-Wizzles
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Hawkesbury Gazette Article
Here's an article I did with the Hawkesbury Gazette about parkour, focusing on my journey and training at my park.
-Wizzles
-Wizzles
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Easter Weekend
Finally, a few days off school to catch up on training and assignments. Pah, as if I'd do those when I could be out training.
Anyways, I headed off to Penrith on Saturday, despite the downpour. I met Antek and Zewelli, who are both from Sydney area, and we decided to head to Sydney instead. No one else turned up in Penrith, so the decision was pretty easy. After an hour and a half train ride, we ended up at Wynyard station, and from there we walked to a spot Antek and Zewelli had trained at previously. It is a really great place, filled with railings, AND it's undercover, so rain didnt get there. Sydney was dry anyways when we arrived.
I wanted to get rail precisions better, and just be generally more confident on railings. The railings varied, thinner white ones, and thicker red ones. After gaining some confidence, I was doing sequences of precisions, but making sure to stick them. There are many other things to try, for example a really large arm jump, which I thought was out of my reach, so I didn't go for it. I strung together a few runs, that involved precisions and swinging around lamposts. Still, there is plenty of stuff there to occupy yourself for a few hours, and I can't wait to go back there again.
The next spot we headed to was around Circular Quay, and it is basically lots or stones, like fake ruins almost. It's a great spot for precisions, many different surfaces, angles etc really help mix things up and keep you on your toes. I got climbups on some of the taller stones really good.
We three felt pretty tired after these two spots, so we grabbed some late lunch, and got on a train back to Town Hall, for a cool down and tricking session at Darling Harbour. I tryed my new sideflip technique, and pulled off a few tricks. Antek did some nice piked fronts and weird 180 sort of sideflips. It was a great day, fairly tiring as well.
Oh, one more thing. There is a wall at Town Hall, where I practise climbups each time I go to Sydney, and monitor my progress. Started off with bad single armed ones, then bad double armed ones. I tried one on Saturday and got a really explosive pullup part, and ended up with nearly straight arms on top of the wall, I was well chuffed.
Feeling pretty tired, I decided not to go to Sydney again today, so I slept in till around 9, and then talked to Gainey for a bit. He convinced me to film some stuff outside, so I got dressed and showered, and went out. Due to there being heavy rain yesterday, the ground at the park was wet, so if I wore shoes it would transfer to the wood and make that wet too. Barefootz it was then.
I have to say it was a great training session, I was feeling strong and stuff, so I filmed some muscle ups on varying thickness of bars. I have the goal post, which is thick, yellow bar which is perfect size, and the 3 bars at the park which are thin. They are all rounded, but provide different challenges. My muscleups on the yellow bars were the smoothest, and I think I did around 20 in total throughout the session. Some of them were single armed or nearly double armed, but I was striving to get double arms smoother. I filmed two really good double armed ones consecutively, but the camera angle didnt capture it fully. Anyway it was really fast and smooth. I also worked on some runs through the park, which feel so much better barefooted. I put my shoes back on later on and did a small precision, and I didn't feel half as good as with barefoot.
Gainey also wanted me to film some flips, so I headed over to the sand pit, as the grass was a bit wet and slippy to do them on. My sideflips have improved a lot, as have my backflips. I kept overotating on my backflips, as I didn't expect to land them that good. I got those nicely, and thought I'd try flashkicks, which are pretty hard, and still need to figure out what technique to use. Relatives of a neighbour were there, and were asking me about what I do etc and took some nice pictures on their camera of some flips.
I really wanted to film some climbups, so I went to a wall that I thought might be good. However it isn't, as the bricks stick out on the top a bit, making it harder. I can pullup really fast but the bricks on top make the transition harder. Once I get a bit stronger I'll be able to do them on there really well. Here's the video I made today:
Anyways, I headed off to Penrith on Saturday, despite the downpour. I met Antek and Zewelli, who are both from Sydney area, and we decided to head to Sydney instead. No one else turned up in Penrith, so the decision was pretty easy. After an hour and a half train ride, we ended up at Wynyard station, and from there we walked to a spot Antek and Zewelli had trained at previously. It is a really great place, filled with railings, AND it's undercover, so rain didnt get there. Sydney was dry anyways when we arrived.
