I had my last parkour class last Wednesday night, Class #8. We started off with the same timed obstacle course we did on the first day of class. I was a bit nervous on the start line, this course had been quite terrifying to me on the first day, especially climbing the wall. I fell on my ass trying to jump from one floor rail to the other and skinned and bruised my knees pretty badly trying to get up the wall. This time however it was mostly a piece of cake. I still don't have the balance and jumping skills to go from rail to rail so I just put a foot down and took the fault for that part rather than possible hurt myself falling again. And the wall? No problemo, scampered up that thing like it was nothing. I did forget and very lightly and briefly put weight my knees to get up a different wall but a lot of other people forgot too. My time was around 2:30 mins. on the first day and went down to 1:30 or so on the last day. But best of all the course was no problem (except for the rail jumping which is a pretty advanced skill if you've not done it much).
Tonight's class was the start of the flashy stuff - flips and spins. We started off with the wall spin, which looks like this:
Now it's important to point out that I was working on a much easier progression of this with a padded wall and padded mat to land on and putting one hand on the ground, one on the wall (see the video at 2:18). Of course I was much better in one direction than the other, even the instructor noticed. I have an even greater respect for dogs that struggle with jumping and turning to their off side.
The we worked on the Palm Spin which is a wall spin but on a flat surface. By this time my head was spinning a bit and I struggled with the mechanics of it. We had another substitute instructor who I once again couldn't quite follow as easily as our regular instructor. He wasn't bad and most of the rest of the class got it, I just need this sort of stuff broken down and explained a little more. It was o.k. though, I'll work on it on my own. It's not a skill I'm passionate about having anyway.
Then some work on the bars that was way beyond me. It was mostly various ways to get up into a muscle up position. For those unfamiliar with the muscle up, well, it's hard, it can take strong athletic guys up to 6 months to learn and it was way beyond my strength capability.
This is a pure muscle up.
And this is a progression using momentum to make it easier. But I'm not even at this level yet. Not even close. It looks easy but I double dog dare you to give it a try.
So I had to pretty much sit this part out. I'd say maybe only a third of the class was able to do these.
Next we were on to flips on the trampoline and into the foam pit. Those of us like me who were unfamiliar with flipping could start off with easy progressions of the front flip on the trampoline. Those with more experience did front and side and maybe even back flips into the foam pit. I was happy enough to stay out of the foam pit. I saw it swallow up the other small woman who was my size and it was very hard for her to get out. Never mind the grossness. I don't even want to think about what was festering in there.
Anyway, the trampoline was very bouncy, way more bouncy than any regular trampoline I've ever been on. Very VERY fun!!! I never quite got to a full front flip but I got to maybe 3/4 of the way and landed on my butt/back. I could only do maybe 3-4 reps at a time then I'd have to get off and let the room stop spinning for a while. I started having problems with this sort of thing in my 20's so I can't even blame my age. I get super dizzy with any kind of spinning motion for too long. I can do it, just not over and over. I have low blood pressure and it may be something to do with that. I sometimes even have problems getting up from the couch or sitting for a long time and I'll sometimes almost black out and I've passed out a few times in the past few years under various circumstances. So I don't know how much flipping is in my future but it sure was fun to do it for a little bit and I was glad I had the nerve to give it a go. At some point during that last class the other woman in the class turned to me and said, 'It's funny all the things I've discovered that I'm afraid of because of this class' and yet she seemed pretty brave to me throughout the class. She did a great job of hiding and/or getting over her fears in any case.
And me too. I have to say after that first class I would have some building dread before class each week and I knew it was silly and that I'd be fine but there was always some point where I debated not going, especially on those couple nights when the roads were snowy/icy and it was snowing. But I made it through all 8 classes and once I got there I had a great time at every single class. The stuff in these classes was well outside my comfort zone on many levels and I'm SO glad I went and learned this stuff and overcame my fears each week. What an awesomely amazing experience it was! And I have a huge list of skills to work on and movements to perfect and super fun strength training exercises that will be so much more fun than boring old hand weights. I've already made up a huge list of things I want to work on, can't wait to get started.
