Finally I've cracked it, I started a new regime about 2weeks ago, one based on all the beliefs I've written about recently. Basically I work an exercise until it becomes very hard then either stop or do an easier version, e.g.doing muscle ups, they get too hard so start on round the world pull ups, and so on. this works the muscles fully, and in effect gives the same effect as doing five reps but using isometrics etc to make them harder. Cos really it don't matter that you're doing it a numba of times it's how long u go for.
Anywho 2 weeks after I start this guess what? I achieve a clean One Arm Chin on each arm, nice n fast, no kickin.
Sunday 11 November 2007
Monday 15 October 2007
Parkour and the human physiolgy.
Ok so some of you will have read what I wrote on Parkour and weight training, and I will first of all assure you that it's all true. Scientifically that is the best strength training method. However, I don't know about everyone, but I got into Parkour not only to better myself physically, but to bring my self to a more intune state with my environment. Going back to our roots as primates, jumping around trees, climbing without fear. Taking the beauty of movement from the natural environtment and learning to use it in the concrete jungles we have built. However when our ancestors were moving, they didn't train for it, no their movement trained them. When Georges Herbert travelled to Africa and took inspiration from the tribal hunters there, that displayed such a physical prowess; how many times did he record them doing Olympic snatches? NONE!
Chimpanzees, Gibbons, Panthers, Tigers, any animal other than man that you care to mention, takes its training from everyday life, so why on earth don't we? Well the first and most simple answer might be that we have created a different culture for ourselves, an unnatural, sit down culture. This simply however is not true, no matter how advanced we may consider ourselves our culture is no different from that of a Tiger, or an Ape/Monkey (monkeys have tails). How many times do you turn on a nature program and the predators are sitting around, grooming, shagging, sleeping in the midday? MILLIONS!!! And this coming from a lover of documentaries. It is in our nature that we as living beings will in everyday life want to rest, want to eat, etc. We've just made it easier for ourselves, instead of hunting, we go to the local Super-Market. The most vicous predatoir that most of us will ever encounter is a mugger, and that's not too often (thank God). But altogether there isn't that much that has changed since we were king of the swingers.
Again I repeat my question: any animal other than man that you care to mention, takes its training from everyday life, so why on earth don't we?
Well quite simply it's our physical evolution, look at the human body in comparison with our two subjects, a Chimp, and a Panther.
The Chimp walks on all 4 appendiges, distributing it's body weight over them, and moving in a way that stresses the muscles, making them work harder to move the body around. This combined with how much time is spent climbing helps them develop incredible upper body strength.
Now the Panther, again we see a distribution of weight, the Panther is naturally inclined to support around 300lb's of muscle and bone over 4 legs. That's 75lb a leg, take into account that when running the Panther uses only 2 legs at a time, that's 150lb's a leg being propelled through the air. Of course the panther may perform this more efficiently do to its joint alignment. Remember that the Chimp is in effect a process of evolution. Also consider that the chimp is looking to walk upright.
And that is the important thing in Parkour, training and the human physiology, we have evolved to move in a certain way, the human has evolved to walk upright as our diagram illustrates:
Our musculature has evolved to move this way:
So what we as a race have to realise is that our bodies have not evolved to move like a monkey, or a cat. Our bodies are developed to move in an entirely new way, like a human. The most apparent thing about the human anatomy is that our legs support our weight entirely. If you look at the picture of the Panther and examin how you are sitting (or at least how we are meant to sit) we can see an enourmous difference in how our bodies should be treated. The big cat sits over forwards, ready, supporting his weight on his front legs.we primarily sit on our bums, slouched back (even though we should be upright). What we have to examin about our bodies is how we can manipulate these weaknesses brought on by a mind dominated body, (a body where the evolution has developed to provide the creature with a more mental development as apposed to a better physical development) in order to opptimise the physical side of our abilities. This in my mind comes from acting more instinctively in our movements, and as Sebatien Foucan says "finding our own way".
