Welsh Beast

Most people want to be able to do a certain movement faster whether it be running pulls ups or jumps. I will tell you how to train to get a movement faster. The answer  is simple add resistance while doing the movement add enough resistance to make it challenging however don’t add so much it messes up your technique.

Also try to make the resistance opposite to the direction your moving. So wearing a weighted vest is pulling you towards the ground while you want resistance pulling you backwards.

Also spend time on technique training making sure you have the appropriate technique so if you are trying to learn to do a muscle up doing weighted pull ups will give you a more explosive contraction however it won’t teach you the technique.

Also train for endurance while sprinting 100m fatigue may affect you after 70m I would recommend for this sprinting 20m the jogging back to the start and doing the circuit again.

When people think of mental training people often have strange ideas but I believe it to be very important and I will say how it will help. Firstly I think that isometric training is good mental training as it involves holding a physically difficult position for as long as possible and your body is saying that you can’t do it for much longer, by doing isometric training for as long as possible you are over comming fatigue and a mental block when your body starts to feel work you over come it and carry on going this mental state will help with your parkour.

Secondly setting what appears to be an impossible challenge for example one of my friend did one thousand muscle ups for charity this seems impossible however after setting a challenge you must finish once I came home at 1 O clock at night just to finish one of my challenges.

Another point is becoming custom with heights are naturally scary due to evolution however after becoming custom to heights this fear becomes less. One thing I like to do is to eat my food on a wall this way I am doing something positive (eating my food) whilst being at a hight therefore I am associating this possitive thing with heights also it means I can do something very safe (sitting) at a hight and feel fine.

Over coming a mental challenge or breaking a jump is very good training. first thing is to recognise something scares you I had a cat jump that I was afraid of after doing it I dismissed it as easy, no its not as it took me a great deal of time to build the courage to do it. Reward yourself after would think to your self I did that huge jump so now I’m going to eat this yummy piece of fruit this way you are rewarding your self for doing something in a way that is healthy.

visualisation is very good for training as well visualising yourself doing something mentally challenging in the first and third person gets you accustom to the jump meaning when it comes to it, it is a great deal easier 

Recently I was watching Fat fighters on 4od, and I remembered of how I used to be embarrassed to go to the gym. If you are overweight and get out of breath easily, or if you are underweight and aren’t very strong the gym is the best place to go. Most of the body builders pumping huge weights will have started in the same shoes as you. Once you have overcome your fear of going to the unknown you will never regret it. Personal trainers at the gym have spent hours learning about how to help people in your situation so don’t be afraid to ask them questions.

This leads me nicely on to training outside for parkour and being embarrassed many people will stop to watch you train some may laugh, but remember training is important and if you are to embarrassed to do it then you will never go far, remember how parkour is about overcoming your fear so this is a great fear to over come.

Breathing from your stomach is known as diaphragmatic breathing and is commonly found in yoga and mediation. Why is it good? 
It ensures that you breathe deeply and get enough oxygen. Oxygen is important for aerobic respiration so people who get more oxygen feel more energised and don’t get sore muscles as they don’t produce lactic acid as easily. One of my friends said that after doing trying to breath more deeply with diaphragmatic breathing they were able to run further as they weren’t getting out of breath. 

Your metabolic rate is how quickly food goes through your digestion system. I’m sure you’ve heard someone say I have a really high metabolism and wondered what that meant. Someone with a naturally high metabolic rate will find it hard to gain fat because there food goes quickly through there digestion system so not much nutrients are gained in the small intestine. However someone with a naturally low metabolism will find it very easy to put on weight. So why does the body have a metabolic rate and can it change?

yes your metabolic rate can change if you don’t eat food for a period of time so when people wake up they have a low metabolic rate so they need a small meal to give them energy and to raise the metabolic rate. So why does the body have this then?

When people have to hunt for food maybe for a extensive period of time food would not be available so when the food was finally available the body gets as much nutrients as possible and gets as much fat as possible so that there had a reserve to last them until there next meal.

Philosophy is an interesting and broad subject with many different opinions to it but if you don’t want to pay money to go to classes or you just don’t have the time I recommend these two series about philosophy one is a radio program that I have on my Ipod and the other is an hour long video. I hope you like them.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/iotp

 http://www.justiceharvard.org/watch/

What is core strength?
This term ‘core’ is thrown around a lot but what is your core and how can it help you?

In my opinion the core is the group of muscles at the centre of your body these are the muscles that stabilize your movement. These muscles are
- the rectus abodominis
- the external obliques
- the internal obliques 
- the latissimus dorsi
- the gluteus maximus

So therefore having these muscles as strong as possible will give you a strong and stable core right?

Wrong! So how can I get a strong core?

I recommend two activities they are slack lining and pilates. Pilates was created by a German scientist called Joseph Pilates as a way of getting core strength.

So core strength why could I want it?
Having a strong and stable core will help with posture and balance. 

Gymnastics rings is the ultimate workout for your upper body. It works every muscle in you upper body and encourages strength and stability rather than muscle mass. It uses your own body weight which is perfect for parkour, free running, rock climbing, martial arts and other sports where you need a strong upper body not a big one. They are very small and can be packed up and taken with you so you can train outside with friends unlike dumbbells which can’t be carried around with you casually. For information on good technique and exercises I recommend gymnastics bodies.

http://gymnasticbodies.com/Video/index.html