On a funny note, I was in the sauna today after masters swim practice and coincidentally we'd been working on dives off the blocks. I was yammering to this guy from the masters workout about parkour class and the front flips on the trampoline and I wondered if it would be fun/possible to try a front flip off the diving blocks. A woman caught my attention and said, 'You were at parkour on Wednesday? I was there too working on flips into the foam pit.' Now what are the chances of that? And she's 42. Middle Age Parkour Ladies are the New Black, in Boulder anyway.
She was there for the next level class above mine and the stuff they do is pretty impressive. And scary. I had already decided that if I take more classes next fall after triathlon season that I'd just repeat the intro. class because Level One looked too intimidating. But she said you work up to it and you get used to it and you can do a drop-in class while taking the intro. class again if you want. These classes are way smaller and you get a lot more personal attention. So I don't know but maybe she's inspired me to maybe think about it. Or at least consider one of the other types of classes like a tricks class that would be learning flips and similar type stuff. I noticed they had a break dancing class too, now THAT would be funny. But it'll have to wait until fall because I'm thinking I may start up with my coach for triathlon next month. Can't believe I have a race in 9 weeks and I done hardly any running and almost no biking. Better dust off the heart rate monitor and try to get my interval legs back.
Showing posts with label parkour. Show all posts
Showing posts with label parkour. Show all posts
Friday, March 20, 2015
Thursday, March 12, 2015
Climbing the Walls
I've had 2 more parkour classes and these were mostly about climbing walls. Class #6 started off with a return to vaulting with a couple of vaults in a row and then a little obstacle course, sort of like how you start sequencing obstacles in agility. Very fun but challenging since the vault boxes were higher than the one I'd been on the week before.
Then we moved on to 'wall run ups'. Basically you run towards the wall, hit it with one foot and push yourself up as high as you can with that foot while reaching up. This is what it looks like.
I was not reaching anywhere near the height of those guys. It's a little harder than it looks, even if you're not going very high, the challenge being that it's tricky to figure out where to hit the wall with your foot so that you can get enough traction to push yourself up the wall. The idea is to use this move to run up a wall and grab the top.
Here's what it looks like in practice.
I never quite made it to the top of the higher walls but the angled wall from the obstacle course the first day that I needed help to get up? Got up it easily. Or at least I got up it enough to grip the top. Hoisting myself on top of the wall was another not so graceful matter but the getting on top of the wall part was a week away.
Next we moved on to Tic Tacs, which are super fun. I was actually doing fairly well at this, at least pushing off on one side. Pushing off on the other side not so much. A Tic Tac is kind of hard to descibe. You run at the wall on an angle, push off with one leg, hit the wall with the other leg and push off. It looks like this.
There is math and physics involved here so maybe that's why I could do these, at least on the one side.
We worked on precision, ie jumping onto a small square and height, ie jumping over a pool noodle. Eventually you could go over a fence that was next to the wall. In theory. I could maybe do that if zombies were chasing me. Which is funny because the other night I dreamt that vampires or zombies or some such undead creatures of the night were chasing me and I used a parkour move in my dream to get away. Bring on the Zombie Apocalypse.
I twisted my ankle a bit on a landing after jumping on my off side but I was o.k. and 2 days later I ran with no problems at an agility trial, had completely forgotten about it.
Would be fun to eventually do Tic Tacs off of trees. Need a lot more practice on nice smooth walls first though.
Class #7 was last night and it was Cat Leaps, Cat Hangs and Climb Ups. I was pretty sure that I'd end up sitting out most of this class because a Cat Leap involves taking a running leap at the wall, jumping up, hitting the wall with both feet and grabbing the top of the wall. Like this.
Does that look like something crazy middle aged dog agility ladies with bad knees and many orthopedic surgeries should/could be doing? Well, the answer is yes! And the wall in the video is the wall we used but we used the side with the grip tape which made it much easier. I was very surprised but I was able to do it. In fact I was the second person in the class to make it to the top of the wall after the Cat Leap though I did not do the Level 4 climb up in the video. The first person to make it up was the other woman in the class who is also small like me. Weight to strength ratio is important when you're doing these body weight type movements and being small helps. It took the guys a try or two to get up the wall. Now I did not do the super smooth climb up in the video but rather did a Level 1 Climb Up which is basically get your ass up the wall however you can. There's an example in the video below except I did not put my knees down on the top of the wall but rather got a foot up on the wall and used my arms and the foot to push up. One very cool thing about the parkour philosophy of these particular classes is that you never ever put weight on your knee. Like ever. On the first day the instructor told us that if he saw us touching our knees to any equipment that we'd have to drop and do 20 push ups. So the instructor reminded up not to use our knees even in a Level 1 Climb Up and using my foot worked just fine.