So what aboiut our physical training? Ok we've established that animals have a significant advantage when compared to us in developing their strength, not to mention that they are geneticallly more inclined to it. For example (going back a while) a t-rex (I said it was a while) in puberty put on around 20KG of muscle a day!!!! i know this is an extreme example but you can see it in humans as well.
We class people into 3 catagories, Ectomorphs (thin people), Mesomorphs (Athletic people), Endomorphs (Those people who say they've got big bones..well sometimes it's a little true). In puberty a Mesomorph will put on more muscle than an Ectomorph, thats nature.
Right getting back on track. What do animals do? well after watching and examining for a LONG time, and studying physiology I think I have a pretty good answer.
Let me take you through some biology. firstly we have two types of muscle fibre, type 1 and type 2. Type 1 is slow twitch, good at endurance but not very fast. Type 2 is fast twitch, powerful, not so enduring, however endurance is increased with it. We need type 2, that's what most animals develope. How though? Okay alongside these 2 muscle types we have 3 energy systems. Creatine Phosphate, which runs anaerobically (without oxygen) this will be used for about the first 10 seconds of a high intensity activity. The Lactate system, which can last from about 20 seconds to 2 hours. This is again an anaerobic system, however it develops more of a mix, but, BUT!!!! It's the energy system Bodybuilders train into, which is why you hear them all going FEEL THE BURN!!! They like Lactic acid. For type 2 muscle we really dont like this.
So we want to train in the first 10 second before we start using the lactate system. which i might add is exactly what a monkey will do!!!! Will an animal move around when they're tired? NOOOOO!!!! They jump about a bit, feel the lactic acid coming and go, f@%k this I'm going for a nap. Sound familiar? Yup this is pretty much just what you'll read in any book by Pavel or some such people who say low reps are best. BUT instead of pausing in moves we should just tense the muscles harder, use their whole potential in every move to maximise effort!!!
Reps in my mind don't matter, the minute you feel any kind of tiredness coming on stop, either that or just keep going until your a few before failure, either way don't go to failure.
Yes everybody the monkey was the original grease the groover, doing something often and being fresh when you do it.
SO SHOULD WE HAVE A TRAINING REGIME FOR PARKOUR!!!!
Up to you really isn't it. all I will say is that whatever you do, whether it's going for a dayly walk and using Parkour, and doing it all often. Or whether you decide to go to a gym, train your strength and CV (Cardio, YES YOU NEED IT), it's your decision. But whatevedr you do remember you're a human, so move as such, and for gods sake, be proud of it.
J
Chimpanzees, Gibbons, Panthers, Tigers, any animal other than man that you care to mention, takes its training from everyday life, so why on earth don't we? Well the first and most simple answer might be that we have created a different culture for ourselves, an unnatural, sit down culture. This simply however is not true, no matter how advanced we may consider ourselves our culture is no different from that of a Tiger, or an Ape/Monkey (monkeys have tails). How many times do you turn on a nature program and the predators are sitting around, grooming, shagging, sleeping in the midday? MILLIONS!!! And this coming from a lover of documentaries. It is in our nature that we as living beings will in everyday life want to rest, want to eat, etc. We've just made it easier for ourselves, instead of hunting, we go to the local Super-Market. The most vicous predatoir that most of us will ever encounter is a mugger, and that's not too often (thank God). But altogether there isn't that much that has changed since we were king of the swingers.
Again I repeat my question: any animal other than man that you care to mention, takes its training from everyday life, so why on earth don't we?
Well quite simply it's our physical evolution, look at the human body in comparison with our two subjects, a Chimp, and a Panther.
The Chimp walks on all 4 appendiges, distributing it's body weight over them, and moving in a way that stresses the muscles, making them work harder to move the body around. This combined with how much time is spent climbing helps them develop incredible upper body strength.
Now the Panther, again we see a distribution of weight, the Panther is naturally inclined to support around 300lb's of muscle and bone over 4 legs. That's 75lb a leg, take into account that when running the Panther uses only 2 legs at a time, that's 150lb's a leg being propelled through the air. Of course the panther may perform this more efficiently do to its joint alignment. Remember that the Chimp is in effect a process of evolution. Also consider that the chimp is looking to walk upright.
