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.

A New Transition.

It has been a very interesting last 8 weeks. On Sep 23rd I got injured at the gym, with a moving coming up, I didnt feel to useful while moving. Once settled at my new place, we get the news that my wife will be deploying to Afghanistan for 7 or so months on Oct the 23rd. Not so happy news I must say, we decided to start working on what we need for her to take with.

About Oct 9th Amanda picks her sister at the airport, she would be staying with us for 2 weeks. Two days later, her mom also arrives, she would be staying with us for a week and a half. Happy to have them we go out and show them around, walking from here to there and from there to here while I have a heal to take care of. Doing my best to please both, what I need to do and what they 3 need to do, I managed to have a good time while keeping it safe in the ankle.

Very little time to train, very little time for the Stuff I usually do. I manage to get away for the two jams getting some training and testing the ankle very gently. The day when Amanda leave gets closer, so I arrange a surprise pre deployment away party with some kareoke and all. Very good times. The day arrives, short story, we all feel sad but give her our best we can, strength, optimism and patience.

With my in Laws still with me, still very little time. I take my mom in law with me to CF, first time in weeks since I get any conditioning, specially there. For the next 3 days crossfit left me with pain in muscles I forgot I had. Within all this time though, things are still happening for me and the community. I get an email from Flyp Media they tell us they want to add HIpk in an story about Parkour they are working on.

A few days later I get a call from Mark Toorock from APK he invites me to be part of the APK ALLIANCE. So that is off course great news, with a nice welcome and a little article on the APK site I come on board.

Last Thursday I drop my mother in law at the airport and get ready for what it will be a busy training season for me now that I have so much time in my hands.

This next 7 or so months are a great opportunity for me to continue to discover my capabilities. Training with the community and getting the classes going at crossfit, working with the Alliance team and keeping myself busy with what I can for the community will be my goals. I plan on making a trip to the mainland to train. I am very excited about that.

I plan on getting a job landscaping, that will keep me in shape and I kinda see it as keeping me in touch with nature, who knows, maybe the places I work at will give me the opportunity to move around just like we like it. I also plan on training myself in the natural method, it is something I want to bring to the community.

I am very excited to see what this opportunity will bring, I am at a moment in my life where my passion could become my career, what else can I ask.

My next step is to get a training schedule that will maintain me challenged. I have started today and I had a great time. I am taking biking again and that is keeping me motivated and excited.

There are other things not so fun that will need to take care of but hey, that is life. We would never achieve success without finding a few challenges in the way. It is my mission as a traceur to overcome them and keep on moving on.

October Jam Outcome

I had a lot of fun at the jam today. Different drills and games.

I wake up on a very chilly morning excited about the jam regardless of how rainy the day looked. Put on my favorite parkour pants my new W.W.D.B.D.? shirt, designed by a cool cat at APK and the totally wrong shoes for the day. Ariaki mesh lite.

I get to the school where some of the cats were already waiting, ready to go despite the drops of water dripping from the cold metal of the parallel bars at the very slippery playground.
After waiting for a few more minutes for those who we knew were coming, we started the warm up. A nice jog lead by Ian, surprisingly enough I am still recovering from my ankle, so was Pete who twicked his ankle a few days a go at the gym.

The panting guys arrive from their jog letting us know it was time for some good joint mobility and some stretches. After planning an intense leg conditioning I ended up deviating from my original plan when I started working on low-leg-cross stances. The nice breeze, almost perfect temperature and the tingling of hundreds of light drops of water bombarding our body from up above, led to a very relaxing and zen type of moment. I asked the guys to close their eye, control their breathing and enjoy weather and sounds of silence, it was very mystical, and calming.

The exercise went for a little while, then I figure, lets do some space sensitivity training.

We all made a long line, leaving about 2ft (arm length of one person), then we had to weave between each and everyone of us in low stances while keeping out eyes shut. Front and backward, the latter being very interesting for me.

After having a lot of fun with that, we came up with a game that we called "Predator and Pray"

It is very easy, a lot of fun and helpful to improve sensitivity, breathing and increase coordination.

