Hot weather training

Saturday was the hottest day of the year so far, and after 6 hours of parkour training in the sunshine, I found myself somewhat sunburned! Despite this, we had a great day of training, although in that kind of heat the parkour to rest ratio is swayed more towards the rest side of things.

Dean and I have been working on an underbar to cat on some steps near UMIST. The technique used here is interesting in that due to the proximity of the bar you swing under to the destination bar, your feet engage with the wall well before your hands. This makes it necessary to correct your body position quickly in order to actually reach the final bar with your hands. I've posted a couple of photos to illustrate the body position shortly after the swing. As you can see, there's an instant where you're in a rather precarious position, shortly after your feet touch the wall. This seemingly simple move proved more tricky than we initially thought, due mainly to the speed with which you have to switch hand position after the swing. After several attemps we got to a stage where we could successfully pull it off every time without our feet touching the floor, although the precise technique will need refinement over the next few sessions.

Conditioning nights

The benefits of our weekly conditioning sessions (hell nights) are now really starting to show. At the last couple of sessions I've heard comments from the other participants that they feel fitter, and even that the exercises are getting easier. That's good, but it's also a sign that we need to ensure that we gradually increase the amount we do, and also vary the exercises slightly from one week to the next. I've noticed that people's physiques are starting to change, reflecting the work they've put into their training. I myself feel stronger and fitter than ever before and I have started to notice improvements in my parkour as a direct result of the conditioning. For example, my climb-ups are getting quicker. For what seems like no more effort than I've put in in the past, I now find myself getting up much quicker. It's clear that this type of training is an essential part of parkour training, and I'm glad that so many newcomers to parkour are taking part in the hell nights on a regular basis. It will be interesting to see how these sessions evolve over the coming months, and I hope that by embracing conditioning in this way we can all gain a better understanding of what parkour is really about, and adapt our training accordingly.