Movnat + Parkour Jam = Awesome weekend + I'm sleepy

This past weekend was quite spectacular. It was also rather tiring - I consider myself to be in pretty okay shape and I'm still tuckered out.

The weekend began with the always awesome Intermediate Class - two hours of hard training with some of Fifth Ape's stalwart PK Fundamentals Alumni. These guys are awesome athletes - one of them broke the Hospital Arm jump his first time looking at it! That took me 3 years!

(FYI, if you want to be awesome like these guys, the next PK Fundamentals course is scheduled to begin on April 7th. You should probably sign up.)

Then it was time for the 17th North Carolina State Parkour Jam. At least 60 traceurs descended on Chapel Hill for a day of movement. And, folks, it was some pretty awesome movement. Sure, there was a lot of tricking, flips, etc. which was neat-o and impressive, but not particularly compelling to me. Instead, I was utterly blown away by all the fluid, clean, powerful "basics" I saw; running gap jumps that seemed more like floating than jumping, strides that you would have to measure in meters, and precisions that looked more like landing on glue covered Velcro than a railing.

It was fantastic to see everyone from the North Carolina community. Thanks to everyone who said nice things about PK Office Hours - I worry sometimes that a community with such a huge amount of talent wouldn't see the benefit of stepping back and revisiting the basics, but you all made me feel like I was actually doing something useful. <3

Regenia was on hand to take some great photos, which you can see here.

***

That was Saturday. Sunday morning found me driving up to Durham to attend a MovNat one-day workshop.  I've written a lot about MovNat content before, so it goes without saying that the experience was good. This time was noteworthy for a few reasons.

First, this was the first one-day workshop instructed by Amy Heidbreder, MovNat's first female coach. Anyone who thinks this style of training is only for boys really needs to go see Amy. She kicked ass. She's highly skilled, extremely friendly, and has a great eye for detail when it comes to coaching. If I hadn't been told this was her first time running a MovNat workshop I never would have guessed it. She had a pretty tough crowd to deal with too, as there were 4 MovNat alumni in the audience and at least one of them couldn't keep his mouth shut. I am of course referring to Soc Doc and not myself.... no, really...

Clif was also on hand to lend his expertise and, well, mass to the workshop. I must say though that after Sunday Amy is my new favorite non-French MovNat coach. This has everything to do with her coaching skills and ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with the fact that Clif dropped me on my head while trying to Turkish-get-up me. There's video of that floating around somewhere I think...

She's awesome, strong, and a great coach.He dropped me on my head.

vs.

 I was also particular excited for this workshop because of its location: Crossfit Durham. It was great seeing some CFD members in attendance, especially Dave, aka the best gym owner you will ever meet. I was even more excited to see Dave immediately begin incorporating some MovNat methods into CFD's curriculum. That can only lead to good things, in my opinion.

So, it was a hell of a weekend. A big thanks to everyone who made it possible.

PK Office Hours #3

Check out the archive of Office Hours #3. We talk shoulder packing, climb ups, jumping, strength training, and more! Enjoy.

Progress

Check out the latest video from the team at Apex Movement in Colorado:

Pretty spectacular, right? I especially want my female students to take note of how incredibly awesome Erica Madrid is.

Watching people of this caliber doing their thing is a treat. This video is meant to entertain - the moves are flashy, the editing is slick, the music is high-energy. Hopefully, it also inspires - I for one am blown away by what these guys have achieved. They motivate me to continue my own development.

But there's a darker side to that - one I'm all too familiar with: watching a video like this can be intimidating, especially for beginners. Everything they do seems so far beyond the realm of what's possible for you that you actually LOSE motivation... "Oh, that's parkour?? There's no way I'll ever be able to do that... guess I better give up on ever learning it." This is something that's in the front of my mind as I've had similar conversations with people a couple times in the past two weeks.

Nobody expects you to go out and be this good today. Or tomorrow. Or ever.** There is no "minimum skill requirement" to be a member of the parkour community or to call yourself a traceur.

**You should, however, embrace the fact that if you worked hard enough you could be this good. You have the potential. (Cue motivational Rocky music...)

Your relationship with parkour/movement/fitness is your relationship and nobody else's. Your goals are your goals and your accomplishments are no less valid than anything you see in a youtube video. You have to approach your training and development on your own terms. The Apex coaches in this video do this professionally. They've built their lives around Parkour. If you've built your life around other things - career, family, friends, etc. you are no less of a person... or a traceur. Take pride in your accomplishments - I guarentee that the average person thinks your "boring" 6 ft. wall pass is f#@king magic.

We tend to be our own worst critics and I am no exception. I started my Parkour journey in order to train my weaknesses. I was a grappler and I enjoyed having as much of my body as possible connected to the ground. I was strong and fairly athletic, but balance, agility and heights were not my thing. I am also what some would call "risk-averse" - I drive slowly, look both ways at least 4 times before crossing the street, and generally play it safe. Every single aspect of Parkour training was (and still is) a struggle. I was also relatively old when I started training and I haven't gotten any younger. To this day, I feel like everything takes me twice as long to learn. I feel old and slow. I feel like I have two left feet.

Nevertheless, I've gotten better and I've loved every second of it. I'm happy with my current level, but not satisfied enough to stop progressing. I've broken enough jumps I once deemed impossible to have confidence in my ability to improve.

But here's the most important thing: Before I started my Parkour journey, I never would have had the guts to start my own business. I never would have met all the incredible people I've now met and worked with. That's my real progress. Even if I never do a gainer gap jump from one roof the the next (nuts, btw) I'll still have that.

People always ask me how long it will take them to "get good." The answer is your whole life. Parkour is a journey, not an endpoint. It's a tough walk, to be sure, but if it was easy, would it be worth doing? Remember that all journeys begin with a single step and all proceed one step at a time. Enjoy it.

Of course, a real traceur would gap jump the stream. Just sayin'