Charles’ Parkour Training Blog

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.

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.

One full year after the launch of www.RochesterParkour.com we now offer girl jams! The female only jams are designed to introduce new or interested traceuses to parkour in a more welcoming environment. Jams are lead by RocPK’s own Jessie K who has been in the discipline for almost a year now.

At the moment, RocPK Girl Jams are hosted at Manhattan Square Park at noon. We feel this is the best move for beginning traceuses as it gives you more direct attention to learn new skills, while also allowing you to stay after the girl jam for the normal meet up at 2:30pm to socialize and train with the rest of the community.

Do not be afraid to ask questions about this event! Here are some pictures of the fun had last weekend:

Doing a great job girls! Keep up the good work! For more pictures, please visit my Flickr.

Several years ago I ran into this wonderful lecture given by one of my favorite modern philosophers, Alan Watts. Alan explains:

This past weekend I ran into several younger traceurs who, while being incredibly devoted to progressing in the art, were progressing for the wrong reasons. This post is to serve as a gentle reminder that your journey through parkour, and life in general, is a beautiful musical composition and no one part of it is more significant than the others.

While we all, to varying degrees, strive to become something better, oftentimes that drive is influenced by the wants and wishes of others. No one expects anything of you. And while everyone wants to act and train the same way the more experienced traceurs train, don’t forget to sit back and enjoy your time as a beginner. Without frustration and failure, success is nothing and means nothing.

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

About nine months ago I noticed an increasing trend in my Google Analytics and decided to make my post, Starting Strength Results. Since publishing that article, the keyword has become my second top generator of site traffic (”parkour training” being first). Also, I have been getting numerous emails from people all over the world asking advice on Starting Strength.

I must repeat, I am no expert when it comes to lifting or SS and if you can ever get in touch with Mark Rippetoe, do. You will benefit so much more. However, since people are finding me, I will do my best to answer questions. Because of the recent influx of emails, I have decided to start making public posts with my responses. Please do continue sending me feedback, though, so I can make my site more informative and better suited to your needs.

This email comes from an anonymous poster:

Hey Dude!

I am about to embark upon the the Starting Strength (SS) program and managed to stumble across your blog when looking for results.

It made for a very interesting read. Congratulations on the result man! It can be pretty difficult to find solid info when it comes to weight training
on the internet. So much BS floating around. Anyway, I though I would drop you
an email to show my appreciation and ask a couple of questions. Hope that’s okay.

I noticed your stats at the start of the SS programme were pretty similar to my current stats.

You were:

Age – 21

Height – 5′ 9.5″
Weight – 152 lbs
%BF – 6.3

I am:

Sex – Male

Age – 24

Height – 5′ 9″
Weight – 140 lbs
%BF – pretty low – can see my abs.

I saw that you were on ~4000 kcal/day. Would it be correct to assume that you were getting roughly 2000 kcal from the gallon of milk added to your regular (2000 kcal) diet? Was that semi-skimmed milk or whole milk by the way?(1)

Could you breakdown your starting strength diet a bit for me – food sources & grams of fat/carbs/protein?(2)

I have been experimenting with my diet over the past year. I would say that I maintain at ~2500 kcal/day and when on a cut I lose about 1-1.5 lbs/week on 2000 kcal. I am trying to finalise my diet before I begin the starting strength program. I was ready to go with 2800 kcal/day without the gallon of milk for building mass. If I were to add a gallon milk (8 pints = 8 x 255 kcal = 2040 kcal, assuming semi-skimmed milk) to my regular 2500 kcal diet (as recommended by Ripptoe) my caloric intake would be > 4500 kcal/day! This seems like an unnecessarily large surplus to me. The milk alone would be like 80 grams of fat! Sorry, I should probably just try it rather than ask questions. Ripptoe must be right after all!(3)

Anyway, as 4000 kcal worked so well for you, and I think we are quite similar, I was wondering what you would advocate in my case? Can I ask what your calorie maintenance level is? The fact that you only went from 7 to 8% body fat when getting 4000 kcal is amazing. You most likely have better than average genetics.(4)

I see you put on 18 lbs of lean muscle to satisfy your goal – I have a similar goal. I don’t want to get huge. I just want to get a bit stronger and bigger – regardless of whether this means following the SS programme to its conclusion or not. I reckon 20 lbs of lean muscle would do it for me.

Some additional info about me: I would say that I am a naturally athletic person. I have a pretty active background – I used to run and play badminton at competitive level. I run 8 k every other day at the moment (this will stop when I begin SS).(5)

Thanks again for posting all your progress. It’s really appreciated.

Cheers,

A

Ok, here we go:

First off, the log on this website started when I was 152 lbs however I was ~145-147 lbs when I initially began.

1. I never actually tracked my diet. When I did SS I was also a full-time student with two part-time time jobs. Calorie counting was NOT one of my top priorities, gaining weight was. I usually only tracked weight once a week to find fluctuations.

The milk was whole and I only recommend whole. I grew up on skim-milk and my mother is a product of the lipid hypothesis hysteria. However, whole milk is one of the cheapest ways to get calories, adding about 3200 kcals a day to a power lifter’s diet.

To anyone considering doing SS: drink the milk. It is easily the best tool available to a novice to put on weight.

2. I can only give a rough estimate at best of my calorie partitions. I did SS relatively “clean” and was probably around 40f/20c/40p. Near the end, I actually started losing weight (weird…) and bumped my fat up to around 60% to get enough calories.

3. Fallacy number one: you will NOT be able to maintain your same eating habits while on SS + milk. It will not happen. You are going to feel full the entire day from milk and you are also going to feel rather fat. It happens. Get over it. I could barely pound out one full meal a day because of the milk.

Your best bet is to start increasing your milk to near gallon/day levels, then go full swing into SS and track how you feel. Your meals must be re-evaluated after this period.

4500 kcals a day is hard to maintain. Realistically you will be around 4000. Forget about the fat grams. The lipid hypothesis is wrong and to this day I remain in an amazingly healthy shape and get ~50-60% of my daily calories from fat.

4. My caloric maintenance is currently around 2200 kcals/day at roughly 157 lbs. My recent loss in weight is due to personal dietary reasons, coupled with the fact that I enjoy being a smaller framed person. Now I’m smaller, but stronger. I have never been over 10% bodyfat (near the end of SS I was around 9.5%). Once you are at a desired weight, cutting the milk easily takes care of excess fat pounds.

5. I went from 145 lbs to 167-170 extremely fast. I have always been a physically adept person and it probably helped that I was able to start squatting body-weight right off the bat. I also rarely, if ever, stayed at one exercise weight. I was increasing my squat 5#’s every workout fairly consistently from 225# to 300#. For most people, I would say expect to stay on SS for about 3-4 months.

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I hope this new approach to answering questions is effective and if there are any questions not answered through this method please email me.

I wish everyone luck in their fitness endeavors!

Charles

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