Calen Maethor

So, I was into nerd fitness pretty hardcore a couple years ago. I wasn't real active on the forums, but I was very into the training, the leveling up aspect, and the general upbeat mentality. This is a big respawn for me just because of how long I've been gone. Life just knocked me off track; three kids, my wife starting a new career, me starting a new career, selling a house, looking for a house. .. it's been crazy. I didn't stop working out completely, but I may as well have, for all the good it was doing. Well, I'm getting my life back on track. I've started training again, trying to eat better, etc. I may not post a lot, because that's not me, but I figured I'd announce my presence anyway.

Alright, I give up. Normally, when I'm doing a challenge, I can't wait to get home and update. This time around, though... I can't remember to save my life. Days and days go by before I think, "oh crap..." Therefore, I think I'm going to withdraw from this challenge. I'm still continuing my workout; but, if I can't remember to update, I may as well bow out. Hopefully, I can jump in on a future challenge. Moderators, please delete this thread.

I know, I know.... it's taken me forever to update. No excuses, but I do apologize. I just have a lot going on. =) I'm also trying to figure out the format for this. My workouts are almost exclusively parkour these days. By its nature, it's a bit fluid... so I can't say I'm doing x number of this, and x number of that. I'll just try to explain what I'm doing each week. Despite not updating this thread, I'm on track with my workout. The first week was focused on cat grabs, muscle ups, and tic tacs. The second week has been more about flow and precision/s. Every workout, I'm working on my dive roll form. Eventually I'll be able to do it without breaking my neck...lol. Okay, that's my update. I'll be editing my original post to better reflect what I'm doing. I also have to figure out how the heck to assign attribute points. =P

Most of what I have to say has already been said. However, as a 33 year old who just started parkour a few months ago, I figured I'd throw in my 2 cents. This isn't just aimed at the OP, but all the comments/concerns I've read. Bodyweight vs Free Weights: As has been said, this is preference. I prefer BW as it trains you more for the same movements you'll be doing in parkour. Also, it's pretty easy to modify up to a fairly high degree of difficulty. When push-ups get too easy, start working on clap push-ups; when squats get too easy, start in with jump squats, or pistol squats, etc. Also, quadrupedal movement! Excellent, full body workout that includes cardio, if you desire. Weight training always helps, though. There are some exercises that are hard to modify (as Stuffed already stated). Training in public: I totally get the anxiety associated with this; I still feel it every workout. The sooner you get over it, though, the sooner you can work on all the obstacles that the big, wide world presents. When in public, go easy. Save the stuff you're more unsure of for the backyard, or anywhere else you feel comfortable. When I train jumps, I just jump up onto a 2,3, or 4 foot ledge again and again. People see me, shrug and go back to what they're doing, because it's a pretty normal exercise. Same thing with precisions. People don't really care. Also, between Ninja Warrior and various movies/shows... parkour is pretty well recognized these days. People know what you're doing, so you shouldn't feel weird. Training with punk kids: Soooooo just kidding about the punk thing. I work with teenagers a lot, and I have never met a more accepting group than the parkour community as a whole. That's a pretty big part of the unofficial parkour belief system, if you can believe it. Safety and respect are things you'll hear repeated over and over in the parkour community. Yeah, 99% of the people that do it are teens and early twenties; there's no getting around that. Go out there and meet them at least once. I bet you'll be pleasantly surprised how easygoing they are. If you still can't find people to train with, or aren't comfortable with them, youtube, youtube, youtube. Tons and tons of information and videos out there. If you're not sure you're doing something right, or just want feedback, upload some videos. People here in the nerdfitness community won't judge you a bit, and many are very qualified to offer advice. Some names to look up on youtube: Jesse La Flair Ronnie Street Stunts (Ronnie Shalvis) Tapp Brothers Tempest Freerunning ... there are so many more. You can easily waste an entire evening on youtube just on parkour how-to videos. I hope something I said was helpful. As stated, these are just my opinions. Your mileage may vary.

I started training parkour several months ago, and everything I could possibly hope for is on youtube. Yeah, there's a point at which you'll want to get clicked into the parkour community, but it's not necessary for starting off. Here's some youtube names to look up: Jesse La Flair Ronnie Street Stunts (Ronnie Shalvis) Tempest FreeRunning Tapp Brothers There's many more, but that will give you a good start. If you feel like you want direct feedback based on what/how you're doing... upload some videos. Hope this helped!

Okay, I've never once in my life been known as a/the dragon. I'm not great at catchy thread titles, though, and that was the first that sprang to mind. Anyway... I've taken the last few weeks to heal up some. I've continued doing parkour 2-3 times per week, but I've noticed my lack of strength and endurance training. It's time to step it up and get back in the game. Mission 1: To improve my ability to move upwards. This includes sessions focused around cat-grabs, muscle ups, tic-tacs, precisions, and other methods of moving up and over obstacles. Mission 2: to improve my ability to move across & downwards [safely]. This involves working on safety rolls, dive rolls, as well as basic vaults. Customers coming in my store ... more later.... =)

