Parkour Awareness Month - First meet.

Brief review.

So our first Parkour Awareness Party meet at Kapiolani Park was a great hit. With a line that went as far as David and I could scream while going over the techniques and people from HIpk as well as others who just walked by and joined the fun (including a few homeless)

Everyone had a taste of what parkour was, JC, Ian and a few others, were active and alert to invited those who stood there and just observe. Quickly reacting and doing their best to explain what it was we were doing.

It was a great sunny day full of fun and PK, what else could we all ask for? Footage of the event will be all put together at the end of the month.

Next meet will be next Sunday the in Waikiki and we cant wait.

April Events

April is Parkour Awareness Month.

We will be holding several Parkour Awareness Parties in order to bring more awareness to the general public in Hawaii. The mission of this events is to educate the audience about Parkour and Freerunning as physical disciplines of motion as well as communicating the proper ways to get started and benefits of training. We also hope that brings more recognition within the island as a legit activity accepted by everyone in our state.

The events will take place in several public parks with the participation of the HIpk members, the HIpk Team and Urban Current Clan. We will all be set for a whole day of fun while having the opportunity to introduce and share parkour and freerunning to as many people as possible.

Here is the itinerary and event outline.

April Sat 4th - 10am
Kapiolani Park - Near the workout are - beach side

April Sun 12th - 10am
Waikiki - Grass Area - Close to the water fountain.

April Sat 18th - 10am
Ala Moana Beach Park.

April Sun 26th - 10am
Kailua Beach Park

Event Outline

10am to 11am
Greetings

Set up
Greetings
Gathering
Plan overview

11am to 12pm
Warm up/Conditioning

Calisthenics
QM's
etc

12pm to 2pm
Play Time/Drills

Follow the leader
Pray and predator
Add ons
Work on technique
Welcome people in

2 to 4pm
Free Workshop.
Demo time

Use toys to set a route or flow.
Prepare demo.
Welcome people in

Workshop for anyone interested.

QM's
Safety Vault
Two Handed Vault
Lazy and thief Vault.

Everyone participates. We all invite people in, encourage lookers to try as we continue to play.
This is the time where our main focus is on the audience.

4 to 5pm
Cool down/good byes.
LEAVE NO TRACE (30mins park clean up)

Stretch/cool down
Event discussion (suggestions to keep in mind for next event)
Pick up and good byes.

We will try to collect peoples email so that we can set up a mailing list for future events. Maybe an open note book for comments.

For that day we should have;

A cooler with water. I can bring some, if others bring more we will guaranty to all have water.
Snacks to share. Focusing on light ready quick type (Bananas, energy bars, grapes etc)
Small Table.
Music Box...

We will be setting ourselves with.

1 wooden vaulting box box 43" "The Tank" a little high for beginner but great to increase challenge and to learn on.
3 pairs of pipe precision trainers. Plan on working on 3 set made from 2x4 for different difficult level.
1 5x6 mat.
1 mini trampoline about 2ft in diameter.

We also have access to

3 pairs of wooden boxes
- 1 pair is 8" tall, about 1ft in diameter.
- 1 pair of 12" tall, about 1ft in diameter .
- 1 pair of 16" tall, about 1ft in diameter.

1 trapezoid shaped soft vaulting box. Great for beginners. Perfect for very young kids and more mature adult. It consist in the pieces, quite soft, that can be use for other drills.
1 pair of 4x8" with bases for balance and precisions.
1 pair of 2x5 mats.

We will try to set a table with info flyers (PK history, training benefit [physical and mental], website. Performance, training consulting etc) If we find a way to hook up a TV playing PK videos on the table that will also be going on. I will be bringing some of the HIpk shirts I got left as well.

What we need.

Participation from the community.

- We are all going to be responsible to represent parkour positively and properly.
- Weather youre just participating as a training traceur or taking part in welcoming people in, remember to stay polite and keep it safe.
- Let's all exhibit a friendly and welcoming environment like we always do, the support, the camaraderie between all of us, the equality regardless of skill level. We have enough stuff to set different areas where we can all play. If you have our HIpk shirt this is the day you really wanna wear it, if you dont have it.. well, I am not going to make cheap ad out of this, but yeah, you might wanna buy a shirt now
- We will need everyone support on promoting this not as an event but as a expression of movement that will take place. We can use myspace, facebook or whatever else you think might help.

