Messing Up

Got a video with some mess-ups in it. I added Iron man to be funny. Anyways hope you enjoy. I may be getting some free running shoes which are cool shoes without it being used for free running. If you wanna look at them they are at fiveten.com under footwear. Not hard to find. They are pretty cool though and I need better grip. I won't be able to practice much for a week cause I'm going on a mission trip but when I come back I only have a week to practice again cause I have to go to wrestling camp. It'll be fun though.

Some Clips

These are some clips from earlier this year. Most of this stuff I have improved on but still I just had to make a video. I'm not putting this one on youtube though. It's not good enough yet. I have improved ooberous amounts on my wall spin. It's pretty cool. I may upload some pictures of it later. Most of this video is just a few moves with me doing it a few different times. Also the special effects didn't work so it is just a bunch of clips with music. Hope you enjoy it anyways. (I'll have another one up later in the summer.)

Summer Practice

So it begins, the long summer of practice. I plan to find some spots around here and go all out on practice. I really have to practice more flips. I suck at them. I could do it but I don't have guts. Well backflip. I'm working on it though. Otherwise I'm getting better. I was making a video but I may not post it. Well I might but it won't be great. I have to go to finley or something one day in the summer. Or find a new spot completely. I need better practice. I will work on it.

Apology

Sorry about not saying anything for a long time. But I didn't have much to say. Well I have more news now. So I'll start were I left off. The movie. It will soon begin production. It's gonna be great. If you want to see a certain spot in SC in it leave me a comment. I need some Ideas anyways. Well as far as skill I've become better but not much. The last video we had is terrible compared to now. I execute the moves thirty times better. I also got a wall spin, cat leap, and kong vault. Well the kong I just did stuff twenty times longer. But none of this compares to my mental improvement. I no longer think "can I do this? Is it too long?" It's more of a "How can I make this cooler?" or "How far can I push my body before I break?" Which is really cool. But one thing that changed was I don't really look at parkour as a way to clear my mind, It is not a hobby. I don't do it in my spare time. I kinda mixed it with my life. It's my way of exploring places. If I need to get somewhere, well Parkour is my advantage. It's really cool. I go places others can't. Anyways it still is fun, and I will do it sometimes, or at least practicing. But still I'm coming out with a movie for you all soon. You'll like it.

New Movie

I am now making a new movie with a lot of chase scenes with parkour mixed in. It should be pretty good I'll give you the basic plot line and I should have a teaser trailer soon.


Elimination Theory

Jonathan Owens is a former assassin that worked for a terrorist group called Flash Fire. He had one mission to do in which he was trained for years. His mission was simple, to kill Isiah Furn (Owner of a Undercover armory that sold to the U.S.). He wasn't briefed on anything else. There is more to the operation than he knows about. When he kills Isiah he finds out the programs target is no longer Isiah but himself. Trying to outwit every assassin and cop that comes his way, Jonathan tries to find truth without getting killed in the process.

Not so Bummed

Well didn't get much done pretty much cause all the buildings I was at it would have been disrespectful to do parkour on. It was fun though. Got to see all the famous buildings and stuff. Literally all of them. I did some basic parkour and I did crazy tree climbing cause it was fun. We actually did tricks on the trees. It was amazing to be able to move so fluently throughout the tree without messing up. I did handstands. I love handstands. Well it was fun.

Parkour in the Capital

Oh America the beautiful. The lovely white house, The government buildings, many pretty places to visit. There I am in exactly two hours and nine minutes I will be boarding a bus to go to Washington. A school field trip. All my clothes packed, toothbrush, pillow, all the essentials. Oh and did I mention my camera? Oh yeah! My camera. There will be Parkour! LOTS OF IT. My moms the chaperone and me and Mat are in a group. Get the idea yet? Parkour in DC! WOOHOO! Classic fun. Here it comes! I'm so excited because I've been watching videos and I packed some parkour clothes. They can't really tell us not to. Well they could but we can't resist but do a handstand by the Lincoln memorial or even take a few beautiful pictures with the buildings in the background. We don't plan on breaking rules but total fun. Can't wait. More after the break.

