14

(as promised...)

A little montage of some of the footage collected during my two months in London...

I returned to Brisbane on the 10th of June and, after a slightly prolonged battle with jet lag, have returned to regular training and teaching. I learned a lot during my time in London and want to extend my thanks once again to all those who spent time training with me.

Looking forward to heading back already!

13

(the why...)

Around February 2007 I attended my first Parkour jam in Brisbane. Soon I was training regularly and began to realise that Parkour was making some really positive differences in my life. I embraced the training and became more and more dedicated to learning and improving. As I learned more I also began to help others with their technique and training methods. It was October 2007 when I made the decision to make training Parkour and eventually teaching Parkour an integral part of my life.

Since then I have been training solidly and working towards an established school of Parkour in Brisbane. In a year I had gone from teaching one regular student to leading outdoor classes of 10-15 students and, just before leaving Australia, leading groups of up to 40 students in the Brisbane Indoor class. (Before I go on - a shout out to those who inspired and helped along the way - Swift, Spidermonkey, Tayjay, KT, Chippa, OZ, IMB crew, Sunday S&C crew, Jerds, Puppeteer, Howler, K8 and, always, Mum and Dad).

So why London?

In one word: Perspective.
First and foremost from a teaching point of view - I came to answer questions such as "How are some of the original practitioners teaching their art?", "What is the standard of delivery in classes, indoor and out?", "What are the expectations at different levels of training?", "How is the focus distributed between conditioning and technique, physical and mental training, work and play?".

I hope to use the answers to these questions to further improve the standard of my own teaching back in Australia, and to pass on to other instructors.

I also came to gain perspective on my own training. Challenging myself in new environments with, in some cases, wildly different architecture to my hometown. Training with locals, each with their own approaches to training Parkour/freerunning. Taking the opportunity to train mentally, especially at height, but also testing my limits at the boundary of body and mind (where the mind can make the jump but the body cannot and vice versa). I found it was this boundary that the PKGen Advanced class explored.

I attended Johann's Advanced class, John being the only other student, in order to appreciate just what was meant by 'Advanced'. From the very beginning it was clear that this was no ordinary outdoor class. The 'warmup' consisted of continuous movement, crossing the Vauxhall hotspot at every paver row and executing a wall run, climb-up, demi-tour, demi-tour, saut de fond at each end. This meant about 30 repetitions. By 25 I was slowed to a half jog/walk and feeling light headed. Johann gently reminded us that it was OK to vomit. We had 2 minutes rest and moved on to route tracing. The routes were only short, but were to be repeated back to back 5 times. Nausea set in on my fourth lap and I completed my fifth on the brink of bringing up my stomach contents. Another 2 minutes break. Then another route. Slightly shorter this time but with more explosive movements. Once again my fifth lap was haunted by reverse peristalsis. Both these routes were neither mentally nor physically challenging at face value, but we were able to basically break ourselves down to the point where we struggled to convince our mind and body to complete them.

Another short break and we moved on to a running precision. The distance is not that great, only about a foot on top of my standing jump, but the run up is a claustrophobic three steps along the length of a narrow wall. The task, according to Johann, was to land six jumps. Three on either leg. I had already battled with this jump previous to this class. I'd be happy to land just one! Anyway, I gave it a couple of goes, not generating enough power off my final step and falling just short. Johann quietly suggested that I either do the jump, or stop mid-run, but not to fall short again... Or... One thousand squats!

I moved off the wall to let John have a go. He made the jump three times on his right leg, but failed three times on his left. He moved to the side and started into his 1000 squats while I returned to the wall, sizing up the jump once more.

I spent nearly ten minutes psyching myself up, relaxing, breathing, stepping through the run, freaking out, psyching myself up, relaxing, breathing, then one-two-three-jump!... I floated, reached out, calculated, groaned mid-flight and bailed, one foot on, one foot off my landing.

