Training Journal

March/April Part 1 - That Minor Injury You Just Had? Best Thing That Ever Happened to Your Training...

2010-04-12T10:30:00.003-04:00

How is that for a long title? First off, my apologies for my lack of writing in the past month...I could list excuses, but they don't matter.

While trying to decide how to best recap the past month, I concluded that I would break it up into several parts that may be useful to you in your own training...here goes

Ok, so a couple weeks ago I broke my cardinal rule when freerunning..."When you are going to do something DO IT and when you aren't DON'T!" in short...commit or don't try it when you combine the two you Get Hurt.

I was getting psyched up for a big jump (big mental not physical) when I realized that something on that particular day wasn't clicking there. Instead of walking away and coming back a bit later I instead pulled the "major foolio" card and went for it without taking proper time to overcome it mentally. now let me change font color here and note something: This is not to say that you have to plan out every move in your head or contemplate a move every single time, HOWEVER you should be confident in it through an understanding before attempting it. a.k.a. the standard don't try this at home [unless you know what you are doing]. So I "went for the jump" and bailed on the idea of landing while in the air EVEN THOUGH I had enough of a jump to make it! Then I put my feet down to land in front and became suddenly aware that I was about to slam my knee into the CONCRETE in front me.

This is where practicing "how to fall" comes in handy....

As soon as I hit, I twisted my body to the side. I still bashed my knee into the concrete, but I only bruised it instead of potentially breaking it lol.

I feel like I am digressing too much into the story so lets get back to the point.....

-----------------------------------------------------------

This minor injury (bruised knee) kept me from training for about 5-6 days. By properly resting it and taking care of it I am healed now, but for that short period of time...training was not an option.

During this time my ability to move in ways I used to was temporarily taken away! In this time I found myself frustrated. NOT because I was injured, but for how much opportunity I have wasted while HEALTHY!

My GREATEST motivation this whole month has not been something like, "that awesome video that just came out" or "that show that is coming up soon" but INSTEAD that EVERY DAY is an opportunity to improve and although I trained nearly all of them...I felt I could have done SO much More!

So I challenge you, in EVERY aspect of your life...

What opportunities are you wasting? Decide TODAY how you are going to work to use them to reach a Goal!

Whether that goal is becoming a better Freerunner/Traceur, being more productive at work/school, improving your relationships with friends and family, or glorifying God, you can make choices today and EVERY DAY to not waste opportunities to reach your goal!

Think...reflect...perhaps comment on this blog (what a crazy concept right?)

...and wait for part two =)

1 Love,

March 7th-14th Training from Within

2010-03-14T19:57:00.001-04:00

“How do you train when you are by yourself?,” I was asked. GREAT question Calvin. This is how I answered…

When I train, I train from within. I warm up, physically and mentally. Perhaps watch a few videos that have recently inspired me. Then I set a goal…sometimes it is big, sometimes it is small, sometimes it is a movement I am on the brink of capturing, and sometimes it is a location. In any case I set out in a direction. I continue to move until something enters my mind…FEAR.

I will get somewhere and an image with flash into my mind. Sometimes it is something I have done before, or it is something I saw someone else do. Other times it is something I KNOW I can do, but in each case it is something I am uncomfortable or “afraid” to do.

Now this gets back to where I define “fear” in two big categories. Fear due to lack of understanding the movement. Fear due to the unknown.

Now fear because you don’t understand a move is Dangerous in my opinion. This is where people “chuck a tuck” and get hurt. Fear due to the unknown, however, can manifest itself due to silly notions of what “could happen” that really are not probable if your attention is instead focused on performing the move.

When you can get to the point where you recognize places that are right there, just outside your comfort zone, that is your greatest opportunity to train!

Because of this, it can sometimes take me HOURS to make it to my destination and back. EVERYWHERE that this notion occurs, I stop and overcome it…whether that takes a long time or a short time in each instance comes from my ability to focus myself for the move.

On that particular night, I demonstrated this by prying into Calvin’s abilities, finding a move for him that I knew, and he knew, he could do, but made him perform it somewhere that scared him. For Calvin, it was a palm spin on a concrete railing…after he overcame that obstacle, I made him do it on an exact duplicate railing, but this time with an 8 foot drop off. It was the EXACT same move, but different IN THE MIND.

Train from within my friends…

Discipline is not one’s learned abilities but one’s ability to learn.

Check out our website. We have added LOTS of new content…with more to come!

www.TeamMomenta.com

www.mbteammomenta.blogspot.com

March 4-6th Freerunning meets CTF

2010-03-06T18:16:00.002-05:00

Ok, so it is BEAUTIFUL outside...50 degrees, light wind, and SUN...

I have 4 tests, a speech, and a paper due next week...

But everybody needs a study break right???

HA, I met up with the guys this afternoon for a bit of jam when we were approached by some guys from a Fraternity who were hosting a "Capture the Cure" event for charity - a game of capture the flag to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. They wanted us to join in, so we obliged, splitting up onto the two teams.

Much fun was had as we jumped, vaulted, and flipping through campus attempting to steal each others' flags. My favorite moment was teaching some of the guys on my team how to vault to escape being tagged!

The biggest downfall to CTF is going to jail right? Wrong.

In "jail" we practiced moves and even had a few photos taken for their album for the event. My one-footed fronts from height rapidly improved as I worked them for one of the first times since the weather got cold...I LOVE throwing them outside now.

In the end my team won ;) but pizza was had by all. The important thing to me was we were given the opportunity to positively portray fr/pk to a portion of the community

I love this weather...but my test scores may not. I hope it rains? nah...

1<3

March 1-3rd - Sharpening the Blade

2010-03-04T10:35:00.003-05:00

You learn best through teaching...it's so true. The past week I have been working with two guys on backflips and it has made me consider all of the little things in my form that I could improve on to make my movements more effortless, clean, and powerful.

Wednesday, I hit Cheer Express with Nick and Adam. We worked form form form. Tumble track frontflips...with hands behind your back. So great. Your take off must be just right to give you the momentum you need for the move. You drive your hips UP! Then, you must rely on your abs to tuck you nice and tight, keeping your HEAD TUCKED IN. The real challenge is to do multiple flips in a row...precision landing is a must.

One thing that I have realized is that I generally don't keep my head in on front tucks. I REALLY focused on this while throwing fronts on the tumble track. Although it is something I know I needed to work on, the practice of it makes you spin MUCH faster and the timing required to land it is different...aka scary. My first tuck was so tight I missed my feet straight to my chest...ouch..but AWESOME! After that I got the timing down....a huge improvement.