And that is the important thing in Parkour, training and the human physiology, we have evolved to move in a certain way, the human has evolved to walk upright as our diagram illustrates:
Our musculature has evolved to move this way:
So what we as a race have to realise is that our bodies have not evolved to move like a monkey, or a cat. Our bodies are developed to move in an entirely new way, like a human. The most apparent thing about the human anatomy is that our legs support our weight entirely. If you look at the picture of the Panther and examin how you are sitting (or at least how we are meant to sit) we can see an enourmous difference in how our bodies should be treated. The big cat sits over forwards, ready, supporting his weight on his front legs.we primarily sit on our bums, slouched back (even though we should be upright). What we have to examin about our bodies is how we can manipulate these weaknesses brought on by a mind dominated body, (a body where the evolution has developed to provide the creature with a more mental development as apposed to a better physical development) in order to opptimise the physical side of our abilities. This in my mind comes from acting more instinctively in our movements, and as Sebatien Foucan says "finding our own way".
So what aboiut our physical training? Ok we've established that animals have a significant advantage when compared to us in developing their strength, not to mention that they are geneticallly more inclined to it. For example (going back a while) a t-rex (I said it was a while) in puberty put on around 20KG of muscle a day!!!! i know this is an extreme example but you can see it in humans as well.
We class people into 3 catagories, Ectomorphs (thin people), Mesomorphs (Athletic people), Endomorphs (Those people who say they've got big bones..well sometimes it's a little true). In puberty a Mesomorph will put on more muscle than an Ectomorph, thats nature.
Right getting back on track. What do animals do? well after watching and examining for a LONG time, and studying physiology I think I have a pretty good answer.
Let me take you through some biology. firstly we have two types of muscle fibre, type 1 and type 2. Type 1 is slow twitch, good at endurance but not very fast. Type 2 is fast twitch, powerful, not so enduring, however endurance is increased with it. We need type 2, that's what most animals develope. How though? Okay alongside these 2 muscle types we have 3 energy systems. Creatine Phosphate, which runs anaerobically (without oxygen) this will be used for about the first 10 seconds of a high intensity activity. The Lactate system, which can last from about 20 seconds to 2 hours. This is again an anaerobic system, however it develops more of a mix, but, BUT!!!! It's the energy system Bodybuilders train into, which is why you hear them all going FEEL THE BURN!!! They like Lactic acid. For type 2 muscle we really dont like this.
So we want to train in the first 10 second before we start using the lactate system. which i might add is exactly what a monkey will do!!!! Will an animal move around when they're tired? NOOOOO!!!! They jump about a bit, feel the lactic acid coming and go, f@%k this I'm going for a nap. Sound familiar? Yup this is pretty much just what you'll read in any book by Pavel or some such people who say low reps are best. BUT instead of pausing in moves we should just tense the muscles harder, use their whole potential in every move to maximise effort!!!
Reps in my mind don't matter, the minute you feel any kind of tiredness coming on stop, either that or just keep going until your a few before failure, either way don't go to failure.
Yes everybody the monkey was the original grease the groover, doing something often and being fresh when you do it.
SO SHOULD WE HAVE A TRAINING REGIME FOR PARKOUR!!!!
Up to you really isn't it. all I will say is that whatever you do, whether it's going for a dayly walk and using Parkour, and doing it all often. Or whether you decide to go to a gym, train your strength and CV (Cardio, YES YOU NEED IT), it's your decision. But whatevedr you do remember you're a human, so move as such, and for gods sake, be proud of it.
J
Sunday 23 September 2007
100KG BENCH PRESS!!!!
Sorry but I had to post this, I was messing around with some free weights on Friday before my salsa class (yes salsa), and managed a nice big 100kg bench press. For you guys in the US thats roughly 220lb. I can officially bench someone 30kg heavier than myself.