I joined John, who was already past his first hundred squats. Johann sat on the wall, keeping an eye on the time while John and I kept count. 632 squats later, Johann stopped us, telling us to move into chair position against the wall. The first minute felt like two minutes, the second minute just felt surreal. Not really painful, certainly not comfortable, definitely existentially challenging. And then the class was over...

The Advanced class taught me a lot, not just about Parkour, but about my mind and its limits. It was a pleasure (in retrospect) to work with Johann, someone who has trained long enough to be so sensitive to the limits of other practitioners that he knows how and where to push. Nothing we did in that class was dangerous, yet my mind and body were equally exhausted the next day. In a strange way I also felt refreshed. I have never been pushed that hard in my training and feel as though something has been unlocked by experiencing that level of challenge. Like a little window into the possibilities the future holds.

There is a great phenomenon in Parkour training such that when you finally make the jump that has been at the edge of your limit for however long, after a brief celebration your vision is irreversably shifted. Now you can see ten more jumps that are just at the edge of your new limit. I think that part of the amazing feeling, part of the drive that pushes me to train more and more, is that little glimpse of the infinite - just as I'm about to touch down, when I know I've made it.

12

(eight days a week)
(i la,ah,ah,ah,ahve you)

Tuesday - roll ankle on running arm-jump takeoff at Vauxhall, call it a day 20 minutes into training.
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday - rest strained peroneus longus muscle, upper body conditioning, low spirits, apathy.
Saturday - sunshine, balance training, more upper body conditioning, leg is healed.
Sunday - run to Greenwich, eat sashimi for breakfast, stand on the beginning of time, explore Abbey Wood estate with John, run on the rooftops, tackle some buildering problems, trace a few routes.
Monday - 50 cat-pass precisions, solo training Vauxhall, upper body conditioning at Nunhead with John.
Tuesday - gentle training at Abbey Rd with Lauri and Dave, Parkour Generations Advanced class with Johann at Vauxhall, route tracing to nausea, failed running precisions = 632 squats (will write more about this later)
Wednesday - Early morning run, Kickboxing to music followed by sauna
Thursday - Vauxhall with Lauri, return to ankle trauma jump - complete jump unscathed.
Friday - 2 hour gymnastic rings session with Joe and Panos at Battersea park, Outdoor class with Johann
Saturday - 8 mile run Canada water to Notting Hill, Nunhead, cat-pass/arm-jump with Ryan and John
Sunday - rest day, ate roast, cooked apple crumble, befriended couch.
Monday - Southbank/Vauxhall route tracing with Ryan, Indoor class with Dan and Chris
Tuesday - Gymnastics at Beckton Gym with Lauri, frontsaults backsaults, diving cat-pass, muscleups, balance and precision at Surrey Quays.

11

(nothing sinister...)

Just saying goodbye to a favourite pair of shoes.

10

(brought to you by the letter F)

It's been almost a week since I posted and, not coincidentally, a week since my last rest day. I woke up sore this morning, feeling the build up of the last seven days of training, like wire, cold and stiff, tangled through my muscles. I smiled and stretched, feeling the pain in a healthy, respectful way, reflecting on all the work I'd done to bring me here. As each muscle contracted and relaxed, from my fingers, to my neck, through my core, to my toes, I visualised the other work that was going on now. Repair, rebuild, build stronger. Which brings me to the first 'F':

Food... For this trip I wanted to make a real effort to be diet conscious, with a focus on breakfast, the most important meal of the day. Every day I start with a variation on tamago-gohan, a traditional Japanese meal consisting of steamed rice and raw egg. To this I add natto (a sticky fermented soy bean product), pumpkin seeds, wakame (seaweed), kinako (roasted soybean flour) and a dash of soy sauce. The mixture of steamed rice, raw egg and natto provides a complex and complete, bioavailable combination of amino acids for protein assimilation, as well as some complex carbohydrates for lasting energy. The seaweed and pumpkin seeds deliver high levels of zinc and vitamin C (for immune system health, general repair), magnesium and potassium (for muscle performance, reduced cramping) and a few other essential vitamins and minerals. To round it off with a burst of energy I'll have a banana or orange and a cup of tea or juice. Lunch and dinner are more variable. Dinner is usually my vege loading meal, with lunch providing a midday boost, a bridge of carbs and a little protein to get me through the rest of the day's training.