I also revisited the two-footed wallfront...Legend. I love this move so much. I focused on getting CLOSE to the wall so that the drive is hard and the spin is FAST (applying the tucked in head from earlier). I feel that I am getting much more control of this move and I can't wait to take it outside soon :)

Soreness to come...Rest will be essential.

1<3

Feb 19-28th Moral of the Story: Don't Throw Banana Peels Out the Window ;)

2010-03-01T22:06:00.005-05:00

Wow, just an awesome week of training...

Tuesday, a new guy came in and worked backflips. We went over the steps, got him over a few fears and he went for it....SUCCESS! (Number 277 if you are keeping count with me). I spent most of the rest of practice working backfulls (still striving for that better understanding of the twist to make the move simpler)

Wednesday, we went over to Cheer Express (an awesome cheerleading gym that allows us to put their slanted mats up and wallflip all we want). I had a specific trick in mind that has been rolling around in my imagination for weeks...Double footed wall front! As I stretched out and warmed up I focused on what I knew of the movement and reflected back to Cane's tutorial that I had just watched... I do have a history with this move...I have tried it once before. A year ago, strait to my back...not ready... BUT that didn't matter now. So I went for it and made it around! NOW to LAND IT! A few more tries and a tighter tuck later and I landed it to my feet YES YES YES YES! I freaking love this move!!! I can't wait to get in to train it some more :) ...ALSO highest wallflips I have ever done...off the mat with my feet up the wall lol VIDEO to come...

Thursday and Friday were naturally days of rest and healing for.....

SATURDAY!

Saturday my great friends Colleen, Adam, Nicholas, and Derek traveled down to Indy with me to train for the afternoon. EPIC! I landed INWARD FLY-A-WAYS and my KICK THE MOON's were so high I think I may have affected the tides. Seriously grand training sesh all the way down to my lunch on the way home (Packed with love by the stunning Megan Renee). We had loads of fun throwing triples into the pit and I worked back fulls as well...I experimented with a modified technique that I believe is spinning me round quite nicely...looking forward to playing with it in the gym. ALSO I threw some sideflips on flat ground before we left. I changed from my old tuck to a tighter tuck in front...I was so high and fast you would think I was Big Z for a minute ;)

Two more days of rest and I will be ready to go again...Thank God for freerunning...I feel alive

"True discipline is not one's learned abilities, but one's ability to learn."

1<3

February 14-18th Back to Feeling the Burn!

2010-02-19T23:34:00.001-05:00

After two weeks of limited access to the gym, I was left thirsty for adrenaline. To quench my thirst, I cleared the evening schedule and hit the gym HARD three days this week. I started out with my latest break though of last week...back fulls

I suspected that perhaps it would take a bit to get back into it...and I was right. One thing that I find very hard is learning a move....then coming back to it. There is always the tendency to oversimplify a move in your mind after you have landed it before...quite disastrous, as it causes you to over think a move...however you must eventually overcome this because ultimately you need to know EXACTLY what is going on throughout the move and be able to manipulate it if you wish to "master" a movement....a tough thing to do that I am sure anyone can tell you only comes with experience and TIME.

Eventually I made it through the struggle with the help of my good friend Colleen who pushed me to land it in "three more or not at all" ...eating my own advice as I often do lol...What a tough girl...she is learning the discipline of resisting the urge to train with an injury, always a hard thing.

The week went by fast but judging by my intense soreness I feel it was a good one lol. I also worked some kick the moons which went delightfully. I hope to keep them up and take them outside when it gets warm.

We had a pretty good close to the week by creating a multi-level obstacle course to be traversed by handstand...epic

Loving the Olympics...

Februrary 8-13th - Beauty Amidst the Chaos

2010-02-14T16:58:00.003-05:00

Super busy week this week; however some GREAT training came of it. Due to back to back exams on Thursday, I realized that I would be faced with only one day to train in the gym so I had better prepare for it mentally and stay rested physically.

Tuesday came, and I had visions of backfulls dancing in my head. I got to practice early, warmed up, and set up a stack of mats. Something that I realized, that I noted in a previous post, is the importance of REALLY elbowing/punching hard into the twist for a back full. I spent quite a bit of time in days prior (mostly bored in class) going over how the move should feel RIGHT before I leave the ground.

I played with the move a bit, first just throwing a normal backflip. Then, I moved on to lightly pulling my arms in to see how much twist I would get...ABSOLUTELY KEY that your flip part of the move never changes. With this, I could just pull harder and harder each time as I got more comfortable with the move. Eventually I could estimate how many degrees I would rotate as soon as I left the mat by FEELing how hard the twist was pulled initially. I eventually worked up to getting the twist all but the last 45 degrees of a full....

...I concentrated for a bit on the feeling of pulling into the twist, got up, and threw it again..."YES!" totally landed it, strait up and down...I ended up landing three of them after that and then I did that hard thing again...I quit them for the night.

Later on in practice, Nick and I worked on Butterfly Kick. This is a move he has really been working on lately. After some careful instruction, I tried a few and landed them! Once I get the synchronization of the move down pat I plan on moving up to Butterfly twist...The potential for generating energy at the beginning of this move is FANTASTIC!

Colleen and I worked some of her moves tonight. After recovering from a sprained ankle, she needed a bit of help getting her moves back to where she remembered them...(One thing that I always find funny is that you remember your moves better than they were so you end up holding yourself to a higher standard if you just let them go for a bit in between training sessions.) Her fronts were back (We need to pick a night to just work fronts and slowly work her down to sticking them from a lower and lower and lower height (beautiful way to slowly learn to throw a move more efficiently and with greater power) I would also like to work this technique with my back fulls until I get them to a nice low height...

Moves on the horizon...

-Been watching Chase's cartwheel front tutorial...beautiful stuff

-More KICKS! great moves to combo for continuing energy!

-Back hand springs...mine need more work...I have a plan, so we shall see how it goes

Well, wow, I'm just amazingly pumped for training in the upcoming week, so stay tuned as I plan to be writing more now that my schedule has freed up a bit.

Reading/Stretching/French <3

February 1-7th - San Francisco Baby!

2010-02-10T11:31:00.003-05:00

Alright, so I apologize for combining so many days into one post, but I have been all over the place getting ready and traveling to San Francisco. As you may know I was headed to the beautiful state of California for an Seismic Design Competition. Lots of engi-nerd-ing stuff went into that, but I will spare you the details.

I packed light...one suitcase, no cary-on...for the sole reason of trying out a bit of tricking in the airport lol. We got into Indy no problem, with an hour to spare before we boarded. Amazingly I saw one of my good friends Juli, who was on her way to New Zealand for a semester abroad! We actually had the same connecting flight to Chicago, so she did me the favor of filming a few handstands and a backflip on one of the moving sidewalks...Classic. Not going to lie, it is a bit trippy doing a backflip while the ground is moving...if you look anywhere but where your feet are going to land it is Completely disorienting! SO freaking fun, and I didn't get kicked out lol.