I wanted to get rail precisions better, and just be generally more confident on railings. The railings varied, thinner white ones, and thicker red ones. After gaining some confidence, I was doing sequences of precisions, but making sure to stick them. There are many other things to try, for example a really large arm jump, which I thought was out of my reach, so I didn't go for it. I strung together a few runs, that involved precisions and swinging around lamposts. Still, there is plenty of stuff there to occupy yourself for a few hours, and I can't wait to go back there again.
The next spot we headed to was around Circular Quay, and it is basically lots or stones, like fake ruins almost. It's a great spot for precisions, many different surfaces, angles etc really help mix things up and keep you on your toes. I got climbups on some of the taller stones really good.
We three felt pretty tired after these two spots, so we grabbed some late lunch, and got on a train back to Town Hall, for a cool down and tricking session at Darling Harbour. I tryed my new sideflip technique, and pulled off a few tricks. Antek did some nice piked fronts and weird 180 sort of sideflips. It was a great day, fairly tiring as well.
Oh, one more thing. There is a wall at Town Hall, where I practise climbups each time I go to Sydney, and monitor my progress. Started off with bad single armed ones, then bad double armed ones. I tried one on Saturday and got a really explosive pullup part, and ended up with nearly straight arms on top of the wall, I was well chuffed.
Feeling pretty tired, I decided not to go to Sydney again today, so I slept in till around 9, and then talked to Gainey for a bit. He convinced me to film some stuff outside, so I got dressed and showered, and went out. Due to there being heavy rain yesterday, the ground at the park was wet, so if I wore shoes it would transfer to the wood and make that wet too. Barefootz it was then.
I have to say it was a great training session, I was feeling strong and stuff, so I filmed some muscle ups on varying thickness of bars. I have the goal post, which is thick, yellow bar which is perfect size, and the 3 bars at the park which are thin. They are all rounded, but provide different challenges. My muscleups on the yellow bars were the smoothest, and I think I did around 20 in total throughout the session. Some of them were single armed or nearly double armed, but I was striving to get double arms smoother. I filmed two really good double armed ones consecutively, but the camera angle didnt capture it fully. Anyway it was really fast and smooth. I also worked on some runs through the park, which feel so much better barefooted. I put my shoes back on later on and did a small precision, and I didn't feel half as good as with barefoot.
Gainey also wanted me to film some flips, so I headed over to the sand pit, as the grass was a bit wet and slippy to do them on. My sideflips have improved a lot, as have my backflips. I kept overotating on my backflips, as I didn't expect to land them that good. I got those nicely, and thought I'd try flashkicks, which are pretty hard, and still need to figure out what technique to use. Relatives of a neighbour were there, and were asking me about what I do etc and took some nice pictures on their camera of some flips.
I really wanted to film some climbups, so I went to a wall that I thought might be good. However it isn't, as the bricks stick out on the top a bit, making it harder. I can pullup really fast but the bricks on top make the transition harder. Once I get a bit stronger I'll be able to do them on there really well. Here's the video I made today:
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
New Media Thingz All Around!
It's been a while since I updated this, I really should do it more often.
To start with I will show you the newspaper article myself and Robbie did with the Penrith Star. It went really well, and there were no inaccuracies or misinformation, so it was pretty successful.
The article has sparked some more interest in Penrith, and we have had a few more people join us in Penrith each Saturday. It also caught the eye of the Hawkesbury Gazette, who interviewed me at my park in Kurrajong. The article is due to be published tomorrow, so I will upload a scan of it.
I have made a two new videos since my last blog post: One is a training video at my park, and the other is of a day I had in Sydney with Robbie, Antek and Max. It was a great day, and we explored some new areas of the City. Probably one of the best training sessions I have had. Anyways, here are the videos:
Light As A Feather
Sydney Parkour - 24th Feb 08
I had my birthday on the 11th of February, and I got a new camera - it is a bit like my old one but with so many better features, namely the picture quality, better video quality and the ability to record in widescreen AND with sound this time. I have been taking some pictures each week in Penrith, and they have turned out pretty good so far. Here is a selection, the rest can be found on here: http://s56.photobucket.com/albums/g199/Wizey7/
Along with taking pictures in Penrith, Robbie and I are creating a new Penrith Sessions video, this time the aim being to show the growth of parkour in Penrith, as well as to show some new areas and movements. Filming is taking place throughout March, and Robbie is doing the final edit.