By midday my muscles have relaxed into the gentle thrum of repair, no longer sore, not yet ready to be pushed to their limit. I reflect on the other work I've been doing this week, with another 'F':

Fear... On Sunday I joined about 25 other traceurs and traceuses for the monthly 'Off the Wall' jam (as pictured above), organised by Parkour Generations. We were training at a playground not far from Archway tube station when I found a simple precision jump that welded my feet to the brickwork. The jump was small, maybe 7 feet. The gap enclosed a small garden, 4 feet below. On the other side of the jump, however, was a 12 foot drop into a driveway. I knew I could technically make the jump (coming from the other direction was as comfortable as at ground level), but as the drop on the other side came into view I lost power. My legs would not move. I forced myself to jump twice, both times undershooting and bouncing back into an arm-jump position. Then I was able to jump and land in a crane position, keeping one leg on the 'safe' side. I could not bring myself to precision jump the 7 feet. I left it for another day, focusing on some other techniques in the area.

On Wednesday, Lauri invited me back to Archway. Immediately the jump came to mind and I said to myself "today you will make it, precise and controlled". Two hours later I was on top of the wall. Thinking.
I asked myself what it would take for me to complete the jump. I thought about different ways of visualising the jump - imagining that the drop wasn't there, trying to enlarge the landing in my minds eye, pretending that I had already made the jump. Looking back, I am glad that these techniques didn't work. What finally gave me the power to overcome my fear was not a trick. I didn't have to rely on an illusion, or change anything about the way I saw my environment. Instead I made a plan, based on the possible outcomes of me jumping from A to B. As I saw it there were three possible outcomes: An undershoot, an overshoot, or a stable landing. I had already practiced undershooting and catching myself and I was comfortable with a stable landing. So I looked at what an overshoot entailed. It was a big drop, but I realised that if I had enough forward momentum I could take the drop with a roll. So in the case of an overshoot, the plan was to add a gentle push, succumb to gravity momentarily and roll out.
Suddenly I noticed something happen, as I focused on my target with my plan at the ready, the landing became about 20% larger. It was as though I had, by changing my internal approach to the environment, given myself more space to move in that environment. In essence, that is exactly what I had done. I had given myself options.

Fear was overcome not by discounting the possibility that I might go over the edge, but by being prepared to go over the edge... I jumped, landing precisely, controlled and balanced. Not without a big hit of adrenaline, of course: I'm still scared of heights! I jumped another ten times, letting myself feel the technique whilst paying particular attention the effects of the chemicals flooding my system. I felt enlightened, and a little high...

My last two 'Fs' are Focus and Flow, and it was my experience at the top of the wall that made me think of a relationship between these two which I hadn't really thought about before. As practitioners of Parkour (of life), in order to flow from here to there we must focus. This is a simple concept to grasp: To trace the path from A to B we must focus on that path. And naturally all the critical moments or obstacles within that path will attract higher levels of focus as we move from point to point. What struck me about my experience on the wall was that our focus not only includes our projected path, but should also include, to a certain degree, other possible paths. This makes even more sense when B, our goal, is also moving, but still holds true when we are aiming to reach a fixed point. To move confidently we need to not only be prepared to trace the path we desire, but also prepare ourselves at each moment to embrace the path into which we are flung by chance. Otherwise, at the slightest slip or imbalance or a turn of events that is unexpected, we are lost, stopped, frozen to the spot. Without a flexible focus, our flow is fragile.