We stopped in Chicago for a 2.5hr layover, so I took the liberty of walking around on my hands through the airport and I threw a few backflips...a little more congested so I was hesitant to get too crazy...I mean this is the United States...blah. A few kip-ups later I boarded the plane. Southwest, epic as always, provided all the snacks and drinks I could stand to sustain me along the way, and one of the baggage loaders jumped aboard and sang us a song lol.

Aside from the AMAZING weather, I also found San Fran a never ending training ground full of wicked awesome training opportunities. I took a few photos and videos at Fisherman's Warf...wait back up...did you know you can hang off the side of the cable cars and they don't care? Awesome...I wanted to throw down some movie stunts like jumping car to car with an epic fight scene somewhere in the middle...hey it could happen...

Saturday had the best weather of all + I had the most free time...this = freerunnning for sure. I hit the town with one of my good friends Mike. He graciously took some video for me as we explored the steep streets, parks, and jumped out a few parking garages to take shortcuts.

One of our coolest locations we hit up was Union Square...some interesting stuff went down here. After warming up and throwing a few tricks a man wearing a jacket labeled "Security" started walking towards me...Here we go I thought, so I walked to him, not wanting him to think I was going to avoid him. Classic response, "You are going to get hurt and sue someone." HOLY CRAP WHY DOES EVERYONE SAY THIS? what kind of sick society do we live in now that everyone is trained to believe that people exercising are Deviously trying to get hurt so that they can sue... obviously you can see that from my excellent body control, I have been training for years for this one moment so that I can sue the state of California who has NO MONEY ANYWAY... but this is not what I said...instead I was respectful and said, "Sir, I am very grateful that you are concerned for my safety. I would like to assure you that I am indeed a professional who has spent many years training to make sure that I am in control of my movements. The only thing that I hold more important than my own safety is the safety of those around me. In any movement that you see me perform, I first make sure that I will not get in the way of others. I do not perform any movement outside that I am not confident in to the extent that I can be certain that I will not injure myself. If you will please allow me to continue, all I wish to accomplish is to simply improve my movements and entertain the people around me." Dumbfounded he stammered on, realizing that I had cornered him. Ultimately, he could only allow me to continue...so I did lol. Later he came up and told me that he saw me hurt myself...what the heck? After simply asking him to inform me where I was hurt, I danced about to prove to him that my leg was indeed fine (and it was)...he was less than amused, but left me anyway lol.

I carried on until the shift change where the next guy was not so nice, he just said, "Hey you can't do that here!" Instead of arguing I thanked him for the time I was allowed to train and walked away (I was tired of this location anyway). Before leaving, I met a VERY nice Asian man who talked to me for a while and told me he would see me on TV one day! ha! what a boost for the day. I also met a group of local kids who asked me to "do that again." and a group of girls who wanted me to pose for a shot for their photography class lol. Even the guys at the train ticket booth threw me a thumbs up lol.

I got most of this on video and am planning on putting something together soon!

A whole lot of exploring, and one broken hotel bed later I was exhausted from my trip (mostly the freerunning) and had to return...it was 61 degrees when I got on the plane home....and 18 degrees when I got off...yikes.

all in all I would LOVE to go back, but it is good to be home. I missed my woman very much and it was Great to see her again.

I am sure many details that were worth mentioning we're left out but I am at the end of my memory (and laptop battery) so I will finish this post here. I hope that you enjoyed this LONG post and that you can take something from my encounter with the "Security." Remaining respectful and portraying what we do as discipline is KEY I believe to preserving what fr/pk is REALLY about.

1<3

January 31st - Tips and Tricks (WFPF)

2010-02-01T09:42:00.002-05:00

Today was the day of the Celeb chat/tips and tricks w/ Team Momenta (us!) Danny hit the chat about an hour before we we're to go on, which was great. I love his great passion for investing in others, a great encouragement to me in my training with others and in my relationship with Christ and how I demonstrate that to others.

There we're TONS of people online and we had a great time answering questions. Nick got to use a bunch of his personal training/physiology knowledge, which was great. Jerred also got to relate to someone with a knee injury (something he is just now recovered from). Adam was a wealth of encouragement to those who just needed to be reminded why they got into pk in the first place. I really enjoyed discussing fear with a few people, stressing the importance of first training in a safe environment....all in all, a GREAT time and I hope we can set it up again in a few weeks.

Had some great conversations last night, and my mind is racing with new ideas to explore when I get back from San Fran...YES! I can't wait...I really want to do a bit of tricking in the airport...do you get kicked out for that? lol

January 29-30th Traveling and French Food

2010-01-31T16:54:00.002-05:00

I've combined these two days as they we're spent traveling and at a wedding, two things which are perhaps uneventful to you guys lol.

Something exciting that is relevant, we will be hosting a tips/tutorial chat session with WFPF on Sunday the 31st @ 3pm ...with Daniel Ilabaca coming to the chat the hour before! Very exciting stuff as he has been a big inspiration in my training =)

After traveling all evening Sat, I made it back to a french friend of mine's house for a cuisine party that lasted until 1:30 in the morning...Good friends and good food...not much better.

I am also very excited for this week as I will be traveling to San Fran on Wednesday...I'll be sure to post photos of the adventure. I have tons to do before I go, but I hope to make it to the gym at least one night to help some people out. I definitely will use the time until we arrive to rest up so that I can get out and enjoy the weather there!

January 28th - WICKED Training Session!

2010-01-29T12:38:00.002-05:00

Alright so things definitely started out right today with something that starts Every day out right...breakfast! Then class where I day dreamed about freerunning and then lunch! I had lunch with, Jerred and we spoke about many things; however, in reference to training, we planned on what we would work tonight. I was pleased to find out (partially from our Google Training Calendar - look a couple blogs back if you don't know that I'm talking about) that all four of us were going to be at practice!

At practice we pushed two longer mats up next to each other to make a big soft floor to trick on. Jerred nailed some corks and said, "Don't ask me how to do them because I don't know." ha. I know what he means...when you first learn a trick and you aren't sure exactly what you are doing that is making you land it so well. Unfortunately this often leads to losing said trick several times as you try to understand it better. I know this from learning corks in the gym last month. I landed three of them...no problem; however, I haven't landed one since! Calvin and I talked about this tonight...