Nothing new.

Don't have much to say really. We have been practicing daily and getting better. No great new tricks. Working on my back flip still. I actually was in the wrestling room and my brother was spotting me and didn't know I was going so I did a kinda "no effort flip" and well I didn't try and landed on my head and wrist. Nearly broke it. It hurt really badly and it still does. A little swollen but not really.

Practice makes perfect

Well I finally got to go to ACX (gym) and practiced quite a bit of stuff. I got a handstand that I can hold two times longer. I can do it with no momentum just push up off the ground. I did about fifty back flips (back tuck as cheerleaders say) on the trampoline with no bounce and I got it down. Next step is trying it on the ground. I'm pretty good so I should be able to do it with some guts. I can't get my front flip down but It'll come later on. I had a few days of practice this week and got better at balance and cat leaps. So much improvement this week. I look forward to doing more when it stops raining!

Easy? Parkour isn't easy.

I am so mad I'm laughing at it. All my friends watched our practice video and thought it was stupid and easy. By golly it ticked me off! But I calmed down and thought about it and the video did suck and showed lack of parkour so they are right. We are gonna have to make a real video to show them later on when we improve like crazy. Well good news though, Mat and Stewart are my newest partners. Not only are they new but they both do palm spins and they are getting good. I got so excited when I found them at the park practicing today! I was so happy and started practicing right away. Extreme improvement on their part. I thought they weren't committed and I was super wrong. They are just as committed as me! It's great to finally have someone like that. Anyways I am probably going to Finley on Sat. so more footage and practice.

Hero

I feel as if I am becoming a hero. Not like literally where I think I'm a hero but working alone I've noticed is making me feel like I'm becoming a hero. I feel like I'm training to become like Batman or something. Florida had to many spots to imagine but 97% of the time I was on a bus looking at it or somewhere where I couldn't get to it. Depressing I know. I did some stuff at the campsite though. It was kind of showing off but I had to do it. I mean I wouldn't give up that opportunity to do some free running in front of people. We had a large campfire thing that we made fires in (duh) and I was doing precision jumps from one side of the rocks to the other. It wasn't that hard but no one else did it so I felt special. I did about a ten second long handstand on the beach which doesn't sound long but if you count it is long. Back flips on the ground are coming along slowly. Tomorrow I will be in the wrestling room and I can do wall spins and back flips in there as practice. I'm pretty excited. I didn't get much practice over spring break. I got more mental practice though. I was out in the wilderness camping I mean what else did I have to do? I actually, just for fun, would put my bags in the trees so raccoons couldn't get to them and I would have to climb really high to get to them. A little parkour for my break. Funny story (nothing to do with parkour) I was lying in my hammock at night and I woke up and a raccoon was around my hammock then it climbed up the tree and messed with my hammock hooks. Then It got under my hammock and started poking at my head. I tried to catch it but couldn't. Well anyways hope you enjoyed my spring break story.

Flight is no more.

Well Flight came to a halt. I thought it was going well then I made a fatal mistake. I started accepting to many people! Yeah I know that's not bad right? No it is very bad. It was just as a feared. No one was committed. They made the team and stopped doing it. I hated not having Will as my partner because he was grounded and I tried to substitute him with others. It wasn't worth it. Yeah I mean the people on the team each had something special about them that made them make the team but it wasn't right. Half of them had no idea what was going on. They each did their one move and nothing else. I couldn't take it so I stopped the team. Now it's just Me, Will, and my friend Mat. The only people who wanted to work for their position. No one else would try anything new except them. Well no more team but I did get Mat to become my new partner for now and I'm excited. He is in shape and learns what I want him to quickly. He will get as good as me soon if he practices a lot. I see progress though. Flight may be cancelled but it still helped see who would commit or not.