Mission 1: Bodyweight Workout- I knocked this one out much easier than I had expected. I usually workout in the backroom at my job, so the exercises get spaced out between customers; that tends to make my workouts a bit easier. Sometimes, I get a much more intense session when I can workout at night after the family is all in bed. Pull-ups are becoming much easier for me (I wouldn't say easy per se, but easier fits). I can do pistol squats pretty easily now. They don't look pretty, but the job gets done. I'm really happy with how this goal went. Mission 2: Weapon Training- Not a lot to say here, as I never turned up the intensity much. It was mostly about getting used to training with other people again. Half my gear is broken or missing, so I didn't really spar at all. We just did some drills and some half-speed freeplay. Mission 3: Parkour Training- I would call this a raging success. I'm not doing any of the crazy stuff you see in youtube videos, but my physicality is waaaaaaaay better than it was before. Reverse vault over a low wall? No problem. Kong vault over a park bench? No problem. Standing jump to chest high? No problem. Okay, okay... it's more like solar plexus high, but still... no problem. Very happy with my improvement here. Life Goal: Ready House for Sale- What got me here is what gets everyone. I just kept getting distracted by other things. Still, I got some projects going and I made some progress on others. It wasn't much of a success, but I'd still call it a success. To sum it up: I think this challenge went really well. I did start flagging towards the end with a twisted ankle and shin splints (it appears these issues will keep plaguing me), but I got it done. I'm going to take it kinda easy until the next challenge. Grade: A- If not for the Life Goal, I would give myself a solid A, but I don't think it knocked me all they way down to B. Congrats to everyone else that completed their challenges!!! Edited to add grade.

I kept forgetting to add my most recent workouts. I rounded everything out pretty nicely, but didn't finish up my life goal. Oh well, I'm going to have to get this place ready to sell one way or another.

Congrats once again all! Hope Red feels better soon!

Got a good hour-long parkour workout finished. I'm not doing anything really new or exciting right now, but I am becoming more confident in what I have been doing. Things to work on: 1. Really good, clean kong vaults. I'm doing kongs, but I'm mostly using my arms to pull myself up and over, so I'm not doing them right...lol. 2. Dash Vault- In my brain, I understand how to do this. In actuality, I have no clue. I may table this one for now. 3. Reverse Vaults- I'm actually fairly happy with them right now. I just need to make them cleaner, and vary up what objects I do them over. 4. Rolls- These aren't a problem for me at all, I just frequently forget to do them. There's a lot of times I'm landing a harder than I need to, when I should have just done a roll. 5. Cat Vaults- I haven't found a good place to practice these yet. I'm really going to try and focus on the items mentioned above. I'll let you know how things work out...lol.

It actually did catch one of my gutters on the way down, but... c'est la vie. Knocked out a BW workout tonight. I'm super stoked about how easy pull-ups are getting. I'm no champion by any stretch of the imagination, but compared to a few months ago... different man. Also, I've got pistol squats down. My form is a little ugly, but I can do them with very little muss or fuss. Feelin' good!

It's almost enough to make me want to move back into an apartment...lol. Oh, a dead tree I've been meaning to remove did fall and narrowly miss my house. Maybe I should call that my house project this week? Hmm... maybe not...lol.

Ha! I got in two parkour workouts today! At my son's birthday party today, I got away with my first workout by "playing" with the kids on the playground. Then, I squeezed one more in before dinner. Win.

Ha! I got in two parkour workouts today! At my son's birthday party today, I got away with my first workout by "playing" with the kids on the playground. Then, I squeezed one more in before dinner. Win.

I've been doing two-a-days for the past couple days to get caught up. I already posted my BW workout from yesterday. Then, last night I did an altered BW workout that focused more on biceps, shoulders and back (okay, okay fine... there were dumbells involved, but it still counts). This morning, I got in a pretty intense parkour session, then tonight I rounded out with another BW workout. Oh, oh.... aaaaand I got in some weapon work with my friend tonight as well. Also, did I mention I moved a piano with no casters on Wednesday? It's been a very busy week.

BW workout, then my son's 4th birthday. Tired now. Bed.

Great parkour workout today. From standing, I can pretty easily jump to a 3 ft. platform. I can do kong vaults over a bench pretty easily as well. Kongs over rails and wide platforms are still a bit beyond me.

Excellent BW workout today! I'm playing catch-up from last week. Gotta keep ahead this week!!!

Solid BW workout tonight. Got in some extra pull-ups. Good times.

Damn! There's some great work going on in the assassin's camp! Congrats all around!!!

I spoke too soon. I'm starting to get waaay behind this week. Have... to... catch... up!

Oh yeah.... aaaand I got a BW workout in today...lol.

"Blast" is one way to put it. On a side note, sorry I haven't been visiting your thread much. My life for the past few weeks has been: Pop on internet, pay bills, read email, maaaaaybe make quick NF post, move on. I've actually been letting a lot of little balls drop here and there. My wife is getting back tonight and I should be able to be a bit more "clicked in" for awhile.

Okay, got in a so-so parkour workout today, but I was glad to get it in. I worked jumps REALLY hard last time and my legs were still feeling it. So, this time was almost all vaults (a little easier on the legs). I got my housing projects done this week. It was mostly maintenance (changing air filters, trimming bushes, etc), but those are things that I have to get done for the house to sell as well. Curb appeal and all that. I'll be able to do more intensive stuff when my wife is back in town. Which leads me to... One thing I'm really proud of right now is that I've been able to keep this going. My wife has been out of town for two weeks and I've been dealing with a 4 year old and 1 year old all alone, and I've still managed to keep my workout regimen up. I'm feeling really good about this...lol.

25 pull-ups, then I paused for a couple seconds before I knocked out five more!!! Does that count as 30, or do they have to be completely unterrupted?