A new year ahead.

Well, well. Things are looking good, but it could have been better.

What improved is, yes, I bailed lesser, I did lesser stupid things, I did focus more, I did more strength training. Rolls are being trained and improved, I can say I improved overall. But the bad thing is, while training today I still did not focus, and still had the JUST DO IT mindset, but luckily my instinct saved me. And I didn't really train my mind to think before stuffs. So more stuffs to work on.

2007 is nearly ending. Its been 9 long months where I've been training this discipline and I very happy I came this far. I don't know what would I be if I didn't train at all. Lucky, lucky. Oh well I guess stupid people will think otherwise. I've yet to do my homework but I hopefully will. As the holidays are ending I will take every opportunity to travel further from Tampines. Jurong, and Bishan. I know I went to Bishan twice but it rained. I know the spots, they are cool but sadly I didn't train due to the wet conditions. Sucks. Jurong is my last aim. I travelled to city, Bedok, Sengkang, Jelapang, Crawford, Simei (lol), Pasir Ris, and abit of Punggol. I think thats all.
Sometimes I feel really stupid to do stupid stuffs. I think I would learn my lesson, learn from my mistakes, and stop doing them again, but no, I repeat them, and I regret and crap and moan, and I said I will stop doing them again, but no, I repeat them, and I regret and crap and moan, and I said I will stop doing them again, but no, I repeat them, and I regret and crap and moan, and I said I will stop doing them again, but no, I repeat them, and I regret AGAIN, and DO the same thing all over AGAIN. ADDICTION? HABIT? Why can't I stop them. This happens in alot of things, in everyday life. This sucks.
And even I said I will stop doing them again, eventually I do them again. And it repeats. Its fucking lame. No self-control. This is retarded.

I recently made a roll video to show the other experienced traceurs hopefully to get good feedback and ways to improve it. Although there are times when I don't feel pain, most of the time there will be pain, and sometimes even stinging pain. Lucky I improved so much more then last time, where every roll is stinging pain. I think my roll is weird, I need alot alot alot more practice to get used to it, to get better in it, to learn how to get up fast, how to not let my collar bone touch the floor, and in overall, and finally to do it from a drop. I also think I lack the meat to cushion my bones, oh well I have to wait till I reach puberty.

I also start to realize my future dreams and ambitions. And I wish to work on to it and achieve it one day. It is to become a good traceur, and to learn lots of different human movements (art of movements), and to become a cameramen and video editor. Its a long-term lifetime goals. I think I made up my mind. Hopefully can live up to it, and live a simple happy life. And I still have lots of time. Again, wishing, hoping and aspiring can take you nowhere, have a goal in mind and WORK towards it, not dream to get it without getting your ass off the chair.
I've learn alot of video editing tricks, figuring out what effects makes a video look good. I really want a camcorder, but I guess it will be until I finish my OLevels then I would start pursuing my ambitions. And its then where I finally get my freedom I longed for. 2 years, just 2 years.

School is reopening, but what the fuck, I don't feel like going back to school and meet the old/new faces. I don't look forward to go to school, I think I will have just a few good friends and don't socialize too much. I don't see the use, I wish to be some kind of loner but not like nerd or something. I will spend more time training instead of socializing and having fun. But then again, its not something I could control.

Strength training is something that I'm doing recently, although I admit I prefer technical training so much more then strength training. But I wish to get my base strength for my whole body before I start training purely technical stuff and gain strength from doing them.
Muscleups. I haven't been training them and this means I kinda will lose them all. No choice, have to re-train for them. I feel like stopping Operation Pull, I lost the whole motivation to train them anymore. I've did 750 pullups, but I swear I did alot more then that but, nevermind. I think I will stop doing them for a moment.