Focus and Practice

I've actually used Parkour a lot now to kind of clear my mind. I can go out and do stuff and just forget my problems and focus on God and not as much worldly stuff. It helps a lot. I think I'm going to start practicing by myself a little bit. When I'm with a teammate I can't just concentrate on my moves because I have to teach stuff. I'm getting better but slowly and I could get much better doing it by myself. When I'm by myself I see things a little better, like how to hit a move or what I should do better. When I was in the woods yesturday I really concentrated all my mind and strength on one move. It was something I normally wouldn't do. I took a deep breathe calmed myself down and jumped from one tree and landed on another holding onto it. It was a long jump and I felt confident by myself because when I'm around people and they mess up it's like in my mind I'm like it's okay to mess up and I don't get better that way. So I think I'm going to take a team break and practice by myself. What is cool though is I got one of the new members to get a good palm spin down. I was proud but I will help them later now I have to practice. I'm going to Florida for the week I hope there are some spots there because I don't want to take a break. I don't want to get hurt either. Hopefully I'll be a lot better by the end of the month or even two weeks from now.

Making the Team

I have a good few people on my team now. I have five people other than me on my team. Most are just starting but they are all good. We have a guy who's a master at back flipping off anything. We have a my brother who can wall spin, George who is extremely athletic and can do stuff naturally, Mat which has learned fairly quickly, Will who can also back flip, and me. Our team is getting good too. Tonight we are going to a gym to practice flips and tricks. We should get even better. I've been practicing with a person about everyday. We actually found a way to climb up to our roof and go through a window to get in (which we could never find a way before). My hands are completely destroyed from jumping and grabbing bars. I found some gloves though. I can now do a palm spin on both sides too. I'm hoping in Florida, since we are on spring break, will have some great spots! I'm going to bring a camera so I can film. Flight is now a pretty good team. I always will have someone to practice with now.

More Advanced

I spent about three hours practicing and filming my new tricks today. It was fantastic! I got a solid palm spin and backward rail hop (Something my cousin did one day where you hop over and instead of turning around you catch it backwards). It was great I did some precision jumps. I jumped out of a two story window (hanging out of course). I did some better jumps. I feel really accomplished. Will got his back flip off his trampoline down. Not like the bouncy part the side of it to the ground. He is doing pretty well. He completed his first wall spin a few days ago. It is on the video below. He is shorter than I am which comes at a great advantage for him. He can do tricks like the wall spin better because of his height. It is awesome. I finally overcomed my fear of the palm spin. I used to be scared of face planting. Now I can do it no problem. I'm gonna try it over a rail soon. Yep, things are looking up.

March Practice

We had a few practices this march and filmed a little bit. The footage isn't great but we are a lot better. My cousin and I filmed us downtown but the footage got deleted. It was really cool footage though. We had some sweet moves.

My Weekend

I knew it all along! My foot was in incredible shape and I was practicing my leaps and handstands and other balancing things by Friday. When it became Saturday it was pretty cold so I stayed indoors and did handstands. I got a lot better! I can hold one for about ten seconds. I worked on some technical spins involving handstands and I did front flips off a table onto a bean bag to get the feel of flipping down. Slowly building some courage for when the time comes to make a true flip. Sunday came along slowly but surely. Perfect weather. I brought a rectangle table out and practiced and filmed for about an hour or two. I practiced kongs...more handstands but on a table and so I can use it for other areas. My kongs started off easy with just doing the table vertically facing me. Then I did it about thirty times before I thought "This is way to easy." So I moved it vertically. It wasn't much of a challenge actually. I'd say it was 4-5 feet in distance which is okay but I may could do better. I was amazed how much farther a kong got you. I plan on going down to the park when I have time this week and practicing over rails. Shouldn't be too incredibly hard. Well that may be all the news I have this week but don't be surprised if I have more. There's always something to write about. (MD enjoy your break and email me about Augusta if that's where your going. We used to live there.) Anyways have a good weekend.