09

(urban, natural, indoor)

After having a day off on Wednesday (still a bit low on energy post-cold) I get straight back into it on Thursday. I meet with Lauri and Joe at Vauxhall at 1:30pm and we are lucky enough to see some of the Parkour Generations team running through the technical trials for the ADAPT certificate. Having had a huge day of strength and conditioning testing the day before, a lot of the participants are sore and tired, however they push through and put in a great effort for their technical routes. Joe, Lauri and I work on wall run/vault combinations for a while before moving into the dense architecture of the Vauxhall hotspot. I shift my focus to flow and foot placement, tracing a few challenging routes until they feel natural. One route included a cat-pass/precision at a strange angle which played with my mind for some time. Joe worked on a running precision that had been toying with him for ages and Lauri decided to master all the jumps that he had been too scared to do, with great success!

We moved on, picking up a bite to eat and catching a bus to Battersea park. Joe led us to the best little parkour hill I have ever seen in my life. In the middle of the park is a small hill that has been landscaped to simulate a rocky outcrop, complete with ponds and shrubbery. The 'rocks' are all sprayed concrete, making the grip very reliable and most of the ponds are empty, giving more room for movement. We spent a while picking out precision jumps amongst the features of the rockery, but soon moved on to tracing routes up and down the hill. After settling on a couple of routes we worked at getting them as smooth as possible, especially the descent, which required very careful foot placement. The more 'natural' angles and shapes were a pleasure to work with after playing in the strictly 9o degree themed Vauxhall area. The flow was more challenging from a foot placement perspective, yet the movement seemed to be more instinctive... Joe was nice enough to take some footage, so you'll see what I'm talking about when it all gets cut together...

Back onto the train and all the way out to the Moberly Sports Centre where I join Joe, Brett and about 30 others for a Parkour Generations indoor class. Tonight Forrest is leading the class, getting us warmed up with some light jogging on the spot, some killer arm isometrics, exhausted diving monkey pushups, and completely exhausted hand-clap pushups... Then the lesson began. We broke up into six groups and worked in stations: a long cat balance; slide-monkey (lazy-vault) combinations; reverse step-vault/tic tac combinations; palm-spin practice; slide-monkey to reverse step-vault and my favourite: Playing with chairs... Yes, one of the stations had us using regular chairs to hone our skills as traceurs. Our group lined all the chairs up and created a complex route of swing-throughs, tic-tac to sitting and some other ingenious chair stunts...
Before I knew it we were all back on the floor working our abdominals to hernia point and I was reminded of what it feels like to fall down from plank position... It's been a while. Forrest was eventually merciful and warmed us down with a yoga-esque stretching session. The smile never left his face all night.

08

(sunshine)

Sunday. Sun day. Sunny day.
I met up with Jayden, Joe (in the background), Gaz, Ishta, John, Blane and Steve (elsewhere for this shot) for a thorough working over of the Brockley/Nunhead hotspots. We warmed up at the playground and were soon sizing up some running precisions. I was able to make the first with no trouble, however the next one gave me the heebyjeebies. I knew I could make the distance but couldn't commit to the leap. Even some encouraging words from Blane couldn't silence the "stop!" signal going off in my head. I'll be revisiting this jump until I stick it with confidence...
We traveled from spot to spot, eventually settling in at the major Brockley hotspot. The eight of us shared a great energy, trying new things and feeding off each others' creativity. I really focused on flow, keeping my strides even and confident. This culminated in the highlight of my day which found me striding across the courtyard and gardens from wall to wall to wall to rail precision, then spin 180 degrees on the rail, back the way I came, swing around the tree and straight back into the circuit... I made 3 laps of the circuit before the rail gave way and I ended up on my back, lamenting the loss of such a sweet route... Oh well...

After a solid 3 hours of training we had a break in the sun (see pic), eating icecream and bananas and apple cake and watching as Joe and Jayden worked tirelessly at an awkward running precision... We trained a little longer and went our separate ways, Blane and I following John back to his place for an awesome Sunday roast. Big love to John and Steph and Cyril for cooking.

My cold has cleared up a bit (still found myself sniffling mid-flight in a cat-pass to arm-jump - multitasking eh?) but I can definitely feel my strength and health returning. Especially with all this sunshine about...