Handbalancing anyone? I wanna get my handstands, but I think muscleups are much more important. Hopefully one day I can do couple of handbalancing stuffs. Handstand press, elbow levers, L-seat, maybe eventually planche? They are really good for core strength and its cool and fun! And tricking? Next year I will start training them alot once I think that my Parkour standard is good enough. I'm also thinking of starting capoeira, but not wanting to go to classes, just learn some basic self-defense and skills, because I think it is the only fun martial arts I know, but oh well, I will see. All this for the arts of movements.

I think I need to train alot of legs for the moment, probably because I think I'm neglecting them. I can see that my precisions ain't really improving, neither do my vertical, and my wallpasses, and SDC distance. I think its time to push my limits a little further carefully and with common sense. I'm shifting house soon, and I found new nearby hotspots for me to train in, including a wall seemingly high, and hopefully I can try to get that.

I think ambidexterity is very important. I hope to have a day to train my weaker, less dominant and unpreferred side. I think my punching off is pretty much equal, both my left and right can jump equally far. Vaults.. pretty much equal. But whatever, I will still drill my weaker side once in awhile, just a new twist. And more balance practice.

All that said, I hope to get alot stronger, better and faster. Its time for a change.
Its time to wake up and stop doing stupid things.

Rest.

Bad week. Really.
I really going to take a break from Parkour and training for at least one week.

Probably going to ask why.
Simple. Injuries, wrong approach in training, bad mindsets, bails.

Recently trainings has been worse then ever before. Ok not really the training, the bails and injuries. Thursday at Sculpture Park, I bailed twice, both quite serious. First bail, I tried to semi-armjump a sculpture then I lose my grip, falling backwards, and ramped back first to the ground. Its a 1m drop. Ok I took me awhile to finally lessen the pain. How stupid am I do bail that, its quite high and dangerous.

The second one is the killer bail. From a spotlight thingy, I precision-ed up to the sculpture and then I kinda missed it, and I hit my shin on the edge of the wall, which made a deep cut to my shins. It bleed like fuck. And I hate it.

Apart from that, I got a few joint probelms, wrist and shoulders. My wrist is kinda pain, Not sure why, maybe overused. Same for shoulders, too much pullups with bad form. So with all those injuries, I better stop training and give myself a break.

Now why did I bailed?

Again, simple as. Lose concentration, lose focus, careless, do stupid things, don't know my limits, never think before doing.

I just hate it. My mindset sucks. Before doing things, one movements or in a run, I always just do it. I hate the mindset of "Just Do It" type. Fuck Nike. Maybe got influenced by its slogan. Anyway, before doing something, I never think before doing it. I lose focus easily, not distracted, just lose focus. Don't know why. Its like 50 bails already and I never learn from them. I keep pushing my limits too far too soon. Why? And I can't fucking change and stop it. This sucks. I bail almost everytime I train.

You know what, yesterday I bail a simple two handed vault and I almost fell backwards to a 2.5m drop. WTF am I doing? Lucky my arms are strong enough to stop the fall, or else things can be really bad. I just hate it lah, it just really sucks.

Oh yeah, I keep saying this and I never change. And only talk but no action. Don't know whats wrong with me. I really need to stop this shits.

So, I guess during this last 2 weeks of December, I going to not train and take a break from Parkour for one week, and the last week I'm going to start a new approach to training. This one week break I will do very little things, small stuffs, no upperbody (due to joint probelms), so I'll most probably be doing small lowerbody and abs strength training. I will be buying new shirts and pants suitable for Parkour, going to buy a new shoe in the New Year, new light and thin bag, more weights, and probably some other stuffs. And also taking rests and learn more video editing stuffs.

The last week will consist of a new training approach. I know you will probably had heard before, and how many times I said I will be seriously changing it but well, I will plan a new way of training. So hows the new training going to be like? After I'm fully recovered and rest, I will slowly go back to normal training. I will train myself to think before I do stuffs. Before I do something, I will tell myself three things.
1) Is this right or not?
2) Do not lose focus/concentration and be careful.
3) Don't force yourself to do something.