Flight

I decided to make my own group to kinda get some people in and started so I can get this show on the road. It's going to be called FLIGHT. I don't know why but it's kinda cool and sorta original. Well it's Friday my foots almost all healed up and I'm excited....except I took a nasty spill in my playroom. Yes, in my playroom. Pretty stupid I know. I was trying to do spin tricks on my air hockey table. That didn't go to well. So let me explain. My couch is by my air hockey table. The table is very high. I happen to underestimate how high. So I went to do my trick. That's when I noticed I didn't go high enough. This struck me as I was already falling downward. My kneecap shuddered against the table. As for my chest it went into the, much harder than I thought, couch armrest. Well I rolled on the ground and came to a stop. I couldn't breathe very well and did the "ow ow ow" while sucking in air trying to be tough. To ensure my brother I was okay I kind of yelled "that hurt" and then laid on the floor for about five minutes trying to let the shock wear off. Lesson learned, never ever ever ever underestimate how high the thing you are jumping over is. You will get owned like your retard blogger. Luckily I am not hurt to badly and my battle bruises weren't to bad. Thank goodness. I thought that was an entertaining story to share with all of you. Have a good weekend everyone!!

Flips, Tricks, and Automobiles?

Oh yeah. The name says it all. I'm beginning flips and tricks training. You can't do freerunning without some flips and sweet tricks. I plan to visit some different gyms and places with padded grounds so I can began my training. It's not more about guts than practice. I don't quite have the guts yet. I won't even do my palm spin off the wall unless we are in the wrestling room. I'm also going to River Springs and doing some cat leaps and stuff. I really want to try climbing some cool stuff. Climbing a great workout too. I'm attempting to find spots so I can workout/practice. It will be amazing. Michael D. if you read this before the weekend and find something to do I wanna go. I won't do much but just getting out of the house and going other places excite me. My foot still hurts but I'm ignoring it so I can go on.

Mouse Potato

I am confined to my computer chair. My injury is really annoying. Well my foot is healing but extremely slowly. If I even jump and land on it I sit there cringing for a minute. I have to heal! I can't take it. I look at all the places I could be jumping on and off and I get sad because I won't be up and doing even minor things for about five or six days....Nah I'll be practicing by friday but It won't be much hard stuff just to get some of this excess energy out. I tried to kong a short electric box outside my house and boy did that keep me hobbling all the way to the bus stop. I better stay off it as long as I can. If I don't it'll hurt for even longer. My cousin gave me hope saying he was still in it. WOO! He had told me his parkour was basically over. But i just received an email saying some sweet things he's been doing. Theres still hope. Patience is key. Enough said I'll write when I'm healed for now I can just imagine.

Foot

It sucks. I recently got a wart taken out of my foot and now I have a big hole in my foot. It's really cool looking. Looks like I got shot. Maybe I'll say I was running from the cops and they were shooting at me. Nah, but I won't be able to doing anything for a week. It's only been two days and it doesn't hurt anymore, but I'm not gonna reopen it doing tricks and stuff. Sunday I may go practice stuff on a playground though so I'm looking forward to it.

Irmo High

I found some great Parkour places at Irmo. I was there for the state wrestling tournament and there were some pretty good jumps. I didn't do much but I found places to get on the roof and an awesome two story jump. The jump takes you right on the grass. The hill slopes backwards so you'd have to hit the ground and roll back but it would work out quite well. You can walk up the walls to get to the roof. They are pretty easy and a few rails to practice stuff on. I don't think I would go in there again. I would probably get kicked out for trespassing but it's a cool spot.

Parkour/Freerunning

I have been doing my homework and researching parkour and freerunning to answer your questions. What is freerunning/parkour?

Parkour- a recreational pursuit in which participants traverse urban structures by running, jumping, vaulting, rolling, etc.