I'm not sure how much I'll use or practice these techniques. Climbing walls was not one of my goals in taking this course. But it's kind of fun and surprisingly do-able so we'll see. I've learned so much and I still have one more class. I'm glad I've put it in the blog so I can go back and remember all the things I've learned and maybe it'll inspire someone out there to try it.
We also did some swinging from a high bar with 180 degree then 360 degree turns in the air and then landing on a cushy mat. Very fun. Definitely not something I'll do on the monkey bars in real life. I guess it was more of a safety/bail out exercise for more advanced bar swinging. Fun to try though I had to climb up a short wall to reach the bar it was so high for me. I watch the more advanced classes walking on top of these high bars, jumping from bar to bar and it makes me queasy so I don't think those are skills I'll aspire too. But the swinging was fun.
And holy crap, this week I was able to easily do a cartwheel on my good side and I'd had no practice at all this past week. Guess latent learning applies to muscle memory as well.
Next week is the last class and we're doing more sequences and short courses as well as the timed course we did on the first day.
Then we moved on to 'wall run ups'. Basically you run towards the wall, hit it with one foot and push yourself up as high as you can with that foot while reaching up. This is what it looks like.
I was not reaching anywhere near the height of those guys. It's a little harder than it looks, even if you're not going very high, the challenge being that it's tricky to figure out where to hit the wall with your foot so that you can get enough traction to push yourself up the wall. The idea is to use this move to run up a wall and grab the top.
Here's what it looks like in practice.
I never quite made it to the top of the higher walls but the angled wall from the obstacle course the first day that I needed help to get up? Got up it easily. Or at least I got up it enough to grip the top. Hoisting myself on top of the wall was another not so graceful matter but the getting on top of the wall part was a week away.
Next we moved on to Tic Tacs, which are super fun. I was actually doing fairly well at this, at least pushing off on one side. Pushing off on the other side not so much. A Tic Tac is kind of hard to descibe. You run at the wall on an angle, push off with one leg, hit the wall with the other leg and push off. It looks like this.
There is math and physics involved here so maybe that's why I could do these, at least on the one side.
We worked on precision, ie jumping onto a small square and height, ie jumping over a pool noodle. Eventually you could go over a fence that was next to the wall. In theory. I could maybe do that if zombies were chasing me. Which is funny because the other night I dreamt that vampires or zombies or some such undead creatures of the night were chasing me and I used a parkour move in my dream to get away. Bring on the Zombie Apocalypse.
I twisted my ankle a bit on a landing after jumping on my off side but I was o.k. and 2 days later I ran with no problems at an agility trial, had completely forgotten about it.
Would be fun to eventually do Tic Tacs off of trees. Need a lot more practice on nice smooth walls first though.
Class #7 was last night and it was Cat Leaps, Cat Hangs and Climb Ups. I was pretty sure that I'd end up sitting out most of this class because a Cat Leap involves taking a running leap at the wall, jumping up, hitting the wall with both feet and grabbing the top of the wall. Like this.
Does that look like something crazy middle aged dog agility ladies with bad knees and many orthopedic surgeries should/could be doing? Well, the answer is yes! And the wall in the video is the wall we used but we used the side with the grip tape which made it much easier. I was very surprised but I was able to do it. In fact I was the second person in the class to make it to the top of the wall after the Cat Leap though I did not do the Level 4 climb up in the video. The first person to make it up was the other woman in the class who is also small like me. Weight to strength ratio is important when you're doing these body weight type movements and being small helps. It took the guys a try or two to get up the wall. Now I did not do the super smooth climb up in the video but rather did a Level 1 Climb Up which is basically get your ass up the wall however you can. There's an example in the video below except I did not put my knees down on the top of the wall but rather got a foot up on the wall and used my arms and the foot to push up. One very cool thing about the parkour philosophy of these particular classes is that you never ever put weight on your knee. Like ever. On the first day the instructor told us that if he saw us touching our knees to any equipment that we'd have to drop and do 20 push ups. So the instructor reminded up not to use our knees even in a Level 1 Climb Up and using my foot worked just fine.