Monday 17 September 2007
THE ISOMETRIC MACHINE IS HERE!!!
Yes people I finally made my Bruce Lee style isometric machine.
The idea is to set the bar at different heights on the chain to perform different exercises. e.g. set up just above shoulder level for a shoulder press. I then stand on the board and press/pull (depends on the exercise) as hard as possible. The beauty of the machine being that it gives an endless resistance (apart from the bar or chain breaking).
The idea is to set the bar at different heights on the chain to perform different exercises. e.g. set up just above shoulder level for a shoulder press. I then stand on the board and press/pull (depends on the exercise) as hard as possible. The beauty of the machine being that it gives an endless resistance (apart from the bar or chain breaking).
Wednesday 15 August 2007
new regime
Recently I have started a new training routine, designed to pack on a little more muscle in order to increase strength potential. It goes:
1 set Push or Pull (upper 1)
1 set legs
*rest*
1 set Push or Pull (opposite of whatever I started with) (upper 2)
1 set legs
*rest*
1 set Upper 1
1 set Upper 2
1 set lower posterior chain
1 set mid section.
I have also realized that I've neglected the body weight exercises, so I'm concentrating on things such as Planche PU's, and Front lever progression pull ups.
1 set Push or Pull (upper 1)
1 set legs
*rest*
1 set Push or Pull (opposite of whatever I started with) (upper 2)
1 set legs
*rest*
1 set Upper 1
1 set Upper 2
1 set lower posterior chain
1 set mid section.
I have also realized that I've neglected the body weight exercises, so I'm concentrating on things such as Planche PU's, and Front lever progression pull ups.
Sunday 22 July 2007
Weight training and Parkour
Lots of people believe that weight training and Parkour do not mix that when you train with weights you bulk up, adding more weight which will make drops harder on your joints, and take distance and height away from jumps. Of course when you do any kind of resistance training your muscles will inevitably become more pronounced, however with the right kind of training you can make a fantastic friend of weight training. You can not only become stronger, making things such as climbing, much easier, but also becoming more powerful making your jumps and vaults easier. You also don’t have to worry about bulking up with the correct training method you can actually reduce your size and get stronger. Either that or you can make sure that all that muscle you gain is doing something so it doesn’t matter that you put on a bit.
The first rule of weight training is to set your goals. Do you want to become stronger or more powerful (in actual fact you can do both)? Do you want to increase your cardiovascular fitness or is your main goal pure brute strength? Do you want to up your endurance? In this article I’ll tell you a few plain and simple facts which can help you make fantastic gains in your Parkour through weight training.
First of all you have to understand that resistance is resistance, it doesn’t matter if you’re doing a handstand push up or a barbell shoulder press. I’ll admit that devices such as Ketllebells are different however this is because of the placement of the weight; it is outside of the hand and in some cases its lower so you are pushing through a longer range of motion. Anywho as I said you can mix and match bodyweight and weights, so if you’re fed up of bench presses try push ups etc.
The key to effective weight training is proper tension and not over working a muscle, over working is what bodybuilders do, this is what causes the sarcoplasmic hypertrophy seen on those preening posing body builders. What we want is a minimum amount of reps per set (5) and if you want to gain mass lots of sets (I advise against this in Parkour). The idea is to use a weight that will allow you to complete 5 reps per set but not hit failure, instead come within about 2 reps of failure. The reason we don’t want to hit failure is because instead of the muscle fibres getting strengthened and the numbers of them increase and the muscle becoming denser, the body will just pump more blood to the muscle stretching it and making more space. This means that although your muscle gets bigger it doesn’t get much stronger.
