I went for a bit of a bike ride to blow off steam after a crappy day of sitting in my cubicle. Life in the cube ain't all it's cracked up to be, kids...
I feel so stagnant. The sedentary lifestyle has officially set it. I think back to one year ago and my stomach ties in knots. This time last year I was returning from London. It was a last second addition to my time spent in Paris. I figured I would shoot over to say hello to our British brothers and sisters in the parkour universe. I got horrendously ill and could barely climb the stairs to my hotel, but I managed to do 2 parkour classes in the 5 days that I was there.
I think of that version of myself as I set forth a task for the evening. I feel like I've lost so much strength (physically, mentally, etc.), so my goal for the evening is to do one hour of qm (also known as quadrupedal movement, moving on all fours, monkey walking, etc.).
Before I begin, let me just say a few things about qm. It is something that is near and dear to my heart because it was one of the only things I felt comfortable doing when I first started parkour, as it is pretty much no impact and can be done anywhere from stairs to railings (qm on rails also known as cat balance). Starting position is with your hands below your shoulders and knees below the hips. Whenever you're doing qm, try to keep the back as parallel to whatever surface you're working on:
To move forward, move the opposite hand and foot at the same time, don't move the leg too far up, though, because then your back isn't parallel to the surface, it looks like this instead:
So try and keep those hips down when you move. It's much more fluid when you bring your leg up straight, don't let it buckle out to the side. This is particularly difficult when going backwards, but to help it out, I tend to look between my legs to spot my foot placement. Hope that all made a bit of sense, It's tough describing these things in text...Now that I've done my public service announcement for the week what follows are the stray notes that I scribbled in my journal during my training:
Goal: QM for an hour, moving forwards 30 feet, backwards 30 feet (about 9.1 meters each way).
9pm. Start time.
9:08
Am covered in sweat already. Too hot for this, can't believe it's only been 8 minutes...gonna be a long night.
9:15
Finding it hard to keep in a straight line when I'm going backwards. Triceps are feeling it already.
9:24
I feel like such a masochist right now. Hands feel like raw meat. Form is suffering. Slow, slow, slow pace.
9:27
My brother's air conditioner just started dripping right in the middle of my path. The cold water feels incredible on my hands, but I know it will hurt more now that the pebbles will stick and grind against the concrete.
9:39
Almost stopped when going backwards, but I knew that if I did, I wouldn't start again. I don't want to keep going. I'm tired. I want to stop. Probably just being a baby.
9:42
Form is officially crap. Can't keep straight, keep waddling my legs from side to side when going backwards.
9:45
Gonna throw up. This is shit!
9:48
I'll have to remember this when I'm sitting in my cube tomorrow...
9:52
Literally almost started crying. My hands are killing me. Arms aren't even that bad. Just can't do it anymore.
9:57
Tried to power through without stopping. Arms failing. I have blisters on my hands.
10:04
I said to myself I'll just do 5 more trips, and then 2 sets of side monkeys as a sort of reward, even though my hour is technically done. I'm down to the last round of qm, still have to do the side monkeys. Can't muster the strength. This feels terrible. Here I go, this is for everyone who has ever taught me anything. I start the first steps thinking of David.
10:08
Done. Tired. Filled with misery, anger and frustration. Can barely hold the pen. Upset that this was so hard for me, I feel like I've regressed. Oh well. Can't do anything about that now...
As Stephane says, "Just keep moving, moving."
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