"Wax on, right hand. Wax off, left hand. Wax on, wax off. Breathe in through nose, out the mouth. Wax on, wax off. Don't forget to breathe, very important."

Have you ever realised you were just racing through your daily activities, rushing from one thing to the next, multitasking, cramming in the tasks of everyday life? Perhaps you were only able to realise when you stopped moving for a moment to take a break, or finished a deadline and breathed a sigh of relief. Day to day pressures and constant stimulation from electronic media can mean that our senses are occupied almost every minute of the day. If we are able to manage that pressure, it can enable us to accomplish a huge amount, both at work and in our spare time.

 I wanted to provide an update of the growing parkour community in Southern California. Before I begin, the following are based solely on my own personal experience.

First of all, go and watch the amazing TED talk attached below.

There is no “parkour season” because parkour is always in season. While athletes in most sports have a defined season with games or matches to serve as regular checks on their progress, someone who trains parkour has a different kind of challenge. It can be difficult to stay focused on your goals when you don’t have a game coming up on Saturday, and you don’t have a championship you are training toward in a few months.

A while ago Parkour Generations asked if I could come up with a stretch programme for Parkour practitioners.

The challenge in this is almost not what to stretch, but what not to stretch in order to not get overwhelmed. Parkour has the biggest movement vocabulary I have ever come across and I am sure there are even finger stretches you could do to improve grip and prevent nail injury for those perfectly pedicured hands.

There is a general consensus within the Parkour community that knee death will occur should you decide to take a drop from over head height without rolling.

As a general observation, I think everyone would agree Parkour is male dominated.  During my time in Australia I found the male to female ratio was even bigger.  Without the option of female only classes the large outdoor ones filled with young teenage boys can be daunting to some women.  In class the guys are nothing but encouraging and generally treat you equally, unfortunately you only know this once your actually there training.

I’d liked to touch on what I believe is one of the more important aspects of training for athletes. Conditioning. Yes, training your particular sport is equally important!  However, if your body isn’t prepared for the sport, then longevity in the sport is unlikely. You won’t see gains without putting in a little effort! I’ll keep this short, as there is a vast amount of detail that could be introduced and maybe I’ll flesh this out in future posts.