It is very simple, there is only one Pray but as many Predators, there predators job is to stalk to the pray until captured. The catch is, the predators are blind, the pray is not.

In a low stance position or QM the hunters listen for the predators moves as he maneuver and sneaks around as he please. Some times mocking them or tricking them by intentionally making noise to dissuade the hunters from the Prays location. A snap of the fingers, stumps, heavy foot steps are used by the Pray to give clues of his location, while the hunter follow the sound as they stalk.

Some Prays like to play with the Predators by sitting still in between then while controlling their intense breathing.

Anyway, so yeah, the main idea is to have the Pray weave around and in between the predators as silently as he/she can in order to not be detected. The Predators are to use their senses and work as a tem to capture the Pray.

As the game intensifies, the Pray gets most of the workout, as it tries to skillful and silently move through the Predators undetected. The Predators usually get a heavy breathing due to the workout after a few minutes, asking for another skill set to be use. Controlled and Rhythmic Breathing.

We went for laps of about 10 minutes of "hunt", everyone was a Predator, everyone was a Pray.
I would specify the feeling and how it helps, but I will let you discover that for yourself.

After that we moved to a low wall, where we drilled pop vaults and climb us, which I must say, I have gained the understanding of the timing needed and the use of both feet. It basically has helped in such a way that when I do a climb up my elbows bend very little bringing me all the way to the top on a shimmy position. I also tried a couple clapping climb us and although i didnt succeed I was very close to achieving it. A little drilling and I will get it. I gotta say I was very happy about that.

After the excitement I drilled it several times during the day, the worse of the day after that, was better than any other I had done in the past.

We moved on to a very nice set of rails at the HS's stadium. Where right as I perform a dino on a wall, a lady comes to me explaining how I was not going to be able to that here due to liability, that she thought is was really nice but that the school would love to have you sign some waiver document that will allow us to be there without problem. She also showed interest on what we were doing, and said she knew about it, that they saw it (us) on the paper and that her son was interested on it. We told her about HIpk and what we did and she said it'd be a great idea to have a lecture about PK in her school, that she would totally be down for it. Thats when I asked, - what do you teach in here? She smiled and said "I teach P.E." my eyes lit up. She said that would love to have me consulting and maybe giving a demo to get some of the students interested because they needed programs like that. So I asked about the club and she said we can get it done.

So that was great news, I am also very excited about that.

At the end of the day we finish with an interesting little vehicular parkour adventure. As we approach the car in the parking lot, we noticed the gate had been locked with the car still parked inside. After much thinking and wondering about what to do, Pete hit the AWD no existing in this vehicle and climb the very steep sidewalk, drove through this jungle of 3" tall grass leaving a beautiful tire track to then drop from the 1/2ft sidewalk. That was also fun and interesting.

My foot felt ok but not too ok. I pushed it a bit and it felt the stress. I did however, try at all times to be very careful with my moves and never let pain take over. I should start conditioning rigorously very soon, while letting the ankle gain strength.....

that is another story though. I'll be posting an update soon, I havent been around as I should. Lots of stuff going on that I will share with you guys later.

Here is a video of the climb up and one attempt to the clapping climb up.
(Sorry about the video, for some reason my editor would not open it, so I could not rotate it.

No Obstacle Too Great

Parkour practitioners may look like crazed daredevils, but there is a solid philosophy behind their moves: You can overcome anything

Avi Kaye flips off a wall

You may have seen Parkour around town, on TV or the Internet, but didn’t know what to make of it: guys and sometimes girls bounding around handicap ramp rails, jumping from rooftop to rooftop or using overly elaborate ways of getting from one point to another.

A McDonald’s commercial shot in downtown Honolulu features a young businessman leaping around the city’s obstacles, with McDonald’s bag and ice cream cone in hand, trying to get to work on time.

The most memorable - and over-the-top - portrayal of such street acrobatics is seen in the Bond flick Casino Royale when the British agent chases a bomb-maker around the streets of Madagascar - bounding from high rooftops to the ground and fighting on top of construction equipment. This is a good example of what Parkour is about: Escape, no matter the obstacle.

