each week I was forced to memorize some 300 parts of the body, systems, glands, cells, and hormones. This class alone contributed to the majority of my stress this quarter.

Grantwriting, unexpectedly, was my favorite class this quarter and the lessons and skills learned are truly invaluable. The class was wonderful mainly because of the professor who taught in a very realistic and professional way. Every project was not only practical but was also useful to some local NPO who used our suggestions and analyses to better their business and marketability.

As most of you know, earlier this quarter, I entered the public speaking competition (as was required by my class) and won first place and $400. I taped the speech and it can be found here. I have since decided that since my knowledge in exercise science helped me win, the money will be used toward my CSCS certification this May or June.

My liberal arts class, grassroots and the global economy, regrettably was my least favorite class (potentially my most disliked class ever). Sadly, I learned very little in this class and discussion about “hot” political topics was relatively discouraged. Shame…

As most of you do not currently know, Zac and I are being featured in Life in the Finger Lakes Magazine which is published now. The article can be found online here. This fact by itself is not very notable, however, because I supplied the photography for the article, I am also being paid! This marks the first time I have been paid as a photographer and is just another item on the checklist of life goals that I can now cross off.

So far this Winter has been quite the trip. I’ve learned much. I’ve grown a lot as a person and a thinker and I’m very much looking forward to my last few months as a student. Good things to come! I’m excited.

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.

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.

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.

Public attention is an every day occurrence in the life of a traceur and sometimes it can be hard to convince others that what you are doing is safe and within your control. Because of this, traceurs should take every possible measure to appear professional when greeting others. One tool I have found to be invaluable are properly designed business cards!

Business cards are wonderful no matter what profession you are in. They are simple tid-bits of information that you can pass on to another person with minimal effort. Tell someone that you have a website, and they might remember, but probably will forget by the time they have a chance at a computer. Write down your information and they are all the more likely. However, present someone an interesting piece of hard paper that holds all of your contact information and your chances of success rise dramatically.

No matter what the case, presenting a business card to someone after a conversation about parkour and suddenly your sentiments have increased in legitimacy and value. A card shows that you are passionate enough about parkour that you will carry business cards specifically to give to others. What’s more, carrying around business cards says a number of other things such as mitigation of suspicious behavior.

I’m sure most who read this post will have been stopped by a police officer at least once in their parkour careers. By consciously holding business cards with your name and all your contact information, you are inherently less likely to do something potentially illegal.

Here is my new business card design:

I ordered 250 of these from Vista Prints for barely $20. If you’ve spent any reasonable sort of time as a traceur and are looking to get that extra advantage in your random street conversations, perhaps you should look into designing your own personal business cards.

Since creating this blog back in 07, my life has taken an intriguing and rather exciting turn. The site is a place for me to concentrate my thoughts as well as track my personal progress. I never intended this site to reach many people. To be ranked on the first page in a google keyword search “parkour training” was one of the biggest accidental accomplishments of this blog.

In this last week, my blog has accomplished yet another goal: 100+ visitors in a day. Thanks to the wonder that is stumble upon, I have surpassed this goal six times over and yesterday, Monday September 21st, www.charlesmoreland.com received 607 visitors.

As I’m constantly looking to improve the site, I’d like to encourage all you viewers from stumble upon to leave a short comment on what exactly you were stumbling for when landing on this page. Feedback is always appreciated!

For now, enjoy my thoughts, my words and ideas, my videos, and my pictures!

Charles Moreland

The other day I went out and bought a new lens for my Nikon D90. This one, a Nikkor 28mm f/2.8, I purchased specifically for video and so far I am extremely pleased with the results.

Here is a short test video:

Janine and Zac Battle the Federal Bulding Stairs! from Charles Moreland on Vimeo.

After a long stint of bad design, bad code, and poor knowledge, I decided to take full control of my website, change hosts, and fix the design to make my site more read-able, user friendly, and more optimized.

I’m happy with the new changes and I hope all my readers do as well. Changes include:

-Design/Layout
-Better compatibility with my other media (Vimeo, Flickr)
-Comments are now open

Soon to come:

-Social Networking compatibility (Twitter, Facebook, Dig, etc.)