DoubleTrouble starts flipping again

[DoubleTrouble]

Two things that I want to do are: pass the swimming deep end test, and start working on flips inside the gymnastics gym. Using my expert reconnaissance techniques (aka accidentally being near someone doing their deep end test successfully), I was able to discover that the test consists of two parts: swimming the width of the pool and back without doing a doggie paddle, and treading water for a minute. As for flips, I'm fairly confident with front flips onto crash mats, but have little experience with sideflips or backflips. So I'll work on doing fronts without crash mats, and working on the other two.

 

Main quests

Physio: 3 shoulder/back exercises using a green theraband (external rotation, front pull aparts, overhead pull aparts). Goal: 2X for week 1, 3X for week 2, 4X for week 3, 5X for week 4, 5X for week 5

Bouhler: 4 bouhler exercises. Goal: same as physio

Plyometrics: Jump/hop up and down for 5 sets of 5 reps. Goal: same as physio

Gym: Lift stuff. Goal: 2X a week

Gymnastics: Go to a gymnastics gym and practice flips. Goal: once a week

 

Side quests

- Do a swing backflip with a superhero landing

- Do a mentally challenging jump or movement

- Lower myself down to the ground starting from the top of a rope

- Climb up halfway up the same rope and back down, starting and ending seated on the ground

- Jump up and down a set of stairs 6 times in a row

- Do 5 sets of 10 bobs (a bit faster than the ones in the video)

- Swim the width of the pool (no doggie paddle)

- Watch a tutorial on treading water

- Tread water for 10 seconds

- Post parkour videos for spicyness

 

[Manarelle]

Good continuation of the last challenge. Following again for the awesome. 

[WhiteGhost]

Love everything about this challenge.  Following for sure

[DoubleTrouble]

On 8/7/2019 at 11:07 AM, Manarelle said:

Good continuation of the last challenge. Following again for the awesome. 

 

Yay!

 

On 8/7/2019 at 9:45 PM, WhiteGhost said:

Love everything about this challenge.  Following for sure

 

It's gonna be good!

 

---------------

 

Hit all the main goals for week 1!

 

I went to the gymnastics open gym yesterday and started learning backflips with the help of one of the coaches. We started with a jump onto a knee high gymnastics block. Super easy. Next, lay on the ground, arms up by ears, bring knees up, trying to bring knees over and past my head. Next, we jumped backwards onto two gymnastics blocks stacked on top of each other (around chest height) and landed with our backs on the box in a tucked position. Then the coach removed one of the blocks and added a crash mat. With the coach spotting, we did backflips onto the crash mat from the gymnastics block. Next, standing on a tumbling trampoline, we did a back flip onto a crash mat with a spotter. And finally we did it on the regular trampoline, with a spotter (no crash mat). I did some back drop practice onto the trampoline after that, and we started doing back handspring progressions for a few minutes near the end. The whole thing only lasted 2 hours but I felt it was more than enough practice time.

 

The thing I most struggled with was tucking hard enough to get a fast rotation. What surprised me was that I wasn't scared of going backwards at any point. Maybe it's because I know I'm safe, as there's always a spotter or crash mat for the more difficult progressions. Maybe when I get to a point where I go for it without a spotter or a crash mat, all the fear will hit me at once. Oh well.

 

I need to tuck faster. New main quest: Tucking exercises. Goal: same as physio (3,4,5,5 times a week for weeks 2-5, respectively)

 

Going swimming today, I'll watch a tutorial on how to tread water before I go.

[WhiteGhost]

11 hours ago, DoubleTrouble said:

I need to tuck faster. 

Tuck speed is certainly easier to progress on than jump height, but getting better in one of those will compensate for the other

 

[DoubleTrouble]

54 minutes ago, WhiteGhost said:

Tuck speed is certainly easier to progress on than jump height, but getting better in one of those will compensate for the other

 

Now that you mention it, there was an instance where I was struggling to do a backflip on the trampoline and the coach was telling me to tuck faster, but I just ended up jumping higher and landing it with a slow tuck. So you're definitely right about that. Not sure if I want to start specifically training for jump height since I already do a lot of leg stuff.

 

-----------

 

I forgot to watch the treading water tutorial, and didn't practice that. But I think I did at least 3 sets of 10 bobs. And there was a giant water slide which was super fun. Also I did this move afterwards:

 

 

Good day

[Manarelle]

Nice vaults and precision landings in the video. And love the progression for flips! Super cool that you got to spend some significant time working on that at once. 

[Manarelle]

Poke poke, how'd the week go? Will we see you in the Olympics next year?