I'm not sure how much I'll use or practice these techniques. Climbing walls was not one of my goals in taking this course. But it's kind of fun and surprisingly do-able so we'll see. I've learned so much and I still have one more class. I'm glad I've put it in the blog so I can go back and remember all the things I've learned and maybe it'll inspire someone out there to try it.
We also did some swinging from a high bar with 180 degree then 360 degree turns in the air and then landing on a cushy mat. Very fun. Definitely not something I'll do on the monkey bars in real life. I guess it was more of a safety/bail out exercise for more advanced bar swinging. Fun to try though I had to climb up a short wall to reach the bar it was so high for me. I watch the more advanced classes walking on top of these high bars, jumping from bar to bar and it makes me queasy so I don't think those are skills I'll aspire too. But the swinging was fun.
And holy crap, this week I was able to easily do a cartwheel on my good side and I'd had no practice at all this past week. Guess latent learning applies to muscle memory as well.
Next week is the last class and we're doing more sequences and short courses as well as the timed course we did on the first day.
Thursday, February 26, 2015
Parkour Classes 3, 4, and 5
I'm loving Parkour, so much fun but hard for me. Physically demanding and many things outside my skill level and comfort zone which is all the more reason to continue to pursue it.
Class 3 was learning to do a handstand. Supposedly we learned to do cartwheels too but the instructor never called them that. We learned pirouettes as well which are a way to bail from a handstand. I'm a long way from getting the handstand but it long been on my list of things I want to learn so I was excited that it was part of class. I can sort of, kind of do a cartwheel in one direction but the other direction is kind of hilarious. Nothing approaching a cartwheel. I sort of remember this was the case when I was a kid as well.
Then we worked on some jumping skills, jumping onto things using a monkey plant, and jumping off of things.
This video shows a conditioning exercise but the first part of it, jumping up on the wall hands first then standing up, is the monkey plant part.
We had the substitute instructor again and I have more trouble understanding him than the regular teacher but I worked out that I just need to know which hand goes where, which foot goes where and if I asked him he gave me a good explanation. I wasn't the only one confused on this front so it was good that I asked.
Class 4 focused on balance and jumping. First we worked on balancing on rails on the ground and this is way more difficult than it sounds, much harder than a balance beam.
It took a while but I started to get the hang of it. So much you can do on a bar on the ground, I ordered a shower grab bar from Amazon and I'm going to find some wood in the garage so I can practice at home. If I can learn to walk on a smooth, slippy round narrow bar imagine how easy a stream crossing on a wet log will be when I'm trail running? Plus it's so good to work on balance as you get older, such a bad thing to lose. And I have ended up in the creek a couple of times so this skill will be invaluable to hiking as well as trail running. Can't wait until my bar comes, should get here tomorrow and then the fun begins.
Then we worked on jumping. High squat jumps seeing how high up we could get our knees. Then broad jumps, seeing how far we could jump. Then jumping up onto low vault boxes (maybe 1 1/2 feet high or a little higher?) and jumping from one box to the other. That felt like a huge accomplishment, before this class I was struggling to do box jumps onto something just 6" high. It's amazing what learning a little technique can do. I was struggling with jumping from a higher box to a lower box that was a distance away. Not sure why, totally a mental thing but the instructor encouraged me and moved the box a little closer so I was able to do it eventually.
Very fun class and for the first time I wasn't sore for 3 days afterwards.
Class 5 last night was vaults. I almost didn't go because it was snowing and the roads weren't fabulous, big multi-car pile-ups on some of the highways, but I took some quiet roads to avoid rush hour traffic and drove like a granny and I was fine both ways. The 12 minute trip there took about 16 minutes so no big deal. SO glad I went, vaulting is very very fun. I was skeptical at first, wasn't sure how much of the vaults I'd be able to do but the instructor broke it down into easy steps and I could do most of it. By the end of class some vaults were easy but others I hadn't quite gotten the hang of yet. Mostly I need to practice and convince myself that I have the leg strength to get over.