...when you are learning a trick and you have a "bad day" all you want to do is keep trying the trick...the same goes with learning it and practicing it over and over until you get tired and your form starts to suck...you have to FORCE YOURSELF TO STOP! I can't begin to count how many times I have seen someone over work a trick instead of ending on a good one and properly waiting to work on it another day. One kid in particular, who I recently helped teach a backflip, really understands this and it makes him SO easy to work with. He is a very disciplined individual and has made GREAT strides in his training by learning to work a trick until you work out all of the "bad oddities" and then STOP once you get a good one or two. Seriously the HARDEST thing about training that I have learned the difficult way...Any comments on this? Anyone? Agree or Disagree?

Anyway, in my own training I worked Kick the Moon's and Back fulls tonight...two tricks I had let go due to a lack of proper understanding. After spending a lot of time working other areas I had epiphanies with both tricks and decided to try them...my Kick the Moon's were higher than ever! In a few more weeks I think I can have them down comfortably :) and as far as Back fulls go, I landed my first one WELL! It's a hard punch and an elbow...that is the key. I have been practicing them from a good height to allow more time to "work it out" and as I keep working on them and progressing I will do them lower and lower... I believe that once I get them down I will be doing them perhaps standing soon after :)

Long Blog, but a GREAT Training day!

stretching/reading/French/pullups CHECK!

January 27th - Lightsabers?

2010-01-27T23:57:00.004-05:00

First Annual Prop Day!...ok so I made this day up, but the gist of it is, I remembered that I brought a plastic lightsaber back to school to take to practice and mess around with. TOTALLY AWESOME.

Jerred was here for a bit today and after trying out both backflips and frontflips while drawing a lightsaber...we decided to step it up a notch lol. He threw me the lightsaber, and I caught it mid-backflip! How great of an idea is that? Then we messed with doing a front hand spring into grabbing the lightsaber and drawing it. Jerred pulled the coolest trick by throwing a Kick the Moon with it lol. I should have gotten it on video! Promise I'll catch one of it next time....

To the more serious side of training, I had the idea today that if you turn vault a rail and need to get down to a lower level (very common) you can 1. jump down 2. backflip down, but both of these then require you to turn once you hit the ground...so why not backflip half twist down?! so today I worked on back halfs from the awkward position of a crouch at the top of a wall as if I had just turned and was holding on to the rail...and it went pretty well...a little more work and I think I have it! I also worked on sideflips...as you may have seen in the Xe video, I tuck under my legs. I would like to change this and tuck in front I think because I can get tighter and then use that to move on to more difficult movements. Attempts went well today, but I need to tuck tighter so I shall revisit this soon. Also we worked one-footed fronts to try to sit back down on the object you left from...easier said than done as you must push back to achieve it...

...video watching homework for me will be watching Daniel Ilabaca's step to sideflip in his WFPF video and to rewatch Doyle's front to sit in his webster tutorial as well as Dan's in the Never Netherlands video...I swear my mind never forgets the moves I watch in their videos :) ...or maybe I just watch them A LOT!

In any case good stuff today that I hope to work on outside when I travel to San Francisco next Wednesday! I will need to heal before then so that I am fully strong and safe, but I am so excited. Do not be surprised if a few entries get lumped together while I'm away.

ALSO I went to the French Cafe (a get-together of French students and professors and a time of eating and conversing) with Nick, Adam, and Melissa! There I tried out my French, listen, learned and ate! a GREAT TIME and I can't wait to go again!

French!, stretching, reading, pullups CHECK!

Also, I LOVE MEGAN WENGER <3

January 26th - Ready...HUAH!

2010-01-27T21:42:00.003-05:00

Just a great training day overall! Worked some one-footed fronts (getting them quite nice) and then worked with Colleen to get her front flips back to their previous state. She did quite well. We set up a relatively high set of mats (four and a half feet?) onto a nice soft mat. The key exercise today was landing as close to the starting position as possible. To actually land CLOSE to where you start, it feel for most people like they are going to land right back where they starting...this is because they have that Nasty habit (that I once had) of leaning forward before starting the front. This causes all sorts of problems including lack of height and inability to tuck tight due to "chasing your center of gravity" instead of rotating around it. This exercise it great for any "cardinal trick" (backflip frontflip sideflip gainer etc.) because it teaches you to JUMP UP!

Aside from this exercise we also sat down with Calvin, a new guy this year who is learning quite rapidly, and talked over Ryan's tutorial on kip ups/websters. Kip ups went well and the roll to pop has a bit more practice to get it "smooth" but a cool and useful move none-the-less.

One thing I need to focus on is STRETCHING my forearms out EVERYDAY before and after I train. The large amount of work my body is demanding from them has cropped up muscle pain that is a result from overstressing the muscles in this area. I believe it to be similar to what happens in shin splints, but I will have to ask Nick Z (the expert with a degree lol) to be sure. Thankfully he helped me build the proper muscle in my shins to prevent ever getting those awful splints again...perhaps he can provide an exercise to aid in this as well?

French, stretching, reading, and pullups CHECK!

...backflips taught = 276 as of tonight w/ two new guys who came in! YEAH!

January 25th - A Rush of Inspiration and Vision

2010-01-26T13:44:00.002-05:00

Boring classes tend to cause me to daydream...daydreaming leads me to inspiration. While shadow freerunning about the lecture hall in my head, I began to perform fantastic leaps and grabs, ultimately ending up on the table at the front of the room where I imagined a GREAT one-footed front, leading me to bust through the doors.

Mentally, I traced my final movement over and over. From the third person view and then from the first person view...Mental training my friends...it is key! To be able to practice a move in your HEAD the whole way through is to truly understand it. I can't begin to tell you how many times I have wanted to learn a new move, so I studied it for a week or so until I could do it in my head OVER and OVER...then when it came time to learn it...it is just THERE! =)))

Tomorrow is sure to be an epic gym session. I have many things in mind to work on so stay tuned...

Strech/read/French/pullups CHECK!

January - 24th A Great Idea for Teams

2010-01-25T12:40:00.004-05:00

Not going to lie, not much happened today...and I'm totally ok with that. Had a meeting after church to go over some website related details and then I took the fine liberty of a nap. After the nap I relaxed studying some French and reading. I had a bit of work to do with the tutorials coming up and another Team project that I can't quite reveal yet ;)

I did come up with a pretty good idea for our Team's training though. I created a Google Calendar with all of our weekly meeting times that we train and shared it among the guys. Now when we want to add something to the week, everyone can see it. Also we can declare what training sessions we will be at and what time we will be there without calling everyone!

Another idea that we had last year that got some use this weekend when it warmed up is the use of twitter. We have a place on our website (www.TeamMomenta.com) that anyone can post when they are going out training in our area. The post gets forwarded and posted to our Twitter (www.twitter.com/TeamMomenta) and all of the guys here that Pk/Fr have the updates sent to their phones! Brilliant! I totally recommend this as a way to band together the freerunners and traceurs in your area.