[DoubleTrouble]

12 hours ago, Manarelle said:

Poke poke, how'd the week go? Will we see you in the Olympics next year?

 

Gah. So much stuff happened that I kept putting off writing a post, and of course more stuff kept happening the longer I waited which made it even harder to get started on the post. So thank you for asking and motivating me to finally write this. Also, regarding the Olympics, I know the question was a joke, but it's been an ongoing debate if parkour should be in the Olympics. Parkour is not in the Olympics next year, although the 2024 Olympics is another question. Lots of drama going on about that.

 

-------------

 

Sunday: Went to a parkour meet. Climbed a school roof and had a close call with security on the way down. Unknown to me, someone else had found an open window and decided it would be a good idea to go into the school and use the front door to exit, which triggered a silent alarm. I was still on the roof, and later when I tried to get down I saw the security van parked right under my exit route. Luckily, they didn't see me and I was able to get down another way. Hopefully they don't read this and arrest me.

 

Monday: Called in sick to work and went to an amusement park with my parkour buddies. Hopefully they don't read this and fire me. I had a great time and I have no regrets.

 

Tuesday: Skipped the gym because I forgot to bring my gym pants. I couldn't make myself walk in there with my parkour pants because of all the stares I knew I would get.

 

Wednesday: It was a short work day, so I had time to go swimming and to a parkour meet. Usually I only have time for one or the other. I practiced side breathing with the kickboard.

 

Thursday: I was sick and skipped the gym. Instead, I modified a pair of parkour pants with my sister's help. I made a mistake, and they are too tight when I do a full squat. I'm going to try again later.

 

Friday: Still sick, so I skipped going to the gymnastics gym. So no flips last week. Instead, I went to a murder mystery meetup. I happened to be the murderer but I played it innocent and people ended up voting someone else instead as the murderer. It was really close though.

 

Saturday: Still sick, so I skipped swimming and played basketball instead.

 

Sunday: Went to a parkour meet. It was raining and we needed to get from one place to another. In a very assassinny manner, we sneaked through a building to get to the other side and avoid the rain. That was fun.

 

Monday: Went to the gym with regular sweatpants. They were too hot. I really miss my other pair of sweatpants which I had to retire because it had too many holes. It was perfect for both parkour and going to the gym.

 

Here's a before and after of the pants I sewed on Thursday. I didn't take before/after pictures at the time, so the 'before' picture is actually the second pair that I haven't modified yet.

 

 

[raptron]

Busy week! 

[Manarelle]

Very busy week. Nice work on the pants though, that does look a lot more useable than with all the extra fabric. Out of curiosity, why wouldn't you walk into a gym wearing those? They seem fine to me...

 

Glad you didn't get arrested or fired, and got to have some fun, despite being sick.  

[WhiteGhost]

Glad your bosses and the police don't follow you here

 

Hope you get over the plague soon

[DoubleTrouble]

On 8/22/2019 at 8:54 AM, Manarelle said:

Out of curiosity, why wouldn't you walk into a gym wearing those? They seem fine to me...

 

It's these ones I wouldn't go into a gym with:

 

 

 

On 8/22/2019 at 3:26 PM, WhiteGhost said:

Hope you get over the plague soon

 

It's gone! Nice to breathe again

 

----------

 

Physio and bouhler not going well, but everything else is not too bad.

 

I did three side quests so far:

- Do a mentally challenging jump or movement 

- Swim the width of the pool (no doggie paddle)

- Watch a tutorial on treading water

 

There was a big rail precision at height that I went for at the local parkour gym. I planned to bounce back, and I did. The hard part was committing to the jump.

I think I swam the width of the pool multiple times already, this should not have been a side quest.

I watched several tutorials on treading water.

[Manarelle]

On 8/24/2019 at 1:42 PM, DoubleTrouble said:

It's these ones I wouldn't go into a gym with:

 

Mmmm, fair. It's one thing to say "you shouldn't mind what other people think of what you wear" but to be honest, I wouldn't wear that style to the gym either. 

 

On 8/24/2019 at 1:42 PM, DoubleTrouble said:

There was a big rail precision at height that I went for at the local parkour gym. I planned to bounce back, and I did. The hard part was committing to the jump.

 

Nice, congrats! The mental part is definitely a big hurdle on stuff like that. 

[DoubleTrouble]

On 8/26/2019 at 10:03 AM, Manarelle said:

Mmmm, fair. It's one thing to say "you shouldn't mind what other people think of what you wear" but to be honest, I wouldn't wear that style to the gym either. 