The Step Vault was the easiest for me and the one I can do the best.
Still working on the Kong Vault. I'm still having to do a Monkey Plant, ie landing with my feet on top of the wall rather than jumping over without my feet touching. Again, I need to get to a point where I feel like I have the strength to get over.
This video shows a Kong Vault and the progression to it.
Also not quite there with the Lazy Vault. I think I got to the point where I had to put just one foot down rather than my butt but it's hard to remember. We covered so much.
Then there was a vault similar to the Lazy Vault but with the opposite leg coming up first. I think it was called a Flair Vault but I can't find any video so maybe I've got that wrong. We didn't do too much with that so I didn't get very far.
Now I need to build a vault box so I can practice. More Human Agility Equipment to build. Who says it all needs to be for the dogs?
Only problem is all the snow. So much snow. Asstons of snow and more coming. Maybe I can build a vault box out of snow. Or maybe that would end badly. In any case I'm so sore this morning, in addition to all the vaulting we did Tricep Push-Ups for part of our strength workout. Because regular push-ups aren't hard enough. Anyway, SO sore today, shoveling the snow off the driveway is going to be enough of a challenge.
Next week we work on Tics Tacs or bouncing off of walls. Soon Strummer and I will have a lot in common.
Class 3 was learning to do a handstand. Supposedly we learned to do cartwheels too but the instructor never called them that. We learned pirouettes as well which are a way to bail from a handstand. I'm a long way from getting the handstand but it long been on my list of things I want to learn so I was excited that it was part of class. I can sort of, kind of do a cartwheel in one direction but the other direction is kind of hilarious. Nothing approaching a cartwheel. I sort of remember this was the case when I was a kid as well.
Then we worked on some jumping skills, jumping onto things using a monkey plant, and jumping off of things.
This video shows a conditioning exercise but the first part of it, jumping up on the wall hands first then standing up, is the monkey plant part.
We had the substitute instructor again and I have more trouble understanding him than the regular teacher but I worked out that I just need to know which hand goes where, which foot goes where and if I asked him he gave me a good explanation. I wasn't the only one confused on this front so it was good that I asked.
Class 4 focused on balance and jumping. First we worked on balancing on rails on the ground and this is way more difficult than it sounds, much harder than a balance beam.
It took a while but I started to get the hang of it. So much you can do on a bar on the ground, I ordered a shower grab bar from Amazon and I'm going to find some wood in the garage so I can practice at home. If I can learn to walk on a smooth, slippy round narrow bar imagine how easy a stream crossing on a wet log will be when I'm trail running? Plus it's so good to work on balance as you get older, such a bad thing to lose. And I have ended up in the creek a couple of times so this skill will be invaluable to hiking as well as trail running. Can't wait until my bar comes, should get here tomorrow and then the fun begins.
Then we worked on jumping. High squat jumps seeing how high up we could get our knees. Then broad jumps, seeing how far we could jump. Then jumping up onto low vault boxes (maybe 1 1/2 feet high or a little higher?) and jumping from one box to the other. That felt like a huge accomplishment, before this class I was struggling to do box jumps onto something just 6" high. It's amazing what learning a little technique can do. I was struggling with jumping from a higher box to a lower box that was a distance away. Not sure why, totally a mental thing but the instructor encouraged me and moved the box a little closer so I was able to do it eventually.
Very fun class and for the first time I wasn't sore for 3 days afterwards.
Class 5 last night was vaults. I almost didn't go because it was snowing and the roads weren't fabulous, big multi-car pile-ups on some of the highways, but I took some quiet roads to avoid rush hour traffic and drove like a granny and I was fine both ways. The 12 minute trip there took about 16 minutes so no big deal. SO glad I went, vaulting is very very fun. I was skeptical at first, wasn't sure how much of the vaults I'd be able to do but the instructor broke it down into easy steps and I could do most of it. By the end of class some vaults were easy but others I hadn't quite gotten the hang of yet. Mostly I need to practice and convince myself that I have the leg strength to get over.
The Step Vault was the easiest for me and the one I can do the best.