Earlier on I spoke about proper tension, basically what this means is being able to tense the muscle as hard as you possibly can, using all of its potential to lift the weight and therefore increase your potential. The way you do this is by engaging your entire body, first start by trying to tense your bicep and letting the rest of your body and arm go limp…cant do it well can you. Now do it but clench your fists hard. Better? Now do the same but contract your lats (the big muscle on your back that joins to the arm at the armpit). Better? Now do the same and squeeze your buttocks…better? Finally do the same but dig you feet into the ground and contract your abs, you should now be tensing your whole body (including the other arm). This is whole body tension, and it’s what’s going to be your primary asset in your weight training. Apply this to every exercise you do. First of all by not just using the tension to get the weight up but when its up keep the muscle tense, and instead of performing a negative (lowering the weight slowly) use the tension to pull the weight back down to your body (or depending on the exercise push it back).
Next we’re going to briefly talk about muscle strain; lots of people when they feel an exercise is easier just add weight….WTF!!! There isn’t any point in this until you know you can’t possibly make an exercise any harder. E.g. I perform weighted pistols (a one legged squat where your “resting” leg is held out in front of your body) whilst holding a kettlebell in front of me. Now a kettlebell doesn’t increase in weight, if you want to do that you either buy the handles that hold plate weights, or buy a new one, I am however skint and cannot do either. So instead of just adding to the weight, I perform isometric tension before during and after the rep. This means that when I am at the bottom of the motion I visualise pushing my foot down through the floor, and I tense and tense, but don’t move. I then begin the movement, and halfway through the rep stop, and hold it, then at the top of the motion I hold it and tense the leg and my body HARD. Just as a little pointer with this you will make strength gains throughout the range of motion when the tensed muscle is stretched out rather than when in a contracted or half contracted position.
The key to brute strength is to exercise when you’re fresh, not tired. Basically when you perform a set your muscle shouldn’t be tired from an exercise before.
If you apply all these techniques you will get stronger in the right way.
However for parkour you’ll want to a combination of strength, power, endurance, and cardiovascular strength. I can tell you now that if you perform the isodynamic style of lifting I have spoken about above, you’ll get all but cardiovascular. One other thing you can do to increase you jumps etc is to strengthen your hip thrust. Do this by using exercises such as the snatch, kettlebell swing etc. Any exercise that requires you to throw your hips forward violently is perfect.
Cardio gains can be made in a number of ways, but weights can do this for you as well, performing multiple reps on hard fast exercises, and getting your heart rate up. One thing I do is to perform all my exercises back to back, and by switching between upper and lower body exercises I allow my muscles adequate rest to make strength gains. Switching between upper and lower also keeps the heart pumping blood hard all around the body rather than just to the upper/lower body. This means not only adds the cardio benefit but burns a lot more calories and is good to lose weight.
Remember that as with your parkour training you should always warm up and stretch the muscles and afterwards cool down and stretch. I find after weight training the best time to train flexibility. Start off light and ease into your new regime, and remember to leave adequate time to recover, in the beginning you may want to take up to 2 days recovery. Remember to keep experimenting with different regimes and exercises, and keep your body guessing, now look forward and enjoy the benefits that your training will give you.
By Johnny Neal
A.K.A.
Dizzy Jim
Johnny Chan
Contact: dizzyjim123@msn.com
The first rule of weight training is to set your goals. Do you want to become stronger or more powerful (in actual fact you can do both)? Do you want to increase your cardiovascular fitness or is your main goal pure brute strength? Do you want to up your endurance? In this article I’ll tell you a few plain and simple facts which can help you make fantastic gains in your Parkour through weight training.
First of all you have to understand that resistance is resistance, it doesn’t matter if you’re doing a handstand push up or a barbell shoulder press. I’ll admit that devices such as Ketllebells are different however this is because of the placement of the weight; it is outside of the hand and in some cases its lower so you are pushing through a longer range of motion. Anywho as I said you can mix and match bodyweight and weights, so if you’re fed up of bench presses try push ups etc.
The key to effective weight training is proper tension and not over working a muscle, over working is what bodybuilders do, this is what causes the sarcoplasmic hypertrophy seen on those preening posing body builders. What we want is a minimum amount of reps per set (5) and if you want to gain mass lots of sets (I advise against this in Parkour). The idea is to use a weight that will allow you to complete 5 reps per set but not hit failure, instead come within about 2 reps of failure. The reason we don’t want to hit failure is because instead of the muscle fibres getting strengthened and the numbers of them increase and the muscle becoming denser, the body will just pump more blood to the muscle stretching it and making more space. This means that although your muscle gets bigger it doesn’t get much stronger.
