Most of us are afraid of doing something new, something in which we are not used to. This might be anything simple like a new haircut or even leaving our current job for a better one. Also many of us are afraid of creating our own little history through life and that's because we follow the steps that other greater, walked on. Fear creates our limits and our capabilities. Finding your own way allows you to express yourself through what you do. Everyone is unique, everyone has their own way.
It’s embarassing how the rythms of life drive us do certain things. Advertisements make us want to buy new things over and over again. Watching beautiful and handsome people on TV make us want to become prettier. Needs and marketing make us want to work more and more for money and so many other facts on which i can refer to. I don’t really know if we all want all these to happen, if those truly make us happy. Well, i’m happy when i buy something, but in truth other powers drive me to buy this “something”. I guess you all know what i’m talking about. So, we are leaded every day by others and they sell to us what they want to make us happy. I’m happy when i have a reason of being my own leader, and this reason is Parkour. In Parkour noone’s telling you what to do, noone drives you to act somehow, noone makes you think that you're in need for it, noone leads your mind and your body. You lead yourself into it, you find your own power through it and when things are not going the way you want, then it's your fault, not life's nor anyone's fault. Be a leader of yourself. In parkour it’s always us and ourselves, nothing more, nothing less. So, FIND YOUR WAY to be totally yourself.
I really find it important to say that beginners (and generally traceurs and traceuses), shouldn't have "absolute" images of someone they would like to be similar to. This might make them feel disappointed in time if they wont be able to be like their "idol" and i strongly believe that despite the fact we all train parkour, everyone though has their own way of movement. You just need to know about what you want to do and how far you want to go. This will make you feel that you practise parkour for your own personal goals and not because you want to look like someone else who might be more experienced than you are. You have your own body, your own mind, so path your own way into parkour.
Beginners who truly feel interested in parkour should be fully equipped with both patience and insistence. Most of the times beginning is the hardest and the most important part,so try to make a good start. If you have experienced friends who train parkour then surely ask for their help and also listen to their advices. Then try what you've learnt so far on your own; there will not always be someone next to you to help you. If you don't have any people to reach in order to practise with them, then try watching related videos (But don't watch that many though, sometimes watching many videos makes you lack of imagination, while trying to do moves and combos, guys or girls on that video did). You also need to know that everything's a chain in parkour. While leveling up your training, you will also need to level up your body condition and the way of thinking too. Don't get disappointed too easily, you are not Spiderman nor Superman to fly, so if you can't achieve something then you need to try more for it. As much as you want to do it, that much you'll have to try for it. I have been always thinking that someone who trains parkour and especially in the early years of training, is like a small child learning how to walk. For me, everything is happening step by step. This is how my mind and body head on balance. It's not all about just being in a good body condition and making progress while building body confidence. It's about having the mind maturity and the spirit to healthy progress too. Try work on making a balance between your mind and body, actually this is what will bring to you longevity and experience.
All people are able of doing great things, and for sure our body is ment to do greater things than walking and running. . So first of all we have to be able to understand how far our mind can “run” according to our physical condition. You don’t have to think that you train parkour in order to do what others do in the videos that you watch, because this will only make you feel stressed. Simple and basic things can make a good start among with your patience and insistence for knowledge. If you really enjoy the idea of training parkour, then you’ll find your own way to control the fear as your training “matures” by time. If you feel afraid of doing a specific move/technique, then try cut it in pieces and practise separately those “pieces” until you feel more comfortable of doing the complete move. The first important thing that you have to think of is “do you really want to do this?”. If the answer is yes, then go for it!
If you are an experienced traceuse, sometimes along your training, you might have felt a feeling blocking you mentaly to perform a move or a combo which you were practising very well some time ago. We all have felt it. My advice, let it go for sometime, not only this specific move which you did in past and can't do at the moment, but generally take a break from parkour and do something else. Go dance or ride a bicycle or go out with friends, go to the cinema or anything else you enjoy doing and just DON'T think about parkour for sometime, days, weeks..as long as it takes you to relax and free your mind and spirit again. Then start training again but take it easy, don't start with the hardest training, train simple things and try enjoying the things you train so that you won't get stressed again.
You’ll need to know that your body is unique too. There are no specific exercises which improve your efficiency at parkour and that’s because every body has it’s own needs and wicknesses. I would advice you to choose exercises using your body weight for strengthening and gaining explosiveness. For example plyometric exercises, you can find many tutorials on internet.
I usually find a long stair which has at least 8 steps. Then I start jumping explosively and quickly every step one by one with both legs and without using my hands to jump off. I do this all over the stairs for at least five sets. Then I do the same jumping two by two steps, then three by three steps and so on. If you can’t do it three by three steps or more then keep doing the sets in less steps. It will also help you doing the same exercise with one foot all over the stair one by one step and so on.
Your jump will also be improved while jumping on a medium size level-obstacle for many times. You have to find a place where the jump will not be that easy for you and also not too difficult in order to be able to do a lot sets. Jogging also helps, I jog 3 times per week for half an hour. You can also find a smaller level obstacle and try jumping it down and after that then quickly jump on floor using your hands up in order to reach the highest you can and then repeat the same again and again.
Push ups and pull ups also help a lot. If you can’t do many repetitions then you have to try do as much as you can till you feel full exhausted and that’s how you’ll be able to increase the repetitions. If you think that you need to use weights, try using less kilos and perform explosive exercises with them.
I really appreciate the chance of communicating with you through this letter, I wish I had the time to write more and I hope someday I’ll travel to your country and train all together!!!
My regards and my hugs to all of you
xx
Maria Raptaki
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