However, what appears to be a lot of flips, running and wall climbs is actually a discipline that takes commitment, training and focus both mentally and physically.

“Parkour the sport is also a philosophy,” says Hawaii Parkour founder and organizer Ozzi Quintero, who also starred in the McDonald’s commercial. “We believe if we train the body and mind to overcome the physical obstacles that get in our way, then why not use the same mindset to overcome the mental obstacles in daily life?”

Parkour essentially means “the path,” and is a physical art form dedicated to getting an individual from point A to point B using the objects that usually deter most, like walls and fences, as an advantage.

“We don’t see obstacles. We see opportunities to use our minds to create a particular solution for whatever is in our way,” Quintero says.

Why take a bridge, says Genevieve Zasada, when you can jump?

Quintero himself started Parkour for the wrong reasons. “I’ve always been a natural monkey,” he says, listing several other extreme activities he’s done including BMX, break-dancing and martial arts. “So when I moved to Hawaii, I was looking for a place to breakdance, but then I saw Parkour videos and said, ‘You know what? I can try this.’ But then, like I said, it was just because it was cool. I wanted be just like Jackie Chan or whatever.”

From there, Quintero went out to live, eat and breathe Parkour. “Within a couple of months I just started to try to find people around and was either learning from them or teaching them, because I had a lot of time on my hands,” he says. “I was just looking at tutorials all the time, going out to practice, and got into forums online to try to understand the philosophy and training behind it.”

Despite his auspicious attitude, Quintero started to feel the pain of an unconditioned body with the beatings his bones and joints were taking.

So he dove deeper into the history and philosophies surrounding Parkour, which, believe it or not, has been around for decades.

It all began with Georges Hebert and his journeys all over the globe in the French navy before World War I. While visiting Africa, Hebert was impressed with the physique and training exercises practiced by Africans, as well as their ability to use the environment to their advantage.

Richard Skowronski safely leaps across a Kaneohe canal

Thus, he created a strength-conditioning regimen called Methode Naturelle, or the “natural method.” The conditioning includes 10 fundamental groups: walking, running, jumping, quadruple movement, climbing, balancing, throwing, lifting, self-defense and swimming.

The French military began using the method to train its soldiers and trickled down to the godfather of modern Parkour’s father, Raymond Belle, who served in the French military in Vietnam during the 1950s. He instilled the training and mindset into his son, David, who took it to another level.

Belle began using the method in the streets of Lisses, France, in the late 1990s with a handful of friends and gave it the name Parkour. This new method has the same roots as the natural method, but places more of an emphasis on the urban environment.

“You can think of Parkour as an idea,” says Quintero. “It’s the mindset of overcoming obstacles rather than giving up in front of them.”

The real question is: Is it hard? The answer: Yes! I caught up with the group at a Kaneohe park, with MidWeek photographer Byron Lee, for some conditioning exercises.

“I want you to try this, Matt,” Ozzi says. “So you can write about how much you hate me afterwards.” And boy, do I.

We all sat in a circle as the sun slowly cooked our flesh and drew out the sweat soon to cover every inch of my body. We did some yoga-like poses and exercises, using mostly our own body weight to tense up our cores, strengthen our legs and work on our arms.

“How ya doin’, Matt?” one of them shouted out.

“Yeah, right!” I gasped. I was sore for the next week and a half.

Members of the local chapter are young, the eldest being 25 years old, and the youngest about 15. “First time I saw Parkour was in the media,” recalls 22-year-old David Saucedo, listing martial arts and acrobatics as his previous activities of choice. He started as a free runner (a similar urban sport without the philosophy), but enjoyed the mentality behind Parkour more, joining Hawaii PK after moving here from Texas, where he also practiced the sport. “That’s why I started getting into it,” he says, “because I started understanding it and how a person can be enlightened, and once you know about that it’s when you start doing things different.”

Apart from making older folks wish they were still as nimble as these guys, Parkour has practical uses, too. “It can be an everyday thing,” says Saucedo, noting that repetition makes his training second nature. “If you’re really doing Parkour in an emergency, like an escape, the most efficient way for someone is to just run. But if it’s in a place with obstacles, than the Parkour training can be really beneficial.”

