Baden-Powell started a movement called Scouting.

And it is amazing.

It has it’s origins in helping youth develop physically, mentally, and spiritually.  This was focused on informal education, usually in the outdoors.   Much of the training had not just typical training, but also on physical conditioning and reconaissance.  Hence the term “scout”.  It was usually in natural settings, but techniques such as orienteering deduction were used in urban environment.

It’s fun and useful with a spirit for adventure.

Scouting for Boys was the book by Baden-Powel that started it all off.  

And this is where the parallels with Parkour are of interest.

The book and the activities were of such influence, boys and girls across the world formed scouting in their own areas.  Not parents.   Not governments.  Individuals, specifically young adults and youths.  It went viral.

Parkour began with David Belle, who traced his origins to his father’s training, which can be traced to George Herbert.  He and his compatriots’s videos became the source of inspiration for those around the world. 

Scouting has the motto “Be Prepared”.  Parkour has an unofficial motto “Etre et Durer”.  These are not worlds apart.  Both believe that effort, cleverness, and resourcefulness are paramount.  This might be due to military training, but with the call to pragmatism, and the removal of political agendas by both movements is distinctive non-military.

Where both diverge is that youth around the world began to write the Baden-Powell for advice, and he took up a leadership mantle, and led the movement.  David Belle did not lead by becoming a figurehead.

What brought me to these thoughts? 

My son and I went camping with his fellow Beaver Scouts into the great outdoors.  And what was on the campgrounds?

An obstacle course.  

We both had a great deal of fun running through the course, thinking of unique methods to challenge ourselves.

I know a lot of Tracers in the community that would love to just run through natural settings, practice their movements, and who would love to learn reconnaissance while learning to help their community.

And they could through Scouting.

I’m going.  To this Parkour Generations session.  Why?  Because I want to my own personal best and a beast.

I’ve hit a plateau.  My mind is playing tricks on me for some jumps.  I can make more than I let myself.  

And I have under 4 weeks to get my cardio up and strength.  

I have targets, I have goals … and I miss them.

All the time.

Part of is it is consistency… life events unfold and change plans to meet targets, so I must work on something else.

And this, I am fine with.  

Why?

Parkour is not just a collection of movements.  It’s not looking stylish with perfect flow.  It is not being in perfect condition.

It is an every day mental and phsyical activity.  And how you challenge yourself to overcome obstacles effectively and efficiently.

When I stop doing that, I am no longer a Tracer.

Until then, I am.

One motto in the Parkour community is Etre et Durer, which translates To Be and To Last.  My mentors in parkour have mentioned that a bit more than Herbert’s phrasing.

And it means being in the moment now and training for the future.  You train not  until you get it right, you train until it’s impossible to get it wrong.

It means a lot more than that to Tracers.

And every week, where I slip, I don’t think about quitting.  I keep going.  I don’t have the same amount of time to train.  I get pulled back into other matters.  But I  keep going back.

Because that moment, when I ran up a 10 foot wall, and then literally popped a monkey vault over, and felt weightless…..felt great.  And I went to the next obstacle.  Then another.

It doesn’t stop.  Ever.

Vaults:

• All vaults ambidextorous, with exception of the spin vault.  Not saying they are all strong, but, it’s there.  Added the thief vault to my repetoire (speed, lazy, thief, monkey, kong)

Now I can perfect some more and add the dash vault. 

Height:

• Shuffled across a girder 1 storey high.  Will drop this down to 9 feet and build up more confidence.  Broke it mentally to get across.  This is a huge leap.
• Comfortable just balancing at 1 storey height on a bar.
• This still needs work

Precision Jumps:

• Landing at 5 feet distance on wooden 2x4 precision trainers.  Problems with steel pipe.
• Worked on descent to precision…dropped from 9 feet to precision.
• Still needs work…some progress.

Overall:

• Vaults I make progress
• Height…making progress, slowly but surely
• precision jumps…needs some work.
• time to set more targets
• Also started on swing lache…wow, with my shoulders gone, I need to redevelop my grip

Jumping around has really given me pause.

Why?

Like most Tracers, I like variety.  This can make conditioning and movement hard to measure, as we will sometimes tweak our workout.

But the benefits are that when there is something we have been trying and it works, the gains are immediate.

And this gives me pause because my leg strength and endurance have increased, while my dynamic jumping has actually plateued recently.

I look through my journals from the previous year, prior to surgery, and I see a large change in my training methods.

I’m doing less plyometrics, but more strength for legs.  

There are some benefits.  My knees are not a complaint, nor are my ankles.  But realistically, if I added just one day of 20 minute extra plyos, there would be gains. 

I’m blowing some dust off the plyo routines that I was doing last year to update, and adding them in.

So keep a journal, make it searchable.

Ambidextrous for Lazy Vaults confirmed at 40 inches of height.  Further, Lazy Vaults then sweeping crane/underbar at 35 inches. 

Speed Vault:  Still making it a progression on my weaker side.  It’s faster though, almost a tapping motion.

Turn Vault: No progress.

Height:

No work

Precision Jumps:

Going from kong to precision.  Tape landing precision of 8 feet.  Landing on mats 4 feet distance, 4 feet away

Overall:

No work done on heights.  Going to go on some tire swings then tomorrow and go across the beams.  More precisions need to be done.

Obviously it’s time to learn some more vaults.  Lazy vaults should be done 5 or 1o times only to maintain current level.

I can reverse vault too, but, I don’t practice it as I can lazy pretty well, and that’s just a hand placement change.  Sometimes, I think there are too many variations of vaults everyone likes to name.  

Vaults:

Ambidextrous for Lazy Vaults confirmed at comfort level of 35 inches bar.

Height:

Shuffled across a girder 1 storey high.  Will drop this down to 9 feet and build up more confidence.  Broke it mentally to get across.  This is a huge leap.

Precision Jumps:

Landing at 5 feet distance on wooden 2x4 precision trainers.  Problems with steel pipe.

Overall:

Late start tonight.  Height and precisions are from yesterday.  Really pleased with height.  It had no finesse, but it needed to get done.

Superset

one arm dumbbell rows 3x12, 1x15 (ended with 45lbs)

incline pushups 3x12, 1x15

Superset

Cobras 3x12, 1x15

Dumbell flies 3x12, 1x15 (ended on 20lbs each arm, shoulders were worn out)

Superset

Machine Tricep extensions 3x12, 1x15

21 curls  3x12, 1x15 (ended on 15 each hand)

Core:  3x12 no breaks…kettlebell swing (ended on 20), side crunchs (ended on 25), russian twists (ended on 15)

Overall:

Being off my shoulder really affected my arms.  I’m really go to have to take this slow but steady