Simple stuffs, but it does make alot of difference. I will train myself to be focused in everything. So even in runs, I will not hesitate but I will not force myself, and maintain full focus. "Is this right?" would stop my stupidity, recklessness, and pushing my limits to overcome me. Although bails can still happen, it will be greatly lessened. Slowly, I can focus in a short matter of time so I don't need to hesitate especially in runs.

And I will do more strength training. I've not been working on it for a very long time. Oh yeah, I will be buying weights and shifting house soon. I'm buying a pullup bar so I will be training at home. And more balance training and rolls. Once I'm recovered though. I will try to make a new workout routine.

And I hope Operation Pull would be done soon. Before December ends. 700 forces, quite a long way away. Look out for a conditioning video next week, and probably a PKSG Video. My video editing improved alot, thanks to Sony Vegas Pro 8. Yay, videos will be so much nicer.

So then, I will rest till I'm fully recovered and when I know I can start again. I will be listening to my body. Again, let every normal human beings, we want to progress fast, but I'm already fast, and yeah I still want to progress, but in those less impactful stuffs like wall passes, muscle ups, climbups, small stuffs. And I will stop pushing my limits too far too soon. I will train my legs till I have the base strength then I will start doing plyometrics. I still got quite alot of time. So take it easy, no rush. I want to progress gradually, steadily, incrementally, and safely, and have fun in the process.

And I can't wait to finish my O levels. At that time I will be more stronger and better, then I have the time and freedom, more fun, and I will have a camcorder at that time, and I might be travelling overseas. Next year I will still train hard, but I will work, and work, and work, for money to travel overseas and the camcorder. 2 more years! Can't wait. But also, I need to study hard.

Anyway, I really hope I can stop bailing, and start the correct way of training. Train safe and hard.

Bye.

This Week.

These few days are quite fun.

But, I just don't like the weather. Really sucks, it can't be worse. One of the worst thing that could happen, happened to me. Ok it rained for awhile and stopped. I wait for it to dry up, and it did. So I prepared everything and got ready to train. Walk to the hotspot and then it happens. It fucking rained. If anyone have similar experiences which is worse then this, speak out. Because I'm dead sure no one could beat that.

Yesterday was the trip to Bukit Panjang. We know one spot over there which is sheltered and which is quite good, so we took a long trip. Sad thing is the carpark is abit wet. And although the rain had stopped for a fair while, the areas are still wet. But we ventured around the area and found certain hotspots, sheltered and unsheltered. There is this indoor ramp which is pretty good for training especially when it is raining. I even made a mini-training video on it.

I think it is time to train in wet and rainy conditions, because it would help since this is happening everyday right now. It is time where focus, control, carefulness, and everytime must be there or not, bails are expected. Although it sucks when it rains, it is much better then not training at all. I think I'm resting too much (it is actually a good thing), I could have done things on the day I slacked at home doing nothing.

I've learned something, a skill, which is very important. It is something that I've missed out, but it is something that is needed in balance, quadrepedal walking, and in some other stuffs. Body-coordination. We always tried cat crawling, on level ground. The technique we use is to move our hands and feet usually opposite. So its like right hand, left foot, left hand, right foot, continue. But the correct way is to move the same leg and same hand at the same time. I suck at cat crawling backwards. No coordination at all. Sometimes that practice will be needed for improvements.

I wonder, can we improve our reflexes? I think they are really important when we are to bail. And how about air flight form? How to become more relaxed, like not to use so much energy, making every movement more effortless?

So I did travel away from Tampines and found out some hotspots at Bedok, and Bukit Panjang/Jelapang. Sengkang and some of Punggol too last week. Pasir Ris and Simei covered also. So six areas covered. Still have Jurong, Ang Mo Kio, Bishan (not fully covered), Toa Payoh (semi-covered), Hougang, Bugis, Yishun, and more. Need to find areas out of public view and more indoor hotspots. Still alot more areas to explore.

Operation Pull, is not going well. Only 550 forces, not much of an improvement. I hope to reach the 1000 pullups mark at the end of this week. Still not pushing myself that far. Only aim for a certain mark.