French, stretch, read, pullups... CHECK!

January 23th - Inspiration

2010-01-24T15:09:00.002-05:00

Today I spent quite some time writing out a script for our first tutorial...the backflip! In doing so I spent quite some time reflecting on what it is like to learn a new move. For some inspiration I visited Ryan Doyle's tutorial on the WFPF site. I had forgotten how awesome that tutorial is!

Check it out here: http://wfpf.com/tutorials/view/ryan_doyle_s_webster_tutorial_36

I really got some good ideas as far as how to transform how I already teach others into video form. Hopefully we will get these rolling this week.

Websters are something that I got a LOT better at in the fall but haven't really done them a ton in the gym. I am SO STOKED to work on them this week when we get back into the gym. French is well as always. I hope to make some time tomorrow to do some extra. Pullups seem to be going well also. I tried a flag today on a double door crossbar after a meeting...I have gotten much stronger! Definitely something to work on in the upcoming week. Tomorrow or Monday I hope to plan out everything I want to focus on as I train this week.

January 22nd - Working out in Another Discipline

2010-01-23T14:49:00.004-05:00

Ok so you are probably like, what is this guy up to now? First freerunning, then snowboarding? Well today I totally went ice skating. Second time in my whole life, but it's so awesome. Great for working your balance and legs. After a week busy enough to kill me, had I tried to make it on my own strength, an evening of ice skating with Megan, then coffee and food with friends, was warmly welcomed. Nothing much new and exciting today in the training world, however I will add as a notable fact that Adam LaPlante makes a MEAN banana and honey desert pizza...what will that kid think of next?

We had a meeting late last night that went really well. We discussed our own training goals and the idea that, while there is a time for fun, you need to train with purpose to get better. Setting goals, and planning what you want to work on at the beginning of the week is key to seeing yourself not only understand a move, but also learn to perform it with excellence and grace. Good things to come for sure.

All in all, I sum the whole week up with: I serve a God who is good, and has provided me with the strength to take hold of the opportunities I have been given.

French/stretch/read/pullups CHECK!

January 21st - Things on the Horizon

2010-01-23T14:22:00.002-05:00

Good day overall, pullups and training from the day before definitely made me sore! I've decided to work pullups with my palms facing forwards in an effort to work the muscles used to overcome high walls. I've also been doing them from a full extension, exploding up until my chest reaches the level of my hands. So far I can do about 5 at a time this way before they slow down considerably.

At the gym today, Jerred and I worked one-footed fronts from small amounts of height...standing! You REALLY have to punch hard, kick hard, and push off hard at just the right angle to do it, but when you get it, it feels AMAZING.

I also worked on backflip fulltwist. It has been about six weeks since I last worked on it, so they didn't go as awesome as I had hoped. Most frustrating of all is that I knew I was forgetting some revelation that I had had last time. Thankfully I now how this blog/training journal to keep track of it! The key is twisting right before you leave (simple physics)...you PUNCH with one arm and ELBOW with the other REALLY HARD while throwing the flip...and then it should be easy! ;) I am dying to get into the gym again to work on it.

Other exciting developments include our continuing progress to film tutorials, which will hopefully be available sometime soon!

Healing is going well, but it is a slow process indeed.

French/stretching/pushups/reading CHECK!

January 20th - Teaching Others (Overcoming Fear)

2010-01-21T12:29:00.004-05:00

Today was the callout for gymnastic, which brings two things: Chaos and people who want to learn. So naturally I deemed this day out of the week that I would devote to teaching others.

Two new people wanted to learn backflips (which is what I LOVE to teach) so they after explaining both parts and how they function to make you backflip (tutorial to come soon I hope!) I got both of them around for their very first backflips! :) It's so exciting every time. One of the learners of the night was a girl who really pushed hard to make the flip. I love this because the more energy they put into it, the more we have to work with to get them to their feet. After several attempts (the scary first one out of the way and several after to critiqued) she landed on her feet! YES! I hope she continues to come in because we some work she will be doing them on her own in no time. The second person was a French guy (chef de cuisine!) After explaining everything we went for it! He had a bit of a problem trying to tuck too early so we worked him through it (not uncommon at all) and then developed a habit of coming out too early (VERY common). All in all he did VERY well and I can't wait for him to come back in to keep working on them. Before he left he totally completed one. I think with some more practice he will be well on his way.

...This brings my total backflips taught count to 274!

One thing that I think I will take time to focus on here is how important it is to be strong MENTALLY. I feel that more often than not, people think that they need to be Physically strong in order to learn a trick, flip, or other movement. This is not true! There are things Anyone can learn, where ever they are physically, inhibited only by their ability to overcome fear.

Now I say "fear" but really this can be broken down into two categories.

-Fear because you don't understand a movement

-Fear of the unknown (that you might get hurt)

Now fear due to lack of an understanding of the move is a legitimate reason not to try something. In fact I would discourage you from attempting any move that you don't understand how it works or how to perform it (understanding the move can come from knowledge of a similar move, instruction from someone who knows how to do it, or careful observation of someone else performing the move whether it be in real life or a video)

However, when you train in a safe environment, fear that you may get hurt is removed (within reason a.k.a. a spotter or a soft mat) or at least it should be removed. If you are indeed safe and you truly believe that you are safe all that is left is your comfort zone. THIS IS RIGHT WHERE YOU WANT TO BE TRAINING. I can't stress enough how important it is to get to this point if you want to advance in your training! Each time you train you want to meet your comfort zone and step outside it. If you can do this every time you train, your advancement will be EXPLOSIVE! But the KEY is knowing the difference between fear due to lack of understanding and fear of the unknown/comfort zone.

I'll end my writings here, but please feel free to comment if there is anything I should elaborate on.

After a full day of spotting, shoulder blade muscle connection irritation is back so I have decided to rest on the pushups. I did, however, do some pullups when I got back to my place and they felt pretty good (didn't use that shoulder blade muscle that is irritated) so we will see where that goes

30 mins French/stretch/read CHECK!

January 19th - Healing is a Beautiful Thing

2010-01-20T13:01:00.003-05:00

After much needed rest I began my jam packed/busy day. Many classes, phone calls, emails, and meetings later I found myself over at Nick's to work on laying out the work for the tutorial video we will be shooting on Thursday (watch for it!). The outline went well, our hope is to make it feel as if you are coming in to train with us and we are teaching you the move for the first time. Sound good? I also stepped up pushups for the day be twenty for a total of 60, which went well. I didn't notice any irritation in my shoulder, so tomorrow I will shoot for 60 again and go from there as I feel it out.