Still working on the Kong Vault. I'm still having to do a Monkey Plant, ie landing with my feet on top of the wall rather than jumping over without my feet touching. Again, I need to get to a point where I feel like I have the strength to get over.
This video shows a Kong Vault and the progression to it.
Also not quite there with the Lazy Vault. I think I got to the point where I had to put just one foot down rather than my butt but it's hard to remember. We covered so much.
Then there was a vault similar to the Lazy Vault but with the opposite leg coming up first. I think it was called a Flair Vault but I can't find any video so maybe I've got that wrong. We didn't do too much with that so I didn't get very far.
Now I need to build a vault box so I can practice. More Human Agility Equipment to build. Who says it all needs to be for the dogs?
Only problem is all the snow. So much snow. Asstons of snow and more coming. Maybe I can build a vault box out of snow. Or maybe that would end badly. In any case I'm so sore this morning, in addition to all the vaulting we did Tricep Push-Ups for part of our strength workout. Because regular push-ups aren't hard enough. Anyway, SO sore today, shoveling the snow off the driveway is going to be enough of a challenge.
Next week we work on Tics Tacs or bouncing off of walls. Soon Strummer and I will have a lot in common.
Thursday, February 05, 2015
Falling is an Art?
Second parkour class was SO fun. This week we focused on rolls, challenging but a great feeling when it went right. Our regular instructor was there and he's great, explains things very well, breaks things down when things don't go right, gives great tips to do it better. He's more into the old school version of parkour where it's all about strength and doing stuff on the ground and not so much the flashy spins and jumps. Which sounds perfect to me, that's exactly what I'm looking for. Strength, movement, fluidity. Not really looking to jump off of rooftops. Not yet anyway, we'll see how hooked I get on this stuff.
Here what the beginner roll looks like.
We did sideways rolls and backwards rolls as well. Rolls with a jump from a small height with a little drop. I opted out of the dive rolls, not feeling ready for those yet. Then rolls into quadrupedal movements from last week. So much fun and lots of ways to mix it all up and be creative. In just 2 classes I know plenty of stuff though it'll take some practice to get the moves down so they're more fluid and automatic.
Then some strength work. Chin ups with scapula (shoulder blades) engaged and palms facing forward. Very challenging. I could only do 2 consecutively and we were supposed to do 5. I usually do chin ups with palms facing forward but this position is not good for pulling yourself over a wall so I'll have to do more palms forward. Something else to work on.
So sore though, spent a fitful night with twitchy legs. Probably a hydration issue, forgot to drink a bunch of water when I got home. Hopefully I won't be as sore in 2 days as I was last week. Glad I didn't try this during tri season.
Agility seminar this weekend so maybe I'll have some interesting things to pass on next week. I've got a couple of working spots with Tracy Sklenar doing international type handling and I may audit a Loretta Mueller session, we'll see. Have no idea about either instructor so it'll be interesting. Supposed to be in the 50's and 60's over the weekend so I may get antsy and want to be outside instead of a dusty horse arena.
Here what the beginner roll looks like.
We did sideways rolls and backwards rolls as well. Rolls with a jump from a small height with a little drop. I opted out of the dive rolls, not feeling ready for those yet. Then rolls into quadrupedal movements from last week. So much fun and lots of ways to mix it all up and be creative. In just 2 classes I know plenty of stuff though it'll take some practice to get the moves down so they're more fluid and automatic.
Then some strength work. Chin ups with scapula (shoulder blades) engaged and palms facing forward. Very challenging. I could only do 2 consecutively and we were supposed to do 5. I usually do chin ups with palms facing forward but this position is not good for pulling yourself over a wall so I'll have to do more palms forward. Something else to work on.
So sore though, spent a fitful night with twitchy legs. Probably a hydration issue, forgot to drink a bunch of water when I got home. Hopefully I won't be as sore in 2 days as I was last week. Glad I didn't try this during tri season.
Agility seminar this weekend so maybe I'll have some interesting things to pass on next week. I've got a couple of working spots with Tracy Sklenar doing international type handling and I may audit a Loretta Mueller session, we'll see. Have no idea about either instructor so it'll be interesting. Supposed to be in the 50's and 60's over the weekend so I may get antsy and want to be outside instead of a dusty horse arena.