I got a nice video editing software, but its just a free trial downloaded from the website. Sony Vegas Pro 8. Cool software, although complex but still I did managed to get the hang of it. The basic stuffs only though. What I need to do now is to learn the more advanced and cooler stuffs, then I would consider buying the full version, probably a cracked or pirated version. Its too expensive although it might be worth.

I think it is time to test out this program is of course make use of a camera. Be sure to see more videos coming out of my youtube profile. This includes more training videos, a mini-documentary, a teaser, PKSG video, strength training video, and maybe more, not forgetting . Of course the purpose of making the videos is not to showoff or what, its because making videos are fun and I like it.

I'm going to start strength training soon. I think I'm buying my shirts, long pants and weights this wednesday. Need to practice my muscleups!

Done.

Realization.

Yesterday training was good, managed to nail stuffs at NC's hotspot and blah. But it is also a training where I finally realize something.

It is time to change, for real.

I don't know why, although I lost count of the number of times I've mentioned stuffs like these, I still never put them into practice. Yeah, it is all those bullshits you have read in my past posts. Why? Seriously, I don't know why, but I really want to change right now. I hope I really do what I say, and I hope this is last post about it. Mistakes after mistakes after mistakes, yet I ddin't learn from them, even when I got warned. Why...

You are going to read stuffs that I've probably had stated before, but this is just for my own references.

First things first. Listening to my body, a must. If you think you can't do it, If you think you are going to bail, if you are scared, seriously don't do it. I've been pushing myself too far, thats why I'm progressing so fast but with no stability and control. I've been trying to push my limits so far, but with no solid foundation. This is why progressing so fast leads to bad things. Sometimes I don't know why I do stuffs without actually thinking, especially when those stuffs are dangerous. Don't know why I do all those reckless stuffs, which could eventually leads to injuries, or long-term injuries.

And yeah, I'm forcing myself too often, doing movements that are at my maximum level, or even bigger then that. Either I do them and bail/fail, or just make it by a centimeter which of course means a bad landing. I just don't know my limits, which really sucks. And I also have this kind of mindset, where if I can do something before, I must be able to do it again, and if I don't make it, I will keep on doing it until I can make it, usually badly controlled. Either that or bail. Only in rare cases I can do it controlled. I don't know why, but I always succumb to my temptations. Not only in Parkour but in almost everything else, like eating junky food. This is why I must have self-control.

I want to do basic and lower impact stuffs, and stop doing the big, high-impacts, and possibly dangerous movements. So I will do stuffs that are 80% of my maximum and lower, and make them as controlled and (almost) perfect and landing correctly them 99% of the time. That is for my base foundation. Until they are rock solid, then I will slowly increase my level bit by bit. I better stop doing big stuffs, or else I'm going to screw up my knees/shoulders.

Bails and unnecessary injuries and something that I want to get rid of. It is almost inevitable to not bail when I train. Every training session I would get some injury or stupid bail, due to carelessness, recklessness, stupidity, and lack of focus. Heard them before? Don't know how many times I repeated those few words. But I really wish to stop bailing, sometimes it is bound to happen, but not when I'm careful and focused. So I must learn how to clear my mind and focus before attempting something, and stop doing stupid and reckless stuffs.

One thing about injuries is, even how serious, I still tend to continue training with the injury, and sometimes never treat the injury with care. Worse still, I still continue to do all the high impact stuffs, with the injury. I guess after 20/30 years down the road, knee injuries and whatever probelms will start coming, but hopefully not. Again all these stuffs need self-control, to be able to control yourself to stop doing movements until you get healed.