In a team related side note, we received our Team Momenta car decals (super awesome) so I'm totally stoked to be distributing them out to friends, family, and trainingmates...If I remember, I'll take a photo once I get mine up on my vehicle.

I appologize for the non-training related nature of the last few blogs, but tomorrow night I'll be hitting the gym again so expect a jam packed entry!

60 pushups CHECK!

30 mins French CHECK!

January 18th - Building Sky Scrapers

2010-01-19T21:56:00.002-05:00

Today started at 12:00am ...as in I was still up. I'll keep today short as it is relatively irrelevant to the freerunning world. One of the other side projects I take on is Purdue's Earthquake Engineering Research Institute Seismic Design Team. In short this means I pulled an all-nighter working on the construction of a balsa wood model of a skyscraper, designed to withstand an earthquake. This ALSO means that will be be freerunning in San Francisco for a few days (if weather is even CLOSE to permitting). 55-60 degrees sounds AMAZING. Anyone from the area?

30 mins French CHECK!

30 mins Stretching CHECK!

30 mins Reading CHECK!

40 pushups CHECK!

...healing seems to be going well....will try more tomorrow

January 15-17th - BOARDING!

2010-01-18T23:09:00.004-05:00

Ok so I may be in LOVE with snowboarding. I learned a ton this weekend, which means I ate it pretty bad a few times lol. Only my third time out, but I can't wait to go again...maybe later in February? Colleen, Nick, Marcus, and myself tore up and down the slopes of Caberfae all day and now that I am back and I SOOO sore. I am telling you, if you don't snowboard already, you have to check it out! It's like freerunning on snow.

Anyway, we had a sick time with everyone who went and even threw down for a handstand competition of two before the trip was over. All in all, a MUCH needed rest of the soul and mind. It was really great to sit down and share all of the things God has been revealing to us this year. Thoughts and prayers out to Ryan who, an ambulance ride later, learned the hard way why you should wear a helmet...yikes!

January 13th - Finally Some Gym Training Advice to Share

2010-01-14T16:08:00.003-05:00

Cobwebs are gone, creativity is flowing, and challenges are ensuing. I hit the gym for an hour and a half tonight to train. Warm up as always and began to envision the first set-up of the night.

Ultimately I decided precision was the name of the game, so this was the setup:

5-6' stack of mats down to a 2' folded mat down to a soft landing.

The mat in the middle is great because it can be moved back and forth, depending on what you are working on.

A nice little backflip exercise is precision-ing to the middle mat and then down to the ground. By swinging your arms through this can be achieved fluidly, without hesitation. It takes a bit of practice, but really increases your aerial awareness.

For frontflips, we practiced both large gaps and short gaps. In my opinion it is a REALLY good exercise to practice front flips from height to a precision landing almost directly below you. This teaches you to jump UP and focuses on getting over the tendency that most have to lean forward before the frontflip, casting them out and killing overall height and rotation.

This setup was also good for practicing precision sideflips and gainers, although with sideflips it may be useful to practice landing on a skinny mat parallel to the way you are going to help with the tendency to move forward or backward instead of in a nice strait line.

As for gainers, I LOVE this type of setup because first of all it is intimidating, and second of all it allows for a combo into a frontflip (something I can do but have not yet mastered).

**The key in creating a gym setup like this is to set it up with the following in mind:

-It lends itself to many different moves

-Adequate protection (the "soft stuff") so that if and when you do "eat it" you won't get hurt...which brings me to my next point

-KNOW HOW TO FALL! Perhaps I will devote a blog to this in the future?

-Never let your setup limit your imagination

-Probably more stuff that doesn't come to mind

This went on for a while, intermixed with screwing around (you have to have fun!); however I was not able to stay the whole time, so I left early.

Reflections:

-In one footed fronts it is EXTREMELY important for me to remember to push HARD with the planting foot if I want the move to feel "effortless"

-When performing a frontflip from height, it will feel like you are going to land back on what you are jumping from if you are used to jumping out...this is ok...you will land at a proper distance if you embrace it.

Tomorrows Practice:

-Kill those one footed fronts and then transition to aerial twists

-Gainer to front combo perhaps?

-Sideflip on the other side and focus on proper form for BOTH sides

-???

30 mins French CHECK!

30 mins Reading CHECK!

30 mins Stretching CHECK!

350 pushups CHECK!

Wow, it is so important to stretch. The extreme load I am putting on my body is starting to be noticeable in my shoulder/back connection I am going to be careful and keep watch of it. If I believe I am damaging something, I WILL put a hold on pushups until I am healed, despite the emotional attachment to the idea of 10,000 pushups in one month; however, at this point I believe I'll be ok =)

January 12th - Back to the Gym!

2010-01-12T23:48:00.003-05:00

Today was the first day back to the gym. I was totally psyched all day. After a delicious meal, cooked by my lovely fiancée Megan, I headed on over.

To start out, a nice warm up and a few pushups to add to the count. I pulled out the mats and set up one of my favorite starting setups. Two taller mats stacked up with a crash mat below. Great for warming up the basics...backflips, frontflips, sideflips, and gainers. Once I got more comfortable I moved to one footed fronts, and then threw a half twist into it for aerial twists. They went pretty well, however I would love to work them with more seriousness tomorrow.

In the middle of practice I sort of moved about, catching up with people I had not seen in a while and worked with Colleen to get her backs, fronts, and vaults back to where they were. (Girl you had better keep up with your blog now that you are back).

Nick and I took to the 6' stack of mats and worked on fronts and gainers. It is so key on fronts to pop UP and not forward, keeping your head in to spot between your legs in a tight tuck. Being so high this tuck is QUICK so it is a pop in and out to a CONTROLLED fall. This looks beautiful, and it also allows you to throw the tuck the same way at AN height! The only difference is how far you fall after. (I must give credit to Daniel Ilabaca here as I learned to do this from watching him.)

Speaking of Daniel, please watch this. I hope it moves and motivates you as it did me:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BO_g92k5C8

As for gainers from such height. I recommend throwing the first one out a bit if you are used to landing them at a proper close distance. After a few of these it becomes really natural to play with how tight you tuck so that you can land full out, gracefully.

Overall a great first day back. Got all of the moves back to the fresh side of my mind...(props to Colleen for throwing and sticking her first ever front from major height!) Can't wait for tomorrow...the plan is to play with precision fronts so stay tuned....!

30 Mins Stretching CHECK!

30 Mins Reading CHECK!

30 Mins French CHECK!

350 pushups CHECK!