Thursday, January 29, 2015
Parkour Take 1
I've been wanting to try parkour for years now but at the same time I've suspected that it's one of those things where the idea of it sounds better than the reality. But one of my projects for the winter is to improve movement, range of motion, strength, etc. and not just for triathlon but for life in general. I want to be able to move easily, smoothly, supple leopard-like. I've been working with the functional movement specialist for range of motion, neuromuscular type stuff, etc. I had 2 weeks of a set of exercises and now I've progressed to the next level. I had some improvements from the tests she did 2 weeks ago though it felt to me like she wasn't pressing as hard though it could be that I did get better so it didn't feel as hard. I'll go back in 2 weeks and hopefully that will be it.
As for the parkour, I finally decided to pull the trigger. I went to watch a class first to see what was involved but the secretary had told me the wrong time so no beginner class was going on when I got there. Instead I spoke with the owner, told him about my surgeries and bad knees and middle aged-ness and he assured me I'd be fine in the introductory class. The instructor could modify things for me if there was something I couldn't do or I could sit out if I wasn't comfortable with something. Sounded perfectly reasonable.
Until I got to class. The class was huge for the size of the area we had to work. Very cozy. The instructor looked a bit overwhelmed and called another instructor over to help. We started with a 10 minute warm-up that was mostly stuff I already do to warm up for running, no problem so far. Then the instructor brought us over to an obstacle course that we were supposed to run. And he was timing us. No instruction and the only thing he let us practice ahead of time was a wall we had to run up then hoist ourselves over onto a platform at the top. The wall is circled in the photo below.
Because this totally looks like something a 50 year old beginner with bad knees can do.
The instructor had to put his leg out for me to use a little for leverage on the practice run.
The course also involved balancing on these metal bars on the ground.
Here's a single bar
But we had more than one bar. First we had to stand on one bar and jump to a second bar that was maybe 2 feet or so away. Just far enough to be hard. Then we had to walk across a line of the bars stacked end to end of each other. I managed to stand on the first bar. Just. But when I jumped onto the second bar I couldn't stick the landing and ended up on my ass. The instructor looked worried but I got up and was o.k. Then I had a hard time staying on the rest of the bars. I did make it up the wall on my own during the test but I skinned my knees. There were tunnels to crawl through and walls to climb over in between all of this and those parts were fine.
Then once on the platform at the top of the big wall we had to climb down bars like the ones on the floor except they were on the wall. I drew them in red on the photo below. Then touch the black metal bar and you're done. Except you have to make your way out of the foam pit which is not as easy or fun as it looks. This photo must have been taken when they first put the foam in. It is not so clean and shiny looking now. Thankfully I was not being timed on how long it took me to get out of the foam pit. And hopefully I won't end up on YouTube.
All of this in the first 20 minutes of class. I was ready to go to the front desk and beg for my money back at that point because this was not at all what I had in mind. But I stuck it out and the rest of class was great, exactly what I was hoping for.
We started off learning quadrupedal movement, or moving on the ground on all fours.
Basic Quadrapedal Movement
Quadrupedal Gallop
Ground Kongs
Quadrupedal Side Lunge
Crab Walk
Very cool stuff, I'm excited to practice it and I think it'll give me exactly what I'm looking for in terms of mobility, strength, supple leopard-ness. Plus FUN.
We also worked on air squats, something I've been working on on my own but I was very happy for having some feedback. Turns out I'm doing o.k. with them but can turn my knees out a little more. For some reason I was getting light headed/dizzy when I'd stand up from them though. Will have to watch that, don't want the embarrassment of passing out in class. I have low blood pressure and often have issues with this when getting up from sitting for a long time or laying down but I've never had it before from squats.
Then we worked on jumping straight up and landing quietly in a squat. Not sure I was doing that right, we didn't get a whole lot of instruction on how to land quietly. Guess it's a trial and error type thing. This is something I want to work on and get better at. I think it'll help my running and save my knees. Those parkour guys move like cats and that's my goal. Supple leopard all the way.
Now if I can just get over the SORE. My quads were sore and twitchy last night from the squats but at about 3:00 this afternoon the hurt settled into my arms and chest. The quadrupedal movement works the upper body a lot more than I realized at the time.
