Posture

Quick note – i’m sitting at a Cafe, and I cannot help noticing how many people slouch! Goodness. Whether you are at work, driving in a car or relaxing on a couch, do your best to sit up nice and tall.
Many people ask me what is the best way to assess your posture – well, its easy. Find a doorway and lean against it. Now push your feet, butt, back, head and shoulders against the wall and stand there for 30 seconds. This will put your body back into proper anatomical neutral posture, especially for your spine. If this is difficult, you may have some postural issues already…
Hope this is helpful!

Staying fit in the heat

We all make excuses for not exercising – just don’t let the summer heat be one of them.
If it;s hot outside during the day, just exercise in the morning (before 10am) or afternoon/night (after 5pm). That way you avoid the heat and still get in some exercise.
If you’re not one for the outdoors, just pick up some weights, bands and a stability ball – there are tons of exercises you can do in your home to get a great workout, just check out www.thisismyworkout.com/exercise_videos for ideas. They’re all free.

This Is My Workout (in preparation for ANW3), April 3rd with kevo

My younger brother is named kevo.  We wanted to work on our Parkour/Freerunning skills, and that is exactly what we did.  Here’s a little sample of what we did.

I just think the more one practices moves, the better they’ll get.  Kevo and I have been practicing the front and back-flips for about 3 weeks, and we finally did it on grass.  Next is off a structure…oh goodness…

Workout at the Sea Wall, 3/27/2011

My younger brother and I went to the Sea Wall at Ocean Beach in San Francisco sunday.  We’ve seen videos of Brian Orosco on YouTube and his ‘Sand Junkie’ video was filmed there (watch that video, it’s crazy).  We worked on front/back flips, as well as Kong-Vaults down 10-12 feet.  We started linking things together.  Here’s a portion…

We were pretty happy – kevo and I did the same things.  Alas, he finally beat me at something… he was dominating the backflips (with a tuck), and I kept doing standing gainers….silly me.  I guess he has to beat me at something some day.  Stupid day…  

Look what practice did – ugh…

How dare practice do this to me…

Good ol’ practice – it’s really fun!  I watched some videos from ’3run’ on youtube, and they’ve helped.  Hopefully more improvements to come.

My Workout, 2/15/11

Well, continuing to improve on my bodies’ ability to move well. I tried to execute a few front-flips with my little brother, and neither of us had ever done one. I had tried on a trampoline, but never on a generally solid surface. Look what happened…

Yup, I was terribly excited to land it. I’ll keep practicing, for i want to be able to execute them outside (without a mat, just the ground). That would be tight!

My Workout, 2/12/2011

It was a nice, sunny saturday morning.  Nicholas Frank thought, “Hey, i’m gonna go workout.“  So he did.

Good intro?  Bad?  Let me know.

I went to Lafayette and practiced some parkour moves such as the palm spin, kong, jump-onto-a-bench, handstand – and other things.  They’re all getting easier.  I guess we weren’t being lied to when our elders told us “Practice makes perfect (or ‘improvements’)“.  I am sure it does.

I keep working on my grip because i don’t want it to falter.  I am pretty good at it now, just want it to be better.  I’ve got until August, so need to keep practicing.  Here’s one portion of that workout:

I’ll have to put up more stuff on Parkour – as I begin sucking less and less…

My Workout, 2/3/11

I went to a school close-by (the one I generally visit) to improve on some of my climbing skills.  I could tell you, but I think i’ll just show you;

It is always fun, but man it can hurt your hands if you don’t grip things right.  I always try to push myself, it’s important that I get getter at this stuff.

Creativity and Exercise

Have you ever been bored with your workout routine?  Wished you knew other things to do?  Well, now you can learn new things and try new things – while also working on creating things yourself.

To learn new exercises, just visit www.thisismyworkout.com – look for the ‘exercise videos’.  There’s like 500, so you’ll see new ones.

What this post is really about is creativity, and how what I like to do when I workout – Create.  Nowadays I am only in the gym 3-4 hours a week, so during the others hours of exercise outside the gym I like to run around random spots.  I’ll go to schools, parks, office buildings, car garages…any place where I can make new and creative exercises.

That sounds a little more intense than it actually is.  I really just give myself challenges, to see if i can do them.  For example, today I know that when I go to this school (which i’ve been to before) I will give myself a time limit to complete a challenge.  I’ll have to climb, jump, run, do a certain amount of push-ups and then climb again within a time of 2 minutes.  I can then improve on that time.  When you give yourself challenges, you can then continue to improve on them as you get stronger, faster and better at those motions.

Make challenges for yourself with your exercise routine.  Even if you’re in a gym, make a goal to get 20 shoulder presses in a row at a certain weight.  This is just an example, but the more goals you set for yourself, the more you will excel.

Sunday Running and Parkour Fun, 1/30/2011

Today I decided to just run around Walnut Creek (in NorCal).  I started by running about a mile to an office building with a parking garage.  I jumped over a little gab and grabbed onto the top of a wall (which i’ve never done before, and was exciting).  I then ran through the parking garage area, looking to see what I could do – then falling upon a wall that was bout 12+ feet high (it was more than double me).

Now, I tried out for Ninja Warrior about 6 months ago, and did everything well BUT the ‘Warped Wall’ – it’s a 15ft wall that is shaped like a skating ‘Vert’ ramp.  I had never practiced it because i thought it’d be easy.  Nope.  I failed in three tries.

Back to this 12ft wall.  I tried running up it a few times, and couldn’t get it.  I tried practicing getting 2 feet up on the wall and jumping away from the wall, and I did great.  Just the going ‘up’ portion was really tough.  After about 15 tries and getting within 2-3 inches, I got frustrated.  I walked away momentarily to practice some precision jumping (from one spot to another specific spot). I looked back at the wall, and noticed something.  You can’t run ‘at’ the wall, you have to run ‘up’ it…

If you run at the wall, you’ll fall into the wall and your body will just push you back.  So instead of leaning forward, I leaned back.  Oh snap!  I put a hand onto the top.  After a few more tries, I made it up the 12ft wall.  I have never done that before, and was mighty excited.

I jumped over some shrubbery, then proceeded to jump over bars and work on some 360 degree spins after jumps.  This took about 15 minutes before I was spent and uber-sweaty.  I got better at precision jumping with one foot, jumping over an object and landing with both feet in a specific spot, and scaling a high wall.  A good day of practice i’d say…