January 11th - Routine

2010-01-12T01:17:00.002-05:00

First day of the semester; I'm forming how to incorporate all of my daily training goals into my schedule. Read between classes. French and stretching before lunch...not bad. Today was busy beyond belief...I have resorted to google calendar to keep everything strait lol.

Good news of the day is we have a plan now for tutorial videos that should be soon to come! Many great things lie on the horizon. They key is focusing on the motives behind what we do.

30 Mins Stretching CHECK!

30 Mins Reading CHECK!

30 Mins French CHECK!

Pushups no longer make me sore but they are still DEFINITELY wearing me down. I am noticing slight stresses building in my shoulders and arms. I will have to be careful training this intensely, stretching before and after pushups and taking them slow...This will ultimately take longer and make them harder but I must not sacrifice the overall health of my body for laziness. I am used to this type of pain though. I experienced it another time when I went on a handstand campaign to walk down a parking garage flight each night early this fall...I did see dramatic improvements in my handstands, but I nearly got the equivalent of shin splints in my wrists...not good.

I am most excited about getting into the gym tomorrow night. Stay tuned for a full report of my first day after the break back at it!!!

350 pushups CHECK!

January 10th - Welcome Back

2010-01-11T14:04:00.003-05:00

Good to be back...Already insanely busy. Got through stretching and French after church and sat down to read until I fell asleep from the LONG day before. Napped and read and did pushups until the evening where I tried to organize myself and eat some food. It appears google calendar will be my only means of keeping organized.

I'm getting stronger. 350 Pushups are becoming easier, and I am able to do more of them each go. It will be important to keep track of my diet while I am so busy this week. Can't wait to get back to the gym...keep posted for tutorials that we will be producing soon!

30 mins reading/stretching CHECK!

350 pushups CHECK!

30 mins French CHECK!

something important that I reflected on today that perhaps we don't think about enough: If someone is displeased with you, it doesn't mean that they don't love you...Whether it be God or someone close to you...

January 9th - Heading Back

2010-01-10T18:08:00.004-05:00

I started the day out right with a giant breakfast at Hilltop with Adam. After we ate, and he headed out, I packed up all of my stuff to prepare to head back to Lafayette. Although it was definitely good to be home, I am really ready to be back around my friends from school, church, and the gym. I can't wait to get back to training!

Packing....driving....it soon got very late and I had nothing accomplished. I met my new roommate and immediately started into my routine. This never-make-excuses mentally comes at a price...tonight, my sleep! Bed at 3:30 am =( Until tomorrow...

30 mins reading/stretching CHECK!

350 pushups CHECK!

30 mins French CHECK!

January 8th - Black Diamond

2010-01-09T01:12:00.002-05:00

Sweet mogley...snowboarding is AWESOME. We started out the day practicing riding backwards into these 360/pirouette things all the way down the intermediate hill. By then end of the day Adam had nailed two front flips and I had successfully weaved all of the ski lift poles all the way down the black diamond run. We both finished out the day a little warmer because we fell less, however when we fell we fell HARD lol.

Megan and her mother graciously had food waiting for us when we got back so we fueled back up, realizing we still ha ALL 350 pushups to go. Now would have been an easy time to give up, but remember what I said NO DAY IS A GOOD ENOUGH EXCUSE because then everyday becomes the excuse...this being said we finished all 350 and I read/stretched and just finished my French. Arms are getting killer but I am able to get through the lot of them and recover between sets much faster! DEAD tired so it's bed and a hearty breakfast for me...Back to campus tomorrow and training in the gym starts up again on MONDAY (I do believe)

I can't wait for next weekend where I get to conquer Caberfea! I really hope more than anything that Megan will enjoy the slopes too.

30 mins reading/stretching CHECK!

350 pushups CHECK! thats 2800 thus far!

30 mins French CHECK!

P.S. the video is doing quite well but keep watching! We are almost in first!

January 7th - Wicked Boarding!

2010-01-07T22:41:00.004-05:00

I am dead tired after a long day of snow boarding! It was Adam and I's first day but we were quick learners. Adam threw a frontflip off of one of the ramps..insane lol.

I won't lie, pushups tonight were AWFUL but we got them done, I stretched, read, and studied French. Soon I should be able to increase how many I do at once and that will help a ton. Tomorrow has a full day of snowboarding planned so I am going to kick it to the sleep cycle.

30 mins reading/stretching CHECK!

350 pushups CHECK!

30 mins French CHECK!

January 6th - The Video is Finally Here!

2010-01-06T23:25:00.005-05:00

The video turned out great! This is for a contest, so if you are reading this...show it to as many people as you can! Make it your homepage! Watch watch watch!

After a hearty breakfast and a few errands I came back and threw down some pushups, read, and stretched. A busy day sending out emails and teaching myself some mote html code to shape a few things on the website up.

www.TeamMomenta.com

Pushups are getting easier to handle, but I aways away from finding new ways to make them harder.

Tomorrow Adam and I try our hands at a new discipline...SNOWBOARDING!!! Wish us luck as we have no idea what we are doing lol. I'll keep this short as I think sleep will be in my best interest tonight.

30 mins read/stretch CHECK!

350 pushups CHECK!

30 mins French CHECK!

January 5th - More Good News

2010-01-06T01:03:00.003-05:00

I've got to stop staying up so late finishing pushups and working on stuff for the team, but this is really turning into a full time job to keep up with everything!! Great news! Energy Drink Video will be up tomorrow, and a call was received that the VP of the company loves it! Stay tuned and be sure to watch it as many times as you can stand it!

Slept in way too late due to staying up so late last night, but I got a good start on my regiment once I was up. Getting into some great stuff in French and in that book about David. Stretching is also coming along nicely. I continued to work on stuff at home until I got a call in the middle of some pushups that my parents needed me to come down to their business and move some heavy boxes...Great. Ha it totally killed, but I'll just chalk it up as a bonus to my strength training.

I'm dying to get back to the gym to work on my moves. There is only so much you can do at home when there is a foot of snow outside. Speaking of snow, Adam and I will be trying snowboarding thursday and friday! Ah wicked I can't wait.

30 mins strech/read CHECK!

350 pushups CHECK!

Soreness isn't the word to describe it now...it's more like extreme fatigue that has been building day by day...it will be interesting to see how my body responds to 25 or so more days of it. 30 at a time seems to be the magic amount.

30 mins French CHECK!

January 4th - Determination and Realized Strength

2010-01-05T02:01:00.005-05:00

Busy morning lead to nothing getting done training wise until about 2 o'clock. My morning was filled with errands and wedding plans. Wow, I can't wait to be married.