So, apart from media-whoring, what else have I been doing?
Well, mainly training at my park - conditioning and working on new movements on rails and bars. I can really feel a sense of freedom and ease of movement there now, and I also feel ownership over the park; I use it practically everyday and hate to see it messy and littered.
The other day whilst training I just felt so alive and confident, and could feel a real progression in my strength and abilities. Muscle ups and climbups are getting better - I have been practising technique for both, as that was the trouble I had with it. One week in Penrith I couldn't do muscle ups on the green bars, then after working on technique, the next week I could do loads.
I did a big conditioning session on Monday with a friend, partly for a PE assignment, mainly to try some new things. Highlights included around 120 metres of lunges and then a sprint back; handstand walking across a wall and quadrupedal. The session was mainly leg and ab based, and thats what aches at the moment. One day this week I'll do a more focused upper body session, most likely on Thursday.
OOOH! Just remembered, I also had a really great gym session in Homebush for my birthday, and Danny Ilabaca was there, as he was over for a K-Swiss promotion. He remembered me from the WWJ workshop in Lincoln, which was cool. That night I learnt back tucks, and have got them on grass as well now. So yer, basically an awesome month of training.
That's all from me for now, good luck in all your own forms of movement. Happy trainingz!
-Wizzles
To start with I will show you the newspaper article myself and Robbie did with the Penrith Star. It went really well, and there were no inaccuracies or misinformation, so it was pretty successful.
The article has sparked some more interest in Penrith, and we have had a few more people join us in Penrith each Saturday. It also caught the eye of the Hawkesbury Gazette, who interviewed me at my park in Kurrajong. The article is due to be published tomorrow, so I will upload a scan of it.
I have made a two new videos since my last blog post: One is a training video at my park, and the other is of a day I had in Sydney with Robbie, Antek and Max. It was a great day, and we explored some new areas of the City. Probably one of the best training sessions I have had. Anyways, here are the videos:
Light As A Feather
Sydney Parkour - 24th Feb 08
I had my birthday on the 11th of February, and I got a new camera - it is a bit like my old one but with so many better features, namely the picture quality, better video quality and the ability to record in widescreen AND with sound this time. I have been taking some pictures each week in Penrith, and they have turned out pretty good so far. Here is a selection, the rest can be found on here: http://s56.photobucket.com/albums/g199/Wizey7/
Along with taking pictures in Penrith, Robbie and I are creating a new Penrith Sessions video, this time the aim being to show the growth of parkour in Penrith, as well as to show some new areas and movements. Filming is taking place throughout March, and Robbie is doing the final edit.
So, apart from media-whoring, what else have I been doing?
Well, mainly training at my park - conditioning and working on new movements on rails and bars. I can really feel a sense of freedom and ease of movement there now, and I also feel ownership over the park; I use it practically everyday and hate to see it messy and littered.
The other day whilst training I just felt so alive and confident, and could feel a real progression in my strength and abilities. Muscle ups and climbups are getting better - I have been practising technique for both, as that was the trouble I had with it. One week in Penrith I couldn't do muscle ups on the green bars, then after working on technique, the next week I could do loads.
I did a big conditioning session on Monday with a friend, partly for a PE assignment, mainly to try some new things. Highlights included around 120 metres of lunges and then a sprint back; handstand walking across a wall and quadrupedal. The session was mainly leg and ab based, and thats what aches at the moment. One day this week I'll do a more focused upper body session, most likely on Thursday.
OOOH! Just remembered, I also had a really great gym session in Homebush for my birthday, and Danny Ilabaca was there, as he was over for a K-Swiss promotion. He remembered me from the WWJ workshop in Lincoln, which was cool. That night I learnt back tucks, and have got them on grass as well now. So yer, basically an awesome month of training.
That's all from me for now, good luck in all your own forms of movement. Happy trainingz!
-Wizzles
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