 

For some reason I'm totally fine wearing it for parkour meets but when it comes a gym I just want to blend in. Probably because other people wear that style to parkour meets too. I definitely mind what other people think of what I wear, but I try not to let it bother me too much.

[DoubleTrouble]

Gym and flips are back on track, the rest of the main quests not so much. I did a backflip from on top of a block onto a crash mat. A spotter was there but didn't have to help. The spotter was happy, but going by my experience trying to learn front flips, I know I still have to drill it a lot to get it consistently. Did some fronts on the spring floor without crash mats, and I was happy to be doing that again after more than a year of not doing any flips.

 

I don't think the rope climbing is going to happen, since I started getting elbow pain after ramping that up. I found a podcast by Christopher Sommer that talked about it (around 2:07:56), it was essentially because I didn't have enough conditioning. He also talked about muscle ups around 13:58, turns out shoulder extension is very important.

 

In parkour news, I tried a fake jump thing that I saw on someone else's insta:

 

 

[WhiteGhost]

3 hours ago, DoubleTrouble said:

a fake jump thing

So I have watched this video probably 15 times now and I still can't figure out what is going on.   Can you describe it? 

 

3 hours ago, DoubleTrouble said:

I started getting elbow pain after ramping that up. I

This happened to me when I first started working towards muscle ups in a dedicated way.  

 

Yay for flippy progress

[DoubleTrouble]

38 minutes ago, WhiteGhost said:

So I have watched this video probably 15 times now and I still can't figure out what is going on.   Can you describe it? 

 

It's a partial extension of the legs on the takeoff (just enough power to make the distance) and a full extension of the legs while I'm in the air, followed by retraction for the landing. Maybe I'm not doing it right? Here's what I'm trying to do:

 

 

 

[@mu]

Nice! Side flippy thing was cool too!

 

I got very similar pants, but the widening stops at the knees and they are very tight (in a stretchy way) below. The shape is cool and does not get in the way. I got it for a costume a while ago. I never really wear it for daily training though, not sure why actually (apart from the fact that it's a bit too warm for the current temperatures).

[WhiteGhost]

8 hours ago, DoubleTrouble said:

It's a partial extension of the legs on the takeoff (just enough power to make the distance) and a full extension of the legs while I'm in the air, followed by retraction for the landing. Maybe I'm not doing it right? Here's what I'm trying to do:

Ah,  got it.   I can see it now. I don't think you were doing it wrong, per se, but not as polished and crisp as the other guy (which is perfectly reasonable of course) 

[raptron]

Yay for back tucks!

[DoubleTrouble]

On 9/5/2019 at 1:53 AM, @mu said:

I got very similar pants, but the widening stops at the knees and they are very tight (in a stretchy way) below. The shape is cool and does not get in the way. I got it for a costume a while ago. I never really wear it for daily training though, not sure why actually (apart from the fact that it's a bit too warm for the current temperatures).

 

I can't do straddle vaults in the pants because it gets caught on the pole or whatever I'm going over, but other than that they don't get in the way at all. I still prefer regular pants though.

 

On 9/5/2019 at 5:30 AM, WhiteGhost said:

Ah,  got it.   I can see it now. I don't think you were doing it wrong, per se, but not as polished and crisp as the other guy (which is perfectly reasonable of course) 

 

I'll try putting my arms by my sides for extra crispiness

 

On 9/5/2019 at 9:51 AM, raptron said:

Yay for back tucks!

 

You mean back flips? It was a joke please don't kill me in my sleep

I did some more today! Mostly with a spotter, one or two without.

 

--------------

 

Swing backflip with a superhero landing:

 

 

[Manarelle]

Dude, so many cool moves here. Grats on the front and back flips - yeah, it might take practice to really nail it, but you GOT it, and that's a big win. Sorry to hear about your elbow, is that something you're interested in training up for, or prefer to stick with the flips? The superhero landing was just freaking amazing...

[raptron]

Hahah that's so fun!

[DoubleTrouble]

On 9/9/2019 at 12:33 PM, Manarelle said:

Sorry to hear about your elbow, is that something you're interested in training up for, or prefer to stick with the flips?

 

I'll do both I think. I thought about the rope climbing and realized that I used to do a lot of horizontal rope traverse on the nets at the playground, which I think kept me pain free as I started climbing vertically. There was definitely a period of time where I could climb the vertical rope without pain, I just need to replicate what I was doing at that time. I wish I had recorded what I did everyday.

 

On 9/9/2019 at 12:33 PM, Manarelle said:

The superhero landing was just freaking amazing... 

 

11 hours ago, raptron said:

Hahah that's so fun!

 

It really is an impractical way to land. Good thing the ground was soft or I would have hurt my knee