After late lunch I pounded through some pushups and began stretching and studying French. I'm gaining some of my flexibility back already and I'm quite well along in my French studies. More pushups and a nap later I felt awful... food! I HAVE TO KEEP EATING MORE! The diet I got used to isn't going to cut it anymore. If I don't refuel my body I will never see progress.

30 mins read/stretch CHECK!

I just started a book with Megan about the life of David. He was a humble "man after God's own heart" who gained much strength through the self-honesty only solitude can offer. This gave him strength and helped form him into the great King that he became. I liked something that I read today that I think is deeply rooted in my training. "If you can't stand to be alone with yourself, you have deep, unresolved conflicts in your inner life. Solitude has a way of helping us address those issues. When was the last time you got all alone with nature and soaked it in...Solitude was one of the teachers God used as He trained young David for the throne." As I reflect, I realize that freerunning is sometimes my solitude. Nights where I slip away to a rooftop to ponder life. Humility is understanding where you are and realizing what it takes to get you where you want to go. It's OK to be imperfect, but don't let yourself settle for imperfection.

I'll stop there for tonight will all of the "deep" stuff before I get too carried away

350 Pushups CHECK! I am getting stronger already. I have learned not to stop when it hurt, but to instead stop when you can't do anymore lol. I am doing them 30 at a time right now (until I get REALLY tired...then it's obviously less)

30 mins French CHECK! Learning about work and school now...refreshing on introductions

...3 more days till Adam and I hit the slopes!

January 3rd - GREAT News and Feeling Strong

2010-01-04T01:26:00.003-05:00

Today started with a sleepy start as I arose to get ready for church. Pushups...the word constantly pounded in the back of my head as I realized I was not going to be able to get my head start this morning.

Finally getting home at about 2 o'clock I managed to get 75 in before tiredness hit me hardcore. I wanted to skip today's regiment so badly but I knew I couldn't let myself do that. Took my mom out for dinner tonight for her birthday (tomorrow) and managed to raise my total to 120 before we left. Met up with some friends afterwards and tried to explain my training habits to them...I think some of them got it?

It doesn't have to be a "huge" goal like mine and Adam's to get results. The KEY is not being overwhelmed, pick a goal that seems just outside your comfort zone, and COMMIT to it EVERYDAY. Even small amounts of work over consistent periods of time yield Great results. If you make ANY day an exception you might as well stop then because it will provoke you to make EVERY day an exception.

Late tonight I received a call that I had been hoping to receive and found out some news that is MUCH to celebrate about and ever more to Train Harder about! I'm so excited, but cannot get into too much detail until more things transpire but definitely stay tuned because INSANE EXCITING news is to come!!!

On my giant high of inspiration I called my teammates and cameraman to inform and inspire them. I then proceeded to pound out my remaining pushups, stretch, and study some French...but now, I've got to get some sleep...

30 mins read/stretch CHECK!

350 Pushups CHECK!

The pushups were strangely easier today. I found myself doing 30 at a time...I mean I was definitely in soreness agony, but I could do them. I also have continued my trend of eating a TON to compensate for all of the exercise. I HAVE TO! as my darling fiancée can attest, my metabolism is MEGA high right now (She is a dietetics/nutrition major...my own sexy trainer, how convenient!).

30 mins French CHECK!

Je suis fatigué!

January 2nd - The REAL Test

2010-01-03T00:15:00.001-05:00

I woke up today nearly dead. The 350 pushups from the day prior had taken their toll on my body. Deep soreness had already set in. I stumbled out of bed after a good 9 hours of sleep to begin my stretching and reading after a bit of food to keep my stomach from growling. Afterwards it was the shower for me. I can't believe it...I could barely shampoo my hair my arms, chest, and sides were so sore!!

I pounded out as many pushups as I could muster as early as possible today to get a good head start (as not to end up with 200 to complete before bed). After showering and more pushups I sat down for some French...I think I'm really getting MUCH better! Practicing daily is the key I believe because everything comes back so quickly as if you are calling up a friend on the telephone...

Speaking of calling friends on the telephone, Adam and Colleen have vowed to start journal/blogs to keep record of their training as well. Nick may also join in, however I am not totally sure. Colleen will be stretching as well as doing 250 pushups daily, and Adam will be doing 350 pushups daily with me as well as 100 pullups!! CRAZY you can see his training journal here:

http://eggmomenta.blogspot.com

And Colleen's here:

http://colleverett.blogspot.com/

CRAZY Awesome News! My dear friend Michelle received the team shirts I sent her and graciously posted an album of our "mentors from across the pond" wearing them... *dies*

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=47931&id=1274351463&ref=nf

No video yet :( but prepare to have your socks knocked off any day now!!

30 mins stretch/read CHECK! Finished Leviticus today in my chronological reading

350 pushups CHECK! Finally done!

There was a point today that I almost puked...I think it was about 170. I though my stomach was upset, but later it occurred to me that I was seriously hungry! I have now realized that if I am to train this hard I need to be eating for it! I'm burning WAY more calories and I need to keep pumping protein and potassium into myself throughout the day as I work my way to that magic number...350

I am constantly training mentally, going over each move in my head...I think I have a new revelation about frontflips that I learned from studying Daniel Ilabaca's movements... Much more is to be learned so stay tuned...anyone?

30 mins French CHECK!

p.s. Special thanks to my fiancée (French!) for picking me up when I was feeling down today =)

January 1st - New Goals

2010-01-02T00:30:00.000-05:00

To keep myself accountable and perhaps inspire others, I have decided to start this blog to track my progress in the art of freerunning/parkour, where it shall end..we will see

To begin this year I have set a few "short term" goals to raise my capabilities. For the next Month (31 days) I plan to stretch for 30 mins each day while reading my bible. My BIG goal is to also accomplish 10,000 pushups in this one month time period...to do this I have planned out 350 pushups each day. This is a TON, but it will make me much stronger if I can do it. I believe that if I can make it through the next 7 days I'll make it the whole first month! My only concern is pushing my muscles too far and damaging something so I will be closely monitoring my health along the way. I think the key will be doing them randomly throughout the whole day.

Our first REAL gig was to be finished today, however the link is not yet up... I'll post it when it is, but the gist of it is we did a freerunning commercial for an energy drink company! Xocai's Xe engergy drink. Wicked cool.

30 min stretch/read CHECK

350 Pushups ...CHECK Barely! Man was this killer...tomorrow is going to hurt lol.

I am also studying French on my own with Rosetta Stone. I hope to test out of French 101 (I think I could do it now!) My rough goal is to study an hour a day when I can but I have sacrificed it several times so far for sleep... but this is a new year! Lets shoot for 30 min French for a month and see where that gets me...

30 min of French CHECK