Free running-a physical art, in which participants (freerunners) attempt to pass all obstacles in their path in a smooth and fluid way. Free runners interact with their environment using movements such as vaulting, jumping and other acrobatic movements, creating an athletic and aesthetically pleasing way of moving. It is commonly practiced at gymnasiums and in urban areas that are cluttered with obstacles.

There are the best definitions i could find. I do a mix of both. Fun fact, the guy who invented freerunning actually was the guy who was running from James Bond in the beginning of Casino Royale. I bet he did most all those stunts. Pretty cool huh? The founder of parkour was David Belle, a friend of Sébastien Foucan (founder of Freerunning).

Here are some websites you might find interesting:
Freerunning
Parkour

David Belle Parkour

Sebastien Foucan Casino Royale Chase Scene

USC Campus

Well it turns out that the USC campus is an open campus and the cops were just giving us an excuse to make us leave. Figures....Well it's to late now. Can you beleive cops would lie to us and say we are trespassing. Well anyways I have been working on palm spins soon I'll be able to do it on any wall. I'm hoping to go to CIU with my cousin and do stuff there. I'm hoping to film some of the stuff and put together a video for them. So I'll be working on that.

Apprentice

I have a new apprentice. His name is Will. He is one of my close friends. I got him into free running one day when I showed him some videos. He is getting pretty good. I took him to the park and we practiced some stuff. It was pretty fun. He is starting out the same way I did so soon enough he should be as good as me and we can go to better places to do tricks. I like having someone else to go out and do tricks because I feel stupid by myself. I may not be extremely good yet but still I'm gonna help him till we get really good. I'll keep you updated on our progress.

Death to the Sidewalk

"Death to the sidewalk." My new quote for the year. I have finally began doing some Parkour/Freerunning. A few months ago I watched some videos of Parkour and thought it was amazing. I wanted to try some stuff but I had nowhere to go. My porch seemed the best thing I had for the time being. I started practice just hopping off the top. Eventually I was using my hands to run and leap over it. After awhile I would run on my wall over the rail and hop off the wall to my terrible landing. I have already got many bruised arms and legs since I started. It has been fun. After awhile my porch got boring and I got tired off jumping off the same thing everyday. Then after a long time my cousin found a friend on his campus that liked doing it. His friend had been doing it for a long time. His blog actually inspired me to make one. So they decided to take me on one of their journeys through downtown. So my adventure began that day. We started off knocking on the doors of people who said they were coming but stayed up to late the night before and wouldn't wake up. So we went and checked out this new place they had found with a few roofs connecting. So we approached an alley to climb it. The alley was about 20in wide. It was small. So we hopped up the walls to make it where we could reach the roofs. We got up there and I did a small jump and that was it. After about 10 minutes of watching them jump a man came up and made us leave. Our excuse was we were "working out". I didn't make it up. Kyle (my cousins friend) told him that. So we went further downtown near USC. We jumped off higher jumps and did a lot of freerunning. We had a fun time going everywhere downtown. Then we wondered onto the USC campus. We didn't know we were on it but it didn't matter. We found a Five story car garage and started working our way through that. I jumped off the first story (which was still pretty high for me). Then we found a wall connected to it that Kyle climbed and was jumping off. It was perfect for jumping because the ground was super soft. So we did that for a few minutes. When apparently the guy who had been watching us from across the street called the cops on us. Well a lady cop showed up and acted all tough and made us give her our names and birthdays. Then about four more police drove up. I wasn't the one that was in trouble but I was still shaking. We were completely closed in. We ended up only getting on probation from the campus. We didn't know you had to be a student to go on the campus. Dang cops getting to bored. As we were driving home my cousin and his friend discussed how they could've escaped. I don't think I could've but I don't know. So my cousin drove me home and I'd say my first adventure was quite exciting. I'm not a bad person and I wanted to avoid doing illegal stuff but we had no clue we were trespassing! Oh well I have taken up a love for this new hobby.