Richard Skorownski leaps over a railing

Hawaii PK is not just a boy’s club either, as proven by Hawaii PK member Genevieve Zasada. “(Parkour) makes me feel free,” says the 18-year-old from Connecticut. “Alot of females are really discouraged because Parkour requires a lot of upper body strength.” She notes, as if reciting a mantra, this is just another challenge for her body and mind to overcome.

However, Zasada still wants to see more girls like her representing their gender. “I’ve been trying to recruit some more girls at my school (UH Manoa), and I will be starting a Parkour club there.”

Avi Kaye vaults over a picnic table

For more information on Hawaii PK, maps to good locations for practice, the history of the sport or some training and tutorial videos, visit http://www.hawaiipk.com.

“Whether it is to discover what you are capable of, or whether it is for you to prepare for a particular situation,” says Quintero, “we train our body to effectively jump here and land there safely and efficiently. We train our mind to let that gap (between here and there) just disappear, and let our instincts take over our fears to use them as an ally rather than an enemy.”

Our Sour Down Moments - Injury Recovery.

Injury, a word respected by some traceurs, maybe feared by others, but needless to say desired by none. Although in most cases we can easily prevent injuries from happening, there is no doubt that they are a constant companion in our path of physical discovery. Whether it is a tiny scratch from a well executed cat leap or a bruised wrist and bashed shoulder after our sweaty palm slid pass right over the concrete wall we were trying to vault.

Any traceur will tell you to check before you leap or to conditioning regularly in order become stronger and help prevent injury. There are hundreds of sites that will provide you with informative material about the importance of slow progression, constant conditioning and drilling of movement. All of which will help you prevent injury.

Well, the injury prevention topic is pretty much covered, but what happens when we are injured? What now? You have been training hard, efficiently, combining it with a rigorous conditioning program and even then, regardless of how careful you were, you now find yourself out of commission for a few months. Here is when the sour moments start. Healing time, maybe a limp or bad shoulder whatever the case may be, you are on the shelve.

As traceurs we see obstacles and opportunities. This is a mindset that we all should carry whether we are training or not. An injury is just an opportunity for us to take that time to find our areas of opportunity to be able to come back stronger that we were before.

Let it be known that this information is not intended to be medical advice. You should consult a professional before diagnosing yourself to determine the grade of damage and rest needed to prevent poor healing of the injured area.

Rest Time.

Some injuries will require more rest than others, such as literately stopping from strenuous physical activities all together. It is imperative to recognize what level of damage was caused to the body in order to determine the amount of rest needed. The human body is a regenerating machine, capable of healing itself very quickly and effectively if allowed enough time and rest to do so. Read R.I.C.E. for effective ways of treating common injuries.

You should be able to feel when your injury is regaining its power and strength back. Pain is a very good ally while healing. The more you can avoid it, the faster and stronger you will be healing. Needless to say re-damaging an area will only make it worse. Prolonging healing time while also healing very poorly.

During your rest time, we can carefully and gently test our range of motion, not to challenge the area but to rather keep it active and exercised, this will also stimulate the blood flow and help recovery process.

Remember, stay away from pain. Pain is never a good indicative. It is built into our system to tell us that something is wrong.

Visualization Training.

It is proven that humans can learn and achieve not only by doing but by visualizing. We do it all the time right before performing a technique and we do it in our sleep. The brain takes all the experiences of our day to learn as much as possible. Muscle memory works even when we sleep. Being aware of this, you don’t have to stop training, you can practice with your mind. Picture yourself training at one of your favorite spots or when you see an area play with thinking what you would be able to do there. We do it all the time anyway. Use it to your advantage, just sit in a quite room, and go to that favor spot of your and just see yourself going at it.

This visualization training will allow the brain to touch bases with the motion and train our minds, the most important part of our Parkour performing bodies. Visualizing will also restore the muscle memory of all the training you have previously done.

Evaluating Possibilities for Training.