Earlier on I spoke about proper tension, basically what this means is being able to tense the muscle as hard as you possibly can, using all of its potential to lift the weight and therefore increase your potential. The way you do this is by engaging your entire body, first start by trying to tense your bicep and letting the rest of your body and arm go limp…cant do it well can you. Now do it but clench your fists hard. Better? Now do the same but contract your lats (the big muscle on your back that joins to the arm at the armpit). Better? Now do the same and squeeze your buttocks…better? Finally do the same but dig you feet into the ground and contract your abs, you should now be tensing your whole body (including the other arm). This is whole body tension, and it’s what’s going to be your primary asset in your weight training. Apply this to every exercise you do. First of all by not just using the tension to get the weight up but when its up keep the muscle tense, and instead of performing a negative (lowering the weight slowly) use the tension to pull the weight back down to your body (or depending on the exercise push it back).
Next we’re going to briefly talk about muscle strain; lots of people when they feel an exercise is easier just add weight….WTF!!! There isn’t any point in this until you know you can’t possibly make an exercise any harder. E.g. I perform weighted pistols (a one legged squat where your “resting” leg is held out in front of your body) whilst holding a kettlebell in front of me. Now a kettlebell doesn’t increase in weight, if you want to do that you either buy the handles that hold plate weights, or buy a new one, I am however skint and cannot do either. So instead of just adding to the weight, I perform isometric tension before during and after the rep. This means that when I am at the bottom of the motion I visualise pushing my foot down through the floor, and I tense and tense, but don’t move. I then begin the movement, and halfway through the rep stop, and hold it, then at the top of the motion I hold it and tense the leg and my body HARD. Just as a little pointer with this you will make strength gains throughout the range of motion when the tensed muscle is stretched out rather than when in a contracted or half contracted position.
The key to brute strength is to exercise when you’re fresh, not tired. Basically when you perform a set your muscle shouldn’t be tired from an exercise before.
If you apply all these techniques you will get stronger in the right way.
However for parkour you’ll want to a combination of strength, power, endurance, and cardiovascular strength. I can tell you now that if you perform the isodynamic style of lifting I have spoken about above, you’ll get all but cardiovascular. One other thing you can do to increase you jumps etc is to strengthen your hip thrust. Do this by using exercises such as the snatch, kettlebell swing etc. Any exercise that requires you to throw your hips forward violently is perfect.
Cardio gains can be made in a number of ways, but weights can do this for you as well, performing multiple reps on hard fast exercises, and getting your heart rate up. One thing I do is to perform all my exercises back to back, and by switching between upper and lower body exercises I allow my muscles adequate rest to make strength gains. Switching between upper and lower also keeps the heart pumping blood hard all around the body rather than just to the upper/lower body. This means not only adds the cardio benefit but burns a lot more calories and is good to lose weight.
Remember that as with your parkour training you should always warm up and stretch the muscles and afterwards cool down and stretch. I find after weight training the best time to train flexibility. Start off light and ease into your new regime, and remember to leave adequate time to recover, in the beginning you may want to take up to 2 days recovery. Remember to keep experimenting with different regimes and exercises, and keep your body guessing, now look forward and enjoy the benefits that your training will give you.
By Johnny Neal
A.K.A.
Dizzy Jim
Johnny Chan
Contact: dizzyjim123@msn.com
Saturday 23 June 2007
VOTE FOR ME!!!!
mens health magazine is running a "how fit are you contest" and IM A FINALIST with my parkour demo reel.
Click below and vote for "Parkour Demo"
vote for me
Here's the video:
thanks guys!!!!
Click below and vote for "Parkour Demo"
vote for me
Here's the video:
thanks guys!!!!
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