The funniest part of the evening was when I first got there and was waiting in the reception area for class to start. I saw an old co-worker of mine from my engineering days, a woman about my age who had quit to have kids. She was there waiting for her kids and I had to explain to her that yes, I was there to take a class. Because normal 50 year olds go to parkour gyms to pick up their kids, not to skin their knees and fall on their ass.
As for the parkour, I finally decided to pull the trigger. I went to watch a class first to see what was involved but the secretary had told me the wrong time so no beginner class was going on when I got there. Instead I spoke with the owner, told him about my surgeries and bad knees and middle aged-ness and he assured me I'd be fine in the introductory class. The instructor could modify things for me if there was something I couldn't do or I could sit out if I wasn't comfortable with something. Sounded perfectly reasonable.
Until I got to class. The class was huge for the size of the area we had to work. Very cozy. The instructor looked a bit overwhelmed and called another instructor over to help. We started with a 10 minute warm-up that was mostly stuff I already do to warm up for running, no problem so far. Then the instructor brought us over to an obstacle course that we were supposed to run. And he was timing us. No instruction and the only thing he let us practice ahead of time was a wall we had to run up then hoist ourselves over onto a platform at the top. The wall is circled in the photo below.
Because this totally looks like something a 50 year old beginner with bad knees can do.
The instructor had to put his leg out for me to use a little for leverage on the practice run.
The course also involved balancing on these metal bars on the ground.
Here's a single bar
But we had more than one bar. First we had to stand on one bar and jump to a second bar that was maybe 2 feet or so away. Just far enough to be hard. Then we had to walk across a line of the bars stacked end to end of each other. I managed to stand on the first bar. Just. But when I jumped onto the second bar I couldn't stick the landing and ended up on my ass. The instructor looked worried but I got up and was o.k. Then I had a hard time staying on the rest of the bars. I did make it up the wall on my own during the test but I skinned my knees. There were tunnels to crawl through and walls to climb over in between all of this and those parts were fine.
Then once on the platform at the top of the big wall we had to climb down bars like the ones on the floor except they were on the wall. I drew them in red on the photo below. Then touch the black metal bar and you're done. Except you have to make your way out of the foam pit which is not as easy or fun as it looks. This photo must have been taken when they first put the foam in. It is not so clean and shiny looking now. Thankfully I was not being timed on how long it took me to get out of the foam pit. And hopefully I won't end up on YouTube.
All of this in the first 20 minutes of class. I was ready to go to the front desk and beg for my money back at that point because this was not at all what I had in mind. But I stuck it out and the rest of class was great, exactly what I was hoping for.
We started off learning quadrupedal movement, or moving on the ground on all fours.
Basic Quadrapedal Movement
Quadrupedal Gallop
Ground Kongs
Quadrupedal Side Lunge
Crab Walk
Very cool stuff, I'm excited to practice it and I think it'll give me exactly what I'm looking for in terms of mobility, strength, supple leopard-ness. Plus FUN.
We also worked on air squats, something I've been working on on my own but I was very happy for having some feedback. Turns out I'm doing o.k. with them but can turn my knees out a little more. For some reason I was getting light headed/dizzy when I'd stand up from them though. Will have to watch that, don't want the embarrassment of passing out in class. I have low blood pressure and often have issues with this when getting up from sitting for a long time or laying down but I've never had it before from squats.
Then we worked on jumping straight up and landing quietly in a squat. Not sure I was doing that right, we didn't get a whole lot of instruction on how to land quietly. Guess it's a trial and error type thing. This is something I want to work on and get better at. I think it'll help my running and save my knees. Those parkour guys move like cats and that's my goal. Supple leopard all the way.
Now if I can just get over the SORE. My quads were sore and twitchy last night from the squats but at about 3:00 this afternoon the hurt settled into my arms and chest. The quadrupedal movement works the upper body a lot more than I realized at the time.
The funniest part of the evening was when I first got there and was waiting in the reception area for class to start. I saw an old co-worker of mine from my engineering days, a woman about my age who had quit to have kids. She was there waiting for her kids and I had to explain to her that yes, I was there to take a class. Because normal 50 year olds go to parkour gyms to pick up their kids, not to skin their knees and fall on their ass.
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