Volunteers

- As of now we only know of one person who has a truck to help bring the stuff. If that person cant that would mean the whole thing has to be canceled. So we need someone else with a truck to helps us out.
- People to help us set up and clean up.

This is going to be a great opportunity for all of us. So lets get it going, remember HIpk needs your support.

HIpk BBQ

So last Sunday we had a Training BBQ as a warm to the April - PK Awareness Month that we are planning. Brought a bunch of "toys" to train and play with and it was a success, we had a nice set up and lots of food. Several people came from the community and other new faces I have not seen but were happy to participate. We got lots of footage video will be up soon.

As far as training, a did several vaulting but mainly flips. My side flips are getting better and better but need to work on step off sideflips and summit. Did several fronts which hadnt done in a while and a few back layouts. Need to work on getting more distance with my kongs and need to work on longer double kongs as well. Did some gainers, everything god but working on getting further forward. Gotta remember to throw my hips out more.

Getting ready for next weekend, that is going to be wild. Ordered a banner and some flyers to promote PK and HIpk. We are expecting great Hawaii weather and great turn out. We just hope we gets lots of attention and participation from the spectators. Should be an awesome day.

Check out the flyer.




Ozzi

Conditioning Through Motion.

All of us at one point or another have been attracted and perhaps participated in a variety of physical activities/disciplines that appeal to us for one reason or another. Whether it is because of the physical results we get from it, the rush of adrenaline or plain and simple because they are fun, they all helped us develop abilities that only needed to be awakened .

I have had the fortune of being able to participate in several of my disciplines, most of them activities of motion. Ever since I found parkour I got stuck on it, being my main way of training, a hobby and also my life style. However, I have come to realize that several of the activities I have been part of in the past, although, in my opinion, not as fulfilling, fun and rewarding as I find parkour to be, they all offer other possibilities for movement; a variety of ways of motion that has been left out or put on pause since I started parkour. I will dare to say that I am not the only one who has done so.

We find parkour to be a very complete and functional discipline. The conditioning and preparation to be able to perform well is pretty much all we need to stay in top shape. But being a student of motion, there are always many more opportunities to develops skills that, although not being entirely necessary for our training, they still help the body adapt to different situations at any point in time, making us react quickly and effectively while our bodies keep control. They work on other areas we might not find another way to emphasize on and they also keep the body and mind in constant challenge and in constant evolution towards a stronger being.

We get hung up on putting a titles on a move, naming a discipline and even argue about what it is that we do. Well, let me help you out just a bit. Who cares really about what he/she/they choose to do? This we all do, is plain and simple and? called motion, movement. Regardless of the discipline, regardless of what we feel it means to us and regardless of what it is actually intended to, it all falls into a category, a category that needs no explanation, no definition. It is born with us, wired deep within our brains and will stay with us as long as we have limbs. It all falls into motion, natural movement.

The hunger for discovering what we are capable of has been with us ever since the beginning of man kind, when we had the actual need to move, to be fast and effective in our feet and stay focused, calm and strong in our minds while hunting, or even being hunted. Abilities that have stayed with us in order to survive. As only the stronger was able to make it, our race grew stronger and faster, therefore taking over all the animal kingdom as the stronger and smarter of the species'.

We are still smart, but are we strong? In this modern technology, where everything is put in front of us, that need for movement is no longer an urge or an actual necessity. We have come to evolve weaker, slower, heavier and lazier.

We see it everywhere, on the streets, dozens of obese people, people who could not be able to run even if their life depended on it. We see it on TV, "buy this" or "buy that" "You wont have to do this/that anymore" "It'll make your job easier" No more back problem" No more reaching that far" blah blah etc etc. Lazy, convenient, weak.... blah!

It is our natural instinct that thrives to move, then we make the choice, how we move and why we do it. That is all that matters, that we follow our primal need for motion and keep it alive. Whatever it is that you choose to do, do it with passion, discipline and dedication. Do it for yourself, treat your body with respect, reward when it performs well and punish it with intense conditioning when it doesn't, because that is what it is asking from you. Preparation, "play" and discovery. Keep it challenged and it will repay you in time.