Although most serious injuries will keep you away from performing at a 100% for months, on occasion we can get back to conditioning other strong areas of the body and drilling skills after just a couple of weeks of full rest. Keep in mind that during this time we are still in a rest period, we should chose isolated areas of the body that will not compromise our healing.

Although the possibilities for exercises could be endless this would be a good time to drill those exercises we tend to avoid. I mentioned that as traceurs we don't see obstacles but opportunities, therefore, I believe we should come back considerably stronger than we were before. Although no body likes or enjoys being injured, it can help us in many ways.

It is good to always keep in mind that whatever it is we are drilling or training, we should not allow any discomfort on our injured area to be caused by our conditioning. This pain or discomfort is your body telling you to stop doing what you are doing. Your body is your temple, respect it, baby it, because it is your tool for movement. Appreciate that it is healing itself while you still try to challenge it. Be thankful to it for still stay strong enough to do both. This could also be an eye opener to ask ourselves, what if? What if right now I needed to run to/escape from/defend myself from anything. How would I be able to stand up to that situation in order to save myself or others? That is the biggest challenge.

Be smart about what you chose to drill. You will find at the end of this article examples for the most common injuries and the conditioning you can still perform while recovering.

Recovery Training.

After a little while we start feeling confident and able to move, yet we feel we are not as strong as before. Some athletes make the mistake of getting back to the "game" before being fully healed, this could easily lead to re-injuring the area once again prolonging healing time and making the area weaker.

• Light Training. It is simple, just give yourself some time. Get your body into light training and conditioning that will ensure safe progression and strengthening of the injured area. Little flows, stealth training etc. There is no need to go to that favored cat leap spot of yours, or to go on a full on 4hrs session with the fellow traceurs - euses. As I always say, there is so much to do ground level that it takes much more skill than the big "all out" techniques.
• Healed Misconception. One of the easiest things to do after an injured, it to get re-injured. Many of us start getting excited about the way we move one more time, we fight through bits of pain ignoring what signals, we gather with friends or join a jam and it is just so tempting inst it? Once again, be smart, it IS your body, the only one you will have for a long while. Being able to use it efficiently and to the fullest on a later age in the future is our responsibility now.
  

Back to training.

Unarguably, strength and full recovery of our injures comes with time, as if starting over the progression to our full on training regimens should be slow increasing the intensity of training as time goes by.

Even after fully healed it is important to remember that strengthening and conditioning methods should always be part of our training in order to become more resilient against the possible hazards of training on the streets, those we can prevent and those we cannot. The stronger we become the more our body will be able to resist.

PK/FR Related Injuries - Recovery Training.
Based on what I have heard throughout different communities

Upper Body.

Shoulder (AC separation, dislocation, etc)
Collar bone (fracture)
Wrists (Sprains, bruise)
Elbows (Over use, tendinitis)
Fingers (Broken, bruise)
Palm (bruise)

• Strengthening. Pistols, squats, box jumps, knees up. Balance training, agility training, cardio, up hill sprint etc
• Parkour Training. Tic tacs, precisions, one handed climb up/wall ups (also strengthening), rural running. Hurdling, some vaulting, flow, footing.
  

There are several of exercises that can be done while recovering from this type of injuries, giving the injured area very little or no stress and time to heal. Some of this exercises require arm rage of motion so very slow progression and low intensity is the best way to go (specially when recovering from shoulder and elbow injuries).

Lower Body

Knees (over use, jumpers knee, tendinitis, bashes)
Shins (shin splints, bashes)
Ankles (Sprain, broken)
Heels (bruise)
Toes (bashes, bruise)

• Strengthening. Several variations of push ups, pull ups, chin ups, muscle ups, dips. Core, grip, hand stands etc.
• Parkour Training. Climb us, laches, hang shimmies, waist shimmies. Arm climbing (under stair case climb)
  

Some of this injuries could, depending on degree of damage, prevent you from being able to displace at will (limp, pain etc) so we must be extra careful with what we do. We might not want to do laches if we are recovering from an sprained ankle.

In conclusion, again, we believe that we use our body and mind to come with solutions to different obstacles that come our way. We, I don’t believe a traceur would let an injury get on its way to excel as a physical being.