Next, strength training. I never been training strength recently. My muscleups still needs alot of practice. I still cant do them at least 50% of the time. So much more practice needed, and I think I need more pulling power. I haven't got weights, but I guess I'm getting them soon. I still need the 2x bodyweight squats and deadlifts, so I won't be doing Blane's method of training yet, so meanwhile I will be doing pistols, duckwalking, quadrupedals, light dynamic movements, and basically strengthening the whole range of motion of my leg. Until I get them, I will start doing plyometrics and dynamic Parkour movements for leg explosiveness. I also need core stability, so I will be working on handstands, L-sits and the like. Sadly I still got those irritating quadriceps and triceps cramps while attempting them, but I can almost do the L-pullup already.

I still need to condition alot though. Also adding to my trainings is to do more shimmying, pullups, static holds, quadrupedals, all for endurance actually. I've reconsidered about Operation Pull, and I decided to continue it like usual, doing as many as I can per day. I think doing this will eventually make me endurant, or maybe gain more power, because doing so little a day will hardly improve anything. I'll make sure I stretch alot everyday so I won't be sore the next day. And hopefully doing more of them can condition my body to the workout so I won't get muscle soreness that often. I'm at 365 forces, hoping to increase to 500 tomorrow.

And for barefoot training, I will do them once or twice a week, to maintain and improve the condition of my feet. Again, the most important thing is to do everything small, and in this case only 50% of my maximum level. And don't do anything stupid. And for my movements training I will practice my rolls as soon as possible (after my lowbackhip area gets healed), and more balance practice, and of course small precisions.

My nutrition improved alot since last time. Through self-control I managed to stop eating the unhealthy and fattening chicken skin, and eat the meat instead. I've been eating more fruits then usual. Eggs, milo(cereal) with milk and breads with peanut butter are becoming my daily food intake, unlike last time. And I'm eating less KFC and unhealthy food already. I'm so happy. But I still need alot more protein and lesser unhealthy stuffs, and veggies? Urghh.

Some changes to trainings. Low, small, basic movements, no more high impacts and big stuffs. Stop being stupid, careless and reckless, and be more careful and clear my mind and focus before attempting stuffs. Stop bailing. Control yourself. Know your limits. Listen to my body. Think before I attempt something. Stop pushing my limits. Progress gradually, incrementally and carefully. Don't force myself to do difficult stuffs. Do stuffs controlled. Train barefooted once/twice a week, slowly. Start more conditioning and strength training soon. Practice muscleups, balance, rolls. Eat better and healthier.

Something out of Parkour right now. I've been messing around poles, lamp posts, bars, rails and stuffs like that, and it is kinda fun! Hopefully one day I can do flag, handstands (on rails), more bar tricks, more pole tricks, and oh yeah tricking. Something that I've haven't been training for a long time. I need to get backflips, frontflips, sideflips, aerial, wallflips, dupla (maybe), some basic twists, and maybe some other basics stuffs, but of course I don't wanna go too far. And I wanna practice wallspins and palmspins for the fun of it. And try out some wall tricks as well.

My shoes is getting suckier, it is not really that durable although the grip is not bad. I wanna buy Nike Dart IV because I heard it is quite good. Although I will still train barefooted. And oh yeah, I wanna get a good long pants and more dri-fit outfit that can absorb sweat pretty well.

Deleted some posts which I find redundant. I'm trying to make some minor changes to the blog soon. And I'm gonna make long weekly posts from now on. I don't wanna make daily long posts which doesn't really state anything. And I'm wasting my time doing that.

Somehow my sleep is getting better. Now I'm sleep more or less the correct timing and wake up not that late anymore. And I don't take long to sleep, which is good. Finally I can sleep better.

Expect more videos in my Youtube Channel. The videos would be nothing out of the ordinary anyway, just normal training videos, because I don't like the concept of doing big stuffs for the camera, but sadly it is something that I'm doing right now. How sad. And yeah, the delayed PKSG video might pop out anytime, and hopefully the video would be a good one.

I think I'm going to travel around Singapore to train very soon. To find quiet, better, unique, new hotspots. Training in front of the public and at the same place everytime sucks. I don't mind needing to spend time and money to go far away from here, but the thing is that the trip is must be good. Haha. Anyone wanna tag along?