Urban Current Clan Demo

Finally got it done, this has been waiting to be released for a while now. The original ending was going to be a cliff dive onto the ocean, reason why we are running to meet. Unfortunately it was about time we got it out, we have been waiting for one of the guys to recover from an injury, waiting any longer wouldnt do any justice to our current skills compared to the ones in the video, so here it is.



Make sure to go to youtube and watch it on HD

Training Update.

So we had our one of the Feb jams couple Sundays ago at the Pali Lookout, I had a great time, we hiked up the trail probably about a quarter of a mile only. It was moody and I was wearing the Ariakes. It was very interesting getting up, there were a lot of branches on the way so we used them to helps us out. It is a place we should really take advantage off. So we get to a cliff area. Beautiful view, just beautiful. There was a section of the mountain with a very interesting formation that we use for up hill flow and other drills. It was a lot of fun, I filmed it but lost the footage :-\, on the way down it was very fun, pretty moody but fun. I filmed the way down. It was very exhilarating at time. As I was running down with speed to prevent me from slipping, I was trusting my instincts to guide me and my ankles to perform well. I made it down and warmed up again. Played around with the rocks on the side of the mountain to do cats and other drills. It was very different but fun.

I was performing well, my body felt good. My ankles were well warmed up and feeling fresh. Up until I tried this kong to precision that was pretty far. I tested it a couple of time with one foot, was ready to do it with two and when I went for it I landed it a bit short, putting a lot of impact on my left ankle which is still healing. So that kinda did it for me, I did some wall ups and dinos for a while after that, some tic tac 360 to cat but not short after that I was having a hard time taking any running steps to perform a technique. My upper body was fresh, I could have done some upper body drills but I just kinda let get to my head and called it a day. After all we did condition well and the hike plus the trail flow gave us a good workout. Lately though, it take a lot of me to get tired, I get tired during the repetition of a drill but in between I get enough rest to keep on going. Not sure if this is good or bad I really dont rest all that much.

Yesterday I went to CF, wasnt able to do the WOD due the motion needed on the elbow with the weight required was just too much for it just yet. So I did my own thing. I started to warm up with an up rock then I did some motion training, some of the capoeira I have done, plus breaking and QM's all mixed together in flow. Also did several variations of stretches and push ups randomly during the flow. I also drilled my cartwheels and hands stands and other acrobatics. Did a few capoeira moves that hadnt done in a while. Felt pretty good, wanted to do flips but my ankle just wasnt there. I am doing CF and very low impact PK conditioning for the next few weeks. I need to take my injuries a bit more serious. Become more resilient is my main goal now.

The time for my trip to the mainland is closer and closer. I am planning on intensifying my CF training along with my parkour training and conditioning for the next 3 months, no pause. I plan on conditioning at the least 4 times a week with some light training here and there plus the jams, which I should not be tempted with. Then I might take it easy for a couple of weeks to get ready for the trip. This is going to be an opportunity I need to be at my best and 100% to be able to take the fullest out of it. This can change my perspective broaden the window of possibilities to me. So it is time to consider some very serious and discipline training routine. It is going to take all my will power to get thru it but how bad do I want this is all I need to keep asking myself.

I will be focus on training motion, movement, the different disciplines that will allow me to further develop physical abilities and improve my flexibility. This next few months are going to be exciting, I will probably have to face some slight frustration on the way.

With the new year...

With this new year a lot of new things will come, we have been getting visited in the community by out of state traceur. In fact, we are training tomorrow with a traceurse from New Zealand so that is something I am looking forward too. Been giving the elbow some rest since that fall during the class a couple weeks ago, never went to the doc but I am pretty sure I sprained it a bit. Old snow boarding injury that will take just a few week sto heal. Nothing to bad but needs rest. Trying to manage to work on lower body while still trying to pamper the ankle. It is feeling good, but after long session with lots of precision it ust gets tred and stiffy the next day.

I have also been working on the APKA page, which is coming alone pretty well. Edited a few videos and having a lot of fun with the class at CF. We are almost done with it but the next one is also already scheduled.

Holidays was great an manage not to get to fat, ha.

So anyway, that is about it and here are a few things I have been working on along with the pictures I took of my sexy injured elbow a couple of days after the fall.

Sexy Elbow


HIpk New Mascot


Farewell 08 Training


APK Alliance Reel


HIpk Training Jam


I am definitely excited to what is to come in this new year.